ABUSE TRACKER

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

May 2, 2013

Miller pleads guilty, former priest to be sentenced in July

CONNECTICUT
The Berlin Citizen

Olivia L. Lawrence
A former St. Paul Church priest, Michael Miller. plead guilty today to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity and three counts of risk of injury to a minor during a court appearance at New Britain Superior Court. He will no longer function as a priest, according to church officials.

Miller was first arrested on July 12, 2011. When he appeared in court later that month he plead not guilty to all charges which included inappropriate contact with more than one minor. The Archdiocese of Hartford said since that time he has received medical treatment and therapy.

A statement from the archdiocese said, “Two years ago, when the Berlin Police Department contacted the Archdiocese of Hartford and Miller’s order, the Franciscan Friars Conventual, about the charges, Miller was immediately suspended from performing any priestly duties. Now that Miller has pled guilty, he will never function as a priest again.”

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

Suspended Berlin Priest Sentenced on Child Porn Charges

CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

Michael Miller, a suspended priest from St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Berlin, pleaded guilty to charges including child pornography possession on Thursday and will serve a five-year sentence as part of a plea deal.

Miller was in court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to risk of injury, obscenity and child porn charges.

His attorney said Miller is “terribly upset” about charges, but wants to get this behind him and took a plea.

Court documents stated that authorities looked through two of Miller’s computer and found numerous files showing obscene pictures of kids and child porn.

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

NB Catholic diocese sells assets, cuts staff for abuse compensation

CANADA
Global News

MONCTON, N.B. – The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Moncton says the diocese is reducing staff and selling properties to help pay about $5 million in compensation to people who allege they were sexually abused by priests.

Archbishop Valery Vienneau says the number of employees will be cut to 14 from 20.

Vienneau says the diocese will also sell its office and another piece of land, both in Dieppe.

He says the office costs about $60,000 per year to operate.

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

Former pastor Fultz cleared in sexual assault reporting case

WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

By NICO SAVIDGE ( Contact ) Thursday, May 2, 2013

ELKHORN–A Walworth County jury has found a former pastor not guilty of failing to report sexual assaults between young boys, clearing the Milton man of the final charges he faced.

Joseph Fultz resigned his position as pastor of the Grace Evangelical Free Church in Walworth when he was charged with five misdemeanor counts of not reporting child abuse in June 2011.

Judges dismissed charges against Fultz on two occasions, and a jury delivered not guilty verdicts April 25 on the two remaining charges.

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

Caraway found guilty in rape case

KENTUCKY
Harland Daily Enterprise

Joe P. Asher

The trial of Jeremy Caraway wrapped up Wednesday with the defendant being found guilty of rape.

The jury recommended a sentence of five years on each count to run concurrently, for a total of 20 years in prison. This was the maximum sentence allowed.

Caraway, 38, of Loyall, is the former pastor of Loyall Church of God. He was indicted on two counts of second-degree rape, two counts of second-degree sodomy, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor and one count of use of an electronic communications system to procure a minor for a sexual offense. He was arrested on the charges in May 2011.

The second day of testimony began in front of Judge Robert McGinnis at 9 a.m., with the defense presenting their case.

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

Jury finds former pastor guilty of rape, sex abuse

KENTUCKY
San Francisco Chronicle

HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — A jury has found a former pastor in eastern Kentucky guilty of sex charges involving a girl younger than 14.

The Harlan Daily Enterprise (http://bit.ly/10uVPZm) reports the jury returned the verdict Wednesday against 38-year-old Jeremy Caraway.

Caraway is the former pastor of Loyall Church of God in Harlan County.

Jurors found him guilty on charges of rape, sodomy and sex abuse and recommended the maximum 20-year prison sentence.

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

Vatican Not Looking Into Cardinal O’Brien’s Affairs With Other Priests

SCOTLAND
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on May 2, 2013.

It is not expected that the Vatican will take any further action to punish Cardinal Keith O’Brien following his admission of sexual relationships with four priests and a seminarian. The Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh was forced to resign from his post early by Pope Benedict XVI after admitting that his “sexual conduct [had fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, an archbishop and a cardinal.”

The Vatican is only keeping a loose “watching brief” on O’Brien’s case, and that he is not likely to be asked to give up his rank unless Pope Francis I hands over the rank to a new cleric. The senior clerics in the Vatican no longer believe that there is any need for any further investigation given that O’Brien has admitted his behavior and apologized.

Once source close to the Roman Curia stated anonymously that “When an investigation takes place people expect some kind of public result of the investigation, but there is just no way there is going to be some kind of public examination and a published report on this matter. The Church doesn’t work that way.”

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

Church’s comments on abuse criticised

AUSTRALIA
The Age
April 30, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

An inquiry into sexual abuse has been told a Catholic Church spokesman made comments that were inappropriate, disingenuous and possibly in contempt of Parliament.

The deputy chairman of the inquiry, Victorian state MP Frank McGuire, criticised the church for taking an ”umbrella” approach at the inquiry but said it did not do so when discussing compensation or remedies.

”Before you’ve even come before the inquiry it looks as though the church is trying to minimise” the abuse problem, Mr McGuire said at the inquiry, held on Monday in Ballarat.

Criticising remarks by Father Shane Mackinlay that clergy sexual abuse coincided with the social and moral collapse of the 1960s and ’70s, including an attempt to lower the age of consent to 12, Mr McGuire said: ”Is the church going to try to blame society?”

Brother Tim Graham, the head of the Hospitallers, Order of St John of God, denied earlier evidence by victims group Broken Rites that there were paedophile rings in the order that gang-raped children, and that a child died after being thrown down stairs, but admitted there had been ”deplorable and indefensible” abuse of vulnerable children in homes formerly run by the order.

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

LA- Former priest charged with multiple counts of abuse seeks a bond reduction

LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 02, 2013

Ex-priest Mark Broussard is seeking a reduction in his bond. His attorney was working to get confidential medical information about the victims prior to the start of the trial and Broussard’s taped police interview where he admits to fondling children thrown out.

Broussard was originally booked on 224 criminal charges, including child sex crimes and rape. He is a dangerous predator and should be kept away from children. His attorney should stop exploiting legal technicalities and we are glad that so for the judge has ruled in favor of victims.

We hope this encourages others to come forward. Anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered abuse by Broussard – or any other church official – should come forward, report to police and start healing.

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

Call Of Duty

AUSTRALIA
ABC

[with video]

29/04/2013

Introduced by Caroline Jones

In a career spanning 35 years, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox has forged a reputation as a police officer who will go out of his way to care for victims.

He rose to national prominence late last year when he defied police rules and disclosed explosive allegations that the Catholic Church had consistently covered up the crimes of paedophile priests in the Newcastle-Hunter region of NSW.

The decision to speak out occurred on the spur of the moment during an emotional public forum. Fox says he thought at the time that the consequences would be ‘fairly heavy’.

But he walked onto the public stage anyway, and addressed hundreds of abuse victims and their supporters.

Other appearances followed and within weeks, the Prime Minister announced a far reaching Royal Commission into the sexual abuse of children in institutions. Fox, along with others, is credited with helping to trigger it.Call Of Duty features exclusive footage of Peter Fox at the meeting that changed his life.

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

Pa. Catholic Conference calls Bishop McFadden a tireless advocate for the church

PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
on May 02, 2013

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference described Bishop Joseph McFadden as a strong advocate for legislation of interest to state’s Catholic bishops and its dioceses.

In addition to his advocacy for expanding the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program to help students pay tuition to attend Catholic schools, the conference, which is the church’s public affairs arm in Pennsylvania, noted his leadership in getting laws passed to apply the same standards to abortion clinics that ambulatory surgical facilities must heed, increased support for alternatives to abortion programs, and assist the poor.

Here is the organization’s full statement:

Bishop Joseph McFadden passed away on May 2, 2013, after three years of service as the president of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. The conference is the public policy agency of Pennsylvania’s bishops.

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

HARRISBURG BISHOP MCFADDEN DIES ATTENDING BISHOPS’ MEETING IN PA.

PENNSYLVANIA
Today’s Catholic News

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Bishop Joseph P. McFadden of Harrisburg died May 2 in Philadelphia where he was attending a meeting of Pennsylvania’s Catholic bishops.

According to a Facebook posting from the diocese, Bishop McFadden awoke at the rectory where he was staying and felt ill. He was taken to a hospital and was pronounced dead at about 7:40 a.m.

No cause of death was immediately available. He was 65 and had been the bishop of Harrisburg for three years. He was also chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education.

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

Assignment Record – Rev. John “Jack” A. Bradley, s.j.

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A California province Jesuit ordained in 1954, Bradley was accused in a 2003 lawsuit of having sexually abused a 17 year-old girl in Fresno in the early 1960s. The girl was said to have been pregnant and had been sent by her family to Fresno to live with friends who attended St. Agnes Mission, where Bradley was serving. Bradley’s accuser said the abuse went on for five months. Bradley is not indexed in the Official Catholic Directory after 1970.

Ordained: 1954

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Streit um Kommission

DEUTSCHLAND
3sat

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der deutschen Bundesregierung fordert eine unabhängige Kommission. Die Bundesjustizministerin lehnt den Vorstoß ab.

Die Bundesregierung sollte Anfang 2014 eine solche Kommission berufen, erklärte Beauftragter Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig am 29. April 2013. “Die Weichen hierfür könnten noch in diesem Jahr gestellt werden.” Nach Rörigs Vorstellungen soll Aufgabe der Kommission sein, Betroffene anzuhören und Missbrauch umfassend wissenschaftlich aufzuarbeiten.

Heute fand auf Rörigs Einladung ein Hearing zum derzeitigen Stand der Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsskandale statt. Zu den geladenen Experten gehören der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes, durch den der Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche öffentlich wurde, und Rörigs Vorgängerin als Missbrauchsbeauftragte, Christine Bergmann.

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

Australien untersucht institutionellen Kindesmissbrauch

AUSTRALIEN
dradio (Deutschland)

Von Andreas Stummer

Es geschah in der Kirche, in Waisenhäusern, bei den Pfadfindern: In Australien wurden seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Hunderttausende Kinder und Jugendliche psychisch und sexuell misshandelt. Nun soll eine Kommission das ganz Ausmaß der Vorfälle untersuchen – und das möglichst schonungslos.

Sonntag früh in der St. Aloysius Kirche von Cronulla, im Süden von Sydney. Die katholische Morgenandacht hat begonnen. Durch die schweren Bleiglasfenster des Backsteinbaus fällt gedämpftes Licht, Kerzen brennen, es riecht nach Weihrauch. In den Sitzreihen verlieren sich nur ein paar Dutzend Gläubige. Die Kirche ist halb leer.

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

Australiens Kirche zahlt 23 Millionen Euro

AUSTRALIEN
Katholisch

Die Versicherungsgesellschaft der katholischen Kirche im australischen Bundesstaat Victoria hat rund 23 Millionen Euro als Entschädigung an 600 Missbrauchsopfer ausgezahlt. Wie der Fernsehsender ABC am Dienstagabend berichtete, teilte dies die Versicherungsgesellschaft CCI vor einer staatlichen Untersuchungskommission zum Missbrauchsskandal mit.

Die CCI beteuerte, sie habe niemals Täter aus den Reihen der Kleriker gedeckt. Die Entschädigungszahlungen betrafen laut Bericht Missbrauchsfälle aus den 60er, 70er und 80er Jahren.

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Moncton diocese sells building, cuts staff to pay bills

CANADA
CBC

The Diocese of Moncton is shedding staff and selling off one church property in order to cover the roughly $5 million in compensation owed to victims of sexual abuse.

The diocese has been forced to deal with a series of sexual abuse controversies in the last year.

Retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache was hired to help deal with the sex abuse compensation process. It is estimated the diocese will pay out $5 million to victims of sexual abuse.

Those bills have caused the diocese to cut the number of staff to 14 from 19. As well, the diocese’s office in Dieppe, which was once the home of the bishop, is being sold because it can no longer afford to pay the annual $50,000 in operating costs.

Archbishop Valéry Vienneau said the diocese’s growing deficit and dropping church attendance factored into the decision to cut staff and sell off the property.

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

Five Questions The D.A. Won’t Answer

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Here are the questions from National Catholic Reporter that District Attorney Seth Williams declined to answer:

1. At the plea bargain hearing of Edward V. Avery, why didn’t the district attorney ask the former priest if he had raped Billy Doe?

2. What is the district attorney’s explanation for why he was able to charge Msgr. Lynn with endangering the welfare of a child [EWOC] when a previous district attorney, Lynne Abraham, and a previous grand jury, looked at the same state law and declared that Msgr. Lynn couldn’t be charged with EWOC?

3. Why did the district attorney deem Billy Doe a credible victim when he gave wildly varying accounts of the alleged rapes, and told a fantastic story about being raped by three different predators, without any corroborating witnesses or physical evidence? A story contradicted by Billy Doe’s mother, his older brother, and priests, nuns and teachers from St. Jerome’s?

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

Important Message to ACP leadership from our Solicitor

IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

We have received the following from the ACP solicitor, Robert Dore, and he has asked us to inform all the members of the ACP. The message goes as follows:

“Recently I have been consulted by a number of priests who are members of the Association.

Prior to meeting with me they have been requested by their bishops to undergo assessments, and they have all done so.

To a man the findings of these assessments have been hugely prejudicial.

It is my earnest advice that, in future, should any of your members be asked to undergo an assessment, and if they are minded to do so, they should insist on being assessed by a completely independent eminent professional, preferably a psychiatrist.”

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

Letter Sent to Bishops on April 30th by the ACP

IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, about 250 priests ­ members of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) ­ met in Athlone to discuss the challenges faced by priests in Ireland today.

During a discussion on the rights of priests, the meeting was reminded that the 1971 Synod on Justice produced the document, the Practice of Justice, which emphasised that the Catholic Church must act justly towards all its members, if it to have credibility in preaching on Justice.

The Synod document stressed that everyone has a right to suitable freedom of expression and thought and affirms that in any form of judicial procedure the accused should have the right to know his accusers and also the right to a proper defence.

Seán McDonagh proposed the following motion:

In the light of the above teaching from the Synod of Bishop in 1971, we the undersigned ask the Irish Bishops¹ Conference to meet, as soon as possible, with those Irish priests who have been censured by the Vatican in recent year.

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

Victim speaks of his hurt at Church’s psychological report

IRELAND
The Impartial Reporter

Sarah Saunderson • Published 2 May 2013

A victim of clerical abuse in the Clogher diocese has revealed the settlement he received would not be enough “to buy a good second hand car”.

Mr. Michael Connolly, abused by a priest in the early 1970s in Donagh, was speaking after the Diocese said it would not reveal the amount it has paid out in compensation to victims.

Bishop Liam MacDaid last week made public “The Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Diocese of Clogher”, an audit by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI). In it, case files from 1975 to 2012 were examined. It showed there were 23 allegations about clerical sex abuse made to police authorities.

The diocese is refusing to reveal the level of compensation made to victims of abuse here. Bishop MacDaid explained: “It has been our policy that it is the perogative of the victim to give any information on settlements that have been made”.

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

Norfolk priest arrested in child sex probe re-bailed

UNITED KINGDOM
Norwich Evening News

Thursday, May 2, 2013

A Norwich priest arrested in a child sex probe has been re-bailed.

Father Tony McSweeney was arrested in February by detectives probing allegations of child sex abuse centring on a guesthouse and a children’s home in London.

He was bailed until April and has now been bailed until July.

The 66-year-old, from St George’s Church in the north of Norwich, was arrested on suspicion of sexual offences.

Fr McSweeney, who has been a priest for 29 years, was appointed a director at Notre Dame High School in April last year but resigned after his arrest.

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

Judge: ex-priest interview can be used at trial

LOUISIANA
NECN

May 2, 2013, 8:45 am

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — State District Judge David Ritchie says prosecutors can use the recorded interview of authorities’ initial questioning of former priest Mark Broussard.

Broussard is accused of molesting young male parishioners in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

His attorney, Tom Lorenzi, asked the court to throw out the interview because he said Broussard told detectives he needed a lawyer 10 minutes and 30 seconds into the recorded portion of the interview.

Broussard was originally charged with 224 counts of child molestation, but the prosecution is taking him to trial on five counts.

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

Denton County pastor arrested on sex-related charges

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

By Megan Gray Denton Record-Chronicle mgray@dentonrc.com
Published: 02 May 2013

Corinth police arrested the lead pastor of The Church of Corinth on Wednesday on sex-related charges, investigators said.

The Rev. Jeffrey Dale Williams, 47, was charged with attempted sexual performance of a child, a third-degree felony, police said.

Capt. Greg Wilkerson said the alleged incident took place at the victim’s home on March 30 and the investigation is continuing.

“We have been working on the case since April 3, and there is potential there may be more victims,” Wilkerson said.

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

Denton County clergyman faces child sex charges

TEXAS
WFAA

by JOBIN PANICKER
WFAA
Posted on May 1, 2013

DENTON COUNTY — Jeffrey Dale Williams, the senior pastor at The Church of Corinth, has been accused of trying to persuade a girl under 18 to take her clothes off.

He was jailed on charges of “attempted sexual performance of a child.” Bond was set at $10,000.
Police said the alleged incident was captured on a two-hour audiotape.

“He tried to entice her to take her clothes off so he could see her naked body,” said Corinth police Capt. Greg Wilkerson.

Police said the complaint came in from a social worker at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on April 3, four days after the alleged act.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– appointed Fr. Raymond Browne as bishop of Kerry (area 5,300, population 149,514, Catholics 143,300, priests 113, religious 215), Ireland. The bishop-elect was born in Athlone, Ireland in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1982. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and judicial roles, most recently as pastor in Ballagh and the Diocese of Elphin’s designated contact for the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) as well as for assistance for elderly and ill clergy. He succeeds Bishop William Murphy, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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ARCHBISHOP BECCIU SPEAKS OF POPE FRANCIS’ REFORM

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – On 13 April, the news that Pope Francis had established a group of eight cardinals to advise him on the government of the universal Church and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, “Pastor Bonus” was made public. The decision generated great interest and, at the same time, more than a few speculations. Yesterday, 1 May, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute of the Secretariat of State, gave an interview on this topic to the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, from which ample extracts are given below.

Osservatore Romano: Much speculation has been heard regarding the reform of the Curia: the balance of power, economic “super-ministers”, revolutions, etc…

Archbishop Becciu: “Actually, it is a little strange. The Pope has not yet met with the group of advisers who have been chosen and already advice is raining down. After having spoken with the Holy Father, I can say that, at this moment, it is absolutely premature to put forward any hypothesis about the future structure of the Curia. Pope Francis is listening to everyone but, in the first place, he will want to listen to those whom he has chosen as advisers. Following that, a project of reform of the ‘Pastor Bonus’ will be outlined, which will obviously have to follow its own process.”

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BENEDICT XVI RETURNS TO THE VATICAN THIS AFTERNOON

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – Shortly before 5:00pm this afternoon, Pope Francis will go to receive Pope emeritus Benedict XVI who is returning to the Vatican after his two month stay at Castel Gandolfo.

Benedict XVI will leave Castel Gandolfo by helicopter around 4:30pm and will arrive some 20 minutes later at the Vatican heliport. From this afternoon on, the Pope emeritus will take up permanent residence at the “Mater Ecclesiae” convent, which has been recently restored. Joining him will be his secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, and the four women of the “Memores Domini” lay association who have been part of the Papal Household for years, cleaning and cooking. The monastery, built over 20 years ago at the bequest of Blessed John Paul II, has housed four different cloistered orders over the years: Poor Claires, Discalced Carmelites, Benedictine nuns, and Visitandine nuns.

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Help Wanted: Archbishop of Newark

NEW JERSEY
Waiting for Godot to Leave

So you want to be the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, do you? (See Bad Bishops: Same Old Spin – Different Day). Submit your resume and answer the question below.

Given the following scenario …

A priest under your control and care admits to having homosexual or bisexual desires.
This priest likes to wrestle with 14-year-old boys. Let me repeat that: this priest likes to wrestle with 14-year-old boys.
This priest admits that while wrestling with a 14-year-old boy, he grabbed his genitals, on two different occasions. The second time he did so, the boy became enraged and refused to talk to the priest the rest of the day, at an event for the boy’s family.
The priest is indicted, tried and convicted on a charge of aggravated sexual conduct. The conviction is overturned on a technicality. The appellate court orders a retrial.
To avoid a retrial, you strike a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to remove said priest from any ministry involving youth and from any contact with youth.

Years pass. Now what do you do? Do you ….

A. Blow off the deal with prosecutors and allow your priest back into youth ministry and unsupervised contact with youth, without telling any of the parents this priest’s history?

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

Ex-priest accused of sex crimes against children seeks bond reduction

LOUISIANA
KPLC

[with video]

By Theresa Schmidt

One of ex-priest Mark Broussard’s accusers says he did not remember the sexual assault until deputies questioned him just over one year ago.

Broussard is accused of sex crimes against children, including rape, some 25 years ago.

One of the alleged victims said the memory of the sexual assault against him didn’t surface until deputies contacted him in March 2012.

First Assistant District Attorney, Cynthia Killingsworth, opposes the release of personal medical records of victims.

“That goes to what he’s trying to get at which is the credibility of witnesses and you can’t test that pre-trial. And that’s what this would do. It would give him an opportunity to take these victims apart when they shouldn’t be, with their private information. And I really object to that,” said Killingsworth.

She said repressed memory is common with child victims of sexual assault.

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

Has Archbishop Meyers Lifted the Lifetime Ban From Ministering to Youth For Fr. Michael Fugee?

NEW JERSEY
Why I Am Catholic

It appears that this might be the case, if I’m reading the letter that Archbishop Meyers wrote to the priests of the Archdiocese of Newark back in February correctly. Of course, he may not have known that Fr. Fugee was violating the agreement with the local Prosecutors Office, though there seems to be plenty of evidence pointing in that direction.

That letter to priests, along with a links to the confession Fr. Fugee gave police in 2001, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Archdiocese and the Bergen County Prosecutors Office, are included in another of a series of articles published recently in The Star Ledger. Yesterday, Mark Meullar reported the following,

Greeting the deepest crisis of his 12-year tenure with silence, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers faced new calls for his resignation yesterday from two New Jersey lawmakers, who blasted him for allowing a priest to minister to children despite a lifetime ban on such interaction.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said the archbishop has displayed “arrogance” and a lack of common sense over his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, who admitted fondling a 14-year-boy in 2001.

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

Cardinal Keith O’Brien snubbed the victim at the centre of the Carfin Grotto sex abuse probe

SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE victim at the centre of the Carfin Grotto sex abuse probe yesterday revealed he was snubbed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien after begging him to investigate his tormentors.

Devout Catholic Pat McEwan sent a hand-written letter to O’Brien, then Scotland’s most senior churchman, in 2010 after undergoing years of counselling about his experiences.

The 63-year-old described in harrowing detail how he was raped by two priests and asked the then-Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to help him.

But O’Brien washed his hands of the matter and sent it back to Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell, who Pat claims had previously asked him to forgive the alleged abusers.

A church spokesman denied O’Brien had turned a blind eye to Pat’s complaints.

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Athlone native appointed Bishop of Kerry

IRELAND
Westmeath Independent

Athlone native Fr Raymond Browne has been appointed the new Bishop of Kerry by His Holiness Pope Francis today.

The 56-year-old has been Parish Priest of Kilgefin in Roscommon in the diocese of Elphin for the last five years.

The new bishop takes over from Bishop William Murphy, who has held the position for the last 18 years. He had previously announced his resignation after reaching the retirement age of 75.

Born in Chapel Street, Athlone, Fr Browne was first ordained a priest back in 1982 in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Athlone. He has previous served as a priest in Sligo and Roscommon town.

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Zero Tolerance is for the little people

NEW JERSEY
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 1, 2013

It’s not like he stole money or anything … because then he would have gone to jail AND been excommunicated.

Eleven years after the U.S. Bishops’ Conference promised to “Mak[e] prompt and effective response to allegations; Cooperat[e] with civil authorities; and Disciplin[e] offenders,” we are offered this charming nugget from the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

“Six years ago, to avoid retrial on charges that he groped a teenage boy, the Rev. Michael Fugee entered a rehabilitation program, underwent counseling for sex offenders and signed a binding agreement that would dictate the remainder of his life as a Roman Catholic priest.

Fugee would not work in any position involving children, the agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office states. He would have no affiliation with youth groups. He would not attend youth retreats. He would not hear the confessions of minors.

But Fugee has openly done all of those things for the past several years through an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church, St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, The Star-Ledger found.

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Church not told of Cardinal O’Brien’s return

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on 02/05/2013

THE bishops of the Catholic Church were not warned of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s return to Scotland, with sources saying they are angry at his ­decision to continue with his retirement plan to move to East Lothian.

The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who scandalised the Church by ­admitting to having inappropriate relations with four priests and a seminarian, was photographed moving into a Church property in Dunbar.

Cardinal O’Brien was quoted as saying: “I’ve had a busy life as a priest, a bishop and a cardinal and it’s a nice place to relax. My own home is in the north of Ireland at the present time.

“All my friends are here in Scotland. I’ve been coming down here for weekends for some years as a retreat. It’s a nice little place. My plan is to move here ultimately to relax and enjoy my retirement.”

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Child sex abuse advocates call for investigation of Newark Archbishop John Myers

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger

Advocates for victims of child sex abuse are calling on church officials to investigate Newark Archbishop John Myers over his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who in 2001 confessed to groping a teenage boy. In an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Fugee and the Newark archdiocese agreed that Myers would be barred from working with children, but the priest has been attending church youth events, including retreats. At a protest next to the archdiocese headquarters in Newark, New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Mark Crawford called for Myers to step down or be removed. (Video by Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger)

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Mayor’s floor leader blasts Catholic Church over water squabble

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com May 1, 2013

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Council floor leader lashed out at the Catholic Church on Wednesday for rejecting the mayor’s compromise offer on water fees for nonprofits even after, the alderman claimed, failing to clean its own house on the priest sex abuse scandal.

“They’re clearly not owning up to the fact that there are people out there damaged by the church and they’re talking about free water. Really?” said Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th).

Describing himself as “a Catholic, not a happy one these days,” O’Connor said, “The church has so many internal problems, they ought to satisfy their own problems and they ought to address the things that are in the paper every day and stop talking about free water. Quit saying that they handled things right in the past or . . . or, even worse, saying mistakes were made in the past, but they’re not correcting those mistakes.”

Earlier this week, Cardinal Francis George jumped into the controversy caused by Emanuel’s decision to cut off the free water spigot to struggling churches and nonprofits that provide a safety net of social services to needy Chicagoans.

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Mo. House considers clergy sex legislation

MISSOURI
KSHB

By: Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri House committee is considering legislation that would make it a crime for clergy to have sexual contact with adults whom they are counseling.

It would be a felony for a member of the clergy to have sexual contact within 120 days of a meeting for religious, spiritual, marital or relationship advice, counseling or therapy. The bill also covers instances in which a clergy member uses a position of trust or authority to engage in sexual contact.

Consent would not be a defense. Violators could face up to seven years in prison.

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Woman ‘starved in room by nuns for days’

SCOTLAND
Evening Times

A WOMAN has told a jury she was dragged into a detention room at an approved school run by nuns and left there without food or drink for two days.

At Paisley Sheriff Court, Barbara Young, 58, claimed one of the nuns who put her in the locked room was Mother Martin.

Miss Young was giving evidence at the trial of Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, who deny assaulting girls at Dalbeth approved school in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.

Prosecutor Douglas Hamilton asked Miss Young, who was sent to Dalbeth in 1971: “What did Mother Martin do to you,” and she replied: “There were others.

“I was pulled into a room. She just dragged me and her nails cut into me.”

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School run by nuns was ‘worse than jail’

SCOTLAND
The Gazette

Published 2 May 2013

A GRANDMOTHER who was sent to Dalbeth Approved School in Bishopton aged 13 has told a jury “it was a hellhole worse than prison”.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that 57-year-old Josephine Hanlon was sent to the school by a court in 1970 because she was outwith parental control.

In evidence she alleged that one of the nuns Mother Martin and a fellow nun forced her to drink some kind of liquid.

Miss Hanlon told the jury: “Mother Martin and another nun poured something liquid down my throat and I went to sleep. That happened more than once.”

The witness, who has convictions for crime of dishonesty and assault, also said that on one occasion Mother Martin and two other nuns dragged her to a punishment room and left her there for two or three days without anything to eat.”

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Nun tells court there was a “punishment room”.

SCOTLAND
Paisley Daily Express

May 1 2013 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

A nun accused of physically abusing girls at an approved school more than 40 years ago admitted to police that there was a punishment room on the premises, a court was told yesterday.

But 79-year-old Anne Kenny, known as Mother Rosaria, claimed it was only used for “cooling off” badly-misbehaved pupils.

And she said that none of the girls had been hit.

Kenny and 77-year-old Agnes Reville, known as Mother Martin, deny assaulting eight girls at Dalbeath Approved School in Bishopton, in the early 1970s.

Four former pupils have claimed in evidence that they were physically abused during their time at the school.

Yesterday at Paisley Sheriff Court, DC Moira Fyfe told the jury that she travelled down to Manchester on January 27, 2009, with DC Lesley McAuley, to interview Kenny.

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Woman claims nun locked her in room

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotlant

Thursday 2 May 2013
A WOMAN told a jury she was dragged into a detention room at an approved school run by nuns and left without food or drink for two days.

Barbara Young, 58, claimed at Paisley Sheriff Court that one of the nuns who put her in the locked room was known as Mother Martin.

Ms Young was giving evidence at the trial of Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, who deny assaulting girls at Dalbeth approved school in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.

Ms Young also claimed she was forcibly given some kind of drug by a nun and Mother Martin assisted.

Under cross-examination by Robert Anthony, QC, defending Mother Martin, the jury heard Ms Young was sent to Dalbeth for shoplifting and has theft convictions.

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Yeshiva U. Sex Abuse Probe Stalls Amid Fear and Mistrust

NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published May 02, 2013, issue of May 10, 2013.

It has been more than four months since Yeshiva University hired an international law firm to investigate allegations of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at a Y.U.-run high school.

Yet investigators working for the firm of Sullivan & Cromwell still have not contacted several former Y.U. school staff and students who described the abuse in a series of articles published in the Forward last year.

Meanwhile, many other former students who have been contacted say they refused to cooperate with investigators because they do not trust Y.U.’s motives. Such mistrust has only increased since Y.U. retained another international law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to fight a possible multiparty civil lawsuit.
Click for more stories about abuse at Y.U.

Barry Singer, a former student who has spoken to a Y.U. investigator, said the investigator “made it clear that she had nothing to do with any sort of defense that Yeshiva might mount.” But, Singer added, she also told him that Greenberg Traurig “can use whatever they gather” to defend against a civil lawsuit.

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Priest found guilty of molesting child

PENNSYLVANIA
Williamsport Sun-Gazette

May 2, 2013
From Staff Reports , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

WELLSBORO – Thomas Shoback, 66, of Wilkes-Barre, a former Tioga County priest charged with sexual abuse of a child, was convicted in Tioga County Court Wednesday, according to a report from WETM teleision in Elmira, N.Y.

Shoback was found guilty on nine counts. He originally faced 32 counts, but most had passed the statute of limitations, the report said. According to state police, the incidents took place between 1991 and 1997 while he was a priest at St. Mary’s Parish in Blossburg. The victim is a former alter boy.

Shoback now could face up to 100 years in prison, the report said. He will be sentenced at a later date.

In earlier testimony reported in the Sun-Gazette, the victim told the court that Shoback began abusing him when he was 11 or 12 years old and that the abuse would happen three out of four Sundays each month when he stayed after Mass to help count the collection.

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Suspended Berlin priest expected to enter into a plea agreement

CONNECTICUT
New Britain Herald

By LISA BACKUS
STAFF WRITER

A suspended Berlin priest accused of using the Internet to have inappropriate online relationships with young male parishioners is expected to enter into a plea agreement in New Britain court today.

Michael Miller, 43, was first arrested in July 2011 on charges he made inappropriate comments during conversations on Facebook with a 13-year-old boy whose family attended St. Paul’s Church, where Miller worked as a priest.

As part of the investigation, police seized several of Miller’s computers. Arrest warrants detail the results of the computer examination, which revealed that Miller was having inappropriate conversations with several teenage boys, most of whom were parishioners who met him through the church, according to police.

In the talks on Facebook, which were retrieved by the Digital Forensics Unit at the New Britain Police Department, Miller described for one 15-year-old boy the pornographic movie he was watching and said he preferred boys “because they know how the parts work.”

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Bad Bishops: Same Old Spin – Different Day

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

There is a pattern and it’s a sick and strange one.

Over the months, I have written at length about Kansas City Bishop Finn’s dreadful handling of a sex abuse case in his diocese, and have taken quite a bit of heat from the True Believers, who swallow uncritically the cult-like notion that criticizing a bishop who endangers children is the equivalent of hating Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church. (If you really want to have fun, read the whole series here).

Now we have Archbishop Myers in New Jersey and sex abuser Fr. Michael Fugee. The case is so much like the Finn case that it’s weird. Frank Weathers and Mark Shea have articles on the case, in which they link to local New Jersey reports, which themselves link to the original source documents at the heart of the matter, including this one, which apparently nobody wants to read.

I won’t go into details, since if you’re interested you can find the details at this link and elsewhere. But let me point out a few similarities.

Bishops, apparently, have unlimited hubris. Bishop Finn spent $1.4 million of diocesan funds to defend himself from criminal charges that threatened only a few thousand dollars in fines and that could easily have been plea bargained away, but that resulted in his conviction in criminal court. This is not because Finn was bravely defending the Church, for part of the case, in one Missouri county, involved a plea agreement, in which Finn glibly handed over ecclesial authority to a governmental entity so as to avoid prosecution. Bishop Myers, likewise, is going to the matt on this one, in a case where a cursory investigation shows he behaved without any regard to the safety of the children under his care and without any concern for an agreement he had made with prosecutors to keep child molester Fr. Fugee out of jail. Does it appear as if Bishop Myers is standing firm to protect the Church? No, as in Finn’s case, it’s to protect his own pride.

Bishops, apparently, don’t give a damn about the truth. The most liberating words ever spoken on earth are “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). But in a February letter to priests, Bishop Finn defends his decision to allow Fugee to disregard the agreement the bishop made with prosecutors by claiming that Fugee was “acquitted” of the charges against him. Fugee was in fact acquitted of one charge, “endangering the welfare of a child” but convicted of “aggravated criminal sexual conduct”. While this conviction was reversed on appeal over a technicality, a new trial was ordered and was avoided because of a plea agreement, the terms of which the archdiocese is now thumbing its nose at. In other words, had the defendant indeed been acquitted of the charges against him, none of this would be an issue.

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Victims left to stop child abuse: study

AUSTRALIA
Advertiser

By Paul Bibby May 2, 2013

The abuse of children by priests and church workers often begins between the ages of six and 10, and generally only stops when victims take action to stop it or avoid it, a new study has found.

The report, They Didn’t Believe Me: Adult Survivors’ Perspectives of Child Sexual Abuse by Personnel in Christian Institutions, is the first Australian research drawing on church abuse victims’ experiences that doesn’t rely on church data.

The majority of the 81 participants reported that they had been abused repeatedly, often over several years, and that they were ”re-victimised” by the church and the criminal justice system when they reported the abuse.

Forty-four per cent of participants said their abuse began between age six and 10, with more than half of the women participants falling into this category.

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Convicted sexual deviant banned from ministry

PENNSYLVANIA
Standard Speaker

BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER (STAFF WRITER)
Published: May 2, 2013

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera issued a statement Wednesday on a Tioga County verdict convicting a priest from Wilkes-Barre of sexually abusing an altar boy for six years.

Thomas Shoback, 66, who once served as an assistant pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in Hazleton, was found guilty Tuesday of nine counts, according to a news report from WETM-TV in Elmira, N.Y. In his statement, Bambera said Shoback “is permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry and his status as a priest will be referred to the Holy See for a final determination.”

The Holy See is headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City. The diocese cooperated with the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case against Shoback, a diocese news release said.

“At this time, I express my personal sorrow for the pain endured by those who suffered this abuse and extend my apology for any way in which the Church, and particularly its bishops, priests and deacons have failed them,” Bambera said. “I also reaffirm my personal commitment to exercise vigilance in our protection of children and young people and offer my sincere gratitude to all who worked so diligently to resolve this case.”

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Who Is Afraid of Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims, and Who Is Fighting for It?

UNITED STATES
Justia Verdict

Marci A. Hamiltoni

The movement to eliminate the child-sex-abuse statutes of limitations (“SOLs”) so that victims can obtain justice is stronger and more impressive than ever. Never before has there been so much activity in so many states at once. Last year, Hawaii enacted a 2-year window, and a few other states expanded their SOLs. (Such bills allow claims that would otherwise have been timed out, to be revived and brought to court during a specified period of time.) This year, windows, the extension, or elimination of SOLs are pending in many states, including Minnesota, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Plus Arkansas already eliminated its criminal SOL. This is progress!

Minnesota

The Minnesota House passed a statute of limitations (SOL) window bill yesterday. (Such bills allow claims that would otherwise have been timed out, to be revived and brought to court during a specified period of time.)

Illinois

Illinois let a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse out of committee this week.

New York

And in New York, Assemblywoman Marge Markey’s Child Victims Act, which has been improved, and introduced for the seventh time, has the most co-sponsors in history.

Massachusetts

There will also be a hearing on a child-sex-abuse statute of limitations window, and a generous extension bill, before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary on May 7.

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Priest from Wilkes-Barre found guilty of child sex abuse

PENNSYLVANIA
The Sunday Dispatch

By Steve Mocarsky – smocarsky@civitasmedia.com – 570-970-7311

A Diocese of Scranton priest who was once assigned to several parishes in Luzerne County, including a Catholic high school, has been convicted of sexually assaulting an altar boy.

Diocese officials on Wednesday confirmed that the Rev. Thomas Shoback, 66, of Wilkes-Barre, was convicted Tuesday in Tioga County Court of Common Pleas on nine of the 32 counts with which he had been charged. Most of those counts exceeded the statute of limitations. Still, he reportedly could face essentially a life sentence.

State police had said the assaults took place from 1991 through 1997 when the boy was 11 to 17 years old, while Shoback was assigned at St. Mary’s Parish in Blossburg, Tioga County.

The diocese suspended Shoback in November 2011 when the allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced.

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Bishop expresses ‘personal sorrow’ over priest abuse case

PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER (STAFF WRITER)
Published: May 2, 2013

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera issued a statement Wednesday on a Tioga County verdict convicting a priest from Wilkes-Barre of sexually abusing an altar boy for six years.

Thomas Shoback, 66, was found guilty Tuesday of nine counts, according to a news report from WETM-TV in Elmira, N.Y. In his statement, Bambera said Shoback “is permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry and his status as a priest will be referred to the Holy See for a final determination.”

The Holy See is headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City. The diocese cooperated with the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case against Shoback, a diocese news release said.

“At this time, I express my personal sorrow for the pain endured by those who suffered this abuse and extend my apology for any way in which the Church, and particularly its bishops, priests and deacons have failed them,” Bambera said. “I also reaffirm my personal commitment to exercise vigilance in our protection of children and young people and offer my sincere gratitude to all who worked so diligently to resolve this case.”

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May 1, 2013

Calls Mount To Have Newark Archbishop Fired Over Once-Accused Pedophile Priest

NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

COLTS NECK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A New Jersey state assemblywoman is among those calling to have Newark Archbishop John Myers held accountable, after a once-accused pedophile priest suddenly popped up at Colts Neck Church youth retreats.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, a Newark Archdiocese priest, was convicted in 2003 of molesting a boy. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court, CBS 2’s Lou Young reported earlier this week.

Fugee, 52, entered into an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to avoid retrial on the abuse conviction after the groping incident six years ago. The agreement required Fugee, 52, never again to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

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Ex-pastor in Chambers County accused of sexually assaulting child

TEXAS
KTRK

HOUSTON (KTRK) — The former pastor of a church in Chambers County is in jail, accused of sexually assaulting a child.

Eddie Shauberger, 58, was arrested in San Antonio, and is awaiting extradition back to Liberty County, where he used to live. He is charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child.

Shauberger is the former pastor of Oak Island Baptist Church in Chambers County. In the late 90s, he unsuccessfully ran for state representative.

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Christie criticizes Buono’s call for archbishop’s resignation

NEW JERSEY
Politicker NJ

By Matthew Arco | May 1st, 2013

CAMDEN – Controversy surrounding the state’s highest-ranking Catholic official spurred Gov. Chris Christie to blast his likely gubernatorial challenger as “irresponsible.”

The governor called reports about Newark’s archbishop allowing a priest who admitted groping a boy to continue working with children “disturbing,” but fell short of joining the call from several state lawmakers for Archbishop John Myers to resign.

“I will say this, leaders who make decisions purely based upon media accounts are irresponsible and they are grandstanding, and we don’t need more of that,” Christie said during a Camden news conference Wednesday.

Christie was asked whether he would join the ranks of multiple lawmakers – including his likely Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono – who have called on Myers to step down. …

“All I know about this situation is what I’ve read in the paper and so that makes me very nervous,” he said. “Being written about in the paper all the time, I recognize that sometimes it’s accurate and sometimes it isn’t, sometimes it’s a complete story and sometimes it’s slanted by the people who write it to try to get a certain point across.”

The governor went on to say that what he’s read “is disturbing” and that he has “serious concerns,” but stopped short of joining Buono and others in calling for Myers to step down.

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STATEMENT REGARDING FATHER THOMAS SHOBACK – MAY 1, 2013

PENNSYLVANIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton

On May 1, 2013, Diocesan Officials confirmed the outcome of the trial of Father Thomas Shoback. Since November 2011, the Diocese of Scranton has cooperated with law enforcement’s investigation and prosecution of this criminal case. Now that the criminal justice system has brought this case to closure, the Diocese of Scranton recognizes that the announcement of this verdict will serve as a very painful reminder of the wounds many survivors carry with them, most especially those who were harmed by Father Shoback.

In response to the verdict, the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L., Bishop of Scranton, reacted, “At this time, I express my personal sorrow for the pain endured by those who suffered this abuse and extend my apology for any way in which the Church, and particularly its bishops, priests and deacons have failed them. I also reaffirm my personal commitment to exercise vigilance in our protection of children and young people and offer my sincere gratitude to all who worked so diligently to resolve this case. With the civil law process completed, in accordance with The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Father Shoback is permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry and his status as a priest will be referred to the Holy See for a final determination. While Church law has been and will continue to be exercised with regard to this situation, anyone who believes that they have been the victim of child sexual abuse is encouraged to contact law enforcement. Finally, I ask the faithful of the Diocese to join their prayers with mine to pray for the continued healing for all those impacted by child sexual abuse and all who search for healing, reconciliation and peace during this difficult time.”

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Diocese Issues Statement After Priest Convicted

PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

May 1, 2013, by Dan Ratchford

SCRANTON — The Diocese of Scranton put out a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the verdict against this priest accused of child sex abuse serves as a “painful reminder of the wounds” victims still carry.

According to a New York State TV station, Fr. Thomas Shoback of Wilkes-Barre, who once served at a church in Jermyn and other parishes in the diocese, was convicted Tuesday of sexual abuse at a parish in Tioga County.

The diocese suspended Fr. Shoback in 2011 when accusations against him were made.

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Assignment Record – Rev. Stephen Emmett Speciale, s.j.

CALIFORNIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a Jesuit priest of the California Province in 1985, Speciale’s post-ordination ministry was short-lived. He was accused in a 2004 lawsuit of having sexually abused an 11 year-old boy in 1985, at a Santa Barbara parish. Another lawsuit with accusations against him was settled in 1993. Speciale appears to have left the priesthood after 1989.

Ordained: 1985

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Advocates for sex abuse victims demand probe of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on May 01, 2013

A coalition of groups representing victims of sexual abuse called this afternoon for an investigation of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers by the National Review Board, an advisory organization created by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops in the wake of the clergy sex abuse crisis.

“Myers broke an agreement with prosecutors,” said Mark Crawford, New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. “He violated the church’s abuse policy. He endangered kids. He must be punished.”

Crawford, at an afternoon press conference across the street from the archdiocese’s headquarters, implored the review board and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the president of the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops, to take action against Myers over his handling of a priest who violated a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, has attended youth retreats, heard confession from minors behind closed doors and traveled to Canada with children through his unofficial association with a Monmouth County church, St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck. Fugee’s activities were the subject of a lengthy story in the Sunday Star-Ledger.

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Assignment Record – Rev. Kevin F. Hederman

MISSOURI
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Hederman was ordained for the St. Louis archdiocese in 1975, and went on to serve as an assistant priest at a number of parishes. He was pastor of North American Martyrs parish and chaplain of Christian Brothers College High School in the 1990s when he was accused of having sexually abused a male high school student several years earlier. Hederman was subsequently sent out of the country to Belize. In 2009 another man accused Hederman in a lawsuit of sexually abusing him when he was a high school student in St. Louis in the early 1990s. Still in Belize, Hederman was removed from active ministry. He denied the accusations. In May 2013 Hederman remains on Leave of Absence.

Ordained: 1975

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Victim advocacy group wants tighter control of priests

ILLINOIS
The Doings

BY BOB OKON | bokon@stmedianetwork.com May 1, 2013

An advocacy group for victims of pedophile priests wants Catholic bishops to force priests who are removed from ministry because of abuse allegations to be confined in residential treatment centers.

But a spokesman for the Joliet Diocese said that would be an exercise of authority that a bishop does not have over such priests.

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling for closer control of abusive priests — citing the case of a Joliet Diocese priest who has been living in Kentucky for more than 30 years and engaging in at least informal missionary work without being monitored, years after being removed from the ministry.

“If a bishop can insist that a priest not marry, not lobby for the death penalty, not lobby for Planned Parenthood or work anywhere other than where the bishop tells him he can work, it’s within the bishop’s power to tell him where he can live,” SNAP national director David Clohessy said.

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Survivors of Magdalene laundries still waiting for an apology

NORTHERN IRELAND
NorthJersey.com

WEDNESDAY MAY 1, 2013

BY PAIGE BRETTINGEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (RNS) When the Republic of Ireland apologized to the wayward girls who were sent to the Magdalene laundries for hard work and no pay, Teresa Bell felt encouraged. Surely, she thought, the government of Northern Ireland would do the same.

Nearly three months later, she’s still waiting.

Bell was one of thousands of young girls who were sent to the Magdalene workhouses run by Roman Catholic nuns when she got pregnant at age 16. She worked long hours washing clothes with no pay and little rest; after giving birth, her daughter was put in an orphanage.

Bell never recovered from the shame.

“I felt I was beneath everybody for 40 years,” she said. “It was only when I got a little older that it eased off a little bit.”

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If This Happened In My Diocese, The Bishop Would Know My Eye Color Down to the Flecks…

NEW JERSEY
Why I Am Catholic

May 1, 2013 By Frank Weathers

He would see them up close and personal when I asked questions like, “Isn’t there an abbot in a remote monastery who needs a permanent dishwasher in the scullery for work while said dishwasher is not praying the Divine Office? Why is this man not sent there?”

Who is Father Michael Fugee, and why should you care? Folks in New Jersey are pretty familiar with him and his story. His handling, or mishandling, by Archbishop John J. Myers is pretty much the thing of which legends are made. Legendary ineptness, I mean.

Amid calls for a Vatican investigation, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers came under fierce criticism Monday for his handling of a priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

At the Monmouth County church where the Rev. Michael Fugee had been spending time with a youth group, angry parishioners said they were never told about Fugee’s background and they questioned Myers’ defense of the priest, the subject of a lengthy story in the Sunday Star-Ledger.

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NJ- Statement by Mark Crawford of SNAP

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Punish Archbishop Myers. That’s what Catholic officials must do now.

Explanations, apologies, investigations – that won’t cut it.

Myers broke an agreement with prosecutors. He violated the church’s abuse policy. He endangered kids. He must be punished.

Otherwise, he and other bishops will keep putting kids in harm’s way.

Last year, Kansas City’s bishop was found guilty, in criminal court, of a very similar offense – endangering kids by letting a predator be near them. Even after a judge found the bishop guilty, no one in the church hierarchy denounced or disciplined him. Not one bishop uttered a peep. And the wrongdoing by bishops continues.

We predict Myers will apologize. He’ll “lawyer up.” He’ll promise to do better. He’ll pick some ex-prosecutor to look at his abuse policies.

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Francis, The Papal Foundation and Cardinal Roger Mahony: Money Talks

UNITED STATES
Renew America

By Marielena Montesino de Stuart

ESPRESSO with Marielena…
Recommended roast level: VERY DARK.

Cardinal Roger Mahony does not need an introduction – but what is The Papal Foundation all about, from Francis’ perspective?

The Papal Foundation is based in Pennsylvania. This is an excerpt of their mission statement, as printed on their website [bold added for emphasis]:

“The Papal Foundation began in 1988 as a response to the desire of Catholic clergy and laity in the U.S. for a unique, sustainable way to support the Holy Father and his witness in the world.

The vision was to establish an endowment that would

– Provide an additional source of income for the Holy See

– Strengthen the Holy Father’s ability to fulfill the mission of Saint Peter

– Set the standard for other nations and challenge them to establish similar foundation.

Income generated from the investment of capital creates a perpetual source of revenue. The portfolio does not invest in any companies that engage in activities inconsistent with our faith.”

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New Jersey Catholics have anger, disgust for abuser priest in ministry

NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

Patricia Lefevere | May. 1, 2013

MENDHAM, N.J. About 70 advocates for victims of childhood sexual abuse gathered Sunday on the lawn of St. Joseph Church in Mendham, N.J., for the rededication of a monument to sex abuse victims that was vandalized twice in the last 17 months.

Almost as powerful as the sledgehammer that first destroyed the millstone monument in November 2011 was an article in the day’s Newark Star-Ledger disclosing that a New Jersey priest — Fr. Michael Fugee of the Newark archdiocese — who admitted in 2001 to molesting a teenage boy was allowed back in ministry to Catholic youth despite having signed a binding agreement barring him from unsupervised contact with minors.

The revelations in the article “show a terrible disregard for children,” said Theresa Padovano, co-director of the New Jersey affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, citing “lack of accountability” by church officials. She said all names of accused molesters should be made available digitally “so people can check them out” or abusers should go to prison where they cannot harm children.

Mary Gannon of Floral Park, N.J., said she worries for all children, not just her four grandchildren, and said she finds it impossible to understand how anyone could mistreat a child. She said she and her husband, Gerry, support survivors “because they’re still suffering all these years later.”

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If It’s a New Era For the Church, Why Are They Excommunicating Priests Who Support Gay Rights?

UNITED STATES
PolicyMic

Kate Dowd

As a recovering Catholic, I have been waiting a long time for the Vatican to show the grace and love that Jesus preached, instead of the lavish, golden, and cold face it has shown to the world. The church has arguably failed to live up to its ideals for thousands of years, but as I grew from a naive, hopeful Catholic student into the person I am today, I started seeing the Vatican for what it is. When the papal conclave decided on the Jesuit Argentinian Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, however, I perked up and felt hopeful about the future of the Catholic Church for the first time in years. Blessed enough to have experienced a Jesuit education, and passionate as I am about issues in Central and South America, I was thrilled about the new pope.

He didn’t disappoint. When asked why he chose the name Francis, he replied, “For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation.” He also vowed to take “decisive action” against sex abuse within the church, to rekindle the church’s relationship with science, support sainthood of Oscar Romero, a Salvadorian bishop who is considered a martyr throughout Latin America, and even shunned the luxurious papal apartment offered by the Vatican. The thing that caught me off guard the most, however, was when the new pope broke with tradition and held the traditional Holy Thursday washing-of-the-feet ceremony at a youth detention center, washing and kissing the feet not only of the young male detainees, but the female and Muslim detainees as well.

So when news came on Monday that a Brazilian priest was being excommunicated for resigning in opposition to the church’s stance on homosexuality, of course I was disheartened. As a straight ally and a female, my hope of change had been renewed with Pope Francis’ promise of working for the poor, despite the church’s stance on homosexuality and its refusal to even entertain the idea of female priests. Of course, change is slow and we should not allow these instances to deter us from continuing to work for change, but it is still sobering and frustrating when they happen.

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Catholics paid $36m to 600 abuse victims in Victoria

AUSTRALIA
New Zealand Herald

By Greg Ansley
5:30 AM Thursday May 2, 2013

Australia’s bid to prise open the secret world of endemic child sexual abuse in churches and other powerful institutions has stepped up a notch with revelations of the scale of perversion.

The Victorian inquiry resumed this week to admissions, contrition and apologies from the Catholic Church, which said it had paid A$30 million ($36 million) in compensation to about 600 victims of deviant priests in the state.

Next week the New South Wales special commission of inquiry will open its hearings in Newcastle, north of Sydney, in the diocese that triggered both the state inquiry and the federal royal commission into abuse of children in the care of religious, government and other institutions.

A key focus of the NSW hearings will be the late, defrocked priest Denis McAlinden, whose long-term abuse of dozens of children was known to the church but hidden as he was shuffled between Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, where he worked at Tokomaru Bay near Gisborne.

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Obispo mexicano: “Es más grave el aborto que el abuso de niños por sacerdotes”

MEXICO
Informe21

El arzobispo de una ciudad mexicana declaró que es más grave el aborto que el abuso de menores perpetrado por un clérigo. “Cualitativamente, es mucho más grave el aborto que la violación de niños por parte de sacerdotes”, indicó tras una misa el nuevo arzobispo de la Arquidiócesis de Tuxtla Gutiérrez (la capital del estado mexicano de Chiapas), Fabio Martínez Castilla, según lo cita el periódico local ‘Noticias voz e imagen de Chiapas’.

El prelado argumentó que cuando abusan sexualmente de un niño “se muere su futuro”, mientras que cuando una mujer aborta “es un asesinato”.

Sin embargo, el obispo reconoció que “cuantitativamente las dos cosas hacen mucho daño y merecen castigo”.

En cuanto a los sacerdotes que cometen pederastia, opinó que no deben ser solapados, sino encarcelados y expulsados de la Iglesia católica.

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Más grave aborto que pederastia: Arzobispo

MEXICO
Elgolfo

TUXTLA GUTIÉRREZ. Fabio Martínez Castilla, el arzobispo de la Arquidiócesis de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, dijo, al término de una misa en la Catedral Metropolitana de San Marcos, que abortar es más grave que la violación de niños por parte de clérigos.

Aseguró que cuando un niño es violado por un sacerdote “se muere su futuro”, pero cuando se interrumpe un embarazo es “asesinato”.

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Mexican Archbishop Calls Abortion Worse Than Sexual Abuse By Priests

MEXICO
Fox News Latino

A Mexican archbishop is in hot water after making a statement calling abortion a much more serious offense than the rape of children by priests.

Fabio Martínez Castilla, the Archbishop of Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas, said during a homily at the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Marcos that when children are sexually abused “their future is dying,” but that it doesn’t compare with abortion because “it is murder.”

“Qualitatively, abortion is much more serious than the rape of children by priests,” Martínez Castilla said, adding though that “both quantitatively do much harm and deserve punishment.”

Clarifying his comments, Martínez Castilla said that priests found molesting children should not be forgiven, but instead imprisoned and banned from the Church. He added priests shouldn’t be targeted because of the sexual abuse scandals that have haunted the Catholic Church over the last decade, but that “teachers, politicians, doctors and anyone who goes against the goodness and freedom of a child should be punished”.

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Monk accused of luring girl out on bail

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

April 30, 2013|By Ruth Fuller, Special to the Tribune

The Benedictine monk accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in far north suburban Antioch last week is free on bail.

Thomas Chmura, 57, who resides at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., just across the state line, is charged with felony attempted child abduction and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, authorities said.

Records indicate someone else who lives at the abbey paid the $5,000 required to bail Chmura out of jail.

Appearing in street clothes at a court hearing Tuesday in Lake County, Chmura told a judge, “I heard and I understand everything,” when asked if he understood the terms of his release.

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NJ- Letters to Mr. Notzon and Cardinal Dolan: A call for action against Newark Archbishop John Myers

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

May 1, 2013

Mr. Al Notzon III
National Review Board
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street

Washington, DC 20017

Dear Mr. Notzon:

We are child sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Our mission is to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.

Because of the Fr. Michael C. Fugee situation and other similarly reckless acts, we believe that Newark Archbishop John Myers should resign. He has repeatedly put – and continues to put – an admitted child molester around kids.

But even if that happens, that’s not enough. Kids will keep being hurt until bishops who enable child sex crimes are punished.

So we are seeking action from you, in your role as chairman of the National Lay Review Board.

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ARCHBISHOP MYERS UNDER FIRE

NEW JERSEY
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Left-wing Catholics, and ex-Catholics, tried in vain to get Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph to step down, and now they have their sights set on Newark Archbishop John Myers. Their goal is to bring down a bishop—any bishop.

Leading the charge against Archbishop Myers is the Newark Star-Ledger, which on Sunday said he should resign. The newspaper is guilty of journalistic malfeasance, and for this reason the entire editorial board should resign immediately. To be specific, the newspaper has violated the tenets of the Society of Professional Journalists by failing to accurately report on this issue: “Deliberate distortion is never permissible.”

I have documented the Catholic League’s case against the newspaper in a report, “Star-Ledger’s War on Archbishop Myers.” To read it, click here. Some politicians, all pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage, as well as long-time foes of the Catholic Church (cited in the report), have jumped on the bandwagon.

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Advocacy group to call for national investigation of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on May 01, 2013

The New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests today will request an investigation of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers by the National Review Board, an advisory group created by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops in the wake of the clergy sex abuse crisis.

Mark Crawford, the longtime head of SNAP in New Jersey, said he is calling on the board to examine whether Myers violated the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, a priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on such interactions.

American bishops adopted the landmark charter in Dallas in 2002. It created a zero-tolerance policy for abusers, stating that any priest credibly accused of sexual abuse will not return to full ministry.

Fugee, 52, confessed to groping a teenage boy in 2001. He later signed a binding agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office barring him from working with children in any capacity as long as he is a priest. An official with the archdiocese also signed the agreement.

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Panel of advocates discuss Catholic church’s ‘mortal sins’

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | May. 1, 2013 Grace on the Margins

Rumors that the Roman Catholic church’s clergy sex abuse crisis is a problem of the past have been greatly exaggerated.

“The bishops’ public relations machine has persuaded the people that it is a problem that was, not that is,” Jeff Anderson says, “and that is a living lie. There have been superficial changes, but not fundamental changes.”

Anderson, one of the most well-known lawyers to bring a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic church, was part of a panel to promote the publication of Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal, a new book by journalist Michael D’Antonio.

The event took place April 23 in New York City’s Bleecker Street Theatre, one week before new revelations that, just across the Hudson River, Newark’s Archbishop John J. Myers allowed a priest who admitted to groping a 14-year-old boy to attend youth retreats, travel with a youth group on a pilgrimage to Canada and hear the confessions of minors.

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NM- Victims blast New Mexico Catholic officials on abuse

NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 01, 2013

What a cold response by New Mexico Catholic officials to the latest heinous child sex abuse reports involving a predator priest: “We do not comment on pending litigation.” Can you imagine Jesus uttering such a callous sentence?

We applaud these brave men who are stepping forward, seeking justice and exposing wrongdoing. We hope they feel proud of themselves and relieved that they are taking action.

In our experience, when victims stay trapped in shame, silence and self-blame, they continue to suffer.

But when they find the courage to take action, they begin to recover. And they start revealing long-hidden painful information about abuse and cover ups that Catholics and citizens deserve to know.

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered abuse by O’Brien – or any New Mexico Catholic cleric – will come forward. It’s time to call police, protect kids, and start healing.

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“Vicar said sex attack was a part of God’s work,” court hears

UNITED KINGDOM
Crawley News

A MAN who says he was sexually abused when aged just nine by a vicar has said he was told it was “a part of God’s work”.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, is standing trial at Lewes Crown Court after pleading not guilty to 37 sexual offences against young boys and girls, some as young as five, in the 1960s and 1970s.

A total of 32 of the charges relate to Rideout’s time as an assistant curate at St Mary’s Church in Southgate, when he would visit a Barnados children’s home in Ifield.

Last Friday a man, who was in care at a home in Barkingside, Essex, during the 1960s said Rideout had put his hand down his shorts.

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Victims blast Newark archbishop

NEWARK (NJ)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

They want national church panel to act
Group also seeks action by Cardinal Dolan
NYC prelate is America’s top Catholic official
SNAP: Myers must be “denounced and disciplined”
“Ignoring wrongdoing encourages wrongdoing,” it feels
“Until enablers are punished, abuse will continue,” victims say

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their allies will disclose that they are writing to

–New York City’s cardinal, who heads America’s bishops, and
–a national Catholic child sex abuse committee

urging that both promptly discipline Newark’s archbishop for “putting kids in harm’s way” by letting an admitted child molesting cleric be around children (even after having signed a legal agreement with prosecutors to keep him away from youngsters).

They will also harshly criticize Newark’s archbishop for what they call “a series of violations” of common sense, common decency, and the church’s own child sex abuse policy.

Finally, they will call on Newark area Catholics to stop donating to the church until Myers resigns.

WHEN
Wednesday, May 1, at 3:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the Newark Catholic Archdiocese headquarters, 171 Clifton Ave. in Newark, NJ

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Statement by Bishop William Lee

IRELAND
Waterford Today

Statement by Bishop William Lee on “Review of Safeguarding Practice in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore”

“On behalf of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore I welcome this thorough review on safeguarding practice which was conducted by Mr Ian Elliott and the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

In the wake of this review I again offer my sincere apologies to all who have suffered as a result of abuse by Church personnel. To the survivors of child abuse, I wish to say that our thoughts and prayers are with you today. No words of apology or any gesture of repentance or sorrow can ever make up for the enormous damage you have suffered. I am truly sorry for what happened to you and I pray that the Lord Jesus will heal you and bring hope, love and peace back into your lives.

The Report follows a full review in late October last year of case files in the diocese as well as interviews with key personnel involved in the diocesan safeguarding service and also with senior personnel in the Gardaí and the H.S.E.

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Abused Children May Get Unique Form of PTSD

UNITED STATES
Time

By Maia Szalavitz
April 30, 2013

Child abuse scars not just the brain and body, but, according to the latest research, but may leave its mark on genes as well.

The research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that abused children who develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may experience a biologically distinct form of the disorder from PTSD caused by other types of trauma later in life.

“The main aim of our study was to address the question of whether patients with same clinical diagnosis but different early environments have the same underlying biology,” says Divya Mehta, corresponding author of the study and a postdoctoral student at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany.

To find out, Mehta’s team studied blood cells from 169 people in Atlanta who were participating in the Grady Trauma Project. Most were in their late 30s to mid 40s and were African American; some had been abused as children but all had suffered at least two other significant traumatic events, such as being held at gun- or knife point, having a major car accident or being raped. On average, the participants experienced seven major traumas. Despite these events, however, the majority were resilient: 108 participants never developed PTSD.

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Paper demands bishop’s resignation

NEW JERSEY
The Tablet (UK)

1 May 2013

The largest newspaper in the state of New Jersey has called for Newark Archbishop John Myers to resign after reporting that a priest who admitted to abusing a child was still active in ministry with children.

The Star-Ledger reports that Fr Michael Fugee admitted to molesting a teenage boy, but his conviction was overturned on a legal technicality. To avoid re-trial, Fugee underwent therapy and the archdiocese assured prosecutors he would never be permitted an assignment that would place him near children.

In fact, he has participated in several youth-centred events at St Mary’s parish, including weekend retreats. The newspaper report was accompanied by an editorial demanding that Archbishop Myers resign.

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Minnesota Child Victims Act deserves support

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: STAR TRIBUNE EDITORIAL Updated: May 1, 2013

The Minnesota House could vote today on an overdue measure to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to pursue justice through civil courts.

The Minnesota Child Victims Act would relax the civil statute of limitations, which is unduly narrow and protective of sexual predators. The Senate is considering a similar measure.

Sadly, those lobbying hardest to defeat the needed change include associations of schools, churches and child-care centers. They represent the very kinds of institutions that have dominated headlines for failing to protect children from sexual predators.

Is there really a need to remind the public that former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse just last summer? Or that a Missouri Catholic bishop is still on the job after being convicted last year of a criminal misdemeanor for failing to report abuse?

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Vatikan laisierte Priester wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs dreier Jungen

DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

Andreas L. wurde im Januar vorigen Jahres zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilt. Das Landgericht Braunschweig sah es als erwiesen an, dass er drei Jungen über mehrere Jahre sexuell schwer missbraucht hat

Salzgitter (kath.net/pbh) Der wegen Kindesmissbrauch verurteilte Pfarrer Andreas L. ist nicht mehr Priester. Ein von der vatikanischen Glaubenskongregation durchgeführtes kirchenrechtliches Verfahren führte zu seiner Entlassung aus dem Klerikerstand.

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Argentinien: Bistum zahlt Missbrauchsopfer 30.000 Dollar

ARGENTINIEN
Radio Vatikan

Das Bistum Quilmès muss einem Missbrauchsopfer 30.000 Dollar Entschädigung bezahlen. Das befand ein Gericht am Montag. Die Diözese ist ein Vorort im Süden der Hauptstadt Buenos Aires. Das Missbrauchsopfer ist heute 25 Jahre alt und war während seiner gesamten Kindheit Opfer eines pädophilen Priesters. Der Täter starb 2005, er trug das Aids-Virus in sich. In Argentinien sind seit 2002 vier Priester wegen Missbrauchsdelikten verurteilt worden. Die Haftstrafen betrugen zwischen acht und 24 Jahren.

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Author Michael D’Antonio discusses “Mortal Sins,” his book about clergy and sex abuse

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: SPIKE CARLSEN , Special to the Star Tribune Updated: April 30, 2013

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson is a leading character in this book about clergy sexual abuse.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D’Antonio has written books on topics ranging from mosquitoes to golf to atomic bombs. His latest book, “Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal,” examines the issue of sexual abuse and cover-ups in the Catholic Church. He took a break from his recent book tour to discuss the book’s Minnesota connection, why writing is like fishing and the tattoo he’d get if he walked into a parlor today.

Q: “Mortal Sins” dives headlong into a topic that’s offensive to some, painful to others and controversial to most. Why did you pick the topic of clergy abuse?

A: There always seems to be a time in our social affairs when it’s finally OK to tell the truth; a time when even those who have inflicted grievous harm are ready to talk. The time was right. A book like “Mortal Sins” allows us to look at even the worst things and come out with hope for the future. Plus, I like to challenge myself and challenge the reader, and I think “Mortal Sins” does that.

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St. Mary’s parishioner seek answers over priest forbidden from unsupervised contact with children

NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Gina Columbus
@ginacolumbusapp

COLTS NECK — John Santulli is upset to hear that a priest forbidden from having unsupervised contact with minors assisted with youth retreats sponsored by his parish, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church.

“I’m surprised that this is something that wasn’t brought to the parishioners’ attention,” said Santulli, a 38-year-old Colts Neck resident and father of two who does not know the man at the center of the controversy, the Rev. Michael Fugee. “If a sex offender is in the church, I’m surprised that they would let that kind of person around children.”

Fugee, 52, was convicted in 2003 of criminal sexual contact involving a New Jersey boy. An appeals court overturned the conviction, and the priest eventually entered the pretrial intervention program, a rehabilitation program for first-time offenders, after a memorandum of understanding was signed in 2007.

The two-year program was completed, said Maureen Parenta, a spokeswoman for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, but his criminal arrest record was not expunged, as such records sometimes are.

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The Record: Myers’ failure

NEW JERSEY
The Record

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013
THE RECORD

IT IS not complicated. Six years ago, the Rev. Michael Fugee entered into an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office that he could not have unsupervised contact with children, minister to children or work in any position with children. In exchange, Fugee would not face a new trial for allegedly fondling a 13-year-old boy. That agreement has been breached.

Fugee had been found guilty by a jury, but that verdict was vacated after an appellate panel ruled that a part of Fugee’s confession to police that dealt with his sexual orientation should have been withheld from jurors. The deal with the Prosecutor’s Office eliminated the possibility of a new trial. It did not change the basic facts of the case or, more to the point, change Fugee. He should not have unsupervised contact with minors; he should not be ministering to children.

Yet that is exactly what has been happening for some time. And the Archdiocese of Newark, which is responsible for Fugee’s ministerial placement, sees nothing wrong. It contends the agreement made with Bergen County prosecutors bans Fugee from unsupervised contact with youth, not contact with youth. This is a wrong legal interpretation and it is an offensive moral interpretation.

Who is Newark Archbishop John Myers protecting: the children of his archdiocese or one of his priests who has run afoul of the law? This type of hierarchical arrogance led to the massive sexual abuse scandals that have blemished the good works of the Catholic Church, and this is exactly why U.S. bishops created a document, the so-called Dallas Charter, pledging zero tolerance for any credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor.

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Catholic church excommunicates Brazil priest for liberal views

BRAZIL
Stabroek News

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – The Catholic Church has excommunicated a Brazilian priest after he defended homosexuality, open marriage and other practices counter to church teaching in online videos.

In a statement released late on Monday, the priest’s diocese said Father Roberto Francisco Daniel, known to local parishioners as Padre Beto, had “in the name of ‘freedom of expression’ betrayed the promise of fealty to the church.”

The priest “injured the church with grave statements counter to the dogma of Catholic faith and morality.”
The actions amount to “heresy and schism,” the statement said, the penalty for which is excommunication, or expulsion from the church.

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Newark archbishop, Monmouth County pastor face new calls for resignation in priest scandal

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on May 01, 2013

Greeting the deepest crisis of his 12-year tenure with silence, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers faced new calls for his resignation yesterday from two New Jersey lawmakers, who blasted him for allowing a priest to minister to children despite a lifetime ban on such interaction.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said the archbishop has displayed “arrogance” and a lack of common sense over his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, who admitted fondling a 14-year-boy in 2001.

Under the terms of a binding agreement with authorities six years later, Fugee and the archdiocese vowed the priest would not work in any position involving children.

“Enough is enough,” said Vitale, who has pushed for laws that aid victims of sexual abuse. “Based on everything that’s happened, not just in New Jersey but around the country and the world, you have to follow the spirit of the law, and they have not done that in this case. Zero tolerance is zero tolerance.”

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Assemblywoman: Newark Archbishop John Myers’ priorities are appalling: Opinion

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Valerie Vainieri Huttle

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers must go. I agree wholeheartedly with The Star-Ledger editorial calling for his immediate resignation. If he does not resign, the Roman Catholic Church should swiftly investigate his support and protection of the Rev. Michael Fugee, a priest who admitted to sexual contact with a minor.

The archbishop placed Fugee in various positions throughout the archdiocese, from chaplain at St. Michael’s Medical Center to co-director of the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, to a parish in Rochelle Park. Myers shuffled Fugee into each new post after his history came to light.

There seems to be a blatant breach of the agreement reached with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Archdiocese of Newark to keep Fugee away from minors by Myers.

As a lifelong Catholic and a public official, I was outraged to learn of the archbishop’s efforts to promote Fugee and to continually expose children to him knowing his past behavior. Myers may have confused turning the other cheek with turning a blind eye, but lay Catholics have not.

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Federal prosecutor in Perlitz case quits

CONNECTICUT
Greenwich Time

Staff and wire reports
The state’s top federal prosecutor, who brought Fairfield charity operator Douglas Perlitz to justice for sexually abusing several young boys over the course of a decade in Haiti, is stepping down to return to the private sector.

U.S. Attorney David B. Fein, 52, of Old Greenwich, said Tuesday he is resigning effective May 13.

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Residential schools: Addressing a lasting legacy

CANADA
Rabble

BY GREG MACDOUGALL | APRIL 30, 2013

This past week in Montréal was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Québec National Event, the fifth of seven such gatherings across the country.

From April 24-27, an estimated 12,000 visitors stopped in to the historic Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, and some 8000 tuned in online, to engage in the process of learning about this history, what exactly the residential school experience meant for survivors and for the country as a whole, and how we can move forward.

“The important thing that I do want people to understand is that this is not an Aboriginal problem, this is not just for Aboriginal people to address. The issue of the impact of residential schools upon this nation is an issue that the nation as a whole needs to address, and then as a country, as a future nation of this world, we will be in a better situation when Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have full mutual respect for each other, and that’s what reconciliation is all about,” says Murray Sinclair, Chair of the TRC.

There were a number of different activities over the four days. It began with the lighting of a sacred fire, and there was also a Survivors’ Walk and Procession before the welcome and opening ceremonies.

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Diócesis en la quiebra

ARGENTINA
Pagina 12

Alemania, México, Canadá, Estados Unidos e Irlanda son algunos de los países donde se multiplicaron las denuncias. Hay diócesis fundidas por las indemnizaciones que debieron pagar.

Después de siglos de silencio, la Iglesia Católica se ha visto expuesta en los últimos años a reconocer los abusos cometidos por sacerdotes en distintas partes del mundo por los que fueron condenados o se obligó a la institución al pago de indemnizaciones a las víctimas.

Uno de los casos más resonantes se dio a principios de febrero de 2010 con la denuncia de lo ocurrido en el Colegio Canisius de Berlín, Alemania. El diario Frankfurter Rundschau tituló: “Vergüenza enmudecida”, “Casos de abuso sexual en el Colegio Canisius de Berlín sacude a la Iglesia Católica. Más víctimas se presentan en otras escuelas”. Y ahí comenzó la discusión que deja en claro cómo las autoridades católicas han tratado de guardar silencio y esconder los graves hechos anteriores. Y eso que la misma Iglesia había sido sacudida por las denuncias de los abusos cometidos por sacerdotes y frailes en Irlanda, Canadá, Australia y Estados Unidos.

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Cardinal O’Brien moves out of official residence

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

Published on 01/05/2013

THE former leader of Scotland’s Catholics has emerged from hiding to move belongings from his official residence to the house in East Lothian where he plans to spend his retirement.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, 75, who was forced to stand down as Archbishop of St Andrews Edinburgh after admitting inappropriate sexual behaviour with priests, said he would move to the church-owned property in Dunbar when a successor is appointed.

He said: “My own home is in the north of Ireland, but I don’t want to go back to Ireland at the present time. All my friends are here in Scotland.

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3 more say priest molested them

NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By T.S. Last / Journal Staff Writer on Wed, May 1, 2013

Three more men have filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and three of its parishes, alleging they were sexually molested by a priest in the 1970s and ’80s.

The priest is alleged to have initiated the abuse with massages, in one case using massage oil that he told his young victim had been blessed by the pope.

The lawsuits, filed in 2nd Judicial District Court in Bernalillo within the last week, come on the heels of a similar complaint filed against the archdiocese and St. Anthony Parish in Questa on April 2. They each accuse Rev. Michael O’Brien, now deceased, of sexual abuse while “grooming” them as altar boys.

Each lawsuit claims the archdiocese was negligent because it knew, or should have known, that O’Brien was a pedophile priest and did nothing to stop him, warn or provide counseling to the victims.
Though there was suspicion in each town about O’Brien’s relationship with boys, the archdiocese continued to assign him to northern New Mexico parishes in Las Vegas, N.M., Mora, Penasco, Questa and Taos, according to the complaints.

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Ensnared by sex abuse paranoia

AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

[with video]

TIM KROENERT MAY 01, 2013

The Hunt (MA). Director: Thomas Vinterberg. Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold. 116 minutes

This excellent Danish film is difficult to write about in the context of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. One of the most unpalatable aspects of such abuse cases, notably within the Catholic Church, is the way in which the word and wellbeing of perpetrators has seemed at times to be given precedence over those of their young victims. No one would doubt that the reverse should be true.

Yet on the surface The Hunt appears to be a cautionary tale about the consequences of vigilance succumbing to paranoia. It centres on small-town kindergarten teacher, Lucas (Mikkelsen), whose life falls apart after he is wrongfully accused of abusing a young female student. To the viewer he is clearly a victim of persecution, and yet his persecutors’ actions are based simply on the fact that they have taken an alleged victim at her word.

Well, in a way. His ‘accuser’, Klara (Wedderkopp), is a sensitive and imaginative child, confused by the emotions of a pre-adolescent crush on her kind and handsome teacher. Her comments are first misconstrued and then blown out of proportion by genuinely concerned and well-meaning adults. She is the daughter of Lucas’ best friend Theo (Larsen) and so gets a front seat view of the subsequent fallout in Lucas’ life.

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More church sex abuse victims surface

NEW MEXICO
KOB

[with video]

More victims are coming forward following a lawsuit accusing a Questa priest of sexual abuse.

KOB Eyewitness News 4 reported earlier this month that a man, who isn’t identified, claimed he was raped as a child by father Michael O’Brien.

His lawsuit states it happened in the 1980’s, while he was an alter boy at St. Anthony’s in Questa.

Three new lawsuits claim O’Brien committed similar crimes at other churches, in places like Taos, Las Vegas and Mora.

In the lawsuits, the victims accuse the archdiocese of neglecting to properly screen, train and supervise the priest.

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Newark archdiocese says media ‘mischaracterizing’ accused priest

NEW JERSEY
Catholic News Agency

Newark, N.J., May 1, 2013 / 12:05 am (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Newark asserts that a local publication is inaccurately portraying the continued ministry of a priest who was accused of abusing a minor.

On April 28, New Jersey newspaper The Star-Ledger published a story saying that the Newark archdiocese is allowing Father Michael Fugee, who was accused of sexual abuse of a teenage boy in 2001, to continue working with children.

The archdiocesan communications director, James Goodness, told CNA April 29 that “we have not assigned him to anything that places him in a situation where he is unsupervised with minors or in fact has any ministry with minors.”

Diocesan-approved incidents have always been supervised and in accordance with an agreement with a local prosecutor’s office, Goodness said, and other occasions when Fr. Fugee has had supervised contact with minors were done without the archdiocese being involved in the decision-making process.

In 2001, Fr. Fugee told police he had twice groped a teenage boy’s crotch while they were wrestling in the presence of the boy’s family members. One instance took place while he was on vacation with the boy’s family in Virginia in 2000, he said, and the other was about a year prior to that.

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Philadelphia monsignor’s cover-up conviction questioned; Newark archbishop blasted for priest’s assignments

UNITED STATES
The Courier-Journal

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Peter Smith

The Catholic hierarchy’s handling of sexual abuse is getting mixed news this week.

An investigative reporter is challenging the case against Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn, who last year became the first high-ranking Catholic official to be convicted and sentenced to jail for covering up sexual abuse by a priest.

Meanwhile, the archbishop of Newark, N.J., faces claims that he knowingly allowed a priest to minister with children despite a legal agreement forbidding him from doing so — reached to avoid a re-trial of the priest on a sexual-abuse charge.

***
First, Philadelphia.

A star witness who testified against a former priest accused of sexual abuse — and whose conviction led to that of Lynn’s — has serious credibility problems, and prosecutors themselves questioned his reliability.

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