ABUSE TRACKER

MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

CONTACT:
Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee), 414.429.7259
John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director, 414.336.8575

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has once again raised false hopes of a settlement with victim/survivors and a resolution to the clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January of 2011, was ordered into mediation this summer with nearly 570 victim/survivors of clergy sex crimes by Federal Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley. At the time Kelley was clear that “we need to do what we can to get this thing resolved”. That “thing” is now the largest, and likely to be the costliest Catholic bankruptcy in U.S. history.

As it has done so many times in the past, church officials have falsely elevated the hopes of victim/survivors and their families by clearly indicating that real talks and even a settlement was underway. When granted the first of two mediation extensions, Archbishop Listecki’s Chief of Staff Jerry Topczewski, even though talks were confidential, told the press that “much progress” had been made during the course of negotiations. It looks like there was no reason for this declaration, other than to imply to Catholics that the archdiocese was seriously attempting to discuss a global settlement when they were not.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Provicia

Ciudad del Vaticano, Roma, Italia.- Benedicto XVI aceptó la renuncia anticipada del obispo colombiano Carlos Prada Sanmiguel, de la diócesis de Duitama-Sogamoso, acusado judicialmente por uno de sus sacerdotes de injuria.

En una breve nota la sala de prensa de la Sede Apostólica indicó que la renuncia del prelado fue aceptada según el artículo 401.2 del Código de Derecho Canónico, la ley fundamental de la Iglesia católica.

El pasado nueve de este mes también fue aceptada la renuncia anticipada de Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernández al puesto de obispo de la diócesis de Iquique, en Chile, quien es investigado por abusos sexuales contra menores.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

COLOMBIA
Semana

El papa Benedicto XVI aceptó la renuncia del obispo de la diócesis de Duitama-Sogamoso, Carlos Prada Sanmiguel, quien fue enjuiciado bajo la acusación de calumnia e injuria por un sacerdote.

En el escueto comunicado de la sala de prensa del Vaticano, emitido este lunes, se especifica sólo que el papa ha aceptado la dimisión de acuerdo con el canon 401 párrafo 2 del Código di Derecho Canónigo, es decir, por enfermedad u otras causas graves.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Windsor Star

By The Associated Press
October 15, 2012

VATICAN CITY – The pope has accepted the resignation of a Colombian bishop accused by one of his priests of slander, the latest bishop to be removed after mismanagement or other accusations became public.

Bishop Carlos Prada Sanmiguel of Duitama-Sogamoso is two years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops. The Vatican said Monday he was resigning under the code of canon law that says bishops should step down if they’re sick or because a “grave” reason makes them unfit for office.

Colombian news reports have said Prada Sanmiguel claimed a priest had a relationship with a woman. The priest in turn accused the bishop of slander in a court case that is ongoing.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
CBC News

A handful of Nova Scotians from the Indian Brook First Nation are preparing to travel to the Vatican this week to witness a ceremony for the first ever First Nations person from North America to ascend to Catholic sainthood.

Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman, is set to be canonized at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday — 300 years after her death.

Tekakwitha’s canonization is being celebrated by the survivors of church-run residential schools — an unusual group given the terrible legacy of residential schools in Canada, where physical and emotional abuse was common.

“It’s part of our healing process as a community and we need to heal to go farther in life,” Catherine Innis told CBC News.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
The New York Times

By BILL KELLER

Published: October 14, 2012

Sandusky you know; the predatory Penn State football coach was sentenced last week to spend his remaining years in prison for raping boys who looked up to him. Savile you may have missed; a venerable British TV personality who died last year, he is now at the center of a posthumous scandal unspooling in London. His appetites ran mostly to adolescent girls, but otherwise the parallels are striking. In both cases, the story is not just one of individual villainy but of the failure of a trusted institution, if not a flaw in the wider culture.

Perhaps you’ve had your fill of these sordid accounts — the celebrity gropers, the pedophile priests, the fondling in the locker room shower, the witnesses who look the other way. But Savile’s case is worth mulling, if only because the institution in which his serial child abuse took place is one of the most respected media organizations in the world, a putative shrine to truth and accountability: the BBC. And in the early days of the scandal the revered broadcaster has faced the same questions of dereliction or outright cover-up that dogged Penn State and the Catholic Church when they experienced their respective outbreaks of infamy.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland)

Michael Kelleher of Cork & Ross represented the ACP at the meeting of our English association last week. He sends this account of the meeting, and suggests that further information can be found on their website.

I attended the public meeting of the ‘A Call to Action’ group (see: acalltoaction.org.uk) at Heythrop College on Wednesday last, October 10th . By going to the website you will see the story of the development of this group. Having been part of the journey of the A.C.P. from its initial meeting at Portlaoise, through diocesan meetings in Cork, to the day in the Regency, I wondered what would be similar or different at this meeting.

Dialogue.

The meeting began with a now familiar experience. The attendance was much bigger than expected and we had to cross Kensington High St. to the welcome of the St. Mary Abbot Church. Instead of an anticipated 200 people over 400 turned up from all over England.

The introductions followed outlining the lead up to the meeting. We were told that the priests organising the meeting had visited Archbishop Nichols a few days earlier to brief him on their plans. He indicated to them that he agreed that there are many issues that need to be addressed. At the end of the meeting Fr. Tom O’Loughlin, of the organising group, made it clear that his years working at the Corrymeela Community had convinced him of the value of dialogue, of having safe, respectful places to speak and listen.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Truth and Reconciliation Commission

October 12, 2012

TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will be featured speakers at We Day Vancouver on Thursday, October 18. Archbishop Tutu chaired South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and was an early supporter of the TRC in Canada. See his letter to Justice Sinclair in May 2010, just before the TRC’s first National Event in Winnipeg.

Join 20,000 youth, educators and friends Thursday, October 18 at We Day Vancouver. Or watch online at www.weday.com!

TRC Announces Three Ontario Hearings

October 12, 2012

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) will host a hearing at M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26.

The hearing will take place at the M’Chigeeng First Nation Community Complex. Additional program details will be posted here prior to the event, where the hearings will also be streamed live.

As with every TRC Hearing, participants will have the option to provide a public or private statement.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Mon., Oct. 15 2012

Well isn’t this nice: after spending a couple of years in his Orange lair refraining from day-to-day blogging so he can suck from the government teat he so loves to bash, the reprehensible Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham has decided to reenter the Orange County political blogosphere to blog about my beloved hometown of Anaheim, a city in which he doesn’t live in nor he gives a shit about other than whether he can make some money off of us one way or another.

And you know the GOP is desperate to win in this city when they dust off this discredited pendejo.

Cunningham, for those of you not familiar with OC politics, is a longtime GOP hack who started OC Blog, the county’s first truly popular political blog, in 2004. He wrote under the pseudonym “Jubal,” which allowed him to congratulate himself by Jubal saying Cunningham wrote a good piece on another blog, a pathetic circle jerk we exposed and that he’s been whining about ever since (shortly after that piece came out, Jubal asked me via email why were were picking on him–this was back in the days when we got along. He once also called Moxley in a panic after I left a cryptic comment referring to the days when he went to our former editor, Will Swaim, to get Mox fired–good times!).

People tolerated Cunningham for his hackery because it was so entertaining to watch, but he lost all credibility for anything in 2007, when he decided to stick up for John Urell, the priest who protected numerous pedophile priests in his leadership capacities for the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Cunningham’s excuse for turning his political blog over to church matters was that Urell–his then-priest at St. Norbert in Orange–was a good man who was being demonized by the press, but his love for the pedophile protector was such that he outed sex-abuse victims of the priests Urell protected, a move so stupid that Cunningham himself eventually apologized (in fact, one of those victims was a man Cunningham personally knew. Um, AWKWARD…)

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

The Vatican is set to make Cardinal Sean Brady pay the price of the recent scandals surrounding him by announcing his successor within two months.

The Vatican and the Papal Nuncio, Dr Charles Brown, are advancing plans to replace Dr Brady as Primate of All Ireland.

It’s all part of an effort to finally put two decades of scandal behind the church here.

Senior Vatican sources said his successor — most likely to be a bishop from abroad — will be named before Christmas.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Times of Malta

Saturday, October 13, 2012 by
Mgr Joseph Farrugia

It is regrettable that Martin Scicluna felt offended when I said that, during the recent Church debate organised by The Times, he was “boringly repetitive”. Of course he was. Grudgingly he even admits it, though on most, not all, the points.

The fact is that Scicluna did not just keep repeating himself. He also kept repeating others, as when time and again he parroted Desmond Tutu’s “speaking truth to power” catchphrase. I do not recall hearing him crediting the Anglican archbishop with this phrase. I also do not recall him putting any nuance to his use of the archbishop’s axiom.

I do, however, recall thinking how unfair it was to trivialise a phrase that defined a struggle to overcome a deadly “power”, that of apartheid, which refused to face the “truth” of the dignity of every human being, white or black.

In his desire to put down the hierarchy and structures of the Catholic Church in Malta, Scicluna went into overkill and invested himself as Malta’s Tutu, that is, as Malta’s brave speaker of truth to power, this “power” being the all-powerful, inept, obtuse and – for these reasons and more – diminishing Church.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Times of Malta

The Church has a problem with the language it uses and must do something about it, according to Malta’s new Auxiliary Bishop, who has described the institution’s public relations as a “total disaster” at times.

In an interview with The Sunday Times today, Mgr Charles Scicluna says: “We have a product which is extraordinary and we have to get our act together to bring it to as many people as possible. The way we do things at times is a total disaster and we have to be humble and say, ‘we need to do better’. We need to start using language that people understand.”

He says the Church acknowledges it could have done a better job in the divorce debate, and that it has learnt from it: “We need to tell people we are not here to impose, but that we are here to propose.”

He also says that priests must not deviate from the line set by the Archbishop and that this will be one of his tasks.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Times of Malta

Monday, October 15, 2012 by
Christian Peregin

Maltese victims of clerical sex abuse have criticised new Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna for saying compensation should be paid to them by the priests who committed the abuse, not the Maltese Church.

“He is too soft to penetrate the Maltese Curia,” said Lawrence Grech, the spokesman of the group of Maltese abuse victims seeking compensation. “We are upset because he had promised to help us,” he added.

“I expected this to happen, because when you deal with the Maltese Curia, you always have to wait. He joined the Maltese Curia and he is now using their words.”

He said the Church should be held responsible because it had ways of knowing about the abuse and took no action to stop it when one of the priests returned from Canada, amid headlines.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

TULSA (OK)
Yahoo! News

Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Two youth ministers at a Tulsa megachurch say misdemeanor charges of failing to report child abuse against them should be dismissed because no one in the case has been, nor can be, charged with child abuse.

Victory Christian Center ministers John Daugherty, his wife, Charica, and three other employees were charged in September for allegedly waiting two weeks to notify authorities of the reported rape of a 13-year-old girl by a former employee in a stairwell on the campus of the 17,000-member church. All have pleaded not guilty.

The motion, filed Friday in Tulsa County District Court, states that state law defines child abuse as an act committed “by a person responsible for the child’s health safety or welfare.”

The document says that 20-year-old Chris Denman, who is charged with first-degree rape of the girl and other sex crimes, was not a church employee at the time of the Aug. 13 assault, was not responsible for the girl and cannot under state law be charged with child abuse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Sault Star (Canada)

VATICAN CITY– The Roman Catholic Church must strengthen safeguards against any further sexual abuse of children by its clergy, a Canadian bishop said in a speech to hundreds of his peers at a Vatican conference.

Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn, who was auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Sault Ste. Marie for a year, also said the the role of women in the Church also needs to be expanded.

In his address to the Synod of Bishops, convened to discuss how to battle dwindling numbers of practising Catholics in the face of growing secularisation and dissent against its teachings, Dunn called on the Church to “become more authentic in our contemporary world.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
Commentary Magazine

Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 10.14.2012

The unfolding scandal about sexual abuse at the BBC can be viewed as yet another blow to the image of the media. The network’s suppression of a story about a longtime show host’s alleged crimes ought to put a fork in the myth of the Beeb being the gold standard for impartiality and integrity. The fact that the BBC killed a story on its “Newsnight” broadcast while at the same time running tributes to the late Jimmy Saville, the man accused of molesting and raping several teenagers will haunt it for a long time to come.

But as much as this story tells us about the BBC, this latest tale of sexual misconduct is not dissimilar from other abuse scandals. Like the pedophilia outrages that rocked the Catholic Church and the Penn State University football team, there is a familiar pattern at work here. Powerful individuals used their positions to exploit young people in their charge while institutions looked the other way and then did what they could to ensure that no one found out. Investigators will, no doubt, discover what officials at the BBC knew about Saville and when they knew it. It is also to be hoped that the “journalistic decision” to spike the story about the investigation will also be fully explored. However, this episode ought to remind us that such crimes are not solely the province of Catholic priests or football coaches but can also be discovered at those institutions run by the supposedly enlightened classes.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

TULSA (OK)
Tulsa World

By KENDRICK MARSHALL World Staff Writer
Published: 10/15/2012

The number of child-abuse cases reported in Tulsa is on the rise, and Sgt. Brandon Wyckoff of the Tulsa Police Department’s Child Crisis Unit has come to grips with the sobering reality that he has arguably the dirtiest job in law enforcement.

The unit handles an average of roughly 1,500 cases of child physical or sexual abuse a year, according to police data, and so far this year, the unit has investigated more cases than in all of 2011, Wyckoff said.

Last month alone, the unit investigated 147 reports of child physical or sexual abuse. In August, 160 such cases were investigated. …

Also last month, Chris Denman, 20, and Israel Castillo, 23, were fired from Victory Christian Center, a Tulsa megachurch with 17,000 members and a worldwide presence through television and Internet, after allegations arose of sex crimes involving minors.

Denman was arrested Sept. 5 and later charged with first-degree rape, forcible sodomy and lewd molestation on an allegation that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl before a church service Aug. 13.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Times of Malta

The Church has set up a Therapeutic Evaluation Board for victims of sexual abuse.

The decision was taken by Archbishop Paul Cremona and Bishop Mario Grech in agreement with the superiors of religious orders.

The Curia said the service is considered part of the Church’s pastoral and spiritual role and is without prejudice to its position in civil cases and without the Church renouncing its rights to defence.

The board is composed of psychologist Anthony Gatt, psychiatrist Anthony Dimech and social worker Julian Xuereb.

The board will evaluate and determine the therapeutic assistance which victims of sexual abuse may require and direct the victims to the people who could provide such help.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella

The Maltese archdiocese has established a board of medical professionals for therapeutic evaluation, in response to the abuse of minors by members of the clergy.

The announcement comes just hours after Malta’s new auxiliary bishop-elect Charles Scicluna, until recently the Vatican’s chief prosecutor of priests accused of sexual abuse, said that it should be the former MSSP priests and not the archdiocese to pay the victims of the St Joseph Home compensation for the abuse they suffered.

The new board, established by both archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo bishop Mario Grech, was agreed with the conference of superiors of religious orders, as a service offered to victims irrespective of any civil or ecclesiastical proceedings that might be ongoing.

The board’s members are psychologist Dr Anthony Gatt, psychiatrist Dr Anthony Dimech, and social worker Julian Xuereb, who have been appointed on three-year, renewable basis. The board will present an annual report to the Maltese episcopal conference.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Gozo News

The Church authorities have established a professional therapeutic evaluation board for victims of sexual abuse.

The decision was taken at the Maltese Episcopal Conference (Archbishop Paul Cremona and Bishop Mario Grech) in collaboration with the Conference of Major Religious Superiors.

The Church said that “the service is offered by the Church as part of its spiritual and pastoral mission and without prejudice to the position of the Church in any civil processes that may arise and without waiving the rights to defence.”

The Board is made up of psychologist Dr Anthony Gatt, psychiatrist Dr Anthony Dimech and social worker Mr Julian Xuereb. They have been appointed for a period of three years with the possibility that this could be extended.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

MORE THAN 350 attended the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) regional assembly in Cork where speakers warned against accusations that they were against church teaching.

One of the leadership team, Fr Brendan Hoban, said “there are those, we know, who for different reasons would like to pretend that we’re left-wing, radical, raving extremists, that we’re trouble-makers and dissenters, that we’re out to destroy the church.” But, he continued “let me put the record straight”.

He recalled the Orlando Figes’ book The Whispers, Private Life in Stalin’s Russia. It was about a situation where a fearful people had to whisper their criticism.

“We’re the whisperers now but we have to do more than whisper, we have to find our voice, to stake a claim for the right and the responsibility to speak our truth about the church we love.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ESPANA
El Pais

El juez que investiga el robo de un bebé en la clínica Santa Cristina de Madrid en 1982, Adolfo Carretero, ha tomado declaración hoy, en calidad de testigos, a cinco doctoras que trabajaban entonces en el centro sanitario: Ana Elisa López Delgado, María Rosa Acero de Pablo, María Teresa del Olmo Mombiedro, Carmen Sánchez Calvo y Olga Fadón Pérez. Esta última ha declarado, según fuentes jurídicas, que sor María Gómez Valbuena, imputada por un delito de detención ilegal permanente y otro de falsedad documental, “tenía un poder absoluto sobre las adopciones”.

Una de las doctoras, según las mismas fuentes, ha declarado al juez que veía a sor María capaz de “chantajear” a una madre para que diera a su niña en adopción.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SPOKANE (WA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane

The Diocese of Spokane has attempted to resolve on a confidential basis disputes with the Paine Hamblen law firm relative to the way the diocese was placed into bankruptcy and the manner in which future claims provisions were handled. Unfortunately, overtures to resolve this on a confidential, mediation-based approach were rejected.

As a result the diocese has been forced to file a legal malpractice action against the Paine Hamblen law firm.

Robert Gould, a Seattle area attorney, is representing the diocese in this matter. There will be no further public comment from the diocese in the hope these matters can be resolved through negotiation and mediation.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SPOKANE (WA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane

[Queridos Feligreses]

Bishop Blase J. Cupich

October 13, 2012

Dear Parishioners:

By now you may have seen reports that the Diocese of Spokane has attempted to resolve, on a confidential, mediation-basis, issues related to the way the diocese was placed into bankruptcy and the manner in which future claims provision were handled. Unfortunately, our overtures with the law firm representing the diocese during and after the bankruptcy were rejected.

While we will not be making any further comment on the issues raised in the malpractice action we were forced to file this past week, I would like you to know three things by way of background.

First, many of our concerns expressed in our filing with the court came to my attention during the recent 18 month mediation period, which ended in successfully resolving the pending future claims against the diocese and the related threats of foreclosure facing a significant number of our parishes and schools.

Second, when these concerns were brought to my attention, I took my time and consulted with experts locally and nationally to determine the most prudent course of action.

Third, I also reviewed these concerns and the advice I received from these experts with leaders in our diocese, both lay men and women and clergy. My preference has always been to resolve these issues quietly and through mediation, so as to avoid further unnecessary publicity for the Church. Yet, when faced with the rejection of our offer to enter into mediation to resolve these serious issues, I could not ignore an important and compelling point impressed upon me by my advisors, namely that I have a fiduciary responsibility to you, the people of the diocese, for the sacrifices and support you have been called on to make over these past few years.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SPOKANE (WA)
NWCN

by KREM.com
NWCN.com

Posted on October 14, 2012

SPOKANE, Wash. – Bishop Blase Cupich explained in a letter to parishioners of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane why he’s suing the lawyers who represented the diocese in the priest sex abuse bankruptcy and settlement and why parishioners won’t be hearing much about it as the lawsuit presses forward.

The malpractice lawsuit was filed last week and seeks more than $12 million from the Spokane law firm Paine Hamblen Coffin Brooke and Miller.

The Diocese said in court documents that its bankruptcy lawyers, Greg Arpin and Shaun Cross, failed to explore other means of ending the abuse scandal. It also blames the lawyers for writing a bankruptcy plan that failed to adequately fund the risk of new claims.

The Diocese declared bankruptcy in 2004 and eventually settled with 180 people who claimed they were sexually abused by Catholic clergy. The settlement cost the Diocese and insurers $50 million.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Troublesome priests?

Obedient to ‘revisionist’ trends, do those who were immersed in the Second Vatican Council’s teachings during seminary years now forget everything they once embraced? In the interests of ecclesiastical careerism, do they become sudden enthusiasts for the so-called ‘hermeneutic of continuity’, turning their backs on the Council’s impetus for reform? Do they transfer previous enthusiasms to uncritical promotion of the best (and the worst) of the ‘new movements’?

In recent years, priests across all continents have been galvanised to initiate projects of reform and renewal within the Catholic Church. The media has often reported these initiatives either as strident rebellion or groans of the depressed, leading nowhere. Is this a global conspiracy on the part of disgruntled priests to undermine the Church’s restorationist thrust? Or are more complex driving forces at play? Many of these priests’ initiatives are in early stages of development, so what follows can only be a snapshot of what many clergy see as a longer term project.

In Austria, Ireland, England & Wales, and the United States, common themes emerge in the various clergy associations, even if the starting points vary according to local contexts. The Austrian Pfarrer Initiative was one of the first to challenge current Catholic conservatism. Representing more than 500 clergy it is fronted by Vienna archdiocese’s former Vicar- General, Helmut Schüller. Previously President of Caritas Austria and very much an ‘institution man’, the emergence of Schüller as a reform activist surprised many. He has stood firm on the 2011 Austrian priests’ Appeal to Disobedience, which notes that “the Roman refusal to take up long-needed reforms and the inaction of the bishops not only permits but demands that we follow our conscience and act independently.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

My name is Brendan Hoban. I¹m 64 years of age. I¹m a priest of Killala diocese. I¹m almost 40 years ordained.

Over two years ago I was part of a small group of priests who founded the Association of Catholic Priests.

We did that to give priests a voice, to provide a platform for responding to a church in crisis; because authority is collapsing, vocations are in free-fall, practice is declining, the average age-level of priests is now 64; and we felt in desperation that someone had to do something.

In less than 2 years we had 1000 members so we knew we were on the right track. What we wanted was to start a conversation about what was happening to our Church; about what needed to be done; and, in these strange and difficult times, to attempt to plot a track into the future.

We realised quickly that we shouldn¹t and couldn¹t do this on our own, that many lay people ¬ forgive the use of that disrespectful term ¬we realised that many lay people felt as strongly as we did about it, that the reforms envisaged by the Second Vatican Council had been modified, resisted, rejected by popes, bishops, priests and sometimes people too.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

The district attorney says a defense motion to reconsider bail in the case of Msgr. William J. Lynn, based upon allegations of a false confession by an alleged co-conspirator, former priest Edward V. Avery, is “utterly frivolous,” and should be denied.

The Commonwealth’s answer to a motion for reconsideration of bail was filed Sunday in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District, by Assistant District Attorney Hugh J. Burns Jr., chief of the district attorney’s appeals unit. In his answer, Burns says the best evidence against the notion that Avery gave a false confession came from the former priest himself.

In an attachment, Avery’s “written guilty plea colloquy” says that on March 22, the day he pleaded guilty, Avery signed his name on a document that says, “I admit I committed the crime[s]” of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to commit endangering the welfare of a child … “Nobody promised me anything or threatened me or forced me to plead guilty. I, myself, have decided to plead guilty. I know what I say today is final.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on October 12, 2012

We are grateful any time clergy sex crimes and cover ups are publicly discussed. We applaud Bishop Dunn for raising this issue before his fellow church officials.

But we’re way past the time for talk. Talk protects no one. Only action protects kids. And until we see action – proven, public, and powerful action – will we begin to believe that just maybe, kids are now safer in the church.

We should never confuse words with deeds. We should never even feel more hopeful because of church officials’ words. Kids need us to be vigilant. They need us to keep pushing for real reform, and not settle for comforting promises.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Trier. Wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern und Jugendlichen sind im Bistum Trier seit Februar 2010 gegen 17 Priester kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchungen eingeleitet worden. Elf dieser Vorverfahren seien vom Bistum abgeschlossen, die anderen sechs liefen noch. Diese Zwischenbilanz zog das Bistum Trier am Freitag. Nach Angaben eines Bistumssprechers hat die Mehrheit der 17 Geistlichen die Vorwürfe eingeräumt. Die genaue Zahl konnte er zunächst nicht nennen. Bis auf einen Fall sind die mutmaßlichen Taten aus den 1960er bis 1980er Jahren strafrechtlich bereits verjährt.

Gegen einen Priester in Lebach ermittele die Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken. Er wollte angeblich Anfang Juli einen Jugendlichen für sexuelle Handlungen bezahlen. Der Geistliche hat die Vorwürfe nach Bistumsangaben bestritten. Eine kircheninterne Bestrafung ist bislang in einem Fall erfolgt: Ein Priester wurde aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen, weil er fünf minderjährige Jungen missbraucht haben soll. In allen anderen Fällen laufen die Verfahren innerhalb der katholischen Kirche noch.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

INDIA
Zee News

New Delhi: Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Maharaj and organisations functioning under his guidance have denied any connection with Swami Prakashanand Saraswati who has been declared a criminal in America, his trust said in a statement here.

Reacting to some media reports, the Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat-Shyama Shyam Dham said the guru is strictly against the practice of making disciples.

“Maharaj Ji has never ever made disciples and has never given initiation to anyone,” it added.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
What They Knew

San Franacisco – by Joey Piscitelli

$ 10,000 REWARD OFFERED

For credible information leading to the details of the murder of a sexually abused child near St. Ignatius Catholic Church in San Francisco during the early 1980′s. Several anonymous callers have contacted victims advocate Joey Piscitelli concerning allegations of sexual abuse misconduct by 2 or more catholic priests that reportedly led to the death of a young boy who was given a drink laced with alcohol and/or narcotics.

This information was turned over to San Francisco Homicide 2 years ago. There is no “statute of limitations” on murder. If you know of any incident of sexual misconduct by any priests at that time, or any time, whereas children were given “kool-aid / tang” laced with controlled substances please contact the numbers below.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UXBRIDGE (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By Susan Spencer, Shaun Sutner and Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ssutner@telegram.com

UXBRIDGE — At first glance, the Christian Church of the End Times seems like any of a number of small, evangelical churches preparing for the Millennium, the biblically prophesied second coming of Christ. Legally it operates like any other church too; it doesn’t pay taxes or have to report financial information that other nonprofits do.

But some family members and people formerly associated with the nondenominational church and its leaders, brothers David H. Stanley and Dennis H. Stanley, say it’s a cult fueled by sex, lies and lavish lifestyles.

“They want to have a harem of women. They want to have all the sex they can and do it in God’s name,” said Stephanie Stanley of Worcester, a former church member whose husband is a cousin of David and Dennis.

The Stanleys’ mother, Andrea Gault, says her sons began acting hostile toward her and essentially excommunicated her two years ago when she said she criticized their increasingly abusive behavior toward girls and women in their church.

“They look for the people they can control. They prey on them,” Mrs. Gault said in an interview at her home in Rutland. “It’s like they really are possessed.”

The Stanley brothers — a thickly muscled duo who favor tight, embroidered shirts unbuttoned to the sternum, engraved silver belt buckles, reptile skin Western boots and long hair in ’80s rock star style — reject such characterizations.

David Stanley, 40, tells followers he is an anointed prophet and an archangel and that his brother, 36, is a “half-breed” angel, according to Dennis’ wife, Beth.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 13, 2012 NCR Today

Sisters Under Scrutiny

In commenting on the Vatican’s standoff with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States, the Vatican’s new doctrinal czar said today the right question is not who’s wrong, but “who respects revelation and its essential elements?”

Archbishop Gerhard Müller, 64, said he “looks with sympathy” on groups such as LCWR, but at the same time that “no group can set itself up as the source of authentic interpretation” of church teaching.

That role, Müller insisted, belongs to “the pope and the bishops in communion with him,” who expect “substantial fidelity” from the rest of the church.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 12, 2012

Synod of Bishops 2012

Benedict XVI raised some eyebrows last night when, addressing a crowd in St. Peter’s Square recalling Pope John XXIII’s famous “discourse on the moon” on the eve of the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago, he said the church’s joy today is “more sober” than it was then, because in the meantime “we have learned and experienced that original sin exists.”

“We have seen that even in the Lord’s field there is discord,” Benedict said, “that even in the net of Peter we find bad fish, that human weakness is present even in the church.”

Though the pope didn’t say so out loud, it’s difficult not to imagine he had the child sexual abuse scandals at least partly in mind when he crafted those lines.

Today, awareness of the impact of the church’s “bad fish” found a clear echo in the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, in the form of a speech delivered by Bishop Brian Dunn of Antigonish in Canada. The diocese has been among the epicenters of the scandals, in part because Dunn’s predecessor, Bishop Raymond Lahey, was charged in 2009 with having child pornography on his laptop as he tried to reenter the country. Lahey eventually pled guilty in 2011, and was laicized by the Vatican in May.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND/VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

By Garry O’Sullivan

Saturday October 13 2012

HAD it not been for his part in a 1975 canonical process that essentially resulted in child abuser Fr Brendan Smyth going on to abuse more children, Cardinal Brady could have been basking in the knowledge of a job well done.

He had maintained that as a canon lawyer he was only doing his job when he passed on details to his superiors, but failed to inform the police.

His position was that it was up to his bishop and the head of the Norbertine Order to take action against Fr Smyth.

But Smyth victim Brendan Butler laid ruin to this excuse when he told the BBC last May that he gave the names and addresses of other victims to the then Fr Brady. Hauntingly, at the end of that documentary, Mr Butler turned to one of the other victims, whom Smyth continued to abuse and, now 40 years on, said: “I thought I saved you.”

Not even dinner with the Pope on Thursday night can have assuaged the conscience of Cardinal Brady, who must ask himself if he could have saved those children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

By Garry O’Sullivan
Rome

Saturday October 13 2012

THE VATICAN is set to make Cardinal Sean Brady pay the price of the recent scandals surrounding him by announcing his successor within two months.

The Vatican and the Papal Nuncio, Dr Charles Brown, are advancing plans to replace Dr Brady as Primate of All Ireland.

It’s all part of an effort to finally put two decades of scandal behind the church here.

Senior Vatican sources said his successor — most likely to be a bishop from abroad — will be named before Christmas.

Dr Brady has up to now refused to resign despite the revelations about his mishandling of abuse allegations about the notorious Fr Brendan Smyth.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Central

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, October 13, 2012

Ireland’s top cleric Cardinal Sean Brady is set to be axed in the fall-out from recent sex abuse scandals.

The Irish Independent reports that the Vatican has lined up Cardinal Brady’s successor after his mishandling of abuse allegations. The report states that Papal Nuncio Dr Charles Brown is leading the plans to replace Cardinal Brady within the next two months.

The Church has decided to install a new Primate of All Ireland in a response to two decades of scandal. The plans center on the appointment of an Irish Bishop from abroad before Christmas according to the Irish Independent. The Vatican will overlook Irish based Archbishops in the search for Cardinal Brady’s successor.

Dr Brady has been in the eye of a media and public storm over his handling of various child sex abuse scandals. He has been heavily criticized for the Fr Brendan Smyth case but has steadfastly refused to resign.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WISCONIN
Milwaukee Film Blog

Mea Maxima Culpa: Subject Arthur Budzinski, Director Alex Gibney, Subject Patrick Kuehn and his son Hercules. (Photo credit: Jennifer Johnson)

The Milwaukee Film festival is proud to announce the 2012 Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award Winners:

Best Feature Film: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God (dir. Alex Gibney)

Best Short Film: Magic Piano (dir. Martin Clapp)

The festival hosted the U.S. Premiere of Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney’s newest documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, with Gibney and several subjects of the film in attendance. Centering on four courageous students at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, WI, the film exposes the clerical sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and a cover-up that leads all the way to the highest offices of the Vatican. The HBO Documentary Films production Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God received this year’s coveted Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature Film. Past recipients of this MFF award include Waiting for “Superman” and Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

[Mark Vincent Healy is a campaigning abuse survivor. Read his full report and response to the NSBCCCI audit into the Holy Ghost Fathers here.]

The Catholic Church should be actively looking for victims of abuse and offering support, writes survivor Mark Vincent Healy.

Mark Vincent Healy was abused while he was a student at St. Mary’s College, a Dublin school run by the Congregation of Spiritans (formerly the Holy Ghost Fathers). He has been campaigning for years for the Catholic Church to actively seek out more victims of abuse so the correct rescue response can be administered.

IT MAY SEEM obvious that in the aftermath of a serious accident or natural disaster, the necessary emergency and rescue services should respond. But strangely, that is not what has happened in the case of clerical child sexual abuse in Ireland.

Clerical child sex abuse can be compared to a crash – except there are thousands upon thousands of victims at the scene. Already, the Ryan Report published in May 2009 showed that 15,000 children came forward out of the estimated 120,000 to 130,000 children sent to the various Irish institutions examined by Justice Ryan.

The only figures on the numerous organisations of the Irish Missionary Union have now been published, representing even more victims. The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church have completed their audits on child protection for the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), the Congregation of Dominicans and the Congregation of Spiritans.

There were 91 members in the three missionary congregations against whom allegations have been made between 1 January 1975 and the date of the review. The total number of abuse allegations raised was found to be 255. These figures only represent what is included in the files kept by the orders.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Rappler

by Agence France-Presse

Posted on 10/12/2012

VATICAN CITY – Vatican prosecutors may appeal the 18-month jail sentence handed to Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler for theft of confidential papers once the full judgement has been published, a Vatican spokesman said Friday, October 12.

Paolo Gabriele was found guilty on Saturday of stealing secret papal documents which revealed fraud scandals and intrigue at the heart of the Church. He is not appealing the verdict, but his immediate fate is still unclear.

“It’s all still open, there has been no delay,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said when asked why Gabriele is still under house arrest. The Vatican has no prison, so should he go to jail he would have to serve time in Italy.

Lombardi was unable to give any precise timetable for the publication of the judgement or the prosecution’s decision over whether to appeal or not.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on October 12, 2012

Some of the Boy Scouts of America “perversion files” are going to be posted online next week. The documents – in which all victims’ names will be redacted – will outline the more than 80-year history of sex abuse and cover-up in the Boy Scouts.

The list of “ineligible” volunteers – men who had allegedly abused young Scouts – is already posted. The leadership of the Scouts knew that these adults were predators, yet didn’t call the cops, didn’t warn parents, and didn’t follow up to ensure that these predators didn’t volunteer in other troops.

The list has 1900 NAMES and is 138 PAGES LONG. You can read it here.

On to my proposal: Disband the Scouts

It’s the same thing that I think should happen to Orange County’s All American Boys Chorus. The chorus was founded in 1970 by pedophile Richard Coughlin (a predator priest sent to Orange County from the Boston Archdiocese, where he molested numerous boys in Massachusetts and New Hampshire). In his 23-year history with the choir, Coughlin (public records show) abused at least 9 All American Boys Chorus members. I personally know seven more Coughlin victims who could never come forward because of lapsed statues of limitations. Coughlin was not the only predator who worked at the AABC.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
My Fox Twin Cities

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn –
Two monks from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota are under investigation for sexual misconduct allegations that date back decades.

At this point the investigation to look into the two monks, Father Mel Taylor and Father Dan Ward, is being conducted by an attorney hired by the Abbey, not law enforcement.

The two have been with associated with the Abbey since the 1960s.

In June, the St. Cloud Diocese announced Father Taylor would return from the Bahamas, where he had spent the previous 20 years, to take over as priest of St. John the Baptist Church in Collegeville.

That is when one allegation involving a St. John’s student from the early 1980s, and another from his time in the Bahamas involving another monk, surfaced.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ESPANA
YouTube

Madrid, 9 oct (EFE).- Las testigos han confirmado hoy ante el juez que investiga el presunto robo de una niña en la Clínica Santa Cristina en 1982 que la religiosa María Gómez Valbuena, conocida como “sor María”, era la responsable de las adopciones casi en exclusiva y tenía un poder omnímodo.

Las doctoras Ana Elisa López Delgado, María Rosa Acero de Pablo, María Teresa del Olmo Mombiedro, Carmen Sánchez Calvo y Olga Fadón Pérez han comparecido hoy ante el titular del Juzgado de Instrucción número 47 de Madrid, Adolfo Carretero.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MALTA
Times of Malta

[with video]

Victims of clerical sex abuse should receive compensation, but from the perpetrators rather than the Church as a whole, Malta’s new Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna tells The Sunday Times in an interview that will be appearing tomorrow.

Mgr Scicluna, who in his role as Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith had a frontline role in uncovering some of the most difficult abuse scandals, had spoken on the need for compensation after the Maltese bishops’ decision not to make a pay out to victims last year.

When asked if he would be supporting calls for the victims to be compensated, Mgr Scicluna says: “I hope they (receive compensation). When I said previously they deserve compensation I was referring to the principle of natural justice which is personal responsibility. That is, a person who does damage to somebody is liable to pay for that damage.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Asia News

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The suffering of Nigeria’s Christians, victims of bloody attacks, was at the centre of today’s Synod proceedings, which ended in a luncheon during which the pope met Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Primate of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, as well as the Council Fathers who are in Rome to mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.

In addition to expressing participants’ solidarity towards Nigeria, the Synod addressed yesterday afternoon and this morning the issue of evangelising among sex abuse victims, the need to inform Church members about the “open opposition” of the mass media to Christianity, the need to adopt an approach based on pastoral charity towards divorced people who have remarried, and the new for a simplified enunciation of the principles of Christianity.

Today’s assembly opened with a meditation by Mgr John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja. This gave Mgr Nikola Eterovic an opportunity to show “closeness, sympathy and concern for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria’s desire to find a path towards dialogue and promote peace in justice with regards to the disturbances that have caused violence in their country, especially in the north.” In Mgr Eterovic’s words, let us “pray that religions not be used and manipulated for the aims of groups and parties but act as the basis of understanding, cooperation and peace.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

In his speech at the Synod today, Canadian bishop Brian Joseph Dunn endorsed “appropriate changes in some structures of the church” and a “deliberate and systematic involvement of women”

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The theme of this morning’s session of the Synod on the new evangelisation which is underway in the Vatican was the issue of clerical sex abuse against minors.

“How can we evangelize those who have been deeply hurt by men of the church involved in sexual abuse?” asked Canadian bishop Brian Joseph Dunn of Antigonish in Canada. “Jesus took care of the disillusioned , listening carefully to the disciples’ stories, restoring in them a new awareness of his presence. Jesus’ example shows that the new evangelisation which is taking place right in the midst of the sex abuse crisis, is carried out in at least four different ways.”

Firstly, “providing a real opportunity for people’s stories to be listened to and for a common discernment, in order to understand the depth of the pain, hatred and disillusionment triggered by this scandal. This ministry of listening could become part of the ministry of every diocese, in the form of a meditation office, where people can express their pain and search for an “ideal form of reconciliation.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on October 12, 2012

A former organist was today given 7 ½ years behind bars for spreading child pornography.

We applaud this sentence, and the swift actions taken by the New Mexico police and prosecutors against Peter Railsback. Child pornography is a serious crime that perpetuates the abuse of children, and we are glad that it was treated with grave consequences in this case. We hope that this sentence deters others who would consider creating or spreading child porn and will hopefully spare another child the shattered innocence that comes with childhood sexual abuse.

We urge anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered abuse in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe – whether by Railsback or any catholic employee – to immediately come forward and make a report to the authorities. Hopefully this sentence will encourage anyone who may have been suffering in silence to stand up, report what they have gone through, and help protect others.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

By Naomi O’Leary

VATICAN CITY, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Church must strengthen safeguards against any further sexual abuse of children by its clergy and expand the role of women in the Church, a Canadian bishop said on Friday in a speech to hundreds of his peers at a Vatican conference.

In his address to the Synod of Bishops, convened to discuss how to battle dwindling numbers of practicing Catholics in the face of growing secularisation and dissent against its teachings, Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn called on the Church to “become more authentic in our contemporary world”.

Synod documents have so far largely focused on the role of external factors like consumerism and secularism in eroding belief, and its concluding document will be scrutinised for any mention of failures within the Church itself.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Canadian bishop whose diocese was rocked by clerical sex abuse crises told the Synod of Bishops that the new evangelization must address the reality of distrust and disappointment the scandal left in its wake.

With the sex abuse crisis, Catholics have experienced “a great disorientation that leads to forms of distrust of teachings and values that are essential for the followers of Christ,” Bishop Brian J. Dunn of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, told the synod Oct. 12.

The Diocese of Antigonish has sold hundreds of properties in an effort to raise the money necessary to cover legal settlement and sexual abuse lawsuit costs from before Bishop Dunn’s appointment. In 2011, the previous bishop, Raymond Lahey, pled guilty and was jailed on charges of importing child pornography. The former bishop was laicized by the Vatican in May.

The Catholic Church cannot ignore the need to find a way to “evangelize those who have been deeply hurt by clergy who have been involved in sexual abuse,” Bishop Dunn told the synod.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

BELGIUM
Expatica

Leuven University has suspended psychiatrist Walter Vandereycken after the lecturer made public the fact that for years he had improper sexual relations with patients.

Walter Vandereycken lectures at the Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences Faculty of Leuven University.

Leuven Rector Mark Waer: “The facts are dreadful and I don’t understand how this didn’t come out earlier and how somebody with an international reputation did this. It reminds me of the affair involving the former Bishop of Bruges. Again it’s about a public figure who abused his power in a back room.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
T Online

Mehr als 1.000 misshandelte ehemalige DDR-Heimkinder haben sich bereits bei der im Thüringer Sozialministerium eingerichteten Beratungsstelle gemeldet. Die Aufarbeitung der Zustände in DDR-Jugendeinrichtungen sei nicht nur ein Beitrag zur Aufarbeitung der Geschichte des SED-Regimes, sagte Sozialministerin Heike Taubert (SPD) am Freitag in Erfurt. “Auch für uns in der Jugendhilfe ist es heute wichtig, dass wir klar benennen können, was damals passiert ist”, sagte die Ministerin. Nur mit diesem Wissen könne verhindert werden, dass sich Ähnliches wiederhole.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEDERLAND
Kirchenkreis Nordfriesland

12. Oktober 2012

Ob Kirchengemeinde oder Sportverein oder Freiwillige Feuerwehr ‒ sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen kann in allen Bereichen stattfinden.

Sexuelle Gewalt speziell in Vereinen und Institutionen ist ein bisher weitgehend vernachlässigtes Thema. Alle, die in Institutionen Verantwortung tragen, müssen sich fragen, wie sie junge Menschen in ihrer Obhut schützen können.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbrucker Zeitung

Wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern und Jugendlichen sind im Bistum Trier seit Februar 2010 gegen 17 Priester kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchungen eingeleitet worden. Elf dieser Vorverfahren seien vom Bistum abgeschlossen, die anderen sechs liefen noch. (Veröffentlicht am 12.10.2012)

Diese Zwischenbilanz zog das Bistum Trier am Freitag auf dpa-Anfrage. Bis auf einen Fall sind die mutmaßlichen Taten aus den 1960er bis 1980er Jahren strafrechtlich bereits verjährt. Gegen einen Priester der Pfarreiengemeinschaft im saarländischen Lebach ermittele die Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken. Er wollte angeblich Anfang Juli einen Jugendlichen für sexuelle Handlungen bezahlen.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
Ad Hoc News

Trier (dpa) – Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) und Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann soll nach Informationen des «Spiegel» pädophile Männer als Pfarrer beschäftigen. Mindestens sieben von ihnen seien im Bistum Trier im Einsatz, berichtete das Nachrichtenmagazin.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4

Scotland Yard is pursuing 340 lines of inquiry in the Jimmy Savile abuse case, including 40 potential victims.

So far, 12 allegations of sexual offences have been officially recorded, but this number is increasing, Scotland Yard said.

Metropolitan Police detectives are in contact with 14 other forces as the number of allegations against the late television presenter continues to rise. …

Papal knighthood

The avalanche of stories linking Savile to alleged abuse has gained momentum following an ITV documentary which was aired earlier in October where women who said the Yorkshire-born charity fundraiser had raped and abused young women when he was at the height of his fame in the 1970s spoke out.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Catholic church told Channel 4 News the church will wait for the results of police investigations into Savile’s conduct before it takes any action. The Catholic church says Savile would not have been awarded a papal knighthood had it been aware of allegations against him.

Catholic newspaper The Tablet reported a spokesman from the Bishop’s Conference said Savile would not have been given the Order of St Gregory the Great in 1990 had the church been aware of the allegations and they had proved to be true.

The spokesman pointed out that Savile’s papal knighthood expired when he died.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
Victoria Police

1 Introduction

Victoria Police shares community concerns that, where criminal acts are committed against children, offenders should be brought to justice regardless of their affiliation or role within a religious or other organization.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

The Dallas Morning News

Government inquiry cites Dallas Morning News findings on international transfers of pedophile Catholic priests

By Reese Dunklin/Reporter
rdunklin@dallasnews.com
12:47 pm on October 12, 2012

The Roman Catholic Church has moved sexually abusive priests across international borders and kept them in ministry, criminal authorities in Australia have concluded.

Their finding mirrors that of our landmark 2004-2005 investigative series, Runaway Priests: Hiding in Plain Sight. We identified over 200 cases in which accused clerics escaped justice by going abroad.

Police in the Australian state of Victoria, in a report to parliament there, cite a case I first brought to light: The Salesians of Don Bosco religious order moved a priest to Samoa in 1998, when he had one child molestation conviction on his record and was facing a new criminal investigation. The little South Pacific island nation had no extradition treaty with Australia – and when an arrest warrant was issued, the Salesians did not send him back.

That priest, who isn’t identified by name in the report, is the Rev. Frank Klep. Salesians leaders told me that they hadn’t tried to shield him, and that he had no active ministry or unsupervised contact with children.

But when I visited Samoa, I watched him help lead a Mass and then hand candy to young children who knew him on a first-name basis. I also talked to several teenage boys who reported meeting him alone in his room.

“Regardless of whether there was any intent to evade criminal proceedings, the reality is that his relocation, without disclosure regarding his criminal history, put that community at risk,” according to the 20-page report by Victoria police. “It is apparent that the church has assisted offenders who are known to police in moving overseas.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

By Robert Wilonsky
rwilonsky@dallasnews.com

Until February, Tyrone Gordon was the respected senior pastor at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church — a former executive board member at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology and the successor to Zan Holmes, among the city’s best known clerics. But that all changed earlier this year when two former St. Luke members — who were also employees — sued Gordon, claiming he made unwanted sexual advances toward them, sometimes in his office between services. One alleged that the pastor masturbated in front of him while watching porn during an out-of-town church trip. Gordon, who voluntarily left the church in February to start his own congregation, has denied all the allegations.

But this week two more men filed similar lawsuits against Gordon, St. Luke and the North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Both suits were filed by downtown attorney Marilynn Mayse, and the allegations ring familiar.

In his suit, Anthony Bollin says he became a member of the church in 1996, and was active in the male chorus and adult Sunday school. He looked up to Gordon, considered him a mentor and spiritual counselor — especially during the early days of November 2010, when Bollin says he was going through a “rocky period.” According to the suit, Gordon said he’d like to hang out with Bollin and began texting him, initially with “uplifting scriptures and motivational messages encouraging Bollin during his difficult time.” As far as Bollin was concerned, theirs was a “pastoral relationship.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith on Friday, 12 October 2012

After a time you notice that a pattern emerges. Jimmy Savile’s case reminds me very strongly of other cases that have come to light. A man who was universally respected, who enjoyed the company of the famous, who was praised for his charitable work, suddenly unmasked after his death. And questions are asked: who knew? If they knew, why didn’t they say? Why, above all, did they go ahead with celebrating the man’s memory when, it seems, all the time they had known?

Similar questions were put shortly after the death of Fr Kit Cunningham. Now it is the BBC that faces these questions. But there is, if one can consider things calmly, a human angle to this.

We often say things like the following, after the event: “I noticed such and such, and I felt uncomfortable, but I didn’t like to say…” People did notice things about Jimmy Savile, and they must have been disturbed, but they did not want to say anything. It takes courage to speak out, especially against the overwhelming consensus of opinion – and as a result the person who does not speak out becomes complicit, becomes part of the conspiracy of silence, and the guilt they feel at not speaking out makes their silence, the longer it is maintained, all the more compelling. …

Savile is not the only one to have offended in this way. Many of the abusive clergy were know to be abusers for years – I mentioned the Fr Kit Cunningham case earlier, but the most clear example of this was Fr Marcial Maciel whose evil deeds first began to come to light almost 60 years before he was brought to justice by Benedict XVI in 2005. Again, so many knew about Maciel, and yet he was able to get away with it for so long: but the more people who knew, the greater the number with a reason to keep it quiet. In the end thousands of people had a stake in the reputation of a man in whom they had invested so much.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ITALY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The Italian Catholic Church will be stripped of an historic tax exemption from 2013 after the government upheld a divisive decree under close scrutiny from EU watchdogs.

The Church currently pays tax on several properties it owns that are commercial enterprises but is exempt if at least some of the activities on the property are “non-commercial” – for example a chapel in a hotel.

“The regulatory framework will be definite by January 1, 2013 – the start of the fiscal year – and will fully respect the (European) Community law,” Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government said in a statement late Tuesday.

In February, the government had amended Italy’s property tax law to end the Church’s privileges amid rising calls for the Vatican to share in debt crisis sacrifices and in the face of intense scrutiny from the European Commission.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEVADA/WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

A civil trial against the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay is under way in Nevada in a lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested by the same priest at the center of a similar Outagamie County case.

Jurors heard opening statements Thursday in Las Vegas in the case against the Green Bay diocese and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Las Vegas. The lawsuit claims the diocese knew the Rev. John Feeney had a history of sexual misconduct and falsely portrayed him as safe even though church officials knew he was a danger to children.

Feeney was convicted in Outagamie County in 2004 and sentenced to prison on four sexual assault counts. Feeney assaulted brothers Troy and Todd Merryfield, ages 12 and 14, in 1978. He was transferred from the Fox Valley to Las Vegas in 1984, court records say.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW MEXICO
KRQE

[with video]

Published : Thursday, 11 Oct 2012

Crystal Gutierrez

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – A former church organist linked to massive amounts of child porn told the judge it won’t happen again just moments before he found out he’ll spend nearly eight years in prison.

Patrick Railsback, 62, stood next to his attorney in a jail issued jumpsuit as a federal judge handed down his 90-month-sentence.

Railsback music once filled Santa Fe’s Saint Francis Cathedral. On Thursday, the former church organist listened to the tune of a sentence that will lock him up in prison until he’s 70-years-old.

In 2008, State Police investigators served a search warrant at Railsback’s home where massive amounts of child porn were found.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW MEXICO
The New Mexican

Nico Roesler | The New Mexican
Posted: Thursday, October 11, 2012

A federal judge Thursday sentenced a former organist for the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi to 7 1/2 years in prison for convictions on seven child pornography charges.

Patrick Railsback, 62, was arrested in September 2009 after a federal indictment charged him with five counts of receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and two counts of possession of child pornography, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Railsback, who was convicted after a two-day trial in September 2011, faced a maximum of 20 years in prison for the convictions and a possible lifetime of supervised release.

According to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales, Railsback will be on 10 years of supervised probation following his release from prison and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Mark Oswald / Journal Staff Writer
on Thu, Oct 11, 2012

A federal judge this morning a federal judge sentenced Patrick Railsback, 62, of Santa Fe to a 7-and-a-half years in prison for his child pornography conviction.

Railsback will be on supervised release for 10 years after he completes his prison sentence. He also will be required to register as a sex offender….

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on October 11, 2012

From today’s Los Angeles Times:

“We have already selected the documents that are going to be released, gone through a process of redacting innocent names and we need a court order” signing off on the release of the documents, (LA Archdiocese Attorney J. Michael) Hennigan said. (emphasis mine)

Innocent names? If they truly cared about the rights of the innocent, there wouldn’t be a clergy sex abuse scandal in the first place, n’est-ce pas?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Mercury News

By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles could turn over two dozen priest personnel files to a plaintiff’s attorney within days after the California Supreme Court declined to review a lower court ruling ordering the release.

The lower court ruling applies to only 25 of the priests who were included in a record-breaking, $660 million settlement between more than 500 alleged sex abuse victims and the archdiocese in 2007. The papers are also subject to a protective order, meaning they will only be turned over to the plaintiff’s attorney, and not the public.

The 2007 settlement included a commitment to release the files of all molesting priests, but victims are still waiting five years later and accuse the archdiocese of stalling by tying up the documents in a legal battle.

A number of priests have filed individual objections to the release of their confidential files, which could include medical and psychological information, internal correspondence, police reports and other evidence showing what church leaders knew about molesting priests and when they knew it.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Daily News

By Christina Villacorte, Staff Writer
dailynews.com
Posted: 10/11/2012

Five years after agreeing to do so, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is poised to release personnel files on 25 former priests accused of sex abuse and child molestation, after the state Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the former priests’ appeal to keep the documents confidential.

The release of the documents was part of the Archdiocese’s record $660 million settlement in 2007 to 508 people who said they were victims.

Former priests sued to block the release of the documents, but lost. The state Supreme Court denied their appeal Wednesday.

Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg did not say when the documents would be released, only that it would happen “at some point in the not-too-distant future.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

The Church has said that the late Sir Jimmy Savile would not have been awarded a papal knighthood had it been aware of the allegations of sexual assault made against the BBC entertainer.

A spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said the Church would not have awarded Sir Jimmy the honour if it “had been aware of the allegations and the allegations had proved to be true”.

Sir Jimmy was awarded a Knighthood of the Order of St Gregory the Great in 1990. He helped to raise significant funds for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a care home in Leeds.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

KANSAS
WIBW

GEARY COUNTY, Kan. (WIBW) — Prosecutors say they expect to file more charges against a Junction City minister at the center of a growing church sex scandal.

Jordan Young, 25, is facing child molestation charges in six cases involving separate victims and officials tell 13 News he could be charged in another 4-7 cases based on allegations that have surfaced from several other victims.

Young appeared in Geary County District Court Thursday for a status hearing on his cases. WIBW’s request to have a camera inside the courtroom was denied. The hearing was continued as authorities keep building their case against Young. He was originally arrested in August after the Junction City Police Department launched an investigation into reports of sexual misconduct at the church.

Assistant Geary County Attorney Michelle Brown says state is waiting to receive test results from the KBI. The agency is testing close to 40 pieces of evidence, looking for DNA.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 12, 2012

Barney Zwartz

WHEN Ned Murphy (not his real name) was molested by three paedophiles at the notorious St Alipius school in Ballarat, he had plenty of company.

”Brother Fitzgerald molested just about everyone in the class,” said Murphy yesterday. ”It happened every morning. We would read from 11.30 to 12, and he would make one boy each time sit on his knee down the back.

”He would grope you and fondle you and kiss you. He would pick randomly, and it was terrifying.”

Even more terrifying were the attentions of Brother Farrell and particularly the school’s priest, Gerald Ridsdale, later jailed several times on numerous child abuse charges.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | October 12, 2012

Sydney Archbishop George Pell denied on Thursday a claim by the lawyer representing a sex abuse victim that he was present when the boy, then a Grade 3 student, recounted his rape by a Christian Brother.

Mr Pell said the account by Melbourne lawyer Vivian Waller are “irresponsible, untrue and are absolutely denied.” In her submission to a Parliamentary investigation, Ms Waller alleged that the clergy refused to talk to the boy, a student of St. Alipius School, when he told another priest of the sexual abuse he suffered under the hands of the schools’s former principal and teacher, Brother Robert Best

The incident happened in 1969 and that year Mr Pell said he was not yet assigned to Ballarat where the school is. He was appointed to the Sydney diocese in 1973, the cardinal pointed out.

Mr Pell explained he was studying in Oxford in 1969 but returned to Australia in 1971 when he worked at Swan Hill in the Diocese of Ballarat. He was ordained in 1966 and received his second appointment as a priest in East Ballarat in 1973, according to the statement of the cardinal.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

[the full report]

By Paul Melia and Breda Heffernan

Friday October 12 2012

THE Catholic Church took almost four months to report allegations of child sex abuse despite new guidelines requiring that all incidents be immediately notified to gardai and the HSE.

A HSE audit has found “significant weaknesses” in how children are protected in some of the country’s 24 dioceses, and says the State should take a hands-on role and make sure protection standards are fully implemented.

This is because some dioceses had “misinterpreted” guidelines introduced in 2009 with a “wide variation” in reporting procedures and “significant weaknesses” identified.

Clogher diocese showed an “unacceptable” delay of up to four months to report three allegations made in 2009, it found, while some claims were still not being reported in Ferns.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEVADA/WISCONSIN
Post-Crescent

Written by
Jim Collar
Post-Crescent staff writer

A civil trial against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay is under way in Nevada in a lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested by the same priest at the center of a similar Outagamie County case.

Jurors heard opening statements Thursday in Las Vegas in the case against the Green Bay diocese and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Las Vegas. The lawsuit claims the diocese knew the Rev. John Feeney had a history of sexual misconduct and falsely portrayed him as safe even though church officials knew he was a danger to children.

Feeney was convicted in Outagamie County in 2004 and sentenced to prison on four sexual assault counts. Feeney assaulted brothers Troy and Todd Merryfield, ages 12 and 14, in 1978. He was transferred from the Fox Valley to Las Vegas in 1984, court records say.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUSTRALIA’S most powerful Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, says a claim that he was present when a boy raped by a Christian Brother in regional Victoria described the incident to another priest is a “false and seriously misleading allegation” and that he was not in Australia at the time.

Responding to a submission to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of alleged criminal abuse of children by religious and other organisations, Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, said he was studying at Oxford at the time of the alleged incident.

A statement issued by the archdiocese of Sydney said: “The claims made in relation to Cardinal Pell in a submission to the inquiry by Waller Legal are irresponsible, untrue and are absolutely rejected.

“These are the facts. The Cardinal was ordained a priest in 1966 in Rome, he continued his studies and then travelled to Oxford to study for his doctorate. Cardinal Pell was studying at Oxford in 1969 and was not a priest appointed in the Diocese of Ballarat at the time alleged in Dr Waller’s submission.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

ANALYSIS: Despite progress, it simply beggars belief that three dioceses should still be laggards

IT WAS a better kind of curate’s egg, good in more spots.

But yesterday’s Health Service Executive audit of child protection practices in the Republic’s Catholic dioceses found that, despite four damning statutory reports, good practice in child protection still remains an aspiration for some dioceses.

It simply beggars belief that three dioceses in Ireland should still be laggards in this area.

Why, in 2012, is it still the case that Meath, Raphoe and Ossory should have “inadequate collection and retention of data” to do with child protection? Even while acknowledging that they too are “improving”. And Raphoe, in the bad books again?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) has recommended that the State works with all Catholic dioceses in the Republic to ensure children are properly protected.

In a major audit published yesterday, it recommended “that the State applies its resources to intervene and work with all dioceses in a systematic way to address the shortcomings outlined”.

The Audit of Safeguarding Arrangements in the Catholic Church in Ireland dealt with the 24 dioceses that are wholly or in part located in the Republic. Covering the period from January 1st, 1996 to November 30th, 2011, it found that a total of 579 child abuse allegations had been made against 189 priests in the 24 dioceses.

Of those accused priests, 31 diocesan priests have been convicted in the courts.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

[the full report]

RAPHOE DIOCESE

The reporting record of Raphoe, both in quality of information and speed of reporting, was found to be “poor”. Information was “difficult to decipher” and there were problems with dates.

Almost 80 per cent of the allegations that could be categorised took more than a year to report. There were five allegations against 12 priests (82 per cent were against four priests) in the reporting period.

Raphoe met many of the standards but recommendations included developing a policy on managing those who pose a risk to children and a complaints policy.

OSSORY DIOCESE

The report is very critical of the information on allegations provided by the diocese. It found “significant omissions” from the audit returns to be “concerning”, and describes the quality of data as “poor” , particularly in relation to dates. There were 27 allegations against nine priests since 1996. Two were reported to the HSE decades after the diocese was notified. The diocese was under the “mistaken impression” the Meath diocese was handling allegations against a priest in Ossory.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A LEADING Irish theologian, Augustinian priest Fr Gabriel Daly, protested at a conference in Dublin yesterday “against the unjust and sometimes cruel tactics resorted to by the papacy and its curia against good men and women who are genuinely concerned with making Christ present to the world”.

He continued: “We can differ in our theologies within the church, but surely we can agree that this treatment of our brothers and sisters is utterly unjust and indefensible.”

He said: “If we do not stand up to what Rome is doing, they will continue to bully those who, quite legitimately, do not think as they do. I also wish to give pastoral support to fellow Catholics who have been alienated from Rome by its outlook and behaviour.”

Fr Daly was speaking at a special conference on Vatican Two 50 Year On at Newman House.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

Philip Pullella
Reuters

5:00 p.m. CDT, October 11, 2012

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict urged lapsed and lukewarm Roman Catholics on Thursday to rediscover their faith but acknowledged there are “bad fish” in the Church itself.

The pope made his comments at two large events before thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, a far-reaching event in the Church’s 2,000-year history.

“Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual desertification,” he said in his sermon of a morning Mass, opening a worldwide “Year of Faith”.

“We see it all around us … the void has spread,” he said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ROME
Fox News Latino

The superior general of the troubled Legion of Christ religious order, under the Roman Catholic Church, has stepped aside unexpectedly, saying he simply doesn’t have the energy to oversee the radical reform of the congregation ordered by the Vatican after their founder’s sexual abuse scandal.

The Rev. Alvaro Corcuera said in a letter obtained Thursday that his 38-year-old vicar general, the Rev. Sylvester Heereman, would govern the order until a planned general assembly in 2013 or 2014 to elect a new superior. Corcuera will retain his title, but no longer run the Legion.

The Legion has been in turmoil ever since it acknowledged in 2009 that its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children. The Vatican took it over in 2010 after a yearlong investigation determined that the Legion’s very culture had been infected by Maciel’s influence and needed to be “purified.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW YORK
The Journal News

Written by
Gary Stern

NEW ROCHELLE — Iona Preparatory School is acquiring Iona Grammar School from the Christian Brothers order, which is in bankruptcy after years of being hit with sexual-abuse lawsuits.

The two schools will be merged and called Iona Preparatory School at some point. There has long been a close relationship between the two New Rochelle schools, with Iona Grammar sending about half its graduates to Iona Prep.

Brother Thomas Leto, president of Iona Prep, will serve as president of the merged school.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Paolo Gabriele will not appeal his conviction by a Vatican tribunal.

The deadline for appealing the tribunal’s decision passed on October 10. Cristiana Arru, the lawyer for the Pope’s former valet, has disclosed that she did not file an appeal.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ROME
DFW Catholic

Rome, Italy, Oct 11, 2012 / 01:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Father Alvaro Corcuera, General Director of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, announced that he is handing over his responsibilities for the sake of his health.

“I have seen before God that I do not have the health and energy necessary to face responsibly the demands of the general governance in the present time in the history of the Legion and Regnum Christi,” he wrote Oct. 9 in a letter to his brother Legionaries and the members of Regnum Christi.

Fr. Corcuera has been General Director of the Legion since Jan. 2005, taking over from Father Marcial Maciel, who was found guilty of sexually abusing seminarians and leading a double life.

The Legion has been overseen since 2010 by Cardinal Velasio de Paolis, after an apostolic visitation determined that the order needed “profound re-evaluation.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

[the full report]

Thursday October 11 2012

A diocese took up to 13 years to report four allegations of clerical abuse by suspected paedophile priests to authorities, an audit found.

Health chiefs revealed the Diocese of Clonfert took almost 10 years to pass on information about three other accusations.

But despite its bishop John Kirby being criticised in recent weeks by the Catholic Church’s own watchdog for mishandling allegations in his diocese, the Health Service Executive (HSE) found it met all seven standards it set for its review.

The HSE diocesan audit examined the records of 24 dioceses across Ireland up to last November – but it did not recommend a full Commission of Inquiry into any.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SCHWEIZ
Kipa

Luzern, 11.10.12 (Kipa) Die Absetzung des für 2013 in Luzern geplanten “Passionsspiels” fordern 20 katholische Gruppen. Ihre “gemeinsame Erklärung” wurde von Pro Ecclesia Innerschweiz initiiert, erklärte Präsidentin Elisabeth Lerch-Würms am Donnerstag auf Anfrage. Die katholische Kirche Luzern als Initiantin des Stücks bezeichnet es als unverständlich, dass Gruppierungen das Stück verurteilen, bevor sie es gesehen haben.

2.000 Personen und auch Priestern stehen gemäss Mitteilung hinter der Erklärung. Auf Grund von Äusserungen der Initianten sei zu erwarten, heisst es in der “gemeinsamen Erklärung”, dass das “geplante sogenannte Passionsspiel eine zentrale Wahrheit des katholischen und jedes christlichen Glaubens – die Gottheit Jesu Christi und sein freiwilliges Leiden mit seinem Erlöser- und Sühnetod – unterlaufen und verfälschen wird”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

OSTERREICH
Bettroffen

11 Okt, 2012in Presse

vorarlberg.orf.at, 11.10.2012

Das Zivilverfahren eines ehemaligen Missbrauchsopfers gegen das Bregenzer Zisterzienser-Kloster Mehrerau am Landesgericht Feldkirch ist am Donnerstag zum dritten Mal vertagt worden. Altabt Kassian Lauterer räumte als Zeuge Fehler ein.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Querdenker

Bischof Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernandez und Bischof Carlos Pellegrín Barrera

Der weltweite sexuelle Missbrauch von Kinder und Jugendlichen in religiösen Einrichtungen nimmt kein Ende. Erneut ist die Katholische Missbrauchskirche in Süd- und Mittelamerika in die Kritik geraten. Mit Fassungslosigkeit verfolgen die Gläubigen in aller Welt, dass jetzt auch zwei chilenische Bischöfe wegen Kindesmissbrauch angezeigt wurden. Papst Benedikt XIV.hält trotz weiltweiter Kritik nach wie vor am Zölibat fest. Das Zölibat ist der Hauptgrund warum Priester und Nonnen Kinder und Jugendliche sexuell missbrauchen. Der deutsche Papst wird in die Kirchengeschichte eingehen als belesenster Papst, aber ohne Realitätsbezug. Ein Papst, der den Glauben über das Wohl der Menschen und vor allen Dingen der Kinder stellt. Wer als Papst andere Religionen maßregelt und sein eigenes Haus nicht bestellen kann, dem wird nur noch Mitleid und Zorn zuteil.

Angesichts des Verdachts auf Missbrauch von Minderjährigen hat Papst Benedikt XVI. den chilenischen Bischof Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández entlassen. Der 47-Jährige soll zwei Jungen sexuell missbraucht haben, bestreitet das aber. Angesichts des Verdachts auf Missbrauch von Minderjährigen hat Papst Benedikt XVI. den chilenischen Bischof Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández entlassen. Der Bischof von Iquique habe seinen Rücktritt nach Artikel 401 Paragraph 2 des Kanonischen Rechts eingereicht, erklärte der Vatikan. Dieser Paragraph bezieht sich auf Rücktritte “aus gesundheitlichen oder anderen schweren Gründen”. Órdenes Fernández steht im Verdacht, mindestens zwei Jungen sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

OSTERREICH
der Standard

Markus Rohrhofer, 11. Oktober 2012

Justiz entscheidet Ende Oktober

Linz – Über zwei Jahre hat die Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr ermittelt, jetzt scheint es fix, dass die jahrelangen Übergriffe körperlicher, seelischer und sexueller Gewalt gegen zahlreiche frühere Zöglinge des Benediktinerstiftes Kremsmünster ein gerichtliches Nachspiel haben wird. Wie Der STANDARD aus gewöhnlich gut informierten Justizkreisen erfuhr, soll noch Ende Oktober gegen den heute 77-jährigen Pater A. Anklage erhoben werden.

Dringender Tatverdacht

Ein Blick in den 1200 Seiten starken Gerichtsakt lässt den Heiligenschein von Pater A. rasch verblassen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft sieht demnach einen dringenden Tatverdacht bei einer Reihe von Delikten: schwere Nötigung, Quälen oder Vernachlässigen unmündiger oder wehrloser Personen, Vergehen nach dem Waffengesetz – der Pater besaß illegal eine Pumpgun und eine Pistole und soll damit einen Schüler bedroht haben – Körperverletzung, sexueller Missbrauch von Jugendlichen, sexueller Missbrauch von Unmündigen, schwerer sexueller Missbrauch von Jugendlichen, Vergewaltigung, Missbrauch eines Autoritätsverhältnisses, gefährliche Drohung und Nötigung.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

OSTERREICH
der Standard

Jutta Berger, 11. Oktober 2012,

Schadenersatzprozess gegen Kloster Mehrerau wieder vertagt, Altabt räumt Fehler ein

Feldkirch – Emeran B. oder Pater Johannes, der als Lehrer im Internat des Klosters Mehrerau mehreren Buben sexuelle Gewalt angetan haben soll, bleibt weiter unauffindbar. “Haben Sie die Adresse jetzt?”, will Richterin Birgit Vetter zu Beginn des dritten Prozesstages von Anwalt Sanjay Doshi wissen. “Nein, woher auch?”, fragt dieser schulterzuckend. Doshi vertritt einen 46-jährigen ehemaligen Schüler, der angibt, von B., dem früheren Internatsleiter des Collegiums Mehrerau, vergewaltigt worden zu sein und der das Kloster nun auf Schadenersatz von 135.000 Euro klagt.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Health Service Executive

Volume 1 Dioceses Report

FOREWORD

The sexual abuse of a child by a trusted adult is a traumatic event for the child and can have catastrophic effects on the life experiences and life chances of the child as he or she progresses into adulthood. This is now widely understood and accepted.

What is less clearly understood is the impact that the disclosure of abuse has on the organisation to which the adult belongs. In many cases there is shock and disbelief; an unwillingness to accept the facts, leading in turn to inertia of action and subsequent mismanagement of the situation. It was concerns in relation to possible mismanagement of disclosures of abuse that led to the Government asking the Health Service Executive to conduct an audit of the arrangements for safeguarding children in the Catholic Church in Ireland. The Audit process has been protracted and a number of obstacles, which are detailed within this report, had to be overcome a comprehensive report on the overall state of safeguarding children within theChurch Dioceses could be produced.

The delay has not been without its benefits in that in making assessment of the safeguarding arrangements we can now the Standards and Guidance Document for the Catholic Church in Ireland issued by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in February 2009. This document is now the first and key point of reference for all those with responsibility for implementing the Church’s safeguarding policy and procedures. The document enables everyone in the Church to reach a uniform standard of best practice in safeguarding.

In this report, the achievement of each diocese in the application of the standards up to November 2011 is analysed as is the information on allegations and information about accused priests as supplied by dioceses in response to audit questionnaires. It is clear that dioceses are at different stages of development but are progressing positively. The analysis of the position in each diocese will facilitate the further development that is needed to achieve the goal that is set out in the Safeguarding document issued by the National Board. It is to this area of activity that any available
resources should be targeted.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

[the full report]

Below is a summary of the HSE audit findings for each diocese:

ARDAGH and CLONMACNOIS

This includes most of counties Longford and Leitrim and parts of counties Cavan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath.

Four allegations were provided by the diocese, including two against deceased priests. The diocese reported difficulties in contacting the HSE to report two allegations against one priest. It informed the gardaí six days after receiving the allegations and tried to contact the HSE 10 days after receiving them. It eventually made contact 17 days after receiving the allegations.

The audit said all allegations should ideally be reported within one to three days to the civil authorities. “It is appreciated that this diocese has experienced difficulties in contacting the HSE when the designated child care manager was on leave.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS 47

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles could turn over at least a dozen priest personnel files to a plaintiff’s attorney within days after the California Supreme Court declined to review a lower court ruling ordering the release.

Archdiocese attorney J. Michael Hennigan said Thursday that the files will remain under a protective order.

The ruling doesn’t apply to a larger pool of priest files that was part of a $660 million settlement with 550 plaintiffs.

Hennigan says those will be released publicly in three months and need to be heavily redacted.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ISRAEL
YNet News

Yoav Zitun Published: 10.09.12

The IDF’s Military Advocate General Corps is deliberating which measures to take against an officer from the Military Rabbinate, who was caught visiting porn websites several times recently.

Ynet has learned that the officer is suspected of surfing the sites at his base from the personal computer of one of his subordinates, without that junior officer’s permission or knowledge.

The incident was revealed following a complaint filed about two weeks ago by the junior officer, Lieutenant N., against his commander who serves in a more senior role in the Military Rabbinate. The complaint was submitted to IDF Ombudsman Brigadier-General (Res.) Yitzhak Brik.

The complaint is also directed at Military Rabbinate officials, including Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier-General Rafi Peretz and head of the Military Rabbinate Corps Colonel Uri Horowitz, as the junior officer claimed that Military Rabbinate officials demanded that he leave the corps following the embarrassing incident.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GERMANY
National Catholic Reporter

by Moya St. Leger | Oct. 11, 2012

Viewpoint —
The German bishops’ recent decree refusing sacraments to Catholics who stop paying a church membership tax has been greeted with incredulity and opprobrium around the world.

Global media coverage of the decree, which was authorized by Rome, has brought into sharp focus a situation of which most were unaware: German Catholics and members of other denominations pay a “church tax” amounting to 8-9 percent of their income tax.

The state has collected the church tax since the secularization of Germany in the 19th century and channels the money to the churches for a small fee. It is widely assumed that the German Catholic church uses the income to fund a broad range of Catholic organizations and bodies — schools, hospitals, study centers, youth centers and kindergartens — whose indisputably excellent work would have to be taken over by the state if church tax ceased.

Carsten Frerk, an expert in church finance, disputes this assumption in Caritas und Diakonie in Deutschland. For example, he writes, estimates reveal that the state’s contribution to denominational kindergartens amounts to approximately 75 percent of the operating costs.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY | Thu Oct 11, 2012

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict urged lapsed and lukewarm Roman Catholics on Thursday to rediscover their Church and stop the advance of “spiritual desertification”.

The pope made his comments in the homily of a Mass before tens of thousands in St Peter’s Square on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, a far-reaching event in the Church’s 2,000-year history.

“Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual desertification,” he said, opening a worldwide “Year of Faith”. “We see it all around us … the void has spread.” …

The Church is suffering desertions from its practicing flock in former strongholds in Europe, North America and Latin America due to sex abuse scandals, increasing secularism, rival faiths and open dissent against Church teachings on homosexuality and its ban on a female priesthood.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By JOHN W. O’MALLEY

Published: October 10, 2012

VATICAN II, which has been rightly described as the most important religious event of the 20th century, began 50 years ago today in St. Peter’s Basilica. Over three years, from 1962 to 1965, some 2,800 bishops from 116 countries produced 16 documents that set the Roman Catholic Church’s course for the future. Its proceedings were closely followed in the media, bringing the church into the homes of hundreds of millions of ordinary Catholics on nearly a daily basis.

An increasingly popular view, at least among critics, is that the Second Vatican Council failed to put the church’s house in order. Its most radical inward move was not to democratize the church (though it has often been described that way) but to reinstate an older, more collegial style in church governance. Under the council’s version of this teaching, known as collegiality, the papacy had the final word, but others in the church, from the bishops to the priests and the laity, had a voice, too.

The bishops at Vatican II felt that more than a century of centralization needed to be tempered. But in their euphoria, they failed to reckon sufficiently with the resistance of entrenched bureaucracies — jealous of their authority and fearful of disorder — to change. A more participatory mode of church life took hold for 15 years or so after the council, but from on high it began to be more and more restricted, to the point that central control is now tighter than ever.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Paul Melia

Thursday October 11 2012

CHURCH authorities took almost four months to report allegations of child sex abuse despite new guidelines that incidents should be immediately reported to gardai and the HSE.

A HSE report published today says just 15pc of all cases were reported to gardai and health chiefs “with immediacy” or within three days, and that dioceses “misinterpreted” the guidelines which were introduced in 2009.

And it found that despite telling the HSE that all allegations received had been reported to gardai and health bosses, some dioceses had not passed on the information.

There was a wide variation in the reporting procedures used by the dioceses, and there was a need for “further improvements,” Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said.

“Focus must remain on addressing the need for ongoing improvements; in particular in those dioceses identified by the audit as requiring further work,” she said, adding she was “concerned” by some aspects of the report’s findings.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEVADA/WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Oct. 11, 2012

A trial involving the Diocese of Green Bay gets under way today in Las Vegas, where one of its former priests, John Patrick Feeney, was accused of molesting a boy in the 1980s — a development that could affect ongoing settlement talks in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy.

The Green Bay diocese is accused of declaring Feeney fit for ministry in Las Vegas despite knowing about his long history of sexual abuse allegations.

In May, An Outagamie County jury ordered the diocese to pay $700,000 to two Wisconsin brothers, Todd and Troy Merryfield, whom Feeney molested in the 1970s. But the judge overturned that decision, citing juror bias, and the case is now on appeal.

Feeney was convicted in Wisconsin in 2004 and sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 2011. He was defrocked in 2005.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Herald

By Caroline Crawford

Thursday October 11 2012

AN IRISH priest says he has received a demand from the Vatican to retract his views on women’s ordination and contraception.

Fr Tony Flannery (pictured) has previously been gagged by the Vatican over his liberal views and told by the Vatican not to discuss his investigation by the Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Fr Flannery, who is based in Esker, Co Galway, said: “My negotiations with the Congregation are ongoing and I have agreed I will not speak about it for the present.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.