ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Six non-European Catholic prelates will join the Vatican’s College of Cardinals in a move which may influence the election of the future pope, amid uncertainty over Pope Benedict XVI’s health.

The 85-year-old Benedict, who has been looking increasingly tired and worn, said on Wednesday he will appoint cardinals from Colombia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Philippines and the United States in a surprise consistory in November.

The college, the elite body that advises the pontiff and elects his successor upon his death, is currently heavily weighted in favour of Europe. Religious watchers had not expected there to be another consistory until next year and the surprise announcement sparked concern among Vatican watchers that the elderly pontiff’s health may be worse than thought.

Religious observers note that the pope appears to have been particularly hard hit by the child abuse scandals rocking the Church and the betrayal of his personal butler, who was found guilty this month of stealing private memos.

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FLORIDA
Naples Daily News

By TRACY X. MIGUEL

Posted October 24, 2012

BONITA SPRINGS — A once-popular priest at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Bonita Springs has been removed from the priesthood.

Bishop Frank Dewane, of the Catholic Diocese of Venice Florida, told parishioners the news in a letter inserted in the Saturday evening and Sunday bulletins.

The statement announced that the canonical trial for 47-year-old former Bonita Springs priest Stan Strycharz concluded that he had “violated his fiduciary responsibilities to the Parish, his priestly promise to celibacy, and his promise of obedience to his Ordinary.”

“Having considered both mitigating and aggravating circumstances, we hereby declare that the accused is herewith dismissed from clerical state,” the judges stated about their decision in a letter issued by Dewane. The nonpublic, canonical trial consisted of a three-judge panel of priests who were all experienced canonical experts from outside the Diocese of Venice.

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IOWA
WCF Courier

By DENNIS MAGEE, dennis.magee@wcfcourier.com

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa — The trustee handling Ryan St. Anne Scott’s personal bankruptcy case in Iowa wants to hold onto the possibility the alleged monk may receive settlement money from the Roman Catholic Church.

The funds may be available as part of a bankruptcy case involving the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which filed a Chapter 11 voluntary petition in January 2011.

Scott, also known as Ryan Patrich Scott Gevelinger and Randell Stocks, previously led a group of followers in the former Buchanan County home. Scott. however, abandoned the property in January just ahead of eviction forced by the county attorney’s office.

In separate legal action, authorities in Knox County in Illinois charged Scott with three counts of financial abuse of an elderly person, three counts of theft and one count of deceptive practices. Each charge is a felony. Scott is free on bond but scheduled to face trial in November.

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UNITED STATES
Fr. Ted’s Blog

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Fr. Ted

Stories of how the Boy Scouts organization dealt with sexual abuse through the past decades are now surfacing as their secret files have been made public. While there are many stories being published, this blog is going to quote from a story that appeared in my local paper, The DAYTON DAILY NEWS.

My interest in the story is not so much about the Boy Scouts and that institution but more the implications, if any, for how the Church deals with sexual misconduct. What we see in the news about the BSA, as in the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky case, sexual abuse can occur wherever there are kids present. it is not religious institutions which have a penchant for child sex abuse but rather predators find their way to organizations where they can have access to children. The temptation and tendency by institutional leaders to protect the institution and downplay the problems is prevalent in church and non-church institutions.

I am quoting from the Dayton Daily News story, Boy Scout Files Reveal Local Abuse. (I have added the red highlight in the text to emphasize the part of the quote that I thought has implications for the Church’s handling of sexual misconduct).

“The files reveal that some alleged pedophiles across the country and locally continued in scouting even after allegations were leveled against them. In several cases, community leaders such as judges and pastors helped keep the name of scouting out of the courts or the media, according to an Associated Press review of the files.

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BOSTON (MA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

The Hollywood industry newspaper Variety is reporting that a director has been assigned to command a movie about the Boston Globe’s relentless reporting in 2002 about the Catholic Church abuse scandals.

Yet again we see that the media is always looking for another angle to rehash decades-old sex abuse in the Catholic Church. According to Variety:

“Due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, [Director Tom] McCarthy has been working in secret for more than a year on the project that chronicles the worldwide scandal …

“Producers have secured life rights of the Globe reporters responsible, including Spotlight Team members Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer and Matt Carroll, Spotlight Team editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, special projects editor Ben Bradlee Jr. and Globe editor Marty Baron.”

“Groundbreaking” work?

The proposed film is described as being in the vein of the 1976 hit film All the President’s Men, which was about the efforts of the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to investigate the alleged Watergate scandal.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Southeast Missourian

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An electronic billboard in Kansas City calls for the resignation of the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal.

The Kansas City Star reports that the sign, located along Interstate 35, directs passers-by to an online petition that urges Bishop Robert Finn to step down. So far, more than 100,000 people have added their names.

Large letters read: “For the good of the people Bishop Finn must RESIGN!”

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

October 24, 2012. (Romereports.com) (-ONLY VIDEO-) During the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope announced that he will hold a consistory on November 24th to appoint six new cardinals. READ TEXT:

“And now, with great pleasure, I announce that on November 24th, I will hold a Consistory in which I will appoint six new members of the College of Cardinals. The Cardinals have the task of helping the Successor of Peter in the performance of his ministry of confirming the brethren in the faith, and the principle and foundation of unity and communion of the Church.

Here are the names of the new cardinals:

Msgr. JAMES MICHAEL HARVEY, Prefect of the Prefecture of the Papal Household.

Beatitude BÉCHARA BOUTROS RAÏ, Maronite Patriarch, (Lebanon).

Beatitude BASELIOS CLEEMIS THOTTUNKAL, major Archbishop of the Trivandrum of the Siro-Malankaresi in India.

Msgr. JOHN OLORUNFEMI ONAIYEKAN, Archbishop of di Abuj (Nigeria)

Msgr. RUBÉN SALAZAR GÓMEZ, Archbishop of Bogotá (Colombia)

Msgr. LUIS ANTONIO TAGLE, Archbishop of Manila (Philippines).

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A long-serving Curial archbishop from the United States is to be elevated to the College of Cardinals and become archpriest of the papal basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, Pope Benedict XVI announced today.

Milwaukee-native Archbishop James Harvey, prefect of the Papal Household, was one of six new members nominated in a surprise announcement by the Pope at the end of his weekly general audience.

The full list of the new cardinals, whom the Holy Father will appoint at a consistory on Nov. 24th, the eve of the Feast of Christ the King, are:

• Archbishop James Harvey, Prefect of the Papal Household whom the Pope plans to appoint archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls;
• Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, His Beatitude Béchara Boutros Raï;
• Archbishop Baselios Cleemis (Isaac) Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum (Syro-Malankarese rite), India;
• Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria;
• Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez, Archbishop of Bogotá, Colombia;
• Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI surprised pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 24 by announcing he would create six new cardinals, including 63-year-old U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, prefect of the papal household, in late November.

The pope said the consistory to create the new cardinals, who come from six countries, would take place Nov. 24, the feast of Christ the King.

It will be the smallest group of cardinals created since the 1977 consistory when Pope Benedict, the then-Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, received his red hat from Pope Paul VI along with three other churchmen.

The new cardinals also will include: Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, 72; Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, 53, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, 68; Colombian Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, 70; and Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle of Manila, 55.

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VATICAN CITY
swissinfo

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, putting his stamp on the future of the Roman Catholic Church, on Wednesday named six new cardinals from around the world to join the elite group of prelates who will one day choose his successor.

The six are from the United States, Lebanon, India, Nigeria, Colombia, and the Philippines. The ceremony, known as a consistory, will be held on November 24, the pope said in a surprise announcement at his weekly general audience.

Among those named to join the group known as the “princes” of the Catholic Church are Archbishop James Michael Harvey, an American who runs the pontifical household, Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, and Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, the major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara rite in India.

They also included Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia, and Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.

All of the six new cardinals are under 80 years old and thus eligible under Church law to enter a conclave to elect a new pope. The elite group is known as “cardinal electors”.

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VATICAN CITY
The Kansas City Star

The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has named six new cardinals, adding prelates from Lebanon, the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, India and the United States to the ranks of cardinals who will elect his successor.

Benedict made the surprise announcement during his weekly general audience Wednesday and said they would be elevated at a consistory Nov. 24. The nominations help even out the geographic distribution of cardinals, which had tilted heavily toward Italy.

The new cardinals are: Monsignor James Harvey, the American prefect of the pope’s household; Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan; Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, Ruben Salazar Gomez; Archbishop of Manila, Philippines, Luis Antonio Tagle; Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites in Lebanon, Bechara Boutros Rai; and the major Archbishop of the Trivandrum of the Siro-Malankaresi in India, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.

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VATICAN CITY
Inquirer (Philippines)

VATICAN CITY—Pope Benedict XVI has named Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle and five other prelates from Lebanon, Nigeria, Colombia, India and the United States as new cardinals.

Benedict made the surprise announcement during his weekly general audience Wednesday and said they would be elevated at a consistory November 24. The nominations help even out the geographic distribution of cardinals, which had tilted heavily toward Italy.

At 55, Tagle is currently the world’s youngest cardinal.

The pontiff elevated Tagle, head of the Philippines’ largest archdiocese, to the College of Cardinals together with Monsignor James Harvey, the American prefect of the pope’s household; Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan; Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, Ruben Salazar Gomez; Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites in Lebanon, Bechara Boutros Rai; and the major Archbishop of the Trivandrum of the Siro-Malankaresi in India, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.

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MEXICO
Sky News (Australia)

A Mexico state judicial official says the alleged son of the late Reverend Marcial Maciel, founder of the Catholic order Legions of Christ, is in custody on attempted extortion charges.

The official says Jose Raul Gonzalez Lara was detained on Tuesday.

Legion spokesman Javier Bravo confirmed that the order had filed a criminal complaint against Gonzalez.

A Mexican woman divulged in 2010 that Maciel, a Catholic priest, had fathered two of her children, including Gonzalez, and accused him of molesting both.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Fox News

Published October 23, 2012

Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – News organizations including The Associated Press are asking a Rhode Island judge to unseal documents from a lawsuit contesting the will of a woman who left $60 million to the Legion of Christ, a disgraced Roman Catholic religious order.

The New York Times, The Providence Journal, the National Catholic Reporter and the AP filed papers Tuesday arguing the public has a right to the documents despite the Legion’s claim that they could taint prospective jurors.

The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010 after determining that its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, molested seminarians and fathered three children.

Gabrielle Mee left her fortune to the Legion, but her niece challenged the will, saying the Legion defrauded her aunt. A judge dismissed the challenge after determining that the niece lacked standing. Her attorney plans to appeal.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Associated Press

By DAVID KLEPPER, Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Associated Press and three other news organizations Tuesday filed legal papers asking a Rhode Island judge to unseal documents in a lawsuit contesting the will of an elderly widow who gave some $60 million to the Legion of Christ, a disgraced Roman Catholic religious order.

The New York Times, The Providence Journal and the National Catholic Reporter joined the AP in submitting a legal filing arguing that the public has a right to access the documents and rejecting the Legion’s argument that press coverage of them could taint prospective jurors. Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women.

The woman’s niece, Mary Lou Dauray, had sought to challenge Gabrielle Mee’s will, saying her aunt had been defrauded by the order into leaving it her fortune. Mee died in 2008. Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein last month threw out the challenge because he determined the niece lacked standing. However, in his decision Silverstein noted that Maciel gave Mee financial advice and another priest helped her with estate planning.

“The transfer of millions of dollars worth of assets — through will, trust and gifts — from a steadfastly spiritual elderly woman to her trusted but clandestinely dubious religious leaders raises a red flag to this court,” Silverstein wrote.

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TULSA (OK)
CBS Houston

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Prosecutors told a judge Tuesday that more witnesses or victims could come forward as police examine more deeply allegations of sex crimes at a 17,000-member megachurch deep in the Bible Belt.

Israel Castillo, 23, a former janitor at the Victory Christian Center, attended court for a preliminary hearing Tuesday after being accused of making a lewd proposal to a 15-year-old girl, but Tulsa County Special Judge Clifford Smith postponed proceedings until Nov. 29 after lawyers for the state said new information was forthcoming from at least one person. Castillo’s lawyer and the church said they knew nothing of it.

“I was prepared this morning to announce to the court that my client and I were ready to proceed with the preliminary hearing,” lawyer Hugh Hood wrote in an email. “Mr. Castillo has entered a plea of not guilty. I will continue to demand that his due process rights are protected throughout these proceedings.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Last Updated Oct 2012

Of all human groups, the church should be the most comforting for the hurting. After all, we are called by God to be welcoming, caring and nurturing. The turmoil in many congregations and denominations over sexual abuse shows in stark relief the results of trust broken.

In Nashville in 2011, the General Assembly passed Resolution 1122, calling the Church to prevent abuse and minister to the survivors and victims of abuse. For many years the General Commission on Ministry (GCOM) and regional commissions on ministry have been encouraging boundary training and other “safe church” practices, requiring these trainings for pastors to maintain ministerial standing, and for leaders who participate in camp and other youth programming

Each of our congregations has the opportunity and responsibility to create safe space and context for ministry. We are called to 1) assess the safety of our ministries 2) educate and train our leaders, and 3) assure that children, youth, and adults alike are respected and cared for in life-giving ways.

Most of us never think there will be a problem in our congregation, until the unthinkable happens and lives and communities are devastated. The very act of creating safe space and understanding proclaims to those in our congregations and those who yet to be in our congregations that we care about their lives. To be a safe church is to be a community of Christ’s welcome.

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CANADA
Metro

The wife of a former Sunday school teacher charged with sex and weapons-related crimes vows to stick by her man.

Joyce Laframbroise said she is shocked and had no idea anything was amiss until police put her husband Paul, 73, in handcuffs and charged him with offences including sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference, sexual exploitation, uttering threats, and a variety of weapons offences.

“I wasn’t expecting all this. They are trying to get him,” she said, referring to media who had set up outside her home. “My husband is a good man, as far as I’m concerned. He has never hurt me and he never would.”

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PHOENIX (AZ)
ABC 15

[with video]

Detectives say Eduardo De Los Reyes sexually abused boy while volunteering at Phoenix church

•By: Christopher Sign

PHOENIX – A 46-year-old Phoenix man faces several charges after detectives say he sexually abused a boy at a church.

Documents show the convicted sex offender was performing fake medical exams on his victim.

Eduardo De Los Reyes was arrested at his probation officer’s office after a 15-year-old boy came forward with the information.

According to court documents, De Los Reyes was volunteering on a construction project at The Light Of The World La Luz Del Mundo Iglesia Church near downtown Phoenix.

The victim told detectives De Los Reyes had been touching him inappropriately while performing medical examinations on the boy in a medical room at the construction site for the church.

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METHUEN (MA)
The Eagle-Tribune

By Yadira Betances ybetances@eagletribune.com The Eagle-Tribune

METHUEN – Holding a sign that read: “Sexual Abuse of little boys and girls is soul murder,” Bassam George Haddad stood outside St. Basil Seminary yesterday in a public demonstration against a priest he alleges sexually abused him as a teenager.

Haddad, 39, of Methuen, said he was molested by the Rev. Ross S. Frey at St. Joseph Parish in Lawrence between 1986 to 1991.

“It’s been tough. He ruined my life,” said Haddad, who said he was always angry and picked fights for no reason. He kept the abuse secret from his mother and his wife of 11 years until recently.

I couldn’t handle it any longer. When I told my wife, she was upset, then told me she understood why I am the way I am,” her said.

Frey, a member of the Melkite-Greek Catholic church was ordained in 1974. He was accused in the 1990s of sexually abusing at least 11 teenage boys during weekend retreats at the Salvatorian Center on the grounds of St. Basil in Methuen and at St. Joseph’s Parish in Lawrence. Frey was transferred to Lebanon in 1996 and later placed on leave.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald

By JESSICA M. PASKO
Santa Cruz Sentinel montereyherald.com
Posted: 10/23/2012

SANTA CRUZ — A Santa Barbara-based law firm has filed suits on behalf of three alleged victims of a California priest who did two stints in the Santa Cruz area, including an assignment in Soquel from 2007-09.

The most recent suit against the Rev. Don Flickinger was filed late last month in San Francisco County on behalf of a 25-year-old man who alleges he was abused by the priest in the late 1990s at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in San Jose.

The suit names the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Jose, the St. Frances Cabrini School and Church, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fresno, the Diocese of Fresno Education Corp. and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, among others.

In their papers, attorneys David Nye and Timothy Hale allege that their client was abused long after the defendants received multiple reports of abuse by Flickinger dating back to the 1970s.

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Huffington Post

Vivian Norris

During the past few years we have finally been hearing more about an epidemic of sexual abuse of children , and thankfully, a few prosecutions.. The perpertrators were priests, well loved sports coaches, boy scout leaders and even celebrities. The recent scandal at the BBC, linking a well known personality, Jimmy Savile and his repeated abuse of underage girls, and his charity work which appeared to be a cover for access to children, had been making headline news. Sadly, foundations related to children have often been used as a way to access the vulnerable to use them for sexual abuse. In the US, Ireland, the Channel Islands, the list seems to go on and on, new sordid stories of child sexual abuse are being investigated, at times, linking to a disturbing hierarchy of silence in institutions whch were considered “sacred”, be it the Catholic Church, the BBC or even Penn State football. All of these institutions have been front page headline makers for the media, and now they are losing trust as they are linked to horrific betrayals of trust. The media has a hugely important role to play in continuing to get the message out not only about sexual abuse of children, but how these children can not only survive, but thrive.

For the adult men who are still suffering from the abuse they suffered as boys, the media headlines stir up feelings of anger, sadness, frustration as they see for example priests who are simply moved, still given access to boys, or die before they are prosecuted, and, luckily, for a few, some relief as they are able to confront the men who harmed them in the courtroom. I am going to focus here on sexual abuse by men in positions of power against boys because, “survey by researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Boston suggests that approximately one in six men is sexually abused before the age of 16 ». The majority of the sexual abuse by Catholic priests takes place with children between the ages of 11 and 14. (Associated Press (2004-06-20). “Hundreds of priests shuffled worldwide, despite abuse allegations”. USA Today.) I have seen this same figure repeated again and again, and knowing that it may be even higher as so many live in silence, suffering in shame, their lives damaged by alchoholism, drug abuse, and the inability to trust people in intimate relationships.

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FLORIDA
WSVN

[with video]

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — More allegations have come to light against a South Florida priest accused of committing sins against teenage boys.

“People do care,” said Tony Simmons, “and all the tragic things that have happened to them, no it’s not OK, but it is OK to speak out.”

Simmons wants you to see his face even though, in a lawsuit he filed, he claims he was sexually abused by Father Rolando Garcia. Simmons said he is an Iraqi war veteran who was stationed overseas since 2003 and only recently came forward. “We’re the outcast,” said Simmons. “Our families have turned us down, we weren’t credible as far as law enforcement goes, so it was pretty much like a candy store. They come in unquestioned, take us out for the weekend, party, and as long as we were back on time, we were good.”

The lawsuit said Simmons met Garcia when he was 16 after he ran away from home. The lawsuit said they met in a church where Simmons went to pray. “Father Garcia kept this boy under his control,” said Attorney Jeffrey Herman. “When he turned 18, he eventually hired him to work at St. Agatha.”

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

By James D. Davis, Staff writer

6:44 p.m. EDT, October 23, 2012

A 34-year-old man filed suit Tuesday against the Archdiocese of Miami, saying a priest molested him when he was a teenager living in Hollywood.

In the lawsuit, Tony Simmons alleges that the Rev. Rolando Garcia initiated a sexual relationship with him around 1994, when Garcia was at Little Flower Church in Hollywood and Simmons was a 16-year-old runaway. The document names the alleged victim only as John Doe No. 95, but Simmons identified himself as the plaintiff in a phone talk brokered by his attorney, Jeff Herman.

“I’ve got a daughter and a boy that’s coming,” said Simmons, who lives in Charlottesville, Va. “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Garcia is currently pastor at St. Agatha Catholic Church in Miami. The archdiocese’s communication office declined direct comment on the case, instead emailing a brief statement: “Mr. Herman has filed several lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Miami involving Father Garcia, and yet to date, none have been proven credible.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Sentence is due to be passed next month on a former priest who has pleaded guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault on boys at various locations in Co Meath, including at two parochial houses. Raymond Brady (77), Baltrasna, Oldcastle, admitted the offences when he appeared before Trim Circuit Court earlier this year.

The crimes were committed at parochial houses in Drumconrath and Kilbeg as well as locations in the Bettystown, Kilmainhamwood and Enfield areas and at a number of unknown locations. Brady assaulted his victims on dates between April 1st, 1968, and June 30th, 1976.

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MEXICO
ABC News

By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO Associated Press

MEXICO CITY October 24, 2012 (AP)

A Mexico state judicial official says the alleged son of the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Catholic order Legions of Christ, is in custody on attempted extortion charges.

The official says Jose Raul Gonzalez Lara was detained. She was not authorized to speak to the press.

Legion spokesman Javier Bravo confirmed Tuesday that the order had filed a criminal complaint against Gonzalez.

A Mexican woman divulged in 2010 that Maciel, a Roman Catholic priest, had fathered two of her children, including Gonzalez, and accused him of molesting both.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Sept. 29, 2012

St. Bonaventure fundraising firm under national scrutiny

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

THOREAU — Officials at St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School have until Wednesday to turn over an extensive list of documents to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.

According to a letter released Thursday by the Attorney General’s Office, the state has launched an inquiry into St. Bonaventure’s tax exempt status and its business relationship with professional fundraising companies, particularly the New York direct-marketing company Quadriga Art.

“It has come to our attention that your client, St. Bonaventure School and Mission, a charitable organization, may be in significant debt to at least one professional fundraiser,” Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Korsmo wrote to Andrew G. Schultz, the mission’s Albuquerque attorney, in a letter dated Sept. 13.

Citing the New Mexico attorney general’s legal authority and the state’s Charitable Trust Act, Korsmo, who heads the attorney general’s Consumer Division, requested a lengthy list of documents and information concerning St. Bonaventure’s tax exempt status, revenue and expenses, board members and top salaried employees, and contracts with all fundraising companies.

Quadriga investigations

According to a CNN report that aired Tuesday on “Anderson Cooper 360,” the news network alleges that until quite recently St. Bonaventure’s mission owed more than $5 million to Quadriga Art after signing a fundraising contract with the company in 2008. CNN alleges Quadriga Art’s fundraising campaign generated more than $9 million in donations but passed very little of that money on to St. Bonaventure.

In a series of reports on Quadriga Art and its subsidiaries, CNN claims that at least 11 nonprofit organizations have found themselves buried in debt to Quadriga Art for professional fundraising services. It also claims that at least two nonprofits — St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School being one — saw their debt to Quadriga Art forgiven after CNN began investigating their contracts with the company.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, which includes New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman as a member, is also conducting an investigation into Quadriga Art’s business dealings with at least one of its nonprofit clients.

According to a Senate Finance Committee news release dated May 23, the committee opened an investigation “into the potential abuses of tax-exempt nonprofit status by the Disabled Veterans National Foundation” through its fundraising ties to Quadriga Art.

“According to tax records, DVNF raised tens of millions of dollars over a two year period, yet reports indicate very little of the money went to directly help disabled veterans. Instead, DVNF apparently paid large sums to Quadriga Art in 2009 and 2010,” the release states.

“In order to qualify for tax exempt status, section 501(c)(3) organizations … must be operated primarily for charitable purposes and must not engage in transactions that benefit private interests or organizations insiders,” the release states.

New Hampshire address

When contacted Thursday, Quadriga Art public relations official Melissa Schwartz claimed “CNN didn’t deliver an accurate portrayal” of her company’s relationship with St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School. Schwartz refused to answer any questions about its fundraising contract with St. Bonaventure but repeatedly referred questions to St. Bonaventure officials who could “speak to the value” of Quadriga Art fundraising services.

Schwartz also declined to answer questions about Quadriga Art’s use of a New Hampshire post office box direct-mail “caging address” to solicit donations for St. Bonaventure. Several online charity consumer complaints reference unsolicited donation appeals for St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School using a Wilton, N.H. post office box address.

According to its website, Brickmill Marketing Services, a subsidiary of Quadriga Art, has a business location in Wilton, N.H.

In one online obituary, the family of an Oregon woman who died three years ago requested that donations in her memory be made to St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School. However, the family listed the direct-mail marketing address in Wilton, N.H., not the mission’s actual post office box in Thoreau. And on a direct-mail website, St. Bonaventure’s mailing list appears to be marketed for sale to direct-mail marketing companies.

Diocese unaware

Although Schwartz repeatedly referred all questions to officials at St. Bonaventure, repeated phone and email messages left Wednesday and Thursday for the mission’s attorney and its executive director Christopher Halter were not returned.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Edmund Yazzie is a member of St. Bonaventure’s Board of Trustees. When contacted Thursday, Yazzie said he would contact the mission’s executive director and attorney and ask them to return the calls. They did not.

Although St. Bonaventure’s is located in the Diocese of Gallup, Gallup diocesan attorney James “Jay” Mason said Wednesday the Gallup Diocese was unaware of the situation until about 10 days ago when contacted by CNN.

Mason, the only local official to speak directly to the media, said the diocese was obtaining copies of documents pertaining to St. Bonaventure and fundraising.

“Debt is not owed,” Mason said, adding that St. Bonaventure no longer had a contract with Quadriga Art. He also said that didn’t mean the situation was resolved.

“We’re continuing our investigation,” Mason said.

On Thursday, Gallup Bishop issued an official statement: “The Diocese of Gallup very recently became aware of the details of St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School’s fund raising agreement with Quadriga Art/Brickmill Studios, Inc. The Diocese is not a party to that agreement. The Diocese understands that St. Bonaventure has now terminated its fund raising agreement with Quadriga Art/Brickmill Studios, Inc. The Diocese does not have all of the facts and accordingly, will refrain from further comment pending future developments.”

Reporter Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at (505) 870-0745 or ehardinburrola@yahoo.com.

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BOSTON (MA)
Irish Central

By
MICHELLE K SMITH
IrishCentral Intern

Published Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Actor and director Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, one of the writers for “The West Wing,” have joined forces on an untitled drama which will follow the footsteps of the Boston Globe journalists who uncovered the sex abuse coverup in the Catholic Church in that area.

McCarthy has been working on the project for over a year, but has kept his work secret due to the sensitive nature of the film. The project was initially announced in April 2010 and is said to have similarities to “All the President’s Men.”

McCarthy told Boston.com about the film. He said, “This is a story that feels like it has to be told.”

McCarthy, who is a graduate of Boston College and grew up in a large Irish American family, said he felt drawn to the story because of his own connections.

He added, “It’s such a great reminder of how essential investigative journalism is.”

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Oct. 22, 2012

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — When the Diocese of Phoenix finally posted its list of clergy members accused or convicted of abusing children on its website last week, it bumped up the list from the Diocese of Gallup to 20 known abusers.

The Phoenix Diocese posted the list Tuesday, according to a story in the Arizona Republic Oct. 17. The diocese’s list of 29 abusers is shorter than the list of names the Phoenix newspaper has been compiling since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted nationally in 2002, but it does include the name of one priest that was new to the newspaper: Harry Morgan.

Church records from the Official Catholic Directory indicate Harry R. Morgan was one of several abusive priests from the Diocese of Gallup that the Diocese of Phoenix inherited when it was founded in 1969.

The directory indicates Morgan became a priest for the Diocese of Gallup in 1954, and like the majority of credibly accused sexual abusers in the Gallup Diocese, Morgan was assigned to Catholic parishes in rural northern Arizona. He was assigned to St. Joseph’s in Winslow, St. John the Baptist in St. Johns, St. Pius X in East Flagstaff, and St. Joseph’s in Williams, Ariz.

Associated Press news reports from 1975, posted online, indicate Morgan, then 60, was arrested Feb. 17, 1975, when he was the pastor at the Church of the Ascension in Fountain Hills, Ariz. Morgan was charged with molesting a 9-year-old boy that January.

In August 1975, Morgan pleaded no contest in Maricopa County Superior Court, and in October 1975 Judge C. Kimball Rose sentenced Morgan to 10 years probation. According to a news report dated Oct. 7, 1975, Morgan’s attorney William P. Mahoney said the Catholic Church was arranging to place Morgan “out of state in a parish without children.”

There is no information to indicate where Morgan was transferred.

Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup has made his own promises to post a similar list of credibly accused clergy on the diocesan website but has yet to do so. When contacted for comment, the Rev. Tim Farrell, the media liaison for the diocese, said because Wall is on pilgrimage in Italy, an official statement on such a listing would have to wait until the bishop returns at the end of the month.

Phoenix attorney Robert Pastor, who represents several clients with abuse allegations against the Diocese of Gallup, told the Arizona Republic he was “hopeful” about Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s decision to post the list.

However, when contacted about the Gallup Diocese, Pastor emailed a critical statement that referred to Wall’s May 12, 2009, news release in which he promised to review more than 400 diocesan personnel files and post a similar list of abusers on the diocese’s website.

“At the time, this promise was a thoughtful gesture by the Bishop of Gallup,” Pastor said. “After waiting three years for the Bishop to make good on his promise, we have to call it what it is: another lie and half truth that is part of a greater effort to cover-up clergy sexual abuse. I have no faith that the Bishop of Gallup will make good on his promise. The Bishop of Gallup either has no intention of being a real leader for his flock or he has too many files of pedophile priests hiding in the archives of the Chancery.”

The Independent has compiled its own list of alleged sexual abusers from the Gallup Diocese based on information from church documents, police reports and court records. The following list includes both diocesan and religious order priests accused of abusing minors: William Allison, Michael J. Aten, John Boland, James M. Burns, Santino “Tony A. Casimano, Charles “Chuck” Cichanowicz, David J. Clark, Laurence Florez, Clement A. Hageman, Julian Hartig, Robert J. Kirsch, Diego Mazon, Bruce MacArthur, Douglas A. McNeill, Harry R. Morgan, Francis “Frank” Murphy, Jose H. Rodriguez, Raul Sanchez, John T. Sullivan and Samuel Wilson.

Gallup clergy who have allegedly sexually assaulted adult victims include James Schlaffer and Alfred A. Tachias.

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IRELAND
Eureka Street (Australia)

Frank O’Shea October 23, 2012

During the time of big Irish families in the pre-pill era, boys might be under less parental control than ought to be possible today when the Irish birth rate, although the highest in Europe, is a modest 2.1. So, it was not unusual for boys to get into trouble and be deemed dangers to society or to property or to apple orchards.

The result was that they might be sent to the large industrial school run by the Christian Brothers in the north Dublin suburb of Artane. A frazzled parent might well threaten their child with such an outcome in an effort to frighten the recalcitrant one into conformity.

In practice, many of those who ended up in Artane were there because they had been abandoned or because it was the opinion of authorities that their families were unable to look after them. It was not a badge of honour for the family or a situation fondly anticipated by the child.

I came across the story of one such boy recently. Danny Ellis was an inner city kid, his father in America for work, his young mother not able or not willing to look after him and his four younger siblings. These were taken away to be cared for by nuns and finally his mother took Danny to Artane, telling him she had to go to hospital and would come back for him at Christmas. He never saw her again.

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MEXICO
El Nuevo Herald

Por E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
Associated Press

MEXICO — Autoridades detuvieron a un supuesto hijo del fallecido fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, por una demanda por extorsión que presentó en su contra la congregación católica.

Una funcionaria del Poder Judicial del Estado de México, no autorizada a ser identificada por políticas internas, dijo a The Associated Press que José Raúl González Lara fue detenido e internado en un penal estatal en las afueras de la capital del país por el delito de tentativa de extorsión.

Una mexicana sacudió a la opinión pública en 2010 cuando aseguro en un programa radial que había procreado dos de sus tres hijos con Maciel, a quien también acusó de abusar sexualmente de dos de ellos. Uno de los hijos que se presentó era José Raúl González Lara.

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MEXICO
notisistema

El Tribunal Superior de Justicia del Estado de México (TSJEM), confirma que hasta las 11:40 de este martes, aún permanece en el Penal de Barrientos, José Raúl González Lara -presunto hijo de Marcial Maciel, fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo-; toda vez que no se ha cubierto el pago de una fianza por 47 mil pesos.

José Raúl González fue detenido este lunes en Cuernavaca, Morelos, por ministeriales mexiquense quienes contaban con una orden de aprehensión girada por el Juez Tercero Penal de Barrientos, bajo la causa penal 710-12, por el delito de tentativa de extorsión.

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MEXICO
El Universal

Redacción
23 de octubre 2012

Al morir el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo y el movimiento “Regnum Christi”, Marcial Maciel Degollado, se develaron una serie de acusaciones y escándalos en su contra, desde abusos sexuales por miembros de la congregación y estudiantes, pederastia e hijos secretos, entre ellos José Raúl González Lara, quien hoy enfrenta cargos por extorsión.

González Lara fue detenido ayer en Cuernavaca, Morelos, por ministeriales mexiquense quienes contaban con una orden de aprehensión girada por el Juez Tercero Penal de Barrientos, en el municipio de Tlalnepantla, bajo la causa penal 710-12, por el delito de tentativa de extorsión.

Por ello, EL UNIVERSAL Edomex te da a conocer los escándalos del sacerdote mexicano:

1.- ABUSOS SEXUALES Y PEDERASTÍA

En el año de 1997, ocho ex miembros de la Legión de Cristo acusaron al sacerdote Marcial Maciel de haber cometido abuso sexual en su contra y que además, en su momento, nadie de la congregación o miembros de la jerarquía católica los atendió.

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MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

by Jason Berry | Oct. 23, 2012

Mexican police arrested Jose Raúl Gonzalez Lara, a biological son of the late Legion of Christ founder Fr. Marcial Maciel, on Monday on charges of attempted extortion against the Legion.

Gonzalez Lara was taken from his home in Cuernavaca and jailed in Penal de Barrientos in Tlalnepantla, a rough industrial suburb in the northern part of sprawling Mexico City. Although he posted bail, he is reportedly still being held in custody.

CNN broadcaster Carmen Aristegui wrote in an email that authorities confirmed the arrest at 5 p.m.

“No one has officially recognized that he was arrested at 7:30 a.m.,” said Aristegui, the author of Marcial Maciel: Historia de un Criminal.

Gonzalez Lara, 33, married with a 1-year-old son, works in a physical fitness center. In 2010, St. Paul, Minn., attorney Jeff Anderson sued the Legionaries in Connecticut, where the order has its American headquarters, stating that Maciel abused Gonzalez Lara in several U.S. locations as he was growing up, and that the order knew the founder had a history of abusing seminarians.

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FLORIDA
NBC Miami

By Diana Gonzalez

Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012

A 34-year-old man came forward Tuesday to make new sexual abuse allegations against an embattled South Florida priest, Father Rolando Garcia.

Tony Simmons said he was a 16-year-old runaway when he met Garcia at Church of the Little Flower in Hollywood in 1994. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Miami-Dade County Court says that Father Garcia initially gave him assistance and counseling, but began sexually abusing Simmons after they went to a movie one night.

Garcia later employed him as a painter at the church from 2001 to 2003 while the abuse continued, Simmons said at a news conference he held with attorney Jeff Herman in front of St. Agatha Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade. Garcia is currently the pastor of that church.

Simmons claims the sexual relationship ended when he joined the U.

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MISSOURI
Associated Baptist Church

By Bob Allen

Missouri Baptist Convention officials are watching a member church whose pastor was arrested recently on sexual abuse charges a year after his previous acquittal of child molestation.

Travis SmithTravis Smith, 42, of California, Mo., appeared for arraignment Oct. 16 in Moniteau County court. He faces charges of forcible rape, statutory rape and sexual abuse alleged to have occurred in 1998, statutory rape in 1999 and statutory rape and sodomy in 2005.

Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stover, Mo., since 2006, was found not guilty on Sept. 28, 2011, by a jury in Morgan County of misdemeanor child molestation of a 14-year-old girl in 2009. A separate charge of statutory rape was dropped because that accuser turned out to have been 17, the age of consent in Missouri, rather than 15 as first claimed when their alleged improper relationship began.

The First Baptist Church, Stover, website listed Smith as its pastor as of Oct. 23. Local media reported Oct. 3 that church members were standing by their pastor despite the charges. Community residents countered with a vigil on behalf of his alleged victims, protesting a church fish fry that was described in conflicting media reports as a show of support for Smith and an annual church event that just happened to coincide with news of the arrest.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Associated Press

A lawsuit claims officials at a Warren church should have stopped a former pastor from influencing a 15-year-old boy he later sexually assaulted.

The civil suit filed against the Antioch Baptist Church and Academy in Warren also claims Christopher Settlemoir shouldn’t have been hired because officials knew about his pedophilic tendencies.

Settlemoir last year pleaded no contest to charges he sexually assaulted the boy and accosted another. The 29-year-old former Warren resident is serving a seven- to 15-year prison term.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

A billboard on south Interstate 35 just past Armour Road spells out a blunt message:

“For the good of the people Bishop Finn must RESIGN!”

The sign also highlights an online petition that has been circulating for a month, calling for Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation.

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese declined to comment on the billboard or the petition. And the man who organized the petition drive said he had nothing to do with the sign.

“I was really surprised, but I have no idea who paid for it,” Jeff Weis said of the message, which is among a series of ads displayed in cycles on the electronic billboard.

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Authority in the Church

[Deutsch]

[Nederlands]

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, we call on all other members of the People of God to assess the situation in our church.

Many of the key insights of Vatican II have not at all, or only partially, been implemented. This has been due to resistance in some quarters, but also to a measure of ambiguity that remained unresolved in certain Council documents.

A principal source of present-day stagnation lies in misunderstanding and abuse affecting the exercise of authority in our Church. Specifically, the following issues require urgent redress:

The role of the papacy needs to be clearly re-defined in line with Christ’s intentions. As supreme pastor, unifier and prime witness to faith, the pope contributes substantially to the health of the universal church. However, his authority may never obscure, diminish or suppress the authentic authority directly given by Christ to all members of the people of God.

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IRELAND
The Mayo News

Fr Kevin Hegarty

The recent 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council has occasioned a plethora of reminiscences and reflections about the most crucial event in the Catholic Church in the last century. For me, the most interesting contribution has come from the Swiss theologian, Hans Kung.

Kung was an adviser at the council along with Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Both were then in their early thirties and regarded as ‘boy theologians’ by their elderly and venerable colleagues.

Since then their paths have diverged considerably. Kung has ploughed a lonely furrow as an upholder of the reforms of the council while Pope Benedict, frightened by the student protests of the 1960’s, has become a theological reactionary.

When Pope John XXIII was asked what he intended by having a council, he replied by opening a window and saying: “That – to let some fresh air into the Church.” The present incumbent of the papal throne has closed the door. …

In an interview with ‘The Guardian’ on October 5 Kung has been even more forthcoming on the current crisis in Catholicism. He strongly criticised the guidelines governing the choice of bishops: “The rules for choosing bishops are so rigid that as soon as candidates emerge who say, stand up for the pill, or the ordination of women they are struck off the list. The result was a church of ‘yes men’ almost all of whom unquestioningly toe the line. The only way for reform is from the bottom up. The priests and others in positions of responsibility need to stop being so subservient, to organise themselves and say that there are certain things that they will not put up with anymore.”

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TULSA (OK)
Christian Post

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter

October 23, 2012

As Victory Christian Center megachurch in Tulsa, Okla., continues fighting allegations against sexual abuse, a national support group of people abused by priests has accused its ministers of trying to cover-up the abuse and save the church’s reputation rather than provide full support for the victims.

“Again, here we go with these ministers putting their reputations ahead of the safety of the kids,” said Barbara Dorris, the outreach director for the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Jarrod Kopp, Senior Account Executive of Schnake Turnbo Frank, a Public Relations Consultant hired to represent the church, shared with The Christian Post an email statement from his firm regarding the accusations: “We disagree with SNAP’s characterization of this incident at Victory Christian Center. We have previously released a detailed timeline of the events during that time to fully disclose our response.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, (VIS) – Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, has issued a decree ruling that the first hearing in the trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti is to take place at 9 a.m. on 5 November. Sciarpelletti, who is accused of complicity, was sent for trial by the examining magistrate on 13 August, but his trial was separated from that of Paolo Gabriele by a ruling issued during the course of the court hearing of 29 September.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

[SENTENZA DEL TRIBUNALE DELLO STATO DELLA CITTÀ DEL VATICANO NEL PROCEDIMENTO PENALE A CARICO DEL SIGNOR GABRIELE PAOLO]

Vatican City, (VIS) – Made public today was the full text of the sentence issued by the Tribunal of Vatican City State on 6 October, in which Paolo Gabriele was declared guilty of aggravated theft.

On 6 October Paolo Gabriele had been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three years although, in view of his “lack of a criminal record, his record of service in the period prior to the facts in question, the subjective (though mistaken) belief identified by the accused as the motive for his conduct, as well as his own statement of his awareness of having betrayed the trust of the Holy Father, the Tribunal reduced the sentence to imprisonment for one (1) year and six (6) months, and ordered the guilty party to defray the costs of the trial”.

In a briefing held this morning Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. explained some aspects of the sentence. He began by noting that it focused on the offence of stealing documents, and in particular the originals of documents, and took no account of other objects such as a nugget of gold, a cheque in the Holy Father’s name and a sixteenth-century copy of “The Aeneid”, because there were doubts about the way in which the search during which they were found had been carried out, and Gabriele’s guilt was not proven.

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VATICAN CITY
ADN Kronos

Vatican City, 23 Oct. (AKI) – Pope Benedict XVI could pardon his former butler Paolo Gabriele who was earlier this month jailed for 18 months for stealing private papal correspondence, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

“A papal pardon remains a possibility but we cannot predict if, how and when,” said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.

He was briefing journaalists on the written explanation issued Tuesday by the the three-judge tribunal of how it reached its 6 October ruling against Gabriele, who was convicted of aggravated theft and sentenced to 18 months in jail, currently being served under house arrest.

The judges’ explanation sharply criticised Gabriele for harming the pope, the Holy See and the entire Catholic Church.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

A computer expert is due to go on trial on 5 November for aiding and abetting the Pope’s former butler to steal papal documents, the Vatican has announced.

Claudio Sciarpelletti is accused of helping Paolo Gabriele while working as a computer technician in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

Gabriele was given an 18-month prison sentence earlier this month.

He admitted passing documents to a journalist, but said he did it out of love for the church and the Pope.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | Tue Oct 23, 2012

(Reuters) – A Vatican computer expert will go on trial on November 5 for aiding and abetting the pope’s former butler Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted this month of stealing papal documents, a spokesman for the Holy See said on Tuesday.

Claudio Sciarpelletti was not tried with Gabriele, who was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by a Vatican court but is currently serving the sentence under house arrest in his Vatican apartment.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD 10/23/12

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican tribunal that convicted the pope’s ex-butler of stealing private papal correspondence sharply condemned the theft on Tuesday, saying it harmed the pope, the Holy See and the entire Catholic Church.

The three-judge tribunal issued its written explanation of how it reached its Oct. 6 ruling against Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted of aggravated theft and sentenced to 18 months, currently being served under house arrest.

Gabriele confessed to photocopying papal documents and giving them to an Italian journalist, saying Pope Benedict XVI wasn’t being informed of the “evil and corruption” around him and that he believed exposing the problems publicly would put the church back on the right track.

The revelations of petty bureaucratic infighting, intrigue and allegations of corruption and homosexual liaisons marked the biggest Vatican security breach in modern times.

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ILLINOIS
The State Journal-Register

By NATHAN WOODSIDE
The State Journal-Register

LINCOLN — A man recently disciplined by the state of Illinois for unlicensed practice of clinical psychology is a former priest who also faces a criminal charge of failure to register as a sex offender.

Francis A. Benham, 74, was released from a Maryland jail in early 2006 after being convicted of sex crimes against children while serving as a priest there in the 1970s.

Benham then moved back to Lincoln, where he had lived from 1987 until 2004, after leaving the priesthood. During that time, Benham worked as a counselor for convicted sex offenders at Tazwood Mental Health Center in Pekin.

He was arrested again in February by Lincoln police on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender.

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UNITED STATES
What They Knew

The Society of Jesus has long been regarded for the intellectual prowess of its priests and educators. In the marketplace of ideas Jesuits have made significant contributions to both the physical and social sciences. But there is evidence that this is starting to slip. Recent cases in California and elsewhere have begged the question, “What has happened to the Jesuit Order? Can they still wave their intellectual wands and make sexual abuse a defensible act?”

We stumbled upon this bit of Jesuit produced research (link to Santa Clara Univ. article) into why Jesuits abuse. Written by Gerdenio Sonny Manuel, S. J., a member of the California Province Sensitive Incidents Team, entitled Living Chastity: Psychosexual Well Being in Jesuit Life An Essay for Studies in Jesuit Spirituality.

The thrust of his intellectual question, with regards to being a Jesuit is “How in the world could you do that to yourself?” Basically sex abuse by Jesuits boils down to lack of self-understanding, loneliness and stress. From the article:

“In addition to coping with the stress related to our lifestyle and ministry, there are the usual varieties of ordinary life events that can burden us: personal illness or misfortune, interpersonal conflicts, family struggles, aging, the death of loved ones. From time to time, friends, family, or the Society will inevitably disappoint and even hurt us. And so, independently or cumulatively we can be stressed by our lifestyle, ministry, and ordinary life traumas and find ourselves in pain and searching for solace. During these times of distress, we need to be especially vigilant that we do not use sex as a way of altering mood or as an escape. Along with other forms of gratification or socially isolating activities like extended television viewing, engaging in sexual fantasies, various forms of internet pornography, and sexually acting out can be ways of coping with sadness by medicating our pain and suffering.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[Submissions to the inquiry – Government of Victoria]

[with video]

A former Catholic priest has told Victoria’s Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse, the Church might reduce the incidence of paedophilia by allowing clergy to marry.

Des Cahill, a professor at RMIT University, was among those to give evidence on the second day of public hearings.

He said the Catholic Church had failed to deal properly with paedophilia and reassessing celibacy might be one way of limiting abuse.

“A celibate does not have the emotional support of a close community as a majority of people do in a marriage family context, then there’s a greater likelihood of offending,” he said.

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MICHIGAN
Daily Tribune

By Jameson Cook
jamie.cook@macombdaily.com; @jamesoncook

Officials of a Warren church and religious school should have stopped obvious “grooming” of a teenage boy whom the church’s pastor later raped. A lawsuit also claims the pastor never should have been hired because the church knew about his pedophilic tendencies, a lawsuit alleges.

In a civil action replete with disturbing accusations, the unidentified boy says employees and officials of Antioch Baptist Church and Academy failed mightily to detect and prevent the actions of convicted rapist Christopher Settlemoir.

“The rape of a minor child occurred dozens of times while the staff turned to the blind eye crime (sic) being perpetrated against a child within their care,” says the lawsuit filed Friday by “John Doe” in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. “(Antioch) had a duty to self-report to Child Protective Services and/or law enforcement that plaintiff… was at risk of and actually was being sexually abused.”

Settlemoir in 2011 pleaded no contest each to two counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and accosting a child for immoral purposes for assaults that police said lasted more than a year ending in June 2010. He also was accused of sending explicit text messages to a second boy.

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
CBS 7

Diocese of San Angelo
Press Release
October 22, 2012

SAN ANGELO — During the month of June 2012, the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo completed an audit of its Safe Environment Programs with auditors from Stonebridge Business Partners of Rochester, New York, an independent firm commissioned by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB), to insure compliance with the USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

In a letter to San Angelo Bishop Michael Pfeifer dated October 12, 2012 from Stonebridge Business Partners, the firm advised that, “The Diocese of San Angelo is in compliance with the data collection requirements for the 2011/2012 Charter audit period.”

The Charter, originally adopted by the USCCB in November 2002, sets forth specific requirements which enable dioceses across the country to establish safe environment programs to protect children and youth from sexual and other kinds of abuse. During this audit, diocesan safe environment policies, safe environment programs for church personnel, parents, and children, as well as procedures for assisting victims of sexual abuse were examined.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

By Suzanne McLaughlin, The Republican
on October 22, 2012

SPRINGFIELD – Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney will not allow the Rev. Robert M. Thrasher to be added as a third defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging harm caused by the sexual abuse of Peter J. Caffrey by former priest Richard Lavigne.

Caffrey, 47, is suing Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former bishop Thomas L. Dupre of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, charging they knew, or should have known that then-Rev. Richard Lavigne had a history of sexual misconduct before he abused him in 1976 or 1977.

Caffrey, who now lives in Michigan, suffered from repressed memory until June 2009, when he remembered that he had been abused at the former St. Francis of Assisi Parish in North Adams, and at Lavigne’s home in Ashfield, his attorney, John J. Stobierski said.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

ELAINE KEOGH

CARDINAL SEÁN Brady should make a full apology to a priest who was removed from his parish in Co Louth after an allegation of abuse made against him was subsequently found to be false.

That’s according to Labour Senator Mary Moran who is part of the parish of Blackrock, Co Louth, which Fr Oliver Brennan was attached to at the time of the allegation in August 2010.

Yesterday Fr Brennan told LMFM radio that being accused of child abuse “is every priest’s nightmare”. The allegation dates back to the early 1970s and was investigated by the PSNI and later by Cardinal Brady. Both enquiries cleared him of any wrongdoing.

He said he had no idea an allegation was being made and the last two years have been “very difficult, quite horrendous really”.

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CANADA
The Observer

Former Roman Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco appeared in Sarnia court Monday for a preliminary hearing.

He was charged in 2011 with committing sexual offences involving four teenage girls between 1981 and 1987.

The hearing is set to continue Tuesday and Wednesday, and will determine if a Superior Court trial is warranted.

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CANADA
Saaich News

By Staff Writer – Saanich News
Published: October 22, 2012

The trial of a former Saanich priest charged with molesting minors is now expected to start in December.

Philip Jacobs is charged with sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference of a person under 14 and touching a young person for a sexual purpose related to three minors under the age of 14 in alleged incidents spanning September 1996 to June 2001.

Jacobs served as a parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker on Burnside Road West from 1998 to 2002. Prior to that he worked part-time from 1996 to 1998 at St. Rose of Lima in Sooke. In the early 1990s he worked as a priest in Colombus, Ohio.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on October 22, 2012

A former Catholic priest and registered sex offender, now living in the Peoria diocese, has been accused of practicing psychology without a license. He also faces charges that he failed to register as a sex offender, as required by law.

We hope that Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky will use his resources to warn his flock about Benham. It’s clear that he’s still manipulative and dangerous. And we hope anyone who saw, suspected or suffered wrongdoing by Benham will contact law enforcement immediately. That’s the best way to safeguard the vulnerable from this sick and cunning man.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Sandusky, the former Penn State coach convicted of molesting children, blasted his accusers as “opportunistic.”

Page, the current chief executive of the Southern Baptist Convention, blasted support groups for clergy molestation victims as “opportunistic.”

One man blasted child molestation victims in an apparent effort to undermine their credibility so as to salvage some shred of his own reputation, despite the overwhelming evidence against him.

The other man blasted child molestation victims in an apparent effort to undermine their credibility so as to preserve the reputation of the Southern Baptist Convention, despite the overwhelming number of Baptist clergy abuse and cover-up cases.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Parliament – Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations

Submissions
The Committee developed a Submission Guide to help interested parties in preparing a submission for this Inquiry.

Please click in this link to access the Submission Guide. Submission Guide

Written submissions to the Inquiry closed on 21 September 2012.

The Committee is now in the process of formally accepting submissions.

Given the high level of interest in this Inquiry, submissions will be made available on the website once they have been formally processed. As there have been hundreds of submissions made to this Inquiry, it may take some time to complete the process.

Submissions will be treated as public documents unless confidentiality is requested or the Committee exercises its discretion.

Advisory Committee to South Western Centre Against Sexual Assault (32.23 Kb)

Anglican Diocese of Melbourne (3.40 Mb)

Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta (114.16 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 1 (125.33 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 2 (247.74 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 3 (660.62 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 4 (222.11 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 5 (390.58 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 6 (356.43 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 7 (390.16 Kb)
Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta_Appendix 8 (332.02 Kb)

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[Des Cahill submission to the Victoria inquiry]

Barney Zwartz October 23, 2012

AT LEAST one in 20 Catholic priests in Melbourne is a child sex abuser, although the real figure is probably one in 15, the state inquiry into the churches’ handling of sex abuse was told yesterday.

RMIT professor Des Cahill said his figures, based on analysing conviction rates of priests ordained from Melbourne’s Corpus Christi College, closely matched a much larger American analysis of 105,000 priests which found that 4362 were child sex offenders.

The intercultural studies professor also told the inquiry that the Catholic Church was incapable of reforming itself because of its internal culture. He said the Church’s Melbourne Response abuse protocol had to go, and the state would have to intervene to achieve it.

In other key testimony, Professor Cahill:
■Called for married priests, as are being allowed now in the Anglican ordinariate within the Catholic Church, as a “circuit-breaker” that would reduce child sex abuse. The state should remove the Equal Opportunity Act exemption letting the church discriminate on grounds of marital status, he said.
■Described the Church as “a holy and unholy mess, except where religious sisters or laypeople are in charge, for example schools and welfare agencies”.

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LINCOLN (IL)
Lincoln Courier

By Nathan Woodside
GateHouse News Service

Posted Oct 22, 2012

LINCOLN —

A former priest and convicted sex offender in Lincoln has been cited for practicing clinical psychology without a license.

According to recently released records, 74-year-old Francis A. Benham was ordered by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to stop the unlicensed practice of clinical psychology after state officials discovered he had business cards printed in which he used the title “Dr.” and claimed to provide “psychotherapy services.”
Even though he lacked a doctorate degree in psychology or a state license as a licensed clinical psychologist, he provided psychotherapy services to a client and advertised in a local telephone directory as a psychotherapist, according to state documents.

Online business listings show his practice located at 314 10th St. in Lincoln – the same address listed for Benham in the state sex offender registry.

Benham was released from a Maryland jail in early 2006 after being convicted of sex crimes against children while serving as a priest there in the 1970s. His original sentence included two 10-year terms, but a judge suspended most of that time.
After his release, Benham moved back to Lincoln, where he had lived after leaving the priesthood from 1987 until 2004.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

EMPLOYMENT MATTERS – PETER CULLEN

OPINION: Few readers will recognise the name Paolo Gabriele, but they might know him as the Pope’s ex-butler. Gabriele copied the Pope’s private papers and provided them to a journalist who in due course published them.

He claimed he was motivated by a desire to root out “corruption and evil” which he alleged was at the heart of the Catholic Church, but ultimately Gabriele’s actions led to his dismissal.

He has since been convicted of the theft of the documents and sentenced to a modest term in jail.

Gabriele is certainly not the first employee to be guilty of leaking his employer’s confidential information. Nowadays, not only do employees often know a lot more about their employers than was the case previously but the speed at which information can spread has increased significantly.

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GEORGIA
ActionNewsJax

ST. MARYS, Ga. — A Kingsland Deacon has been arrested and accused of molesting a four-year-old and a seven-year-old.

St. Marys Police officers arrested Clinton Jones Rivers, a deacon at a Kingsland church, October 10 at a home on Thoroughbred Road in St. Marys on two counts of sexual exploitation of children.

In July 2012, the St. Marys Police Department received a tip saying two children, ages 4 and 7, were possible victims of child sexual abuse. The St. Marys Police Department Criminal Investigation Division launched an investigation into these allegations and learned from the children involved that Mr. Rivers was touching them inappropriately on their “private areas.”

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GEORGIA
First Coast News

ST. MARYS, Ga. — The St. Marys Police Department arrested a deacon of a local Kingsland church on charges of sexual exploitation of children.

Police arrested Jones Rivers Wednesday, October 10 at 1:30 p.m., according to a news release from the St. Marys Police Department.

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Rivers after receiving a report in July 2012 from a local mandated reporter who indicated two children, ages 4 and 7, had possible been victims of child sexual abuse.

The investigation by the police department revealed Rivers allegedly touched the two children inappropriately on their “private areas.” The release said Rivers also allegedly exposed the 7-year-old child to pornography on Rivers’ home computer. Originally police arrested Rivers on two charges of child molestation and one charge of furnishing obscene materials to minors.

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

Posted by Barbara Dorris on October 22, 2012

We suspect these cases have settled for the same reasons Catholic officials settle clergy sex abuse cases – because they want to keep their complicity hidden.

We are proud of these two brave whistleblowers. We hope their courage, and this outcome, will encourage other current and former church employees who saw, suspected or suffered wrongdoing to speak up, expose it, and deter it.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After decades of resentment and horror over the abuse of indigenous children, the canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha marked a further step toward the reconciliation of the indigenous communities and the Catholic Church.

Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Canada, told Canadian church and government officials the canonization “makes it possible, very much possible, to bring our community — the First Nations — very much closer with the Catholic Church. There was a rupture for too long.”

Fontaine headed a 2009 Canadian aboriginal delegation to the Vatican, which received a formal apology from the church for the treatment of native children in Canadian residential schools.

An estimated 100,000 aboriginal children passed through the schools, which were abolished in the 1990s. They were established and paid for by the Canadian government, but were administered by various church organizations, including Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders. The schools became known for widespread physical and sexual abuse of children and have been blamed for contributing to the disappearance of native languages and cultures.

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CROATIA
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

A Croatian priest who allegedly went on the run with £1 million and a married woman has been arrested – but the whereabouts of the money and the identity of the woman are unknown.

By Matthew Day, Warsaw
4:14PM BST 22 Oct 2012

Father Sime Nimac was arrested in a Zagreb flat after disappearing from his parish near the coastal town of Split with a huge amount of cash he had got from selling a piece of Church land without the permission of his diocese.

Described by his Franciscan order as a man with “insatiable egotism”, the 34-year-old clergyman has been charged with abuse of office and had his passport confiscated to prevent him fleeing the country.

Croatian media has speculated that Father Nimac may have used the money from the land sale, which was concluded five months ago, to fuel a lavish lifestyle that included fine clothes, cars, a yacht called “Lucky Me” and the attentions of a married woman.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former priest from County Antrim is to stand trial accused of child sexual abuse offences which allegedly took place more than 20 years ago.

James Martin Donaghy, 54, from Jersey Avenue in Lisburn, is charged with four counts of indecently assaulting a boy.

The alleged offences were committed in Belfast between January and May 1989.

Mr Donaghy, who left the priesthood a number of years ago, faces a further charge of common assault against the same person.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
NECN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has settled two civil lawsuits.

The Kansas City Star reported Monday that attorneys for the diocese and plaintiffs would not discuss the content of the settlements.

In one lawsuit, Margaret Mata, a former independent contractor, alleged the diocese and Bishop Robert Finn retaliated against her for advocating on behalf of victims of a priest facing child pornography. She said she also pushed the diocese to change its policies to prevent further child sexual abuse.

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COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on October 20, 2012

A Catholic priest who’s from here and living back here now pled not guilty yesterday to charges that he molested a Colorado boy last year.

Fr. Charles Robert Manning, 77, is accused of molesting the boy while he was working as pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, where he was assigned in 2007. The alleged crimes took place in June 2011.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette (see below), “An arrest affidavit alleges the boy came to Manning for advice on becoming a Catholic and the priest began giving him private lessons, during which he gave the boy alcohol and marijuana. Colorado Springs Police also say Manning took the boy to get his nipples pierced, kissed the boy on the lips and engaged in other sexual acts, after which he thanked the boy.”

“Church officials seem to be doing little or nothing to help police and prosecutors pursue these charges,” said Barbara Dorris of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). “Both bishops – in Colorado Springs and St. Louis – should be beating the bushes looking for more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers who could help resolve this case.”

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UNITED STATES
Feast of Eden

October 22, 2012 By Dawn Eden

Pope Benedict’s canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha yesterday gave the Church a new patroness for those who have suffered physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in childhood— particularly those whose abuse was perpetrated by family members or family friends.

Born in 1656 to a Mohawk father and a Christian Algonquin mother in present-day New York, St. Kateri lost her parents to smallpox when she was four. The disease also struck Kateri herself, leaving her with disfiguring scars and poor vision.

Kateri was raised by her aunt and uncle, who expected to set her up in an arranged marriage. But by the time she reached her late teens, she had decided to dedicate her life to Christ, receiving instruction in the Catholic faith from Jesuit missionaries. Her Christian faith, her modesty, and her decision to remain a virgin caused her entire extended family to turn against her, looking upon her as an embarrassment. According to one of her early biographers, her family would refuse to let her have any food on Sundays because she would not work on the Lord’s day. When she went to the chapel, they would send boys out to throw rocks at her and taunt her (their favorite taunt was “Christian,” which they shouted with disgust, as if it were “dog”).

The uncle particularly resented Kateri’s decision to preserve her virginity, because he was a tribal chief and could benefit politically if he were able to marry her off. So, in a particularly heinous attempt to humiliate his niece, he encouraged his drunken, violent friends to pursue her around the village, attempting to molest her.

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EUROPE
Screen Daily

22 October, 2012 | By Andreas Wiseman

EXCLUSIVE: Italian distributor Feltrinelli takes aim with LFF-winning documentary about paedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church and plans live debates with clergy.

When Italian national newspaper La Repubblica reviewed Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Alex Gibney’s LFF-winning documentary about paedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church, the paper’s critic wrote: “It is difficult to imagine the film will find a theatrical distributor in Italy, and it is even less likely to find one for TV.”

Step forward Italian outfit Feltrinelli, which has taken the bold step of picking up all Italian rights from sales outfit Content Media. The film is believed to be the first on the subject to get a theatrical release in the country.

According to Feltrinelli’s head of documentary distribution Anastasia Plazzotta, the company plans to release the film in spring 2013 in around 30 cities – including Verona, the location of the Church-run Antonio Provolo Institute, which is featured in Gibney’s film and where a number of deaf students have alleged sexual abuse – with live debates after the screenings between clergy, intellectuals and Gibney, schedule permitting.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph

Des Cahill tells state inquiry into child abuse that Catholic Church had created a “holy and unholy mess”

Grant McArthur
Herald Sun
October 23, 2012

MORE than one in 20 Victorian Catholic priests became a child abuser and the church’s senior leaders may have to go to jail for covering up the crimes, a former priest and academic has told a state inquiry.

On the second day of public hearings into churches’ handling of child abuse, RMIT intercultural studies professor Des Cahill said the Catholic Church had created a “holy and unholy mess” it was incapable of taking action to resolve.

A former priest who, when resigning in 1976, accused the Catholic Church of being unable to face up to its problems, Prof Cahill warned the inquiry the State Government needed to intervene.

“It is an unfortunate reality that as a result of this inquiry some senior religious people may end up in jail for dereliction of duty, and they must be treated with compassion and understanding,” Prof Cahill said.

“But children matter.

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UNITED STATES
Bangor Daily News

[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]

[Geography determines justice for Scout abuse victims – Los Angeles Times]

By Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times

Ron Morgan and Kerry Lewis grew up in adjoining states — one in Idaho, the other in Oregon.

Both belonged to Boy Scout troops during the 1980s, and decades later, both alleged in lawsuits that the Scouts failed to protect them and other boys against known molesters, citing detailed evidence from the organization’s confidential files.

In 2010, Lewis won a jury verdict of nearly $20 million against the Scouts, the largest such award in the organization’s history. Morgan’s case was never considered on its merits. The Idaho Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that, under state law, it was filed too late.

“Our state … turned us away,” Morgan said. “His didn’t.” …

In a statement, Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said the group, which since 2010 has required members to report suspicions of abuse to law enforcement, was not focused on potential lawsuits, “but rather on continuing to enhance our multitiered policies and procedures to help keep kids safe.”

“As for statute of limitations,” Smith added, “the BSA respects the decisions which are made by lawmakers and the judicial system.”

In general, it’s difficult to bring a lawsuit now based on abuse that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, said Marci Hamilton, a professor at Yeshiva University’s law school. “I am floored at how many strong cases are capable of going nowhere because of a statute,” she said.

In some states, lawyers can argue that normal time limits shouldn’t apply because an institution covered up sexual abuse.

Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson said he recently persuaded a Nevada judge not to dismiss a lawsuit by a man who said a Catholic priest groped him in the 1980s. In court papers, he argued that only in 2008 did the man learn that church officials knew that the priest had previously been accused of sexually assaulting others.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

Two civil lawsuits filed against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph — one claiming sexual harassment and another alleging wrongful dismissal — have been settled.

The lawsuits are among about 30 that have been filed against the diocese in the last two years and are the first to be settled. Most of the lawsuits allege sexual abuse by priests.

The diocese and the plaintiffs were tight-lipped about the cases.

“Both cases have been resolved to the parties’ mutual satisfaction,” said Rebecca Randles, the Kansas City lawyer whose firm represents the plaintiffs.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 22, 2012

Barney Zwartz

AT LEAST one in 20 Catholic priests in Melbourne is a child sex abuser, although the real figure is probably one in 15, the state inquiry into the churches’ handling of sex abuse was told this afternoon.

RMIT professor Des Cahill said his figures, based on analysing conviction rates of priests ordained from Melbourne’s Corpus Christi College, closely matched a much larger American analysis of 105,000 priests which found that 4362 were child sex offenders.

The intercultural studies professor also told the inquiry that the Catholic Church was incapable of reforming itself because of its internal culture. He said the Church’s Melbourne Response abuse protocol had to go, and the state would have to intervene to achieve it.

In other key testimony, Professor Cahill:
•Called for married priests, as are being allowed now in the Anglican ordinariate within the Catholic Church, as a “circuit-breaker” that would reduce child sex abuse. The state should remove the Equal Opportunity Act exemption letting the church discriminate on grounds of marital status, he said.
•Described the Church as “a holy and unholy mess, except where religious sisters or laypeople are in charge, for example schools and welfare agencies”.
•Called for an “eminent Catholic task force” of lay people to work with the Church on reform and transparency.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
Updated October 22, 2012

A former Catholic priest has told Victoria’s Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse, the Church might reduce the incidence of paedophilia by allowing clergy to marry.

Des Cahill is now a professor at RMIT University.

He was among those to give evidence on the second day of public hearings.

He said the Catholic Church had failed to deal properly with paedophilia and reassessing celibacy might be one way of limiting abuse.

“A celibate does not have the emotional support of a close community as a majority of people do in a marriage family context, then there’s a greater likelihood of offending,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

By Paul Mulvey
From: AAP
October 22, 2012

A FORMER priest has called for the Catholic Church to accept married clergy to help change a culture which has contributed to sexual abuse of children.

Des Cahill says the Victorian government should amend the Equal Opportunity Act to remove the exemption allowing religious organisations to bar people from serving in the church because of their marital status.

Professor Cahill told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry the reform would require “major changes” in the church and admitted it would be a long shot.

But allowing married clergy in the Catholic Church could be the “circuit breaker” needed to change the whole culture of what he called “celibate caste clericalism”, he said.

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CANADA
Northern Life

By: Darren MacDonald – Sudbury Northern Life

The law firm representing victims who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests says maintaining the abusers’ status as priests is an insult to victims and good priests alike.

At a press conference Oct. 19 at the Radisson Hotel, Rob Talach called on the church to defrock clergy who have been convicted of sex crimes. Talach, a lawyer with the firm Ledriot Beckett Litigation Lawyers, also wants the local diocese to help pay for counselling of victims of abuse, and to create a sexual abuse policy with input from victims.

“You would be shocked to learn that many of those local offending priests still hold the honourable designation of ‘father,’ ” Talach said. “Retired from active ministry is their official disposition, but regardless, they are still priests of the Roman Catholic Church … It is an affront to good priests and an insult to victims.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

This is not the first time the Secretary of the dicastery which oversees men and women religious has been sent away from the Roman Curia

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

The nomination of the Secretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the American Redemptorist, John William Tobin, as the new archbishop of Indianapolis is just the latest of a series of similar moves. Tobin was appointed as the dicastery’s number two man in charge of men and women religious in August 2010, thus he only spent two years in the Roman Curia. The reasons for his transferral to the U.S. are apparently linked to his excessive openness to the LCWR’s (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) requests.

Although he was nominated two days ago, hints were already given about his departure from Rome at the beginning of 2012. This means that there were signs of his promotion-removal (the classical Vatican adagio “promoveatur ut amoveatur” is also true for Tobin) just18 months after his appointment to the Congregation for men and women religious.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

There is ongoing unrest in parts of Newcastle’s Anglican Diocese in the wake of the defrocking of three priests.

A group is planning a service to pray for what they call a damaged diocese.

Newcastle Anglican Bishop Brian Farran recently defrocked three priests including the former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence.

Another priest was sanctioned.

No criminal charges have been laid and the priests deny all sexual abuse allegations.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Updated October 21, 2012

The Vatican and Rome are not one and the same. The Vatican and Rome are no longer synonymous. The Vatican is the smallest theocratic, autocracy, ‘it is not a democracy’ country while Rome is the secular city of the democratic state of Italy. Vatican Pied Pipers must stop writing that the “Pope summons bishops, nuncios to Rome”. The correct way is “Pope summons bishops, nuncios to the Vatican”. The last time that “All roads lead to Rome” was during the longest papacy (27 years) of John Paul II when he was obsessed with building his legacy as “JP2 the Great” (to match King Herod the Great) and when he glorified in Rome his favorite criminals Cardinal Bernard Law and Fr. Marcial Maciel (his two evil Achilles Heels) and when he with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger together covered-up thousands of perpetual pedophile priests of his JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army through his Latin addiction Crimen Sollicitationis

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NEDERLAND
Next Checkt

Diverse media vorige week naar aanleiding van het rapport van de commissie-Samson over misbruik in de jeugdzorg

Vorige week presenteerde de commissie-Samson het rapport Omringd door zorg, toch niet veilig, over seksueel misbruik in de jeugdzorg, met daarin schokkende conclusies. Een van die conclusies was dat de professionals die met uit huis geplaatste kinderen werken slechts een fractie van wat er aan misbruik voorvalt, waarnemen. Om precies te zijn: slechts 2 procent. Verschillende media berichtten hierover. De NOS meldde: „Begeleiders van instellingen signaleerden slechts 2 procent van het misbruik.” De Volkskrant schreef: „Volgens de commissie-Samson constateren werkers in de jeugdzorg slechts 2 procent van de gevallen.” En RTL Nieuws had het zelfs over „nog geen 2 procent van de gevallen”. next.checkt-lezer Ko Ruyter vraagt zich af of het klopt, die 2 procent. Immers, hoe kun je de onderrapportage van misbruik zo precies meten?

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BELGIE
Knack

vrijdag 19 oktober 2012 om 10u09

Tielt – Norbert Bethune doet een ultieme oproep naar slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk. Eind deze maand verstrijkt de deadline bij de arbitrage van de parlementaire commissie rond seksueel misbruik en daarna kunnen de feiten enkel nog bij het bisdom gemeld worden. “Ik doe nog één laatste inspanning”, zegt hij.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

October 21, 2012 by Susan Matthews

One of the more promising developments over the past year has been parish-based forums on clergy child sex abuse. We need more to do so. Some have held healing services, but I prefer “information forum” for several reasons. While healing is most certainly needed on all fronts, it seems that would come more easily after all other appropriate steps. There is little trust that the entire hierarchy is taking all those steps. In the meantime, information is critical. Bringing the issue into the light will enable the faithful to enforce efforts.

At a recent parish council meeting on whether or not to hold a forum, someone said this issue is best dealt with in private. What? Child sex abuse happens in private. Cover ups happen in private. The solution will be found out in the open. We must shine a light on this issue. Hasn’t Penn State, the Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church and many other organizations proven that fact? The staggering statistics compel us to deal with this issue. This is not another person’s problem. This is our responsibility as human beings. We owe it to our children, our community and our God.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]

MILWAUKEE —
A southeastern Wisconsin advocacy group for sex abuse victims is asking the Boy Scouts of America to release more information about Wisconsin cases.

Earlier this week a judge ordered the Boy Scouts of America to release thousands of documents related to abuse allegations against scouting volunteers.

The Associated Press reported the files identify 29 Wisconsin men as alleged abusers.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, has asked the BSA to release all the information they have regarding the Wisconsin allegations. They are also encouraging any other abuse victims to come forward.

“No matter when you’ve been harmed, it does not matter, ” said Peter Isely of SNAP. “Make a report and see if they can find out where this individual is.”

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VERENIGDE STATEN
Trouw

[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]

Een Amerikaans advocatenkantoor publiceert vandaag 20.000 vertrouwelijke documenten van de Amerikaanse padvindersorganisatie Boy Scouts. Hierin staan de namen van 1247 scoutingsleiders en vrijwilligers die weggestuurd zijn wegens beschuldigingen van seksueel of ongepast gedrag met jongens, meldt CNN. .

In de documenten, waarin informatie uit 1965 tot 1985 staat, zijn de namen van slachtoffers en getuigen weggehaald. De documenten worden vrijgegeven na toestemming van het Hooggerechtshof van Oregon. Het advocatenkantoor dat over de documenten beschikt heeft de zaak van een jongen die eind 2009 door een vrijwilliger is misbruikt behandeld. De vrijwilliger is veroordeeld, de Boy Scouts of America moesten 18,5 miljoen dollar schadevergoeding betalen.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
Posted: 10/20/2012

A priest who resigned from his church post after his arrest for indecent exposure in a St. Paul park has asked a court to seal his record.

Michael John Krenik’s misdemeanor conviction was dismissed in November 2011 upon the successful completion of his probation.

Krenik, 54, of St. Paul, petitioned Ramsey County District Judge Teresa Warner on Oct. 5 for an expungement of his criminal file. If the judge grants his request at the Jan. 23 hearing, the record will be sealed from public view.

Krenik was the pastor at St. Hubert Catholic Community in Chanhassen at the time of his Nov. 4, 2010, arrest. At 1:20 p.m. that day, he exposed himself to a police officer at the river flats near Eustis Street and Mississippi River Boulevard, just north of the Marshall Avenue-Lake Street bridge.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Catholic Church is to make a full apology to a priest wrongly accused of child protection issues.

Fr Oliver Brennan was reinstated as a parish priest in Louth on Saturday night after two years under investigation.

The 67-year-old had voluntarily stepped down immediately as parish priest of Blackrock and Haggardstown in August 2010 when the allegation was made.

The Sunday Independent reports that a police investigation could find no evidence against Fr Brennan.

The paper says the “allegations were totally lacking in credibility.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Saturday October 20 2012

This evening, in Dublin’s Convention Centre, former pupils of Christian Brothers schools will come together to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Edmund Rice.

Advertised as “an evening with former President Mary McAleese and guests”, its theme is “to reunite, reconcile, give thanks and look to the future”.

For many, though, it’s impossible to forget the past.

Few names evoke such opposing reactions in Ireland as that of Edmund Rice.

Mention his name to grown men who attended a CBS, founded by the Kilkenny-born educator, and often a shadow will cloud their ageing faces.

Many recall the discipline, the fear, the corporal punishment and the physical and sexual abuse dished out to them and/or others.

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AUSTRALIA
Care Leavers Australia Network

[CLAN’S submission to the Victorian Inquiry]

Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) has recently completed a submission to the Victorian Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations.

Although the Victorian Government has shown great initiative in instigating a parliamentary inquiry, CLAN is concerned that the current inquiry deliberately excludes the Victorian Government to avoid accountability through transparency.

Many Victorian Care Leavers who had government experiences in the ‘care’ system are now excluded. The inquiry is consequently discriminatory to former state wards.

The Victorian Government, through its predecessor agencies to the current Department of Human Services:

 Established 17 Orphanages, Children’s Homes and other Institutions.
 Funded and inspected against standards religious and non-government organisations which ‘cared’ for state wards.1

It is clear in some cases that the Victorian Government’s failure of duty of care enabled the criminal treatment of children by churches and charities.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By TERRY CONLON

Sunday October 21 2012

A 67-YEAR-OLD Co Louth Catholic priest, who was the subject of a child-protection allegation, has been cleared after over two years to return to active ministry.

Father Oliver Brennan voluntarily stepped down immediately as parish priest of Blackrock and Haggardstown in August 2010 when the allegation was made.

The finding of the garda investigation was that the “allegations were totally lacking in credibility”. Similarly, the church inquiry concluded last Friday that the allegations were “fabricated and have not been substantiated”.

At a special Mass last night in Blackrock, near Dundalk, Co Louth, Fr Brennan. was reinstated. He is expected to be given a full apology by the church.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Survivors of abuse at Christian Brother schools have accused organisers of a Christian Brothers commemoration event this weekend of attempting to muzzle them by not allowing them to speak.

Former President Mary McAleese and Sen Martin McAleese are set to join past pupils of Christian Brothers schools at an event at Dublin’s Convention Centre today to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Edmund Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers.

Survivors of child abuse at Christian Brother schools were invited.

Tonight’s event is part of a year-long initiative to raise funds for international work being carried out in the spirit of Edmund Rice.

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MARYLAND
Herald-Mail

October 19, 2012|By C.J. LOVELACE | cj.lovelace@herald-mail.com

In the wake of the release of decades of confidential sexual-abuse allegations within the Boy Scouts of America, a local Scouting official said Friday that the organization remains committed to protecting youth and providing a safe environment above all else.

“Safe-guarding the Scouts is the number one priority for the Scouting organization,” said Mark Barbernitz, Scout executive for the Mason-Dixon Council of the BSA, which oversees approximately 2,300 kids and about 100 troops of Scouts in Washington County as well as parts of Franklin and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania. …

The Rev. Tim Leighton, pastor of Church of the Holy Trinity UCC in Halfway since 2006, said their congregation will continue to support Boy Scout Troop 136 and the Cub Scout pack that meet at the church.

“The congregation as a whole has been very supportive of Scouting, both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, for a number of years,” Leighton said. “The Scout troop has done several service projects.”

Leighton, who also took part in the Scouts as a kid, said the church has not considered re-evaluating its relationship with the organization despite the abuse allegations, adding that Troop 136 leaders are very conscientious of the parents and adults that work with the kids.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Eagle-Tribune

[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]

By Mark E. Vogler mvogler@eagletribune.com The Eagle-Tribune

In early 1977, allegations about an assistant scoutmaster having sex with boys rocked the old St. Joseph’s Church in Haverhill, then home for Boy Scout Troop 27.

Stories grew rampant about the 27-year-old scout leader inviting boys to stay overnight at his home, where indecent exposure and fondling were common. One boy accused the troop leader of performing “an unnatural act” on him.

A father who was on the troop committee consulted with a lawyer and the police for assistance after reporting that his son was a victim of sexual abuse by an adult leader “who should not be allowed to stay in scouting.”

But despite the controversy, police never prosecuted the assistant scoutmaster for the alleged sexual crimes. Neither he nor the Boy Scouts were named as defendants in any lawsuits.

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INDIA
Times of India

MADURAI: Police are on the lookout for a pastor, who is absconding following a complaint of sexual harassment of a 12-year-old Sri Lankan refugee girl, by her parents. The complaint has been registered with the Dindigul taluk police.

Kumarasamy (47) is a Sri Lankan refugee staying in the Adiyanoorthu refugee camp. He works as a loadman with the railways. His 12-year-old daughter was a student at a Roman Catholic school in the neighbouring area. A few days ago, she had come home weeping, saying that the priest, Amaladas, of the church next to the school misbehaved with her. Enquiries by her mother and relatives allegedly revealed that the priest had abused the girl sexually.

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KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

[national database – Attorney Kelly Clark]

[with video]

Written by
Andrew Wolfson
The Courier-Journal

When a 47-year-old Louisville Boy Scout leader attempted in 1967 to molest a boy in a tent during an outing, scouting officials promised that they would keep the matter strictly confidential and say only that the leader resigned.

“The Scout office will make no general announcement,” Scouting Executive Hal Cory wrote on Nov. 6, 1967, to Boy Scouts of America headquarters, which promised to put the report in its “confidential file.” ..

Cal Pfeiffer, a founding member of the local chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the disclosures show how pervasive sexual abuse of children is in society “in one group after another after another.”

He said the Boy Scouts at least forced accused leaders to resign rather than moving them from parish to parish, as the church often did. But like the church, the Scouts didn’t refer leaders for prosecution, he said, potentially allowing them to continue to prey on children in other capacities.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Fresno Bee

The Associated Press

Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 | 10:58 AM

LOS ANGELES — Five years after settling with sex abuse victims, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles says it will release the confidential personnel files of about 200 accused priests.

Spokesman Tod Tamberg told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune ( http://bit.ly/XBblV3) on Friday that the Archdiocese will hand over the records to a judge on Dec. 10.

The newspaper says the files – with the names of innocent individuals redacted – will ultimately be made public under a record $660 million settlement the Archdiocese agreed to in 2007.

The personnel files of 13 priests were released Friday to an attorney who represents a victim allegedly abused by the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera. That case is pending and the records remain under a protective order from the court and cannot be made public.

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BIRMINGHAM (AL)
San Francisco Chronicle

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A guard at the Birmingham Museum of Art has been accused of receiving child pornography at work.

Federal authorities charged Loyd Jeffrey Hitt with a child pornography offense this week. He was denied bond during a hearing Thursday. His defense lawyers did not immediately return a call seeking comment. …

Investigators said in court documents that they focused on Hitt after learning he was on the customer database of an entity in another country that was distributing child pornography. Police said Hitt told investigators that he was involved with a church youth group. The name of the church was not released.

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BULGARIA
Focus

Vidin. At a sitting the Eparchial Court in the Northern town of Vidin, under the presidency of Right Reverend Bishop Sioniy, examined the case of manciple Slaveycho Borisov, who was subpoenaed by the court over of abuse and misappropriation of large amount of church property, occupation of civil positions without the knowledge of the Vidin Bishopric, non-observation of the regulations of the Vidin Bishopric Council and reluctance to appear and defend himself, as well as other misdeeds in the execution of the church services.

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