ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

December 25, 2012

Boston priest named Vatican’s top sex-abuse prosecutor; victims’ groups complain

BOSTON (MA)
Catholic Culture

A Boston priest has been named the Vatican’s top prosecutor in sex-abuse cases.

Father Robert Oliver, who has been an assistant for canonical affairs in the Boston archdiocese, will become the “promoter of justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He replaces Msgr. Charles Scicluna, who had established a reputation for toughness in sex-abuse investigations before he was appointed an auxiliary bishop in his native Malta.

The appointment of a Boston priest drew some criticism from spokesmen for groups representing sex-abuse victims, who pointed out the Father Oliver had advised Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as Archbishop of Boston because of revelations that he had covered up evidence of sexual abuse. But Father Oliver began advising the cardinal only after those offenses had been brought to light.

“We don’t have evidence that Father Oliver helped conceal clergy sex crimes in Boston,” admitted David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group that has been invariably critical of Church leadership. “But likewise there’s no evidence whatsoever that he tried to chart a new course.” Actually Father Oliver did chart a new course in Boston, helping to draft the new sex-abuse policies that the archdiocese adopted in 2003, after Cardinal Law’s departure.

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.

Atheist Dawkins unjustly abuses all the world’s Catholics with this comment

UNITED STATES
Catholic Online

Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
12/24/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Incendiary atheist will say anything to get attention.

According to the infamous atheist, Richard Dawkins, growing up Catholic is a form of child abuse worse than sexual abuse. Go ahead and reread that, and let it sit for awhile.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – Dawkins made his outrageous claim in an interview on Al Jazeera. His interviewer, Mehdi Hasan asked him to clarify previous comments he has made that religion equates to child abuse. Dawkins explained, “Horrible as sexual abuse no doubt was, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damage inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place.”

Hasan followed up, “You believe that being bought up as a Catholic is worse than being abused by a priest?”

Dawkins answered, “There are shades of being abused by a priest, and I quoted an example of a woman in America who wrote to me saying that when she was seven years old she was sexually abused by a priest in his car. At the same time a friend of hers, also seven, who was of a Protestant family, died, and she was told that because her friend was Protestant she had gone to Hell and will be roasting in Hell forever. She told me of those two abuses, she got over the physical abuse; it was yucky but she got over it. But the mental abuse of being told about Hell, she took years to get over.”

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.

December 24, 2012

Quebec deacon in child porn bust has bail hearing postponed

CANADA
CBC

A Montreal-area deacon facing child pornography charges will spend Christmas in jail after his bail hearing was pushed back.

William Kokesch, 65, was arrested Friday morning and charged with distribution and production of child pornography.

Kokesch was silent during a brief court appearance in Montreal on Monday. His bail hearing was rescheduled for Dec. 27.

The Pointe-Claire resident was a deacon for the St-Edmund of Canterbury parish in Beaconsfield on Montreal’s West Island.

He also worked as a communications director for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and helped co-ordinate World Youth Day conferences in Toronto, Rome and Paris, according to the organization’s website.

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.

Kokesch spending holidays behind bars

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Karen Seidman, THE GAZETTE
December 24, 2012

MONTREAL — Church deacon William Kokesch will spend Christmas behind bars after his bail hearing was postponed until Thursday during an appearance in court Monday morning.

Kokesch, 65, is facing pornography charges after he was arrested on Friday and charged with distribution and production of child pornography.

A prominent deacon of St. Edmund of Canterbury Parish in Beaconsfield, police made the arrest after searching his Pointe Claire home and the church.

The Archdiocese of Montreal announced on Saturday it immediately removed Kokesch from all ministry and pastoral activity.

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.

Christmas in jail for West Island deacon, bail delayed

CANADA
CTV

[with video]

Published Monday, Dec. 24, 2012

MONTREAL—At the Montreal courthouse on Christmas Eve, former West Island deacon William Kokesch learned that his bail hearing was delayed and he would spend the holidays behind bars.

Kokesch was arrested on Friday by the Montreal police at his Pointe-Claire home and charged with the production and possession of child pornography. Police alleged that over 2,000 pornographic photos were found on the man’s home computer.

With his bail postponed until Dec. 27, Kokesch also announced on Monday that he had taken on the services of high-profile lawyer Jeffrey Boro.

The 65-year-old was a consultant for the Catholic Church in St-Edmund’s parish for the past seven year and was the spokesman for Canadian Conference of Bishops until 2006.

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.

Priest is arraigned in child porn case

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
dboynton@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Rev. Lowe B. Dongor pleaded not guilty to possession of child pornography and larceny of more than $250 during his arraignment in Worcester Superior Court this morning.

Rev. Dongor, who worked at St. Joseph Parish in Fitchburg until his arrest last year, was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail or $5 million with surety by Judge Richard Tucker.

Rev. Dongor — the Diocese of Worcester’s first Filipino priest — was assigned to St. Joseph’s Parish in Fitchburg when the child pornography allegedly was found on his computer. When he was being questioned by police, he confessed to stealing $40 to $60 each week from the weekly collection over a period of months and wiring that money to his family in the Philippines, Prosecutor Courtney Sans said.

He was charged with possession of child pornography and larceny of more than $250 in Fitchburg District Court in September 2011 and was released on personal recognizance. At that time he was ordered to have no contact with the church, no contact with children, and no access to computers or the Internet.

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.

Boston priest appointed by Pope as Vatican sexual crime prosecutor

UNITED STATES
Irish Central

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, December 24, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a Boston priest as the Vatican’s new sexual crimes prosecutor.

The Vatican said that Rev. Robert W. Oliver, who handled sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church in Boston at the height of the scandal, would be “the promoter of justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office that reviews all abuse cases.

“It is with deep humility and gratitude that I received the news that the Holy Father is entrusting me with this service to the church,” said Father Oliver, in a statement released by the Archdiocese of Boston.

Father Oliver will succeed Msgr. Charles Scicluna, 53, who was promoted to auxiliary bishop in Malta in October.

Father Oliver was among the canon lawyers brought in to advise Cardinal Bernard F. Law on sexual abuse cases in Boston in 2002 and was responsible for investigating charges against accused priests when the cardinal was forced to resign after it was revealed that he had kept abusive priests working in parishes.

In 2003, he helped write a new abuse prevention policy for the archdiocese.

However, abuse victim advocates are criticizing Oliver’s new appointment.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of a watchdog group called Bishop Accountability, told The New York Times, “Reverend Oliver is a champion of accused priests, which obviously does not bode well for the job he will do as promoter of justice.”

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

Christmas tidings: an – apology for “evil”

AUSTRALIA
Radio New Zealand

The head of the Roman Catholic church in Australia, Archbishop George Pell, has used his Christmas message to apologise to all those who’ve suffered at the hands of Christian priests and teachers.

He said he, too, felt shock and shame at the revelations of such crimes and wrongdoing.

He says it goes against the teachings of Jesus and Christians need faith in God’s goodness and love to cope with these disasters.

Where there is evil, there is less peace, says the Archbishop.

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’s New Sex Abuse Prosecutor Gets No Confidence Vote

UNITED STATES
The Legal Examiner

Posted by Joe Saunders
December 23, 2012

Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a Boston canon lawyer, to be the “Promoter of Justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome. A major portion of the job of the Promoter of Justice is the supervision of the Church’s internal investigation and prosecution of Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children.

After the Pope’s announcement, Rev. Oliver got a no confidence vote from one of Boston’s leading child protection advocates. Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director of Bishop Accountability, commented to the New York Times that: “Rev Oliver is a champion of accused priests, which obviously does not bode well for the job he will do as the promoter of justice.”

Boston was the epicenter of the public disclosure of the worldwide scandal of Catholic priests sexually abusing children. The Boston Globe newspaper series documented an extensive cover up of pedophile priests by Cardinal Bernard Law. The cover up of the priests who sexually abused children involved the protection of the priests from criminal prosecution by civil legal authorities and moving the priests to other parishes where more children could be victimized. Rev. Oliver was brought into Boston in 2002 when Cardinal Law was removed from his post in Boston and moved to Rome.

Anne Barrett Doyle and Bishop Accountability have carefully followed and documented the Catholic priest abuse scandal for over a decade and have a reputation as an independent watchdog for the protection of children. Ms. Doyle and Bishop Accountability leveled specific criticisms of Rev. Oliver’s work in Boston that raise concerns about whether he will make the protection of children his top priority. For example, Rev. Oliver cleared 45% of accused priests in Boston when statistics across the country show that about 10% of accused priests in other dioceses are cleared. Rev. Oliver also made it easier for accused priests to stay in ministry and harder for abuse survivors to obtain church records.

Bishop Accountability has worked tirelessly to protect children and would have supported a choice by the Vatican that was supported by the factual record. Bishop Accountability has created a worldwide registry of pedophile priests. The Vatican has failed and refused to make a comprehensive list of pedophile priests public, a job that has fallen to Bishop Accountability by default. After 10 years in Boston, Rev. Oliver has made no efforts to call Cardinal Law to justice for covering up abuse of children. He has focused only on reviewing whether there is proof against individual priests. In fact, Cardinal Law got in essence a promotion to head a basilica in Rome when he should, in my opinion, be in prison.

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.

Australian Royal Commission and the Savile investigation: getting the truth out

AUSTRALIA/UNITED KINGDOM
The Conversation

Judy Courtin

With the year’s end tantalisingly close, Australia awaits the announcement of the Federal government’s terms of reference for the national Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

The nature and breadth of these sex crimes and their alleged concealment is expected to be profound. As Australia prepares for its national inquiry, England is reeling from sexual abuse allegations “on an unprecedented scale”. A joint report, due early 2013, by the Metropolitan Police and the children’s charity, NSPCC, will reveal the findings of their ten-week investigation into the former BBC celebrity, Jimmy Savile. Savile faced multiple allegations of child sex offences before his death, but no prosecutions.

The head of this investigation, Commander Peter Spindler, revealed an astonishing 450 people have made sexual abuse allegations against Savile. Although this “scoping exercise”, named Operation Yewtree, into the alleged assaults by Savile has been completed, police continue investigations into the allegations of another 139 victims of alleged sexual assaults committed by other high profile celebrities in the UK.

What do the Australian Royal Commission into religious institutions and the English investigations into high profile celebrities have in common?

First, the majority of the crimes being dealt with are historic in that, broadly, they were committed between the 1960s and the 1990s.

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.

Montreal deacon known for criticizing pedophiles charged in child porn case

CANADA
RT

A deacon known to be strong critic of the way the Catholic Church has dealt with sex abuse by the clergy is to appear in front of a judge on charges of producing and distributing child pornography.

­The sixty-five year-old, William Kokesch of St. Edmund of Canterbury Parish in Beaconsfield, was arrested Friday after police carried out searches at his house and church, securing more than 2,000 files on his computer as well as messages left on chat-room sites.

Following the news of his arrest, the Archdiocese of Montreal has immediately banned him from pastoral activity, saying in a statement that “child pornography is an affront to human dignity, and our first concern rests with those who are its victims.”

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: A New Child Protection Strategy Now?

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

(by Jerry Slevin, retired Wall Street lawyer)

WHERE DOES THE VATICAN NOW STAND?

Major new political developments worldwide affecting the Vatican may quickly lead to long overdue changes in its flawed child protection strategy. Two important and informed Cardinals, Martini and Pell, one a former, and the other a present, rumored contender to be elected pope, surprisingly and publicly admitted recently, reportedly, that the Catholic Church’s decades’ old priest child abuse scandal had still not been resolved and would continue to harm the Church, and presumably more innocent children and suffering survivors as well, unless reforms were effected.

Cardinal Martini, who died in September and had been a highly regarded Jesuit scriptural scholar and a very popular head of Italy’s largest diocese, Milan, also noted in August as part of his final description of the Vatican’s strategic failure to protect children sufficiently, that ” … the church bureaucracy rises up …”, clearly pointing his finger at the secretive and powerful Vatican administrative clique within Pope Benedict XVI’s administration, also called the Curia.

The new shocking announcement that one of Cardinal Law’s former Boston canon lawyers is to be the new Vatican prosecutor on priest child abuse cases just reinforces these Cardinals’ recent negative assessments of the Vatican’s current flawed strategy. Cardinal Law fled to the Vatican in 2004 apparently to escape the fallout from the explosive 2002 Boston Archdiocesean priest child abuse revelations. Cardinal Law’s former subordinate replaces the Vatican’s chief prosecutor, who was recently “promoted out” to Malta following his “bombshell” public statement confirming the harmful influence of a pervasive Vatican code of silence, or in Mafia terminology, “Omerta”, on child abuse matters.

Also surprisingly, in one fateful and unprecedented week last month, Catholic laity concerned about children in different parts of the world directly rejected clear Vatican signals by supporting the re-election of President Barack Obama in the USA, and the establishment of a special national child sexual abuse investigation commission by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Australia. And now the Philippine legislature has just approved a very popular law to make contraception affordably accessible there, despite strong Vatican opposition.

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.

NCAA & Penn State more moral than Vatican. Sports is more moral than John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Vatican Titanic sinking in moral bankruptcy

UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

The year 2012 gave us one of the biggest living proofs of Pope Crimes and Vatican Evils and Catholic Injustice in the glorious retirement of Cardinal Bernard Law – and it also gave us the proof of the goodness and justice system of Secularism – in the punishment of the late Joe Paterno at Penn State University. All measures of judgement on the most heinous crimes of pedophiles against children should study and remember these men-one a “Prince of the Vatican Catholic Church” (it’s no longer RCC Roman Catholic Church because Rome is a secular city of Italy…while the Vatican is the Holy See that controls Catholics worldwide) and the other a football coach, read their stories below. Cardinal Bernard Law is the living proof of the most corrupt system of injustice in the world of the Vatican Sacrament of Confession that protects criminals and persecutes their victims, read here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html

How Cardinal Bernard Law can continue to be a Cardinal, let alone a priest, after he admitted that he transferred from one parish to another – EIGHTY (80) Pedophile priests is beyond good reason and it shows the fanaticism of Catholics who tolerate such Pope Crimes and Vatican Evils and Catholic Injustice. Catholics are like those medieval people who obeyed their king no matter what crimes he committed and they cheered on the public squares as they see people being beheaded at the order of the King. Likewise today, Catholics allow Cardinals, Bishops and pedophile priests to continue performing the Magic of the Eucharist despite knowing the crimes they have committed against 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.

Local Sex Abuse Group Criticizes Vatican Sex Crimes Prosecutor

ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The St. Louis-based director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is reacting to Pope Benedict XVI’s pick for a new sex crimes prosecutor.

David Clohessy says Father Robert Oliver was an adviser to Cardinal Bernard Law on the Boston sex abuse cases and says the appointment of anyone with ties to Cardinal Law is problematic in his mind.

“This just rubs even more salt into the already very deep and oftentimes still fresh wounds of thousands and thousands of betrayed Catholics and wounded victims,” Clohessy said.

Oliver continued advising the Archdiocese of Boston after Cardinal Law was forced to resign in 2002 amid an uproar over revelations that the cardinal had kept abusive priests working in parishes.

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.

Catholic apology represents ‘cultural shift’

AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

Victims’ support groups say the Catholic Church could be preparing to acknowledge its involvement in historic child sexual abuse in Australia after Cardinal George Pell apologised to those who ‘‘suffered at the hands’’ of priests.

In a Christmas message, the Australian church’s most senior cleric said he was ‘‘deeply sorry’’ for the hurt that had occurred, describing it as ‘‘completely contrary’’ to Christ’s teachings.

But he stopped short of specifically mentioning allegations of child sex abuse by members of the clergy.

‘‘I feel too the shock and shame across the community at these revelations of wrongdoing and crimes,’’ Cardinal Pell said.

His apology came after the federal government this year announced a royal commission to the response of institutions, including the church, to cases of child sexual abuse in Australia.

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.

Pell apology ‘not good enough’

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

An apology made by Australia’s most senior Catholic to those who suffered abuse at the hands of priests has been labelled a ‘minimal response’ by a child sexual abuse victims group.

In his Christmas message, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell said he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the hurt that had occurred, calling it ‘completely contrary’ to Christ’s teachings.

But he did not specifically mention allegations of child sex abuse by members of the clergy, only those who ‘suffered at the hands’ of fellow Christians, Christian officials, priests and religious teachers.

Adults Surviving Child Abuse president Dr Cathy Kezelman said the Catholic Church needed to be more transparent and forthright about its role in the abuse of children over the years.

‘It’s an absolutely minimal response to express regret,’ she told AAP on Monday.

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.

Top Australian cleric apologises for abuse

AUSTRALIA
The New Age

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric on Monday apologised to those who “suffered at the hands” of priests and religious teachers, in a Christmas message issued after a turbulent year for the Church.

In the video message broadcast on television, Sydney Archbishop George Pell said he was shocked and ashamed, following a series of paedophile allegations against priests and claims they were hushed up….

Pell’s Christmas message drew mixed reactions from victim support groups, with some saying it represented a “major shift” in the Church’s position while others said it did not go far enough.

“It’s pleasing that he’s opening up his heart to these people,” Wayne Chamley, spokesperson for victims support group Broken Rites, told ABC television.

“They seem to now appreciate the scale of it. I don’t think we’ve seen a statement in the past which was reflecting on the scale of what’s gone on.”

But Adults Surviving Child Abuse president Cathy Kezelman called it “an absolutely minimal response to express regret”.

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.

Deaf alleged victims of sexual abuse call for boycott of Catholic Church collection plates

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Karen Seidman, THE GAZETTE
December 23, 2012

They may be deaf and mute, but a group of about 200 alleged victims of sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic teaching order who gathered for a demonstration on a frigid Sunday afternoon were able to communicate a powerful message.

In view of their plight, they asked that as people gather in their local Catholic churches for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, that they not donate money to the collection plate as it is passed around.

“Until the Catholic Church acknowledges the abuse that has occurred, until it tries to repair the damage that was done, we think people should stop giving money that will just be used to pay for expensive lawyers who help the church deny these allegations and protect pedophile priests,” said France Bédard, founder of a not-for-profit support group, the Association des victimes de prêtres, which aims to help people who say they were abused by members of religious orders. She said she herself was raped by a priest as a teenager.

“This is the biggest payday of the year for the church,” said Carlo Tarini, a spokesperson for the group. “We are calling for a worldwide boycott of these collection plates to send a clear message to the Catholic Church. People should donate to Centraide or the United Way instead.”

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.

Sex abuse priest unmasked by court

NORTHERN IRELAND
Lurgan Mail

Published on Monday 24 December 2012

THE anonymity of a former Lurgan priest who was convicted of indecently assaulting a young girl in the County Armagh area has been lifted. He has been named as Fr Terence Rafferty.

A former Administrator at Newry Cathedral, Fr Rafferty, whose address was given as Chestnut Grove, Newry, was convicted at Craigavon Crown Court on Monday of four counts of indecent assault relating to offences in 2001.

Sitting before Judge Patrick Lynch, five other offences of indecent assault between December 2000 and January 2002 were left on the books.

The victim was a minor at the time.

Details of the case were only released last Thursday after a court ban protecting the 50-year-old priest’s identity was lifted.

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.

December 23, 2012

Pell says sorry to abuse victims in Christmas message

AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

[with video]

Catholic Cardinal George Pell has used his Christmas message to apologise to those who have been sexually abused by Christians.

Cardinal Pell says he is shocked and ashamed by the abuse suffered at the hands of priests and teachers.

He says it goes against the teachings of Jesus and Christians need faith in God’s goodness and love to cope with these disasters.

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.

Top Australian cleric apologises for abuse

AUSTRALIA
MSN

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric on Monday apologised to those who “suffered at the hands” of priests and religious teachers after a turbulent year for the Church.

Sydney Archbishop George Pell said he was shocked and ashamed, following a series of paedophile allegations against priests and claims that they were hushed up.

In his Christmas message, Pell said his heart went out to “all those who cannot find peace at this time, especially those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians, Christian officials, priests, religious teachers”.

“I am deeply sorry this has happened,” he 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.

Christmas Message 2012

AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
24 Dec 2012

Like every other priest and bishop I bring Christ’s message of peace and goodness once again this Christmas. Where there is evil, there is less peace, sometimes no peace.

My heart, the hearts of all believers, of all people of good will go out to all those who cannot find peace at this time, especially those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians; Christian officials, priests, religious, teachers.

I am deeply sorry this has happened. It is completely contrary to Christ’s teachings and I feel too the shock and shame across the community at these revelations of wrong doing and crimes.

We need our faith in God’s goodness and love to cope with these disasters, to help those who have been hurt. We need the hope that comes to us from Christ’s birth with his call to conversion, to sorrow for sins and the necessity of reparation.

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.

Pell apology not good enough, group says

AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

AN apology made by Australia’s most senior Catholic to those who suffered abuse at the hands of priests has been labelled a “minimal response” by a child sexual abuse victims group.

In his Christmas message, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell said he was “deeply sorry” for the hurt that had occurred, calling it “completely contrary” to Christ’s teachings.

But he did not specifically mention allegations of child sex abuse by members of the clergy, only those who “suffered at the hands” of fellow Christians, Christian officials, priests and religious teachers.

Adults Surviving Child Abuse president Dr Cathy Kezelman said the Catholic Church needed to be more transparent and forthright about its role in the abuse of children over the 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.

Pell says sorry for ‘wrongdoings and crimes’

AUSTRALIA
Brimbank Weekly

By Nicole Hasham
Dec. 24, 2012

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, has apologised to “those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians” in his first Christmas message since the federal government announced a royal commission on child sex abuse.

Cardinal Pell, who said last month that the royal commission would help decipher real claims from “significant exaggeration”, did not address the sex abuse claims directly, but said he felt the “shock and shame across the community at these revelations of wrongdoing and crimes”.

“My heart will go out to all those who cannot find peace at this time, especially those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians; Christian officials, priests” and teachers, he said.

“I am deeply sorry this has happened. It is completely contrary to Christ’s teachings.”

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.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell says sorry to victims of clergy

AUSTRALIA
Adelaide Now

[with video]

AN apology made by Australia’s most senior Catholic to those who suffered abuse at the hands of priests has been labelled a “minimal response” by a child sexual abuse victims group.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell apologised to those who have “suffered at the hands” of priests and religious teachers.

While not specifically mentioning allegations of child sex abuse by members of the clergy, Cardinal Pell said he was “deeply sorry” for the hurt that had occurred, calling it “completely contrary” to Christ’s teachings.

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.

Top Australian cleric apologises for abuse

AUSTRALIA
7 News

December 24, 2012

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric on Monday apologised to those who “suffered at the hands” of priests and religious teachers after a turbulent year for the Church.

Sydney Archbishop George Pell said he was shocked and ashamed, following a series of paedophile allegations against priests and claims that they were hushed up.

In his Christmas message, Pell said his heart went out to “all those who cannot find peace at this time, especially those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians, Christian officials, priests, religious teachers”.

“I am deeply sorry this has happened,” he added.

“I feel too the shock and shame across the community at these revelations of wrongdoing and crimes.”

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.

Rabbis desecrate God’s name in London

UNITED KINGDOM
Ynet News (Israel)

Rabbi Levi Brackman

Multiple women have accused an extremely prominent London haredi rabbi, Chaim Halpern, of sexually abusing them during their marriage counseling sessions with him.

A number of rabbinic judges in London had the courage to investigate the claims and subsequently found Halpern unfit to serve in any religious capacity. In response, Halpern stepped down from many of his religious positions.

Yet the saga continues because Halpern still maintains his position as a rabbi in his own community. In addition his father, another prominent and venerable rabbi, Chanoch Halpern, together with numerous other rabbis, have dismissed the allegations and maintain that Chaim Halpern is a righteous man who has been caught up in a conspiracy.

The proverb says that “there is no man on the earth who is (completely) righteous, who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). We are all human and, thus, none of us are perfect. Yet the abuses allegedly committed by Halpern are in a different league – they are especially heinous.

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.

Child porn charges shock Montreal church

CANADA
CBC News

Some parishioners at a Montreal Catholic church were shocked to learn Sunday that a deacon is being charged with producing and distributing child pornography.

William Kokesch, 65, was arrested Friday morning and charged on Saturday via video link at the Montreal courthouse.

Police said they found more than 2,000 images of children on a computer. His bail hearing will be held Monday at the Montreal courthouse.

Kokesch, who lives in Pointe-Claire, was a deacon for the St-Edmund of Canterbury parish in Beaconsfield on Montreal’s West Island.

Carmella Guerriero told CBC News she was mortified by the news.

“I’m here this morning without my kids,” Guerriero said on her way into the church.

“I just want to see if they have anything to say about what’s happened. It’s horrible,” she said, adding that she is no longer comfortable having her children attend the church.

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Vatileaks, the case of the Butler

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Day by day during one year

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

January 25th, 2012
During an episode of “Gli Intoccabili”, aired on La 7 and hosted by Gianluigi Nuzzi, the letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò (secretary of the Governorate then promoted/removed as nuncio to the United States) sent to the Pope and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone were released. In the month of January, in the Italian newspaper “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, several documents were published: an account concerning an alleged plot against the Pope, and some notes about the Vatican Bank.

February 6th, 2012
The first denunciation to Vatican justice is formalized.

February 22nd
A private note sent by Father Federico Lombardi to the secretary of the Pope, Georg Gänswein on the case of Emanuela Orlandi is partially released.

May 19th
Gianluigi Nuzzi’s book is released in book stores. The book contains, among various documents, the transcription of encrypted documents from the nunciatures, and also contains a budget of the Ratzinger Foundation which had been sent only to the Pope and had not cleared the Secretariat of State.

May 21st
A dramatic meeting of the the Pontifical Family, convened by Mgr. Georg Gänswein, takes place in the papal apartment. The secretary of the Pope speaks openly of the suspicions of Paolo Gabriele in his presence. The accused denies being responsible for the massive leak of documents.

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Papal visit and Christmas pardon for Paolo Gabriele

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

“Fatherly gesture toward a person with whom the Pope shared for years a daily familiarity “But it will not work for the Holy See

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

Pope Benedict’s decision about Paolo Gabriele, the butler guilty of stealing, copying, and circulating the vatileaks documents by removing them from the table of the Papal Secretariat, arrives today. The announcement of the pardon allow Gabriele, who is currently held in a cell in the palace, to return to his family to spend the holiday season without having to go back to prison afterwards. “Paoletto”, who was arrested last May after thousands of copies of confidential documents had been found in his home, was granted house arrest in late July. After being committed to trial on August 13th, and found guilty by the Court on October 6th following a short trial, Gabriele was back in prison on October 25th after the 18-month sentence had become definite because of the defense’s decision not to appeal.

At the time he was being returned to prison, the Secretariat of State issued a statement denying that a Papal pardon could be taken for granted and stressing the seriousness of the actions committed by the former butler as well as the seriousness of its consequences. The Vatican note had been expressly approved by the Pope, who was particularly rattled by the incident. “Evil has crept among us”, he said to the Papal family during the days of the scandal. The impression of the Vatican hierarchy is that Gabriele had not fully repented and hadn’t fully understood the scope of his action. An understanding may have come during the recent weeks in jail, when he asked a priest, “How can I atone?”

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Vatican law pick draws fire from victims group

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

December 23, 2012

By
Richard Weir

Pope Benedict XVI tapped the Archdiocese of Boston’s top canon law expert as the Vatican’s new prosecutor, an appointment hailed by church leaders but criticized by victims rights advocates who say his past positions cast doubt on whether he will be an impartial investigator of priest sexual abuse.

The Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a Bay Shore, N.Y., 
native, currently serves as the archdiocese’s assistant to the moderator of the Curia for Canonical Affairs.

“Fr. Robert Oliver is a gifted priest who has served the Archdiocese with distinction,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley said yesterday, describing the Dartmouth-educated Oliver as “a dis­tinguished canon lawyer who brings the requisite 
experience and an understanding of the importance of this office within the 
life of the Church.” …

But his past handling of several controversial policy changes has critics questioning his objectivity.

“We are concerned that he is primarily someone who looks out for the rights of the accused priests,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org. “The position … is a sensitive and important one and he will have to be equally a champion of victims. We wonder if he will be capable of being even-handed.”

In 2003, Oliver helped 
revise an archdiocese policy, altering it to curtail access by alleged victims of abuse to church records — a move that surprised lay leaders who sat on the Cardinal’s Commission for the Protection of Children.

Also that year, Oliver said the church went too far in immediately removing priests from their public ministries once they were accused of abuse. He implemented a new policy stripping them of duties only after claims are investigated.

Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, called the criticism of Oliver “unfounded and just plain wrong,” adding, “He is a good and decent priest who is widely viewed as just, competent and committed to the truth.”

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Boston priest gets new role in Vatican

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
| Globe Staff

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday appointed a Boston canon lawyer with extensive experience handling sexual abuse complaints to be the Vatican’s chief prosecutor of sex crimes against minors.

The Rev. Robert W. Oliver, 52, will become promoter of justice — a title akin to prosecutor in the American legal system — for the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican office charged with protecting church doctrine. It oversees all serious crimes against the church, including the sexual abuse of children by priests.

Oliver is a longtime professor of theology and canon law who since 2002 has served in a variety of capacities in the church’s internal legal system, or canon law system, in Boston – as judge, promoter of justice, chief of investigations, and member of the archdiocesan review board that handles sexual abuse complaints. …

The Boston tribunal, as the archdiocesan court is known, is still struggling to adjudicate a backlog of sexual abuse cases against priests. Fifteen cases have been languishing since 2004 or earlier.

Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented many sexual abuse victims in Boston, said he wondered whether Oliver’s departure would further delay some of those cases.

“Closure in these cases is such an important part of the healing process for sexual abuse victims,” he said.

Donilon said concluding the cases was a church priority. “Closure and the care of survivors and their families is important to the cardinal,” he said.

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December 22, 2012

Montreal deacon allegedly made child porn

CANADA
Canoe

By Giuseppe Valiante, QMI Agency

MONTREAL – A well-known Montreal-area Deacon who once spoke on behalf of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been charged with production and distribution of child pornography.

William Kokesch, 65, appeared in a Montreal courtroom Saturday afternoon via videoconference. The day prior, based on a tip from the public, Montreal police searched two locations in the city’s west end, including Kokesch’s home, and allegedly found more than 2,000 child porn images.

Montreal police spokesperson Dany Richer wouldn’t give details about Kokesch’s alleged victims. Nor would he say if any of the children in the images seized from Kokesch’s home were members the church.

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Montreal deacon charged in child porn bust

CANADA
CBC

A Montreal deacon has been accused of producing and distributing child pornography.

William Kokesch, 65, was charged Saturday via video link after police searched his west-end home a day earlier, Const. Dany Richer said, adding investigators seized more than 2,000 images.

Kokesch will remain in jail until Monday when he’s scheduled to appear in court, Richer said.

Kokesch, a communications director for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, helped co-ordinate World Youth Day conferences in Toronto, Rome and Paris, according to the organization’s website.

In a news release issued Saturday, the Archdiocese of Montreal announced Kokesch had been removed from all ministry and pastoral activity at a church in Beaconsfield, a suburb in Montreal’s West Island, and that it would co-operate with civil authorities.

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Montreal deacon charged with possession, production of child porn

CANADA
CTV

[with video]

A well-known Montreal-area deacon is charged with possession and production of child pornography after a citizen’s complaint led to a search of his home, police said.

Police arrested William Kokesch at his Pointe-Claire, Que. home Friday morning. Investigators say they found more than 2,000 images with sexual content, and have seized the hard drive of Kokesch’s computer.

Kokesch, 65, served as a deacon, or a church assistant, at St-Edmund of Canterbury parish on the West Island for the last seven years, and was once a spokesperson for the Canadian Conference of Bishops.

William Kokesch, a Montreal deacon, who has been charged with producing and distributing child pornography, is shown in this undated image.

In addition to serving as a frequent commentator on church issues, he was also very active in organizing events for Catholic youths in both Canada and Europe.

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Montreal deacon faces child porn charges

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

A Montreal deacon is being accused of producing and distributing child pornography a day after police say they seized 2,000 images from his home.

William Kokesch, 65, was charged Saturday via video link at the Montreal courthouse. Investigators say they searched his home and arrested him a day earlier.

Montreal police Const. Dany Richer said Mr. Kokesch will remain in jail until Monday when he’s scheduled to again appear in court to face the allegations against him.

Mr. Kokesch was a deacon for a church in Beaconsfield, a suburb on Montreal’s West Island.

Mr. Kokesch was a communications director for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He helped co-ordinate World Youth Day conferences in Toronto, Rome and Paris, according to the organization’s website.

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Communiqué of the Archdiocese of Montreal

CANADA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal

Montreal – December 22th The Archdiocese of Montreal learned on Friday, December 21, that Mr. William Kokesch, permanent deacon, had been arrested that same day. As a result, the Archdiocese of Montreal immediately removed him from all ministry and pastoral activity.

Having just learned of the charges against Mr. Kokesch, the diocese is profoundly upset. Child pornography is an affront to human dignity, and our first concern rests with those who are its victims.

The archdiocese will be attentive to the needs of concerned parishioners and will co-operate with civil authorities. “We wish to assure all those concerned by this event that we are keeping them in our prayers, and we urge everyone to have confidence in and respect for the judicial process and to await its conclusions.“

As the judicial process is currently under way, no further comment will be made at this time.

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William Kokesch, Montreal Deacon, Charged With Producing And Distributing Child Pornography

CANADA
Huffington Post

MONTREAL – A Montreal deacon is being accused of producing and distributing child pornography a day after police say they seized 2,000 images from his home.

William Kokesch, 65, was charged Saturday via video link at the Montreal courthouse. Investigators say they searched his home and arrested him a day earlier.

Montreal police Const. Dany Richer said Kokesch will remain in jail until Monday when he’s scheduled to again appear in court to face the allegations against him.

Kokesch was a deacon for a church in Beaconsfield, a suburb on Montreal’s West Island.

Koesch is listed as a communications director for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He helped coordinate World Youth Day conferences in Toronto, Rome and Paris, according to the organization’s website.

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West Island deacon William Kokesch removed from post after child porn charges

CANADA
Canada.com

By Aaron Derfel, The Gazette December 22, 2012

MONTREAL — A prominent West Island deacon who used to speak publicly about sexual crimes has been charged with the production and distribution of child pornography following a police investigation.

William Kokesch, a 65-year-old deacon of St. Edmund of Canterbury Parish in Beaconsfield, was arrested Friday after police carried out two search warrants — one at his home in Pointe Claire and the other at the church.

The Archdiocese of Montreal announced on Saturday that it immediately removed Kokesch from all ministry and pastoral activity.

“Having just learned of the charges against Mr. Kokesch, the diocese is profoundly upset,” it said in a statement. “Child pornography is an affront to human dignity, and our first concern rests with those who are its victims.”

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Boston priest tapped for Vatican role

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

Boston priest, Fr. Robert Oliver, has been tapped by Pope Benedict XVI to be Promoter of Justice for the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith. You can read the Boston diocesan press release here. The position is akin to a prosecutor in the American legal system. The CDF is charged with protecting Catholic doctrine, but also handles all serious crimes against the church, including the sexual abuse of children, desecration of the Eucharist, violation of the seal of confession, heresy and schism. He will be essentially the Vatican’s chief prosecutor of sex crimes against minors.

Oliver has served as judge and promoter of justice in the archdiocesan tribunal, and he has also advised Cardinal O’Malley on issues including pastoral planning. He was a longtime professor of theology and canon law at St. John’s Seminary. This past year he served as a visiting professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is a very smart orthodox priest. With his departure from the Pastoral Center, Bishop-elect Deeley and Cardinal O’Malley lose a trustworthy adviser with a lot of horsepower who worked quietly behind the scenes to make critical things happen.

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Boston Priest to Lead Oversight of Sexual Abuse Claims at Vatican

BOSTON (MA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

December 22, 2012

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and RACHEL DONADIO / The New York Times

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday appointed as the Vatican’s new sex crimes prosecutor a priest who handled clergy sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church in Boston at the height of the scandal and for years afterward. …

Father Oliver was among the canon lawyers brought in to advise Cardinal Bernard F. Law on sexual abuse cases in Boston, where the church’s sexual abuse scandal erupted anew in 2002. He was put in charge of the office investigating charges against accused priests after the cardinal was forced to resign in 2002 amid an uproar over revelations that the cardinal had kept abusive priests working in parishes.

Father Oliver helped write the archdiocese’s new abuse prevention policy in 2003. He has been serving as a canon lawyer for the archdiocese and as a visiting professor of canon law at Catholic University of America in Washington.

Advocates for abuse victims in the Boston Archdiocese criticized his record on Saturday. Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of Bishop Accountability, a watchdog group that maintains an archive of abuse cases and documents, said in an interview, “Reverend Oliver is a champion of accused priests, which obviously does not bode well for the job he will do as promoter of justice.”

She said that under that under Father Oliver’s guidance, the Boston Archdiocese reported that between 2003 and 2005 it had cleared 32 of 71 accused priests, about 45 percent, saying it did not find “probable cause” to pursue abuse cases against them. That was a far higher clearance rate than the 10 percent reported by other dioceses nationwide, according to a report in 2005 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

She also said the new policy on abuse that Father Oliver helped write in 2003 allows accused priests to remain in the ministry without being publicly identified while allegations against them are investigated. In contrast, laypeople suspected of abuse who work or volunteer for the church are to be immediately suspended.

Father Oliver is not expected to grant any interviews, said Terrence C. Donilon, a secretary for communications for the Archdiocese of Boston. But he said, “Any attacks on Father Oliver’s distinguished track record of service to the church and his many contributions to the response to clergy sexual abuse are unfounded and just plain wrong.”

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Assignment Record – Rev. Michael G. Kolar

MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Kolar was accused of sexually abusing three young women while he was director of the St. Paul Youth Center in St. Paul in the 1970s and 1980s. One of his victims was 15 years-old when he started grooming her. Kolar admitted to having a problem with vulnerable young women, and that he was a sexual abuser. He was laicized in 1992.

Ordained: 1969
Incardinated: St. Paul-Minneapolis

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Boston priest tapped by Vatican to be chief sex-abuse prosecutor

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday appointed a Boston canon lawyer to be the Vatican’s chief prosecutor of sex crimes against minors.

The Rev. Robert W. Oliver, 52, will become Promoter of Justice — akin to a prosecutor in the American legal system — for the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican office charged with protecting Catholic doctrine. It handles all serious crimes against the church, including the sexual abuse of children.

Oliver has served as judge and promoter of justice in the archdiocesan tribunal, which is still struggling to adjudicate a backlog of sexual abuse cases against priests. More than a dozen have been languishing since 2004 or earlier.

He appears to have handled some sexual abuse cases against priests during the tenure of Cardinal Bernard M. Law, who resigned in disgrace for his role in the sexual abuse crisis that erupted in Boston in 2002. It is not clear what his roles were in the archdiocesan tribunal under Law or how the cases he handled were resolved.

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Assignment Record – Rev. Jerome C. Kern

MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Kern was accused in 1993 of having molested a 15 year-old boy in a swimming pool in 1977. Church officials told Kern’s accuser that there were allegations against Kern dating back to 1969. The man sued and received a settlement; he claimed he was promised that Kern would never work in another parish or be around children. It came to light in 2002 that, since 1995, Kern was in active parish ministry; the parish had a school and a religious education program.

Ordained: Dec. 17, 1966
Incardinated: St. Paul-Minneapolis

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Pope Benedict XVI Appoints Boston Priest As Sex Crimes Prosecutor

BOSTON (MA)
CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a priest from the archdiocese of Boston, ground zero in the U.S. clerical sex abuse scandal, to a position that involves serving as the Catholic Church’s sex crimes prosecutor.

Rev. Robert W. Oliver, S.T.D., J.C.D. will take over as the Promoter of Justice for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

The position is similar to that of a prosecutor. Oliver will be responsible for investigating crimes that the Church considers most serious, which includes the sexual abuse of minors by clerics.

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Pope names priest from Boston, ground zero of US sex abuse scandal, as sex crimes prosecutor

VATICAN CITY
The Windsor Star

The Associated Press | Dec 22, 2012

VATICAN CITY – The pope has named a priest from the archdiocese of Boston, ground zero in the U.S. clerical sex abuse scandal, as his new sex crimes prosecutor.

The Vatican said Saturday that the Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canonical expert in the archdiocese, replaces Bishop Charles Scicluna, who was recently named auxiliary bishop in his native Malta.

Scicluna’s departure had sparked some fears among sex abuse victims that the Vatican might roll back on the tough line on clergy abuse he charted in his 10 years at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

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December 22, 2012 – Rev. Robert W. Oliver, S.T.D., J.C.D. Named Promoter of Justice For the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith

BOSTON (MA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Braintree, MA (December 22, 2012) – Today, Pope Benedict XVI announced the appointment of Rev. Robert W. Oliver, S.T.D., J.C.D. as Promoter of Justice for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the central offices of the Holy See which is located in Vatican City State in Rome. Fr. Oliver currently serves as Assistant to the Moderator of the Curia for Canonical Affairs and is a Visiting Professor of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C..

Cardinal Seán said, “Fr. Robert Oliver is a gifted priest who has served the Archdiocese with distinction. We are pleased to learn of the Holy Father’s wish to appoint him as Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Fr. Oliver is a distinguished canon lawyer who brings the requisite experience and an understanding of the importance of this office within the life of the Church. We assure him of our prayers and our support for this important ministry.”

Fr. Oliver said, “It is with deep humility and gratitude that I received the news that the Holy Father is entrusting me with this service to the Church. Having been so blessed to serve the Archdiocese of Boston with Cardinal Seán and Bishop-elect Deeley, I wish to express my sincere gratitude for their confidence and support. Receiving this assignment during the Year of Faith is inspirational and it is challenging. The Congregation’s role is to promote and safeguard the doctrine of the faith and morals in the universal Church. I humbly ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and grace to assist Archbishop Müller and the Congregation in fulfilling this important work.”

Bishop-elect Robert P. Deeley, J.C.D., Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, said, “In appointing Fr. Robert Oliver to this important position as Promoter of Justice, the Holy Father has chosen a priest who will serve faithfully and effectively. Fr. Oliver is an experienced canon lawyer who has served as a Judge, taught, developed policy and offered counsel as a canonical advisor. He has had an important voice in many of the major decisions we have faced as an Archdiocese and in the national Church. His experience, intelligence, understanding, compassion and respect for all of God’s people have prepared him well for this important ministry of justice. Fr. Oliver’s talents and good counsel will be missed here in Boston but we are comforted in knowing that his presence will be felt across the universal Church.”

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MI – Former priest in court today on child porn charges, SNAP responds

MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on December 21, 2012

Today, a former Detroit Catholic priest will be in court facing child porn charges. We hope the judge gives him little or no benefit of the doubt.

Often sex offenders like Timothy Murray get top notch defense lawyers, exploit technicalities, strike deals, and win leniency. They then use that leniency to flee the country or offend again.

And, while free awaiting trial, they often destroy evidence, intimidate victims, discredit whistleblowers, and threaten witnesses.

At a bare minimum, we hope the judge will insist that Murray give up his passport. We also hope that anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Murray will contact police and prosecutors promptly so that he might be effectively prosecuted and kept away from kids.

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TX – Bishop Emeritus Carmody set to return to Tyler, SNAP responds

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on December 21, 2012

Next week Bishop Emeritus Edmond Carmody is returning to work in the diocese of Tyler. For the last ten years Carmody has been working in the diocese of Corpus Christi.

During the 1990s Carmondy was the Bishop of Tyler and during his time as bishop he helped cover up for at least two predator priests. One of those predator priests was able to flee the country, avoiding justice and potentially hurting more innocent children.

It is a callous and hurtful move to allow Carmondy to return to the diocese where he allowed so much pain to befall his diocese.

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Boston Priest to Lead Oversight Of Sexual Abuse Claims at Vatican

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO

Published: December 22, 2012

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday appointed a priest who handled sexual abuse cases under the disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston as the Vatican’s new sex crimes prosecutor.

The pope also pardoned his former butler, who was serving a prison term after leaking confidential documents in the Vatican’s most embarrassing security breach in decades.

The Vatican said that the Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canon law specialist at the Archdiocese of Boston, would be the “promoter of justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office that reviews all abuse cases.

Father Oliver was among the canon lawyers who advised Cardinal Law on sexual abuse cases in Boston, the center of the church’s child abuse crisis in the United States. He continued advising the Archdiocese of Boston after the cardinal was forced to resign in 2002 amid an uproar over revelations that the cardinal had kept abusive priests working in parishes.

David Clohessy, who helps lead the victims advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that appointment of “anyone with ties to Law” was problematic.

“It just rubs salt into the wounds of hundreds and hundreds of Boston victims when anyone associated with Law is given any kind of responsibility or power or prestige,” he said. “On the other hand, we’d rather someone hold that position who has had a lot of experience, even if their track record is less than stellar.”

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Editorial: A search for light amid dark tidings

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by NCR Editorial Staff | Dec. 22, 2012

Editorial

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light,
sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in
darkness
and in the shadow of death.

There are few prayers more evocative than the O Antiphons of Advent. Blending poetry and theology, they teach us lessons about the human condition and our relationship with the divine that a hundred pages of prose cannot. They confront us with the fear we, in our human brokenness, have felt when we look into the shadows of doubt, the darkness of our own frailties and mortality. We do not abandon ourselves to despair because we also have known the splendor of the Radiant Dawn. We have known — however fleetingly — the sun of justice. Because of this we have hope.

And we need hope.

This issue of NCR is heavy with stories of shadow and darkness. The stories tell of people, sincere believers in the eternal light and sun of justice, who are being silenced: Jesuit Fr. Bill Brennan in Milwaukee (see story), Roy Bourgeois (see story and see story), a Wisconsin pastor removed from his parish on questionable charges of breaking the seal of confession (see story), Fr. Helmut Schüller in Austria (see story), Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery in Ireland (see story). Scholars at the University of San Diego (see story). A deacon stopped from talking to other deacons (see story). The silencing of academics — through direct edict or by intimidation — is most worrying and must be looked at seriously. The level of fear among the academic community, especially the theologians, is the highest we have ever seen. We fear that we are losing our best Catholic thinkers. This would be a shameful waste that ultimately will harm us all.

But these are only examples of high-profile cases and individuals. In the shadows of darkness, there are many more stories. The silenced live among us.

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Boston Priest to Lead Vatican’s Oversight of Sexual Abuse Claims

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO

Published: December 22, 2012

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday named a priest from Boston, the epicenter of the sexual abuse crisis in the United States, as the Vatican’s new sex crimes prosecutor. He also pardoned his former butler who was serving a prison term after leaking confidential documents in the Vatican’s most embarrassing security breach in decades.

The two announcements, which came on the weekend before Christmas, were a telling juxtaposition for a complex, ancient institution that has always tread a fine line between grace and justice, crime and punishment, sin and redemption.

The Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canon law specialist at the Archdiocese of Boston, will be the “promoter of justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office that reviews all abuse cases, the Vatican said Saturday.

The abuse crisis erupted in Boston in 2002, when church records unsealed in a court case revealed that the diocese had transferred priests known to have been pedophiles. The scandal led to the resignation that year of Cardinal Bernard F. Law as archbishop of Boston.

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Pope Pardons Gabriele, Appoints American as Promoter of Justice

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Saturday, December 22, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI has today granted a Christmas pardon to Paolo Gabriele, his former valet who has been serving an eighteen month jail sentence for leaking confidential papal documents.

A Vatican communiqué, released this morning by the Secretariat of State, reads:

“This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and communicate in person his decision to grant Mr Gabriele’s request for pardon, thereby remitting the sentence passed against the latter. This constitutes a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the Pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years.

“Mr Gabriele was subsequently released from prison and has returned home. Since he cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life”.

In October, Gabriele was found guilty of stealing and copying the Pope’s documents and leaking them to an Italian journalist. He said he acted out of love for the Church.

In other news today, the Holy Father appointed an American as the new Promoter of Justice, or chief prosecutor, at Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to oversee clerical sex abuse cases in the Church.

Fr. Robert W. Oliver, a canonical expert for the archdiocese of Boston, replaces Bishop Charles Scicluna who was appointed earlier this year as Auxiliary Bishop of Malta.

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Boston Priest to Lead Vatican’s Oversight of Sex Abuse Claims

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 22, 2012

VATICAN CITY — The pope has put a priest from the archdiocese of Boston, the center of a clerical sex abuse scandal in the United States, in charge of the Vatican’s review of sex abuse by priests.

The Vatican said Saturday that the Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canonical specialist in the archdiocese, would succeed Bishop Charles Scicluna, who was recently named auxiliary bishop in his native Malta.

Bishop Scicluna’s departure had sparked some fears among sex abuse victims that the Vatican might roll back on the tough line on clergy abuse he charted in his 10 years at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Vatican office, which Pope Benedict XVI headed for nearly a quarter century, reviews all cases of clerical sex abuse, telling bishops how to proceed against accused priests.

The pope also granted his former butler a Christmas pardon on Saturday for stealing the pontiff’s private papers and leaking them to a journalist, one of the gravest Vatican security breaches in recent times.

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Appointments: Boston priest new CDF Promoter of Justice

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) On Saturday Pope Benedict XVI appointed Boston native Rev. Robert W. Oliver, B.H., Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

He takes over from Mons. Charles J. Scicluna, who was recently appointed Auxiliary bishop of Malta.

Rev. Oliver (centre in photo) is a Professor of Canon Law & Systematic Theology at St. John’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of Boston and formerly Promoter of Justice at the Boston Archdiocese Tribunal.

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Robert W. Oliver nuovo promotore …

CITTA DEL VATICANO
Korazym

Robert W. Oliver nuovo promotore di Giustizia della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede

Scritto da Andrea Gagliarducci
Sabato 22 Dicembre 2012

Quando nel 2002 i reportage del Boston Globe segnarono l’inizio dello scandalo della pedofilia negli Stati Uniti, Robert W. Oliver, sacerdote, professore di Diritto Canonico e di Teologia Sistematica al seminario di Saint John, fu chiamato a gestire la situazione. E fu il primo a metterci la faccia. Scrivendo lui stesso articoli sul Boston Globe, in cui spiegava come la diocesi si stesse muovendo per affrontare la crisi. Delineando e collaborando con il comitato di otto laici che avrebbe analizzato ogni denuncia di abusi del clero e si sarebbero coordinati con l’arcivescovo. E persino superando gli scossoni che erano seguiti nella diocesi, quando il cardinal Bernard Francis Law era stato rimosso dalla guida della diocesi e Boston era passata sotto la guida del cardinale francescano Francis O’Malley. Ora, Oliver dovrà portare le sue competenze alla Congregazione della Dottrina della Fede, di cui è stato appena nominato promotore di Giustizia.

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Pope names Boston priest new sex crimes prosecutor

VATICAN CITY
Miami Herald

The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The pope has named a priest from the archdiocese of Boston, ground zero in the U.S. clerical sex abuse scandal, as his new sex crimes prosecutor.

The Vatican said Saturday that the Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canonical expert in the archdiocese, replaces Bishop Charles Scicluna, who was recently named auxiliary bishop in his native Malta.

Scicluna’s departure had sparked some fears among sex abuse victims that the Vatican might roll back on the tough line on clergy abuse he charted in his 10 years at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

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Charity’s CEO quits amid local child sex-abuse suit

OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Rita Price
The Columbus Dispatch
Saturday December 22, 2012

The top official at the Loyal Order of Moose and Moose International retired on Thursday, one week after he was accused of molesting a boy in Franklin County more than 30 years ago.

William B. Airey, 71, left voluntarily and was not asked by the organization’s board to step down, spokesman Kurt Wehrmeister said yesterday. …

An advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse said yesterday that Airey should have been suspended instead. “It’s irresponsible for them to pretend their CEO isn’t facing serious allegations,” said David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The group also speaks out on behalf of victims of abuse in other institutional settings.

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THE POPE GRANTS PARDON TO PAOLO GABRIELE

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 22 December 2012 (VIS) – Given below is the communiqué released this morning by the Secretariat of State:

“This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and communicate in person his decision to grant Mr Gabriele’s request for pardon, thereby remitting the sentence passed against the latter. This constitutes a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the Pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years.

“Mr Gabriele was subsequently released from prison and has returned home. Since he cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life”.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 22 December 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father today appointed: …

– Fr. Robert W. Oliver, assistant for canonical matters of the archdiocese of Boston, U.S.A., as promoter of justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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Hidden story reveals a friend’s shocking past

AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

December 22, 2012

Richard Wynne

A FRIEND came to my office unannounced recently. He is someone I see infrequently, although our work, political and social lives intersect. He arrived with a two-page, tightly written letter that was shocking and distressing. It was a chronology of the sexual abuse he had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church, things he had not spoken about or acknowledged for more than 40 years.

To understand the insidious nature of systemic abuse, in all its forms, we need to acknowledge the power the Catholic Church exerted over its congregations. My experience and that of my friend, growing up in poor Catholic families, was that the church was inviolate. The ancient rituals of the Latin Mass (such a foreign and inaccessible ceremony); our duty to attend every Sunday; the annual St Patrick’s Day parade through the city, marching like a battalion in school uniform behind the open-top Rolls-Royce of Archbishop Mannix; and locally the unquestioned authority vested in the parish priest – all symbols of the church’s power and control over our daily lives.

It was simply inconceivable that you would complain or seek redress, let alone question what was occurring, particularly if you were a child. The church was all-pervasive, prepared to intervene in our communities’ spiritual and political life without invitation or accountability. I well recall heated arguments in my home between my father and his brother over the Labor Party split, a political divide that lives on today between me and my cousin.

I was the victim of systematic physical beatings at the hands of the Christian Brothers. I was violently strapped so many times I could not hold a pen for days. These actions went unchallenged.

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Testimony ends at Phil Jacobs sexual abuse trial

CANADA
Saanich News

By Edward Hill – Saanich News
Published: December 21, 2012

A retired teacher for St. Joseph’s Catholic elementary school testified Thursday for the defence as the final witness at the ongoing Phil Jacobs sexual abuse trial.

During testimony on Dec. 11, one of the three complainants against Jacobs testified the priest molested him during his time as an altar server at Joseph the Worker church.

The witness testified to a time Jacobs molested him while preparing for altar server duties during a school mass in a room attached to the preparation room behind the altar.

The witness couldn’t remember how many times he performed as an altar server, but said it was more than once and spanned two school years. Overall, the witness said Jacobs molested him more than once and less than a dozen times.

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‘Being raised Catholic is worse than child abuse’…

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

‘Being raised Catholic is worse than child abuse’: Latest incendiary claim made by atheist professor Richard Dawkins

By Daniel Martin

PUBLISHED:19:03 EST, 21 December 2012

Raising your children as Roman Catholics is worse than child abuse, according to militant atheist Richard Dawkins.

In typically incendiary style, Professor Dawkins said the mental torment inflicted by the religion’s teachings is worse in the long-term than any sexual abuse carried out by priests.

He said he had been told by a woman that while being abused by a priest was a ‘yucky’ experience, being told as a child that a Protestant friend who died would ‘roast in Hell’ was more distressing.

Last night politicians and charities condemned the former Oxford professor’s views as attention-seeking and unhelpful.

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December 21, 2012

Former Taunton Vicar David Roberts Jailed for Sexually Abusing Teenage Boy

UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Hannah Osborne

December 21, 2012

A former vicar has been jailed for 12 years for abusing a teenage boy more than 20 years ago.

David Roberts, who served as a vicar in Taunton, was arrested in March after a man made allegations against him relating to an offences committed in the 1980s.

At the time of the offence, the victim was 13 years old. Roberts, 68, admitted two charges of indecent assault and three more serious sex offences.

He had served as the vicar at St John the Evangelist Church.

The attacks took place between 1985 and 1988. After the sentencing, DC Andrew Daw said: “This was an extremely sensitive investigation that has resulted in Roberts being jailed for a significant amount of time.

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Vicar jailed for sex abuse offences

UNITED KINGDOM
Wales Online

A vicar who carried out a string of sexual abuse offences on a teenage boy has been jailed.

David Roberts, of Taunton, committed the offences in the mid-1980s when he was the chaplain at a school in Somerset.

Taunton Crown Court heard how he befriended one teenage boy, allowing the victim to smoke and drink alcohol in his office, before paying the boy money to carry out sex acts.

Roberts, former vicar at a church in the area, admitted five counts of sexual offences, including indecent assault.

Judge Graham Hume Jones jailed Roberts for 12 years, telling him: “You were in a position of trust… you abused that trust.”

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Taunton child sex abuse vicar David Roberts jailed for 12 years

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former vicar has been jailed for sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1980s.

David Roberts, 68, of Taunton, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual offences, including indecent assault.

Taunton Crown Court heard the abuse occurred when he was the chaplain at a school in Somerset.

Sentencing Roberts, former vicar of St John’s Church in the town, to 12 years in prison, the judge said it was a “gross abuse of trust”.

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Webster Groves Priest Gets 40 Years In Prison For Ponzi Scheme

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KTVI

KANSAS CITY, MO (KTVI) – A Webster Groves priest and attorney has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for his part in a 10-year Ponzi scheme. The U.S. Attorney says Martin T. Sigillito, 63, scammed more than 140 investors out of over $50 million.

The Ponzi scheme was known as the British Lending Program (BLP) and victims thought they were loaning money for legitimate real estate development projects in England but authorities say Sigillito and his partner, James Scott Brown, kept their money. The scam ran between 2000 and 2010.

Sigillito was an ordained priest and bishop in the church of the American Angelican Convocation and maintained an office in Clayton, Missouri for his business, Martin T. Sigillito and Associates, Ltd. but he didn’t have any staff working for him and did not have very many, if any, causes.

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Fire Rabbi Norman Lamm At Yeshiva University: Torah 101

NEW YORK
Times of Israel

Ronn Torossian

One would think that Torah education 101 would educate one that in order to be a good person, one would never turn a blind eye to child abuse.

Yeshiva University has a rich history as a leading institution teaching young Jews Torah and education – but they now are at a crossroads which could very well define the institution for many years to come. As the head of a crisis PR agency, I know well that The Forward’s ongoing investigation into sexual abuse allegations against two former staff members at a high school for boys run by Yeshiva University will not go away and needs to be addressed.

While YU has claimed they will investigate the matter, a new article was published Thursday which states that 14 men claim a teacher abused them. Undoubtedly, if so many accusations have only now been revealed, that many made the accusations so many years later, there are many more who don’t wish to come forward to be interviewed. This is a real issue which will not be swept under the carpet, as many in the religious community would prefer.

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Yeshiva Officials, Rabbis Knew of Alleged Abuse

NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Edited By Jane Eisner

Published December 20, 2012, issue of December 28, 2012.

After the Forward published an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against two former staff members at a high school for boys run by Yeshiva University, Y.U. issued an immediate statement and said that it would investigate. Later that day, Modern Orthodoxy’s official rabbinic association, the Rabbinical Council of America, said it was “deeply troubled” by the report and confident that the university was “equal to the task” of confronting “improprieties.”

But interviews with current and former staff members of Y.U. and with high-ranking RCA officials, as well as with several former high school students who say they were abused, indicate that Y.U. and the RCA have known about some of the allegations against at least one of the alleged abusers, Rabbi George Finkelstein, for a decade or longer.

The Forward has spoken to 14 men who say that Finkelstein abused them while he was employed at Yeshiva University High School for Boys, in Manhattan, from 1968 to 1995.

From the mid 1980s until today, however, Y.U. officials and RCA rabbis have dismissed claims or kept them quiet. Some of these officials allowed Finkelstein to leave the Y.U. system and find a new position as dean of a Florida day school without disclosing the abuse allegations. Later, an RCA rabbi and a Y.U. rabbi warned the Florida school that Finkelstein could be a threat. And when Finkelstein’s next employer, the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, asked whether the allegations that dogged him were true, Y.U. assured the synagogue that there was nothing to worry about.

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FL – SNAP pushes for compassion from supporters of accused pastor

FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on December 21, 2012

After reading details of this case, we are bracing for more victim-blaming and accusations that the two victims in this case had made up or exaggerated their claims against Darrel Vincent Moore. We urge those who want to support Rev. Moore to do so in private and avoid public displays of support that will only serve to intimidate victims and other potential witnesses.

Especially given the fact that others have claimed they were threatened with violence after speaking out against Moore, we hope that the judge in this case will err on the side of caution and rule in favor of protecting kids, not predators.

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NY – Brooklyn teacher arrested for abusing a student, SNAP responds

NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohesssy on December 21, 2012

A music teacher in Brooklyn has been arrested on charges he pressured a member of his teen choir into a sexual relationship.

We are glad that police have apprehended Vaughn McKinney. The fact that he would force a teenage girl into sex after she came to him for help with financial difficulties is extremely disturbing. We can only wonder how many other children at IS 59 Mr. McKinney abused.

Any sort of teacher-student “relationship” has an inherent power imbalance that makes it unhealthy. It’s always the teacher’s job to maintain appropriate boundaries. We hope that officials at IS 59 will look into other inappropriate behaviors by Mr. McKinney or any other school official.

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Feds say they arrested a former priest …

MICHIGAN
WXYZ

Feds say they arrested a former priest after he admitted to having child pornography on his computer

By: Tara Edwards

NOVI (WXYZ) – Federal agents said they have arrested a Novi man after he admitted to having hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer.

According to investigators, he was also distributing the material and it is believed the suspect is a former priest.

A lot evidence was seized from Timothy Murray’s Novi condominium Wednesday by Homeland Security Investigations agents right after a search warrant was obtained.

The 62-year-old went to the Novi Police Department to be interviewed, according to investigators.

Records state Murray admitted to having about 500 child pornography pictures and videos on his computer. According to police reports, Murray told investigators he prefers 13-year-old boys.
CXR

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Behaviour with boys not appropriate, priest says

CANADA
Times Colonist

Louise Dickson , Times Colonist December 20, 2012

Warning: This story contains graphic details.

Father Phil Jacobs’s trial for sexual offences against youths from the St. Joseph the Worker parish in Saanich has been adjourned until January.

Final submissions will be made Jan. 8 and 9 at his judge-alone trial in B.C. Supreme Court.

Jacobs, 63, who was parish priest at St. Joseph’s from 1997 to 2002, is charged with four offences against three youths. The offences include sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference with a person under 14 and sexual touching. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between September 1996 and June 30, 2001.

On the stand this week, Jacobs denied the charges against him. During cross-examination Wednesday, he conceded that his behaviour with two of the youths was not appropriate.

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Priest moves on after mysterious suspension; No details provided on accusation of violating seal of confession

WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter

by Marie Rohde | Dec. 21, 2012

ASHIPPUN, WIS. — Fr. David Verhasselt, then pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Oconomowoc, Wis., was apprehensive when the Milwaukee archdiocese’s vicar for clergy, Fr. Patrick Heppe, called in April 2010 to set up a meeting at the parish office.

“He would not tell me what it was about at all,” Verhasselt said, speaking publicly on the matter for the first time. “I had never had such a visit before and it was mysterious.”

Heppe, accompanied by Fr. Paul Hartmann, the archdiocese’s judicial vicar, told Verhasselt that he had been accused of breaking the seal of confession. In a scene similar to firings in corporate America, Verhasselt was told to collect his private belongings, leave the parish and not return. As he was walked from the building, he was told to have no contact with parishioners. Placed “on leave,” Verhasselt could not perform any of the functions of a priest.

“I was in shock,” Verhasselt recalled. “I told them I had never done such a thing.”

Deacon David Zimprich announced Verhasselt’s removal to stunned parishioners at a Saturday evening Mass a day later, on April 17, 2010. Others learned of it from a television newscast.

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B’klyn music teacher busted for having sex with teen choir member: cops

NEW YORK
New York Post

By YOAV GONEN, Education Reporter
Last Updated: 5:22 AM, December 21, 2012

This time he played the wrong tune.

A Brooklyn middle school music teacher and trumpet player bedded a teenage member of his wife’s youth choir — and even had sex with the girl while his wife was at church, officials said.

Vaughn McKinney, a teacher at IS 59 in Queens, was arrested Thursday morning on charges of rape and sexual misconduct, cops said.

The music teacher allegedly pressured the then- 16-year-old girl into a sexual relationship after she complained about needing a job because she didn’t have enough money to buy a phone.

McKinney not only bought the girl a cell phone and paid the monthly bills, according to city investigators, he also gave her an iPod, shoes from a SoHo boutique and cash — but with sleazy strings attached.

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Queens Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With Teen

NEW YORK
NY1

A Queens middle school teacher has been placed under arrest after allegations surfaced he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old.

In a report, the New York City’s Special Commissioner of Investigation says Vaughn McKinney, 58, met the girl through his wife’s church choir.

The report says McKinney bought cell phones for the girl, which he used to communicate with her, and also gave her money.

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Queens Teacher Accused of Having Sex With Underage Girl

NEW YORK
NBC New York

By Pei-Sze Cheng

Thursday, Dec 20, 2012

Parents and students at I.S. 59 in Jamaica, Queens were shocked to learn that longtime music teacher Vaughn McKinney was arrested for having a sexual relationship with an underage girl.

Investigators say McKinney met the girl through his wife who directs the East Flatbush Ecumenical Choir and that his victim was not a student of his.

According to a report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation, McKinney began having sex with the girl when she was 16. Investigators allege that McKinney had sex with the girl over a dozen times in 2011 and that the first encounter was in March of that year, when McKinney’s wife traveled out of town for a religious retreat.

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Un juicio para Cristián Precht

CHILE
El Mostrador

Cristián Riego
Profesor de Derecho U. Diego Portales

El proceso que la iglesia católica ha llevado contra Cristian Precht carece de las condiciones básicas que hoy se exigen universalmente para condenar a cualquier persona, aún aquellas que han sido acusadas de los delitos más aberrantes. Estas condiciones son las que permiten otorgar confiabilidad a las decisiones judiciales de condena, las que de otro modo son simples ejercicios arbitrarios del poder.

La información disponible es muy limitada y fragmentaria. De lo poco que es posible saber, parece claro que han existido restricciones importantes en el acceso a información mínima para ejercer su defensa; han existido fuertes limitaciones para conocer la identidad de sus acusadores y, consiguientemente, la especificidad de los cargos y los fundamentos detallados de la condena.

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Vatican applies new economic guidelines to regulate costs and improve management

VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

December 20, 2012. (Romereports.com) The Vatican said it will also be tightening its belt to face the current economic crisis. The department tasked wit overseeing money matters within the Vatican, the Prefecture of Economic Affairs, announced new guidelines to help manage costs.

CARD. GIUSEPE VERSALDI
President, Prefecture of Economic Affairs
“With these guidelines, we are giving back, on behalf of the superior authority, the original role for the Prefecture of Economic Affairs, as was the will of Pope Paul VI.”

The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, signed the 34 point guidelines, which will go into effect right away. The measures aim to reduce costs in a gradual and effective manner. It also redefines the role of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs, in relation to other departments within the Vatican. Effective immediately, any of the prefecture’s caps on oversight and control are capped, and granted powers to administer costs.

MSGR. LUCIO ANGEL VALLEJO
Secretary, Prefecture of Economic Affairs
“We wanted to be clear, to have a truthful picture of the Holy See. To have not just two account balances, but four. They remain the same, the account balances for Vatican City, and the Curia. And we have two other realities that if we did not include in the account balances it wouldn’t show a truthful picture of the Church. Because it would appear that we don’t do any pastoral work, or any charity work. And that is not the case. The biggest account balance for the Holy See is its charity work. Its the money that the faithful send the Pope and that he distributes.”

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Queens Middle School Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With Student

NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A Queens middle school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl was arrested Thursday.

Vaughn McKinney, 58, met the alleged victim through a Brooklyn church choir his wife ran, officials said.

McKinney, who taught at IS 59, bought cell phones for the girl – which he used to communicate with her – and also gave her money, officials said.

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Abuse inquiry terms of reference delayed

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

LAUREN WILSON
From:The Australian
December 21, 2012

THE terms of reference for Labor’s royal commission into child sexual abuse are now unlikely to be finalised until early next year, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has conceded.

Julia Gillard had wanted the inquiry into how child sex abuse allegations have been handled by religious, community and state institutions established by the end of this year, so it could begin work in early 2013.

However discussions with the states and territories are understood to have delayed finalisation of the commission’s terms of reference.

“I think it’s more likely that in the very early New Year, we’ll be in a position to announce the final terms of reference and the commissioners,” Ms Roxon said today.

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Abuse royal commission terms of reference delayed

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Federal Government says it will not finalise the terms of reference for the royal commission into child abuse until early next year.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has previously said the Government would release the terms of reference and announce the commissioners by the end of this year.

Ms Roxon now says the terms of reference will be settled in January.

She says the Government has decided there will be between three and five commissioners and a short list of candidates has been compiled.

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Child abuse inquiry’s terms of ref delayed

AUSTRALIA
9 News

A leading child protection advocate group isn’t worried the federal government has delayed settlement of the terms of reference for a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse until next year.

The Labor government on Friday said while work was continuing to establish the commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, the terms of reference now won’t be available until January, instead of this month.

Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston told AAP while it would have been nice to have the terms of reference finalised before Christmas, the delay wasn’t an issue as long as the government got it right.

“There’s so much resting on this, we shouldn’t be rushing it,” she said.

“If they’re not happy, I’d rather it be delayed than to get it wrong.

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Abuse inquiry terms put on hold

AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A DECISION on the terms of reference for the child sex abuse Royal Commission has been delayed until next year.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon yesterday said the terms, expected this month, would not be ready until January as consultation with states and territories following the December COAG meeting continued.

The government is still conducting due diligence on a short list for the three to five commissioner roles and expects to announce the appointments in the new year.

“More than 800 individuals and organisations have provided input into the Terms of Reference so far and I would like to thank everyone for their valuable contributions,” Ms Roxon said.

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Submissions made for child sex abuse royal commission terms

AUSTRALIA
The Daily Examiner

MORE than 800 individuals and groups have made submissions as the Federal Government continues work on the make-up and terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the terms of reference for the royal commission, which was announced in November, would be settled in January.

Ms Roxon said the royal commission would issue its first report within 18 months of beginning its work.

The report may include early recommendations, as well as the commission’s recommendation for when the final report should be issued.

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Church members divided as Duval judge prepares to decide sentence in sex abuse case

FLORIDA
Florida Times-Union

The victims of his extremely intimate hugs, now 18 and 24, want Darrell Vincent Moore to spend the maximum 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct on them when they were little girls.

But their family and leading members of the Jacksonville church the girls grew up in took Moore’s side Wednesday and asked Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud to limit the 47-year-old defendant’s punishment to time served and probation.

The younger victim told the judge that the first “forced body contact” occurred in church when she was 12. The next time happened a month later when he hugged her to his lap.

“This defendant has taken my virtue and that of other little girls with no apology or expression of regret,” the 18-year-old woman read in a letter. “… Sitting in his lap was extremely wrong because I could feel his hands starting to roam to places of my body that nobody should be touching.”

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Three former players file lawsuit …

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Three former players file lawsuit against Riverside Church for failing to protect them from alleged sexual predator Ernest Lorch

By Michael O’Keeffe / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, December 20, 2012

Ernest Lorch may be dead, but the legal battles sparked by allegations that he sexually abused his players live on.

Riverside Church officials knew or should have known that the founder of its prestigious basketball program was a sexual predator who abused children, a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court claims.

The suit, filed by three former players who say Lorch assaulted them on the church’s Morningside Heights campus and during team trips, alleges that church officials failed to properly supervise the Riverside Hawks founder, who died in May.

Lorch’s estate is also named as a defendant in the case.

The suit, filed by Byron Walker, Michael McDuffen and Sean McCray, says Riverside officials violated Title IX, the 1972 federal law best known for enforcing equality for women in collegiate sports. Title IX prohibits education programs that receive federal aid from engaging in sexual abuse and harassment. The suit, which also claims Lorch and the church violated the men’s civil rights, seeks unspecified damages.

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Brooklyn Music Teacher Accused Of Sexually Abusing Choir Girl

NEW YORK
Gothamist

A Brooklyn music teacher is accused of carrying on a two year sexual relationship with a teenage girl he met through his wife’s work as a youth choir leader at the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. According to the Special Commissioner of Investigation, 57-year-old Vaughn McKinney started having sex with the unidentified victim when she was 16, luring her into bed with the promise of money and an iPhone. “If I get you the cell phone, you know what you have to do for it,” he allegedly told the girl.

In an ironic twist, the allegations of sexual abuse came to light only after a pastor at the church blew the whistle. Pastor Brian Pettrey went to the police, of course; according to the SCI report, the victim confided in the pastor about her relationship with McKinney, and the pastor then told her mother. He also called McKinney to warn him to stay away from the victim, and confiscated the cell phone. When the girl’s mother confronted her daughter about the relationship, she admitted to having sex with McKinney starting when she was 16 years old—often on the couch in McKinney’s basement while his wife was at church.

Also troubling is that the girl’s mother says she already knew about the relationship but didn’t do anything about it until others, like the pastor, caught on. According to the SCI report (below), “approximately two or three weeks earlier,” the mother had been contacted by McKinney’s wife Patricia McKinney, who requested an urgent meeting. They met at a restaurant, where Patricia McKinney showed the mother a phone invoice she’d found in her husband’s belongings with the daughter’s name on it, and demanded to know why her husband had the bill. It gets worse:

Several days after the first meeting, the mother contacted Patricia McKinney and arranged a second meeting; on that occasion, the mother informed Patricia McKinney about the sexual relationship her husband was having with Student A. Patricia McKinney left the restaurant, went to her car, and started to cry.

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December 20, 2012

Investigation of priest’s nonprofit …

NEW YORK
The Post-Standard

Investigation of priest’s nonprofit focuses on possible theft of funds and hiring of former state legislator who arranged grants

By James T. Mulder, The Post-Standard
on December 20, 2012

Syracuse, N.Y. — State and federal officials are investigating an alcohol and substance abuse nonprofit agency run by a Catholic priest that operates in Syracuse and other locations throughout the state.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today the former chief operating officer of 820 River Street, an arm of Peter Young Housing, Industry and Treatment, has been arrested and charged in Rensselaer County Court with embezzling at least $200,000 from the nonprofit over a four-year period.

Dennis Bassat, 53, of Middle Grove in Saratoga County, was charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument and falsifying business records. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment today.

Peter Young Housing, Industry and Treatment, PYHIT for short, was founded more than 50 years ago in Albany by Rev. Peter Young. The nonprofit has owned the LeMoyne Manor in Liverpool since 1998. It operates a jobs training school there for recovering alcoholics, drug addicts and other individuals. It also operates a residential program for people in recovery at 420 Gifford St. in Syracuse.

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Former Catholic priest from Novi priest faces porn charges

MICHIGAN
The Detroit News

By Oralandar Brand-Williams
The Detroit News

Detroit — A former local Catholic priest has been arrested and charged with downloading child pornography.

Timothy Murray, a 62-year-old Novi resident and former pastor of St. Edith Parish in Livonia, appeared in federal court Thursday on the charges and was temporarily detained.

A detention hearing for Murray is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelson.

According to the federal charges against Murray, he was detected by undercover U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators downloading pornographic pictures of naked young children engaged in sexual poses on his personal computer beginning in May and continuing through November. …

In 2004, Murray was removed from public ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit on allegations that he was having sex with a minor. The allegations stemmed from an alleged incident that occurred more than 30 years ago.

Civil authorities chose not to investigate further because too much time had elapsed.

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Cardinal says new Vatican budget rules improve stewardship of gifts

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by Cindy Wooden,Catholic News Service | Dec. 20, 2012

Vatican City —
The Vatican’s new internal financial oversight procedures recognize that human beings can make mistakes, but that the Catholic church as a whole has an obligation to handle the money it receives with honesty and great care, said the head of the Vatican budget office.

Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, head of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, told reporters Thursday that the new regulations for his office and its oversight of the budgets of all Vatican offices were designed to ensure “the correct and transparent use of the temporal goods of the church.”

“It’s not that we don’t trust people,” he said, “but because as Catholics we recognize the existence of original sin,” so structures must be in place to correct errors “with charity in truth.”

The prefecture, established by Pope Paul VI in 1967, functioned mainly as the Vatican’s central accounting office, consolidating the budget forecasts and the year-end budget reports of Vatican offices.

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Priest who feld to Philippines returns to face charges

WORCESTER (MA)
Catholic Free Press

By William T. Clew

Father Lowe B. Dongor, 36, wanted on a charge of being a fugitive from justice, has been returned to the United States from the Philippines, where he had fled in October 2011 after being charged with possessing child pornography and larceny of more than $250 from St. Joseph Parish in Fitchburg.

He had turned himself in to authorities in the Philippines.

He was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department on the fugitive charge, according to Timothy Connelly, spokesman for the office of District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

Father Dongor waived his right to fight rendition and will be returned to Worcester soon, Mr. Connelly said. Father Dongor will face charges in Worcester Superior Court of possessing child pornography and larceny of more than $250.

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Local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests meetings start Jan. 5

OHIO
Canton Rep

YOUNGSTOWN —

Starting Jan. 5, SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will offer monthly confidential group support meetings in Northeast Ohio.

SNAP is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy-abuse victims. Founded in 1988, it has more than 12,000 members.

Victims of abuse and their family members are welcome to attend. For time and location, contact Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest associate director at 636-433-2511.

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Vatican Official Allegedly Spits in Face of Protestor John Wojnowski

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washingtonian

Escalating tensions between an embassy official and long-time protestor lead to a police inquiry.

By Ariel Sabar

Published December 19, 2012

Last week marked a milestone of sorts for John Wojnowski, the longtime protestor outside the Vatican’s US embassy, who was the subject of a lengthy profile in the July issue of The Washingtonian. For the first time in his life, he complained to law enforcement about the conduct of a priest. Not the village rector in northern Italy who he says molested him in the summer of 1958, when he was 15 years old—but a balding, bespectacled clergyman at the Vatican embassy, who, Wojnowski says, trampled his sign in August and then spit in his face last week after Wojnowski asked his name.

A spokesman for the US Secret Service confirmed that the agency was investigating the complaint but said no more, citing the ongoing inquiry. The Apostolic Nunciature, as the embassy is officially known, did not respond to several requests for comment.

Over Wojnowski’s 15 years of nearly daily picketing outside the nunciature, relations between the retired ironworker and the inhabitants of the boxy stone building on Embassy Row have tended toward a kind of strained disregard. While Wojnowski occasionally calls out “Eccellenza”—or “Your Excellency”—at the sight of the Vatican ambassador, the better part of his hours are spent standing beside traffic on Massachusetts Avenue with signs critical of the Catholic Church, particularly its handling of cases of clergy child abuse.

In recent years, however, Vatican officials have shown growing pique over his use of their lawn to assemble and disassemble his sign, an 8-by-3-foot banner that reads “Catholics Cowards” and hangs from jerry-rigged mop handles that come apart to fit in his rucksack. A video taken on Wojnowski’s camera phone and uploaded to YouTube in 2011 depicts the late ambassador, or apostolic nuncio, Pietro Sambi, warning Wojnowski to keep his belongings off embassy grass. “Otherwise it will disappear,” Sambi warns in the video.

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Residential schools inquiry in court arguing for documents

CANADA
CBC News

The public inquiry into Indian residential schools is in court in Toronto today hoping to force the federal government to provide the records it wants.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission says the government has been dragging its feet, making it impossible for it to do its job.

The government says it has done its best to co-operate, providing one million documents already.

However, there appear to be as many as five million others.

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Schweiz: Initianten der Pfarrei-Initiative treffen Abt Martin Werlen

SCHWEIZ
Kipa

Sursee LU, 3.12.12 (Kipa) Die Initianten der Pfarrei-Initiative Schweiz haben sich am Freitag in Einsiedeln mit Abt Martin Werlen getroffen. Dankbar nehme man die von Werlen verfasste Schrift “Miteinander die Glut unter der Asche entdecken” zur Kenntnis, teilte die Sprechergruppe der Pfarrei-Initiative am Montag mit. Die Broschüre des Abtes, der die katholische Kirche der Schweiz derzeit in einer “dramatischen” Situation sieht, hatte im November für viel Aufsehen gesorgt.

In Titel und Text der Schrift habe man viele verwandte Anliegen gefunden, schreibt die Sprechergruppe weiter. So habe man den “Wunsch nach dem Feuer”, die Sorge um die Glaubwürdigkeit der Kirche und die Achtsamkeit für die Herausforderungen der Gegenwart als gemeinsame Anliegen in den Thesen der Pfarrei-Initiative und der Schrift des Abtes erkannt.

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“Die klare Lehre der Kirche zur Kenntnis nehmen”

SCHWEIZ
Kipa

Von Josef Bossart / Kipa

Zürich, 11.12.12 (Kipa) Die österreichische Internetzeitung kath.net wollte mit Abt Martin Werlen ein “sachbezogen-kritisches Interview” führen über dessen viel beachtete Publikation “Miteinander die Glut unter der Asche entdecken”, die Anfang November erschienen ist. Doch daraus wurde nichts. Kürzlich hat kath.net deshalb bloss die Fragen veröffentlicht – mit dem Hinweis, der Abt habe die schriftlich abgegebene Interview-Zusage nicht eingehalten. – Ausgewählte Auszüge aus dem diesbezüglichen Mailverkehr zwischen Werlen und kath.net.

In der Redaktion von kath.net hätten sich drei ausgebildete Fachtheologen mit Werlens Schrift befasst und während mehreren Stunden “genau durchstudiert”, liess Chefredaktor Roland Noé Abt Martin Werlen am 28. November per E-Mail wissen. Auch habe man “einigen anderen Theologen und Professoren das Schreiben vorgelegt, die unsere Einschätzung, auch bei den Fragen, teilen”.

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Swiss abbot makes fiery appeal for church reform

SWITZERLAND
National Catholic Reporter

by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt | Dec. 20, 2012

Vienna —
A fiery appeal for church reform by an influential Swiss abbot has attracted widespread attention throughout Europe, and has, moreover, been welcomed by the future president of the Swiss bishops’ conference.

Fifty-year-old Abbot Martin Werlen, leader of the Abbey of Einsiedeln and himself a member of the Swiss bishops’ conference, first voiced his appeal in a sermon on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council in October. The sermon was later published in a 39-page brochure that sold out within three days and is now in its third edition.

Titled “Discovering the Embers Under the Ashes,” it echoes remarks by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in his last interview before his death Aug. 31. Referring to the state of the church today, Martini spoke of his sense of powerlessness and how Catholicism’s “embers” were “hidden under the ashes.”

Werlen said he is alarmed by the present state of the church. “The situation of the church is dramatic, not only in the German-speaking countries,” he said. “It is dramatic not only because of the rapidly decreasing number of priests and religious or because of plummeting church attendance. The real problem is not a problem of numbers. What is missing is the fire! We must face the situation and find out what is behind it.”

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Robert W. Finn, Will You Please Go Now?

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Talk to Action

Frank Cocozzelli

Sun Dec 09, 2012

The well-connected conservative culture warrior, Robert W. Finn, still leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri more than three months after being convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. This has led to a growing unease inside and outside of the Church that the problems that led to shocking child sex abuse scandals and high level coverups, are far from over.

The New York Times recently reported:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In the three months since Bishop Robert W. Finn became the first American prelate convicted of failing to report a pedophile priest, lay people and victims’ advocates have repeatedly called for his resignation.

Now, recent interviews and a private survey by a company working for the Roman Catholic diocese here show for the first time that a significant number of the bishop’s own priests have lost confidence in him.

But of course Finn still has his defenders, including one conservative priest who said, “Yes, there is a divide in the presbyterate, but in my opinion it’s the same old tired divide that has existed from the day he arrived.” He added, “In a word, some of the priests wish that we had a more liberal bishop, and they are willing to use any means to achieve that end.”

And then of course, there is the ever-full-of-bluster, Catholic League president, William Donohue.

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Judge: Diocese can pay pensions of abuser priests

DELAWARE
WDEL

By Associated Press

A federal judge has ruled that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington can make pension or charitable payments to priests who’ve committed sexual abuse.

The News Journal reports that U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson has struck down a provision of the settlement between the diocese and abuse survivors that prevented such payments. That means the diocese can pay the pensions of abuser priests if it chooses.

The ruling was made in an appeal brought by former priest Kenneth Martin. The diocese filed legal arguments opposing Martin’s appeal.

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