ABUSE TRACKER

CALIFORNIA
Fox 40

WHEATLAND-

A Wheatland pastor is facing charges for allegedly having a year-long sexual relationship with a teen girl.

A family member of the pastor called Yuba County Sheriff’s Department to report Brian Gray was involved in an inappropriate relationship.

Deputies learned 51-year-old Gray and the 16-year-old girl had been having sex since last Spring while he was pastor at Anchor Baptist Church in Wheatland.

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

[with video]

WHEATLAND, CA – A Wheatland church pastor has confessed to engaging in underage sex with a 16-year-old girl, said a Yuba County sheriff’s official.

“He has confessed to an ongoing sexual relationship with the 16-year-old victim over a period of approximately a year,” Yuba County Sheriff Steven Durfor said.

Read said the sheriff’s department was tipped off to the allegations on Tuesday by a report made to Wichita, Kansas police regarding suspect Brian Gray. Gray’s son said a relative of his father’s wife called Wichita police.

The ensuing investigation revealed Gray, 51, and the teen had been in a sexual relationship for approximately one year and it began at Anchor Baptist Church in Wheatland late last spring, Read said. There were additional sexual encounters in multiple other locations as well, according to the investigation.

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CALIFORNIA
KNVN

Yesterday, The Yuba County Sheriff’s Department received an information report from Wichita Police Department in Kansas. The report came from the family member of the suspect, 51-year-old Brian Gray, indicating the suspect and victim were involved in some type of inappropriate relationship.

A subsequent investigation revealed that the suspect and victim, a 16-year-old girl, have been engaged in a sexual relationship for approximately one year. According to Yuba City Police, The first incident of sexual contact occurred late last spring at the Anchor Baptist Church in Wheatland, where the suspect is a pastor. Several additional sexual encounters occurred in multiple local jurisdictions, and the investigation remains ongoing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Australia’s most senior Catholic will come before Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse later this month.

A spokesman for Cardinal George Pell says he is scheduled to appear on May 27 to give evidence about the church’s handling of allegations of abuse by its clergy while he was the Archbishop of Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell’s successor in Melbourne, Archbishop Denis Hart, will give evidence on May 20.

The committee of inquiry is examining the record of religious and non-government organisations.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will appear before a Victorian child abuse inquiry.

Cardinal Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart will give evidence to the parliamentary inquiry’s next public hearings later this month.

They welcomed the opportunity to appear before the inquiry, a statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said.

Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Hart had been consistent in their support for the inquiry and remain committed to the church’s full co-operation with the inquiry, the statement added.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

The Catholic Church’s Sydney and Melbourne archbishops will give evidence before a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will appear before a Victorian child abuse inquiry.

Cardinal Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart will give evidence to the parliamentary inquiry’s next public hearings later this month.

They welcomed the opportunity to appear before the inquiry, a statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn

Catechists would now struggle with the “painful legacy” of the Church’s history of sexual abuse, the CEO of the Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, has acknowledged.

Mr Sullivan told catechists at the annual Catholic Conference of Religious Educators in State Schools, in Canberra, that they faced the challenge of finding ways to talk to children and to help them come to terms with this “shameful and confronting” history.

The council is responsible for the Church’s engagement with the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 43

by Trang Do
Multi-media Journalist

Sexual abuse is a serious problem that far too often is kept hidden, and when it happens in a community as isolated as the Amish, it’s even more difficult for victims to be helped and offenders to be prosecuted.

FOX 43′s Trang Do has the story of a former Amish family and community leaders who are trying to break the culture of silence through outreach and education.

“I grew up Amish, not knowing any different. And I loved it, I loved my parents. Yeah, I loved it. I never dreamed that I would not be Amish,” said a former Amish woman whose name we are withholding.

But one difficult day, she and her husband made the decision to leave the only way of life they’d ever known, after discovering their children had been sexually abused.

When they brought up the issue with leaders of their church, they said they were told to forgive and forget, something the couple just couldn’t bring themselves to do.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

A New South Wales police whistleblower says he put himself and his family through hell campaigning for a royal commission into child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

A Special Commission of Inquiry is examining how NSW Police and the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese handled allegations of child sexual abuse by two priests.

The Commission was sparked when Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox aired claims on ABC TV’s Lateline program that his superiors ordered him to stop investigating the allegations as part of Strike Forces Lantle, set up in late 2010, and Georgiana, set up in 2007.

Detective Fox spent his fourth day in the witness box refuting claims by police barrister Wayne Roser SC that his appearance on Lateline had been scripted, but he did agree he was campaigning for a royal commission into child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Australia’s most senior Catholic will come before Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse later this month.

A spokesman for Cardinal George Pell says he is scheduled to appear on May 27 to give evidence about the church’s handling of allegations of abuse by its clergy while he was the Archbishop of Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell’s successor in Melbourne, Archbishop Denis Hart, will give evidence on May 20.

The committee of inquiry is examining the record of religious and non-government organisations.

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CALIFORNIA
Appeal-Democrat

May 08, 2013

By Rob Parsons/A-D Reporter
Two days before his arrest, several parishioners confronted Baptist Pastor Brian Clay Gray about his relationship with a 16-year-old girl, the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday.

Sheriff Steve Durfor described the allegations against Gray as “devastating to the community.”

“It’s certainly a shame,” Durfor said. “Any time a person is in a position of authority, influence and leadership and trust, it makes this all the more shocking to a community.”

Gray, 51, was booked just after midnight Wednesday into the Yuba County Jail on $100,000 bail on suspicion of felony sexual child abuse counts of unlawful sex, lewd and lascivious acts, and oral copulation with a minor.

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NEW YORK
New York Law Journal

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, &c., Appellants v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA., &c., Respondent, et al., Defendant, No. 69

New York State Court of Appeals
Civil Practice / Contracts / Insurance Law / Torts
New York Law Journal May 8, 2013

Opinion by Judge Rivera. Judges Read and Pigott concur. Judge Smith concurs in result in an opinion. Judge Graffeo concurs in part and dissents in part in an opinion. Chief Judge Lippman took no part.

Decided May 7, 2013

David B. Hamm, for appellants.
Barbara I. Michaelides, for respondent.

*1
JENNY RIVERA, J.:

‌This insurance coverage dispute involves the apportionment of liability for a settlement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn (the Diocese), and a minor plaintiff in an underlying civil action charging sexual molestation by a priest. We agree with the Appellate Division that the incidents of sexual abuse constituted multiple occurrences, and that any

*2
potential liability should be apportioned among the several insurance policies, pro rata. We therefore affirm.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Jackie Jadrnak / Journal North Reporter on Wed, May 8, 2013

Six more unnamed men have filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and some of its parishes, claiming that they suffered sexual abuse as teenagers at the hands of the Rev. Michael O’Brien in the 1970s and ’80s.

That brings the total to 10 recent lawsuits filed against the archdiocese for alleged actions committed by O’Brien, who is no longer alive.

The cases in state District Court in Albuquerque are being brought by Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall and the Portland, Ore., attorney Kelly Clark of O’Donnell Clark & Crew LLP.

The men in these latest suits currently range in age from their late 30’s to mid-50’s, according to a news release from the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2013

Six More Men File Lawsuits Against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Ten total now claim child sexual abuse by northern New MexicoPriest, Fr. Michael O’Brien

For more information, contact:
Attorney Brad D. Hall at 505.255.6300 or 505.400.1192 orbrad@bhallfirm.com Attorney Kelly Clark at 503.306.0224 or 503.407.7381 orkellyc@oandc.com

Albuquerque, New Mexico—
Six more former catholic youths have filed complaints against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, for the alleged sexual abuse they suffered by a Catholic priest, Fr Michael O’Brien, who was assigned to several parishes in Northern New Mexicoduring the 1970’s and 1980’s. Four earlier suits were filed in April with similar allegations arising from O’Brien’s tenure at churches in Questa, Las Vegas, andTaos.

The six new lawsuits, like the first four, allege that the Archdiocese was negligentin failing to properly screen, train, and supervise Fr. O’Brien, while fostering aculture that allowed pedophiles to flourish, resulting in the boys’ abuse.

All six of the new complaints were filed in Bernallilo County by Albuquerqueattorney Brad D. Hall, who will associate on the cases with attorney Kelly Clark,of the Portland, Oregon law firm of O’Donnell Clark & Crew LLP. Hall remarked,”It is now clear that there are O’Brien victims spread over half the state, fromEstancia to Taos, from Peñasco to Vegas to Questa. These six more suitsrepresent brave individuals who have come forward. They are hurting after yearsof silent suffering, and we believe we can get them to the professionals theyneed as a result of filing these claims for them.”

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

[with video]

[media release]

Posted at: 05/08/2013
By: Danielle Todesco, KOB Eyewitness News 4

Six more men have come forward with lawsuits claiming they were sexually abused by a priest in New Mexico.

That makes ten lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe over the same priest, Father Michael O’Brien.

The lawsuits detail similar stories. The men were all teenagers and say they were altar boys under Father O’Brien in the 1970’s and 1980’s. They say he sexually abused them multiple times, from fondling to rape. The victims say they have bottled up the emotional pain for decades.

Attorney Brad Hall says they believe officials in the Archdiocese knew about the abuse, and just kept moving Father O’Brien to different churches across the state.

“There seems to be a pattern. Father O’Brien moving from Estancia to Penasco to Taos to Vegas to Mora to Questa…about 2 years or so in every spot,” Hall said.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark has hired Michael Critchley, a high-profile criminal defense lawyer, as prosecutors continue to investigate recent activities of a priest who confessed to molesting a 13-year-old boy more than a decade ago.

A spokesman for Archbishop John J. Myers on Wednesday confirmed that Critchley, a widely respected lawyer known for winning light sentences or outright acquittals in a string of high-profile criminal defenses, is representing the archdiocese for “additional legal help.”

Critics have besieged the archdiocese since revelations surfaced last week that the Rev. Michael Fugee attended several youth retreats and extended pilgrimages in apparent disregard of an agreement he and a representative of Myers signed in 2007 with Bergen County prosecutors barring any activities with children. The prosecutor’s office immediately opened a new investigation.

Jim Goodness, Myers’ spokesman, said Critchley will be assisting in the review of legal documents in the inquiry. He said he was not sure whether Critchley has spoken to prosecutors, or when or if he will.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
May 8, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would allow lawsuits against churches, schools and other organizations that may have covered up child sexual abuse decades ago.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 66-0. A similar bill overwhelmingly passed the House last week. Katharine Tinucci, a spokeswoman for Gov. Mark Dayton, said in an email that she “expects he will sign it.”

The Child Victims Act would drop the statute of limitations for civil suits involving child sexual abuse going forward. For older cases, it would create a three-year window for past victims to file lawsuits against abusers and institutions that may have failed to protect them.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Megan Boldt
mboldt@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 05/08/2013

A bill that would make it easier for Minnesotans who were sexually abused as children to bring civil lawsuits against their abuser or the institution that enabled that abuse could soon become law.

It passed the Minnesota Senate unanimously on Wednesday, May 8. The House approved a similar measure earlier this month.

The bill eliminates the civil statute of limitations in most cases for victims of child sexual abuse. Under current state law, a child sex-abuse victim has up to age 24 to file a lawsuit after he or she turns 18, if not before.

The proposed legislation would retain the six-year limit to file a civil action for victims who were sexually abused at the age of 18 or older. But it would wipe out any limits for someone who was similarly abused before he or she turned 18.

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NEW JERSEY
USA Today

Kathleen Hopkins, Asbury Park (N.J.)

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — Yosef Kolko was a popular counselor who helped an unpopular young boy fit at summer camp in 2007, a jury of nine men and seven women heard Wednesday.

Kolko recruited the boy, who was teased by his peers, to sing in the choir at the camp run by Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School in Lakewood, N.J., and take roles in camp plays, Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Laura Pierro said during opening arguments of Kolko’s sexual assault trial before Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson.

The activity was great for the shy boy who was wildly into music but usually kept to himself and was shunned by kids his own age, she said.

“That elation would soon be replaced by a profound sense of discomfort,” Pierro said.

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PUERTO RICO
Univision

Más de 4 mil 150 curas involucrados, 10 mil 123 víctimas, 3 mil 971 casos y más de $2 mil 486 millones de dólares gastados por la Iglesia en cortes judiciales.

Eso es el tamaño de los abusos sexuales en contra de menores por parte de miembros de la iglesia católica en Estados Unidos y el mundo.

De acuerdo a los datos documentados por diferentes organizaciones no gubernamentales y por distintos medios de comunicación como bishop-accoutntability.org, Vunetnews y Wikipedia, tan solo en Estados Unidos han habido 3 mil 777 casos de pedofilia relacionados con la Iglesia Católica.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

Por Alba Y. Muñiz Gracia / alba.muniz@gfrmedia.com

Los miembros de casi una centena de organizaciones religiosas, sindicales, académicas y cívicas hicieron un llamado, a través de la Coalición en Defensa y Solidaridad con el Arzobispo de San Juan, a apoyar a monseñor Roberto González Nieves de la forma en que él mismo solicitó: orando para que la situación que atraviesa en el seno de lglesia Católica se solucione.

Como parte de las iniciativas que realizarán en apoyo al arzobispo, urgieron a la ciudadanía a acompañarlo en la misa que ofrecerá el miércoles, 8 de mayo, en la Iglesia Santa Teresita, en Santurce, a las 7:30 p.m.

“En agradecimiento a su gran gestión pastoral como arzobispo de nuestra ciudad capital, y por su entrega de amor al pueblo puertorriqueño, extendemos esta invitación a todo el país y a todos los que, ese día, quieran obsequiarle una muestra de solidaridad y agradecimiento”, expresó Joanne M. Rodríguez Veve, portavoz de la coalición, con respecto a la misa que dijo es para conmemorar el décimocuarto aniversario de González Nieves como arzobispo de San Juan y por su trigésimosexto aniversario de ordenación sacerdotal.

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PUERTO RICO
Univision Puerto Rico

[con video]

[con encuesta (poll)]

San Juan – El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, señaló que cualquier asunto con la Santa Sede lo tratará de forma “confidencial”, tras filtrarse un documento en que El Vaticano habría pedido la renuncia al religioso puertorriqueño.

El documento, hecho público por una emisora nacional (NotiUno) da cuenta de que la Santa Sede habría solicitado a González Nieves que dejara el cargo.

Ante el escenario, monseñor indicó que “cualquier comunicación o alegada comunicaci6n entre este servidor y la Santa Sede que trate de un asunto interno y confidencial, solo lo trataré con la Santa Sede”.

“Pido a todo el pueblo católico y a las personas de buena voluntad a parar por la iglesia y por este servidor. También les invito para que la verdad que nos libera salga a relucir en este asunto”, añade el arzobispo en una comunicación escrita.

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PUERTO RICO
Univision

A pocos meses de asumir el cargo como sumo pontífice de la Iglesia católica, el papa Francisco se enfrenta con un serio conflicto, la probable destitución del cargo de arzobispo de San Juan de Puerto Rico de monseñor Roberto González Nieves, de 62 años, quien se niega a renunciar a su cargo pese a varias acusaciones, entre ellas la de haber protegido a curas pedófilos, segíun publica este domingo el diario argentino El Clarín.

Aunque el conflicto ya estaba en desarrollo desde que Jorge Bergoglio se convirtió en Papa, se presume que monseñor González Nieves cuenta con el apoyo de la mayoría de los obispos puertorriqueños.

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PUERTO RICO
Noticias Sin

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico.- El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, señaló que cualquier asunto con la Santa Sede lo tratará de forma “confidencial”, tras filtrarse un documento en que El Vaticano habría pedido la renuncia al religioso puertorriqueño.

El documento, hecho público por una emisora nacional (NotiUno) da cuenta de que la Santa Sede habría solicitado a González Nieves que dejara el cargo.

Ante el escenario, monseñor indicó que “cualquier comunicación o alegada comunicaci6n entre este servidor y la Santa Sede que trate de un asunto interno y confidencial, solo lo trataré con la Santa Sede”.

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PUERTO RICO
ABC Univision

By SANTIAGO WILLS (@swillsp)
May 8, 2013
The new pope’s first crisis is not related to the Church’s controversial position on contraceptives or proposals for female clergy. Rather, Pope Francis’ first major quandary is getting rid of a Puerto Rican archbishop who, despite the Vatican’s numerous requests, has repeatedly refused to step down.

The source of Pope Francis’ current ordeal is Roberto Octavio González Nieves, the outspoken Archbishop of San Juan, who has been accused by Vatican emissaries of allegedly protecting pedophile priests, abusing his power, promoting Puerto Rican independence from the U.S., and supporting a law that could grant same-sex couples living together hereditary rights and health benefits, according to the Vatican Insider.

González Nieves was confronted by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the current prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and denied the allegations during a tense meeting in Puerto Rico on December 15, 2012. In the course of the discussion, the Vatican envoy subtly asked González Nieves to resign and to ask the Church for a new position elsewhere.

Nearly two months later, González Nieves sent Ouellet an angry missive that was recently leaked to the Puerto Rican press.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

Por Alba Y. Muñiz Gracia / alba.muniz@gfrmedia.com

Los miembros de casi una centena de organizaciones religiosas, sindicales, académicas y cívicas hicieron un llamado, a través de la Coalición en Defensa y Solidaridad con el Arzobispo de San Juan, a apoyar a monseñor Roberto González Nieves de la forma en que él mismo solicitó: orando para que la situación que atraviesa en el seno de lglesia católica se solucione.

Como parte de las iniciativas que realizarán en apoyo al arzobispo, urgieron a la ciudadanía a acompañarlo en la misa que ofrecerá mañana, miércoles, 8 de mayo en la iglesia Santa Teresita en Santurce a las 7:30 p.m.

“Esta es una ocasión para celebrar y dar gracias a Dios por haber escogido a monseñor Roberto González Nieves como nuestro pastor para guiar e iluminar la realidad puertorriqueña con la luz de las enseñanzas del evangelio”, expresó Joanne M. Rodríguez Veve, portavoz de la coalición.

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PUERTO RICO
Noticias 24/7

A pesar que hay acusaciones en su contra por, alegadamente, encubrir a sacerdotes pedófilos, el grupo que defiende la gestión apostólica del monseñor metropolitano de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, prefirió el lunes no entrar en los señalamientos y solo enfocarse en una jornada de oración para apoyar al arzobispo.

“Nosotros estamos claros que Roberto González Nieves siempre condenaría los actos de pedofilia. Pero entendemos que no es prudente entrar a discutir los méritos de cualquier acusación. Nosotros no tenemos la evidencia y sólo nos basamos en la información que los medios han publicado”, indicó la portavoz de la Coalición en Defensa y Solidaridad con el Arzobispo de San Juan, Joanne Rodríguez Veve, quien invitó a la ciudadanía a la santa misa en conmemoración del décimo cuarto aniversario de González Nieves como arzobispo metropolitano, que se llevará a cabo el miércoles, 8 de mayo a las 7:30 de la noche en la Iglesia Santa Teresita.

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PUERTO RICO
Primerahora

Por Frances Rosario / frances.rosario@gfrmedia.com
04/23/2013

El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, le pidió hoy a los medios de comunicación que comprueben la procedencia de una supuesta carta de la Nunciatura Apostólica en la que le solicitan que elimine el Altar de la Patria de la catedral de San Juan.

En medio de la controversia surgida esta mañana, cuando se reveló una supuesta carta procedente del Delegado Apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, y con fecha del 7 de marzo del corriente, González Nieves emitió las siguientes declaraciones por medio de comunicado de prensa, las que reproducimos de forma íntegra:

“Desde el día de ayer (lunes), varias personas de medios de comunicación se han comunicado con mi oficina para obtener una reacción sobre una alegada carta del Delegado Apostólico a este servidor del 7 de marzo de 2013 relacionada con la Capilla del Santísimo Cristo donde está el monumento del altar de la Patria, sitio que está destinado a orar por Puerto Rico.

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PUERTO RICO
Primerahora

La determinación se la han comunicado a González Nieves, a través del arzobispo Józef Wesolowski.

Una presunta directriz del Vaticano de eliminar el Altar de la Patria de la catedral católica de San Juan motivó hoy una controversia religiosa en la Isla, que llevó al arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, a poner en tela de juicio la veracidad de tal orden y que llevó al delegado apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, a anunciar una visita a la Isla el próximo mes de mayo.

En medio de la controversia, la exsenadora Melinda Romero divulgó públicamente un rumor sin confirmar que apunta a la existencia de una supuesta orden de la Santa Sede para trasladar al monseñor González Nieves a otro obispado fuera de Puerto Rico.

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PUERTO RICO
Primerahora

Dijo también que le escribirá nuevamente al Vaticano para notificarle las supuestas acciones “irreverentes” de González Nieves y para que le confirmen si en efecto será trasladado.

Aunque aceptó no tener ninguna prueba, la exsenadora Melinda Romero alegó que existe una supuesta orden del Vaticano para trasladarlo a una jurisdicción fuera de Puerto Rico al arzobispo Roberto González Nieves ante su supuesta resistencia a dejar de nombrar una de las capillas de la catedral de San Juan como el Altar de la Patria.

La hija del exgobernador Carlos Romero Barceló dijo también que le escribirá nuevamente al Vaticano para notificarle las supuestas acciones “irreverentes” de González Nieves y para que le confirmen si en efecto será trasladado.

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PUERTO RICO
Latin Times

By Patricia Rey-Mallen, Apr 29, 2013

San Juan de Puerto Rico’s archbishop has been asked twice by the Vatican to step down from the head of the diocese in at least two occasions, local newspaper Vocero reports.

Roberto González Nieves answered in February to allegations made against him in the Vatican, especially the remarks signed by cardinal Marc Ouellet and his secretary, Lorenzo Baldisseri, in a meeting in Rome in December of last year.

“In such meeting, I was told I had to leave the diocese in San Juan and take another position within the Catholic church. The unfairness, prosecution, difamation can never be sources for the renounce of a bishop, or its fair cause. I want to make it clear that I would never leave the diocese of San Juan when there is no legitimate reason,” he worte in a letter dated of Febrary 20.

“I was read a long list of accusation towards myself that surprised and concerned me. Firstly, for the falsehood that reigned in them all, and secondly, because I understood they marked me as guilty. I am not sure those accusations are definite or what investigation brought them up. From my experience and the real facts that I have unpeachable proof, such conclusions could have never arisen,” he added.

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PUERTO RICO
Fox News Latino

Catholics in Puerto Rico are rallying behind the island’s embattled archbishop, who is allegedly under pressure from the Vatican to resign amid allegations he protected priests accused of sexual abuse and meddled in local politics.

Archbishop Roberto González Nieves has not confirmed that the Holy See has asked him to step down from his post, but he has still beseeched parishioners on the U.S. island territory to pray for him.

“Many people have approached me and have called my office asking what can they do?”

González Nieves said in a statement, according to the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia. “On one hand I beg you, please do not send letters to the Holy See with endorsements. On the other hand, I am saying that there is only one thing to do in situations like this: Pray.”

The archbishop described the last two weeks of his as “intense and painful” but added that due to the sensitivity of the matter, he was unable to release any information about the allegations.

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PUERTO RICO
Miami Herald

BY DANICA COTO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Roman Catholics in Puerto Rico rallied Wednesday around an archbishop who is apparently under pressure from the Vatican to resign for allegedly covering up for sexually abusive priests and other misdeeds.

Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves has not confirmed that he is being asked to step down as leader of the Catholic Church in the U.S. island territory. However, he has asked parishioners to pray for him.

“I beg of you, please, do not send letters to the Holy See with expressions of solidarity. There is only one thing to do in situations like these: Pray,” he wrote in a May 3 letter that was read to churchgoers last Sunday. “I know the last two weeks have been intense and painful for all of us for reasons you already know.”

A rally of support Wednesday evening coincided with Gonzalez’s 14th anniversary at the Puerto Rican archdiocese. He had previously studied and worked in New York, Texas, Maryland and Massachusetts. The 62-year-old was born in New Jersey but moved to Puerto Rico at a young age.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis

May 1, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Angie Shelton
Community Relations Specialist
Phone: 314-792-7101

With sadness I inform you that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against one of our priests was found to be substantiated by an independent Advisory Board. The board, made up of lay persons, found the allegations against Fr. LeRoy Valentine, who served in the archdiocese from 1977-2002 and then retired, to be credible. The incidents took place in the 1970’s, but were only recently brought to our attention. In keeping with the Charter for the Protection of Children and young People, Fr. Valentine is now permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry, and I have taken steps to inform the parishes where he served.

Sexual abuse of a minor is a sin and a crime. Today we pray for the healing of victims of abuse and for the safety of all children everywhere.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Tim Townsend ttownsend@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82210

The St. Louis Archdiocese has said it permanently removed a priest from ministry last week.

In an statement on the archdiocese’s website dated May 1, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson said an independent advisory board had determined a recent allegation against the Rev. LeRoy Valentine, 71, was credible.

Carlson said the alleged incident occurred “in the 1970s.”

Three brothers who said they’d been molested by Valentine in 1982, sued the priest in the 1990s eventually settling with the archdiocese for $20,000 each.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

MAY 8, 2013

Christian Brother Julian McDonald CFC testified in Australia’s Victoria Inquiry last week that the extraordinary level of child molestation at the Irish Christian Brothers school in Ballarat is CERTAINLY AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY. Brother Julian is the Provincial and former chancellor of Australian Catholic University.

I applaud Brother Julian for naming the culture of secrecy and his accurate reiteration of the hierarchy’s version of the history of child sexual abuse an ACCIDENT.

Let’s pause for a moment and think about what Brother McDonald said. Was it an accident, a chance occurrence, a “coinkydink?” Or is it an ancient pattern and practice of criminal behavior in the Catholic Church?

Let’s start by looking at the history of the Irish Christian Brothers and then at the Catholic Church in various parts of the globe.

The Canadian Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel Orphanage were first criminally investigated in 1975. That investigation was snuffed even though two brothers admitted wrong-doing. A second investigation began in 1982, a third in 1989 … all of which culminated in a Royal Crown investigation, popularly called the Hughes Inquiry.

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NEW JERSEY
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael Fugee was ordained a priest of the Newark archdiocese in 1994. He was accused in 2001 of having fondled a boy beginning when the boy was 13 years-old in 1999. Fugee admitted to police that he derived sexual gratification from the contact with the boy. He was placed on administrative leave and, in April 2003, was found guilty of aggravated sexual contact. Fugee was sentenced to a lifetime of parole and was ordered to register as a sex offender. In 2006 the conviction was overturned on appeal, due to prejudicial statements at the first trial and a problem with the judge’s instructions to jurors. To avoid a retrial, Fugee signed an agreement that he would never again work unsupervised with children, and that he would undergo sex offender therapy. By 2009 Fugee was back in ministry, as a hospital chaplain very briefly – until hospital administrators learned of his past – and in parishes. He was also given chancery assignments. In April 2013 it came to light that Fugee had been assisting with overnight teen retreats at a Colt’s Neck parish, including hearing teens’ confessions. Parishioners expressed dismay at learning of his past conviction and agreement not to work with children. Fugee resigned from active ministry May 2, 2013.

Ordained: 1994

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Ray Rossi May 8, 2013

And the bodies just keep falling.

In the wake of the revelation about Fr. Michael Fugee’s involvement in a church youth group after having signed an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office not to have any contact with minors at all, some others involved with the priest have all agreed to step down from their positions, along with the priest himself.

Michael and Amy Lenehan of St. Mary’s of Colt’s Neck, who are longtime friends with the priest, were the group leaders who invited Fugee on several trips with the youth group to Canada.

According to this,
(the Archbishop’s spokesperson, Jim) Goodness said the Lenehans and the church’s pastor, the Rev. Thomas Triggs, (of St. Mary’s in Colt’s Neck) knew the terms of Fugee’s agreement with the prosecutor’s office and monitored him accordingly.

All three have left their positions.

And where is the Archbishop in all of this you ask?

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 08, 2013

A St. Louis priest has been “permanently removed from active ministry” – but apparently not defrocked – 31 years after the first of at least five child sex abuse accusations against him surfaced. And a local support group for victims is criticizing the archdiocese for not evidently supervising the cleric for the last 11 years and for what it calls “a hurtful and gratuitous announcement” about the defrocking.

Child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Leroy A. Valentine first emerged in 1982, when a North County mother reported that he sexually assaulted her three sons. The St. Louis Archdiocese paid the boys a settlement – believed to be around $20,000 each – and reportedly sent Valentine for treatment and then transferred him. Catholic officials insisted that the boys never speak publicly about the abuse or the settlements.

In 2002, Valentine was an associate pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle in Florissant with an adjoining parochial school. He was one of “at least three St. Louis priests who have been accused in civil court of sexual abuse remain active in the archdiocese today, two in contact with children,” according to the New York Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Religion and Ethics Report

[with audio]

Wednesday 8 May 2013

An official enquiry into an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse among Catholic priests in the NSW Hunter Valley has heard claims that a “Catholic mafia” inside the police force may have hindered investigations. Police whistleblower Peter Fox said he had heard that a group of officers “aligned to the Catholic church were attempting to discourage …investigations into clergy”. The man who allegedly told Inspector Fox about this so-called mafia, the policeman-turned-National Party MP Troy Grant, says he never used the phrase. But there are strong historic and cultural ties between the Catholic Church and police forces in Australia and, especially, the United States. For many Irish immigrants, a job on the force was a respectable passage out of social disadvantage. There are even formal organisations for Catholic police such as the NSW Police Guild of St Christopher in Australia; the New York Police Department Holy Name Society in the US; and the Catholic Police Guild of England and Wales.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER – Annual reports that Catholic Medical Center files with the IRS make no mention of a consulting contract between the hospital and the Rev. Msgr. Edward Arsenault, the Catholic priest under investigation for possible financial improprieties and an improper relationship with an adult.

The financial reports appear to contradict a statement released Monday, when the Manchester hospital acknowledged it signed a contract for consulting services with Arsenault in 2009, after he resigned from the hospital board of directors.

A hospital spokesman on Tuesday said he could not comment, citing an investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General into Arsenault, who sat on the hospital board for 11 years.

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AUSTRALIA
Special Commission of Inquiry

Tuesday, 7 May 2013: Transcript – Day 2, [PDF, 749kb]

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NEW JERSEY
PolitickerNJ

By Minhaj Hassan | May 8th, 2013

KEARNY – Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday he has exchanged phone conversations with Archbishop John Myers, but hasn’t seen him personally.

Myers, who is archbishop in Newark, has been targeted by Senate Democrats to step down, given the recent revelations that his diocese allowed a priest to spend time with minors when he was legally forbidden to do so.

Christie, who had been attending a ceremony at the Hudson County Correctional Facility today, did not say much more.

“We have exchanged phone conversation but have not met with each other, no,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON May 9, 2013

HE denies ever using the term ‘‘Catholic mafia’’, but former police officer Troy Grant fired plenty of shots into senior Catholic clergy at the Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle yesterday.

READ MR GRANT’S STATEMENT BELOW:

Mr Grant, now the state MP for Dubbo, delivered a scathing assessment of ‘‘senior individuals within the Catholic Church’’, and in the process delivered a significant wound to the testimony of Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox.

On Monday, Mr Fox told the inquiry that Mr Grant had warned him about a ‘‘Catholic mafia’’ existing within Newcastle’s police ranks which had hampered police investigations into paedophilia cover-ups within the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | May. 8, 2013

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis met Wednesday with leaders of orders of Catholic sisters and nuns from around the globe, telling them that the lives of consecrated persons are a “light in the world.”

“What would the church be without you?” the pope asked at one point in the audience, telling the sisters the church “would be missing maternity, affection, tenderness” without them.

The meeting, a private audience held in the Vatican’s Pope Paul VI Hall before Francis’ weekly Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square, was between the pope and approximately 800 members of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), a membership organization of some 1,800 global leaders of congregations of women religious.

The meeting was much anticipated because leaders of the sisters’ group said they could not recall the last time a pope had met with their general membership.

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NEW MEXICO
The New Mexican

By Tom Sharpe
The New Mexican

An Albuquerque man is suing the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and others, claiming the church failed to do anything about the priests who molested him during his childhood more than 25 years ago in Alamogordo.

Eran Joseph McManemy “has only recently begun to realize that his shattered life is, in fact, a direct result of the abuse he suffered at the ‘holy hands’ of these three sick priests,” says the complaint filed Monday in state District Court in Santa Fe.

The complaint alleges the Rev. Wilfred Diamond began to sexually abuse McManemy soon after he became an altar boy in St. Jude’s Parish in Alamogordo in 1987, when McManemy was 8 or 9 years old.

Diamond retired in 1988, and his temporary successor did not molest McManemy, the complaint says, but when the Rev. Daniel R. Barfield was appointed permanent pastor in 1990, Barfield “also sexually, physically and psychologically assaulted and abused Eran,” the complaint alleges.

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WISCONSIN
Patch

By Viviana Buzo

Wauwatosa police have opened a second investigation on the Wauwatosa priest who was suspended from his duties at St. Pius X Church for allegations of sex abuse, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The department confirmed with the newspaper that another investigation has been opened against Father Bob Marsicek but would not give additional details.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 9, 2013

Jason Gordon

A former police officer and current state MP, Troy Grant, told a special commission of inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse claims that he never used the term ”Catholic mafia” and had never encountered any interference from police during his investigations into paedophilia by priests.

Mr Grant described Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox as ”a meticulous investigator” but he denied ever saying to him that a ”Catholic mafia” existed within the ranks of police in Newcastle, where the inquiry is being held.

On Monday, Mr Fox had told the inquiry that Mr Grant had warned him about a ”Catholic mafia”. The claim was made in the context that police investigations into the alleged cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic priests had been shelved or hampered.

As a police officer, Mr Grant investigated and charged paedophile priest Vince Ryan in 1995. Mr Ryan was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in jail for offences relating to 31 victims.

”I’m sure I would remember using the term,” he told the commission on Wednesday. ”It’s a great phrase, a cracker of a phrase that I might use in my role as a politician.”

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 8, 2013

Sexual abuse victims seek more time to sue

BY SCOTT M. REID / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Charmaine Carnes still remembers the sick feeling she had the first time her gymnastics coach sexually molested her.

“I was 8 or 9 years old the first time I felt dread. My coach, Doug Boger, was reaching into my leotard, then under it …” Carnes told the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
“Then I was silent,” Carnes said.

More than three decades later, Carnes and two other former gymnasts who said they were sexually abused by Boger spoke about the abuse that has haunted them, altering the course of their lives, and about how current law prevents victims from pursuing civil actions against the abusers.

Carnes, Ann Malver and Monica Lenches testified in Sacramento in support of a bill that would extend the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse civil cases. The bill cleared the committee later Tuesday.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Kathleen Hopkins
@KHopkinsAPP

TOMS RIVER — Opening arguments just concluded in the much-anticipated trial of a Yeshiva teacher from Lakewood accused of sexually abusing a boy he met at a summer camp where he worked as a counselor.

Yosef Kolko, 39, of Geffen Drive, is on trial before state Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson in Toms River.

The trial is expected to lift the shroud of secrecy surrounding rabbinical councils to which allegations of sexual abuse within the Orthodox community had traditionally been brought.

Kolko is accused of sexually abusing a boy he met while working as a counselor at Yachad, a summer camp at the Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School on Swarthmore Avenue in Lakewood. The boy has accused Kolko of molesting him between September of 2007 and February of 2009, when he was between 11 and 12 years old.

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WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | May. 8, 2013 NCR Today

The retirement of Fr. James Connell, a priest of the Milwaukee archdiocese has been in the pipeline since last fall, the priest told NCR Wednesday morning, hoping to quash rumors that he was being reprimanded for outspokenness in his defense of victims of clergy sex abuse.

The retirement is not related to the letters Connell sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in April calling for an investigation into Newark, N.J., Archbishop John J. Myers and his handling of a priest accused of the sexual abuse of a minor, Connell told NCR in an email message.

An announcement of Connell’s retired appeared on the website of his Sheboygan, Wis., parish this week. Connell will step down as pastor of St. Holy Name of Jesus & Saint Clement Parishes June 18 when the new pastor Fr. Matthew Widder will be installed.

“Last October I celebrated my 70th birthday,” Connell wrote in his email message. “At that time I requested to retire from full-time assigned ministry beginning June 30, 2013. Archbishop Jerome Listecki granted my request. So, the assignment of my replacement is in order and was expected.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 08/05/2013
Reporter: Suzanne Smith

Former policeman turned state parliamentarian,Troy Grant, told the special commission of inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese that members of the Catholic Church had interferred in his investigation into sexual abuse.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: More dramatic evidence has been revealed at the new Special Commission of Inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in NSW.

Former policeman, now state parliamentarian Troy Grant says a Catholic priest he was investigating was tipped off by a Catholic nun before his arrest. And he refuted claims he’d suggested a Catholic mafia existed within the police force.

Suzie Smith reports from Newcastle.

SUZIE SMITH, REPORTER: National Party MP Troy Grant joined the police force in 1988. As a 25-year-old he took on the case of Father Vincent Ryan. By the late 1990s, 31 Ryan victims had come forward. But Troy Grant says his investigation was obstructed by senior members of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese.

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NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON MAY 08, 2013

Our hearts go out to Eran Joseph McManemy. It takes real courage to take legal action that safeguards kids and exposes corruption.

Some may find it hard to believe that one boy could be sexually assaulted by three priests. But we in SNAP see cases like this far more often than most would suspect. It’s important to keep in mind that among Catholics, priests are held in very high esteem and kids are trained to trust and revere and obey them.

We call on New Mexico Catholic officials to immediately disclose the whereabouts of the two accused priests who are apparently still alive and to force them into remote, secure, independent treatment centers so they’ll be kept away from kids.

Fr. David Holley is one of America’s most notorious and prolific predator priests. We believe that perhaps dozens of Catholic officials knew of or suspected and ignored, concealed and enabled his heinous crimes over decades. Shame on every one of them. And shame on Catholic officials in New Mexico, Massachusetts and elsewhere who have done little, if anything, to aggressively seek out and comfort his dozens of victims.

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SCOTLAND
Vatican Insider

Media reports say the Vatican has apparently ordered the cardinal to leave Scotland after his alleged involvement in a recent sex abuse scandal

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

British cardinal, Keith O’Brien, who was recently implicated in a Church sex abuse scandal, will not be able to spend the rest of his days in Scotland, as he had intended to do, but is being forced to leave the UK.

According to Glasgow daily The Herald, Rome suggested the cardinal leave the country. The newspaper quoted figures close to the cardinal as sources. Cardinal O’Brien was forced to resign and was banned from participating in the Conclave that voted Francis as Pope, after he admitted to “improper conduct” with priests in his former archdiocese.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A former priest has been remanded on bail after he was charged with sexually assaulting two altar boys in the sacristy of a church in Co Cork over 20 years ago.

Patrick Crowley, 62, was brought before Cork District Court where he was charged with nine counts of sexually assaulting the boys.

The State alleges that Mr Crowley sexually assaulted one boy on six occasions and the second boy on three occasions on various dates between 1 September 1989 and 31 May 1990.

The court heard evidence of arrest, charge and caution and that Mr Crowley, of Cuan Mhuire, Athy, Co Kildare, made no reply to any of the charges when they were put to him after caution.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | May. 8, 2013 NCR Today

Mercedarian Missionaries Sister Filo Hirota called upon a group of global women religious leaders to further integrate peace and justice efforts into community life.

She spoke Sunday before a gathering of some 800 women at the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG). Hirota has been a long time member of the UISG’s Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation board (JPIC).

Peace and justice work is not one of many things we do, but “it is a way to live the consecrated life,” she told the women.

It is important and necessary, she said, that the peace and justice vision and commitment is owned by all the members of the congregation “and that an adequate structure be set up that would enable and facilitate living that commitment.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
on May 08, 2013

By Joseph F. Vitale

Imagine a schoolteacher had been charged with criminal sexual contact and later admitted he twice fondled the genitals of a young student under his care. Imagine his employer, the local school board, had been notified of his behavior but, instead of stripping him of his teaching post and firing him, simply reassigned him to a different location, where the teacher would still be able to have contact with students. All of us, of course, would be outraged and sickened.

We would also expect this teacher would go to prison and that those who allowed him to continue having contact with children would be fired from their jobs. Sounds about right, doesn’t it? But that’s not what happened in the case of the Rev. Michael Fugee and his employer, the Archdiocese of Newark.

In 2003, Fugee was convicted of criminal sexual contact and sentenced to five years’ probation, in addition to registering as a sex offender under Megan’s Law. Later, his conviction was overturned on a technicality and, instead of retrying the case, prosecutors permitted Fugee to enter pretrial intervention, on the condition that he sign a binding agreement.

That agreement states Fugee “may not have unsupervised contact with or any duties that call for the supervision/ministry of any children or children under the age of 18.” The document goes on to state “this includes, but is not limited to, presiding over a parish, involvement with a youth group, religious education/parochial school, CCD (or Sunday school), confessions of children, youth choir, youth retreats and day care.” The agreement also prohibits the archdiocese from assigning him to any of those duties.

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NEW JERSEY
PolitickerNJ

By Matthew Arco | May 8th, 2013 – 10:22am

TRENTON – A week after Gov. Chris Christie laid into his presumptive gubernatorial challenger for calling for Newark’s archbishop to resign, the Senate’s top Democratic lawmaker joined the ranks of officials calling for the state’s highest-ranking Catholic official to step down.

Senate President Steve Sweeney issued a statement Wednesday demanding Archbishop John Myers resign surrounding controversy over allowing a priest who previously admitted to groping a boy to continue working with children.

“As the days go on, it becomes clearer and clearer that Archbishop Myers cannot remain in his position,” Sweeney said.

“Those who are put in a position of trust, whether it be through elected office, as a coach or as a person of faith, must be held to a higher standard,” he said. “And when we are talking about children, that need to trust those in charge leaves absolutely no margin for error. Archbishop Myers must step down now.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on May 08, 2013 at 10:33 AM

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney this morning joined in calls for the resignation of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers over his supervision of a priest who violated a lifetime ban on working with children.

Sweeney (D-Gloucester), joins Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) in seeking Myers’ ouster. Advocates for victims of sexual abuse also have demanded Myers step down.

While politicians rarely venture into the affairs of the Roman Catholic church, let alone demand the resignation of an archbishop, Myers’ handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee has drawn sharp criticism from across the country.

“As the days go on, it becomes clearer and clearer that Archbishop Myers cannot remain in his position,” Sweeney said in a statement.

Fugee, who admitted fondling a 13-year-boy in a confession to police 12 years ago, attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors behind closed doors through his association with St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, The Star-Ledger reported late last month. On Saturday, the pastor and two youth ministers resigned.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By ABQnews Staff on Wed, May 8, 2013

A former altar boy, now a man of 34, alleges in lawsuits that three priests at St. Jude Parish in Alamogordo molested him for years, the Alamogordo Daily News reported.

Plaintiff Eran Joseph McManemy also claims in his lawsuit that church officials knew that one of the priests had been sexually abusing boys since the 1960s but did nothing to stop him, the Daily News said.

That priest, the Rev. David Holley, left a long trail of molestations at churches from Worcester, Mass., to parishes in New Mexico and Texas, the paper reported.

Holley was sentenced in 1993 to 275 years in prison for sodomizing and molesting eight other boys in Alamogordo, the Daily News said. He died in prison in 2008 at the age of 80.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

A former priest has been remanded on bail after he was charged with sexually assaulting two altar boys in the sacristy of a church in Co Cork more than 20 years ago.

Patrick Crowley (62) was brought before Cork District Court today where he was charged with nine counts of sexually assaulting the two boys.

The State alleges Mr Crowley sexually assaulted one boy on six occasions and the second boy on three occasions on various dates between September 1st, 1989 and May 31st, 1990.

Det Garda Donal O’Connell gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution and told the court that Mr Crowley made no reply to any of the charges when they were put to him after caution.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 09, 2013

A CATHOLIC nun provided false evidence to a police investigation and was involved in tipping off a pedophile priest on the night before his impending arrest, NSW MP Troy Grant says.

Mr Grant, a former policeman who led the prosecution of priest Vince Ryan for child abuse during the 1990s, said the nun and another senior cleric from the NSW diocese of Maitland-Newcastle had deliberately interfered with his investigation.

Mr Grant did not name the nun, while the senior cleric, Monsignor Patrick Cotter, has since died.

Speaking yesterday after giving evidence to the NSW special commission of inquiry into child abuse, Mr Grant said the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions ultimately decided against charging the pair with perverting the course of justice.

“I do still disagree with that decision. I don’t blame them for it, I just disagree . . . I hope anyone who has become a victim since that day isn’t a victim because the DPP decided not to act,” Mr Grant said.

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KENYA
Standard Digital

Updated Wednesday, May 8th 2013
By Lucas Ng’asike

LODWAR; KENYA: A Catholic priest charged on Tuesday in a Turkana court for allegedly sodomising a student has committed suicide.

The priest, Father John Manzi was found dead hours later on Tuesday night at the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar in Turkana Central district.

The cleric had appeared before a Magistrate’s court in Lodwar where he denied the sodomy charges and was released on a Kshs 100,000 bond pending hearing of the case.

He was not to live to face trial as the priest hanged himself with an electric wire in his house hours after leaving court.

Turkana Central deputy OCPD, Mr John Onditi confirmed the priest’s death saying diocese workers discovered his lifeless body Tuesday night.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Neil Keene
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 09, 2013

FORMER policeman and Nationals Party MP Troy Grant has vowed to tell “any inquiry that wants to hear it” about his knowledge of decades of alleged child sex abuse cover-ups within the Catholic Church.

A nun who allegedly tipped off a paedophile priest the night before police were to interview him was among those within the church in Mr Grant’s sights yesterday as he spoke outside a commission of inquiry being held in Newcastle.

The Dubbo MP said he had evidence of senior clergy cover-ups dating back to 1974, which he would share with the inquiry in its second round of hearings next month.

“Their level of culpability has never been tested in the court, they’ve never been questioned or put before their peers to answer for what they did,” he said.

“What they did in 1974, 1975, 1981 and then 1995 meant that a lot of (church abuse) victims need not have been victims, that’s where the tragedy is.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Former policeman turned state parliamentarian,Troy Grant, told the special commission of inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese that members of the Catholic Church had interferred in his investigation into sexual abuse.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: More dramatic evidence has been revealed at the new Special Commission of Inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in NSW.

Former policeman, now state parliamentarian Troy Grant says a Catholic priest he was investigating was tipped off by a Catholic nun before his arrest. And he refuted claims he’d suggested a Catholic mafia existed within the police force.

Suzie Smith reports from Newcastle.

SUZIE SMITH, REPORTER: National Party MP Troy Grant joined the police force in 1988. As a 25-year-old he took on the case of Father Vincent Ryan. By the late 1990s, 31 Ryan victims had come forward. But Troy Grant says his investigation was obstructed by senior members of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese.

The former policeman told the inquiry a senior nun visited his home during the investigation. The same nun also gave him a false statement.

TROY GRANT, MEMBER FOR DUBBO: The nun provided me with false evidence and played a active role in tipping off the priest the night before I arrested him.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel May 7, 2013

Wauwatosa police have launched a second investigation into a local priest who was removed from his posts at two parishes and schools for suspicion of inappropriate contact with children.

The department confirmed Monday that a new investigation of Father Robert Marsicek is ongoing but declined to provide additional information about the allegation.

Both the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and Marsicek’s religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior, known as the Salvatorians, said they were unaware of a new probe. And the principal of Wauwatosa Catholic School, where an earlier allegation was raised, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Marsicek was suspended from ministry at St. Pius X Catholic Parish in Wauwatosa, Mother of Good Counsel Parish and School in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa Catholic School after a teacher at Wauwatosa Catholic reported in March that Marsicek inappropriately touched a young girl.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER – The former high-ranking Catholic Church official now under investigation for improper use of church funds earned a $169,900 salary at his job at a Maryland treatment facility, where he abruptly resigned last week.

The Rev. Msgr. Edward Arsenault earned the salary as president and chief executive officer of St. Luke Institute, residential and out-patient clinic for clergy, priests, nuns and brothers in need of mental health and spiritual treatment, wellness and educational programs.

On Monday, the Diocese of Manchester announced that it had suspended the priestly privileges of Arsenault while investigations proceed into possible illegal use of church funds and an inappropriate adult relationship on his part.

Just days before the announcement, Arsenault resigned the job at St. Luke, which he had held since October 2009. Arsenault has also resigned as chairman of the board of St. Luke Centre, a sister institution in Manchester, England.

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ROME
The Tablet (UK)

7 May 2013

Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican congregation that deals with religious orders, has criticised the way the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith carried out a controversial investigation of a body representing more than eighty per cent – 46,000 – of US nuns.

The Brazilian cardinal spoke on Sunday at the tri-annual general assembly of the Rome-based International Union of Women Superiors General (UISG), telling the women leaders he was never consulted on the investigation into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Cardinal Braz said that his office first learned of the move against the LCWR in a meeting with the CDF after the formal report on the matter had been completed. He said he told Cardinal William Levada, who was then-prefect of the doctrinal congregation, that the matter should have been discussed between their two Vatican offices.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

By Maureen Fiedler | May. 7, 2013 NCR Today

I read with fascination Joshua J. McElwee’s story about Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and his talk to the International Union of Superiors General in Rome. And in it, I saw some glimmers of hope.

After all, how often do cardinals complain about their fellow cardinals in public? And how often do they suggest the need for women’s leadership in the church? Braz de Aviz did both.

First, Braz de Aviz made public his personal “pain” over the fact that he was “left out” of the discussions about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the mandate that came down last year from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

That issue was no doubt on the minds of the 800 women attending the meeting. Franciscan Sr. Florence Deacon, the current president of LCWR, gave a presentation to the group detailing the “serious misunderstandings” between LCWR and the doctrinal congregation.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | May 07, 2013

Today’s bizarre public statement from the Vatican press office, denying what any intelligent observer recognizes as the truth, does contain one nugget of reality.

The statement denies that there has been any difference of opinion between Cardinal Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Müller, when the cardinal has already made their differences public.

The statement claims that two Vatican congregations have been collaborating closely, when the cardinal has already revealed that one congregation didn’t know what the other was doing.

On those matters, the Vatican statement does not—how shall I put it?—correspond very closely with reality. However, when the statement adds that Cardinal Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Müller met yesterday, there no reason to doubt that is true. It seems likely that other Vatican officials (one or two names come to mind) insisted on that meeting. And it is worth noticing what the two prelates were said to have agreed upon; they “reaffirmed their common commitment to the renewal of Religious Life, and particularly to the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR and the program of reform it requires, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

By Ken Briggs | May. 7, 2013 NCR Today

Everybody knows what Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz went through. The lordly office that polices doctrine pulled rank on him, lowering the boom on American sisters without telling him.

We’ve all been left out of the loop. The picnic plans got switched, unbeknownst to us, or the boss crossed us up by ignoring to mention that the plum job we’d expected was going to someone else. The varieties are endless.

Cardinal Braz de Aviz says the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dumped the indictment on the sisters without informing him and he’s now gone public about it.

The flurry of reactions ranged from “inappropriate” to “heroic” An insider within the pressure cooker conformity of the Vatican had broken ranks and protocol by griping about the treatment he and, by implication, the sisters had received.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus May 07, 2013

The defense of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious by the president of the International Union of Superiors General would be funny if it were intended as a parody. Read the story and you’ll see what I mean.

According to Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, the problem is simple:

Since Vatican II, obedience and authority are understood differently.
So we have to look at what Gospel leadership means today.
The LCWR hopes for an open discussion of this.
But there is no openness to the Gospel at the Vatican.

In other words, Sister Mary Lou pulled standard response number 1A out of the drawer and filled in the name of the group in question on this occasion.

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ROME
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

Should Pope Francis continue a punitive strike against the mainstream organization of American nuns? Is the survival of the group representing 57,000 liberal US nuns even on His Holiness’ radar screen? And if not, how do the group’s leaders put it there?

These questions will be hovering when the pope meets Wednesday morning with 800 women superiors of religious orders across the globe for one hour, before his weekly audience that draws 10 times as many people. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious — an American organization — has four members in the International Union of Superiors General, representing 700,000 sisters from across the world.

In April 2012 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — historically, the office that monitors strict compliance with church teaching — put the LCWR under supervision, a kind of receivership.

CDF prefect Cardinal William Levada, who soon retired to a condo in California, scored members of the LCWR for “radical feminist” initiatives; he appointed Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain to vet their writings, speakers and rewrite their guidelines.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by ESTEFANIA AGUIRRE/CNA/EWTN NEWS 05/08/2013

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s doctrine congregation has released a statement saying the media misreported a cardinal’s remarks about the ongoing reform of a group of American sisters, but an inside source at the department says it is confused because the matter is their “exclusive responsibility.”

An official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told CNA May 7 on the condition of anonymity that the congregation is “perplexed” by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz saying it did not discuss with him their decision to require an American group of religious superiors to undergo reform.
“We are perplexed because the matter is the exclusive responsibility of the congregation and we aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes,” the source said early on Tuesday afternoon.

The decision was the outcome of a four-year assessment that found the Leadership Conference of Women Religious promoted “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” and dissent from Church teaching on topics including the sacramental male priesthood and homosexuality.

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VATICAN CITY
Business Standard

Pope Francis has told nuns from around the world that they must be spiritual mothers and not “old maids.”

Francis also warned the sisters against using their vocations for personal ambition, saying priests and sisters who do so “do more harm to the church.”

Francis has complained frequently about such “careerism” in the church, a buzzword that is frequently used to describe Holy See bureaucrats.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD 05/07/13

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Tuesday denied there were any internal divisions over its crackdown on the largest umbrella group of U.S. nuns after a top Vatican official complained that he had been sidelined by the reform project.

The head of the Vatican’s office for religious orders, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, was quoted over the weekend as saying his office wasn’t consulted or even advised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about its decision to overhaul the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents 80 percent of American sisters. He said the crackdown had caused him “much pain.”

The Congregation last year placed the Leadership Conference under the authority of a U.S. bishop after determining that the sisters took positions that undermined Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

Braz de Aviz was quoted by the National Catholic Reporter as telling an international gathering of sisters in Rome on Sunday that he only learned of the Congregation’s crackdown after its report had been completed. He said he told the then-prefect of the Congregation, U.S. Cardinal William Levada, that the issue should have been discussed with his office but wasn’t.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

Tzedek, the Jewish organisation which has been established to end the silence on child sexual abuse within the Jewish community, has made an application to appear at the Royal Commission into child abuse.

Manny Waks, founder and CEO of Tzedek and well-known human rights campaigner in the Jewish community has enlisted the help of Maurice Blackburn principal and Tzedek President Josh Bornstein, and will apply for leave to appear at the Royal Commission.

Maurice Blackburn is working with a legal team that also includes Victorian barrister, Daniel Star, Anton Hermann from Minter Ellison and lawyer Joel Vernon, who is also Secretary on the Tzedek board.

Mr Waks established Tzedek in December 2012 as the first organisation in Australia dedicated to the issue of child sexual abuse within the Jewish community. In 2011, Mr Waks publicly disclosed that he had suffered child sexual abuse, making the brave decision to tell his story in a bid to help others speak up and break the cycle of silence.

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NEW MEXICO
Alamogordo Daily News

By Milan Simonich, Texas-New Mexico Newspapers
Posted: 05/07/2013

SANTA FE — A former altar boy, now a man of 34, alleges in lawsuits that three priests at St. Jude Parish in Alamogordo molested him for years.

The plaintiff, Eran Joseph McManemy, also says the Catholic church’s hierarchy knew that one of the priests had been sexually abusing boys since the 1960s but did nothing to stop him.

This priest was the Rev. David A. Holley, who left a long trail of molestations at churches from Worcester, Mass., to ones in New Mexico and Texas.

Finally, in 1993, Holley was sentenced to 275 years in prison for sodomizing and molesting eight other boys in Alamogordo. He died in prison in 2008 at age 80.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Alessandro Speciale | May 7, 2013

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a bid to improve its checkered record on financial transparency, the Vatican on Tuesday (May 7) signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. agency that fights against financial crimes.

The Vatican’s Institute for the Works of Religion, known as the Vatican Bank, has a long history of secrecy and scandals, and it has reportedly been involved in several shady operations during the course of its history. In recent years, top bank officials have been put under investigation by Italian magistrates for alleged money laundering.

For decades, the Vatican Bank operated outside of international oversight, thanks to the Holy See’s status as an independent state.

Facing increasing international scrutiny, the Vatican set up an independent financial watchdog, the Financial Intelligence Authority, in April 2011 as part of its effort to bring its financial practices in line with international standards.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NEIL KEENE From: The Daily Telegraph May 08, 2013

FORMER police officer and National party MP Troy Grant has made explosive claims about cover-ups of child sex abuse within the Catholic church, including deliberate actions by a nun to tip off a paedophile priest.

Speaking to media after giving evidence at a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle this morning, Mr Grant said that while he never encountered a “Catholic mafia” within the police force, there was certainly collusion within the clergy to hide serious sex offences.

“There were individuals who acted completely inappropriately, commensurate with their pastoral care. I believe they acted illegally,” he said.

Those people allegedly included a nun who Mr Grant claimed tipped off a priest, later convicted of child sex offences, the night before he was due to be interviewed by police.

He said he had evidence of senior clergy cover-ups dating back as far as 1974.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 08, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest being investigated for pedophile crimes was tipped off by a nun before his arrest, the former investigating policeman and current NSW MP Troy Grant says.

Mr Grant, the Nationals MP for Dubbo in the state’s west, said he is prepared to give evidence of this as well as alleged cover-ups by senior clergy to the NSW special commission of inquiry into child abuse next month.

Speaking outside the hearing, after giving evidence this morning, Mr Grant said that church officials had colluded to hide serious sex offences.

“There were individuals who acted completely inappropriately, commensurate with their pastoral care. I believe they acted illegally,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

A special inquiry has heard factions in the NSW police force wanted to prevent a full investigation of alleged sex abuse by priests in the Hunter region, but another witness denied speaking of a “Catholic mafia” in the force.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told Special Commissioner Margaret Cunneen he formed the belief that parts of the NSW force didn’t want the abuse allegations probed in his investigations, which involved possibly hundreds of victims, over several years to December 2010.

This concern led him to lie about his investigations to colleagues and breach a direction not to speak to journalists, he told the special commission of inquiry in Newcastle on Wednesday.

It also made him reluctant to stop investigating and hand over his files, he said.

Inspector Fox said he had also unearthed links between alleged abuse by priests in the Hunter Valley and priests in other parts of the state.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 08, 2013

A NSW MP and former police officer who successfully prosecuted a pedophile priest in the state’s Hunter Valley has denied claims the force interfered with investigations into the Catholic church.

Giving evidence to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry this morning, Troy Grant explicitly denied claims by a serving detective, Peter Fox, that he once claimed a “Catholic mafia” existed within the police.

“It’s (a phrase) that obviously grabs attention. It’s one that I’m sure I would remember ever saying, it’s one that nobody who knows me would expect me to say,” Mr Grant said.

“I have never had any reason to report any type of activity that would be perceived to be any form of Catholic mafia or any interference from the police force at any time,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON May 8, 2013

FORMER police officer Troy Grant has told the Special Commission of Inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse claims that he never used the term ‘‘Catholic mafia’’ and had never encountered any interference from police during his investigations into paedophilia by priests.

Mr Grant, now state MP for Dubbo, described Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox as ‘‘a meticulous investigator’’ but he denied ever saying to him that a ‘‘Catholic mafia’’ existed within the ranks of Newcastle police.

On Monday, Mr Fox had told the inquiry that Mr Grant had warned him about a ‘‘Catholic mafia’’. The claim was made in the context that police investigations into the alleged cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic priests had been shelved or hampered.

As a police officer, Mr Grant investigated and charged paedophile priest Vince Ryan in 1995. Ryan was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in jail for offences relating to 31 victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Jessica Grewal 8th May 2013

A FORMER Northern NSW priest is facing more than 100 child-sex charges spanning two decades.

The 59-year-old, who can not be named, was before the Armidale court for a string of related offences on Wednesday when he faced 64 additional charges.

Police allege he repeatedly assaulted six boys and three girls in the 70s and another boy and two girls in the early 80s at Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.

Charges include 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent and 52 counts of indecent assault.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
May 8, 2013

A court in northern New South Wales has refused to lift a suppression order preventing the naming of a former priest charged with 125 historic child sex abuse offences.

At Armidale Local Court today, Magistrate Karen Stafford ruled there can be no publication of the accused’s name or any information which could lead to his identification, or his place of abode.

In October and January, officers from Strike Force Glenroe laid 61 charges against the defendant relating to the alleged abuse of three girls and six alter boys in the Moree and Armidale areas.

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

A former Catholic priest accused of committing historic child sex crimes has been charged with an additional 64 offences.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced Armidale Local Court on Wednesday to face charges related to the alleged assault of three girls and six boys during the 1980s.

He was subsequently charged with further offences related to the alleged assault of three more accusers.

One of his alleged victims, an altar boy in the Moree parish, was allegedly assaulted on several occasions between 1982 and 1985.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jewish Voice

WEDNESDAY, 08 MAY 2013 11:03 BY NOA ZIVYON

After years of countless threats against a New Jersey boy and his family, at long last the trial of his accused molester Rabbi Yosef Kolko is set to being this week.

Yeshiva teacher Yosef Kolko— who is the nephew of notorious pedophile Rabbi Yehuda Kolko— will face a jury this week for accusations of sexually abusing the young boy during summer camp six years ago, according to court documents.

When a religious council of Orthodox Jews refused to take legal action against the man, his family turned to the Office of the Ocean County Prosecutor to seek justice.

As a result of seeking prosecution outside the confines of the Orthodox world, the victim’s entire family was ostracized by residents of their local community in Lakewood, New Jersey. Likewise, several community members took it a step further hoping on board a “terror campaign” to bully the family into dropping charges against the teacher by distributed flyers throughout the town which proclaimed the boy’s father had made a “mockery” of the Tanakh by committing the “terrible deed” of using a secular jurisdiction.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Online

By Deacon Keith Fournier
5/8/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Sexual abuse by Catholic clergy needs to be disclosed, exposed, prosecuted and explained. This Pope will do that. He will also address the evil which lies at the root of the problem

The exposure of sexual sin among Catholic clergy is not accidental in its timing. It is a part of a time of purification. Such sexual activity, particularly when forced on a child by one in a position of power – priest, bishop or deacon- is an act of evil in its most heinous form. It constitutes a spiritual plundering and attempt to destroy a soul. It is also criminal – and it should be prosecuted. There have been other times in the history of the Church when the clergy have been corrupted. God always begins His Spring cleaning in His own house. As the Apostle Peter wrote to the Church of the first millennium during another great missionary age: “the time has come for judgment to begin with the House of God.” (1 Peter 4:17)

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – On April 5, 2013, Pope Francis met with Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Among the topics discussed was clerical sexual abuse. The new Pope made crystal clear his high regard for the strong approach of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, to confronting this evil.

He directed Archbishop Muller to continue the zero tolerance approach of Benedict XVI and to “act decisively” against sexual abuse. He charged him to carry out “due proceedings against the guilty.” After the meeting the Vatican released a statement which included these directions to the CDF:

“To act decisively concerning cases of sexual abuse – First of all by promoting measures for the protection of minors, as well as in offering assistance to those who have suffered abuse, carrying out due proceedings against the guilty, and in the commitment of bishops’ conferences to formulate and implement the necessary directives in this area that is so important for the Church’s witness and credibility.”

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AUSTRALIA
Otago Daily Times

Wed, 8 May 2013

Catholic Church officials and clergy, not police, obstructed investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse by NSW priests, a special state government commission of inquiry has been told.

The evidence given by state MP for Dubbo and former police officer Troy Grant contradicts the account of the man at the centre of the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox.

Mr Grant, who as a policeman investigated sex abuse in 1995, denied he had told Insp Fox there was a “Catholic mafia” within the police force that hindered investigations into the Hunter Valley allegations.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen today began hearing the third day of evidence in Newcastle into allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Hunter, including assertions by Insp Fox of a cover-up by the church and that senior police had ordered him to stop his investigations.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

The opposition says victims who emerge as a result of inquiries into sexual abuse won’t be compensated.

Victims who emerge as a result of ongoing inquiries into child abuse won’t be able to claim compensation because of the NSW government’s reporting cap, the opposition says.

Changes to the victims compensation scheme prevent victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse from making a claim more than a decade after the crime.

This will leave many victims of historical abuse excluded from compensation, Opposition Leader John Robertson says.

‘This is a disgraceful act from the O’Farrell government,’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Liberal

AN INQUIRY into the handling by police of certain child sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has heard that former policeman and Dubbo MP Troy Grant rejects having used the phrase “Catholic mafia”.

A national newspaper yesterday reported that Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had told the inquiry that the MP used the phrase when referring to police interfering in his own investigation of a paedophile priest.

But counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, is also reported to have told of a sworn statement in which the MP denied he used the phrase or that police had hindered or obstructed his investigation.

Mr Grant is scheduled to appear before the special commission this morning.

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NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News

By Milan Simonich / msimonich@tnmnp.com
Posted: 05/07/2013

SANTA FE — A former altar boy, now a man of 34, alleges in lawsuits that three priests at St. Jude Catholic Church in Alamogordo molested him for years.

The plaintiff, Eran Joseph McManemy, also says the Catholic Church’s hierarchy knew that one of the priests had been sexually abusing boys since the 1960s but did nothing to stop him.

This priest was the Rev. David A. Holley, who left a long trail of molestations at churches from Worcester, Mass., to ones in New Mexico and Texas.

Finally, in 1993, Holley was sentenced to 275 years in prison for sodomizing and molesting eight other boys in Alamogordo. He died in prison in 2008 at age 80.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former Catholic priest charged with 64 additional offences – Strike Force Glenroe

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 11:55:52 AM

A former Catholic priest has today been charged with 64 additional offences relating to alleged historical child assault offences.

The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court today (Wednesday 8 May 2013) on charges relating to alleged child-sex offences against six boys and three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

During his appearance, the man was additionally charged with 64 offences relating to alleged assaults against one boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, between 1982 and 1985 in Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.

They include 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent; 52 counts of indecent assault; and one count of committing an act of indecency.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON May 8, 2013

A former police office turned politician has denied ever using the term “Catholic Mafia” to describe senior police who interfered with his investigations into Catholic Church paedophilia.

Nationals member for Dubbo, Troy Grant, was the second witness to give evidence on day three of the Commission of Inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Mr Grant rejected claims by Detective Chief Inspector Fox that he said there was a “Catholic Mafia” – members of senior police hindering investigations into sexual abuse by priests.

“I have no reason to have used that term because I have and saw no interference with my investigation,” Mr Grant told the commission.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Stephanie Loder
@Loder1

A support group for clergy sex-abuse victims wants two New Jersey Catholic bishops to reach out to parishioners and get them to report any allegations of abuse by a priest who once confessed to touching an underage boy.

The bishops of the Diocese of Trenton and the Diocese of Paterson should reach out through church bulletins and websites to help victims step forward with any instances of abuse involving the Rev. Michael Fugee, who until recently worked at St. Mary’s parish in Colts Neck with its youth ministry, said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

In a letter sent to to Diocese of Trenton Bishop David O’Connell and Diocese of Paterson Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, SNAP members wrote, “We strongly urge you, as church leaders in the areas where Fr. Fugee ministered — officially or unofficially, with or without permission — to appeal for victims and witnesses to come forward and report any abuse.”

Fugee, a priest in the Archdiocese of Newark, resigned last week. Parishioners at St. Mary’s in Colts Neck say Fugee had been involved with a parish youth group in defiance of an agreement with Bergen County prosecutors that he not work with children.

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AUSTRALIA
7 news

By Dan Cox, ABC
Updated May 8, 2013

A former New South Wales policeman turned state MP has denied describing some senior Hunter Valley officers as the “Catholic Mafia”.

Nationals MP for the state seat of Dubbo Troy Grant has given evidence on the third day of the Special Commission of Inquiry into how New South Wales Police and the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese handled allegations of child sexual abuse by two priests.

Previously Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox said Mr Grant described senior officers as the “Catholic Mafia” because they are “aligned to the church”.

But Mr Grant has told the court that the phrase grabs attention, and he would remember it if he had used it.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

A former Catholic priest is accused of 124 child sex offences after scores of additional charges were laid against him.

The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court, in the NSW New England region, on Wednesday, when prosecutors laid 64 fresh charges.

He remains on bail until his next appearance in the same court on July 3.

Police allege the offences relate to alleged assaults on a boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, that took place in the early 1980s at Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

SIMON BLACK THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MAY 08, 2013

A FORMER Catholic priest who is facing a slew of charges relating to alleged child assault offences has been hit with an additional 64 charges during an appearance before Armidale Local Court today.

The 59-year-old man, known only as “the man” due to legal reasons, was due to appear on charges relating to alleged child-sex offences against six boys and three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

During this appearance he was charged with an additional 64 offences including 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent; 52 counts of indecent assault; and one count of committing an act of indecency.

The new charges relate to alleged assaults against one boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, between 1982 and 1985 in Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale and come as part of ongoing investigations by Strike Force Glenroe, which was established in July last year to investigate claims of sexual abuse by the former priest, and comprises detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad and the New England and Barwon Local Area Commands.

The man is also at the centre of allegations of cover-ups of sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church after he told a court in 2004 he had made an admission to clergy in 1992 that he had performed oral sex on boys.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local North Attleboro

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Posted May 07, 2013

North Attleborough —
Recalling painful memories of crimes that occurred years ago, survivors and their family members asked lawmakers to do away with the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and to increase penalties for certain types of rape.

“I think it’s my fault because I didn’t scream or yell for help. I had Lifeline and I didn’t push the button. I was frozen, numb. I couldn’t speak. Why didn’t I yell? What could I have done to stop him? Why did it hurt so much?” Lisa Flint, of North Attleborough, a woman whose speech and movements are limited by cerebral palsy and who was raped in college, told lawmakers. She said, “This is what my world has been like since May 15, 2000. I ache for some kind of peace within. I have something he wasn’t powerful enough to take and that is hope. I hope someday I can make a difference for someone else.”

Accompanying Flint before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-North Attleborough) said she has known Flint since she was a child and said her rapist was sentenced to 20 years, making him eligible for release after 15. Poirier and Flint support legislation (H 1568) that would allow for life sentences for those convicted of raping people with disabilities.

“It is an aggravating circumstance, and should be recognized as such under the law,” Poirier said.

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