ABUSE TRACKER

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

February 26, 2013

EUR – SNAP statement on Vatican corruption report

VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Peter Isely on February 25, 2013

Regarding the alleged network in and around the Vatican involving financially corrupt individuals and active gay clerics:

At one level, we’re skeptical because Catholic officials have often tried to scapegoat gays. That’s wrong and hurtful. At another level, we suspect there’s some truth to these accusations. Studies have shown that many priests, bishops and seminarians – gay and straight – are not celibate.

In a rigid, secretive hierarchy where no one is permitted to have sex of any type, many will have sexual secrets, so they are loathe to report sexual misdeeds by their peers. It’s likely, then, that there’s some truth to these new accounts.

Vatican staffers criticize these so-called “rumors.” But the Catholic hierarchy has only itself to blame for “rumors.” In this digital age, centuries of secrecy and deception are slowly catching up to Catholic officials who are accustomed to special treatment and excessive deference by many.

Catholic officials continue to make vague attacks against journalists. They serve only one purpose: to distract attention away from wrongdoing by the church hierarchy. They’re designed to deter others from exposing the truth. We hope all citizens and Catholics will be highly skeptical when Catholic officials try to ‘shoot the messenger’ and criticize reporters.

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

Papabile of the Day: The Men Who Could Be Pope

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 26, 2013

Rome —
John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

To date I haven’t included Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi in my daily sketches of papal contenders, largely because I published a profile of him on the first day of the Vatican’s Lenten Retreat, which was led by the 70-year-old President of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

That profile can be found here.

Suffice it to say that I’m sticking to my guns: In many ways, Ravasi really is “the most interesting man in the church.”

Ravasi drew good reviews for his meditations during the retreat, organized as a series of reflections on the Psalms. At the end, Pope Benedict XVI thanked him for his “brilliant” work – “brilliant” being a word that often tends to crop up in sentences about Ravasi.

In most media reports, the only line from the retreat that got much play was Ravasi’s reference to “divisions, dissent, careerism [and] jealousies”, which made a nice sound-bite amid the “Vatican gay lobby” furor touched off by the Italian media.

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

Keith O’Brien’s resignation is no good thing…

UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Keith O’Brien’s resignation is no good thing. But it might be good for the Catholic church

Melanie McDonagh
26 February 2013

The downfall of Cardinal Keith O’Brien could not have been more complete if it had been orchestrated by Stonewall, which, if you recall, awarded him Bigot of the Year for his opposition to gay marriage. Actually, the one surprise is that it wasn’t Stonewall that brought him down, but three Scottish priests, and one ex-priest, courtesy of The Observer. The most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, the most forthright opponent of gay marriage; quite a scalp for secularists, gay rights activists and indeed for some Catholics of a liberal persuasion. One Catholic academic, when he heard the news, observed that this marked the end of the Church’s authority on matters to do with sex – no more Rome in the bedroom.

Which is one take on it. The Guardian lost no time in its editorial today in getting the boot into a man who epitomised every attitude it least likes about Catholicism, notably abortion. Except that it went even further, observing that Rome ‘has a special problem with sex’ and in a spectacularly spiteful aside added: ‘even if one discounts innuendo about Pope Benedict XVI’s own proclivities’. Sorry? Come again? Was that a suggestion that the pope himself is a homosexual? Perhaps that was intended as a reference to Benedict’s good looking sidekick, Georg Gänswein, a cue for readers to take to the internet? Or a titter at his weakness for old fashioned regalia? Raising allegations for which there is just no evidence goes to show that Keith O’Brien has become a useful means to get at the Vatican in general, and the pope in particular.

Actually, the culture that gave rise to these alleged abuses by the cardinal does merit scrutiny. The one good thing about these allegations/revelations (which he may yet contest) is that they were first brought to the attention of the papal nuncio and that he responded, not by silencing the accusers, but by praising them for their bravery. In the old days – well, before the child abuse scandals alerted the church to the reality there is a problem – criticism was hushed up rather than addressed; anything rather than give comfort to the opposition. The replacement of a post-Reformation mindset by a culture of (relative) openness is a very good thing.

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

Top cardinal defends Mahony on abuse scandal, takes on critics

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

A top U.S. cardinal came to the defense of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, saying some priest abuse victims groups who have criticized Mahony may never be satisfied with the church’s response to the crisis.

Cardinal William Levada on Monday said Mahony should help select a new pope.

“There are some victims groups for whom enough is never enough, so we have to do our jobs as best we see it,” said Levada, 76, according to Associated Press. “He has apologized for errors in judgment that were made. I believe he should be at the conclave.”

Levada, who spoke about Mahony and the historic events at the Vatican during a talk at a Menlo Park seminary, is a former archbishop of San Francisco and also served as the pope’s prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Critics have slammed Mahony for going to Rome for the papal conclave after church files released last month showed he sought to prevent law enforcement officials from investigating priests who molested children. Mahony has apologized for his actions in the 1980s but said it is his duty to help select a new pope.

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

Venice patriarch, wildcard pope candidate, praises Benedict

ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

Padua, February 26 – The patriarch of Venice and wildcard candidate for pope praised Benedict XVI’s legacy on Tuesday in the final days of his papacy. “He is a man that has served the church through and through, and who taught us that one does not fill a post but serve the Church. We all love him very much,” said Archbishop Francesco Moraglia. He was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to march the start of the academic year at the Triveneto School of Theology. At just 59 and not yet a cardinal, Moraglia is considered a dark horse candidate for pope.

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

Dolan Begins Journey To Rome For Selection Of New Pope

NEW YORK
NY1

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is heading to the Vatican today to take part in the conclave that will elect a new Pope.

Pope Benedict XVI resigns in just two days.

The Vatican says he will be called Emeritus Pope upon his retirement and will continue to wear white.

He’s set to make his final public appearance tomorrow.

Before leaving for the Vatican, Dolan chimed in on speculation that he could be the next pope.

“Yeah, I’m eager to get to Rome. A lot going on. I’m eager to say goodbye and give my love and gratitude and prayers to the holy father on behalf of myself and of the Archdiocese of New York and then get to the work of the conclave then get back home,” said Dolan. “Listen, I think I got a better chance of taking A-Rod’s place than I do of Benedict XVI.”

Cardinal Dolan also addressed the resignation of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict yesterday.

O’Brien is denying charges of inappropriate behavior with priests.

“Right now all I hear is this speculation and opinions and kind of gossip and whispers so I’m as eager as the rest of you to know what’s going on and I presume that will too will be part of the solicitude and concern and reflections of the cardinals and the new pope,” Dolan said.

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

Papal historian: Cardinals likely to choose an ‘extrovert’

UNITED KINGDOM
NBC News

By Sohel Uddin, Producer, NBC News

LONDON – With Pope Benedict XVI set to step down on Wednesday, questions are swirling over what’s next for the soon-to-be ex-pontiff and who will be chosen as the next leader of the Catholic Church.

“There is a tendency of the electors in a conclave to choose somebody who is unlike the predecessor,” papal historian Michael Walsh said. “If you are not going to elect an Italian necessarily, then I don’t think there is any problem about whether he comes from Africa or from Asia or from America.”

Walsh added that the cardinals would be more likely to choose an “extrovert … who relates much more easily to the people than cardinal Ratzinger did.”

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

Wuerl: ‘Teach truth from pulpit, then meet people where they are’

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. ,Dennis Coday,Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 26, 2013

Rome

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. may not have the rock star charisma of New York’s Timothy Dolan, or the reputation for simplicity of Boston’s Sean O’Malley, but he’s arguably the most pivotal senior prelate in the United States for two reasons.

First, he’s seen by many observers as the dead center of the bishops’ conference, a pragmatic thinker able to hold people of differing outlooks and temperaments together. Second, he’s viewed as an effective manager who can get things done. Put those two qualities together, and it’s no mystery why he’s become the “go-to” figure among the U.S. bishops on a variety of fronts.

Wuerl is also no stranger to the Vatican, having lived and worked here as priest-secretary to Cardinal John Wright of Pittsburgh from 1969 to 1979, the period when Wright served as prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

Wuerl clearly enjoys the esteem of Pope Benedict XVI. The apple of Benedict’s eye is the idea of a “New Evangelization”, meaning relighting the missionary fires of the church, especially in the secular cultures of the West. When the Vatican staged a synod of bishops on the subject last fall, Benedict tapped the 72-year-old Wuerl for the all-important role of relator, or general secretary, whose role is crucial in keeping the synod on track and shaping its conclusions.

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

Does Boston Archdiocese have a “gay network” of clergy too?

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

Today, we learned that the Cardinal O’Brien of Scotland resigned in the wake of charges he made “inappropriate” sexual advances to four men. In the past week, most people have probably read media reports about a secret dossier claiming there is a ‘gay network’ inside the Vatican. There is speculation–denied by the Vatican–that this news contributed to the resignation of the Pope.

The drumbeat of these troubling reports from across the Atlantic has prompted BCI to tackle two topics that we have avoided for nearly the past 3 years. They are:

i) Does the Boston Archdiocese have a “gay network” of clergy
ii) Why and how is the gay agenda being advanced within the Boston Archdiocese in parishes and Catholic schools with tacit approval by Cardinal O’Malley?

We start our coverage on this topic by publishing in its entirety a document titles,”Crisis and Reform in Boston.” What you are about to read was apparently written between the time when Cardinal Bernard Law resigned (December 2002) and when Bishop Sean O’Malley was appointed Archbishop of Boston (July 2003). We do not know who wrote it or who has seen it. We posted excerpts in January 2011 (“Musings on the Future of the Boston Archdiocese: Episcopal Leadership“) and in August 2011 (“Episcopal Leadership“).

Much of what was described in the document written about ten years ago still seems to apply today. It describes the clerical “black wall”, behind which some priests have surrendered completely to the pagan culture of “gay” identity and behavior. It also describes the author’s view of a ”perfect Archbishop of Boston” which also could be criteria for the “perfect next Pope.” We were especially struck by the passage about the archbishop needing to “be the pastor of the pastors” and by the very last sentence: “he must be a passionately effective evangelist because he is first a thoroughly converted disciple of Jesus Christ.”

Crisis and Reform in Boston (written late December 2002 or winter/spring 2003)

The next Archbishop of Boston will find his particular Church in the midst of a grave crisis of faith and discipline. The public scandals which led to the resignation of Bernard Cardinal Law point to deep and longstanding problems among the priests and people of the Archdiocese, and the nature and magnitude of these problems should be considered in selecting the new pastor of a profoundly troubled Church.

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

Homosexuals and the Conclave

UNITED STATES
Virtue Online

By Michael Voris
THE VORTEX
http://www.churchmilitant.tv/scripts/vort-2013-02-25.pdf
February 25, 2013

Perhaps Pope Benedict is a lot smarter and more clever than he is being given credit for by the secular media and much of his opposition in the Church.

As we reported last week, a blockbuster report was released by a priest from Poland detailing a homosexual underground among Catholic priests and bishops that has helped ruin the Church in much of the west.

Media reports began emerging late last week from the Italian press that the Pope was handed a secret report in December prepared by three cardinals in response to the so-called Vatileaks scandal from last spring.

According to some media reports .. one alleged particular damning piece of information in the overall 300 pages of documentation is the existence of a number of homosexual cardinals who are being blackmailed.

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

Courts Must Now Apply Laws To Popes & All Cardinals

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The current meltdown at the Vatican reveals what so many Catholics shamefully preferred to overlook for years. It is truly a “Wizard of Oz moment”, as the international media has pulled back the papal curtain for all to see. The Pope is trying to keep secret a 300 page report evidentally of massive criminal conduct affecting innocent children, among others, and documenting financial corruption. Papal Rome has just burned down and the Pope fiddles over his new title.

Meanwhile, the Pope’s press officer has now even suggested that the papal elections are so secret that reporters face excommunication if they report any leaks they receive from Cardinals about voting results. The Middle Ages are over! The papal “witch” is dead. Time to end the mystical nonsense and to protect children, women, AIDS victims, gay persons and the many other groups that have suffered much, needlessly, as a result of a self-serving Vatican clique’s lust for power and wealth, with a little sex on the side. We have heard more than enough already.

The papal geo-political strategy following World War I of trading “papal blessings” for papal influence and subsidies received a mortal wound with President Barack Obama’s strong re-election victory over the Pope’s flawed anti-contraceptive and anti-gay marriage strategy. The Pope’s strategy has now breathed its last with the recent election trouncing of the Pope’s preferred candidate, Italy’s Prime Minister Monti by an ex-Clown Prince! It really is a good time for the Pope to leave the Vatican, and hopefully he will not return. He can pray and mediate better at Castel Gandolfo, and still claim sovereign immunity there as well under the Lateran Treaty.

Now secular leaders must act immediately to apply the rule of law to the Pope and the Cardinals. Enough with the winks and nods and special dispensations seeking political support. The International Criminal Court prosecutor must stop procrastinating and national leaders, like President Obama and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, must step-up and follow the admirable lead of Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Ireland’s Prime Minister, Enda Kenny. Subpoena the secret report and the Pope’s butler and put an end to the incessant rape of children by priests!

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

Pope Benedict leaves amid a holy mess at the Vatican

VATICAN CITY
Tucson Citizen

by Eric J. Lyman and Cathy Lynn Grossman on Feb. 26, 2013

VATICAN CITY — When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI upon becoming pope, it was a nod to sixth-century St. Benedict of Nursia, who had lived for several years in a cave in Italy.

As Pope Benedict prepares to end his papacy this week, his critics say the challenges he’ll leave to his successor are the result of him living in a cave of his own.

Benedict’s intellect and successful role as a spiritual leader for the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics is not in doubt, say Vatican experts and observers. But recent blunders and the poor handling of festering scandals indicate Benedict may have been far too immersed in scholarship and theology over his nearly eight-year tenure when what the church needed was a CEO.

“There was a time when the pope was a kind of king, and then, more recently, a spiritual leader,” said Alistair Sear, a church historian in Rome. “Perhaps now we will see an age of the pope first and foremost as an administrator.”

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

Cardinals want to begin pope selection ASAP, Vatican source says

VATICAN CITY
CBS News

[with video]

(CBS News) The world’s cardinals want to begin the job of choosing a new pope as soon as possible, according to a well-placed Vatican source.

The newest guessing game in Vatican City is how soon the conclave will begin. By both law and tradition, the cardinals can’t talk openly about it until one day after Benedict officially leaves office.

Pope Benedict XVI officially steps down Thursday.

A major issue plaguing the cardinals through the selection process will be the sex abuse scandals. But they must be dealt with, in the view of U.S. Cardinal James Stafford, who is too old to vote in the conclave.

“If it means to be despised, which in many ways it does mean, then we accept that,” Stafford told CBS News’ Allen Pizzey.

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

Controversial Debut Novel ‘Forgotten Word’ Explores Church Taboos and the Eternal, Hidden Battle Between Good and Evil

UNITED KINGDOM
Sys-Con

MANCHESTER, England, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Some readers may find it disconcerting that Sam Jane Brown’s debut novel “Forgotten Word” (http://www.samjanebrown.com) depicts tumult in the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy at a time when the church is, in fact, experiencing a shakeup in its ranks.

But as extraordinary as the factual troubles are, Brown takes the conflict to a whole new level, blending the suspense of a thriller with the unconventionality of speculative fiction and the intellectual challenge of a murder-mystery. The main character is Zena McGrath, a detective working for an International Police Organization. She is charged with investigating the death of an Irish priest based at the Vatican, the latest victim of a chain of unexplained deaths among the Catholic priesthood.

Though Vatican authorities claim the deaths are due to natural causes, Cardinal Donatello, an enigmatic figure who is responsible for training priests in the sacred, secretive and highly dangerous art of exorcism, reveals to Zena that the priests who have died were all exorcists. Donatello reluctantly reveals the gravity of the problems the Vatican faces in the eternal battle between good and evil. He even takes her to see a priest who is possessed by evil spirits, and Zena herself has a chilling encounter with a demonic presence. Donatello convinces Zena to allow the church authorities to fight the evil in their own way.

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

NOW

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

February 26, 2013

This is an urgent, intense cri de coeur to priests and seminarians who have been abused by superiors or who know of priests, former priests and seminarians who have been abused by superiors to come forward – now.

We have learned in the 10 years since the Boston incarnation of the crisis what others who have labored in this field before us have long known: that there are patterns to abuse, to grooming, to the wrong use of authority, to the twisting of obeisance, the misuse of closing ranks.

We have learned that it is extremely rare that survivors emerge from totally unique circumstances.

The priests and former priest who took their cases to the papal nuncio in Scotland about the “inappropriate behavior” of Cardinal Keith O’Brien showed courage. Their acts of courage have borne fruit.

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

New sex-related charges filed against man

CANADA
CBC News

A man who was convicted of a sexual assault in the late 1980s has had two new charges filed against him.

The two sex-related charges against Gary Gerard Hoskins date back almost 20 years.

Police said they believe the assaults took place between 1984 and 1986 in or near Stephenville.

Hoskins was a Roman Catholic priest in that area at the time.

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

Which Catholic Church?

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By PAUL KENNEDY

Published: February 26, 2013

Being about the only professor at a liberal, tolerant, cosmopolitan Western university who is known to be a practicing Catholic — baptized at the age of two weeks — I have been asked frequently in recent times about what I think will happen to the church in the light of Pope Benedict’s resignation. Will it split further, between conservatives and liberals? Will there be an African pope? When will there ever be female priests, then bishops? What about declining attendance of the European congregations (as opposed to the surging populations in the southern world)?

I sigh. When I turn to my daily newspapers, I sigh further, at the stereotyping, the false assumptions, the hostility in some quarters, the focus upon protocol rather than substance, the obsession with fiscal laxities at the Vatican rather than the proclaimed mission of Christ. Much of this criticism is boringly predictable; I may be wrong, but I suspect it might be hard to find a month, for example, when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd does not launch an attack upon the papacy and the Catholic Church. And when the College of Cardinals announces the successor to Benedict, there will be fervid speculation about the new pope’s attitude toward divorce, abortion, the Jews, secularism in Italy, and so on.

That is one view of the Catholic Church, the church of hierarchy, tradition, formalism, its bursts of reform soon restrained by a return to conservatism. It is the church so familiar to the minds of secularists, pagans and anti-Catholics everywhere. It is the church of the 19th-century popes. It is the church of infallibility, incense, candles, and of Latin masses. Pushing it further, it is the church of financial corruption and sexual abuse. It is the church of stereotype, which is not wise.

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

Churches protected by trust laws

AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 25/02/2013

Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons

The Victorian inquiry into sexual abuse in religious organisations is likely to recommend a reform of property trust laws which allow churches to avoid being sued.

Transcript
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: One of the key recommendations of Victoria’s inquiry into sexual abuse by religious organisations will be that property trust laws be reformed to enable people to sue churches.

The prediction comes from legal researcher Judy Courtin who has made numerous submissions to the inquiry on behalf of abuse victims.

And ahead of committee hearings this week in Ballarat where dozens of male abuse victims have taken their own lives, there are calls to fast track support services to stop more deaths.

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: Victoria’s inquiry into sexual abuse by religious organisations has been repeatedly told victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church have few legal options because the only legal entity the Church has are property trusts. It’s believed the inquiry will recommend change.

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

Atonement not in Catholic Church’s best interests

AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Opinion

Judy Courtin

Only secular justice will help the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The Vatican is surely ablaze with excitement and expectation. The imminent influx of holy men in a sea of flowing crimson cassocks and skull-caps makes for a powerful picture.

This papal convocation of cardinals will soon meet and greet, grace its way into the Sistine Chapel, factionalise, debate and make its decision. Then, with that puff of white smoke, the new pontiff will be known.

One topic that is on everyone’s lips with this atypical and rather curious resignation of the Pope is whether or not the sexual abuse crisis within the church is related to his decision to resign and whether the newly elected leader will make any difference and deliver some justice to victims.

There will certainly be millions of Catholics wanting changes in the church, changes that are many and challenging for the conservative, misogynistic and headstrong Catholic hierarchy pursuing centuries-old male doctrines. Much of the world’s Catholics, not least children, women and gays, are marginalised and muzzled and treated with disdain and contempt by the church.

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

Former Saanich priest guilty of sexual exploitation

CANADA
CTV

VICTORIA – Former Catholic priest, Phil Jacobs, has been found guilty of sexual exploitation.

The ruling came Monday morning in a Victoria courtroom. Jacobs was facing four charges including two counts of sexual interference, one count of sexual assault, and one count of sexual exploitation.

The former priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Saanich was acquitted of three of the four charges.

Madame Justice Groper told the court that some of the testimony against Jacobs did not add up and that some of the evidence presented raised doubts over when the alleged offences took place.

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

Emer O’Kelly: Religious must pay for warping our society

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Emer O’Kelly– 24 February 2013

‘Sacred heart o’ Jesus, take away our hearts o’ stone an’ give us hearts o’ flesh.” In 1924, Sean O’Casey put that passionate prayer into the mouth of Mrs Tancred, standing on the stairs of a Dublin tenement. Nobody listened then to his cry for the voiceless; we remained deaf for generations.

But last Tuesday a group of women sat in the visitors’ gallery of our national parliament, moved to tears and cheers as a Taoiseach who had listened broke down on the floor of the house. The women had spoken often of a “stigma”. The only stigma is that they had to wait until most of them were old before the moment came.

The women incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries were there against their will. According to several of the women’s representatives, the report delivered by former Senator Martin McAleese fell short in many ways; one of the most glaring was to write of “self-referral”.

Was a destitute woman thrown on the street by her parents “willing” when her choice was between selling herself or a hell-hole of slave labour?

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

My 3 years as a child slave in a workhouse run by sadistic nuns

IRELAND
The Sun

By JENNIFER TIPPETT

MORE than 10,000 women and girls were forced to do unpaid labour in workhouses run by Catholic nuns in Ireland between 1922 and 1996.

Following Irish PM Enda Kenny’s apology for the atrocity last week, hundreds of women have already come forward – each potentially due thousands of pounds in compensation.

Here one survivor tells of her harrowing life inside one of the Magdalene Laundries.

FORCED into hard labour at the tender age of 14, Kathleen Legg’s only crime was being born out of wedlock.

The Magdalene Laundries seemed the perfect solution to hide her “shameful secret”.

Kathleen, now 77, was sent to St Mary’s Training School, Stanhope Street, Dublin, where she lived and worked in horrific conditions.

Although it happened more than 60 years ago, she still can’t erase her memories of life in the laundry.

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

Pope did not ask Keith O’Brien to stand down, says English cardinal

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sam Jones
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 February 2013

The former leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales has denied that the Vatican forced Cardinal Keith O’Brien to step down early amid allegations of “inappropriate acts” against fellow priests.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor insisted that no pressure was brought to bear on the former archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to quit ahead of schedule or to stay away from the conclave to choose the next pope.

“It was up to his own conscience that he stepped down. He wasn’t asked to; he decided to do that,” said Murphy-O’Connor. “As he said in his statement, I think he thought it would be a distraction to be in Rome. I think that was the main reason, the media attention.

“It was his decision to do so. He wasn’t forced to do so; he wasn’t asked to do so. He thought that given the publicity over the allegations, which are being contested by the cardinal, that was a better thing to do.”

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

Pope to be called ’emeritus pope,’ will wear white

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI will be known as “emeritus pope” in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican announced Tuesday.

The pope’s title and what he would wear has been a major question ever since Benedict stunned the world and announced he would resign on Thursday, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Benedict himself had made the decision in consultation with others.

Benedict decided he would be called “Your Holiness Benedict XVI” and either emeritus pope or emeritus Roman pontiff, Lombardi said.

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

Ex-pope will have ‘pontiff emeritus’ title

VATICAN CITY
9 News

Pope Benedict XVI will have the official title of “pontiff emeritus” after he resigns on Thursday – the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so since the Middle Ages, the Vatican says.

Benedict can still be addressed as “Your Holiness Benedict XVI” and will have the title of “Roman Pontiff Emeritus”, spokesman Federico Lombardi told the Vatican press corps on Tuesday.

Benedict can also still wear a white cassock normally reserved only for pontiffs and will continue using the shoes given to him by artisans in Mexico during a trip last year, Lombardi said.

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Cardinal Levada: Cardinal Mahony Should Help Select Pope

CALIFORNIA
Huffington Post

By MARTHA MENDOZA 02/25/13

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The former archbishop of San Francisco said Monday that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has a rightful place among Vatican officials who will choose the next pope, even though Mahony has been battered in recent days by disclosures about his role in covering up clergy sex abuse.

The comments by Cardinal William Levada, a high-ranking Vatican official until recently, came in the wake of a grass-roots campaign to shame Mahony into refraining from participating because of his role protecting sexually abusive priests.

Mahony left for Rome over the weekend after recently released church documents showed he had covered up for other priests who raped and molested children.

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Cardinal’s resignation raises Vatican conspiracy theories

VATICAN CITY
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

JOHN ALLEMANG
The Globe and Mail

Questions are being raised about backroom tactics at the Vatican after Britain’s highest-ranking cleric, in the wake of abuse allegations, decided not to attend the conclave to elect the next pope.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned his post as Archbishop of Edinburgh, it was announced on Monday, a day after The Observer newspaper reported that four men had made complaints to the Vatican’s representative in Britain – and just a week after the influential cleric had stated that Pope Benedict’s successor should move to change the church’s law on priestly celibacy. He had also expressed his belief that the next pope should be an outsider from Africa or Asia rather than Europe or North America, a suggestion that could be seen as threatening to the influential lobby of Italian bishops and to the Curia, the powerful Vatican bureaucracy.

“This will send a shock wave through the College of Cardinals,” said Thomas Reese, the Jesuit author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. “This hits at the very core of what it means to be a cardinal. The most important thing they ever do in their lives is to go to a conclave and elect a pope – and this guy is not going.”

Cardinal O’Brien’s withdrawal from the conclave he was obliged to attend under church law comes at the same time that Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles is being pressured to stay away because of his reluctance to deal directly with issues of priestly abuse early on in his tenure as archbishop.

“Are these attempts to undermine cardinals outside of Rome?” Father Reese asked.

“I think some of the cardinals will believe that there’s a conspiracy to affect the outcome of the conclave,” said Michael Higgins, co-author of Power and Peril: The Catholic Church at the Crossroads and a CTV Vatican analyst. “And when you argue that there’s a conspiracy in Rome, there usually is. Rome is full of rumours, whispers and conspiracies because it’s not a transparent place – things are veiled, things are secretive.”

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Cardinal George heads to Rome to elect new pope

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

[with video]

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter
February 26, 2013

As he prepared to rush to Rome ahead of a snowstorm at home, Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George said Monday that the next pope should have insight about how the Vatican operates and the ability to lead a global church.

“You’re talking about governance here,” George said. “People say sanctity. Well, sanctity is nice, but there have been popes who have governed fairly well who have not been holy. … What’s important here is governance. Can the man govern the church as a pastor? He has to be a man who knows the Lord because he’s governing in his name. But it doesn’t mean he’s going to be a great saint.”

George’s interview with the Tribune was cut short as his staff scrambled to move up his travel plans to avoid a snowstorm in Tuesday’s forecast. He will arrive at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s departure to the Vatican holiday retreat of Castel Gandolfo on Thursday.

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Winds of change blow through the Vatican – not before time

UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Independent

Paul Vallely– 26 February 2013

Make no mistake about it, Cardinal Keith O’Brien has not resigned as Scotland’s leading Catholic. He has been sacked by the Pope. And that is a measure of just how grave the crisis in the world’s biggest church has become. Cardinal O’Brien was due to retire next month anyway because he will then be 75. The usual drill is for a bishop to hand in his resignation to the Pope (pictured) a few months ahead of the due date and for it to be accepted nunc pro tunc, which in Latin means “now for later”. The cardinal handed in his resignation back in November, expecting it to take effect later this year.

The Pope’s decision that he must stand down forthwith came just one day after a newspaper report that three priests and one ex-priest from his diocese have complained to the Pope’s representative to Britain, the nuncio Antonio Mennini, alleging “inappropriate behaviour” towards them in the 1980s.

All this adds to the sense of crisis gripping the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, still reeling from a papal resignation unprecedented in almost 700 years. To add to that, the Pope himself condemned the manoeuvring of factions within the church. And last Friday the punch drunk church was told by the respected Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ that a report into the Vatileaks scandal claimed there was a gay mafia within the Vatican involving several cardinals and sexual shenanigans in a Rome sauna.

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Could Archbishop of Westminster get a last-minute Conclave call-up?

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

The decision by Cardinal Keith O’Brien to give up his role in choosing the next Pope has prompted renewed calls for the Archbishop of Westminster, the most Rev Vincent Nichols, to be made a Cardinal.

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor
6:00AM GMT 26 Feb 2013

Archbishop Nichols was appointed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales almost four years ago.

But because his predecessor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, was already a member of the College of Cardinals, which elects the Pope, he was not elevated to the most senior position – in line with recent tradition that there is only one English or Welsh voting Cardinal.

Yet under Church law, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor no longer has a vote after he turned 80 last summer. It means that the Church in England and Wales will not be represented in the vote.

Now, following Cardinal O’Brien’s decision to stand aside, there will be no UK voice in the Conclave.

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Cardinal Keith O’Brien was friends with sex predator Jimmy Savile

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE shamed TV star helped the clergyman raise money for charity years before his sex crimes came out.

O’BRIEN was a friend of paedophile Jimmy Savile – decades before the disgraced DJ’s crimes were known.

But he demanded Savile be stripped of his papal knighthood – bestowed in 1990 – after his offences came to light.

O’Brien’s spokesman said at the time: “We would absolutely endorse and support that move.

“It seems to be an appropriate response and echoes exactly what every other institution and organisation who had an association with Jimmy Savile are doing.”

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Cardinal Keith O’Brien: I am sorry for my failures that led to my resignation

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE Pope told Cardinal Keith O’Brien he could leave the church immediately yesterday amid allegations of inappropriate conduct towards three priests dating back 30 years.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien shocked the world yesterday after apologising for his failures as he resigned as head of the Scottish Catholic Church.

The stunning admission came after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards three priests and one ex-priest in the 1980s.

He said: “For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended.” O’Brien’s decision sent shockwaves through the Catholic community as they prepare for the appointment of a new pope after Benedict XVI resigned earlier this month.

The cardinal, Britain’s most senior Catholic, had been planning to stand down when he turned 75 next month.

As recently as Friday, he talked about taking part in the conclave to appoint the next Pope.

But after the priests’ allegations became known, he was told by the pope that he could leave
immediately.

Yesterday, he confirmed Pope Benedict “had now decided that my resignation will take effect today”.

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Priests who accused Cardinal Keith O’Brien urged to step out into the open

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

WRITER Peter Jennings said the accusers should have the courage to “come out and say exactly who they are”.

A FRIEND of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s yesterday challenged the priests who accused him to have the courage to identify themselves.

Writer Peter Jennings, who has known O’Brien for more than 40 years, said: “I believe these priests should have the courage to come out and say exactly who they are.”

He also questioned why the priests made their claims through a senior figure in the diocese rather than directly to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican’s “open and accessible” ambassador to Britain.

Jennings added: “I would challenge these four men also to be more specific in their allegations.

“The talk of inappropriate behaviour is all very vague. It is not even clear if the allegations are sexual.”

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Pope Struggling to Tame Intrigue Won’t Show Cardinals Report

VATICAN CITY
San Francisco Chronicle

Jeffrey Donovan, Bloomberg News

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — Pope Benedict XVI, struggling to tame intrigue, won’t give cardinals access to a secret Vatican dossier into leaked papal documents before they meet next month to elect his successor.

The 85-year-old Benedict, who will become the first pontiff in 600 years to retire on Feb. 28, met with the three cardinals tasked to investigate the case known as “Vatileaks,” the Holy See press office said in a statement yesterday. The episode led last year to the arrest of the pope’s personal butler in one of the worst security breaches in modern Vatican history.

The pontiff thanked Cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi for work that “made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor in every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See,” according to the statement. Still, “the acts of this investigation,” known only to Benedict, “will remain solely at the disposition of the new pope.”

The German-born pope is preparing to make his last public appearance tomorrow amid a wave of controversy, including the resignation of Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric following allegations of his “inappropriate” behavior toward priests.

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‘Amateur hour’: Vatican conclave drama is one for the history books, experts say

UNITED STATES
NBC News

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

A lame-duck pope. A secret dossier. Rumors of a gay cabal. A cardinal accused of “inappropriate” behavior.

The Vatican is in an uproar, and church scholars say there hasn’t been this much drama surrounding a conclave since 1800, when Pope Pius VI died while being held prisoner by Napoleon.

One Vatican watcher says you have to go back to 1730 — when Pope Benedict XIII’s right-hand man fled Rome in disguise amid allegations of corruption — to find a conclave buffeted by this much scandal.

“This is not a healthy situation for any kind of institution,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, an expert on the Catholic Church at Georgetown University.

“It looks like amateur hour.”

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Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s resignation: hiding the truth would be a sin

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE shock exit of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic has left the entire church reeling.

IT has been a tumultuous fortnight for Scotland’s Roman Catholic community.

Having just absorbed the resignation of the Pope, communicants now have to deal with the swift departure of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic.

The Church is bereft of spiritual leadership and plunged into self-doubt by the allegations against O’Brien.

But the hasty resignation of the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh has left the whole of civic society gasping for breath.

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Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor on Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

[with video]

The former head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor says it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment on Cardinal Keith O’Brien whilst an internal enquiry continues.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor’s press conference to discuss Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy and his visit to the UK in 2010, was over-shadowed by questions about the resignation of Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down on Monday after facing allegations dating from the 1980s that he behaved inappropriately towards priests.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment on the Scottish Catholic leader’s resignation and stuck to talking about his memories of the 2005 Papal Conclave after the death of John Paul II.

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Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s decision to withdraw from Pope vote ‘his own’

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s decision not to take part in the election of a new Pope was his own, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church has insisted.

The cardinal also resigned as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh following claims of inappropriate behaviour towards priests in the 1980s.

Archdiocese of Glasgow spokesman Ronnie Convery said Cardinal O’Brien had not come under pressure from the Vatican.

“It was very much his own decision,” Mr Convery told BBC Scotland.

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Cardinal O’Brien resignation: Murphy-O’Connor ‘saddened’

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former archbishop of Westminster says he is “saddened” by the resignation of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said Cardinal O’Brien’s decision to step down was “up to his own conscience”.

Cardinal O’Brien has been accused of inappropriate behaviour towards priests in the 1980s – allegations he contests.

The ex-Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh will no longer take part in the election of the new Pope.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor was asked whether his fellow cardinal had been right to stand down.

“It was up to his own conscience that he stepped down. He wasn’t asked to, he decided to do that,” he said.

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Papal Conclave Preceded By Silent Campaigns To Become Next Pope

VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Jaweed Kaleem
Jaweed.Kaleem@huffingtonpost.com

An Italian newspaper publishes a controversial report on an alleged secret network of gay priests in the Vatican. Campaigns start against two American cardinals linked to sex abuse scandals who are about to head to Rome to vote for the new pope. A top British cardinal steps down amid allegations of unspecified “inappropriate” behavior with priests and says he won’t attend the papal conclave. Catholics worldwide start opining about what the next pontiff’s race, age and origin should be, while the dozen or so rumored candidates for pope keep insisting, “No, not me!”

Welcome to the secretive and at times confusing process of selecting a new pope.

In two days, Pope Benedict XVI will stay goodbye to the papacy, leaving the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics without a leader and dozens of top-ranking cardinals in charge.

Nobody knows exactly when the conclave — the closed-door meeting of cardinals who will elect Benedict’s successor — will take place. According to new rules that Benedict issued Monday, it could be as early as March 1 or as late as March 20. It’s up to the cardinals to decide, though reports have indicated the conclave may start between March 9 and 11.

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The O’Brien moment: a spiritual leader in Edinburgh

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

By Stephen HoughSociety
Last updated: February 25th, 2013

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been forced into retirement slightly earlier than expected. If the accusations against him are false then we’ve seen a despicable use of media power to spread lies and cause scandal. It’s one of the nastiest of modern sins.

But if the accusations are true there’s an opportunity here for a moment of Church-changing, life-enhancing heroism. Cardinal O’Brien has within his hands the potential to preach the Gospel with more power now than ever before, to touch more people’s hearts than at any other time in his priestly life. He’s holding a stick of spiritual dynamite in his anointed hands.

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Cardinal O’Brien gay sex scandal…

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

Cardinal O’Brien gay sex scandal: this was a hit job that succeeded beyond the plotters’ wildest dreams

By Damian Thompson
updated: February 26th, 2013

The Cardinal Keith O’Brien Downfall video had been ready to run for ages. The story of three priests and one ex-priest complaining of inappropriate behaviour was timed to break when the Scottish prelate retired at 75 next month. The aim was to expose his alleged hypocrisy. To quote our blogger Stephen Hough, responding in the comments to his blog post yesterday, “I’m convinced that what he did (if he did it) was harmless enough, but he may not have thought it harmless if he’d caught other priests doing it … at least until this week.” If the scandal had come to light next month, that would have been nicely timed to ruin the Cardinal’s reputation just when the media would be running retrospective pieces about him. And, of course, it would throw a spotlight on O’Brien’s passionate opposition to gay marriage, effectively silencing the Scottish Catholic Church on this subject, and probably the Church in the rest of Britain, too.

What no one could have guessed is that Pope Benedict would resign, meaning that Cardinal O’Brien would be the only Briton with a vote in the next conclave. The Observer story was brought forward, with devastating results. The four complainants had the good sense – and, arguably, the courage – to inform the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini, of their claims. (Mennini, it should be noted, is not in the pocket of the British bishops to the extent that previous ambassadors have been.) So the Vatican already had a file on Britain’s senior Catholic churchman, and Pope Benedict, on being informed of its contents, decided to bring forward O’Brien’s resignation as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. In other words, the alleged victims of these inappropriate acts were helped by something that the Church’s critics have often refused to recognise: Joseph Ratzinger’s determination to purify the Church of sex abuse, right up until the last week of his pontificate.

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Church in need of strong new leaders

UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Editor’s Viewpoint– 26 February 2013

The resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien heralds more turmoil for the Catholic Church. While he denies allegations of improper conduct levelled at him by three priests and a former priest, it is an issue which will not go away. The damage done to the church in Ireland by clerical sexual abuse of young people has eroded its moral and political authority and there is no doubt that these latest allegations – which unproven – will lead many to question the standing of the church in Scotland.

Cardinal O’Brien, who had tendered his resignation last November before these allegations surfaced, has done the right thing in standing aside now instead of allowing a media feeding frenzy to develop. The Pope, who is to retire on Thursday, also made the correct move in agreeing to the Cardinal leaving office.

Of course what it does is leave big problems for both their successors. For the new Scottish cardinal the task will be somewhat similar. While Cardinal O’Brien certainly won respect for much of his work, his outspoken views on gays and abortion hit a discordant note with many.

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Former church minister jailed for 15 years for raping his wife and stepdaughter

UNITED KINGDOM
Stroud News & Journal

A FORMER evangelical church minister who subjected his family to sexual abuse and cruelty and was jailed for 15 years on Friday.

Jailing the man at Gloucester Crown Court, Judge Jamie Tabor described him as ‘bullying and tyrannical’.

The man, from the Quedgeley area, was convicted earlier this month of raping his wife and stepdaughter and of cruelty against both the stepdaughter and a stepson.

During the trial, the court heard how the man imposed a ‘Victorian nightmare’ on his family.

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Former McCort students allege abuse, plan lawsuits

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — An Altoona attorney filed notice of pending civil lawsuits in Blair County court Monday on behalf of three men, former students of Bishop McCort Catholic High School, who allege they were sexually molested by the late Franciscan Brother Stephen Baker.

The victims are identified in the notice that the lawsuits are commencing as John Doe 75, John Doe 76 and John Doe 77. The abuse is alleged to have occurred at various times from 1992 to about 2001, when Baker worked at or was seen around the school.

Attorney Richard Serbin, a clergy sexual abuse civil litigator, said Monday’s filing in Blair County likely is just the beginning.

“I know I’ll be filing more. I’m certain I’ll be filing more,” he said. “I don’t think the dust has settled.”

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Suits might target diocese in Baker case

PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

February 26, 2013

By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG – Another chapter began Monday in the Brother Stephen Baker child sexual abuse case when Blair County attorney Richard Serbin filed notices of three lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and others in the Blair County Courthouse.

“There will be more suits,” Serbin said, as he explained that he is investigating many other potential court cases that have come to his attention.

Serbin said the first such cases to be filed in Blair County involve former students at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown who say they were abused by Baker. Serbin said Baker served in the local diocese from the mid-1990s to 2000.

Serbin filed writs of summons on behalf of the three individuals listed for court purposes as John Doe 75, John Doe 76 and John Doe 77.

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Youngstown Diocese says nobody is reporting abuse to it

YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Vindicator

Tue, February 26, 2013

The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown says letters, interviews have uncovered no new allegations involving Brother Stephen Baker.

By Ed Runyan
runyan@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown has written to 1,800 former Warren John F. Kennedy High School students, interviewed five to six current faculty members who worked with Brother Stephen Baker, and soon will talk to all other faculty and staff members from that time to ask what they know about the Franciscan friar.

None of the former students, however, has responded to the letter to indicate any knowledge of sexual misconduct by Baker other than the 11 who were part of a legal settlement last fall. None of the faculty members has indicated a prior awareness that Baker sexually assaulted students, a diocesan spokesman said Monday.

Furthermore, no one has come forward with any credible allegations against any other faculty member, staff member or coach at the school, said Brian Corbin, a member of the administrative board of the diocese.

Corbin called The Vindicator with those and other points, in response to statements made at a news conference Sunday in front of Warren JFK. That’s when Robert Hoatson, a former priest and an advocate for victims of sexual abuse by clergy, said at least 50 more men have come forward to allege sexual abuse by Brother Baker. Many of them have ties to Kennedy High School or the former St. Mary’s Middle School in Warren, Hoatson said.

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Church sex abuse victims speak up on DVD

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

FOR more than 50 years Bob O’Toole lived with the consequences of being sexually abused by a Marist Brother at Hamilton.

In 2008 he broke the silence and told his wife.

In December last year, Hunter woman Patricia Feenan broke another silence and released her book, Holy Hell, about the crimes of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher against her eldest son, Daniel.

Last night Mr O’Toole and Mrs Feenan took another step on behalf of victims of the Catholic church’s child sex abuse crisis, and launched a DVD in association with Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

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Top British Cardinal Resigns, a Day After Charges of ‘Inappropriate Acts’

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO and JOHN F. BURNS

VATICAN CITY — Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric announced his resignation on Monday, a day after being accused of “inappropriate acts” with priests, saying he would not attend the conclave to elect a new pope.

The cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, said that he had submitted his resignation months ago, and that the Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had accepted it on Feb. 18. However, the timing of the announcement — a day after news reports of alleged abuse appeared in Britain — suggested that the Vatican had encouraged the cardinal to stay away from the conclave.

“Everybody’s been struck by how quickly Rome responded,” said Austen Ivereigh, director of the British church advocacy group Catholic Voices. “Clearly Rome saw that there was sufficient substance to the allegations. They would not have told him to stand down unless they thought there was something worth investigating.”

The move leaves Britain without a voting cardinal in the conclave and is bound to raise questions about other cardinals. It comes amid a campaign by some critics to urge Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles not to attend the conclave because of his role in reshuffling priests accused of abuse.

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The picture Cardinal Keith O’Brien probably wishes he had never posed for…

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

The picture Cardinal Keith O’Brien probably wishes he had never posed for: UK’s top Catholic was long-standing friend of Savile

By Steve Doughty and Larisa Brown

Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric – Cardinal Keith O’Brien – stands alongside his long-standing friend, Jimmy Savile.

Pictured giving a thumbs-up, he is seen grinning alongside the paedophile at a fund-raising event in Edinburgh six years ago.

The former leader of Scotland’s Catholics stepped down yesterday amid accuations of ‘inappropriate acts’ towards fellow priests. He strongly denies all claims against him.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien was among many high-powered supporters of Savile who did not know about the entertainer’s sexual abuse of children.

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Melanie McDonagh: The church of sinners loses more authority on sex

UNITED KINGDOM
London Evening Standard

Melanie McDonagh

26 February 2013

Oh God. Not again. Catholics are used to weathering the worst when it comes to revelations, and allegations, about clerical sexual abuse so we’ve grown something like a hardened carapace. Even so, to lose the head of the church in Scotland, one of the two cardinals in Britain, is quite something.

The practical result of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s resignation is that there are no electors from Britain at the papal conclave — that’ll be one less vote, then, for the man from Ghana. The longer-term effect will be to diminish that bit further the church’s authority when it comes to sex.

For Cardinal O’Brien, who was to retire in three weeks, on St Patrick’s Day, his 75th birthday, it’s a devastating humiliation. As for the Vatican, one cleric in the Curia took his head out of his hands long enough to tell me: “It feels like the church is under siege from the forces of chaos.” Well, that’s one way of putting it.

To be honest, there isn’t that much love lost between the bishops of England and those of Scotland. For English bishops, who favour a nuanced approach when it comes to public debate, the abrasive style of Cardinal O’Brien, a pitbull polemicist, was embarrassing. They cringed when he sounded off on subjects such as gay marriage because he’d alienate more people than he won round. “You spend so much time trying to build bridges with gay people,” one (London) priest told me, “and when Keith O’Brien opens his mouth, it’s all undone.” But the fallout will affect them too.

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The cardinal and the Lib Dem: death by sex scandal

UNITED KINGDOM
Spiked

Tim Black

One weekend. Two so-called sex-abuse scandals. And now two more institutional staples of British life find themselves caught up in foundation-shaking crises.

First it was the Lib Dems: On Friday, Channel 4 News ran a story in which several women with varying Lib Dem affiliations claimed that former party chief executive Lord Rennard had behaved ‘inappropriately’ towards them. At first, Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg denied any prior knowledge of the allegations. But by Sunday evening he was forced to admit that he had been aware of ‘indirect and non-specific concerns’ regarding Rennard’s behaviour since 2008. At the time, then chief of staff Danny Alexander had apparently even reprimanded Rennard over the so-called non-specific concerns. As it stands, the police are set to meet Lib Dem officials, as senior party officials offer a panicked combination of mea culpa and denial.

For the Catholic Church, the second institution finding itself basking in the murk of a sex scandal, the lurid headlines are nothing new. Still, between the Observer’s initial report that Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, had been accused of ‘inappropriate’ behaviour with several aspiring priests, and Monday’s revelation that Pope Benedict XVI had effectively ‘asked Cardinal O’Brien to resign’, we saw the church virtually dismantling itself. It is now not only without a pope; it lacks a leader in Britain, too. That is a startling state of affairs.

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February 25, 2013

Vatican shifts tone on cardinals linked to sex scandals

VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Jason Horowitz

ROME — Before the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican circled the wagons around cardinals ensnared in sex abuse scandals. As the church prepares to pick Benedict’s successor, those embattled cardinals increasingly find themselves under the wagon wheels.

In a wide-ranging news conference on Monday, the Vatican struck a markedly blase tone when asked about the decision by British Cardinal Keith O’Brien not to attend the conclave to elect the next pope. Hours earlier, the Vatican had accepted O’Brien’s immediate resignation over sexual harassment accusations.

Whereas the Vatican made clear in 2005 that disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston was expected to report to the Sistine Chapel, on Monday it said it had nothing to do with O’Brien’s announcement.

In other words, he was on his own.

“The cardinal can say what he wants to say,” the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told a packed briefing room.

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CHURCH IN CRISIS

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Gerry Braiden
Local Government Correspondent

Tuesday 26 February 2013

THE Catholic Church in Scotland has been thrown into an unprecedented crisis following the accelerated resignation of its most senior cleric in the face of allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young priests.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien had been due to formally submit his resignation in three weeks, but he has stood down with immediate effect after weekend revelations he was being investigated for the claims, which date back 30 years and relate to three priests and a former priest.

The 74-year-old will also not attend the conclave to choose the successor to Pope Benedict, who steps down on Thursday, a move that leaves the Catholic Church in the UK with no vote in the election.

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Challenges that face next Pope

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Tuesday 26 February 2013

THE resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh following allegations that he behaved inappropriately towards three priests and one former priest puts the issue of sexual abuse at the heart of the Catholic Church in the week when cardinals gather at the Vatican to elect the new Pope.

Cardinal O’Brien denies the claims, which date back to 1980. Despite his decision not to attend the conclave because he wants to avoid a focus on him when attention should be concentrated on Pope Benedict XVI and his successor, how the church handles clerical abuse must be a key consideration.

Much will be read into the timing of these claims. In particular, since they date back more than 30 years, some will question why they are surfacing now. One of those alleging unwanted contact and inappropriate behaviour has said that he resigned from the priesthood when Keith O’Brien was appointed a bishop because he would always have power over him. That is an indication of how much the culture within the church has changed from one of absolute hierarchical power over the last 30 years. That it is now possible for priests to use the Vatican’s diplomatic service to raise a complaint about abuse by a superior directly with Rome is a revolution that owes much to belated admission of child sex abuse on the part of the church.

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Catholic Church: cardinal errors

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Editorial

The Guardian, Monday 25 February 2013

The future pope Joseph Ratzinger dragged the Catholic church into the poisonous American presidential campaign of 2004, through a memo about denying pro-choice politicians communion. Its target was John Kerry, a sincere Catholic who nonetheless believed that the law should not dictate to women on abortion, and went on to lose to George W Bush (before popping up in London as President Obama’s secretary of state). Three years later, in an outburst that also suggested abortions were resulting in “two Dunblane massacres a day”, Cardinal Keith O’Brien attempted to unleash American-style culture wars on the UK, by questioning whether MPs supporting abortion rights should continue receiving communion.

It is only one expression of a notably unreflective priest’s desire to build a narrow church – there was also, for example, the intemperate likening of embryology research to Frankenstein. Another manifestation – and one that seems poignant in the aftermath of the Observer’s disclosure of allegations about “inappropriate acts” with younger priests, which prefigured his departure on Monday – was his trenchant denunciation of reforms to advance gay rights. After having opposed civil partnerships in the past, the cardinal – who was the archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews, and the leader of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland – last year pledged fresh funding for propaganda against gay marriage.

There is no Catholic monopoly on sexual scandal – as current events within the atheistically led Liberal Democrat party underline. It is also important to acknowledge that despite having been “resigned” (or, more precisely, “prematurely retired”) by the Vatican, Cardinal O’Brien has contested the allegations, which is what the claims reported by the Observer remain. But, stepping back from the specifics of this case, one cannot brush off the evidence that Rome has a special problem with sex. In the Vatican itself, even if one discounts innuendo about Pope Benedict XVI’s own proclivities as he hangs up his cassock, that cleric – who has denounced both homosexuality and masturbation as moral disorders – has indubitably been weakened by the perception that he looked away in some cases where priests abused boys. In the US and more particularly Ireland, the institution has been shaken by the failure of so many priests to live up to the chaste ideal that the church has long (though not always) imposed upon (most but not all) of its priests.

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Cardinal Keith O’Brien ‘right’ to resign ahead of conclave

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s immediate resignation as leader of the Scottish Catholic Church was the right thing to do, according to a Vatican adviser.

Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic has been accused of inappropriate behaviour towards priests dating back to the 1980s – claims he contests.

He had been due to take part in the election of Pope Benedict’s successor.

Professor John Haldane said it would “not be helpful” for him to go to Rome “under the cloud of these allegations”.

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The Father Crews we know

CALIFORNIA
Sonoma News

Editorial

By David Bolling INDEX-TRIBUNE EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

Feb 14, 2013

In the living room of his campus home, with a grand piano in one corner, stacks of paper piled in random disarray and afternoon sunlight streaming in a western window, the Rev. John Crews, until last week the executive director of Hanna Boys Center, recalled the moments immediately after he was called up for service in the Navy Reserve following the tragedy of 9/11.

“When the kids were told I would be gone indefinitely, one of them said, ‘But who’s going to buy me Slurpies?’” Crews stopped and blinked back tears.

“It was the first time since 1983 that I’d been away from the center,” he said, and then stopped again as his voice broke. He tapped his chest several times, as if freeing something inside, more tears formed and for a long moment he was silent, deeply moved.

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Clifford Longley: Why O’Brien deserves a bit of credit as he faces up to worst moment in his career

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

Published on Tuesday 26 February 2013

AS THE shock waves from the resignation of Cardinal O’Brien resonate round the world, it would be a brave man who was prepared to predict how the Catholic Church could dig itself out of the deep hole into which it has got itself stuck.

The situation now could hardly be worse, and we may only know the half of it. The sudden and unexpected focus on Cardinal O’Brien is only the latest in a series of damaging news stories surrounding the Vatican.

It is credibly stated that what finally persuaded Pope Benedict to resign was a report he received detailing the way the Catholic Church’s central government had become beset by factions and infighting, with allegations of financial corruption in very high places still not properly responded to.

One allegation stands out from the media reporting we have seen so far: that within the Vatican itself, there is a group of homosexual clergy whose private lives run entirely contrary to church teaching – in other words, who are actively gay, including attending gay bars and clubs.

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Sex, Lies, And Clericalism

UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By Rod Dreher • February 25, 2013

Andrew Sullivan writes on his blog accusing me of “sexual panic” in my writing about the situation in the Church, a remarkable thing to say for someone who knows as well as I do how sexual corruption within the Church has led it to this rotten place. If it’s “sexual panic” to complain that the sex lives of bishops and monsignors and priests and religious have a lot to do with the sex abuse cover up, then fine, I’ll accept that charge. It is apparently the case that believing that what the Catholic tradition teaches about sex, pornography, and so forth, and expecting priests to live up to their vows of celibacy, makes me guilty of sexual panic. If so, yes indeed, I’m guilty. Just as long as we’re clear about that. Anyway, Andrew writes:

Where Rod errs, I think, is in believing that covering up child-rape has a direct link to homosexuality.

That word “direct” does a lot of work in that sentence. I don’t believe that homosexual = pedophile, and never have believed that. The way the homosexual subculture in the priesthood is connected to the scandal is in the keeping of sexual secrets, and the promotion within the priesthood of people who are sexually compromised, and who are therefore “tame” — that is, can be trusted not to speak out against sexual abuse and misconduct among the priesthood, for fear of outing themselves. You learn to turn a blind eye to sexual misconduct among your fellow priests, because your own “safety” depends on your silence. The “lavender mafia” amounts to an informal network of priests, bishops, abbots, religious order leaders, monks, and seminary staff and faculty who work together to cover each other’s sexual activity, and to exclude priests and others who disapprove of it and would pose a threat to its continued existence.

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Woonsocket Priest Resigns With “Profound Remorse” For Sexual Misconduct

RHODE ISLAND
Patch

By Rob Borkowski

Rev. Monsignor John Allard of St. Agatha and Precious Blood Parishes has resigned after an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago.

According to a release posted by The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence on their website, the priest “has taken responsibility for his actions and has expressed his profound remorse for the harm he has caused.”

WPRI.com, which has also reported on this story, has posted a photo of Msgr. Allard with their coverage.

Msgr. Allard has been placed on administrative leave, and his permission to serve as a priest has been revoked. He has moved out of the rectory and will reside at a private residence.

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The Catholic Church Needs Purification, Renewal and Restoration to Rise to a New Missionary Moment

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Online

By Deacon Keith Fournier
2/26/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – All weekend long the European Press was rife with speculation over a 300 page report from three cardinals given to Pope Benedict XVI on December 17, 2012. It reflected the results of an investigation into the Vati- Leaks episode. Speculation over the content of the report led to a series of articles in the European press which filtered back to the States over the weekend. Catholic Online intentionally chose to NOT enter into the feeding frenzy. The sources were questionable and the tenor was sensational.

Some reports insinuated that the contents of the report could have contributed to the Pope’s decision to resign his office. They offered no objective proof. That claim simply did not fit what we know to be true about the man who has served with such humility, integrity, holiness, theological profundity and quiet courage for nearly eight years, Pope Benedict XVI.

Among the more salacious claims was that the report exposed some sort of lavender mafia, a homosexual network of clerics which may have even attempted to blackmail the Pope. The feeding frenzy in the European press finally led to an editorial from Fr Federico Lombardi entitled A Penitential Time which can be read in its entirety here.

He noted “There is no lack, in fact, of those who seek to profit from the moment of surprise and disorientation of the spiritually naive to sow confusion and to discredit the Church and its governance, making recourse to old tools, such as gossip, misinformation and sometimes slander, or exercising unacceptable pressures to condition the exercise of the voting duty on the part of one or another member of the College of Cardinals, who they consider to be objectionable for one reason or another.”

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Alleged victim sues ex-priest, N.O., Lake Charles dioceses

LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY BILLY GUNN
Acadiana bureau

February 25, 2013

LAFAYETTE — A former southwest Louisiana priest facing trial Sept. 16 on charges of sex crimes against boys from the late 1980s to the early 1990s “ought to be locked up for life,” an attorney for an alleged victim said Monday.

Felicia Peavy is one of two attorneys suing Mark Anthony Broussard and the Roman Catholic Church on behalf of her client, who is identified in court papers as John Doe I. The civil action was filed in January in U.S. District Court in New Orleans and seeks a total of $18 million in damages.

The lawsuit also lists the Vatican; the Archdiocese of New Orleans and its archbishop, the Most Rev. Gregory M. Aymond; the Diocese of Lake Charles; and others as defendants in the lawsuit.

“During the course of extending himself as a positive adult male role model, holy cleric and priest and spiritual advisor … Broussard raped and sexually molested, abused and exploited (the victim) on a daily basis during his preadolescent years from 1985 to 1988,” the lawsuit states.

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The Wages of Celibacy

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By FRANK BRUNI

Published: February 25, 2013

The resignation of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic clergyman, accused of unwanted advances toward younger priests, will ratchet up the usual talk about lies, double lives and hypocrisy in the church, and rightly so. The church’s leaders preach a purity that its own clerics can’t maintain. They cast stones, and are so very far from blameless.

But before we range across that sadly familiar terrain, let’s give a moment’s thought to loneliness. And longing. And this: the pledge of celibacy that the church requires of its servants is an often cruel and corrosive thing. It runs counter to human nature. It asks too much.

Just so we’re clear: I’m not excusing priests who’ve sexually abused minors, or even talking principally about them. The British clergyman, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, isn’t charged with any such crime. He’s charged with failing to obey the moral absolutes he pronounces. And if true, the allegations represent more than yet another peek behind a false curtain of fraudulent righteousness. They’re a suggestion of celibacy’s foolishness, even its recklessness: of the way it warps the culture of the priesthood; of the unreasonable standard it sets.

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Priest not in court for child sex case mention

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

An 83-year-old Catholic priest was not present when child sex offences against him were mentioned in a Newcastle court this morning.

John Patrick Gleeson of Glenbrook is charged with eight counts of indecent assault with a child under 16 years.

Police allege he assaulted two boys in the 1960s when he was teaching at a Hamilton school.

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Is the Roman Holy Empire Folding As Fast As the Soviet Empire Did?

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The escalating cracks in the Vatican’s walls are expanding almost at a geometric pace–truly breathtaking. One Cardinal is down, several are on the edge, and a desparate Pope cannot change the Conclave rules fast enough to try to stem the bleeding as he packs to leave town. This surely is the worst crisis since the Reformation, at least for the Catholic hierarchy.

To many of the remaining one billion plus Catholics, it is mainly Good News. The “First” will soon be returned to the “Last”, children will be safer, women will be more respected, family planning will be available to save more children from misery, Catholic scholars will again be able to think freely and aloud, and gay persons will be freed of oppression from too many conflicted and closeted gay hierarchs. Divinely, the Gospels wisely show us Jesus and his early followers rejected evil empires and hypocritical hierarchs; while valuing authenticity and children. Welcome back, Gospels. We missed you when you were gone!

The Pope is treating Cardinals as obedient fools, not as successors to the Apostles. He springs on them suddenly his resignation, then tells them they cannot read the very relevant secret report about Vatican scandals that likely lead to his resignation. He wants to cut down the Cardinal’s pre-voting candidate review period, while the Vatican Cardinal clique has likely had plenty of time to scheme for their candidate. Will Cardinals play dead now or bark back at the departing German Shepherd? Or will the Cardinals just let the prosecutors and courts take control and implement reforms?

Cardinal Dolan already objected to shortening the pre-Conclave candidate review period. Will others now join him and demand more time? By assembling a one-third voting block, they of course can take all the time in the world!

Increasing numbers of Cardinals seem to be facing serious criminal prosecution risks that likely could increase rapidly unless the Vatican is reformed promptly and broadly. Last year, Philly’s Cardinal Bevilacqua avoided almost imminent prosecution by dying first and his top aide is in prison. Prosecutors and jurors will likely no longer give Cardinals the benefit of the doubt and the media is aggressively reporting Cardinals’ sins more often. The next Pope must confront these risks honestly and openly or the risk of imprisonment will almost surely only increase for Cardinals worldwide. The next Pope must require that abuse survivors are treated justly and that children are protected effectively. He must assure that hierarchical wrongdoers are exposed, removed and punished transparently and promptly. He must end the financial scandals; not just ship a key financial player to South America. These pressing imperatives require new leadership and real reforms now, especially to minimize prosecution risks.

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ITALY – Victims push Pope for action on his last day

ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 25, 2013

■Victims push Pope for action on his last day
■They list 5 things he should do before leaving
■“Take decisive action now,” self help group urges

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a news conference, US clergy sex abuse victims will

— Publicly push for 5 specific actions for Pope Benedict to take before he resigns, and
— Urge papal electors to push Cardinal Brady and Cardinal Mahony to not participate in the conclave, and
–Urge all who have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups to come forward get help, call police, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing

WHEN:
Tuesday, February 26 at 2:00 pm

WHERE:
Orange Hotel, 86 Via Crescenzio 00193, Roma +39.06.6868969

WHO:
Two leaders of the US-based international support group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Missouri man who is the organization’s long time director

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Charisma, courage, but he had too many enemies

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Guy Adams

Cardinal Keith O’Brien took time out from official duties last week to concentrate on one of the things he loves best: getting himself into the news.

After summoning the BBC to his private chapel in Edinburgh at 3pm on Thursday, the de facto leader of Scotland’s 750,000 Catholics declared it was time for his church to end a thousand years of tradition, by allowing priests to marry.

‘It’s a free world,’ he announced, in comments splashed across Saturday’s papers, ‘and I realise that many priests have found it very difficult to keep with celibacy as they lived in the priesthood and have felt the need for … companionship.’

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Jimmy Savile and the Cardinal: Britain’s top Catholic cleric was friend of disgraced TV host

SCOTLAND
Mirror

Grinning and giving a thumbs-up, Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric poses with his friend, disgraced paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The snap, taken six years ago, emerged last night after Cardinal Keith O’Brien quit amid allegations of “inappropriate acts” towards fellow priests.

The photo was taken in Edinburgh in 2007 as fund-raiser Savile and the cardinal unveiled a £375,000 vehicle for the disabled.

The pair first met in the 70s, when O’Brien was a priest in Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire – and worked with a friend of Savile’s mum.

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John Haldane: The Church can overcome

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

“IF IT were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well, it were done quickly.” So speaks Macbeth of the murder of the king, but the words might well be self-applied by someone who finds themselves in the situation faced by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, when he learned of the news stories reporting accusations against him of inappropriate behaviour.

The circumstances could hardly be more dramatic: on Thursday the Pope abdicates and the process of electing a successor begins shortly thereafter. The situation is unprecedented (medieval “resignations” were entirely different) and the Church and the world have still not worked out quite what it means. At the same time, there is speculation about possible scandals within the Vatican itself, and complaints about the attendance at the Conclave of figures accused of failure in dealing with sexual abuse cases. Under these circumstances, to have the leading serving churchman from the British Isles turn up in Rome beneath a dark and heavy cloud would intensify the storm.

To his credit, the cardinal has understood all of this, no doubt feeling the deep irony of the fact of his imminent retirement, and in circumstances of ill-health, and he has done the right thing. Whether this is what the publicisers of the accusations hoped for in reporting the allegations now, and whether they will feel satisfied at the outcome I do not know, but it is hard not to ask, with the Romans, cui bono – who benefits?

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There Is Nothing Hidden That Will Not Be Revealed

UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By Rod Dreher • February 25, 2013

A day after he stood formally accused by three priests and one ex-priest of sexually harassing them, Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s resignation from his office was announced by the Vatican. O’Brien did not admit fault in the accusations, or address them at all, except perhaps in this oblique remark:

Looking back over my years of ministry: for any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended.

It is not credible to think that O’Brien resigned simply to avoid controversy at the upcoming conclave, as his public statement indicates. The man has been formally accused by three active priests and one ex-priest. That’s not nothing. Here is the news report from the weekend about the allegations. The ex-priest says he didn’t leave the priesthood to marry, but rather because when O’Brien became archbishop, he knew he would be forever subject to the man who sexually abused him:

“You have to understand,” explains the ex-priest, “the relationship between a bishop and a priest. At your ordination, you take a vow to be obedient to him.

“He’s more than your boss, more than the CEO of your company. He has immense power over you. He can move you, freeze you out, bring you into the fold … he controls every aspect of your life. You can’t just kick him in the balls.”

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Surprise as pope changes conclave rules

VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

On what was another momentous day in this curious pre-resignation moment in the pontificate of Benedict XVI, the Holy See confirmed yesterday that Benedict had changed the rules governing the conclave which will next month to elect his successor.

On any other day, Benedict’s Motu Proprio or papal decree relative to the conclave would have dominated all news attention. When he faced the world’s media yesterday, however, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi found himself having to deal with questions about another resignation, that of Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Just one day after UK media reports revealed that Cardinal O’Brien had been accused of “inappropriate acts” with three priests and one ex-priest, the Vatican confirmed the pope had accepted his resignation, effective immediately. However, Fr Lombardi refused to comment on the accusations made against Cardinal O’Brien nor could he confirm the Scottish cardinal will not now attend the conclave.

It was Cardinal O’Brien himself who confirmed he will not attend, with a statement in which he said he did not want media attention to be focused on him, “but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and his successor” at the conclave.

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Cardinal’s ministry likely to be remembered for manner of his leaving it

UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Cardinal had liberal reputation until man who would be pope made him toe line

There must be glee in Stonewall today. Set up in 1989 to promote equal rights for gay people it awarded Cardinal Keith O’Brien its Bigot of the Year Award last November for his attacks on proposals to legalise same-sex marriage.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph last March the cardinal said civil partnerships involving gay people were “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved” while “the repercussions of enacting same-sex marriage into law will be immense”.

He bemoanded that politicians were not “derided” when they suggested “jettisoning the established understanding of marriage and subverting its meaning.” Instead, he continued, “their attempt to redefine reality is given a polite hearing, their madness is indulged”.

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Catholic Church controversies since Benedict XVI’s resignation

CANADA
CBC News

The resignation of British Cardinal Keith O’Brien on Feb. 24 over allegations of inappropriate behaviour is the latest scandal facing the Catholic Church in the run-up to the election of the next pope in March.

Here’s a look at controversies that have emerged since Pope Benedict announced his resignation on Feb. 11.

O’Brien’s resignation

On Feb. 24, the Vatican accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who heads the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. The 74-year-old O’Brien faces misconduct allegations after three priests and one former priest within the Diocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh filed complaints that he approached them in an inappropriate way, the Observer newspaper reported on Feb. 23.

The physical advances allegedly took place as far back as 30 years ago.

Although O’Brien is contesting the allegations, by stepping down he will no longer be a part of the conclave that will choose a new pope in March.

“I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me, but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and on his successor,” O’Brien said following his resignation.

Vatileaks

On Feb. 21, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Benedict’s decision to step down could have been the result of wanting to distance himself from allegations that a network of closeted gay priests in the Vatican was being subjected to blackmail.

According to the paper, the Pope’s decision to step down came on the same day last December that he received a dossier related to the so-called “Vatileaks” controversy — the 2012 scandal in which the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested for allegedly stealing secret documents.

La Repubblica reported that the dossier concluded that because of their alleged homosexuality, some members of the Holy See were susceptible to “external influence,” in other words, blackmail.

The Vatican replied on Feb. 23 by condemning the “false and damaging reports” and suggesting that the media were trying to influence the election of the next pontiff.

U.S. allegations of coverup

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, former head of the largest Catholic archdiocese in the U.S., is being urged not to take part in the conclave after being accused of protecting more than 120 sexually abusive priests during his time as the archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011.

According to the L.A. Times, a Catholic organization called Catholic United has gathered thousands of signatures and took a petition to Mahoney on Feb. 23, asking that for the well-being of the Catholic Church, Mahony refrain from participating in the conclave.

The protest is in response to the Jan. 31 release of 12,000 pages of personal documents dealing with the accusations and Mahony and other officials’ handling of them, which were published by court order. The files showed that Mahony helped keep accused priests of out trouble.

In one instance, the files showed that an accused priest by the name of Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico when Thomas Curry, Mahony’s aide, advised him that parents of the allegedly abused children might go to the police. Rivera is still a fugitive in Mexico, the Times reported.

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Former doctrinal enforcer used pontificate to crack down on sex abuse

VATICAN CITY
U.S. Catholic

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s disgust over the abuse scandals marring the church was made evident even before his election as pope.

In his forceful Way of the Cross meditations, which he wrote as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the few weeks before his election as pope in 2005, he wrote for the world to hear: “How much filth there is in the church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him.”

That straightforward attitude, coupled with sympathy for victims and commitment toward prevention, marked much of the pope’s subsequent eight years as pope.

“Pope Benedict XVI will certainly be remembered for his extraordinary reply and response to the very sad phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy,” Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna of Malta told Vatican Radio. The bishop was promoter of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, handling accusations of clerical sex abuse from 2002 to 2012.

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Cardinal Keith O’Brien: scourge of liberals with a flair for rhetoric

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sam Jones
The Guardian, Monday 25 February 2013

Even Keith O’Brien’s friends and admirers would probably admit that he has a regrettable tendency to deploy the heavy artillery of rhetoric whenever the public debate touches on matters of homosexuality, abortion or secularism.

As befits one of the most outspoken churchmen of the already outspoken Roman Catholic church in Scotland, he has never been slow to condemn what he sees as immorality whenever and wherever he sees it.

His vigorous opposition to same-sex marriage – “a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right” – his comparison of the abortion rate to “two Dunblane massacres a day” and his description of the implications of the human fertilisation and embryology bill as “grotesque” and akin to “Nazi-style experiments” earned him the respect and gratitude of conservative Catholics pleased to see a cardinal taking a stand.

His language and intractability also infuriated liberals, progressive Catholics and equality campaigners. Last year, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall decided to reward his “vitriolic campaign against equality in Scotland” with its bigot of the year award. “If Roman Catholics don’t approve of same-sex marriage,” said its chief executive, “they should make sure they don’t get married to someone of the same sex”.

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RI diocese: Priest acknowledges 1981 sex assault

RHODE ISLAND
CT Post

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A priest has acknowledged he sexually abused a minor more than 30 years ago and resigned from two parishes in Woonsocket, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence said Monday.

In a statement the diocese said Monsignor John Allard was placed on administrative leave and has expressed remorse for the abuse.

State Police Maj. Michael Winquist said police received a letter from the diocese earlier this month that outlined the allegations.

Winquist said a boy who was one of Allard’s then-parishioners in Cranston was allegedly assaulted by him in 1981. The diocese said Allard served at Immaculate Conception in Cranston from 1975 to 1984.

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Woonsocket pastor acknowledges sexual assault, resigns

RHODE ISLAND
Valley Breeze

WOONSOCKET – A priest who was serving at St. Agatha and Precious Blood has acknowledged that he abused a minor in 1981 and has resigned from both churches.

Rev. Monsignor John Allard has been placed on administrative leave and police are encouraging anyone who knows of abuse to report it to police or the diocese.

The priest also served at Our Lady of Good Help in Burrillville, St. Aloysius in Woonsocket, and the Diocesan Office of Youth Ministry.

The incident, announced by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence on Monday, Feb. 25, is reported to have occurred at Immaculate Conception in Cranston, where Allard served from 1975 to 1984. In a statement, the diocese expressed remorse for the abuse.

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Pope Benedict Forced Cardinal O’Brien to Quit 4 Weeks Ahead of Retirement Over Sex Scandal

VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | February 26, 2013

Just days before his official retirement on Feb 28, Pope Benedict XVI made a controversial decision on Monday by forcing Scottish Cardinal, Keith O’Brien to quit his post.

The decision to pressure the head of the Scottish Catholic Church to step down over allegations of improper behavior by Cardinal O’Brien toward priests is contrary to previous reports that the cardinal resigned on his own.

The cardinal is the most serious among the 100 plus cardinals who are arriving in Vatican City to vote for the next pope in a conclave to be held inside the Sistine Chapel. His participation in the selection process was supposed to be one of his last acts as head of the Scottish Catholic Church since he is due for retirement in the next 4 weeks when he reaches 75.

Three current priests and an ex-priests claimed that the cardinal committed inappropriate acts on them during the 1980s and the publication by the Observer of the charge added to the growing list of sex scandals involving the clergy and prompted the pope’s decision.

After quitting as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal O’Brien issued a statement apologizing for any failures to those whom he offended. He canceled his trip to Vatican, which dashes any hope of him supporting a papabili who would be more friendlier to the idea of a growing proposal to remove the marriage ban on priests.

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Venting and vetting: The brutal side of papal politics

UNITED KINGDOM
Washington Post

By David Gibson| Religion News Service,

Updated: Monday, February 25

If you want a crash course on how papal politics really works, look no further than the saga of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

On Friday, Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric grabbed headlines by telling the BBC that priestly celibacy was “not of divine origin” and that he’d be “happy” if priests had the option to marry.

On Saturday, O’Brien was back in the news, this time after four men reportedly accused him of “inappropriate acts” dating back to the 1980s.

By Monday, O’Brien had resigned as archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh and announced he would skip the conclave.

From champion of married priests to disgraced churchman within 72 hours, O’Brien’s trajectory is stunning but also emblematic of the frenetic and fever-pitched campaigning that occurs during the tiny window between a pope’s death or resignation and the election of his successor.

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Analysis: Intrigue is age-old part of Vatican politics

VATICAN CITY
Detroit Free Press

by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

The Vatican today appears rocked by scandalous rumors and resignations just as church leaders must gear up to replace frail Pope Benedict XVI within weeks.

But Vatican experts say if you think the world’s largest non-governmental institution is in unprecedented chaos right now, think again.

“Have you ever heard of the Borgias?” quips professor Terrence Tilley, chairman of the theology department for Fordham University, New York. They were the larcenous, adulterous, murderous, election-rigging, Renaissance-era family of renaissance popes “who ran the papacy for decades like a private fief.”

For all the sex, money and power headlines wafting out of Rome these days, at least no one has been murdered. Infighting and innuendo, though, are ancient traditions that have moved into the bright lights of the 24/7 news cycle social media.

“It’s high season for reporting chaos,” Tilley says. “There have always been rumors about money, power and sex in the Vatican. The question is not whether but how much. There’s a lot of smoke, right now. Is there a spark, yes. If it’s a fire, is it a small campfire or a five-alarm conflagration? No one knows.”

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Goodbye to Cardinal O’Brien

UNITED STATES
First Things

Monday, February 25, 2013

John Haldane

The resignation of Cardinal O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, within a month of the date on which his formal resignation would normally have taken effect, is both shocking and sad, for he was a well-known and well-liked figure within the Catholic Church in Scotland, in Britain, and more widely; and within Scotland he had good relations with other churches and faiths, and with civil and political society.

Given the nature of the accusations, however, and the publication of them over the weekend, ahead of the formal abdication of Pope Benedict later in the week, it is unsurprising that he has taken the decision to resign. The Scottish Catholic Church has a good reputation in Rome for clear and confident leadership, and the Pope particularly relished the Scottish part of his visit to the UK, and appreciated the work done by Cardinal O’Brien and his fellow bishops.

With that in mind, however, the Cardinal could not but be mindful of the problems that would follow given the inevitable press interest created by the accusations, and he would not want that burden to fall upon the Church and the Pope at what is obviously a critical moment in the life of the Roman Catholic community.

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The Scandal of the Cardinals. The Disgrace of Episcopal Bishops

UNITED STATES
Virtue Online

The Episcopal Church embraces what Rome calls “intrinsically disordered”

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
February 25, 2013

Leading Episcopal gay and lesbian clergy and laity are publicly gloating over revelations that more leading Roman Catholic leaders have been quietly practicing what they themselves openly practice and preach.

In the name of transparency, integrity, openness, inclusion and diversity, the Episcopal Church has rolled over to the zeitgeist and embraced pansexuality, even as leading Catholic prelates have been exposed for their sexual behavior paralleling a number of Episcopal bishops. Four of them have publicly outed themselves including Gene Robinson, Mary Glasspool, Otis Charles and Tom Shaw, while other Episcopal bishops clandestinely practice sodomy but have chosen not to “come out” preferring to remain closeted with their sexual practices.

Who is surprised to learn that there are gay priests in the Vatican, asked Jim Naughton in a headline at his liberal blog Episcopal Café? “It is common knowledge that punitive attitudes about sexuality and the pressure to keep one’s identity hidden can lead to unhealthy behavior. People who hide their identities and engage in these behaviors are open to blackmail. So this news is less shocking than it is predictable. The church’s repressive teaching and the subterfuge it engenders–from officials of all sexual orientations–is what is undermining the church.”

Or this:

“Perhaps we need to add to the list of known knowns and unknown unknowns, the “known but not acknowledged.” One of the principal facts of scandal is that there is a fact, a reality that is revealed publicly. So I would not automatically dismiss this as a possibility. After all, in addition to being Bishop of Rome, one might well observe that the pontiff is to some extent Prisoner of the Vatican… and many are the secrets held in pectore…”

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Former Saanich priest convicted of child sexual assault

CANADA
The Province

VICTORIA — A former Victoria-area Roman Catholic priest has been found guilty of one sex-related charge while being acquitted of three others.

Sixty-three-year-old Phil Jacobs was convicted of touching a person under the age of 14 for sexual purposes.

B.C. Supreme Court Judge Madam Justice Merriam Gropper acquitted Jacobs of three other charges, including sexual assault and two counts of sexual touching of a person under 14.

She said much of the evidence raised doubts over when the alleged offences took place and she was therefore unable to find Jacobs guilty on those charges.

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Despite criticism, Mahony should help select pope, says cardinal

UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

A top U.S. cardinal on Monday said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony should help select a new pope despite new revelations about his handling of priest abuse cases.

Cardinal William Levada spoke about Mahony and the historic events at the Vatican during a talk at a Menlo Park seminary, according to the Associated Press. Levada is a former cardinal of San Francisco who also served as the pope’s prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Critics have slammed Mahony for going to Rome after church files released last month showed he worked to prevent law enforcement officials from investigating priests who molested children. Mahony has apologized for his actions in the 1980s but said it was his duty to select a new pope.

On Saturday, a Catholic organization delivered a petition with thousands of signatures asking that Mahony recuse himself from the conclave in Rome.

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Archbishop: Philly Catholics ‘in need of healing’

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Francisco Chronicle

By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press

Monday, February 25, 2013

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Monday the city has been formally selected by the Vatican to host a large gathering of the Roman Catholic church called the World Meeting of Families in 2015, with Archbishop Charles Chaput saying the region’s 1.5 million Catholics are in need of “healing and renewal.”

The meeting, expected to draw hundreds of thousands from around the world, will be held from Sept. 22 through Sept. 27 in 2015. Pope Benedict XVI originally announced the selection of the city as host in June, months before his planned resignation was announced earlier this month.

The dates for the VIII World Meeting of Families were confirmed in a letter last month, Chaput said Monday. At a news conference, Chaput said he didn’t know why the pope chose Philadelphia but that he was “deeply grateful.”

“These events also become moments of grace,” he said, adding that the region’s Catholic community is “in need of healing and renewal” and that the church needs “to better protect children and young people.”

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Former St. Mary’s Orchard Lake Schools students come forward, say they were molested

MICHIGAN
Daily Tribune

By CAROL HOPKINS
carol.hopkins@oakpress.com; @opcarolhopkins

Four former St. Mary’s Orchard Lake Schools students have come forward to say they were sexually molested by a priest at the school in the 1980s — and a Boston attorney has heard the stories and is researching his next step in the matter.

The priest, Brother Stephen Baker, worked at the school in Orchard Lake between 1983-85.

Baker, 62, killed himself Jan. 26 with a self-inflicted knife wound to the heart at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg, Pa. — Baker is accused of molesting high schools students in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Baker left a note apologizing for his actions, officials reported.

Prior abuse cases continue to trouble the church.

There is no record that Baker molested anyone connected with the school system, said officials with the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“He knew no bounds and was not properly being supervised,” said Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston, Mass.-based attorney who specializes in sexual abuse cases.

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U.S. Catholics: Key Data from Pew Research

UNITED STATES
Pew Research Center

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to hold his final general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 27, the day before he steps down as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. In the coming weeks, approximately 117 cardinals, including 11 from the United States, will gather to elect his successor. How do U.S. Catholics view the church, and what do they want from the next pope? Here are some of the Pew Research Center’s key findings about the U.S. Catholic population on these and other questions.

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Former Saanich priest guilty on one count of sexual touching

CANADA
Saanich News

By Kyle Slavin – Saanich News
Published: February 25, 2013

Father Phil Jacobs has been found guilty of touching a young person for a sexual purpose, but not guilty on three other counts of molestation.

Justice Miriam Gropper handed down her verdict this morning in B.C. Supreme Court after a trial that spanned December and January.

Three young men and former students of St. Joseph the Worker School testified that Jacobs molested and sexually touched them during his tenure as parish priest at the Saanich Catholic school in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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New questions arise as conclave rules change

VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, February 25 – With only four days remaining before Benedict XVI steps down as pope, new questions continue to surface regarding how his successor will be elected. On Monday Benedict issued a decree changing the rules of the conclave electing the new head of the Catholic Church. The rule change allows the conclave to take place sooner than the mandatory 15 days from a papacy’s end, and so before mid-March, the Vatican said. “The cardinals will be permitted to bring forward the start of the conclave, if they are all present,” said the decree, called ‘motu proprio’ in Latin. Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi said: “We cannot anticipate the date of the conclave, but it is likely a formal decision will come in the first few days of March”.

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Cardinal’s resignation ‘the biggest crisis since the Reformation’

SCOTLAND
STV

[with video]

The Catholic Church in Scotland has been engulfed in crisis following the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien amid allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” stretching back 30 years.

Cardinal O’Brien is to step down with immediate effect after three priests and a former priest made complaints to the Vatican.

The move leaves the Catholic Church in Britain with no vote in the forthcoming conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI after the Cardinal said he would not attend.

Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation is the latest in a series of scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church. Two years ago, the Bishop of Bruges stepped down after admitting to sexual abuse. And in Ireland, revelations have come to light that 10,000 women were kept as virtual slaves in church-run laundries across the country.

The current scandal is so profound that Professor Tom Devine of the University of Edinburgh said: “This is possibly the biggest crisis in the history of Scottish Catholicism since the Reformation.

“It has come from the heart and soul of the church.”

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U.K. Cardinal’s Resignation Amid Scandal Pushes Oscars Coverage to Back of News Reports

UNITED KINGDOM
Hollywood Reporter

LONDON – The resignation of Britain’s most senior representative of the Roman Catholic church, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, pushed Adele, Daniel Day Lewis and the other British-born Oscar winners down in U.K. news coverage on Monday.

The Oscars led early morning news shows as the best picture award was handed out in the early hours of Monday morning here.

Then, O’Brien’s resignation hit the headlines amid claims, which he contests, of “inappropriate behavior,” meaning sexual advances, towards priests dating back to the 1980s. The news began to dominate the British news agenda with it leading the BBC and ITV news reports starting mid-morning Monday.

It follows revelations in Sunday newspaper The Observer, which reported that three priests and one former priest complained about O’Brien to the Pope’s representative in Britain earlier this month, when Pope Benedict announced his shock resignation.

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Cardinal Mahony in Rome despite calls to skip conclave

ROME
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, February 25 – Controversial American Cardinal Roger Mahony, who critics have urged to abstain from the conclave to elect a new pope over a growing sex-abuse scandal, is in Rome and attended Benedict XVI’s final Angelus on Sunday, Mahony said on his blog Monday. Mahony answered questions under oath Saturday about a visiting Mexican priest who in 1987 is believed to have molested 26 children at the Los Angeles Archdiocese, where he was the archbishop at the time. A grass-roots campaign had sprung up, trying to shame Mahony into dropping out of the conclave over allegations that he protected sexually abusive priests by moving them to other parishes.

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Too many priests preach truth, but live a lie

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

The scandal surrounding the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien shows why the Catholic Church must end its hypocrisy over gays

By Peter Stanford
8:06PM GMT 25 Feb 2013

For us million or so run-of-the-mill Catholic Mass-goers in Britain, there have been plenty of bishops’ letters and other hellfire sermons about gay marriage to sit through of late. Since the argument from the pulpit is always the same, my mind often wanders and I find myself focusing instead not on the message but on the messenger.

As a “professional” Catholic – having once edited the Catholic Herald – as well as a private one, I’ve met many clerics. Many are openly gay. Or so open when not saying Mass that it is easy to forget I’m not meant to remember it when they are.

In general, such double standards don’t overly concern me. Like the rest of us, priests, monks, bishops and even cardinals are as God made them. Whatever inner tension they struggle with as leaders in a Church that teaches that to be gay is – and I am quoting a document sent out by the soon-to-retire Pope when he was Cardinal Ratzinger – “a strong tendency towards an intrinsic moral evil”, that is a matter for their own conscience.

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Decoding the Papacy: Benedict XVI’s cryptic frustration

VATICAN CITY
BBC News

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

Popes tend to be prodigal with words. They make thousands of speeches and religious homilies every year. Nevertheless, papal pronouncements rarely hit the headlines.

But occasionally a single word or phrase shines out like a beacon that illuminates the arcane world of the Vatican.

One of these occasions was when at Easter 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, leading a Good Friday meditation at Rome’s Colosseum only days before the death of Pope John Paul II and his own election as Pope Benedict XVI, referred to the “filth” besmirching the Catholic Church.

We were at a loss to understand immediately to what he was referring.

As we now know, it was a reference to the clerical sexual abuse scandals which were damaging the credibility of the Catholic Church, not only in the United States, but also in many other countries.

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UK’s Top Cardinal, Keith O’Brien, Resigns—Who’s Next?

VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Feb 25, 2013

Keith O’Brien’s resignation as archbishop of Scotland—amid claims that he made advances towards male priests—could be the first in a wave of scandals to plague the coming conclave.

When Cardinal Keith O’Brien handed in his resignation as archbishop of Scotland to Pope Benedict XVI ahead of his 75th birthday on March 17 last year, he likely had no idea how relevant it would become in the history of the Catholic Church. The resignation was made nunc pro tunc or “now for later”–to be dealt with when the pope had time for such matters. But Pope Benedict, who is stepping down from his papacy on February 28, only found time to approve O’Brien’s resignation last Friday. The resignation, and the presumed assumption that O’Brien will not participate in the conclave to elect the next pope, is just the latest in an avalanche of sleazy scandals to rock the Vatican since the pope tendered his resignation on February 11. And, given the speed at which the Vatican’s skeletons are surfacing, O’Brien’s resignation has left many wondering how many cardinals will be left by the time the conclave begins.

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Cardinal Mahony blogs about persecution and ‘loving your enemies’

ROME
Los Angeles Times

February 25, 2013

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, currently at the Vatican to help select a new pope, has spoken out on Twitter and his blog about forgiving enemies.

Critics have slammed Mahony for going to Rome after new revelations that he worked to prevent law enforcement officials for investigating priests who molested children. Mahony has apologized for his actions in the 1980s and said it was his duty to select a new pope.

“Anyone interested in loving your enemies, or doing good to those who persecute you? See my blog for today. Wow, Jesus is demanding,” Mahony posted on Twitter Monday.

He expanded on the theme in a blog post.

“I can’t recall a time such as now when people tend to be so judgmental and even self-righteous, so quick to accuse, judge and condemn,” Mahony wrote on his personal blog. “And often with scant real facts and information. Because of news broadcasts now 24/7 there is little or no fact checking; no in-depth analysis; no context or history given. Rather, everything gets reported as ‘news’ regardless of the basis for the item being reported — and passed on by countless other news outlets.”

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Another Lawsuit Filed Against Catholic Leaders for Baker Sex Abuse

PENNSYLVANIA
Fox Youngstown

Reported by: Adam Ferrise – Online News Manager

The third lawsuit against Catholic leaders in Pennsylvania was filed Monday, accusing church leaders of allowing Brother Stephen Baker access to teenage students he allegedly sexually abused.

Johnstown, Pa. attorney Richard Serbin filed a lawsuit Monday in Blair County Court for three unnamed alleged sexual abuse victims, who were molested by Baker while they were students at Bishop McCort High School. Baker was a religious teacher, baseball coach and athletic trainer at Bishop McCort and held the same positions at Warren’s John F. Kennedy High School.

Serbin said Monday in a phone interview he has more than three clients that Baker abused and said he would likely add more to the lawsuit. He also said he expects more to come forward throughout the process.

The filing, called a Praecipe to Issue Writ of Summons, notifies defendants that a lawsuit has been started against them. The filing says Serbin will allege sexual abuse as the reason for the lawsuit and a complaint detailing allegations will be filed at a later time.

The filing names Bishop McCort, the Third Order Regular Franciscans and the Johnstown-Altoona Catholic Diocese, as did a similar lawsuit filed by Greensburg, Pa. attorney Susan Williams in Cambria County Court.

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Father Phil found guilty of sexually touching young person; acquitted of three other charges

CANADA
Times Colonist

Louise Dickson / Times Colonist
February 25, 2013

A Roman Catholic priest has been found guilty of sexually touching a young person while in a position of trust.

This morning, the young man — whose identity is protected by a court order — burst into tears as B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper convicted Father Phil Jacobs, 63, of sexually touching him when he was between 14 and 18.

The offence occurred between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001, when Jacobs was parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker in Saanich. It carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Jacobs, who resigned from the parish in 2002, was acquitted of three other charges: sexual assault; and two counts of sexual touching a young person under the age of 14.

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NEW: Providence Diocese Suspends Priest for Sexual Misconduct

RHODE ISLAND
GoLocalProv

Monday, February 25, 2013

GoLocalProv News Team

The Providence Diocese has announced that the Rev. Monsignor John Allard was placed on administrative leave for alleged misconduct.

The Diocese of Providence has just announced that it has placed the Rev. Monsignor John Allard on administrative leave following a “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct of a minor that reportedly took place more than 30 years ago.

“Monsignor Allard has taken responsibility for his actions and has expressed his profound remorse for the harm he has caused,” the Diocese said.

Allard had been pastor of both the St. Agatha and Precious Blood Parishes in Woonsocket and has been replaced, at least temporarily, with the Rev. Wilfred Gregoire

The Diocese said that this is the “first and only known allegation of abuse” relative to Allard and the matter has been referred to the Rhode Island State Police.

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