ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
The Association of Religion Data Archives

By David Briggs

There is only one U.S. religious group, propelled in part by an enthusiastic group of young followers, that is expected to grow to 100 million adherents by the middle of the century.

Yet to hear some critics focus on generational shifts showing declining Mass attendance and doctrinal commitment among white Catholics, one might think the Catholic Church is slowly sinking in the U.S. religious landscape.

So which is it for the nation’s largest religious group, growth or decline? The answer is some of both in a church that, as it has through much of its history, reflects the changing face of America, researchers reported at the recent joint meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association.

There are problems, including a dramatic loss of support among white women and a culture that is increasingly more amenable to personal decision making than claims of eternal truths.

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KENTUCKY
Kentucky.com

Published: December 17, 2012

The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville Catholic priest with terminal cancer is scheduled to go on trial next year to face charges he sexually abused two boys in the 1970s.

Attorneys had delayed the trial in May because doctors said there was a possibility Rev. James Schook may not live to the end of this year.

On Monday attorneys agreed on a June 24 trial date for Schook to face seven counts of sodomy. Schook was indicted on those charges in June 2011. He is out of jail on a $10,000 bond.

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INDIA
Press Trust of India

STAFF WRITER

Kochi, Dec 17 (PTI) Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) today removed priest Father Jaison Kollannur, who has been listed as the third accused in a human trafficking case, from the post of Secretary of its Youth Commission.

Father Jaison was also the state director of the Kerala Catholic Youth movement.

In a statement here, KCBC Deputy Secretary General and spokesperson Stephen Althara said following media reports, the Council had set up a three-member commission to look into the allegations against the priest.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Anglican priest who sexually abused teenage boys has been jailed.

Father Haley Dossor, 71, admitted six counts of indecent assault relating to two boys aged as young as 13.

Norwich Crown Court also heard that Dossor accepted he had abused a third boy between 15 and 20 times, although he was not charged with these attacks.

The offences happened while Dossor, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, Suffolk, was working at St Mary’s Church in Hadleigh, Suffolk, in the early 1990s.

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KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

Written by
Jason Riley
The Courier-Journal

Prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to set a trial date for Rev. James Schook, whose trial on charges of child sexual abuse was delayed six months ago because prosecutors thought he only had months to live.

With Shook’s health about the same, the Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office said there had been a misunderstanding about how long the Roman Catholic priest could survive.

Jefferson County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Balliet said that while patients like Schook – who has an aggressive form of melanoma that began with a lesion on his back and spread – may live less than a year, he could also survive for up to five or six years.

“It was my belief,” after talking earlier this year with Dr. George R. Nichols II, the former longtime chief medical examiner for the state of Kentucky, “that we should hold off,” Balliett said.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Batya Ungar-Sargon

Published December 17, 2012, issue of December 21, 2012.

On December 10, Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed youth and marriage counselor in the Satmar community of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, was convicted of 59 counts of sexual misconduct against a minor.

As in any trial, the judge reminded the jurors that the defendant’s guilt must be proved “beyond reasonable doubt.” But with Weberman now facing a possible prison sentence of 25 years or more, it is worth asking what exactly has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and whether it was Weberman’s community as much as his actions — deplorable if true — being judged in the docket with him.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s case hinged exclusively on the credibility of the team’s single witness — the young woman accusing Weberman of sexually abusing her during each of their counseling sessions, which often took place multiple times a week, beginning when she was 12 and ending when she was 15. Though there have been reports of other victims, both from religious support groups for victims as well as from the DA, none have come forward. Weberman has flatly denied the allegations. When asked if he had ever touched his accuser inappropriately, he said, “Never, ever.” Absent DNA evidence, the case is a he said, she said. The verdict hung ultimately on whose testimony the jury found more credible.

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NEW YORK
Times of Israel

Michael J. Salamon

Many have not wanted to follow the Nechemya Weberman trial in Brooklyn but many have felt compelled to follow the proceedings passionately. How could you miss that trial? Virtually every single media outlet covered the story. Just a few days ago the jury returned their verdict. Mr. Weberman, a 54-year-old unlicensed therapist who is a Satmar Hasid, was found guilty on 59 counts all related to sexual abuse of a girl sent to him for therapy by her school.

Mr. Weberman was designated by the Satmar community and the Vaad Hatznius, its modesty squad, as an expert in treating adolescents who are oppositional and getting them to alter their rebelliousness, to become more like what the Satmar community expects them to be, or maybe what the Vaad Hatznius wants them to be. The girl, now 18 years old, was ”treated” by him from the time she was 12 years old until she was 15. In that time he admitted that he saw her one on one behind locked doors, took her away for 12 hours, purchased lingerie using money misappropriated from a charity and, essentially presented himself as an unlicensed, untrained professional while still expecting all to see him as the wronged party.

Unfortunately, there are far too many who do see him that way. Making comments like “He was convicted without any evidence,” or worse “It just shows that a hasid cannot get a fair trial in America” his supporters still believe that he is an angel and did no wrong. Never mind that the evidence is clear – he admitted practice without a license, locking the girl up with him and so forth, along with the fact that according to the District Attorney, there were others who reported having been abused by him. Weberman’s sanctimonious indifference and his supporters virulence makes a mockery not so much of the justice system but what Satmar should be and most often is.

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ITALIA
Corriere della Sera

SORBOLO (Parma) – « Wanted Persons». La foto segnaletica dell’Interpol è negli uffici di polizia di mezzo mondo. Ritrae un uomo anziano, vestito da prete, con il collarino bianco che spunta dall’abito nero. C’è un mandato di cattura internazionale. Non è un truffatore in uno dei suoi tanti travestimenti. È davvero un sacerdote, compirà 75 anni la vigilia di Natale. È di Sorbolo in provincia di Parma, due passi dal Po. A 11 anni, nel ’48, si trasferì con la famiglia in Argentina dove poi divenne prete, curando per decenni la sperduta parrocchia di Salto de Las Rosas, vicino alla cittadina di San Rafael, due passi dalle Ande.

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ITALY/ARGENTINA
Gazzetta del Sud

Parma, December 17 – An Italian priest is being sought for crimes against humanity in Argentina, where he is accused of involvement with the brutal military dictatorship of the 1970s, a newspaper reported Monday. According to Corriere della Sera, federal prosecutors in San Rafael, Argentina have asked for the arrest of Father Franco Reverberi, who is now living in the province of Parma in north-central Italy. The priest’s name appeared recently on an Interpol list of suspects accused of human rights violations during the rule of Jorge Rafael Videla, who was president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. Two years ago Videla was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of 31 prisoners following his coup d’etat and in July 2012 he received an additional 50-year prison sentence for the systematic kidnapping of children during his rule. According to reports, Reverberi witnessed the torture of dissidents under Videla, without doing anything to stop it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
EADT 24

Lizzie Parry Monday, December 17, 2012

A retired Anglican priest who sexually abused teenage boys has been jailed.

Father John Haley Dossor, known as Haley, pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault relating to two boys aged as young as 13.

Norwich Crown Court also heard that Dossor accepted he had abused a third boy between 15 and 20 times, although he was not charged with these attacks.

The offences happened when the 71-year-old, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, Suffolk, was working at St Mary’s Church in Hadleigh in the early 1990s.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Kurt Bayer

Former Catholic brother and convicted paedophile Bernard McGrath will fight extradition to Australia where he is wanted on 252 sexual abuse charges.

The former St John of God brother returned to New Zealand from Sri Lanka voluntarily last month after the new charges emerged.

In 2006, McGrath was jailed for five years for sexually abusing boys at Marylands School in Christchurch in the 1970s, and was paroled in 2008.

The 65-year-old travelled from New Zealand to Sri Lanka earlier this year and was reportedly living on a tea plantation in the highlands.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 18, 2012

A former Catholic brother and convicted pedophile will fight an attempt to extradite him from New Zealand to Australia where he is facing 252 child sex charges.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, a former St John of God brother who was jailed in 2006 for sexually abusing boys at Marylands School in Christchurch in the 1970s, appeared in Christchurch District Court on Monday.

McGrath, 65, is alleged to have repeatedly raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese of NSW during the late 1970s and 1980s.

His lawyer Phillip Allan told the court he had filed a notice of opposition to the extradition application.

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NEW ZEALAND
TVNZ

Monday December 17, 2012 Source: ONE News

Convicted sex offender Bernard Kevin McGrath, a former Catholic brother, plans to fight his extradition to Australia.

The 65-year-old appeared in the Christchurch District Court today.

He is wanted across the Tasman on 252 historic sex charges, but his lawyer said today the extradition application will be opposed.

McGrath was jailed in 2006 for offending against boys at Marylands School in Christchurch. He also spent time behind bars in the 1990s for similar offending.

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UNITED KINGDOM
EADT 24

Monday, December 17, 2012

A retired priest will today be sentenced after admitting a string of historic sex offences against two teenage boys.

Father John Haley Dossor is scheduled to be sentence today at Norwich Crown Court.

He was previously due to be sentenced last month, however the case was adjourned for administrative reasons.

Dossor, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, abused two males, who were aged between 13 and 17, during assaults dating back 20 years, when he was based at St Mary’s Church in Hadleigh.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A retired Anglican priest who sexually abused teenage boys has been jailed. Father John Haley Dossor, pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault relating to two boys aged as young as 13.

Norwich Crown Court also heard that Dossor accepted he had abused a third boy between 15 and 20 times, although he was not charged with these attacks.

The offences happened when the 71-year-old, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, Suffolk, was working at St Mary’s Church in Hadleigh in the early 1990s.

Jailing Dossor for one year and 10 months, Judge Mark Lucraft said: “You sexually abused these teenage boys who were committed to your care for recreation and education.

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AUSTRALIA
Hills News

A report into the Catholic Church’s management of sexual abuse allegations made against a former priest who was connected to the Parramatta and Armidale diocese has been handed to NSW Police.

The church commissioned the report by Anthony Whitlam QC after allegations were made that information about the priest, known as Father F, was not acted on.

The report deals with Father F’s sacking from the ministry in 2005 and what happened during a meeting between Father F and senior Catholic figures in 1992.

The Armidale diocese has denied Father F made admissions when he met Sydney priests Father Lucas and Monsignor Usher Sydney in 1992.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Pia Akerman
From:The Australian
December 17, 2012

A SURVIVOR of child sexual abuse has called for the Catholic Church to embrace a new style of compensating victims by paying for their medical treatment, in a scheme similar to the war veterans’ Gold Card.

Peter Blenkiron, who was 11 years old when he was abused by a priest at school in Ballarat, has put forward the idea as he prepares to give evidence next year to the Victorian government’s inquiry into how organisations, including the church, have dealt with abuse claims against them.

“The church has an ethical responsibility to keep these people alive,” Mr Blenkiron said. “The Australian taxpayers should not bear this cost.”

The “church-related injuries”, or CRI card, as Mr Blenkiron calls it, would help ensure victims receive psychological support to assist their healing and cut the high number of suicides related to child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry has been told victims of child sexual abuse face a litany of difficulties reporting and settling their complaints.

The Care Leavers Australia Network told the child sexual inquiry that churches and institutions have confusing processes for dealing with complaints.

It says victims are deliberately isolated and that redress schemes are a “hopscotch” of secretive arrangements.

Spokesman Frank Golding told the inquiry it is also difficult for victims to access documentation.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

By Barney Zwartz
Dec. 17, 2012

Boys from Victorian orphanages who later ended in up prison said that was not nearly as bad as the boys’ homes, the state inquiry into how the churches handled sex abuse heard on Monday.

It was another litany of horror at the inquiry as the Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) gave evidence of repeated and systematic rapes over years, physical and psychological abuse amounting to torture, and a callous indifference by police and authorities, whether church or state.

Leonie Sheedy, chief executive of CLAN – which represents people raised in homes run by the state, churches and charities – told the inquiry that in a sample she took of 18 years 1352 children absconded from religious and non-government homes and 1877 fled state institutions. …

Right up to the present, institutions were unco-operative or even, as with the Salvation Army in Victoria, overtly hostile, usually telling victims records had been lost, Mr Golding said. This not only reduced the chances of legal action but also finding and reuniting people with lost family members.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY, cdempsey@courant.com The Hartford Courant
December 13, 2012

ENFIELD—

A town native accused of raping an acquaintance was arraigned Thursday in Superior Court.

William Baskerville, 53, appeared before Judge Howard Scheinblum, who bail at the $20,000 set by another judge. Baskerville is scheduled to return to court Jan. 3.

Suffield officers arrested Baskerville at his job at a Willimantic taxi company Wednesday and charged him with first-degree sexual assault and first-degree unlawful restraint, police said. He also has worked as a laborer for the town of Suffield, and he has said he was a reverend. It’s not clear if he has been preaching recently.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Sunday 16th December 2012

A retired priest has appeared in court charged with sexually abusing boys.

Robert Coles, of Upperton Road in Eastbourne, appeared at Chichester Crown Court yesterday charged with sexual offences against three teenage boys in Chichester and other locations in Sussex between the 1970s and early 1990s.

The 71-year-old pleaded not guilty to three offences of buggery on one of the boys then aged between 15 and 16 at a location in Chichester between 1982 and 1984.

He will stand trial on June 10 and continues to be on court bail.The Crown Prosecution Service will also decide in January whether Coles will face further offences of indecent assault which he has also pleaded not guilty to.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Lake Macquarie Catholic brother accused of raping dozens of boys is today expected to reveal if he will fight plans to extradite him from New Zealand.

Hunter region detectives have spent more than a year investigating allegations relating to the Kendall Grange boys home at Morisset south of Newcastle.

It was run by the St John of God order and police allege former Brother Bernard McGrath abused 35 boys while working there.

McGrath, who has been living in Christchurch, New Zealand, is currently facing 252 child sex charges.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

A former Catholic brother and convicted sex offender is to fight an extradition order to Australia where he is facing 252 charges of sexually abusing boys.

Bernard McGrath has already served time in prison in New Zealand for abusing boys in Christchurch.

The former St John of God brother appeared in the Christchurch District Court on Monday morning, where he was remanded on bail and ordered to appear again on 28 January.

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NEW ZEALAND/AUSTRALIA
Stuff

DAVID CLARKSON

Nearly three weeks after his return to New Zealand, a former Catholic brother and convicted sex offender has decided he will fight extradition to Australia on 252 fresh charges.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, a former priest at Marylands School in Christchurch, has already served prison time in New Zealand for offending against boys.

He was in Sri Lanka last month when the Australian police laid charges alleging he has repeatedly raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese over several decades.

He returned voluntarily to New Zealand and was arrested the next day on the Australian charges. When he made his court appearance on December 3, bail was granted for him to live with his sister in Christchurch while he considers what to do about the extradition bid.

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NEW YORK
Examiner

December 16, 2012
By: Vicki Polin

Since the conviction of Nechemya Weberman, the harassment against Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, who is an outspoken advocate for chasidic survivors of child molestation living within the Satmar community.

Last week it was reported that Meilech Schnitzler allegedly threw bleach in the face of Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg hoping to blind him. This week harassment against Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg and chasidic survivors of sex crimes has continued onto Twitter.

It has been known that for some time an unknown individual has been impersonating Rabbi Rosenberg on Twitter. This individual has been sending out tweets — many similar to what Nuchem Rosenberg would send. At first Rabbi Rosenberg thought nothing to be concerned about, yet since the Weberman conviction things have changed.

The individual who has been using this Twitter facade, has been counting on and has unsuspecting individuals to privately message them, with details of various alleged sex crimes. Individuals who contacted this assailant, have been thinking they have been in touch with Rabbi Rosenberg, which they have not. Instead what has been occurring is that these private communications, which included confidential information are being targeted by bullies from the Satmar community. Unsuspecting survivors or sex crimes and their family members are being harassed.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger and Nathan Jeffay

Published December 16, 2012.

Rabbi George Finkelstein has resigned his position at the Great Jerusalem Synagogue after the Forward reported that he had sexually abused students at Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan during the 1970s and ‘80s.

“He sent us an email saying he’s resigning because he does not want to expose the Great Synagogue to embarrassment,” Zalli Jaffe, the synagogue’s vice president, said in an interview. Finkelstein had served as the institution’s executive director since 2001; last month, he began serving as its ritual director.

Jaffe said that the resignation was received on Thursday, “immediately following the publication” of the Forward’s investigation. The correspondence came from France, where Finkelstein is currently vacationing.

Around the same time as Finkelstein resigned, senior staff of the Orthodox Union in America and Jerusalem held a teleconference regarding the position of the other Y.U. high school staff member investigated by the Forward, Rabbi Macy Gordon. They decided to impose a “leave of absence” on Gordon’s teaching duties at the OU Israel Center in Jerusalem, where he gives a weekly class on the laws of the Sabbath, Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU executive vice president emeritus, told the Forward on December 16.

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MAINE
WMTW

PORTLAND, Maine —
An investigation by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has substantiated an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor brought against a Catholic brother who served at an Aroostook County parish in the early 1970s.

In a statement issued Saturday morning, the diocese said evidence was found to back up a claim by a Maine man who said Brother Paul L. Gauvin , now 73, sexually abused him in the early 1970s when he was an altar server at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madawaska. Gauvin was the director of religious education at the parish at the time, according to Dave Guthro, a spokesman for the diocese.

Guthro said the man contacted officials at Sacred Heart Parish in Bloomfield, CT earlier this year and told them that Gauvin, the parish’s director of liturgy, had molested him over a two year period when the man was 11 and 12 years old.

Before his assignment at St. Thomas Aquinas, Gauvin worked as an English teacher at Madawaska High School. The high school employed Brothers of the Sacred Heart as teachers at the time, according to Guthro. The religious order left Maine in 1994, he said.

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MAINE
Maine Sunday Telegram

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland says a claim of sexual abuse of a minor against a former director of religious education in Madawaska has been substantiated.

A diocesan investigation resulted in the finding against Brother Paul Gauvin, former director of religious education at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

Earlier this year, a Maine man contacted Sacred Heart Parish in Bloomfield, Conn., and told an administrator that Gauvin, 73, director of liturgy at the parish, sexually abused him in the early 1970s while Gauvin was in Madawaska. The victim was between the ages of 11 and 12 when the abuse occurred.

Gauvin has been removed from his position at Sacred Heart Parish, and he will have no contact with minors. Gauvin is under the supervision of a regional religious superior for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

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TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By Elizabeth Campbell
liz@star-telegram.com

Joseph Jordan spent more than 20 years volunteering to chaperone children on ski trips and pilgrimages to see the pope whenever he visited the United States.

He also taught a course on child safety because of the numerous incidents of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

So Jordan was shocked when he was summoned to the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese offices July 27 and told that he was no longer allowed to volunteer in any capacity because of accusations of “boundary violations” involving youth and young adults. Jordan was also told that he could no longer participate in Knights of Columbus activities.

“This ban is diocesan wide and includes not showing up or participating in any youth or young people’s events,” wrote Vicar General Stephen Berg. Letters outlining Jordan’s ban from volunteering were distributed throughout the diocese, which serves 710,000 Catholics in 28 counties.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Presidential Protection of Children From Violence After Newton, Conn. School Massacre, by Jerry Slevin, retired NYC lawyer.

Who is not moved by the appearance of President Obama in tears before a worldwide TV audience as he tried to address the latest horror of a violent and senseless attack on defenseless children at a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school? The world’s most powerful man, and a devoted father of two young daughters, almost powerless, it appears, to protect children from recurring violence. We are all moved to tears over this incomprehensible outrage.

The demands for tighter gun controls are already being raised, as they should be. While Connecticut already has some tight gun restrictions, other states in the USA don’t. So plugging a few holes in a leaking national gun bucket will unlikely deter much gun distribution. And given the unpredictable evil latent in some, one wonders almost despairingly whether this periodic horror of school massacres can be curtailed.

Of course it can be curtailed! It may be impossible to protect children always from violence, but other modern nations have adopted sensible national gun restrictions that have broadly protected children, certainly when compared to the shameful record in the USA. President Obama faces strong opposition to sensible gun restrictions from a gun lobby in Congress, but he must keep pressing to end this gun lunacy. And all in the US must support every effort to strike the right balance between the safety of innocents, especially children, and the rights of responsible gun owners

Many innocent children in the USA sadly also face another form of violence, which often alters their lives negatively and permanently, namely sexual violence. President Obama can and should act decisively here now. He has recently been asked in a White House petition, by a brave woman who lost her brother to sexual abuse, to set up a special national commission to investigate and identify responses to the often hidden epidemic of sexual assaults on children in organizational settings, such as churches, schools and youth groups.

CLICK ON here to read the brief White House petition: http://wh.gov/5aAQ

The number of child victims of sexual assaults far exceeds the number of child victims of gun assaults. The sexual assaults occur both in homes and in organizational settings, like churches, schools and youth groups. The home assaults are usually addressed effectively by state criminal law proceedings. The organizational assaults, often hidden and protected by leaders of powerful groups like some bishops and national officers, are not being addressed effectively generally by states.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Brendan J. Lyons

Published 11:49 pm, Friday, December 14, 2012

ALBANY — Father Peter Young, an Albany priest who heads a broad network of nonprofit support services for former convicts and addicts, said law enforcement raids of his offices this week has unsettled his organization and he’s uncertain why it was necessary.

“I don’t know where it’s going to go,” said Young, 82, in his first public comments since Wednesday’s raid by a task force of federal and state investigators.

The raids took place at the Schenectady headquarters of The Altamont Program, and at two of the organization’s offices in Menands and Albany. State attorney general’s investigators, accompanied by FBI agents, interviewed employees while they seized computers and a trove of financial records.

“It scared our staff half to death because many are on parole,” Young said. “They were sort of put in a room and couldn’t move. Everyone’s computer went. There was no dialogue and we didn’t know what was going on.”

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CANADA
Times Colonist

Jeff Bell , Times Colonist December 15, 2012

Father Phil Jacobs is scheduled to take the stand next week as his trial continues on charges of sexual assault, sexual interference with a person under 14 and sexual touching.

The charges stem from incidents involving three youths that allegedly occurred between September 1996 and June 2001. The trial began Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.

Defence lawyer Chris Considine said Jacobs and at least two other people are likely to testify for the defence from Monday to Wednesday.

Jacobs, 63, was parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church from 1997 to 2002, a post he left when it became known that he had been dismissed from a Columbus, Ohio, church a number of years before over allegations of inappropriate conduct with teenage boys. No criminal charges or civil suits resulted.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

‘White witches’ who conducted ‘horrifying’ ritualistic sex abuse on children as young as three in Cornish coven jailed for 32 years

By Hugo Gye

Two pagans were sentenced to more than a decade in prison today after being found guilty of abusing children in bizarre sex rituals as part of a witches’ coven.

Peter Petrauske and Jack Kemp were said to have worn ceremonial robes and pagan paraphernalia while they abused young girls in Cornwall during the 1970s.

Police believe one of their victims may have been as young as three when the abuse started.

The judge described the victims’ experiences as ‘nothing less than harrowing’ as he condemned their ‘utterly horrifying’ crimes, sentencing Petrauske to 18 years in prison and Kemp to 14.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Two men have been jailed for carrying out “ritualistic” sex abuse of girls as part of a witches’ coven.

Peter Petrauske, 72, and Jack Kemp, 69, both of Falmouth, Cornwall, had denied multiple sexual assaults involving children.

Truro Crown Court heard the victims could have been as young as three-years-old.

Petrauske was jailed for 18 years and Kemp for 14 years for the abuse which dated back to the 1970s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

By JAMES BEAL

TWO white witch perverts were jailed for a total of 32 years yesterday for horrific child sex abuse.

Evil Peter Petrauske and Jack Kemp belonged to a paedo ring which preyed on girls under the guise of pagan rituals.

From the 1970s until 2006 the gang plied terrified victims with drink before making them strip off and dance. The girls, aged from three to 15, were often tied up and blindfolded before being abused at weird robed ceremonies.

One had a dagger drawn across her body and another was threatened with burning.

Caging Petrauske and Kemp, now aged 72 and 69, a judge said their offences were “truly horrific”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Herald Scotland

Two men accused of being part of a paedophile ring have been given lengthy jail sentences for their part in “ritualistic, sickening” sex abuse of young girls.

Jack Kemp and Peter Petrauske spent years tormenting their female victims, one said to be as young as three. Both men had denied any involvement in the abuse, claiming they were victims of a witch hunt or conspiracy.

But a jury at Truro Crown Court dismissed their protestations.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Ari Weisbrot

My childhood Rabbi stands accused of sexual abuse. As fun as that may sound, in the two hours since the news broke, it has spread like wildfire over the internet. Phone lines are blowing up. I heard about it while in court, so it took a few hours for me to actually read the story. And, here it is: over a 40 year career in education, and 20 years as a pulpit Rabbi, one former student accuses the Rabbi of checking out his “physical development” during a one-time dorm-room visit over 30 years ago, and then sodomizing him with a toothbrush.

If guilty of the accusations, he should be jailed for the rest of his life, where he can look forward to many years of ironic retribution. I am not soft on this issue. I was outspoken ten years ago against a second Rabbi who physically and sexually abused scores of children over his career. There was no doubt of his guilt. I witnessed it first-hand, and many of my friends were victims. He spent 7 years in jail for his crimes but my calls for a more appropriate punishment were ignored. After all, he is still very much alive and enjoying retirement in Florida.

But, there is one thing I have learned in my years as a prosecutor, lawyer, and advocate. Sexual predators do not commit just one single crime in 40 years. Nor, do they typically victimize a vulnerable child on only one occasion. I do not know if the exposure of this story will call forth more victims, more evidence, and more proof. Frankly, I do not know if the Rabbi is innocent or guilty. He never abused me or, to my knowledge, any of the many children in our community. But, predators never seemed particularly attracted to me. I’m sure it was nothing personal.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

Two men accused of being part of a paedophile ring involving murdered “witch” Peter Solheim have been given lengthy jail sentences for their part in “ritualistic, sickening” sex abuse of young girls.

Jack Kemp and Peter Petrauske spent years tormenting their female victims, one said to be as young as three.

Both men had denied any involvement in the abuse, claiming they were victims of a witch hunt or conspiracy.

But a jury at Truro Crown Court dismissed their protestations, convicting the pair of a string of offences dating back to the 1970s, as well as finding Kemp guilty of several more recent sexual assaults unconnected to Petrauske.

Jailing Kemp for 14 years and Petrauske for 18, Judge Graham Cottle told them: “The offences range from the extremely serious to the truly horrifying.

“You are two of the surviving members of a paedophile ring, together with others whose names have repeated frequently in this trial who were members of a ring that operated in Falmouth (Cornwall) in the 1970s and 1980s.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun
December 14, 2012

A priest removed from his duties in Vancouver over accusations of sexual abuse in the 1980s was terminated from a New York diocese for “problems of a similar nature” in 2001.

The priest, Lawrence Dean Cooper, also known as Damian Cooper, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver were named in a civil suit filed in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday by a B.C. woman.

Kathleen Taylor said in her suit that she first met Cooper in 1985 as a 15-year-old, and a relationship developed that led to him taking her to motels for sex by the time she was 17. She said she broke off the relationship in 1992, and in 1994 told the church about the abuse.

The Vancouver archdiocese does not dispute the general claims, and said it took “every necessary step” to remove the priest from ministry and to ensure when he moved, the jurisdiction he went to knew about his background.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated: 12/14/2012

York, PA –
A Lancaster County man who the state attorney general says is an associate pastor is charged with solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children and other related charges.

The attorney general’s office did not identify the church.

The AG, in a news release, said parents approached the pastor of the church to say that Clarence Tyrone Taylor, 26, of the 400 block of Manor Street in Columbia, had made suggestive comments to several young people. The pastor went to Lancaster County detectives, who forwarded the case to the AG’s office.

The attorney general alleges that Taylor used Facebook and text messages to tell a 15-year-old boy that he was “cute” and that they should spend more time together.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

An associate pastor from Lancaster County is accused of using Facebook and text messages to sexually solicit a 15-year old boy, along with sending a nude photo to the teen.

Attorney General Linda Kelly says 26-year-old Clarence Tyrone Taylor of Columbia was taken into custody Thursday and charged with felony solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children and related counts.

Prosecutors say Taylor used Facebook to contact one of the teens and told him he was “cute,” commented on his appearance and suggested they spend more time together.

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MAINE
St. John Valley Times

Diocesan investigation finds complaint against former Religious Education director, in Madawaska, substantiated

ONLINE FIRST: MADAWASKA, Maine – A diocesan investigation has determined that a claim of sexual abuse of a minor against a former Director of Religious Education at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Madawaska is substantiated, according to a press release from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

Released at 4:41 p.m., the press release is as follows:

“Earlier this year, a Maine man contacted Sacred Heart Parish in Bloomfield, Conn. and told an administrator that Brother Paul L. Gauvin, the Director of Liturgy at the parish, sexually abused him in the early 1970s while Gauvin was serving as the Director of Religious Education at St. Thomas Aquinas in Madawaska.

The victim was between the ages of 11 and 12 when the abuse occurred. Prior to working at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Gauvin was an English teacher at Madawaska High School, a public school where the Brothers of the Sacred Heart taught. The Brothers of the Sacred Heart left Maine in 1994.

Immediately after the victim’s allegation, Gauvin, who is currently 73, was removed from his position as Director of Liturgy at Sacred Heart Parish. The Brothers of the Sacred Heart have been informed of the results of the investigation and are addressing the matter with Gauvin, who is under the supervision of a provincial and will have no contact with minors. A provincial is a regional religious superior for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff

Posted Dec. 14, 2012

PORTLAND, Maine — An allegation of sexual abuse by a former director of religious education at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Madawaska has been substantiated, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland announced Friday.

Brother Paul L. Gauvin, a member of the Brothers of Sacred Heart, was working at the parish in the early 1970s when the abuse occurred, according to a press release issued by the diocese. The victim was between 11 and 12 then.

Prior to working at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Gauvin was an English teacher at Madawaska High School, a public school where the Brothers of the Sacred Heart taught for six years in the late 1960s and early ’70s, the diocese said.

Dave Guthro, spokesman for the diocese, said Friday that Gauvin spent his entire time in Maine in Madawaska. Information about exactly when Gauvin left Maine and where he went was not available late Friday.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun December 14, 2012

A priest removed from his duties in Vancouver over accusations of sexual abuse in the 1980s was terminated from a New York diocese for “problems of a similar nature” in 2001.

The priest, Lawrence Dean Cooper, also known as Damian Cooper, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver were named in a civil suit filed in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday by a B.C. woman.

Kathleen Taylor said in her suit that she first met Cooper in 1985 as a 15-year-old, and a relationship developed that led to him taking her to motels for sex by the time she was 17. She said she broke off the relationship in 1992, and in 1994 told the church about the abuse.

The Vancouver archdiocese does not dispute the general claims, and said it took “every necessary step” to remove the priest from ministry and to ensure when he moved, the jurisdiction he went to knew about his background.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

A grand jury today indicted Micah Moore for first-degree murder in the death of Bethany Ann Deaton, the wife of his spiritual leader.

The indictment supersedes a previous charge of murder filed by the Jackson County prosecutor’s office.

Moore, 23, is currently free on a $250,000 cash bond.

According to court documents, Moore allegedly told a detective 10 days after Deaton’s body was found Oct. 30 inside a van at Longview Lake that he had killed her. The death had up to then been considered a suicide.

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

Written by
C. Johnson

TURLOCK, CA – An observant priest at a Turlock church was suspicious of a man giving undue attention to two boys from his church and that has led to the arrest of the man for molestation, say police.

Officer Mayra Lewis with the Turlock Police Department said the two alleged victims told the priest that suspect Eduardo Sanchez Arellano, 34, had sexually abused them.

One of the victims spoke to police about the alleged molestation and Arellano was arrested on Dec. 6 on suspicion of sodomy, oral copulation, continual sexual abuse and other child molestation-related charges, Lewis said.

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CANADA
Sooke News Mirror

By Edward Hill – Saanich News
Published: December 14, 2012

A one-time friend of Phillip Jacobs testified on Thursday that the former Saanich priest touched him inappropriately a number of times during tutoring sessions.

The witness, now a young man and one of three complainants against Jacobs, appeared in Victoria Supreme Court and described incidents that at first seemed an odd but absent-minded wandering of a priest’s hand, but deemed later in life as inappropriate sexual touching.

Jacobs, 63, is a former parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker church on Burnside Road West, which has an associated Catholic elementary school on the grounds.

Jacobs is charged with sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference of a person under 14 and touching a young person for a sexual purpose. The charges involve three minors under the age of 14, with alleged incidents spanning September 1996 to June 2001, all within Saanich. Jacobs was arrested Aug. 4, 2010 and released on bail

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ITALY
Sky News

A Sicilian priest has stunned his congregation by announcing during a mass he’s set to become a father and is quitting to marry his partner.

‘It’s my last mass. I am in love with a woman and in a few months I will be a father,’ Vito Lombardo, 33, told his flock in the city of Trapani in northwestern Sicily, local newspapers said on Friday.

The relationship had been going on for a while but the priest waited until his partner was five months pregnant before announcing his departure, the reports said.

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PORTUGAL
DN

A Polícia Judiciária (PJ) deteve hoje o vice-reitor do seminário do Fundão por suspeita de abuso de menores, disse à agência Lusa fonte ligada à instituição.

O responsável pelo seminário, um padre de 37 anos, é o presumível autor de “vários crimes de abuso sexual de crianças e de menores dependentes sobre os quais detinha funções de educação e proteção”, refere a PJ em comunicado.

O vice-reitor foi detido “em cumprimento de mandado de busca e detenção emitido pelas autoridades judiciárias competentes”, acrescenta o documento.

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PORTUGAL
DN

A Diocese da Guarda garantiu hoje “total colaboração” à investigação no Seminário Menor do Fundão que levou à detenção do vice-reitor por suspeita de abuso de menores.

O responsável pelo seminário, um padre de 37 anos, é o presumível autor de “vários crimes de abuso sexual de crianças e de menores dependentes sobre os quais detinha funções de educação e proteção”, segundo indicou a PJ em comunicado

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

December 14, 2012 11:59 am | Author: Jerry Berger
That was *Patrick Noaker, *a former St. Louis public defender and SLU Law School grad, arguing against damage caps before the Indiana Supreme Court yesterday. Noaker, who represented dozens of local clergy sex abuse victims, has split from his long-time partner and launched his own firm in the Twin Cities. . .If you can’t get a meeting with Sen. *Claire McCaskill , *you might bump into her if you make reservations to fly from Reagan airport to Lambert any Thursday at 6:30 p.m., non-stop on Southwest. Begun just weeks ago, that particular flight has become one of her favorites. Last night, Mo. Attorney Gen. *Chris Koster *was also on that flight. .

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AUSTRALIA
Vatican Insider

The commission will be composed of laymen, jurists, psychologists and clerics and will work alongside the national inquiry launched to address the issue

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

A former Supreme Court judge and former President of the anti-corruption Commission will be chairing a special 10 member committee made up of bishops and lay experts such as jurists and psychologists. The new body will manage relations with Australia’s national inquiry commission which looks into how institutions have dealt with reported paedophilia cases.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Council – as the anti-corruption commission is called – will be headed by former judge Barry O’Keefe. This is according to a statement issued by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, President of the Australian Episcopal Conference which met in Sydney at the end of November.

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INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on December 13, 2012

Attorneys in Indiana are defending a judgement won by a victim of sex abuse by a catholic priest.

Sadly, it often takes severe financial penalties to deter recklessness callousness and deceit, especially in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. We applaud Doe for exposing wrongdoing and prodding Catholic officials to stop protecting predators and start protecting kids.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on December 13, 2012

We are grateful to the police for apprehending Pastor Aron Andronie. Stalking is a serious crime and stalkers often escalate to more violent behavior, so we are glad that this dangerous man is off the street.

We hope that any other members of his congregation who saw or suspected any odd behavior will come forward and make a report to the police. Given how brazen Pastor Andronie was in his stalking and harassment, we suspect that there are other women in his congregation who may have suffered similar crimes. Having a friend or fellow parishioner may be the difference between empowering them or letting them suffer in silence.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on December 14, 2012

An Arizona woman has filed a lawsuit against a priest from the Diocese of Vancouver for sexual abuse that occurred in the 1980’s.

We applaud Kathleen Taylor for coming forward with her claims. By going public, she is doing her part to keep kids in Vancouver safe. We hope that her story will encourage others who saw, suspected, or suffered child sex crimes to come forward and make a report to police.

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CALIFORNIA
KCRA

The Turlock Police Department said a 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of continued sexual abuse of a boy and another victim.

The abuse was first reported when a priest became concerned over increased attention Arellano was giving to a young member of a church.

Police said the suspect, identified as Eduardo Sanchez Arellano, faces multiple charges, including oral copulation, sodomy and other child molestation counts.

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NEW YORK
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk
Dec 14, 2012

On Monday, the Rabbinical Council of America applauded the conviction of a leader of the Satmar Hasidic sect for sexually molesting an adolescent girl. In doing so, the umbrella organization of mainline “Modern Orthodox” rabbis called attention to the practice of hushing up such acts.

For many years the RCA has condemned the efforts of many parts of the Jewish community to cover up or ignore allegations of abuse, viewing these efforts as against Jewish law, illegal, and irresponsible to the welfare of victims and the greater community.

Yesterday, the RCA had the tougher task of addressing a coverup of sexual abuse at its flagship institution, Yeshiva University. An investigation by the Jewish Forward revealed that students at Yeshiva’s high school for boys were abused by two senior staff members in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When allegations were brought to the attention of Yeshiva’s leaders–including, most notably, current chancellor Norman Lamm–the men were not reported to the authorities but simply permitted to resign and find jobs elsewhere.

“If it was an open-and-shut case, I just let [the staff member] go quietly,” Lamm told the Forward. “It was not our intention or position to destroy a person without further inquiry.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on Friday 14 December 2012

A retired Church of England priest from Eastbourne has been committed for Crown Court trial charged with sexual offences against three teenage boys.

Robert Coles, 71, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, appeared at Chichester Crown Court today charged with sexual offences against the boys in West Sussex and elsewhere during the late 1970s and early 1990s.

He pleaded not guilty to three offences of buggery on one of the boys then aged between 15 and 16 at a location in Chichester between 1982 and 1984, and was committed for trial at a Crown Court in Sussex yet to be notified on June 10, 2013. He continues to be on court bail.

The prosecution will consider by the end of January whether to seek trial on four alleged offences of indecent assault – two against the victim of buggery and one each against two other victims.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

Published on Friday 14 December 2012

A RETIRED priest appeared in Chichester Crown Court today (December 14), charged with sexual offences against three teenage boys.

Robert Coles, 71, of Upperton Road, in Eastbourne, is charged with sexual offences against three teenage boys in West Sussex and elsewhere in the late 1970s and early 1990s.

He pleaded not guilty to three serious sexual offences on one of the boys then aged between 15 and 16 at a location in Chichester between 1982 and 1984, and was committed for trial at a crown court in Sussex yet to be notified, on June 10, 2013. He continues to be on court bail.

The prosecution is to consider by the end of January whether also to seek trial on four alleged offences of indecent assault – two against the victim referred to above, and one each against two other victims.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Packet

Two men from Falmouth have been convicted of child abuse following a trial involving paganism and witchcraft.

Peter Petrauske, 72, who at the time of his arrest last December was living at The Beacon, was convicted unanimously by a jury at Truro Crown Court of rape between January 1988 and January 1991 and of aiding and abetting attempted rape by person unknown between November 1982 and November 1985.

He was acquitted of one charge of indecent assault between January 1988 and January 1991.

Sixty-nine-year-old Jack Kemp, of Grenville Road, was convicted unanimously of one indecent assault between November 1982 and November 1984.

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UNITED KINGDOM
This is Cornwall

Two Falmouth penionsers on trial for sexual assaults against youngsters as part of a witches coven have been convicted of some of the charges.

Peter Petrauske, 72, was unanimously convicted of rape between January 1988 and 1991 and of aiding and abetting rape by an unknown person between 1982 and 1985.

He was acquitted of one charge of indecent assault between January 1988 and 1991.

Jack Kemp, 69, was found guilty of an indecent assault between 1982 and 1984, and by jury majority of 10-2 of seven offences of indecent assault or sexual activity with a child between 2001 and 2005.

He was also convicted unanimously of sexual activity with a child between 2006 and 2007.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Two men have been convicted of carrying out “ritualistic” sex abuse of girls as part of a witches’ coven.

Jack Kemp, 69, and Peter Petrauske, 72, both of Falmouth, Cornwall, had denied multiple sexual assaults involving children aged five to 14.

Petrauske was convicted of one count of rape, one count of aiding and abetting an attempt to rape and one count of indecent assault.

Kemp was found guilty of indecent assault and indecency with a child.

He was found not guilty of four other offences.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 December 2012

Two members of a Cornish white witch coven have been convicted of carrying out ritualistic sex abuse on young girls.

Peter Petrauske, 72, who claimed to be a high priest, and Jack Kemp, 69, donned robes and carried pagan artefacts when they attended ceremonies during which children were forced to strip and then abused. Police believe children as young as three may have been involved.

The abuse only emerged after Kemp was arrested on an unrelated charge, prompting victims of past offences to come forward.

The pair showed little emotion as they were led from the dock at Truro crown court on Friday. Petrauske, who described himself as the high priest of a white witches’ coven in St Ives, was convicted of one count of rape, one count of aiding and abetting an attempt to rape and one count of indecent assault.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Independent

By Ryan Hooper

Friday December 14 2012

TWO men accused of carrying out sex abuse on children as part of a witches’ coven have been convicted of several offences.

Peter Petrauske and Jack Kemp were said to have donned ceremonial robes and pagan paraphernalia before abusing young girls in Cornwall in England during the 1970s.

Police believe one of their victims may have been as young as three when the abuse started.

The pair, aged 72 and 69 respectively, showed little emotion as they were led from the dock at Truro Crown Court and into custody.

Petrauske, who described himself as the high priest of a white witches’ coven in St Ives, Cornwall, was convicted of one count of rape, one count of aiding and abetting an attempt to rape, and one count of indecent assault, all by unanimous verdict.

Kemp was unanimously found guilty of indecent assault and indecency with a child, as well as seven other sexual offences by a majority verdict.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

‘White witches’ guilty of ritualistic sex abuse on children as young as three in Cornish witches’ coven

By Hugo Gye

Two pagans were today convicted of abusing children in bizarre sex rituals as part of a witches’ coven.

Peter Petrauske and Jack Kemp were said to have worn ceremonial robes and pagan paraphernalia while they abused young girls in Cornwall during the 1970s.

Police believe one of their victims may have been as young as three when the abuse started.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WSAU

MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – A bankruptcy judge has thrown out two damage claims from those saying they were molested by priests in the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese.

Judge Susan Kelley said one claim failed to prove that the church defrauded the victim – and the other victim had a reason to suspect fraud a number of years earlier, but did not act on it.

The 10 county Milwaukee Archdiocese filed bankruptcy almost two years ago because of the settlements it’s still facing in the priest sex abuse scandal. Over 570 people have claimed they were molested by Milwaukee area priests – and they’re the largest group of creditors, as they seek compensation for their ordeals.

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CHILE
Terra

La presidencia de la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago informó que el ministro Juan Manuel Muñoz Pardo será el instructor de la medida prejudicial precautoria que interpusieron contra el Arzobispado de Santiago los tres querellantes contra el sacerdote Fernando Karadima.

El ministro Muñoz fue elegido por el Presidente Sebastian Piñera para integrar la Corte Suprema, luego de una quina propuesta por el mismo Pleno del máximo tribunal del país.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Christopher Brauchlie

Get thee to a nunnery. — Shakespeare’s Hamlet

The Lord works in mysterious ways. So does the Catholic Church and it is probably as confusing for the nuns as it is for the casual observer. On the one hand, nuns are in bad odor in the Vatican and are being investigated by a bunch of men. On the other hand, the Vatican seems to view them as correctional institutions when such institutions are needed. Although the events described occurred some time ago, the conviction of Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on one misdemeanor count and the resulting schism in the diocese brings it to mind again.

In April the Vatican began cracking down on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing about 80 percent of the nuns in the United States. The Vatican’s “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an organization comprising only men, said that LCWR has focused its efforts on serving the poor and disenfranchised, while remaining virtually silent on issues the church considers great societal evils: abortion and same-sex marriage.” One of the leaders of the move to investigate the LCWR was Cardinal Bernard Law who had actually spent some time with one group of nuns known as the Sisters of Mercy of Alma following his resignation in disgrace as Archbishop of Boston.

Cardinal Law was Archbishop of Boston from 1984 to 2002 during which time many priests engaged in inappropriate conduct with children. The archbishop was aware of many instances of the conduct and said that when a priest was accused of a sexual offense it was his practice to consult with psychiatrists, clinicians and therapists in residential treatment centers to determine whether the priests accused of sexually abusing children should return to the pulpit. Reporting the criminal conduct of priests to the civil authorities was not something that occurred to Archbishop Law. In reporting on the sex abuse scandal the Massachusetts attorney general said that “the Archdiocese has shown an institutional reluctance to adequately address the problem and, in fact, made choices that allowed the abuse to continue.” The Attorney General observed that since priests were not required to report sexual abuse until 2002 (when the law that required reporting was enacted), Cardinal Law had broken no laws.

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ITALY
iafrica

Fri, 14 Dec 2012

A Sicilian priest stunned his congregation by announcing during a mass that he would soon be a father and was quitting to marry his partner, Italian media reported Friday.

“It’s my last mass. I am in love with a woman and in a few months I will be a father,” Vito Lombardo (33) told his flock in the city of Trapani in northwestern Sicily, local newspapers said.

The relationship had been going on for a while, but the priest waited until his partner was five months pregnant before announcing his departure, the reports said.

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CANADA
Times Colonist

Louise Dickson , Times Colonist December 14, 2012

A third complainant testified Thursday at Father Phil Jacobs’ sexual offence trial, describing how the priest touched him during tutoring sessions on the couch in his living room.

Jacobs, 63, who was parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker in Saanich from 1997 to 2002, is charged with 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.

The young man, whose identity is protected by a court order, was involved in the parish and became good friends with the priest. He recalled going to movie nights at the rectory, where Jacobs horsed around and tickled him and other boys.

The witness also testified that he had no concerns when Jacobs became his science tutor in Grade 8 or 9. At first, they sat at the dining room table for the lessons. Then Jacobs suggested it would be more comfortable if they sat on the couch.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Brendan J. Lyons

Published 7:59 pm, Thursday, December 13, 2012

TROY — Federal and state investigators are examining the circumstances under which a former state assemblyman from Brooklyn, William F. Boyland Sr., was put on the payroll of a sprawling nonprofit organization founded by Albany’s Father Peter Young after Boyland, succeeded by his son, arranged a series of state grants for the organization.

The grants, called member items, totaled at least $1.2 million over four years beginning in 2006.

Details began to emerge Thursday about that and other allegations behind Wednesday’s raid of the offices of the Altamont Program, the parent organization for Father Young’s network of services. The wide-ranging investigation became public when the state attorney general’s office and FBI used search warrants to seize records from three Capital Region offices used the Albany-based organization, which runs more than 100 facilities for homeless, former convicts and people with addiction problems.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on December 13, 2012

Catholic officials admit that more than 6,000 US priests are proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesters. Yet no US bishop has ever been punished by the church hierarchy because of the abuse crisis – no matter how extensive, egregious or recent his wrongdoing may have been. None.

And only one US bishop has ever stepped down because of his role in covering up heinous child sex crimes.

Ten years ago, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as the highest ranking Catholic official in the Boston archdiocese. More than 20 current and former US bishops have been accused of molesting kids. And nearly every bishop in recent years has been accused of – or proven to have – ignored, concealed, minimized or enabled clergy child sex crimes or cover ups.

Only Law, however, has resigned.

Still, for almost a decade, he remained an extraordinarily powerful figure, living and working in the literal and figurative power center of Catholicism. He was on six or eight important Vatican committees, including the one that recommended candidates for bishops across the globe. And he helped pick Pope Benedict.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

The former administrator of Newry Cathedral has been convicted of indecently assaulting a teenage girl.

Father Terrence Rafferty, who was the parish priest of Donaghmore, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on Monday.

The details of the case were only released on Thursday after a court ban protecting the priest’s identity was lifted.

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NEW YORK
New York Magazine

By Joe Coscarelli

A new investigation by the Jewish Daily Forward unearths upsetting sexual abuse allegations by former students at the Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan at the hands of two faculty members decades ago, as well as a disturbing lack of action on the part of the school. According to men who attended the 116-year-old institution in the late seventies and early eighties, former teacher Rabbi Macy Gordon and and former principal Rabbi George Finkelstein repeatedly engaged in inappropriate conduct with young boys, including wrestling with sexual undertones and, in one case, alleged sodomy with a toothbrush.

Current president Richard Joel told the Forward in a statement that the school is “looking with concern into the questions” raised by the article, but the school’s leadership at the time of the alleged abuses had a far more accepting attitude of the charges. Norman Lamm, president of the school from 1976 to 2003 and now its chancellor, said although he knew about the allegations, police were never notified. “My question was not whether to report to police but to ask the person to leave the job,” he said. “This was before things of this sort had attained a certain notoriety. There was a great deal of confusion.”

The charges, and their bungled handling in the days before Penn State and abuse by the Catholic Church, mirror those that surfaced earlier this year at New York City’s hallowed Horace Mann school.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger

Published December 13, 2012.

Yeshiva University President Richard Joel has issued a statement of apology in response to a Forward story describing how Y.U. failed to report claims of child abuse made against staff members during the 1970s and ‘80s. Joel’s statement, released this morning, offered victims who were allegedly abused by members of YU’s faculty and administration “my deepest, most profound apology.”

The Forward investigation into allegations that two staff members at a Manhattan boys high school run by Y.U. sexually abused students led to a startling admission by the university’s chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm: The school dealt with allegations of “improper sexual activity” against staff members by quietly allowing them to leave and find jobs elsewhere.

For years, former students have asked Y.U. to investigate their claims that a former principal at Yeshiva University High School for Boys, in Manhattan, Rabbi George Finkelstein had repeatedly abused students in the all-male high school. Another former high school student said Y.U. covered up for a staff member, Rabbi Macy Gordon, who sodomized him.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

[ Student Claims of Abuse Not Reported by Yeshiva U. ]

By Forward Staff

Published December 13, 2012.

The Rabbinical Council of America said it is “deeply troubled” over the allegations of sexual abuse at the Manhattan campus of the Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys that was revealed by the Forward.

The Modern Orthodox group said it was particularly disturbed by the allegations that occured at the flagship educational organization of the denomination, which it said “cannot be condoned or excused.”

“It is especially hard to confront improprieties which may have occurred in our own house, yet that is where the responsibility lies,” said Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the RCA. ” We are confident that Yeshiva is equal to the task.”

The statement said the group “commends” Yeshiva President Richard M. Joel for his response to the allegations. It made no mention of Norman Lamm, the Yeshiva chancellor.

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NEW YORK
WNYC

[with audio]

Thursday, December 13, 2012

By WNYC Newsroom

In recent months, allegations of sexual abuse by faculty or staff have emerged from Penn State to Horace Mann. And another local institution is dealing with these charges: Yeshiva University.

An investigation by the Jewish Daily Forward has uncovered allegations that two staff members at the Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Northern Manhattan, sexually abused students during the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

The report says several boys during this time period went to leaders of the school and reported the abuse, and the university kept the staff members on.

“And when they finally did get rid of [the staff members], they didn’t report them to the police. They just allowed them to quietly leave,” Berger told WNYC’s Amy Eddings.

The school’s chancellor, Dr. Norman Lamm, who was President from 1976-2003, told Berger that he knew about some of the allegations and chose to deal with them privately.

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NEW YORK
Yeshiva University

Dear Yeshiva University Community,

The safety and well-being of our students is Yeshiva University’s highest priority. The inappropriate behavior and abuse alleged by The Forward to have taken place in the past, and described in statements attributed by The Forward to Dr. Lamm, are reprehensible. The actions described represent heinous and inexcusable acts that are antithetical both to Torah values and to everything that Yeshiva University stands for. They have no place here, in our community, or anywhere at all. The thought that such behavior could have occurred at our boys’ high school, or anywhere at this institution, at any time in its past, is more than sufficient reason to express on behalf of the University, my deepest, most profound apology.

At this institution we continually review and strengthen policies and practices addressing the safety of all members of the Yeshiva family. We are vigilant and responsible, and always will be. While we cannot change the past, I can say with absolute certainty that Yeshiva University has implemented, and will continue to maintain and enforce the policies and procedures necessary to assure a safe environment. Such policies and procedures, established in consultation with outside experts, include:

•At each and every one of YU’s schools, including Yeshiva University High School for Boys, there is zero tolerance for abuse or sexual harassment of any sort, of students, faculty or staff. If, despite our best efforts, they should occur, procedures exist both to swiftly deal with the perpetrators and aid the victims. These policies are posted on our website and are communicated directly to all employees annually.

•Members of our own faculty and staff, at every level, undergo training designed to increase sensitivity to these issues, including mandatory training for new hires concerning sexual harassment.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Reuven Blau AND Rachel Monahan / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, December 13, 2012

THE PRESIDENT of Yeshiva University apologized Thursday over allegations two rabbis at the college’s high school campus abused boys in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

Yeshiva was repeatedly notified that a Talmud teacher, Rabbi Macy Gordon, and a former principal, Rabbi George Finkelstein, abused students, alums of the High School for Boys told the Jewish newspaper the Forward.

University President Richard Joel stopped short of confirming the allegations but called the abuse described in published reports “heinous and inexcusable.”

“The thought that such behavior could have occurred at our boys’ high school, or anywhere at this institution, at any time in its past, is more than sufficient reason to express on behalf of the University, my deepest, most profound apology,” he wrote in a letter posted on the Yeshiva website.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Edited By Jane Eisner and Larry Cohler-Esses

Published December 13, 2012, issue of December 21, 2012.

A Forward investigation into allegations that two staff members at Yeshiva University High School for Boys’ Manhattan campus sexually abused students during the late 1970s and early ’80s has led to a startling admission by the university’s chancellor: The school dealt with allegations of “improper sexual activity” against staff members by quietly allowing them to leave and find jobs elsewhere.

For years, former students have asked Y.U., the premier educational institution of Modern Orthodox Judaism, to investigate their claims that a former principal had repeatedly abused students in the all-male high school that is part of the university. Another former high school student said Y.U. covered up for a staff member who sodomized him.

Y.U. President Richard Joel said in a statement issued on December 3 that the school was “looking with concern into the questions” the Forward had raised.

But Norman Lamm, who was president of Y.U. from 1976 to 2003 and is now chancellor, indicated in an interview December 7 that he knew about some of the allegations and chose to deal with them privately. In one case, a suspected abuser of high school students was allowed to leave for a position as dean of a Florida school.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By VIVIAN YEE

Published: December 13, 2012

A tall, imposing rabbi with a black goatee who served as assistant principal and principal during his 27 years at Yeshiva University High School for Boys, George B. Finkelstein was the face of authority to Mordechai Twersky, who graduated in 1981.

So when Rabbi Finkelstein asked Mr. Twersky to “hit him hard” during a meeting in his office in 1980, Mr. Twersky said in an interview on Thursday, he was mortified. When Mr. Twersky refused, the rabbi knocked him to the ground and sat on him, goading him to wrestle. He could feel the rabbi’s erection, Mr. Twersky, now 48, said.

Mr. Twersky’s account was published Thursday on the Web site of The Jewish Daily Forward, which also reported that another former student said that in the same year, when he was 16, the Talmud teacher, Rabbi Macy Gordon, visited him in his dormitory room. Rabbi Gordon inspected his genitalia, the student told The Forward. Then he sodomized him with a toothbrush.

Both rabbis have denied engaging in any inappropriate sexual behavior.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER — A Church of the End Times founder charged with resisting arrest and violating a restraining order opted not take a sentence a judge was set to impose as part of a plea agreement in Central District Court yesterday.

Dennis H. Stanley, 36, who last known address is listed as 41 Murphy’s Way, Uxbridge, did not want to accept Judge Paul F. LoConto’s sentence of 90 days in jail for the resisting arrest charge. The sentence would have included one year of probation for violation of a restraining order charges.

Mr. Stanley, a founder of the Church of the End Times in Uxbridge, has been held without bail for more than 40 days since allegedly violating a restraining order filed by his wife, Beth Ellen Stanley, in October. Mr. Stanley was looking for some type of suspended sentence with probation.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
News and Tribune

By GARY POPP gary.popp@newsandtribune.com

LOUISVILLE — The pastor of at a New Albany church is in jail after being charged with multiple counts of sodomy on a child.

The Rev. Isrom Johnson, 32, pastor at Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church, 725 Linden Ave., was arrested by Louisville Metro Police about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of South Third St. He has been charged in a Jefferson County Circuit Court with three counts sodomy in the second degree. The offenses took place between March 2009 and March 2011, according to court documents.

Johnson, a Louisville resident, is the primary contact on the church’s website, which includes contact information to schedule him for speaking engagements. Johnson’s arrest follows a Jefferson County Grand Jury indictment.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
WHAS

by Adam Walser
WHAS11.com

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WHAS11) — The pastor of a New Albany Church is in trouble in Louisville.

“There are questions all over the place, all over the body of the church,” Pastor Isrom Johnson said in videotaped sermon posted on his church’s website.

There are now plenty of questions surrounding the 33-year-old charismatic preacher, who regularly fills the pews of the Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church in New Albany.

“They come by wanting to know if they can help you cook dinner or wash your dishes, rake the yard. I mean, they are just excellent people,” Steve Fore said of the members of the church, which is located two doors from his home.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

Written by
Mark Vanderhoff
The Courier-Journal

A New Albany, Ind., pastor was arrested at his Louisville home Wednesday night on child molestation charges.

Isrom Perry-Johnson, 33, of the 500 block of South Third Street, is charged with three counts of second-degree sodomy.

Officer Carey Klain, a spokeswoman for Louisville Metro Police, said the second-degree charge means the incident involved a victim 14 or younger. Perry-Johnson was indicted after the victim came forward recently with information about an incident in 2010, she said.

Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said the department would not disclose the victim’s gender.

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TENNESSEE
The Tennessean

Written by
Bob Smietana
The Tennessean

A judge has dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit filed against Bishop Joseph Walker III of Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

Former church member Valencia Batson had sued Walker, Mt. Zion and several other ministers earlier this year for alleged sexual abuse.

Church leaders have called the allegations ridiculous in the past.

Walker’s attorneys argued that the statute of limitations had passed for most of Batson’s claims and that some of the other claims in the suit were improperly filed.

Court documents show that the last time Walker and Batson had physical or verbal contact was in January 2005. Any claim of sexual abuse had a one-year statute of limitations.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

December 15, 2012

Barney Zwartz

FOR the first time, a Catholic spokesman has acknowledged that the church in Australia covered up sex abuse, according to a reform group of Catholics.

The group praised Francis Sullivan, CEO of the yet-to-be-formed Catholic Truth, Justice and Healing Commission, for admitting to the media this week that he was personally scandalised and disillusioned by the church’s history of cover-ups.

Peter Johnstone, chairman of Catholics for Renewal, said on Friday the church had previously acknowledged that it had mishandled abuse cases, but not cover-ups. He welcomed this week’s announcement of the lay-led Catholic council to advise the bishops about sex abuse and co-ordinate the church’s response to the forthcoming royal commission.

Mr Sullivan, who called himself a committed Catholic, said on Friday he shared the perception cover-ups were widespread in the church. ”Like ordinary Catholics, I feel very disillusioned at how this whole thing has been portrayed, and the scandal involves cover-ups.”

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
WAVE

[with video]

By Scott Adkins

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – A New Albany pastor is charged with sex crimes against a boy in Jefferson County. Court records revealed the Louisville man is accused of abusing the child between 2009 and 2011.

Isrom Johnson, 33, is faced with three counts of second degree sodomy, Class C felonies.

Johnson is the pastor at Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church in New Albany. Detectives claim the abuse happened in Jefferson County with a boy younger than 14. LMPD’s Special Victims Unit arrested him during a warrant round-up.

“Apparently they were in the 500 block of South 3rd and they were able to make the arrest,” Officer Carey Klain.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun December 13, 2012

A B.C. woman filed a civil suit Thursday in Vancouver seeking damages for alleged sexual abuse by a priest when she was a teenager in the 1980s.

Both the priest, Lawrence Dean Cooper, also known as Father Damian, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver are named in the notice of claim.

The Vancouver archdiocese does not dispute the woman’s general claims, and said Thursday the church “regrets how she was drawn into a sexual relationship with the priest.”

Vancouver archdiocese spokesman Paul Schratz said Cooper was “removed from the ministry” after the woman disclosed the abuse in 1994. Schratz said this meant he was not able to work as a priest anywhere in the world. However, Schratz said, Cooper went on to work for years as an associate pastor at the New York Diocese of Rockville Centre.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nonee Walsh

The Catholic Church says an independent report about its handling of sexual abuse allegations against a priest who worked in two dioceses, including Armidale, will be made public as soon as possible.

The report, by former Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam, addresses the Church’s management of a former priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The document has just been received by the Bishops of Armidale and Parramatta, and has been handed to police investigators.

The inquiry was announced after a Four Corners story alleging the priest abused altar boys in the 1980s.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director

CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Today, Archbishop Jerome Listecki delivered in Federal Court a tragic “Christmas gift” to victims of childhood rape and sexual assault by clergy. The archdiocese attempted to have thrown out of bankruptcy court, in principle, nearly all of the 600 cases filed by victims/survivors. So far, fortunately, they have failed.

Once again lawyers representing the archdiocese went before Judge Susan Kelley arguing that legal technicalities around the fraud statute should prevent victims/survivors from seeking restitution. It was unclear what was new in these arguments, Kelley having ruled in favor of victim’s use of the Wisconsin fraud statute earlier this year She declined to issue a ruling today on the major cases under review, instead ruling on two minor cases. She is expected to issue a further ruling at a later date.

Two years ago, the archbishop made a public and solemn promise to “all” victims that he would personally guarantee restitution through the bankruptcy process. He did not say “some” victims or “a few” victims. He said “all” victims and that “all victims will be treated equitably.”

Today, the archbishop sadly broke his promise to victims, and by moral extension, to every Catholic.

What is truly disturbing is that the archbishop did not come down to Federal Court himself and personally today and stand in front of victims and their families and tell them why the archdiocese wants every one of their cases tossed. In fact, the archbishop has never once been to court.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

Robert Mickens – 15 December 2012

The Pope has promoted his personal secretary to archbishop and put him in charge of the Papal Household. Here, our Rome correspondent profiles Mgr Georg Gänswein and traces his route from Germany to Benedict’s right hand

He’s been called Gorgeous George, il Bel Giorgio and even the Black Forest Adonis. And ever since making his world debut in the spring of 2005 as the 48-year-old personal secretary of the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, Mgr Georg Gänswein has been one of the most talked about personalities at the Vatican.

Never in recent memory has a papal aide been such an obsession for tabloid writers, and adoring women. His fans have even erected several websites on the internet, mythologising the Pope’s strikingly handsome secretary as a former ski instructor, tennis player and helicopter pilot.

Currently aged 56 and with grey creeping through his sandy-coloured hair, he is still a youthful and attractive figure compared to the old men with fleshy jowls and balding heads who are more commonly associated with the Roman Curia. And now his admirers have something much more substantial to celebrate in the dashing German monsignor than merely his enduring good looks and proximity to the papal throne. Last week, Pope Benedict announced that he was making his personal assistant the prefect of the Papal Household and was elevating him to the senior rank of archbishop.

It was a surprising move that undoubtedly delighted Don Georg’s friends and fans, but one that also left many others – especially some inside the Vatican – perplexed and ­troubled. “The naming of Gänswein as prefect and archbishop is a scandal,” complained one church official. “The Renaissance papacy lives,” he said, clearly accusing the Pope of promoting favourites.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El sacerdote John O’Reilly afirmó que su inocencia es la verdad en el caso que lo acusa de abuso sexual contra una alumna del Colegio Cumbres, tras finalizar su declaración ante tribunales.

Este jueves el ex capellán del establecimiento que pertenece a la congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo fue recibido en el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago para hacer sus descargos ante la imputación de delitos de connotación sexual contra una niña de seis años.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El abogado querellante en el caso contra el sacerdote John O’Reilly, José Ignacio Escobar, fustigó que aun no exista una investigación canónica ante las denuncias de actos de connotación sexual de parte de dos estudiantes del colegio Cumbres, luego que el religioso prestara declaración este jueves en el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago.

El jurista además hizo alusión a la relación del ex capellán del establecimiento escolar con el líder de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, a quien se le retiró su ministerio sacerdotal acusado de múltiples abusos sexuales, señalando que los 10 años que compartió y trabajó con el religioso mexicano son relevantes en el caso.

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CHILE
La Nacion

El estado laico chileno se impuso en la audiencia en que el cura John O’Reilly prestó declaración voluntaria en la investigación que se le sigue por el supuesto abuso sexual en perjuicio de una menor de 6 años del Colegio Cumbres Femenino de Las Condes.

En la audiencia que se realizó este jueves en el 4° Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago, el religioso imputado se hizo la víctima porque no ha sido citado a declarar por la Fiscalía Oriente y trató de aplicar conceptos religiosos al delito que se le imputa en esta investigación desformalizada.

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

By STEPHEN JEFFERY
Dec. 14, 2012

A FORMER federal court judge has completed a report into the Catholic Church’s handling of child sexual abuse allegations leveled at a former priest in the Armidale and Parramatta dioceses.

Antony Whitlam QC was appointed to an independent inquiry by Bishop of Armidale Michael Kennedy and Bishop of Parramatta Anthony Fisher in July after several people publicly claimed they had been sexually abused as children by the former priest in the 1980s.

It was also alleged the priest confessed to sexually abusing children during a meeting with senior members of the clergy in 1992. The information was not passed on to police.

The report, commissioned by former federal court judge Antony Whitlam QC, has been received by the bishops and handed in confidence to NSW Police.

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INDIANA
Courier & Press

By The Associated Press
Posted December 13, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS — A top state attorney defended Indiana’s punitive damages law Thursday against claims that it renders trials meaningless by forcing judges to reduce awards in lawsuits without telling jurors.

Solicitor General Thomas Fisher asked the Indiana Supreme Court to overturn a Marion County judge’s decision that found the law treads on judicial independence and violates the right to trial by jury guaranteed in the state constitution.

The judge refused to reduce a $150,000 punitive damages award to a man who claimed his uncle, a Roman Catholic priest, sexually abused him when he was 17. The judge had told jurors they could consider the priest’s “reprehensible conduct” when they decided on damages.

Under Indiana law, juries in civil cases can award punitive damages of up to three times the amount of compensatory damages they decide on, but there is a $50,000 cap. The state gets a three-quarter share, which goes to a fund that helps victims of violent crime.

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UNITED STATES
The Beacon-News

Lawyers and clergy sex abuse victims are expected to hold multiple press conferences Thursday afternoon — including one in Aurora — announcing a civil child sex abuse lawsuit against the CEO of Moose International, the fraternal organization that funds Mooseheart Child City and Schools.

Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support and advocacy group, also are expected to hand-deliver a letter to the organization’s headquarters at Mooseheart urging that the accused, CEO William B. Airey, be suspended.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

Jason A. Kahl
Reading Eagle

A pastor at Spring Valley Church of God in Muhlenberg Township was charged Tuesday with sexually harassing and stalking a 21-year-old female parishioner, authorities said.

Aron Andonie, 47, who has been the pastor of Spring Valley’s Romanian congregation since 2004, was charged by Cumru Township police with harassment, lewd communication and stalking. Police said the offenses occurred between April and November while the victim worked at a business in Cumru.

According to court documents:

Andonie of the 1800 block of Hancock Boulevard, Kenhorst, called the woman at her office shortly after she was hired and told her she was “a hot girl.”

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