ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
Express

Sunday January 20,2013

By James Fielding

A VICTIM of Jimmy Savile’s satanic abuse told yesterday of her sheer terror as she was tied to an altar and raped by the depraved star during a black mass.

The girl, who we will call Paula Bennett to protect her true identity, was just 13 at the time of the ­sickening attack in 1975.

Now aged 50, Paula still suffers horrific flashbacks and cannot sleep properly. She decided to come forward after we revealed last week how Savile raped two women ­during satanic ceremonies in the Seventies and Eighties.

Recalling her torment, Paula described how Savile was sitting on a throne wearing a mask and robes, clutching a trademark cigar.

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UNITED STATES
Church and State

Editor’s note: The following comes from Chapter 10 of N4CM Chairman Dr Stephen D Mumford’s book, American Democracy and the Vatican.

How does the Vatican influence U.S. policy? In hundreds of ways. Most important in creating many of these opportunities is the Church’s almost unimaginable wealth. Recently Luigi Di Fonzo, a Harvard professor, published an extensive study of Vatican wealth. “The Vatican’s total assets—not including the assets of the Roman Catholic Church, but including stock it controls on the New York and American stock exchanges, and property, gold reserves, and paintings—are probably $50 billion to $60 billion. . . .[43] The Catholic Church in the United States, with “assets of more than $100 billion, today possesses more than ten times the combined wealth of IBM, Exxon, General Motors, and U.S. Steel.”[44] There is no accountability for these funds to anyone except the Vatican. Everything is done in com­plete secrecy.[45] It is simply mind-boggling to see Vatican claims of compassion for the poverty-stricken in Latin America in the face of this fantastic accumulation of wealth. …

As Congressman William Clay (D-Missouri) found (see, note twenty-six, chapter one), whenever any issue arises in Congress that affects Catholic interests, a seasoned lobbyist in priestly garb is likely to appear in a Congressman’s office reminding the legislator that 52 million Catholics in America feel thus and so about this matter. Even when the legislator knows full well that the opinion is actually that of a handful of top-ranking bishops, acting on orders from Rome, he may swallow his convictions and say, “Yes, yes,” because he is aware that in America the powerful bishops speak for American Catholics. Should he not comply, Catholic pressures can be mortally effective in swinging any close election against him.[47]

The hierarchy has learned to act indirectly through Catholic lay­persons. The hierarchy acts through Catholic politicians such as Lindy Boggs (D-Louisiana) and Charles Rangel (D-New York). There are many similar examples directly affecting population growth control. Ravenholt, in his memo, pointed to several acts of Clement Zablocki (D-Wisconsin). Other obvious examples include Tip O’Neill (D-Massachusetts), who killed the Simpson-Mazzoli bil in a thinly veiled act in December 1983, Henry Hyde (D-Illinois), and Jeremiah Denton (R-Alabama). They act through hundreds of bureaucrats such as John H. Murphy and John H. Sullivan, as Ravenholt pointed out in his memo. They act through Catholic laypersons not associated with the government, such as Paul Brown, executive director, Life Amendment Political Action Committee (LAPAC), Phyllis Schlafly, executive director of Eagle Forum, and Peter Donaldson and John Ganly of Family Health International.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Alexandra Pleffer, ninemsn

A priest who preyed on a disabled Sydney woman for 14 years has returned to the pulpit.

The Catholic Church apologised to Jennifer Herrick and paid her $100,000 in compensation for the “harm” Father Tom Knowles caused her during their 14-year secret sexual relationship.

But the church has now allowed Father Knowles to return to full duties at St Francis’ in Melbourne after about 16 months of “administrative leave”.

Ms Herrick, who has bilateral congenital hip dysplasia, says she felt powerless to refuse Father Knowles’ sexual advances because of his role as her family priest.

“I now understand that my very severe vulnerability allowed him to exploit me by abusing his priestly powerful position for nearly two decades for his sexual needs,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

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CONNECTICUT
The Huffington Post

[with video]

By Meredith Bennett-Smith

The case of a Connecticut priest indicted this week on charges of distributing crystal meth took a bizarre turn as strange new details came to light concerning the religious leader’s life after leaving the priesthood.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin, who went on sabbatical prior to stepping down as pastor of the St. Augustine Parish in Bridgeport, Conn., in 2012, allegedly sold shipments of meth to undercover cops several times between September 2012 and January 2013.

Wallin, a long-time member of the Sacred Heart University Board of Trustees, was arrested Jan. 3. According to the New York Post, the meth Wallin sold during the undercover drug stings tested as 98.5 percent pure.

Now it appears the man some have nicknamed “Monsignor Meth” may have engaged in a host of illicit and unconventional activities, in addition to the drug dealing. New allegations include cross-dressing, having sex in the St. Augustine rectory and laundering meth profits through a North Haven sex shop called Land of Oz.

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ESPANA
El Pais

Natalia Junquera Madrid
17 ENE 2013

El ministerio de Justicia ha presentado hoy una guía de recomendaciones para la práctica de exhumaciones sobre sustracción de niños, después de que el pasado 26 de diciembre la Fiscalía General del Estado remitiese una circular ordenando a todas las fiscalías territoriales agotar todas las vías de investigación y practicar cuantas pruebas fueran necesarias, incluidas las exhumaciones, ante un posible caso de robo de bebés.

La guía, que recoge las conclusiones de un encuentro entre los directores de los institutos de medicina legal de toda España el pasado verano, incide en la importancia de la cadena de custodia y la elaboración de un análisis antropológico completo (especie, edad, estatura, patologías…) de los huesos hallados antes de remitirlos al Instituto Nacional de Toxicología para garantizar “la máxima calidad pericial” de cara a un juicio por robo de bebés. El documento se remitirá a todas las comunidades autónomas, al Consejo General del Poder Judicial y a la Fiscalía, ya que son jueces y fiscales quienes pueden ordenar la práctica de exhumaciones.

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CONNECTICUT
The Catholic World Report

The immoral and demoralizing case of “Monsignor Meth”.

January 19, 2013

By Anne Hendershott

Battered by another scandal involving yet another gay priest in the Bridgeport Diocese, faithful Catholics remain bewildered by the apparent inability of their leaders to protect the Church from such humiliation. While prior cases involved gay priests like Fr. Jude Fay, a pastor in Darien, who had embezzled more than a million dollars from parishioners’ donations to support a lavish lifestyle with his gay partner, this latest case involves something much more sinister.

On Friday, January 18th, Connecticut Catholics awoke to front page above-the-fold headlines in the Connecticut Post claiming: “Meth Priest Case Widens: Clergyman Liked Cross-Dressing, Sex in Rectory.” Reporting that Monsignor Kevin Wallin, a pastor who had been on leave from the Diocese for the past year—but still on the payroll—had been arrested for dealing crystal methamphetamine.

That was just the beginning of the story. Reading further, Connecticut Catholics learned that in the spring of 2011, when Monsignor Wallin served as pastor of St. Augustine’s Cathedral in Bridgeport, rectory personnel became concerned when: “Wallin, sometimes dressed as a woman, would entertain odd-looking men, some who were also dressed in women’s clothing and engaging in sex acts in the rectory.” The Post also reported that “bizarre sex toys” were found in the pastor’s residence within the rectory.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz wehrt sich weiter juristisch gegen die Vorwürfe des Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer, die Bischöfe hätten die Erstveröffentlichung von Forschungsergebnissen verhindern oder zensieren wollen.

Bonn (kath.net/KNA) Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz wehrt sich weiter mit juristischen Schritten gegen den Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer und dessen Vorwürfe, die Bischöfe hätten die Erstveröffentlichung von Forschungsergebnissen verhindern oder zensieren wollen. Anwälte des Verbandes der Diözesen Deutschlands (VDD) haben am Freitag an Pfeiffer und sein Kriminologisches Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN) «eine konkretisierte Abmahnung gerichtet», bestätigte der Sprecher der Bischofskonferenz, Matthias Kopp, am Samstag in Bonn auf Anfrage der Katholischen Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA).

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The Pope continually treats the USA as a “damned fool”. And why not? From President Obama on down to Catholic leaders like Joe Biden, Leon Panetta, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, the Pope and his subservient hierarchy in the USA get a pass almost no matter how badly Catholics and even political leaders are treated. Meanwhile, the Prime Ministers of Australia and Ireland on behalf of their citizens properly and publicly challenge the Pope, who then reacts to their fair demands. Listen up, please, Mr. President!

How does Pope Benedict XVI treat the USA as a fool and why does the USA permit this, you may fairly ask? Here is how and why. I will tell you. Now President Obama in his new term must stand up to the monarchical Pope and his subservient U.S. hierarchy, at least for the sake of defenseless children in the USA. Enough with the President’s fawning laughter at Cardinal Dolan’s bad humor and with Leon Panetta kissing the Pope’s ring, as he just did publicly. The President won re-election, despite the Pope’s major effort to prevent that. It is time, in the name of religious liberty, for President Obama to help Catholics protect their children from Vatican tyranny and the horrors it visits on innocent U.S. children.

The Pope treats the USA as a fool by his interference is internal U.S. political elections and decisions and in his protection of too many priests who continue to sexually abuse U.S. children. For additional information on the political interference and child abuse cover-ups, please see my, “Will The Next Pope Be the Vatican’s Last Pope?”, accessible by clicking on the heading at the top here or clicking on to: http://wp.me/P2YEZ3-cT

The President must also set up promptly a national investigation commission into child sexual abuse in organizational settings, like Australia’s PM, Julia Gillard, has just done and Ireland’s PM, Enda Kenny, also did. Local states and counties in the USA have failed, and will continue to fail, at adequately protecting defenseless children from priest predators, and they have failed for over a half century now.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

Federal Investigation Paints Lurid Picture of Bridgeport Priest Involved in Meth Distribution Ring

A 40-year-old Manchester man was also arrested and indicted this week in a cross-country methamphetamine distribution ring that federal investigators said resulted in thousands of dollars in sales of the drug each week.

By David Moran

More questions than answers remained this week after federal investigators and state police broke up a sophisticated cross-country methamphetamine distribution ring that they said involved a Bridgeport priest, a Manchester man and three other individuals that, according to affidavits in the case, often times seemed more bizarre and outlandish than an episode of the popular TV series “Breaking Bad.”

According to a statement released Wednesday by United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut David B. Fein, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and members of the Connecticut State Police’s Statewide Narcotics Task Force joined forces to bust up a methamphetamine distribution ring spearheaded by Bridgeport priest Kevin Wallin, 61, that saw “bulk quantities” of the drug, more commonly known as crystal meth, shipped from California to Wallin’s Waterbury apartment, then re-packed “in various quantities and in color-coded Ziploc bags” and sold locally to users and other dealers.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Heath Aston
Sun-Herald state political editor

A PRIEST accused of sexually abusing altar boys throughout the 1980s was sheltered by the Catholic Church in the parish of Father Finian Egan, who is facing charges of indecent assault and rape.

A report released last week detailed the accusations against the priest, who allegedly assaulted boys in the dioceses of Armidale and Parramatta between 1981 and 1992.

Despite being moved from a number of dioceses and being charged with serious sexual offences against a boy in 1987 – charges that were later dropped – the priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not defrocked until 2005.

The report by Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam, QC, criticised the former bishop of Armidale, Henry Kennedy, who is now dead, for failing to stop the priest after complaints followed him from parish to parish.

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FRANKRIJK
RKnieuws (Nederland)

AMIENS (RKnieuws.net) – Een 38-jarige priester van het bisdom Amiens is gisteren in verdenking gesteld voor seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen. Dat meldt de Franse krant La Croix.

De feiten zouden plaats gevonden hebben in 2010 en 2011 en zouden slaan op drie jongelui. De priester heeft aan de onderzoeksrechter opgebiecht dat hij zich vergreep aan twee van de drie jongeren. De onderzoeksrechter heeft hem na ondervraging in voorlopige vrijheid gesteld tegen het advies van de openbare aanklager in om de geestelijke naar de gevangenis te sturen. De onderzoeksrechter heeft de priester verboden nog contact te hebben met minderjarigen.

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FRANCE
Courrier Picard

[Bing Translator]

Le prêtre Stéphane Gotoghian, âgé de 38 ans, a été mis en examen vendredi à Amiens pour des agressions sexuelles sur trois adolescents.

Le prêtre, qui exerçait jusqu’ici dans la paroisse de Fressenneville (Somme), a reconnu les faits. Il a été mis en examen pour agressions sexuelles sur mineurs par personne abusant de l’autorité conférée par sa fonction, a expliqué son avocat, Me Guillaume Demarcq.

Il aurait abusé sexuellement de trois adolescents, dont l’un aurait été victime des «caresses appuyées» de l’ecclésiastique en 2004-2005 et les deux autres en 2010-2011, selon l’avocat.

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FRANCE
Eglise Catholique de la Somme

Monsieur l’abbé Stéphane GOTOGHIAN a été mis en examen pour des faits très graves qui lui sont reprochés suite à une plainte déposée.

Ma première pensée douloureuse se porte vers les jeunes victimes et leurs familles et tous ceux qui se sentent blessés.

Je pense par ailleurs à tous ceux qui ont fait confiance à un prêtre dans ses paroisses et qui se sentiront blessés et trompés : leur douleur est grande, comme la mienne et celle de l’Eglise.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A religious brother of the Dominican order, Frost has been accused of the sexual abuse of at least four boys. He is known to have worked as a religion and sex education teacher at a Minneapolis parish from 1964-1975, and to have had assignments in Madison WI, Winona MN, Iowa and Louisiana. His modus operandi is said to have been to ply boys with alcohol and marijuana, and to show them pornography. His order has acknowledged his abuse. Frost is deceased.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

By Maria Miller

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —

There are new details surrounding allegations against a cleric accused of inappropriately touching young boys.

Since allegations surfaced in Ohio against Brother Stephen Baker, former students from Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown have started coming forward.

Baker was recently accused of molesting 11 young boys in the 1980s while he worked as an athletic coach and trainer at a high school in Ohio. However, he was never criminally charged, settling out of court with the alleged victims.

But now at least 12 former Bishop McCort students have come forward alleging the same things happened to them while Baker served as an athletic trainer and teacher there in the ’90s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

By Maria Miller

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —

Eleven cases of alleged sexual abuse surrounding a Franciscan cleric, now living in Bair County, have grown overnight. At least five more men have come forward alleging they were sexually abused by Brother Stephen Baker while he served as an athletic trainer and coach at an Ohio high school in the 1980s. But they’re not the only ones.

At least 12 former Bishop McCort students have started coming forward alleging the same abuse. They say it happened while Baker served as an athletic trainer and teacher at the Catholic high school in the 1990s.

Since Thursday, four more alleged victims have reached out to Johnstown attorney Michael Parrish, bringing his total up to at least 10. Two others have gone even further, contacting Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who specializes in clergy sex abuse cases.

“Yesterday two victims contacted me,” said Garabedian. “They were both adult men who claim they were sexually abused by Brother Stephen Baker while attending Bishop McCort High School, and they described repeated sexual abuse by Baker while attending the high school.”

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SPAIN
Expatica

Spanish judges have launched a fresh investigation of a nun accused of stealing newborns in the 1980s, a suspected widespread practice dating from the Franco dictatorship, a lawyer said Friday.

Sister Maria Gomez Valbuena, 87, in April last year was the first person to go before a judge over the “stolen babies” scandal, in which the regime allowed children to be taken from their parents on moral or ideological grounds.

In that case she was questioned by a judge investigating her role in the kidnapping of a newborn girl from a Madrid hospital three decades ago.

Now she is accused by another mother, Purificacion Betegon, of taking away her twins in 1981, said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Alipio Barbero.

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OHIO/PENNSYLVANIA
WKBN

At least 35 former students at both Warren John F. Kennedy High School and Bishop McCort High School in Johnsontown, Pa. have now come forward to allege a Catholic Franciscan friar, Brother Stephen P. Baker, used his position as athletic trainer in both schools to sexually molest them in the in the 1980s and 1990s.

And on Friday, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who negotiated high five-figure settlements for 11 former JFK students who were allegedly molested, called into question where Baker was during a year-long stretch in 2011 where Baker had no official assignment from the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

D.C. Nokes Jr., a Johnstown attorney appointed as the spokesperson by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. The diocese said on Thursday in a statement they contacted civil authorities in November 2011 after learning of allegations. The statement also condemned abuse of any kind.

Garabedian said three new former JFK students, one former St. Mary’s student and four students from Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown contacted him about being sexually abused.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune Chronicle

January 19, 2013

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. – Over the past two days, area attorneys received calls from more than a dozen former Bishop McCort High School students, claiming that a Hollidaysburg-based Franciscan brother inappropriately touched them during their high school careers.

Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who achieved a settlement for 11 men against Brother Stephen Baker in October, is investigating claims of two former Bishop McCort students who are accusing Baker of inappropriate touching them during his time as a baseball trainer at the school in the late 1990s.

Richard Serbin, who’s defended victims of clergy abuse across Pennsylvania for more than 25 years, said he received a call from an attorney referring at least one alleged victim to him Thursday night.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

[with court document]

Daniel Tepfer

Updated 11:22 pm, Friday, January 18, 2013

BRIDGEPORT — Diocese officials might stop paying “Monsignor Meth” his church stipend following accusations he was a cross-dressing drug dealer who sold upward of $9,000 of crystal methamphetamine a week.

“It wasn’t anything he could get rich off of; we were providing just enough to maintain basic sustenance,” said Roman Catholic Diocese spokesman Brian Wallace during discussions Friday about whether to pull Monsignor Kevin Wallin’s pay.

But after reading in the Connecticut Post that Wallin, 61, is accused by federal authorities of making so much money from selling the drug that he purchased an adult sex shop in North Haven named The Land of Oz to launder the money, Wallace said the diocese may stop the payments.

Wallace repeated Friday that he was aware only that parishioners had complained of Wallin acting erratically in spring 2011. He said the complaints came from a number of parishioners, and not all at one time. He said there was a concern about Wallin’s health.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — The investigation into abuse allegations against Brother Stephen P. Baker is broadening.

An unknown number of men, former students at Bishop McCort Catholic High School, are alleging they were sexually molested by the Franciscan friar, who worked at the Johnstown school for about a decade in the 1990s and into the early 2000s.

The former students say Baker abused them when he was supposed to be treating them for sports-related injuries.

Baker who now resides at the Motherhouse of St. Bernardine Monastery of the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular, located in a rural setting about two miles outside of Hollidaysburg. From 1992 into the early 2000s, he was employed at Bishop McCort as a religious instructor and sports trainer.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
TDN

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Five people have joined a Maryland lawsuit that claims a Kentucky-based evangelical church group covered up allegations of sexual abuse against children and failed to alert police and shield children from known sexual predators.

The new plaintiffs join three women who filed a civil lawsuit against Sovereign Grace Ministries in October. The suit accuses church leadership of encouraging parents of alleged victims to refrain from reporting abuses to police and creating “a culture in which sexual predators were protected from accountability and victims were silenced.”

The church moved its headquarters to Louisville last year after three decades in Maryland. The group has struggled in recent years with fractured leadership and criticism over its discipline methods.

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
Sacramento Bee

By GARY L. WRIGHT
The Charlotte Observer

Published: Friday, Jan. 18, 2013

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-A former Gastonia pastor pleaded guilty on Friday to charges he engaged in illicit sexual conduct with two minors while in Haiti working for a church ministry.

As Larry Michael Bollinger, his legs shackled, walked into the courtroom, he smiled and waved to his wife.

“I would not be here if I had not confessed what I had done,” Bollinger, 67, told U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer.

Bollinger, struggling to hold back tears, then said: “I am very remorseful -� I am willing to accept responsibility.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 18, 2013

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania — A Franciscan friar named in legal settlements with 11 men who say he sexually abused them at a Catholic high school in northeast Ohio three decades was also the subject of complaints he abused boys at a Pennsylvania school in the late 1990s, church officials said.

The undisclosed financial settlements announced Wednesday in Ohio involved Brother Stephen Baker’s contact with students at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio from 1986-90.

Ohio Attorney Mitchell Garabedian said the cases there were resolved without criminal charges or lawsuits because of concerns with the statute of limitations.

The settlements were reached after talks involving the school, Third Order Regular Franciscans and Youngstown Catholic Diocese, which said it was unaware of the allegations until nearly 20 years after the alleged abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily American

MICHELLE GANASSI
staff writer, @damichelleg
January 18, 2013

A local attorney is looking into whether a Franciscan brother who is accused of sexually abusing 11 boys in Ohio committed similar acts here.

Sexual abuse allegations were made against Brother Stephen Baker, who taught at John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Warren, Ohio, from 1986 to 1990.

The settlements involved the school, Third Order Regular Franciscans and Youngstown Catholic Diocese. Members of those organizations said they were unaware of the allegations until nearly 20 years after the alleged abuse, according to an article by The Associated Press. He was not criminally charged.

Baker taught at Bishop McCort High School in the late 1990s. Johnstown attorney Michael Parrish said potential victims from the Johnstown-area Catholic school contacted his office after the story in Ohio broke.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun January 19, 2013

The Vancouver Catholic archdiocese argues it shouldn’t have to pay damages in a B.C. woman’s civil suit for alleged sexual abuse by a priest when she was a teenager in the 1980s, claiming the relationship was consensual.

Lawrence Cooper, also known as Father Damian Cooper, and the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver filed a response in B.C. Supreme Court on Jan. 3 to Kathleen Taylor’s suit.

Last month, Taylor filed a suit seeking damages for sexual exploitation and/or sexual assaults because she said she had suffered psychological damage. She is seeking general, aggravated, punitive and special damages, as well as loss of past and future earnings.

The church “admits that it is vicariously liable” for some of the actions of the priest in the course of his employment, but adds he was “reasonably supervised” and the church had no knowledge of the personal relationship between the priest and Taylor.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

January 20, 2013

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker

A leading Australian priest who sexually preyed on a disabled and vulnerable woman on Sydney’s north shore for 14 years has been allowed to return to preaching and running community groups at one of the nation’s busiest churches.

The recent decision by the Catholic Church to allow Father Tom Knowles to return to full duties at St Francis’ in Melbourne’s central business district after about 16 months of “administrative leave” has outraged his victim and victims’ groups.

Father Knowles’s reinstatement comes after the church apologised to Jennifer Herrick, paid her $100,000 in compensation and acknowledged “the harm that can be caused to vulnerable people in such a case”.

Ms Herrick’s story highlights a rarely exposed facet of church abuse: vulnerable adult parishioners who are targeted by their priest for a sexual relationship.

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VERMONT
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on January 18, 2013.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is pushing Vermont’s Catholic Bishops to release the names of other accused clerics so that all of the crimes that they have concealed can come to light.

SNAP Director David Clohessy stated “For more than a decade, bishops have been required, by their own national policy, to be open and transparent’ about child sex crimes. Yet for months, perhaps years, Vermont church officials kept secret about apparently credible allegations of child sex abuse against Fr. Joseph Dussault. Parents and the public only know about these accusations because a victim was smart and strong enough to file a suit and persevere to a settlement.”

Recently, the Diocese of Burlington settled eleven civil lawsuits before they went to trial. Now, SNAP is urging the diocese to use all of their available resources in order to reach those hurt by clergy who have been in Vermont.

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CALIFORNIA
LAist

A meth ring that headed up by the now-infamous “Monsignor Meth” in Connecticut got its supply from a couple in Orange County.

Msgr. Kevin Wallin of Connecticut was arrested on suspicion of selling meth and laundering money through a sex shop that he purchased not long after he resigned from the priesthood two years ago, according to the New York Daily News. A federal indictment with conspiracy to distribute meth also named Chad McCluskey, 43, of San Clemente and Kristen Laschober, 47, of Laguna Nigel, as well as Wallin and two other men in Connecticut.

The OC couple allegedly shipped meth across the country six times between September and January. The OC Weekly notes that McCluskey describes himself in his social media profiles as working in “global distribution” for Pure Chip and describes his girlfriend Laschober as a “wardrobe consultant.” They look like any other couple from coastal Orange County. The pair were arrested in Las Vegas on January 10—a week after Wallin. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Wallin sold meth to undercover officers six times.

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FRANCE
Le Parisien

Timothée Boutry | Publié le 08.01.2013

C’était un curé très apprécié dans sa communauté. Un personnage charismatique en qui les parents avaient toute confiance. Bénéficiant encore du soutien de plusieurs paroissiens, le père Patrick Braud, 55 ans, l’ancien vicaire général de la cathédrale d’Angoulême (Charente), devra pourtant comparaître devant le tribunal correctionnel pour des agressions sexuelles « par personne ayant autorité ».

Au terme de ses investigations, la juge d’instruction, dont l’ordonnance de renvoi a été signée le 7 décembre, a identifié trois victimes mineures, de jeunes adolescentes dont deux avaient moins de 15 ans au moment des faits. Certains des agissements dénoncés remontent à la période 1996-1998. « Mon client reconnaît des gestes déplacés, mais il conteste le caractère sexuel des agressions. Il vit très mal cette histoire », plaide Me Patricia Coutand, l’avocate du père Braud.

Il a d’abord reconnu les faits

Les premières plaintes contre l’ecclésiastique remontent à janvier 2009 lorsque trois jeunes filles — deux sœurs et une de leur amie qui se verra finalement objecter la prescription — dénoncent avoir subi plusieurs agressions sexuelles. Il s’agit à chaque fois d’adolescentes élevées dans un milieu catholique traditionnel et qui, souvent mal dans leur peau, avaient su trouver auprès du curé une oreille attentive. Au cours de la procédure, un des plaignantes évoque les « sentiments partagés » que lui inspirait cet homme : « Je l’admirais, il me dominait moralement et intellectuellement, et d’un autre côté il me dégoûtait par les actes sexuels qu’il m’imposait. » Cette jeune fille, âgée de 17 ans en 1996, parle de caresses sur les cuisses, de baisers dans le cou, de succions de doigts et de caresses sur la poitrine. Et même un viol digital qui se serait produit lors d’une virée à la campagne. Sa sœur évoquera des caresses mammaires au domicile familial au cours d’une leçon de violon.

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GERMANY
The New York Times

By MELISSA EDDY

Published: January 18, 2013

BERLIN — A report about child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, based on victim accounts and released by the church this week, showed that priests carefully planned their assaults and frequently abused the same children repeatedly for years.

The report, compiled from information collected from victims and other witnesses who called a hot line run by the church from 2010 until the end of last year, includes the ages of the victims, the locations of the assaults and the repercussions they have suffered since. The accounts were provided in 8,500 calls to the hot line; they are not representative of abuse cases over all and cannot be individually verified. The church said the report contained information from 1,824 people, of whom 1,165 described themselves as victims.

Germany’s bishops have vowed a thorough and impartial investigation into the abuse. Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, who is looking into abuse cases for the German Bishops’ Conference, told reporters after the report was released on Thursday that it served as an example of that intention.

“I found particularly devastating the perpetrators’ lies to their under-aged victims that their actions were an expression of a loving bond with God,” he said Thursday. Claudia Adams, who said she was assaulted as a child in a preschool run by the church in a village near Trier, works through her trauma by blogging about the abuse scandal. The priest who abused her “told me that I was now ‘closer to God,’ ” she said in a telephone interview on Friday from her home near Trier.

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IRELAND
Derry Journal

Monsignor Eamon Martin, Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Derry, tells the ‘Journal’ of his shock at being appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh.

Watch our video to hear his thoughts on his new role.

And get the Sunday Journal for comprehensive coverage of the Archbishop elect’s appointment

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

True evil lies not in the depraved act of the one, but in the silence of the many.” On this day, I am contemplating these words, attributed to a black Baptist preacher, Martin Luther King, Jr.

In countless stories of Baptist clergy sex abuse, we have seen the sad truth of King’s words made manifest. Even with childhood histories of horrific abuse – of having been molested, raped and sodomized by Baptist preachers – countless such victims have said that the worst of their experience came when they tried to tell about the abuse within the faith community.

That was when they faced “the silence of the many.”

That was when the relational fabric of community, and often even of family, was torn asunder.

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GERMANY
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan

January 18, 2013

Germany’s Roman Catholic Church has shut a national hotline for victims of sexual abuse by priests because demand for it has dropped since the peak of the scandal in 2010, the bishop overseeing the project said.

The Church plans to continue studying clerical sex abuse and is in contact with potential research partners after sacking the criminologist it originally hired for an independent report on the issue, Bishop Stephan Ackermann told journalists.

Hotline director Andreas Zimmer said his service was flooded with calls when it opened in March 2010 but they soon fell off and only about a dozen a month were made in the second half of 2012. It handled 8,465 calls in almost three years of operation.

“The hotline closed down at the end of 2012,” Ackermann said on Thursday in Trier, according to his statement distributed by the German Bishops Conference. “For some time, the falling demand no longer justified keeping it open.”

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CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 18, 2013

I feel sorry for priests who resign or take a leave for health or personal reasons. Most of them, I’m sure, are honest when they say and do this. But many of them, I’m also sure, do so under a huge cloud of suspicion. The blame for that falls squarely on the shoulders of their deceptive bishops.

A Connecticut priest used that phrase – resigning “for health and personal reasons” back in 2011. Now, he’s been arrested on drug charges. And his Catholic supervisors allegedly knew that he engaged in bizarre sex acts in the church rectory.

According to the CT Post:

“But sources knowledgeable with the case said the situation with Msgr. Kevin Wallin went deeper than diocese officials will publicly admit.

While pastor of St. Augustine’s, sources said he often disappeared for days at a time, and rectory personnel became concerned and notified diocese officials when Wallin, sometimes dressed as a woman, would entertain odd-looking men (some who were also dressed in women’s clothing) and engaging in sex acts.

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ESPANA
AFP

MADRID — La justicia española investiga un segundo caso de ‘bebés robados’, en el que de nuevo estaría implicada una religiosa española de 87 años, sor María, que fue primera persona en ser imputada en el marco de este vasto escándalo que habría afectado a miles de personas, dijo este viernes el abogado encargado del caso.

La declaración de la monja María Gómez Valbuena en este segundo caso, en el que es acusada por Purificación Betegón de haberle robado a sus gemelas, nacidas en 1981 en Madrid, ha sido pospuesta sine die “por motivos de salud”, anunció el abogado de la demandante, Alipio Barbero.

Purificación Betegón “tuvo en 1981 dos gemelas y cuando avisó a Sor María de que no quería dar sus hijas en adopción, resulta que se murieron”, explicó el abogado a la prensa a la salid del juzgado, sin dar mayores detalles.

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ESPANA
Ideal

ANDER AZPIROZ | MADRID

La religiosa María Gómez Valbuena no se ha presentado esta mañana en los madrileños juzgados de Plaza de Castilla, donde estaba citada como imputada por el supuesto robo en 1981 de dos gemelas recién nacidas. En su lugar, su abogado, José María Calero, ha registrado dos certificados médicos para solicitar el aplazamiento de la declaración de Sor María. Ahora, el magistrado del caso deberá decidir si acude al domicilio de la religiosa para tomarle declaración o bien la cita para otro día.

Quien sí ha acudido a los juzgados fue Purificación Betegón, la madre de las dos gemelas. Visiblemente emocionada y con voz entrecortada, la denunciante ha pedido que se aclare qué fue lo que ocurrió con sus hijas y saber dónde se encuentran ahora. También ha tachado de “tomadura de pelo la incomparecencia de Sor María”, porque, según ha explicado, una persona no se pone tan enferma de la noche a la mañana. En cualquier caso, Betegón se ha mostrado convencida de que la religiosa no la ayudará a dar a con hijas: “Llevo 32 años buscando a mis hijas y sé que ella no me va a dar ninguna pista para encontrarlas”. Según explicó a las puertas de los juzgados, cuando nacieron sus hijas Sor María intentó convencerla con insistencia para que diera a las niñas en adopción dada su condición de madre soltera y con un hijo anterior.

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ESPANA
Diario Cordoba

EUROPA PRESS 18/01/2013

La mujer que acusa a la monja María Gómez Valbuena, conocida como ‘Sor María’, de robarle a sus dos gemelas justo después de nacer hace 32 años, Purificación Betegón, ha afirmado este viernes que la incomparecencia de la religiosa por causas médicas es una “tomadura de pelo” porque “una persona no se pone enferma de la noche a la mañana”. Betegón, que este mediodía se ha acercado a los juzgados de Plaza de Castilla para seguir la comparecencia prevista de Sor María por este caso, ha afirmado que no le sorprende que la monja se acoja “a la quita enmienda” y no haya acudido a declarar.

“Si no ha reconocido que ha robado a mis hijas desde hace más de 30 años no lo va a hacer ahora. Me lo esperaba. Llevo 32 años buscando a mis hijas y sé que ella no me va a dar ninguna pista para encontrarlas”, ha añadido.

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SPAIN
IOL

January 18 2013
By SAPA

Madrid, Spain – Spanish judges have launched a fresh investigation of a nun accused of stealing newborns in the 1980s, a suspected widespread practice dating from the Franco dictatorship, a lawyer said Friday.

Sister Maria Gomez Valbuena, 87, in April last year was the first person to go before a judge over the “stolen babies” scandal, in which the regime allowed children to be taken from their parents on moral or ideological grounds.

In that case she was questioned by a judge investigating her role in the kidnapping of a newborn girl from a Madrid hospital three decades ago.

Now she is accused by another mother, Purificacion Betegon, of taking away her twins in 1981, said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Alipio Barbero.

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

Posted by David Clohessy on January 18, 2013

For the first time in history, a US Catholic diocese is headed by a convicted criminal. So what’s next for Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn?

He’ll declare bankruptcy in the months ahead. That’s my prediction.

It’s always risky to claim to know what the future holds. But look at the situation in KC.

–More than two dozen civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits are pending.
–So too is a suit by almost 50 victims who say Finn broke a 2008 contract with them – in a variety of ways – by continuing to protect predators and endanger kids.
— Some of the pending cases involve recent crimes and other misdeeds regarding Fr. Shawn Ratigan.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

[UPDATED with Cross Dressing, Sex Shop:] Chad McCluskey and Kristen Laschober, Typical OC Couple, Tied with Priest to Meth Ring: Feds

By Matt Coker
Fri., Jan. 18 2013

See the update at the end of this post about new revelations about the Orange County couple and apparently kinky Connecticut priest.

ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 18, 8:08 A.M.: It’s not difficult to find San Clemente’s Chad McCluskey online. His Facebook, Twitter and online photo sharing pages–open to all, just Google him–show a 43-year-old who loves family, his girlfriend and snapping pictures on vacation, at pop concerts and of his remodeling projects. He just seems to be the average Orange County dude, one you’d never expect to be held in federal lockup in Connecticut on charges of being part of a meth-sales ring that includes his lover and a Roman Catholic monsignor.

The good news here is we finally have a story here involving a priest and a refreshingly different kind of pipe smoking. The bad news for Father Kevin Wallin, who formerly served at St. Augustine’s Cathedral parish in Bridgeport, Conn., as well as McCluskey, his girlfriend Kristen Laschober, 47, of Laguna Niguel, and two other Connecticut men is they are all charged under a federal indictment with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Kristen Laschober and Chad McCluskey on vacation in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says sentencing guidelines for the federal conspiracy counts range from 10 years to life in prison and fines up to $10 million.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Pottstown Mercury

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jurors are breaking for the weekend after a bombshell claim in a priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia.

The long weekend comes after imprisoned former priest Edward Avery denied abusing a policeman’s son in 1999 — despite his plea to the contrary.

The 70-year-old Avery says he took a plea deal for sexual assault and conspiracy rather than risk more prison time if convicted at trial. He’s serving 2 1/2 to five years.

The 24-year-old accuser, after a long struggle with heroin addiction, says he was raped by Avery, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and ex-teacher Bernard Shero.

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CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

By LeAnne Gendreau
Friday, Jan 18, 2013

The criminal complaint for a former Bridgeport priest charged in a federal crystal meth case gives a more in-depth look at what he is accused of.

According to court documents, Msg. Kevin Wallin, 61, had a crystal meth addiction and sold the drug out of his Waterbury apartment as well as the parking lot of Land of Oz in North Haven, an adult specialty store and smoke shop, which he bought in the fall.

Investigators believe that Wallin bought the store with drug proceeds and might have intended to use it to launder drug money, according to the complaint.

Drug Enforcement Agents in New Haven started investigating in July 2012 after New York drug investigators contacted them to look into a Connecticut-based drug trafficker distributing crystal meth in the Tri-state are.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has congratulated Monsignor Eamon Martin on his appointment as coadjutor bishop in the Archdiocese of Armagh.

Mr McGuinness said he has known Monsignor Martin for many years.

He described him as a progressive thinker who has demonstrated an ability to connect with ordinary Catholics.

“This move provides an opportunity for renewal within the Irish Catholic Church so badly damaged by the handling of the criminal abuse of children.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

The Taoiseach says the appointment of a successor to Cardinal Seán Brady with someone who has a child protection background is “very welcome”.

Monsignor Eamon Martin is to take on the role of Coadjudtor Bishop of Armagh – meaning he’ll take over eventually from Cardinal Brady.

Enda Kenny will meet with Cardinal Brady and a number of bishops this afternoon, where the plans to introduce abortion legislation are expected to dominate the agenda.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

THE Taoiseach Enda Kenny today welcomed the announcement of the appointment of Monsignor Eamon Martin as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh and successor to Catholic primate Cardinal Sean Brady when he retires.

“It’s a matter entirely for the Catholic Church but I think the fact that the new appointment has some experience of the area of children protection and security obviously is very welcome,” he said.

The Taoiseach said that he had “very good relations with the Catholic Church”, adding that he was due to meet Cardinal Brady this afternoon to talk about what he described as “a very long agenda as part of the structure dialogue that I have with the churches. I’m very happy to engage with the [Catholic] church. We have lots to talk about”.

However, relations have been strained between the Catholic hierarchy and the government due to a number of issues, including the closure of Ireland’s Vatican embassy, the Taoiseach’s post-Cloyne Report criticism of the Holy See’s handling of child abuse scandals, and the coalition’s decision last month to proceed with legislation on the Supreme Court abortion ruling.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, is to retire by 2015 at the earliest.

Monsignor Eamon Martin, administrator of the Diocese of Derry and a former teacher, has been named his successor and appointed assistant in the Archdiocese of Armagh during the transition.

One of his first roles will be to lobby for the church’s anti-abortion stance as the Irish Government legislates to allow terminations on strict medical grounds.

After a wide-ranging address to parishioners in Armagh following the announcement, the 52-year-old said the church had to have the courage to speak out on issues.

“Sometimes it is a voice that people would prefer not to hear, particularly on the issue of abortion,” Monsignor Martin said.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Friday, 18 January 2013

The appointment of an assistant bishop to the Archdiocese of Armagh marks the beginning of the end of Cardinal Sean Brady’s 48 years in the Catholic Church.

Well regarded as a teacher and from his time at the Irish College Rome, the religious leader is broadly considered a decent man.

But his clerical career will be forever clouded by his mishandling of a probe into predatory paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

Cardinal Brady has faced a clamour of calls for his resignation over the scandal after it emerged he failed to share allegations of child sex abuse from the 1970s with police and the victims’ parents.

He personally swore 14-year-old Brendan Boland to secrecy after interviewing him in the 1975 inquiry into the charges against Smyth. The teenager’s accusations, including names and addresses of other potential victims, were kept under wraps.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY | Fri Jan 18, 2013

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Friday appointed the new head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland to succeed Cardinal Sean Brady, whose tenure has been plagued by scandal over the sexual abuse of children on the predominantly Roman Catholic island.

The Vatican said Monsignor Eamon Martin, 51, had been named “coadjutor” archbishop of Armagh, meaning he will automatically succeed Brady when he retires next year.

Brady, who will remain primate until his retirement, has resisted calls by three of the four main parties in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister to resign over the sexual abuse scandal.

The Vatican’s move was seen as an attempt to give him a soft exit. While it spared him the embarrassment of stepping down before his scheduled retirement, he will effectively be sidestepped as Martin takes over the running of the diocese.

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CONNECTICUT
Fox News

The Catholic priest indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged nationwide methamphetamine ring was reportedly suspended after Connecticut church officials discovered he was a cross-dresser who was having sex in the rectory at Bridgeport’s St. Augustine Cathedral.

The Connecticut Post reports that Monsignor Kevin Wallin was relieved of his duties in May, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport continued to pay the 61-year-old man a stipend until his Jan. 3 arrest. Wallin had planned to fly to London that day, the newspaper reports.

At one point, Wallin, who is now dubbed “Msgr. Meth” by some, was selling upwards of $9,000 of meth a week, including shipments from Connecticut to California, according to his indictment.

In his post-priesthood life, Wallin, of Waterbury, purchased an adult specialty and video store in North Haven called Land of Oz that sold sex toys and adult videos. Investigators believe the shop helped him launder thousands of dollars in weekly profits, the newspaper reports.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

By Michelle Bauman

Washington D.C., Jan 18, 2013 / 04:05 am (CNA).- Amid speculation over the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, concerns have been raised about the possibility of appointing individuals known for criticizing the views of the bishops.

“From the steps Obama has taken in the last year, it would seem that he is trying to diminish Church influence,” a Vatican official told CNA.

The official, who requested anonymity, pointed to the administration’s contraception mandate as an example. The controversial mandate, which has been repeatedly criticized by the bishops in the U.S., requires employers to offer insurance plans covering contraception, sterilization and drugs that can cause early abortions. …

Two of the individuals listed by Allen are known for recently criticizing the stance of the U.S. bishops with regard to respect life issues and religious freedom.

One of these men is Stephen F. Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America and formerly the chair of the university’s politics department.

Schneck is affiliated with both Democrats for Life of America and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a social justice advocacy group that has been criticized by numerous bishops for causing confusion about the priority of moral issues by downplaying the significance of fundamental matters like abortion – while giving heavy weight to issues such as the environment. …

Another name listed as a possible contender for ambassador was Nicholas P. Cafardi, the former dean of the Duquesne University School of Law. A canon and civil lawyer, Cafardi was an original member and the second chairman of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth.

He drew criticism with a 2008 article arguing that while he was a “committed Catholic,” he was throwing his support behind Obama for president, despite his stance on abortion.

“I believe that we have lost the abortion battle – permanently,” Cafardi said.

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IRELAND
BBC News

Monsignor Eamon Martin has said he was “shocked” and “humbled” when he found out the Pope had nominated him as Coadjutor (assistant) Archbishop to the Archdiocese of Armagh.

The new role means he will work directly under Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and is expected to eventually replace the 73-year-old primate.

Monsignor Martin, 52, currently leads the Diocese of Derry, in his caretaker role as diocesan administrator.

‘Trepidation’

He was elected as administrator in November 2011, following the retirement of the Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, who stepped down on health grounds.

In a statement on Friday, the new coadjutor archbishop said he was “humbled and honoured” by the appointment, but also admitted that he had accepted the role with “considerable nervousness and trepidation”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Sonya McLean

Friday January 18 2013

A serial child abuser and former priest has received a three-year suspended sentence for molesting a ten-year-old boy 30 years ago.

Patrick Maguire (75) who is currently living under a strict regime with the Columban Fathers in Dalgan Park, in Navan, County Meath, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to indecently assaulting the boy in Dublin on dates between October 1, 1981 and May 1, 1982.

The ex-priest has 15 previous convictions for similar offences of abusing young boys and is a registered sex offender.

Maguire’s defence counsel Shane Costelloe BL told Judge Mary Ellen Ring that there are more charges pending against his client that are currently before the courts and other people have since made complaints to the gardaí.

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CONNECTICUT
Gawker

Cross-Dressing, Show-Tunes-Loving Connecticut Priest Busted for Selling Meth and Laundering Money Through His Sex Shop

Neetzan Zimmerman

Following news that one of their former priests was arrested earlier this month for his alleged involvement in a cross-county meth ring, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, released a statement expressing “shock and concern” for the “gifted, accomplished and compassionate” Monsignor.

But sources tell the Connecticut Post that the Diocese had been aware of Msgr. Kevin Wallin’s “personal problems” since receiving complaints nearly two years ago from rectory personnel at St. Augustine Cathedral that Wallin was “engaging in sex acts” with “odd-looking men” while “sometimes dressed as a woman.”

And then there’s this:

Wallin’s arrest sent shock waves through the Bridgeport and Danbury communities where he was known as a charismatic speaker who was involved in many charitable activities, and who enjoyed Broadway musicals and show tunes. He often attended musicals with his mentor, former N.Y. Cardinal Edward Egan and parishioners.

Wallin, who was St. Augustine’s pastor, was granted a sabbatical in July 2011 to seek a health assessment, but was suspended in May 2012 after failing to show up for follow-up examination.

Still, he continued to receive a stipend from the Diocese up until his January 3rd arrest for possession and distribution of methamphetamine.

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VATICAN CITY/IRELAND
Vatican Insider

Benedict XVI has nominated Eamon Martin as coadjutor (assistant) Archbishop of Armagh: He will succeed Cardinal Brady who was found to have covered up abuse cases

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

Benedict XVI has appointed Mgr. Eamon Martin as new coadjutor (assistant) Archbishop of Armagh, in Northern Ireland. 51-year-old Mgr. Martin became Diocesan Administrator of Derry, after the previous bishop Mgr. Seamus Hegarty resigned in 2011. As the new coadjutor, Martin will become the successor of the current Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Sean Brady, and as such is in line to become the next Primate of the Irish Catholic Church.

The new coadjutor archbishop’s appointment comes after repeated requests were made for Brady’s resignation because he had kept quiet about cases of sex abuse committed by priests against minors. The cardinal himself admitted to the cover-ups.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

A 75 year-old Columban missionary who has a history of sexually abusing children has been given a 3-year suspended sentence for an indecent assault on a boy in the early 1980s.

Fr Patrick Maguire admits fondling the boy who stayed overnight at his house in North Dublin on a date in 1981 or 1982.

He has 15 previous convictions.

His victim feels the abuse has impaired almost every aspect of his life but asked Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to impose a lenient sentence.

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HAWAII
Damon Tucker: Hawaii News and Island Information

Victims of sexual abuse are blasting a Honolulu high school for publicizing a scholarship named after a three-time accused predator priest.

In a letter to the president and board of directors of Maryknoll High School, members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org) say that a scholarship honoring accused predator priest Fr. James A. Jackson “hurts victims and discourages them from speaking up, thus endangering more kids.”

They are urging that the scholarship be dissolved.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

ONE of a family of 12 children, Monsignor Eamon Martin was born in 1961 in Pennyburn in Derry.

His mother, Catherine Crossan, lives in Derry and his father, John James Martin, died in 2006.

A Diocesan Administrator for the Diocese of Derry, he is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Thought for the Day and Sunday Morning Worship, and RTE programmes.

He has a keen interest in gardening and music, particularly in choral, classical music and Gregorian chant.

He has become well-known in the North for his reforms in education and interest in children’s rights.

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IRELAND
Independent Catholic News

Cardinal Seán Brady announced this morning that Pope Benedict has appointed Mgr Eamon Martin, the Diocesan Administrator of Derry, as Coadjutor Bishop of the Archdiocese. Mgr Martin will assist the Cardinal in his work and should succeed Cardinal Brady as Archbishop on his retirement.

Speaking at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, the Cardinal congratulated Monsignor Martin and thanked Pope Benedict for his appointment. “Today, in choosing Mgr Eamon Martin for the office of bishop, he has chosen a man of great gifts and great generosity who knows how to use those talents in the education of people – young and old,” he said.

Mgr Martin said he was shocked by the appointment but looking forward to his new role. “I was shocked some days ago, when I heard Archbishop Brown say that Pope Benedict XVI had nominated me as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh. I am very conscious of the great trust that the Holy Father has placed in me, but in truth I have to admit it was with considerable nervousness and trepidation that I accepted his call,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 18 January 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father:

– appointed Bishop Heiner Koch as bishop of the diocese of Dresden-Meissen (area 17,000, population 4,271,000, Catholics 139,890, priests 241, permanent deacons 11, religious 208), Germany. Bishop Koch, titular of Ros Cré, was born in 1954 in Dusseldorf, Germany, was ordained to the priesthood in 1980, and received episcopal ordination in 2006. Bishop Koch was previously auxiliary of Köln (Cologne), Germany. …

– appointed Msgr. Eamon Martin as coadjutor archbishop of the metropolitan archdiocese of Armagh (area 2,550, population 333,758, Catholics 227,120, priests 187, religious 391), Ireland. The bishop-elect, previously diocesan administrator of the diocese of Derry since 2010, was born in 1961 in Derry, Ireland, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1987. Msgr. Martin was appointed chaplain to His Holiness in 2011.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Times

By PHIL HERON,
editor@delcotimes.com
@philheron

It’s pretty safe to say this was not what the prosecution had in mind when they put the Rev. Edward Avery on the stand Thursday. Avery was called to testify for the prosecution in the trial of another priest and a Catholic school teacher on charges they raped an altar boy and student at a parish in Northeast Philly back in 1998-199.

But it sure didn’t sound like it. Avery, who had pleaded guilty to similar charges involving this accuser nearly a year ago, had something else he wanted to say. The defrocked priest quickly turned into what is referred in legal circles as a “hostile witness.”

Ya think?

Avery stunned prosecutors by denying he had ever raped the boy, recanting his earlier admission and guilty plea. Furthermore, the 70-year-old ex-cleric said he only pleaded guilty – in the process admitting he raped the boy – because he was afraid that if he went to trial and was convicted, he would have been sent to jai for the rest of his life. As part of his plea deal, Avery is instead serving two and a half to five years in prison.

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CONNECTICUT
God Discussion

Alleged meth dealing priest arrested in Connecticut in drug ring bust; liked sex in rectory according to sources

By Dakota O’Leary
On January 18, 2013

Monsignor Kevin Wallin, a Catholic priest, was arrested in a bust in Connecticut. He allegedly dealt crystal meth, but wasn’t officially relieved of his duties until church officials found out he was a cross-dresser who liked to have sex in the rectory of St.Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport, CT. CT Post reports:

Now dubbed “Msgr. Meth” by some, Wallin seemed to live a life that easily could have been ripped from the script of “Breaking Bad,” the popular AMC series about a high school chemistry teacher turned crystal methamphetamine producer. At one point, Wallin was selling upwards of $9,000 of meth a week, according to his indictment.

In his post-priesthood, Wallin, 61, bought an adult specialty and video store in North Haven called Land of Oz that sells sex toys and X-rated DVDs. Investigators believe the shop helped him launder thousands of dollars in weekly profits.

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CONNECTICUT
New York Post

By DAN MANGAN
Last Updated: 5:23 AM, January 18, 2013

Walter White has nothing on this man of God.

A Connecticut priest — who once was a top aide to Edward Cardinal Egan — was busted for selling ultra-pure crystal meth shipped to him by California co-conspirators, law-enforcement officials said yesterday.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin, 61, faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of the drug conspiracy, which echoes the hit AMC show “Breaking Bad,” where mild-mannered science teacher White becomes a drug kingpin.

Wallin was likely slinging meth to help fund his purchase of a shop selling drug paraphernalia, adult movies and toys, authorities said.

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CONNECTICUT
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Sam Adams

Accused: Msgr Kevin Wallin was allegedly suspended by the Church for having sex in his rectory. He has also been charged by police with distributing crystal meth in a cross-country ring

A Connecticut priest at the centre of a meth drug-dealing gang has been suspended over allegations he had sex in his rectory.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin was relieved of his duties in May last year after complaints were made by staff at his residence in Bridgeport.

The news will embarrass the Church as the priest also faces charges of helping run a cross-country methamphetamine distribution ring.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Monsignor Eamon Martin, administrator of Derry diocese, has been appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh with the right in canon law to succeed the Catholic primate Cardinal Sean Brady when he retires.

Cardinal Brady would have been due to retire when he reached the age of 75 in August 2014 and he may continue in office until that date.

The Cardinal has been subject to much criticism since it emerged in March 2010 that he had conducted inquiries into allegations of child sex abuse involving Fr Brendan Smyth in 1975 at the conclusion of which he swore two boys to secrecy who he believed were abused by the priest.

Following the then Fr Brady’s investigation, Fr Smyth was prevented from ministering in Cardinal Brady’s native Kilmore diocese until 1984. The civil authorities were not informed of Fr Smyth’s abuse of children and he continued to abuse young people until shortly before his imprisonment by a Belfast court in 1994

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IRELAND
UTV

The Catholic Church have announced the appointment of an assistant bishop, who will eventually succeed Cardinal Sean Brady in the Armagh Archdiocese.

Monsignor Eamon Martin, Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Derry, was named on Friday morning as recipient of the role of Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh.

Speaking at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in the city, the respected cleric said that he had reflected a lot “on this new calling from God in my life” over the last few days.

“I am humbled and honoured to serve as bishop in this historic Archdiocese of Armagh.”

He went on to address the issue of abuse in his speech: “One of the greatest challenges facing our Church is to acknowledge, live with, and learn from the past, including the terrible trauma caused by abuse. I think today of all those who have been abused by clergy, and the hurt and betrayal they have experienced.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has appointed as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, the Right Reverend Mgr Eamon Martin, Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Derry.

Notes for Editors
◦A photograph of Monsignor Martin is available from the Catholic Communications Office, Maynooth.
◦Life and ministry of Very Rev Monsignor Eamon Martin:

Eamon Martin was born on 30 October 1961 in Pennyburn, Derry. His mother Catherine Crossan lives in Derry and his father John James Martin is deceased (RIP June 2006). He comes from a family of twelve children – six boys and six girls.

Eamon Martin was ordained a priest in Saint Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry, by Bishop Edward Daly, Bishop Emeritus of Derry, on 28 June 1987. In September of that year Mgr Martin was appointed Assistant Priest, Parish of Templemore, Derry. He was appointed to the teaching staff of Saint Columb’s College, Derry in September 1990 to teach Mathematics and Religion and became Head of Religious Education in the College in September 1997. Mgr Martin was appointed President of Saint Columb’s College in May 2000.

In June 2008 Mgr Martin was appointed Executive Secretary to the Irish Episcopal Conference in Maynooth, Co Kildare. Two years later in June 2010 he was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Derry by Bishop Séamus Hegarty, Bishop Emeritus of Derry. On 18 November 2010 Mgr Martin was appointed Chaplain to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and he was elected Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Derry on 25 November 2011.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Statement by Monsignor Eamon Martin on his appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh

A chairde, go raibh maith agaibh as an fháilte gheal a chuir sibh romham. Is onóir é a bheith in bhur measc. Is mór agam bhur bpaidreacha agus na dea-ghuíonna go léir. My brothers and sisters in Christ: I have a whole mixture of feelings as I greet you today. I was shocked some days ago, when I heard Archbishop Brown say that Pope Benedict XVI had nominated me as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh. I am very conscious of the great trust that the Holy Father has placed in me, but in truth I have to admit it was with considerable nervousness and trepidation that I accepted his call. So it means a lot to me that you are here today – thank you for this very warm welcome. Archbishop Brown, I appreciate you taking the time to be with us and all your support. And thank you, Cardinal Brady and Bishop Clifford for welcoming me here to Armagh and for your encouragement in recent days. No doubt today, Cardinal Brady, brings back memories of when you were ordained as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh back in February 1995. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the Archdiocese over many years. I very much look forward to working with you.

Over the past few days, I have reflected a lot on this new calling from God in my life. I am humbled and honoured to serve as bishop in this historic Archdiocese of Armagh. I feel like the apostles in chapter 5 of Luke’s Gospel, being called by Our Lord to be courageous, to ‘put out into the deep’ (Luke 5:4). And as I come to this wonderful place, Armagh, the Christian heart of Ireland – I find myself like St Patrick praying for:

God’s strength to pilot me, God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Cardinal Seán Brady welcomes Appointment of Rt Rev Mgr Eamon Martin as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh

Address by Cardinal Seán Brady, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, on the Appointment of Rt Rev Mgr Eamon Martin as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh

Your Excellency, Archbishop Brown, Bishop Clifford, Mgr Martin,

My brother priests, religious, people of the diocese,

I welcome you all here to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh and I thank you most sincerely for coming.

Last week the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Brown went to Limerick to announce the appointment of a new bishop, Father Brendan Leahy. On that occasion he said that he would, in the near future, be announcing the appointment, by Pope Benedict XVI of more bishops.

Archbishop Brown is a man of his word. It is my pleasure to welcome him again most warmly to Armagh and to inform you that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Mgr Eamon Martin, Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Derry, as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh.

My first reaction is one of great joy and great gratitude. I thank God for the gift of a new Coadjutor Bishop for the Diocese of Armagh. Eighteen years ago I was appointed, by Pope John Paul II, as Coadjutor Bishop to the late Cardinal Daly. In 2010, I asked the present Pope, Pope Benedict XVI to appoint a Coadjutor to assist me. Today my request has been granted and I am so very thankful to the Holy Father for acceding to my request.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Statement by Bishop Séamus Hegarty on the appointment of Monsignor Eamon Martin as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh

I warmly congratulate Monsignor Eamon Martin on his appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh.

Monsignor Martin has given generous priestly service over twenty five years in the Diocese of Derry. Of particular note has been his dedicated work in the field of education, both as a teacher and as President of Saint Columb’s College, Derry. In addition to his ministry in Derry, Monsignor Martin made a great contribution to the Irish Episcopal Conference, during his time as Administrative Secretary. Having worked with Monsignor Martin for many years, I know that he will bring great dedication, energy and enthusiasm to Armagh.

I pray that God will bless Monsignor Martin’s Episcopal ministry and the people of the Archdiocese of Armagh, whom he will serve.

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IRELAND
Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Statement by Bishop Edward Daly on the appointment of Monsignor Eamon Martin as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh

I wish to offer my sincere congratulations, good wishes and God’s blessing to Monsignor Eamon Martin on his appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh.

Over the last 25 years, Eamon has served both the Derry Diocese and the Irish Episcopal Conference with distinction. He has fulfilled all the various major responsibilities entrusted to him since his ordination with outstanding ability. He will bring many skills and gifts to the Archdiocese of Armagh and, subsequently, to the Irish Church. He is highly intelligent, knowledgeable and articulate, and an excellent communicator of God’s word.

I have known Eamon and his family since he was a child. His mother and family are rightly proud of him. I am pleased that a priest of the Derry Diocese has been entrusted with this daunting responsibility and feel very honoured that I ordained Eamon to the priesthood of this diocese.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Cormac McQuinn

Friday January 18 2013

CARDINAL Sean Brady will be succeeded as Archbishop of Armagh by Monsignor Eamon Martin, the administrator of the Diocese of Derry.

Making the announcement this morning, Cardinal Brady said his first reaction to the appointment of Mgr Martin co-adjudicator Archbishop of Armagh was one of “great joy and great gratitude”.

Cardinal Brady, aged 73, has led the church in Ireland for more than 16 years. A series of investigations during that time exposed damning levels of clerical abuse, and the leading cleric was damaged by revelations about his inaction over notorious paedophile Brendan Smyth in the 1970s.

He explained in today’s address that he asked Pope Benedict XVI to appoint a co-adjudicator to assist him in 2010 and said “I am so very thankful to the Holy Father for acceding to my request.”

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IRELAND
BBC News

The administrator of the Diocese of Derry looks set to be the next leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Monsignor Eamon Martin has been appointed as coadjutor (assistant) Archbishop of Armagh. It was announced by the current leader, Cardinal Sean Brady on Friday.

Msgr Martin said the church must learn from the “terrible trauma” of abuse.

Former Bishop of Derry Edward Daly said he is seen as “a clean pair of hands” after the church’s abuse scandals.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO

Il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha nominato Arcivescovo Coadiutore dell’arcidiocesi metropolitana di Armagh (Irlanda) il Rev.do Mons. Eamon Martin, del clero della diocesi di Derry, finora Amministratore diocesano della medesima diocesi.

Rev.do Mons. Eamon Martin
Il Rev.do Mons. Eamon Martin è nato a Derry il 30 ottobre 1961. Dopo l’educazione elementare presso la St. Patrick’s Primary School, Pennyburn, Derry, e quella media presso il St. Columb’s College, Derry, ha compiuto la formazione al sacerdozio nel St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, ottenendo un Baccalaureato in materie scientifiche e in Teologia.

È stato ordinato sacerdote, per la diocesi di Derry, il 28 giugno 1987.

In seguito, è stato dapprima Curato nella Cattedrale di St. Eugene, Derry (1987-1989), poi ha compiuto studi di specializzazione per l’insegnamento presso la Queen’s University di Belfast (1989-1990) e conseguito un Master in Amministrazione Educativa presso l’Università di Cambridge in Inghilterra (1998-1999).

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IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Friday 18 January 2013

Derry’s Diocesan Administrator, Monsignor Eamon Martin, will replace Cardinal Seán Brady as Archbishop of Armagh following his appointment as Coadjutor Bishop of the Archdiocese.

Cardinal Brady made the announcement this morning in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.

“The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Mgr Eamon Martin, Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese of Derry, as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh,” the Primate said.

Cardinal Brady congratulated Monsignor Martin and thanked Pope Benedict for his appointment. “Today, in choosing Mgr Eamon Martin for the office of bishop, he has chosen a man of great gifts and great generosity who knows how to use those talents in the education of people – young and old,” he said.

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IRELAND
Houston Chronicle

DUBLIN (AP) — The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland says its longtime leader, Cardinal Sean Brady, will be replaced by 2014.

Brady told a news conference Friday he welcomes the Vatican’s appointment of an aide and eventual successor, Monsignor Eamon Martin.

The 73-year-old Brady has been the Catholic primate of Ireland since 1996. He has been sharply criticized for his handling of child abuse scandals exposed in the Irish church since the mid-1990s.

In 2010 Brady refused calls to resign after he admitted that, in 1975, he took testimony from two boys who had been abused by a pedophile priest, then swore both to secrecy. Brady apologized, but said he was following orders from superiors.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WKBN

[with video]

Five former students at a Johnstown, Pa. Catholic school said in phone interviews on Thursday that Franciscan friar Stephen P. Baker molested them while they were athletes being treated for injuries during their time at the school during the mid-to-late 1990s.

The former students from Bishop McCort High School, who will not be identified because they are alleged victims of sexual abuse, played sports at the school from 1993 through 1999 and said Baker would touch their genitals and often digitally penetrated them while under the guise of treating sports injuries.

The accounts mirrored two of the 11 former students from Warren John F. Kennedy High School in Warren who received high-five figure settlements with the Youngstown Diocese, the T.O.R. Franciscan Order in Pennsylvania and JFK for being allegedly abused by Baker during what was supposed to be treatment for minor sports injuries.

Baker was the sports trainer and religion teacher at Bishop McCort during the 1990s. He also coached the junior varsity baseball team and other youth traveling baseball teams unaffiliated with the school, according to interviews.

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WORCESTER (MA)
GMA News (Philippines)

A Filipino Roman Catholic priest, who returned to the United States to surrender after a year of hiding in the Philippines over child pornography charges, is ordered held for $500,000 cash bail even as church leaders in Massachusetts asked the Vatican to defrock the embattled priest.

Rev. Lowe Dongor, 36, pleaded not guilty on child pornography and larceny charges during his arraignment on Dec. 24 in Worcester Superior Court in Massachusetts.

Dongor was associate pastor at St. Joseph’s Parish in Fitchburg, Mass. when he was initially charged in 2011.

Prosecutors said sexually explicit images of pre-teen girls was found on his laptop computer, and he was also accused of stealing from the church’s weekly collection.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —

6 News learned late Thursday afternoon that several former athletes who attended Bishop McCort High School in the late 1990s have reached out to a local attorney after a Franciscan brother was accused of having inappropriate contact with minors in Ohio a decade before.

“One of our concerns in the case and one of the issues with respect to this situation is what was known to Brother Baker before he ended up at the diocese here in Johnstown,” said attorney Michael Parrish.

Brother Stephen Baker has been accused of abusing 11young boys in Ohio. Now grown men, they said they recently reached settlements in civil court.

The Johnstown-Altoona Diocese said late Thursday that it received its first report of local allegations against Baker in November 2011.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Sandra K Reabuck sreabuck@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — A Franciscan friar who had ties to Bishop McCort Catholic High School decades ago has been accused of sexually abusing boys while he was a baseball coach and religious teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, in the in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Brother Stephen Baker, now living in the Hollidaysburg area, was identified as the abuser by two men who spoke about the abuse at a news conference this week in Ohio. They and nine other men settled claims against the school, the Diocese of Youngstown and the Third Order Regular of the Franciscan Friars in October.

According to published reports, the two men said that the sex abuse took place mostly when they played baseball for the high school, where Baker was the coach and trainer.

Baker, now living at St. Bernardine’s Monastery, also was a religion teacher and a trainer on the baseball and football staffs at Johnstown’s Bishop McCort Catholic High School in the late 1990s and in the 2000s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WeAreCentralPA

[with video]

By: Aaron Cheslock

Updated: January 17, 2013

HOLLIDAYSBURG, BLAIR COUNTY – A man living in a Blair County Monastery is alleged to have sexually abused boys, dating back to the 1980’s.

A Franciscan brother, now living in Blair County, is accused of sexually abusing 11 students at an Ohio high school in the 1980s.

Those Ohio victims’ attorney says Brother Stephen Baker, recently settled out of court. Baker was never criminally charged.

Brother Stephan baker was a teacher and coach at bishop mccort high school in Johnstown in the late 1990’s… Just a few years after the alleged abuse in Ohio… And there one alleged victim says, he used to manipulate the kids he abused…

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PENNSYLVANIA
WWCP

Brother Stephen Baker acted as an Athletic Trainer at Bishop McCort High School around that same time. Previously, Baker had been accused of sexually abusing young boys in Ohio in the 1980’s. He was never criminally charged but settled out of court with his alleged victims. The Diocese said it’s first reports of local allegations back in November 2011. We spoke to the Attorney for some former Bishop McCort Athletes whoo have been calling saying they are concerned since the report. Bishiop Mark Barchak said in a statement “the abuse of minors at any time and place is wrong and can never be excused.” Brother Baker is now living in the Saint Bernadine Moastery in Blair County.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 23

The Johnstown Altoona Diocese says it received reports that a Franciscan Brother had inappropriate contact with minors in the 1990’s. We spoke to the Attorney for some former Bishop McCort Athletes whoo have been calling saying they are concerned since the report….

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

January 18, 2013

By Russ O’Reilly (roreilly@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG – The Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown said on Thursday that there were allegations raised in 2011 against a Franciscan friar accused of sexually abusing students of an Ohio high school in the late 1980s.

The local diocese issued a release stating that in November 2011, Bishop Mark L. Bartchak became aware of accusations that Brother Stephen Baker had inappropriate contact with minors in the diocese in the late-1990s.

Baker was an instructor and staff member of Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown during that time.

On Wednesday, it was announced that a settlement has been reached with 11 men who accused Baker of sexually abusing them in Ohio between 1986 and 1990.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

January 18, 2013

By JOE GORMAN – Staff reporter (jgorman@tribtoday.com) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

A day after it was revealed 11 men who claimed to be molested at John F. Kennedy High School in the mid-1980s reached a settlement, five other men have stepped forward to claim they were abused by the same person.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston-based attorney who represented the 11, said Thursday the five men came forward after news of the settlement was revealed Wednesday and two of the 11 men spoke to the media. Garabedian said another man contacted him after the settlement was revealed.

As with those 12, Garabedian said the five on Thursday claimed to have been abused by Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan brother who was baseball coach at the school at the time. The abuse also covered the same time period, from 1986 to 1990, Garabedian said.

He said the men contacted him either by phone or email. The number of people who now claimed to have been abused by Baker is 17.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

January 18, 2013

WARREN – The president of John F. Kennedy High School is reassuring supporters and benefactors of the school that their financial gifts are “used exclusively to support student scholarships and academic, campus ministry, athletic and artistic programs” for current students.

In a letter dated Thursday, Brian Sinchak explained that he wanted to share information related to the recent settlement in allegations of sexual abuse of former students by Stephen P. Baker, a Franciscan brother, who served as a religion teacher, baseball coach and athletic trainer at JFK in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“While there have been reports of financial settlements, please know that these are not from school finances, investments or our operating budget,” Sinchak said. “Your gifts directly benefit our current students in their development as leaders of courage, integrity and dedication.”

“Brother Baker, a member of T.O.R Franciscan Order, is no longer involved with the school community and hasn’t been for over twenty years,” Sinchak wrote.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

The conviction of Philadelphia’s Msgr. William J. Lynn last June was historic and widely trumpeted by an overheated media, as Lynn became the first member of the Catholic hierarchy to be found guilty in a criminal court for endangering children.

And the sole reason Lynn sits in jail today is because former priest Edward Avery had pleaded guilty to sexually violating a 10-year-old boy in the late 1990s. Prosecutors claimed that Lynn should not have placed Avery into a ministry assignment because the priest had a prior abuse accusation dating back to the 1970s. Had Lynn kept Avery out of public ministry, prosecutors charged, he would not have been able to abuse the 10-year-old.

But in a truly shocking development, Avery took the witness stand today in a Philadelphia courtroom and recanted under oath his guilty plea.

This remarkable turn-around indicates that Msgr. Lynn may likely be sitting in jail based on a crime that never even happened!

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Catholic World Reort

January 18, 2013

By Carl E. Olson

No, I’m not talking about the hiring of Chip Kelly away from the Oregon Ducks (who play all of ten minutes from my home). Here is the surprising news, as mentioned by David Pierre, Jr., a contributor to CWR, on his MediaReport.com site:

The conviction of Philadelphia’s Msgr. William J. Lynn last June was historic and widely trumpeted by an overheated media, as Lynn became the first member of the Catholic hierarchy to be found guilty in a criminal court for endangering children.

And the sole reason Lynn sits in jail today is because former priest Edward Avery had pleaded guilty to sexually violating a 10-year-old boy in the late 1990s. Prosecutors claimed that Lynn should not have placed Avery into a ministry assignment because the priest had a prior abuse accusation dating back to the 1970s. Had Lynn kept Avery out of public ministry, prosecutors charged, he would not have been able to abuse the 10-year-old.

But in a truly shocking development, Avery took the witness stand today in a Philadelphia courtroom and recanted under oath his guilty plea.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Priest jailed for child abuse recants guilty plea and claims he didn’t rape the altar boy but was afraid of getting a longer sentence

An imprisoned ex-priest at the center of a landmark Roman Catholic priest-abuse case testified Thursday that he pleaded guilty to a sexual assault he didn’t commit.

Edward Avery, 70, admitted to an earlier abuse complaint, but he said he never had any contact with the accuser in an ongoing criminal trial. He said he took a plea deal in which he admitted assaulting the man because he didn’t want to risk a longer sentence if convicted at trial.

Asked if he raped the 24-year-old policeman’s son, Avery said: ‘I did not. So help me God.’

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The next pope, expected soon by many, will apparently be the last imperial pope elected. Thereafter, the Catholic hierarchy will likely be compelled to adopt power-sharing reforms under accelerating pressure, including from political leaders in Australia, Ireland, Germany and soon likely the USA, as well. The percentage of voting Cardinals in the Vatican, mostly Italians, has increased considerably during Benedict XVI’s short tenure. This has fortified the Vatican Cardinal clique’s veto grip on the next papal election, which likely will be of an initially younger, longer serving, but similarly imperial, pope.

Benedict XVI’s evident enhancement of the papal election veto threat by his selection of new voting Cardinals helps explain in retrospect the apparent support of long time Vatican powers, Cardinal Sodano, et al., for the elderly current German pope’s election in 2005. This support had been surprising to some, given the earlier reported disputes between them over investigating Cardinal Groer and Father Maciel, two notorious sexual predators. Groer and Maciel had also been strongly supported by Pope John Paul II. The Vatican clique’s enhanced veto power tends to assure that their next hand-picked pope can be expected to continue to run the Catholic Church dictatorially, mainly to maximize the wealth and power of Vatican Cardinals and their subservient, but well rewarded, Cardinal accomplices worldwide.

Italian Cardinals in 1870 lost to a nationalist army their political control over the lucrative Papal States. But these Cardinals and their carefully chosen Italian successors, including Cardinals Ottaviani and Sodano for much of the last half century, have shrewdly managed to recover and even expand their power and wealth since 1870. The Vatican clique has significantly strengthened its already tight grip on the worldwide Roman Holy Empire, with its considerable wealth and political influence, so far at least. In the process, the clique has also succeeded in helping to undermine the overwhelming approvals of the 1966 papal birth control commission of contraception and of the 2,500+ Vatican II bishops of effective power-sharing among the pope and bishops and also to undercut the strong support for making celibacy optional for priests. Very significantly, however, the Vatican clique also has failed to curtail effectively the massive worldwide scandal of priest sexual assaults on trusting children.

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

DEN BOSCH (RKnieuws.net) – Het gerechtshof in Den Bosch heeft gisteren bepaald dat kardinaal A. Simonis niet hoeft te worden vervolgd voor meineed. De klacht van een Bredanaar dat de kardinaal opzettelijk zou hebben gelogen is geseponeerd omdat er volgens het OM geen bewijs is.

De klacht is de afgelopen maanden achter gesloten deuren behandeld door het gerechtshof. Zonder dat Simonis ooit zelf is ondervraagd door het hof werd de klacht dinsdag ongegrond verklaard. De precieze motivatie is nog niet bekend. De volledige uitspraak wordt later gepubliceerd.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

By WJAC Web Staff and The Associated Press

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —

A Franciscan brother who is accused of sexually abusing 11 students at an Ohio high school in the 1980s previously coached a Johnstown high school baseball team.

6 News has learned that Brother Stephen Baker, who now lives in Blair County, was a trainer with the Bishop McCort High School baseball team in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Prior to his time in Johnstown, Baker was accused of molesting boys at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, from 1986-90. Baker was also a baseball coach and trainer at the Ohio school. Two of the alleged victims from Warren told an Ohio television station that the sexual abuse would happen after practice in the Warren high school’s training room.

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OHIO
Fox Youngstown

[with video]

Five more people have contacted attorneys claiming they were sexually abused by a Franciscan friar who taught religion, coached baseball and was the athletic trainer at Warren’s John F. Kennedy High School in the late 1980s.

Eleven others have reached settlements with the Franciscan Order based in Pennsylvania, JFK High School and the Youngstown Diocese and another person had contacted Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian before the quintet contacted Garabedian later on Wednesday.

Garabedian said Thursday the five men, all JFK students, contacted him with claims they were abused by the friar, Brother Stephen P. Baker, who taught at the school and was the athletic trainer at JFK from 1986-1991.

Garabedian said a sixth person, a woman, also called and said she was being treated for a sports injury while at JFK when Baker made an odd request.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WYTV

[with video]

Five former students at a Johnstown, Pa. Catholic school said in phone interviews on Thursday that Franciscan friar Stephen P. Baker molested them while they were athletes being treated for injuries during their time at the school during the mid-to-late 1990s.

The former students from Bishop McCort High School, who will not be identified because they are alleged victims of sexual abuse, played sports at the school from 1993 through 1999 and said Baker would touch their genitals and often digitally penetrated them while under the guise of treating sports injuries.

The accounts mirrored two of the 11 former students from Warren John F. Kennedy High School in Warren who received high-five figure settlements with the Youngstown Diocese, the T.O.R. Franciscan Order in Pennsylvania and JFK for being allegedly abused by Baker during what was supposed to be treatment for minor sports injuries.

Baker was the sports trainer and religion teacher at Bishop McCort during the 1990s. He also coached the junior varsity baseball team and other youth traveling baseball teams unaffiliated with the school, according to interviews.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

MENSAH M. DEAN, Daily News Staff Writer deanm@phillynews.com, 215-568-8278

Posted: Friday, January 18, 2013

A DEFROCKED Catholic priest who pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting an altar boy recanted his guilty plea on the witness stand Wednesday, dealing a blow to prosecutors making a case against two other men on trial for allegedly molesting the same boy.

Defrocked priest Edward Avery, 70, who is serving a 2 1/2-to-5-year state prison sentence, denied touching or even knowing the victim. Avery had been expected to buttress the prosecution’s case against Rev. Charles Engelhardt, 66, and ex-teacher Bernard Shero, 49, who are being tried in Common Pleas Court for allegedly raping a St. Jerome Parish altar boy in 1998 and 2000, respectively.

Although Avery pleaded guilty to assaulting the boy before his own trial began, and prosecutors have evidence that he assaulted other young men, Avery claimed innocence Thursday.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

The case of a priest awaiting sentence for sexually abusing a brother and sister was officially closed on Thursday after his death certificate was handed into Belfast Crown Court.

The cases against 71-year-old Fr Joseph Steele, who may not have been mentally fit to plead, was initially listed last November, following his death.

The wheelchair bound paedophile had been living in Dublin, was due to have been sentenced by Belfast Recorder, Judge David McFarland for a total of ten sex offences.

Fr Steele, with an address at Kimmage Manor, Crumlin, Dublin, had admitted five counts of indecent assault and two of gross indecency committed against the male child on dates between January 1967 and January 1971.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Daniel Tepfer

Updated 8:13 pm, Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Catholic priest busted for allegedly dealing crystal meth was suspended after shocked church officials discovered he was a cross-dresser who was having sex in the rectory at Bridgeport’s St. Augustine Cathedral.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin was relieved of his duties in May 2012, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport had continued to pay him a stipend until his Jan. 3 arrest — a day he was planning to fly to London on vacation.

Now dubbed “Msgr. Meth” by some, Wallin seemed to live a life that easily could have been ripped from the script of “Breaking Bad,’ the popular AMC series about a high school chemistry teacher turned crystal methamphetamine producer.

In his post-priesthood,Wallin, 61, used his profits to buy an adult specialty and video store in North Haven called Land of Oz that sells sex toys and X-rated DVDs, according to the indictment. Investigators believe the shop helped him launder thousands of dollars in weekly profits. …

The sources said while pastor of St. Augustine’s, he often disappeared for days at a time; rectory personnel became concerned and notified diocese officials when Wallin, sometimes dressed as a woman, would entertain odd-looking men, some who were also dressed in women’s clothing, and engaged in sex acts.

In addition, diocese officials found bizarre sex toys in Wallin’s residence, the sources said.

Diocese officials consulted lawyers about the situation and were assured none of Wallin’s behavior appeared illegal, the sources said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Ralph Cipriano

Ed Avery looked the prosecutor in the eye and said he didn’t do it.

He said he never touched the 10-year-old altar boy known as “Billy Doe.” The defrocked priest today rode a bus from the state prison up in Laurel Highlands, Somerset County, all the way to the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, at least a four-hour trip, to tell a jury it was all a lie.

Avery said he only pleaded guilty because if convicted at last year’s first Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial, he was facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years. And the prosecution was offering him a sweetheart deal — only 2 1/2 to 5 years in jail.

So on March 22, 2012, Avery pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child — namely Billy Doe — “to avoid a more lengthy prison term,” Avery said.

“I did not want to die in prison,” the 70-year-old former priest told an angry prosecutor.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti was incredulous. “You’re sitting in state prison today because of [Billy Doe’s} allegations,” he said.

“I chose to take the plea,” Avery corrected him.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

January 18, 2013

Richard Willingham
State Political Correspondent for The Age

Victims of abuse who have already given evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations may be saved the pain of having to go through new hearings for the royal commission.

There has been some concern that abuse survivors may have to give their evidence again, to the royal commission, which could cause unnecessary trauma.

The terms of reference released last week say that commissioners are not required ”to inquire, or to continue to inquire, into a particular matter to the extent that you are satisfied that the matter has been, is being, or will be, sufficiently and appropriately dealt with by another inquiry or investigation or a criminal or civil proceeding”.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the royal commission, Justice Peter McClellan, said: ”The commission is mindful of the work which has been done in various parts of Australia and will seek to draw upon the material which has already been gathered by those inquiries.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Wall Street Journal

By PETER LOFTUS

PHILADELPHIA—A defrocked Roman Catholic priest denied Thursday that he sexually abused a Philadelphia altar boy in the 1990s, despite having pleaded guilty to criminal charges last year, in a recantation that could be used in the appeal of a related case.

Edward Avery, 70 years old, was testifying at the Philadelphia trial of two other men—one priest and one teacher—who are accused of sexually abusing the same boy. Mr. Avery, who is serving a 2½- to 5-year prison sentence, denied abusing the boy, according to Mr. Avery’s defense attorney, John P. Donohue.

In March 2012, Mr. Avery pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He hasn’t appealed his conviction, Mr. Donohue said. Mr. Avery said he had agreed to a negotiated guilty plea to avoid a longer prison sentence if his case had gone to trial.

Mr. Donohue said that his client’s guilty plea didn’t require him specifically to admit to abusing the boy but rather that he knowingly and intentionally consented to the entry of a guilty plea.

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