ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, (VIS) – The Holy Father appointed:

– Msgr. David P. Talley of the clergy of Atlanta, U.S.A, as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese (area 55,521, population 6,998,399, Catholics 857,000, priests 228, permanent deacons 242, religious 125), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Columbus, U.S.A. in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1989. He has a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral roles. He was named prelate of honour by his Holiness in 2000.

– Appointed Msgr. Stephen Jensen, vicar general of Vancouver, Canada, as bishop of Prince George (area 345,600, population 249,000, Catholics 54,600, priests 18, religious 23), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in North Vancouver, Canada in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1980. He was named prelate of honour in 1996 and since 2009 has been vicar general, dean of the Presbyteral Council and diocesan consultor for the archdiocese. He succeeds Bishop Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

A PAEDOPHILE priest who abused dozens of children has written to the Record whining about his own “pain” and “hardship”.

Pervert Bill Carney wants us to apologise for writing about him, but his self-serving letter contains no hint of an apology to any of his victims.

Instead, he claims he is no threat to kids – and blames his crimes on alcohol.

We exposed Carney in 2009 after he fled his native Ireland and opened a family-friendly guest house in St Andrews.

And last November, we revealed he had mingled with families with children on a luxury Mediterranean cruise.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

Joe Mandak, Associated Press

Posted: Thursday, January 3, 2013

PITTSBURGH – A suspended Catholic priest expressed remorse to everyone but the young boys depicted in pornography Wednesday before he was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for collecting more than 5,000 images of child porn on his computer, in books and on compact discs.

The sentence that the Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 63, received was more than the five-year mandatory minimum sentence he sought but less than the 10-year maximum he faced.

“I served the diocese for 35 years. Along the way I betrayed that priesthood, I betrayed the bishop and the other priests in the diocese,” Sorensen told the judge who sentenced him before also apologizing for shaming his friends, family members, and former parishioners.

But Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch addressed those who did not get an apology when he rejected the priest’s request for leniency and said, “Viewing child pornography is not a victimless crime.”

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CANADA
La Presse

Deux prêtres catholiques du Nouveau-Brunswick n’ont désormais plus le droit d’oeuvrer dans quelque paroisse que ce soit, à la suite d’allégations d’agressions sexuelles impliquant des enfants.

Le diocèse de Moncton a annoncé avoir pris sa décision après avoir été mis au fait des allégations lors d’un processus de réconciliation et de compensations financières pour les victimes alléguées d’agressions sexuelles au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Le diocèse mentionne sur son site Internet que le curé Yvon Arsenault a perdu son ministère le 4 juillet dernier – il y a six mois -, tout comme le père Irois Després, qui avait pris sa retraite en 1992.

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

MONCTON, N.B. – Two Roman Catholic priests in New Brunswick have been removed from working for any ministry following allegations of sexual abuse involving children.

The Archdiocese of Moncton says it made the decision after it became aware of the accusations during a reconciliation and compensation process for alleged victims of sexual abuse.

The archdiocese says on its website that Rev. Yvon Arsenault was removed from the ministry on July 4, 2012, as was Rev. Irois Despres, who has been retired since 1992.

The archdiocese, which made the announcement on the weekend, did not say why it took six months to inform the public of its decision nor whether it has referred the matter to police.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Queens lawmaker Margaret Markey says Poly Prep sex abuse scandal should lead to elimination of statute of limitations for victims

By Michael O’Keeffe / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New York state assemblywoman Margaret Markey has introduced legislation since 2006 that would permit victims of childhood sexual abuse to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits until their 28th birthday.

But the Queens Democrat said the Poly Prep Country Day School lawsuit and other sex abuse scandals have pushed her to call for a complete end to the criminal and civil statute of limitations when she introduces the Child Victims Act later this month.

“As this case demonstrates, adding a few extra years to current law is not enough,” Markey said of the Poly Prep scandal.

As the Daily News first reported last week, the attorney who represented the 12 men who last week settled the explosive lawsuit which accused Poly Prep administrators of covering up decades of sexual abuse by longtime football coach Phil Foglietta said he welcomes the change in the legislation.

“I think the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims is one of the most absurd and asinine statutes on the books in New York state,” Orangeburg lawyer Kevin Mulhearn said. “It does not reflect the reality that for many survivors of sexual abuse, it takes decades to realize the extent of the damage they have suffered.”

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OREGON
KVAL

EUGENE, Ore. — A Portland man filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the United Methodist Church, claiming that he was raped by a Eugene pastor in the 1980s.

A Portland firm filed the case against the First United Methodist Church of Eugene on Wednesday, issuing a press release on behalf of the man.

The firm alleges that nearly 28 years ago the now-deceased Pastor William Walker sexually abused the plaintiff, who was 11 years old at the time.

Walker passed away in 1992 from complications related to AIDS. At the time of his death several other men in their late teens and 20s came forward saying that they had sex with the pastor.

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OCEAN CITY (MD)
WBOC

By Kye Parsons

OCEAN CITY, Md.- Ocean City police have filed charges against a former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a child in the resort town more than 30 years ago.

Bruno Michael Tucci, 70, of Salisbury, was arrested in December and charged with fourth-degree sex offense and child abuse: custodian.

According to police, Tucci’s arrest stemmed from an incident that occurred in August of 1981. Investigators said Tucci brought a child to an Ocean City motel room where the alleged illegal sexual acts occurred.

Police ask that anyone with information about Tucci, a former priest in Allentown, Pa., from 1971 until 2007, to contact Detective Brett L. Case at (410) 723-6632.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Review

The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has announced a credible complaint of sexual abuse of a minor involving the late Father Walter G. Craig.Born in 1899, Father Craig was ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1923 and served here until the 1950s. In 1956, the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was established, and he continued to serve there.

The allegation of abuse occurred in the mid-1960s.

Father Craig served at Our Lady of Lourdes in St. Louis (1923), St. Ambrose in Chaffee, Mo. (1936), St. Matthew Parish in St. Louis (1948), Immaculate Conception Parish in New Madrid, Mo. (1954), Immaculate Conception in Jackson, Mo. (1967) and St. Lawrence in New Hamburg, Mo. (1969). He died in 1971.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Manuel Gamiz Jr., Of The Morning Call
10:20 p.m. EST, January 2, 2013

A former priest with the Allentown Catholic Diocese removed from active ministry in 2002 amid sex-abuse allegations has been charged in Maryland with sexually assaulting a boy at the shore in 1981, authorities said.

Bruno M. Tucci, former pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Nesquehoning, faces two counts in Ocean City, one for committing a sexual assault and the other for child abuse by a custodial person, police said.

Tucci, 70, faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 16 in Worcester County district court.

He was among numerous priests investigated in 2002 by prosecutors in the five counties that make up the Allentown Diocese, diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said. The district attorneys concluded none of the priests could be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Archdiocese of Moncton is facing criticism by an Ontario lawyer for its recent announcement of two priests being removed from ministry based on allegations of sexual abuse of children.

The archdiocese informed parishioners during mass last weekend that Father Yvon Arsenault, who was removed in July, and Father Irois Després, who retired in 1992, have been removed “from any ministry whatsoever following allegations of serious sexual abuse on minors.”

Retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache — who was hired by the archdiocese in June to handle a conciliation process for the victims of another priest in Cap-Pelé — brought the latest allegations to the archdiocese’s attention, according to a Dec. 30 statement posted on its website.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By THOMAS MCILROY
Jan. 3, 2013

FAMILIES impacted by sexual abuse in the Ballarat region have begun a moving project to remember loved ones who have died.

A new photo series featuring relatives with images or mementos of their loved ones will be presented to the Victorian inquiry into institutional sexual abuse when it returns for public hearings in Ballarat next month.

Organiser and abuse victim Peter Blenkiron recruited Ballarat photographer Craig Holloway to take the photos at locations around the Ballarat region.

Participant Helen Watson said the project would help support family members, including those involved in a group submission to the inquiry, and help remember those who had taken their own lives or died prematurely.

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OREGON
The Register-Guard

By Greg Bolt
The Register-Guard

Published: Wednesday, Jan 2, 2013

A one-time Eugene man is suing the Methodist Church for $4.5 million over allegations that he was sexually abused as a youth by a Eugene pastor who later died from AIDS.

The suit, filed today in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleges that former Pastor William Walker of First United Methodist Church sexually assaulted the unnamed victim when he was about 11 years old and his family attended the Eugene church. It claims the abuse caused extreme physical and psychological damage, the effects of which continue to haunt the man, who is now in his late 30s.

A spokesman for the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church, which is based in Portland and is named as the defendant in the suit, said today that the church has not yet been served with a copy of the suit and cannot yet comment on it.

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OREGON
KLCC

January 2, 2013
By Rachael McDonald

EUGENE, Ore.– A Portland man is suing the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for sexual abuse he claims he suffered at the hands of a now-deceased Eugene pastor.

William Walker was pastor at First United Methodist Church in the 1980s. He died in 1992 from complications related to AIDS. A Register Guard newspaper article from the time says he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1989 but kept it a secret. The plaintiff, Jack Doe, claims Walker raped and sexually abused him 28 years ago when he was 11. Gilion Dumas is Doe’s attorney. She says she believes there are others who were sexually abused by Walker.

Dumas: “We want them to know that if they do come forward with either information about Pastor Walker or information about their own experiences with Pastor Walker that they will be listened to and treated with respect because its very important that the whole story comes out.”

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PORTLAND (OR)
KEZI

by KEZI Staff

Published January 2, 2013.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland man is suing a church group for sexual abuse he says he repeatedly suffered as a child by a now-deceased Eugene pastor.

Jack Doe filed a lawsuit against the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, the group that operates the First United Methodist Church in Eugene.

Doe says Pastor William Walker abused him when he was 11 years old at the church and Camp Magruder, a Methodist church camp.

According to the O’Donnell Clark & Crew LLP law firm, which filed the case Wednesday, it is likely that there are witnesses that have more information regarding this case.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Krautkremer was accused in 1983 of sexually abusing a 10 year-old altar boy in 1977 at a Wisconsin lake cabin. The boy and his parents said they were told by St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocesan officials that Krautkremer would never again work around children. He was subsequently transferred to a parish that had an elementary school. Bishop Carlson stated in 1983 that Krautkremer admitted to “a sexual relationship” with two boys twelve years previously. Krautkremer was a hospital chaplain from 1989 until he was removed from active ministry in April 2002. He is last known to be living in north Minneapolis.

Ordained: 1966
Incardinated: St. Paul-Minneapolis

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Federal Bureau of Investigation

U.S. Attorney’s Office
January 02, 2013 Western District of Pennsylvania
(412) 644-3500

PITTSBURGH—A suspended Catholic priest was sentenced in federal court for violating federal child sexual exploitation laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Bartley Sorensen, 63, was sentenced by United States District Judge Alan N. Bloch to serve 97 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for receiving and possessing thousands of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Sorensen was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.

On December 9, 2011, Sorensen was a Catholic priest assigned to Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill, Pennsylvania. On that day, a parish employee observed Sorensen viewing an image on the screen of his computer of a young boy wearing nothing but a shirt. The employee promptly reported what she observed to the Catholic Child Abuse Hotline. Search warrants were thereafter served at the rectory that resulted in the seizure of, among other things, over 100 CDs, most of which were loaded with thousands of images of children being sexually abused, including one that depicted a nude male child with a rope around his genitals and what appeared to be blood on his genitals.

Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, the Allegheny County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Churchill Police Department for the successful investigation leading to the conviction and sentence in this case.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 02, 2013

Pennsylvania politicians who want the entire Penn State fine to be spent in Pennsylvania are being greedy. And anyone who wants to overturn the fine entirely is being short-sighted.

We suspect that Gov. Corbett is posturing to curry favor with Penn State staff and alums. At best, his lawsuit is frivolous. At worst, it threatens to delay or derail millions of dollars that would otherwise be devoted to protecting children.

At one level, Corbett sounds like a parochial member of Congress who just wants to “bring home the bacon” to his constituents. At another level, Corbett sounds like a misguided Penn State booster who can’t recognized that Jerry Sandusky essentially had the help of university staff in keeping his heinous child sex crimes secret.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

[map – alleged incidents in Wisconsin]

By Raquel Rutledge of the Journal Sentinel

Twenty more names have been added to the list of Boy Scout leaders and volunteers accused of sexually assaulting children in Wisconsin over the last several decades. The newest additions, published by the Los Angeles Times last week, involve mostly cases from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Included in the group: a 6-foot 5-inch, 300-plus-pound man known as “Bigfoot,” accused of molesting boys at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis in the early 1970s.

Thomas “Bigfoot” Tannehill, who himself was deaf, was never criminally charged in Wisconsin in the 1970s when he was a dorm supervisor at the school or in the 1980s when he was an assistant scoutmaster with three units in the Milwaukee County Council.

He was banned from Boy Scouts of America in 1990 after he was convicted of molesting two boys in Indiana at the Indiana State School for the Deaf, where he was also a Scoutmaster, according to records ordered to be released in October by an Oregon court

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Brian Bowling

Published: Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The Rev. Bart Sorensen, formerly of St. John Fisher Church in Churchill, will serve up to eight years and one month in prison for receiving and possessing thousands of pornographic images of young boys.

U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch sentenced Sorensen, 63, on Wednesday. He also must pay a $25,000 fine, spend five years on probation and register as a sex offender.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh removed Sorensen from active ministry and placed him on administrative leave in December 2011.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Haller said that Sorensen admitted to investigators he viewed child pornography for about 10 years. He initially claimed he was only looking at a child porn website because a parishioner was concerned that his daughter was spending a lot of time on the site, but he later admitted no parishioner made such a request, Haller said.

A detective from the Allegheny County District Attorney‘s office arrested Sorensen on state charges in December 2011 after a parish worker spotted the priest looking at an image of a partially clad boy on his computer.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A suspended Pittsburgh priest who was caught with child porn on his computer was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 97 months in prison.

Fr. Bartley Sorensen pleaded guilty in May.

An employee at Saint John Parish in Churchill noticed him looking at an image of a young boy on his computer.

That prompted the police search that turned up thousands of graphic images.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
WTAE

PITTSBURGH —A suspended Pittsburgh-area priest will serve more than eight years in prison for possessing and receiving thousands of images of child pornography on his church computer.

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the Rev. Bartley Sorensen to 97 months behind bars.

The 63-year-old Roman Catholic priest was arrested by Allegheny County authorities in December 2011 after an employee at St. John Fisher Parish in Churchill noticed him looking at a photo of a young boy on his computer.

Federal officials took over the investigation after a computer search turned up thousands of child pornography images, some of them sadomasochistic.

Sorensen pleaded guilty in May.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

January 2, 2013

The Rev. Bartley Sorensen claimed at sentencing today that he meant to be caught with child pornography, and didn’t realize then that collecting such images was a crime.

U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch showed him just how big of an oversight that was, sentencing him to eight years and one month in prison.

Sorensen, 63, who was assigned to St. John Fisher Parish in Churchill several weeks before a parish secretary walked in and saw images on his computer screen, said he “decided not to get rid of what was on the computer” as the employee climbed the stairs to his office. “I knew that my sin had to be known. What I did not know is that it was also a crime.”

Judge Bloch said the priest had “been viewing images of sexually abused children for the last 10 years of his life,” and had a collection of some 5,000 files on 100 computer disks. He said that although Sorensen never touched a child inappropriately, collecting such images is “just as harmful and dangerous to children as if he had been abusing them himself.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI

PITTSBURGH —

A suspended Churchill priest will serve more than eight years in prison for possessing and receiving thousands of images of child pornography on his church computer.

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the Rev. Bartley Sorensen to 97 months behind bars.

The judge also sentenced Sorensen to five years supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.

Sorensen’s attorney, Patrick Thomassey, had contended that Sorensen obtained the images for himself and never molested a child. Thomassey argued in court filings that the mandatory five-year sentence he faces is sufficient.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 02, 2013

A St. Louis priest, Fr. Walter Craig, was ordained 90 years ago. He died more than 40 years ago. Now, he’s been credibly accused of child sex crimes.

Fr. Craig wasn’t recruited, ordained, supervised, trained, transferred or shielded by Archbishop Robert Carlson. In fact, Carlson probably never met him (since Carlson was ordained a priest in 1970 in another state).

Since so much time has passed, anyone else who may have been hurt by Fr. Craig surely has no chance to file a lawsuit.

So it should be easy for Carlson to do the right thing here: reach out to others who may be struggling because they were assaulted in childhood by Fr. Craig.

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ESPANA
El Mundo

Iker Rioja Andueza | Bilbao

Actualizado domingo 30/12/2012

Un antiguo alumno del colegio Gaztelueta de Leioa (Bizkaia), el que más años lleva abierto de los alrededor de 90 que la institución católica Opus Dei tiene por toda España, ha declarado haber sido víctima de abusos sexuales por parte de un profesor del centro. Los hechos se produjeron, según este relato, durante los cursos 2008-2009 y 2009-2010, cuando el adolescente cursaba primero y segundo de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO).

Así consta también en la documentación médica y del Departamento de Educación a la que ha tenido acceso EL MUNDO del País Vasco. El presunto responsable de estos abusos sexuales fue un profesor numerario del centro, con voto de celibato, que responde a las iniciales J.M.M.S. Esos informes añaden que, según el niño, este docente se “mofaba” igualmente del estudiante en clase, lo que propició un entorno favorable a que la víctima lo fuera también de acoso escolar por parte de algunos de sus compañeros, que llegaron a amenazarlo de muerte.

El maestro J.M.M.S, que impartía Religión y Lengua y que ejercía de monitor de tiempo libre en un club del Opus Dei en Bilbao, al que ocasionalmente acudía el joven, era también su preceptor. Ésta es una figura existente en los centros del Opus Dei que ejerce no sólo como tutor sino, además, como enlace entre el alumno y su familia, hasta el punto de que llegó a comer en su casa. El docente, además, presionó al adolescente en tres ocasiones para que se incorporara al Opus Dei, según atestiguan los padres.

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UNITED STATES
Atheist Revolution

Catholics are not the only Christian denomination with problems related to the sexual abuse of children by clergy. Southern Baptists have been on the radar quite a bit too.

While the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has worked tirelessly to conceal sexual abuse by priests, sometimes transferring them, paying off victims’ families, and the the like, the Baptists appear to have a different sort of problem. In addition to their tendency to deny that abuse is occurring, it appears that the manner in which the Southern Baptist church is structured may prevent accountability.

According to Tim Townsend (The Post-Dispatch, St. Louis and available through CNN), Rev. Travis Smith only has to face his own congregation after his arrest for sexual abuse and statutory rape.

Unlike members of many denominations — such as Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalian and Presbyterians — Southern Baptists don’t conform to a centralized, hierarchical structure.

Instead, authority resides at the local church level. And that’s true even amid allegations of clergy misconduct.

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UNITED STATES/VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 02, 2013

An international support group for clergy sex abuse victims wants Pope Benedict to reverse his decision and pick a different individual to head the Vatican’s abuse office.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, plan to write the pontiff, urging him to rescind his selection of a Boston priest to the post and choose a parent instead.

One week ago, Benedict announced Fr. Robert Oliver’s promotion, despite concerns by victims and advocates about his ties to controversial Cardinal Bernard Law and his role in the handling of pedophile priest cases in Boston.

[Read here – New York Times]

“Oliver is an awful pick,” said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP’s president.

Oliver has shaped the Boston archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases for the last decade. Four basic charges are being leveled against him:

1. He eliminated a provision requiring the immediate removal of accused priests.

2. He limited victims’ access to the archdiocese’s files on their cases.

3. Under his leadership, the archdiocese ‘cleared’ a very high percentage of accused priests.

4. Under his leadership, the church tribunal has failed to rule on the cases of 15 accused priests.

–According to the Boston Herald, in 2003, Oliver “said the church went too far in immediately removing priests from their public ministries once they were accused of abuse. He implemented a new policy stripping them of duties only after claims are investigated.”

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Anne-Marie Emerson of the Wanganui Chronicle

6:08 PM Wednesday Jan 2, 2013

Poverty and lack of support are two factors that must dealt with if New Zealand is to successfully tackle the problem of child abuse, according to Wanganui paediatrician David Montgomery.

Dr Montgomery is the clinical head of the paediatric ward at Wanganui Hospital and is also the clinical leader of the children’s emergency department at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, so he is no stranger to dealing with cases of child abuse.

He said while child abuse and neglect can happen in any sector of society, it’s more likely to happen when a family’s resources are stretched.

“There are clear linkages between the socio-economic situation that families find themselves in and child abuse,” Dr Montgomery said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
January 03, 2013

THE scope of the royal commission into child sex abuse should be extended to include physical assault and neglect, child welfare advocates say.

The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect says the scope of the royal commission needs to be broadened because it is inequitable.

According to The Australian newspaper, the group wants Prime Minister Julia Gillard to expand the terms of reference of the commission to include all forms of abuse against children by churches, institutions and government.

The newspaper reports the call has split child welfare advocates, with some arguing it would mean the commission would go on for years, making it harder to get “concrete recommendations”.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forard

Published January 02, 2013, issue of January 04, 2013.

On December 13, the Forward published an explosive story by our Paul Berger detailing how Yeshiva University for years ignored students who claimed that they were sexually abused by two former staff members at Y.U.’s high school for boys in Manhattan. For that story, Berger spoke to four students who voluntarily offered their accounts. Since then, about 20 former students have called or written, and the number keeps growing.

Most of the allegations occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, and the statute of limitations prevents these men from suing the school, so they aren’t looking for money or other compensation. They are seeking answers, though. And so, independently, is the Forward.

Y.U.’s press office has issued several statements, including a sort-of apology and an offer of counseling to any former student who thinks he needs it. But Y.U. President Richard Joel has declined repeated requests for comment. Not so its chancellor and former president, Norman Lamm, but he left us even more confused, by acknowledging in an interview with the Forward that he knew of some of the allegations and let at least one of the alleged abusers leave quietly.

Why? Why was Rabbi George Finkelstein, a long-time teacher who rose to become principal, allowed to leave Y.U. in 1995 and become dean of a Jewish day school in Florida? Here was a man who has been accused by numerous students of inappropriate wrestling, kissing and simulated sex. And when the Jerusalem Great Synagogue said it hired Finkelstein in 2001 after being assured by Y.U. officials that the rumors of sexual abuse were false, who was responsible? Just because Finkelstein resigned his synagogue post after the initial Forward story was published does not erase the pressing need for answers.

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PENNSYLVANIA
San Francisco Chronicle

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press

Updated 5:28 am, Wednesday, January 2, 2013

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A suspended Pittsburgh-area priest is set for sentencing on charges he possessed and received thousands of child pornography images — some of them sadomasochistic — on his church computer.

Court records show federal prosecutors want the Rev. Bartley Sorensen to serve eight to 10 years in prison. But the defense attorney for the 63-year-old Roman Catholic priest says the mandatory five-year sentence he faces is sufficient.

Sorensen was arrested by Allegheny County district attorney’s detectives in December 2011 after an employee at Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill noticed him looking at a photo of a young boy on his computer. Federal authorities took over the investigation after a computer search turned up thousands of images.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Today

Dawkins refers to own experience of sexual abuse by priest, still insists teaching hell to children is worse

Atheist professor Richard Dawkins has clarified remarks he made when he stated that being taught to believe in an eternal hell as a child is worse than being sexually abused, reminding critics that he himself was abused by a priest at a young age.

By: Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

“It was a very unpleasant and embarrassing experience, but the mental trauma was soon exorcised by comparing notes with my contemporaries who had suffered it previously at the hands of the same master,” Dawkins writes on his official website. “Thank goodness, I have never personally experienced what it is like to believe – really and truly and deeply believe ­– in hell. But I think it can be plausibly argued that such a deeply held belief might cause a child more long-lasting mental trauma than the temporary embarrassment of mild physical abuse.”

The evolutionary biologist’s remarks come in light of a recent article by the Daily Mail that referenced an interview on Al Jazeera in which Dawkins said: “Horrible as sexual abuse no doubt was, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damage inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place.” The scientist wrote similar claims in his 2006 bestseller The God Delusion.

In his recent blog post, Dawkins reveals that he received a flood of Twitter messages from “horrified” people asking him to explain those remarks – which he does by admitting that “violent, painful, repeated sexual abuse, especially by a family member such as a father or grandfather, probably has a more damaging effect on a child’s mental well-being than sincerely believing in hell.”

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau says it has received a credible complaint of sexual abuse against a minor that allegedly occurred in the early to mid-1960s.

The diocese says the accused priest, the Rev. Walter C. Craig, died in 1971.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the diocese has notified civil authorities of the allegation. Further details were not released.

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

January 1, 2013 by Susan Matthews

Here’s a look back at last year on Catholics4Change.

Visitors came from 131 countries. Thank you for stopping by and referring our site to others.

Most viewed post:

The List Cardinal Bevilacqua Didn’t Want You to See

Post that received the most comments:

Hold a Child Sex Abuse Forum

Kathy and I would like to extend special thanks to Bishop-Accountability.org and the National Catholic Reporter for all the readers they referred to this site in 2012.

We’d also like to thank Joan for the most comments this past year. Her contributions were as informative as they were passionate. Beth, Had It Catholic and Survivor’s Wife you were also in our top five. The comments section is what makes C4C so special. We are very grateful for everyone’s input. …

Moving Forward:

Msgr. Lynn’s trial changed me at my very core. For me, evil is no longer abstract. I will never forget the victims on the witness stand and in the courtroom. Because of them, I still have faith in human strength and goodness. I know we can prevent others from facing this pain.

If you are a victim who does not wish to pursue legal action but would like to prevent harm to other children, please consider giving an anonymous tip to the District Attorney’s office. Please help remove predator priests from ministry. Information is available on our Resources page.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News

By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ
sferandez@dailylocal.com

Monsignor William Lynn became the first U.S. church official criminally convicted for covering up abuse claims related to predator-priests.

Lynn, 61, was convicted of child endangerment, but acquitted of conspiracy in June. Lynn previously served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, mostly under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

After 13 days of deliberating, jurors decided that Lynn endangered the victim of Edward Avery, a now defrocked priest, who pleaded guilty before trial to a sexual assault from 1999.

Avery is serving a 2½- to 5-year prison term. As secretary, Lynn sent Avery for sexual-offender treatment, but knew he was later sent to live in a parish.

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UNITED STATES
NJSpotlight

By Deborah Jacobs, December 31, 2012

A recent Sports Illustrated cover story focusing on young athletes subjected to child sexual abuse reminds us once again that the pernicious scourge of child sexual abuse continues to haunt the playing fields, playgrounds, and backrooms of our nation.

Among the social ills facing our nation, child sexual abuse stands alone in its epidemic proportions, and the devastation it sets upon its young victims cannot be overstated. Despite high-profile and well-publicized instances within institutions like the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America, and Penn State, among others, child sexual abuse remains among the least discussed and most impactful problems our nation faces, while it tarnishes the lives of large swaths of each new generation.

Whether you measure the harm of the individual victims, or the costs to society as a whole, there is ample reason to prioritize child sexual abuse in our national dialogue and adopt policies and practices that help protect children.

The most compelling way to understand the power and enormity of child sexual abuse is through the experience of individual victims. Because child sexual abuse primarily leaves emotional scars instead of physical, its full impact on victims remains under-appreciated. Child sexual abuse occurs at a tragically high rate and can rob young people of self-determination, self-esteem, and potential, sometimes setting in motion a lifelong chain of events and decisions. Many victims don’t readily speak of the trauma they suffer as a result of child sexual abuse. This reluctance has a variety of roots: manipulation by the abuser, fear of not being believed, misplaced shame, fear of stigma, and just plain discomfort with a painful topic.

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DEUTSCHLAND
domradio

Es war eine Reaktion auf das Bekanntwerden des Missbrauchsskandals: die Telefonhotline der katholischen Kirche für Opfer und deren Angehörige. Nun endet das Angebot zum Jahresende. Doch die Kirche bietet weiter Beratung und Hilfen an.

Ansprechpartner und Adressen finden sich unter www.hilfe-missbrauch.de. Zur Begründung für die Einstellung der Hotline sagte der Pressesprecher der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Matthias Kopp, in Bonn, es gebe kaum noch Anfragen. Das Angebot habe seinen Dienst erfüllt.

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DEUTCHLAND
Deutche Welle

Die katholische Kirche schaltet ihre Hotline für Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch ab. Sie bietet aber weiterhin Beratung an. Nach Ansicht von Kritikern gibt es nicht genügend Hilfe für Opfer sexualisierter Gewalt.

Wenn es nach Matthias Kopp, dem Sprecher der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz geht, dann hat die Telefon-Hotline der katholischen Kirche ihren Dienst erfüllt. Zweieinhalb Jahre lang gab es dieses Beratungsangebot, um Missbrauchsopfern und ihren Angehörigen als erste Anlaufstelle zu dienen. Mittlerweile werde die Nummer aber kaum mehr gewählt, sagte Kopp im Gespräch mit der Deutschen Welle. Deshalb wird die Hotline Ende des Jahres abgeschaltet.

Kritik an der katholischen Kirche

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig

Eine Entscheidung, die Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig kritisch sieht. Er ist der Unabhängige Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs. Telefon-Hotlines seien “wichtig für den ersten Schritt, um Hilfe zu suchen”, sagte er der ARD.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

The Catholic Church in Germany has closed its hotline for victims of sexual abuse due to lack of use. Critics say the church is not doing enough to counter this ongoing problem.

For two and a half years, the counseling service run by the Catholic Church was set up as a first point of contact for victims of abuse and their relatives.

Today, few people call the number, Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the German Bishops’ Conference, told Deutsche Welle. He said the telephone helpline had fulfilled its purpose and would be turned off at the end of 2012.

Incidents of abuse

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig: An ‘important first step’ against abuse is being taken away

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig doesn’t approve of this decision. He is the independent special representative for sexual abuse of minors, appointed by the German government. Telephone helplines are “important for the first step towards finding help,” he said in an interview with German public television.

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CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CN) – New Wine Ministries pastor Matthias Anderson sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and continued molesting her for three years, the girl claims in court.

Jane Doe sued Anderson, New Wine Ministries, the Life Project Community & Family Transformation Center, and three other people: Marc Anderson, Matthias’ brother and also a pastor at New Wine; Matthias Anderson’s wife, and New Wine administrator Debra Flores.

Matthias Flores was sentenced to nine years in state prison for sexually assaulting her, the girl says in the complaint.

Doe says she met Matthias Flores in 2008, when she was 12. He became her pastor, and her mother “came to be employed by New Wine” while Matthias Flores was sexually molesting her, Doe claims in her Superior Court complaint.

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MISSOURI
News-Leader

The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has announced a credible complaint of sexual abuse of a minor involving the Rev. Walter G. Craig, who died in 1971.

The allegation involves a complaint stemming from an act or acts in the mid-1960s. The diocese has notified civil authorities of the allegation.

Craig was born in 1899 and ordained in 1923 for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. His appointments included serving as pastor in Immaculate Conception Parish in Jackson and St. Lawrence Parish in New Hamburg.

People who want to document an allegation may contact Rev. Thomas Reidy at (417) 866-0841 or diocesan victim assistance coordinators John Kreymer at 417-597-3755 or: pyjk12@gmail.com and Judy St. John at 573-587-3139 or jastjohn44@gmail.com.

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