ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

28th May 2013

THE Australian Lawyers Alliance has called on the Catholic Church to “put its money where its mouth is” and use its vast wealth to properly compensate victims who fell prey to paedophile priests.

During hearings of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse in the Church on Monday, Cardinal George Pell accepted the Church could pay victims “proper compensation”.

ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison SC said Cardinal Pell told the inquiry the Church would pay whatever compensation the government thought proper, and “he should be taken at his word”.

“Governments throughout Australia should immediately make the Church trustees liable for the conduct of the Church and the Church should in turn be held liable for the conduct of its priests,” Dr Morrison 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.

AUSTRALIA
Health Canal

Cardinal George Pell has apologised to victims and survivors of child abuse by Catholic clergy during his appearance before the Victorian parliament’s Inquiry into child abuse by by religious organisations.

Judy Courtin

Pell said he was: “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry”.

But many survivors of abuse and their families are unhappy with Pell’s testimony, especially over his stand on potential compensation for victims. And what can we expect if Pell appears before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse?

The Conversation spoke with Monash University’s Judy Courtin who attended the hearing and has written extensively on the issue of child abuse within the Catholic church.

How significant was Pell’s apology?

It was potentially a very significant apology. But if you speak to any of the victims and survivors and their families it was in fact an empty apology.

If we were to rate his performance as an actor with his apology he had have just passed as an actor. The apology, along with any empathy or compassion, were entirely lacking.

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.

AUSTRALIA
IOL (South Africa)

May 28 2013
By Madeleine Coorey

Sydney –

The victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia and their supporters on Tuesday called for the resignation of the church’s top ranking cardinal, saying they were unimpressed with his apology.

Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell on Monday appeared at a Victorian state government inquiry into the criminal abuse of children, admitting to cover-ups by a predecessor and saying he was “absolutely sorry”.

“I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” said Pell, who said he never hid any allegations himself and had seen to it that protocols were put in place to deal with cases of sex abuse.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father (Pope Francis) is too.”

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.

AUSTRALIA
Pedestrian TV

[with Twitter postings]

Even with the incomprehensibly horrible subject matter under investigation in the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse, the testimony given by Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, was categorically shocking.

Shocking because of Pell’s admission that the Catholic church has been complicit in covering up child sex abuse. He said, “I am happy to accept the invitation of the Premier [Denis Napthine] and to say that I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry, and that is the basis for everything on which I’ll say now.”

It was shocking because of the reasoning Pell gave to explain why sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy had been systemically covered up by the Church: “… The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church,” he said.

Shocking, was his reference to “the gospels” in explaining the support he had shown former priest and convicted serial child abuser, Gerald Ridsdale. Pell’s testimony on this matter was: “I felt there was something in the gospels where Christ speaks about being with the lowest of the low. As an expression of solidarity, I gave that limited support.”

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.

AUSTRALIA
Irish Times

Padraig Collins

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has told an inquiry that the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse is a result of loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgment and inaction.

“The entry procedures … for candidates in the middle of last century was much too loose,” Cardinal Pell, who is the Archbishop of Sydney and a former archbishop of Melbourne, told the Victorian child abuse inquiry in Melbourne yesterday.

Cardinal Pell apologised for the abuse committed by Catholic clergy. “I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” he said. “That is the basis for everything which I’ll say now.”

Damage done
Cardinal Pell said the church had not understood the damage being done to victims of child sex abuse. “I would agree that we’ve been slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly,” he told the inquiry. “I think a big factor in this was not simply to defend the name of the church. Many in the church did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims. We understand that better now.”

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

NEW JERSEY
The Record

MONDAY MAY 27, 2013, 9:05 PM
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

NORTH ARLINGTON — Newark Archbishop John J. Myers came to Holy Cross Cemetery to celebrate a Memorial Day Mass on Monday, a day after a letter bearing his signature, in which he defended the archdiocese’s handling of a snowballing controversy involving a former Wyckoff associate pastor, was read to parishioners.

At no point, however, did Myers mention the Rev. Michael Fugee, a former associate pastor at the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Wyckoff who allegedly heard the confessions of minors over the past three years despite a legal agreement barring him from ministering to children.

Fugee, whose decade-old conviction for groping an adolescent boy was overturned on a technicality, was arrested last week and charged with seven counts of violating a judicial order. John L. Molinelli, the Bergen County prosecutor, said Fugee heard confessions from children at least seven times between 2010 and 2012, including twice at Sacred Heart Church in Rochelle Park, where archdiocesan officials allowed him to live for two years, and once at Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus in violation of an agreement that Fugee signed with Molinelli’s office to avoid a second trial.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

David Marr
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 May 2013

The cardinal’s colour rose all afternoon. He smiled once or twice after negotiating a difficult passage. He clasped and unclasped his hands, never quite in prayer. He droned. He snapped. He stared at the six members of the Victorian parliament’s family and community development committee with a gaze that seemed focused somewhere south of Macquarie Island.

But the former archbishop of Melbourne was in the room. That was the triumph the gallery of victims and the parents of victims was enjoying. They didn’t expect anything new from him – Cardinal Pell is not a man known for changing course – but he was in Melbourne answering questions. He identified his team of advisers. “All of them,” he told the committee, “married people with children, keen to help us with this fight.”

He had many complaints. He complained he hadn’t been called to give evidence months ago; that he wasn’t allowed to make an opening statement; that the church had experienced “25 years of hostility from the press”; that the Victorian government “was not active earlier” on child abuse, and that he was so often misunderstood: “I have always been on the side of the victims.”

No one rose when he came into the room. He was in civvies: white shirt, no jewellery, his head bowed under the weight of the mitre he wasn’t wearing. A fortnight shy of his 72nd birthday, Pell is a big man with strength in reserve. His voice is masculine but oddly refined: Oxford over Ballarat.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Troy Hinkel writes an excellent post on the modern disdain for truth and C. S. Lewis’ answer to that in The Last Battle.

But, good as that article is, and good as C. S. Lewis’ insights into morality are – of course if someone else is scornful of the truth, I need not be particularly worried about it. I’m mostly truthful, except when the small lie suits me. If they lie for their Bad Cause, I may lie for my Good Cause, or else their Bad Cause will win. Right??? And Scripture, Augustine, Aquinas, Trent, and the Catechism – they’re not Magisterial, right??? Lying for a Good Cause is a good thing, right????

Then there’s this.

Fear of scandal prompted the cover-up of child sex abuse allegations within the Catholic Church, Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal George Pell admitted Monday.

Now Pell is one of OUR guys. He’s not a liberal Jesuit lying to keep an abusive priest out of jail. He’s an orthodox bishop who has taken heat for his opposition to liturgical abuse and his devotion to Church teaching. He’s even been the victim of a lie – a man who falsely accused him of abuse in 2002.

So when Cardinal Pell tells us why the Church in Australia lied, and says

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church … There was a fear of scandal.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Samantha Donovan, Ashley Hall and Alison Caldwell

The father of two girls who were abused by a Catholic priest says apologies by Australia’s most senior Catholic, George Pell, are meaningless unless they are followed up with actions.

Yesterday Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse that he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of sexual abuse within the church.

During his evidence he admitted the fear of scandal led to the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Church.

During sometimes tense exchanges, Cardinal Pell insisted individuals were to blame for what had happened, not the Church structure itself.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father [Pope] is too,” he 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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Victorian MP Ann Barker campaigned for a royal commission into child sexual abuse. She spoke with ABC News Breakfast about George Pell’s appearance at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

[Clergy Files Produced by Archdiocese of Los Angeles]

For centuries, the church has maintained a second set of books containing sensitive documents such as notes on priests’ alcohol abuse, disputes over parish funds and, later, molestation allegations.

By Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2013

Preparing for his return to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after six months’ treatment at a center for pedophile priests, Father Michael Wempe sat down to type out a list of concerns. Arrangements for his dog. Counseling and support groups for himself.

Above everything, he wrote at the top of the list in the 1987 memo: “Confidentiality — Reports from here destroyed, even this paper.”

Wempe had good reason for the request. The reports from the center laid out how he had confessed to molesting young boys. Wempe’s therapists also urged church officials to immediately destroy everything. If the papers fell in the hands of law enforcement, the priest, the archdiocese and the treatment center could be in serious trouble.

But Cardinal Roger Mahony and other church leaders ignored the warnings. Rather than shred or burn the reports, they preserved them in carefully organized file cabinets where they remained until this year.

The release of those records — and thousands of pages of other damaging abuse documents in January — begged a question: Why did the church hold on to decades-old evidence of its priests’ sins?

The explanation lies in centuries of Catholic church history and is a tale involving secret betrothals, scandal, even a murder or two. Since the time of the Enlightenment, the Catholic Church has maintained two sets of records: one for the mundane and a second “secret archive” for matters of a sensitive nature. The cache — known as sub secreto files, Canon 489 files, confidential files or C-files — was to be kept under lock and key, only for the eyes of the bishop and his trusted few.

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UNITED STATES
Church and State

By Stephen D Mumford | 4 September 2012
N4CM

Editor’s note: This piece has been adapted from Chapter 13 of The Life and Death of NSSM 200: How the Destruction of Political Will Doomed a US Population Policy by Stephen D Mumford (Center for Research on Population and Security, 1996).

As mentioned in Chapter 11, the news outlets that placed the Church in a negative light were virtually all snuffed out or muzzled earlier in this century by the Knights of Columbus; this institution continues to take great pride in its early successes. Its efforts in recent years and the efforts of other Catholic institutions, such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, to suppress information that places the Church in a bad light have been mostly successful (the issue of child molestation being the only significant exception but even on this issue they do what they can.)

Any time a report appears in the press placing the Church in a bad light, almost without exception there is an immediate demand for an apology and retraction made to the reporter, editor and publisher by these Catholic thought police. Written responses and demands for publication are immediately forthcoming. These responses are usually published and it is amazing how many apologies are made and published. There are scores of examples each year and they can be found in the publications of these thought police. They eagerly share their successes with their members. But when a negative report appears in one newspaper or magazine it rarely appears in another, regardless of its newsworthiness.

Economic retribution as a tool to suppress criticism was used more commonly in the last century and earlier in this century than today because it is now largely unnecessary. The long history of its use and the success enjoyed with it makes the mere threat of its use highly effective.

Perhaps far more important than the outright intimidation practiced by many of the right-wing Catholic organizations is the self-censorship practiced by reporters, editors and publishers. All know there is a line that has been drawn by the bishops that they are not to cross—and they rarely do. They are aware of the rules formulated by the bishops regarding how Church matters are to be reported—and nearly always follow them. They know they will be punished if they do not conform.

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Samantha Donovan, Ashley Hall and Alison Caldwell

The father of two girls who were abused by a Catholic priest says apologies by Australia’s most senior Catholic, George Pell, are meaningless unless they are followed up with actions.

Yesterday Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse that he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of sexual abuse within the church.

During his evidence he admitted the fear of scandal led to the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Church.

During sometimes tense exchanges, Cardinal Pell insisted individuals were to blame for what had happened, not the Church structure itself.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

MAY 27, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Removal from ministry is not a real punishment or a true safeguard. It’s only part of a solution. Archbishop Chaput’s decisive action is appreciated, but he does not back the removal of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse in PA. Victims, such as this one, would be able to see the same justice afforded to victims in other states. If the allegations are true, Collins should be in jail. Criminal prosecution helps protects all children.

Click here to read: “Phila. priest accused of abuse placed on leave,” by Carolyn Davis and Sarah Smith, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 26, 2013

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AUSTRALIA
Vatican Insider

Today, the cardinal addressed the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse which saw the involvement of certain bodies linked to the Church

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

Speaking at an inquiry by Victoria’s parliament into child sex abuse in the state, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said he was “absolutely sorry” for the abuse committed by clerics against minors. Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic prelate said he did not believe there was a “culture of abuse” within the Church.

The inquiry is looking into the abuse of children by religious and non-government bodies. The Church has produces a report stating that at least 620 minors in the Australian state of Victoria suffered abuse from members of the clergy over the past 80 years. Pell, who was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001, reminded the inquiry that the Catholic Church in Australia recognised paedophilia as a serious issue as early as 1988. It was also aware that the Church needed to be treated just like any other institution in terms of compensation for victims.

According to Pell, a number of factors have contributed to the problem of abuse in the Australian Catholic Church. One of these is the superficial way in which priests are chosen, as they are often inadequately prepared for celibacy. Another is the number of minors the Church has under its care. “Also … the entry procedures, the criteria, the searching, the investigation of candidates back say in the middle of last century was much too loose,” he said. He went on to say that the Church has been the victim of “intermittent hostility from the press” but recognised this has helped uncover some of the Church’s failings.

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 CITY
Vatican Insider

Today the Pope received Cardinal De Paolis, the Legion of Christ’s “chief”, in audience, confirming that the Congregation would have new superiors and constitutions by the end of 2013

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY

A Legion for Francis. A general chapter will be held at the end of 2013 to elect the Legion of Christ’s new superiors and approve the new constitutions. This morning the Pope received Cardinal Velasio De Paolis President emeritus of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, in a private audience. Cardinal De Paolis has been a papal delegate to the Legion of Christ since 2010 and was conferred full decision-making powers by Benedict XVI so as to break completely with the Congregation’s previous leadership. The Congregation was founded and led (until 2005) by Marcial Maciel, a coke-sniffing, child abusing Mexican priest who raped his own children.

In recent days, the Pope’s representative, De Paolis, asked whether he could report to the Pope on the restructuring of the religious order, which was badly shaken by the scandal involving its paedophile founder, Maciel. This morning the Pope listened to the cardinal’s detailed report and was informed about the next steps that would be taken in the “purification” process started in the Legion and the Regnum Christi movement, the Legion’s lay branch.

De Paolis’ three-year mandate ends in July. Today he explained to Francis what was next on the Congregation’s agenda: the approval of the constitutions and the general chapter which will elect the Legion’s new government. The cardinal explained the problems that emerged within the order during its three years under the administration of an external commissioner. In 2012, De Paolis formally dismissed all superiors who had been nominated by Maciel. Maciel himself had enjoyed the protection of John Paul II’s collaborators until the Pope’s death. All except Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He was the only one who did not accept the large offerings made to the Roman Curia.

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AUSTRALIA
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on May 27, 2013.

Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal, George Pell, has admitted what most peple pretty much already knew- that fear of scandal prompted the Catholic Church to coverup child sexual abuse allegations. While denying being involved personally in the coverup of pedophile priests, Cardinal Pell told Victoria, Australia’s parliament that “The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church. There was a fear of scandal.”

The Australian state is looking into the coverup of child sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church and various non-government organizations. The panel has already heard about how 620 children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy since the 1930′s. Victims were as young as seven and were often raped.

While priests associated with the Catholic and Anglican churches have been identified as having sexual abused children, they typically abuse children at a lower rate than those from religions without a strict hierarchy. The problem has not been the actual abuse quite so much as the decision by the Catholic Church to hide the assaults.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By MARY ALEXANDER May 28, 2013

CATHOLIC Cardinal George Pell regrets that his appearance at court with serial paedophile Gerald Ridsdale “provoked so much angst” with victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“At that stage nobody knew, at least I certainly didn’t, the extent of what proved to be an infamous career,” the former senior Ballarat diocese official told a state parliamentary inquiry yesterday.

In May 1993, Cardinal Pell accompanied Ridsdale to court in Melbourne, where he pleaded guilty to 30 charges of indecent assault, involving nine boys aged between 12 and 16. It was the first of three court appearances where Ridsdale faced a string of sexual abuse charges, many of them committed in south-west Victoria.

After being heavily criticised for supporting the former priest instead of his victims, Cardinal Pell said at the time Ridsdale “had made terrible mistakes”.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

Sometimes you just have to sue the b#$%#@&^!. You have simply suffered too much injustice, and nothing you do inspires the party who harmed you to do the right thing. You have no other choice.

I hate lawsuits. I don’t like what lawyers do in general. Only one lawyer donated $100 to my organization despite the fact that I have provided significant support to many of their survivors including survivors they have abandoned. So I have nothing to lose in criticizing lawyers and lawsuits. Truthfully I feel a bit used by the lawyers whose clients I have helped. I prefer mediation and mediators to lawyers and lawsuits. I think our Retributive Jusitce system, which is based on finding the perpetrator and punishing them, is incredibly wounding to all sides. Lawsuits are win/lose propositions, but the losing side often feels that justice has not been done and remains hurt and angry. Whenever someone feels hurt and angry, conflict continues. In addition, when your focus is on guilt and punishment, you have to have a threshold level of evidence before you decide a criminal act is significant enough to prosecute and then you need enough evidence to prosecute.

Too many times there is too little evidence or the crime is not significant enough. Civil lawsuits can help to a degree when criminal prosecution is not possible, but even civil lawsuits leave people without justice. I’ve met a number of survivors who have not been able to receive any form of justice.

These cases include a number of women who were sexually abused as children who then had “affairs” with priests as adults. All these women were vulnerable to a kind man who flattered them and was gentler than the abusers of their childhood. Many Catholic blame these women for “tempting” the priests. I don’t. The priest had a duty to be therapeutic and crossed the line into selfish and harmful behavior. Some of these women have struggled greatly to function long after their interactions with the priest ended. If the Catholic Church has given them support, it is likely to be less than $10,000. In one case, a kindly priest or two have been the main source of emotional support for the woman for years, but the rest of the Church has mistreated her. In the case of another woman who became pregnant, the priest father disappeared when she told him she was pregnant and pleaded vow of poverty when she needed child support for her sick son.

In another case, a survivor was abused by multiple people, including a priest, but the church denied having much responsibility for the damage she suffered. They offered her a small payout that barely covered what she had already spent on therapy and that was before her lawyer took one-third of the settlement.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: May 26, 2013

As the nation’s leading Roman Catholic bishop, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been spearheading the fight against a provision of the new health care law that requires employers, including some that are religiously affiliated, to cover birth control in employee health plans.

But even as Cardinal Dolan insists that requiring some religiously affiliated employers to pay for contraception services would be an unprecedented, and intolerable, government intrusion on religious liberty, the archdiocese he heads has quietly been paying for such coverage, albeit reluctantly and indirectly, for thousands of its unionized employees for over a decade.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Ein katholisches Jungengymnasium. Ein Pater, der Schüler mit Zäpfchen behandelt. Eingestellte Ermittlungen. An einer Bonner Eliteschule ist ein Unrecht geschehen. Doch wem genau, ist nicht klar. Von Anette Dowideit

Jede Nachricht lebt von den Bildern, die sie im Kopf des Lesers erzeugt. Von Projektionen. Man hört eine Geschichte und ergänzt im Kopf: Opfer, Täter, Recht gegen Unrecht. Bis es ins jeweilige Weltbild passt. Zur Logik der Dramaturgie.

Peter Billig hat viel nachgedacht in den letzten Monaten, scheint es. Vor allem über Kopfkino. Darüber, wo Fürsorge endet und wo Missbrauch beginnt. Und über die Welle an Missbrauchsfällen, die in den vergangenen Jahren die katholische Kirche überrollte. “Jemand hat mir gesagt, man müsse einfach nur diese Begriffe vor sich hinsagen, und schon forme sich das entsprechende Bild”, sagt der grauhaarige Mann, der in rheinischem Singsang spricht: “Katholisch. Männerorden. Jungenschule. Pater. Zäpfchen.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

May 27, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — A rabbi from Chicago is accused of molesting a teenage boy. Prosecutors say that attack happened in 2006.

Larry Dudovitz, 45, of West Rogers Park, was arrested on Saturday. He is charged with one count of criminal sexual assault.

Court records show Dudovitz is accused of trying to assault a 15-year-old boy while he was sleeping in his home in October of 2006. At a hearing over the weekend, a judge grilled the prosecutor for the 6-year delay in filing a charge.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Carlos Sadovi and Jennifer Delgado
Tribune reporters
11:35 a.m. CDT, May 27, 2013

A 45-year-old West Rogers Park rabbi was charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy nearly seven years ago, police said.

Larry Dudovitz of the 6400 block of North Albany Avenue was charged with criminal sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 13 and 17, police said.

According to a police report, Dudovitz is a rabbi and was in a position of trust with regards to the boy. Dudovitz allegedly was at the victim’s West Rogers Park home on Oct. 26, 2006 when he sexually assaulted the boy, according to authorities.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

BY JON SEIDEL Staff Reporter jseidel@suntimes.com May 26, 2013

A rabbi from West Rogers Park was arrested Saturday in the alleged sexual molestation of a teenage boy in 2006 — even though prosecutors say authorities were told at the time.

Larry L. Dudovitz, 45, of the 6400 block of North Albany, was charged with one count of criminal sexual assault, prosecutors said. Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil shot down a request that he be held without bail and ordered him held in lieu of $100,000. She also grilled a prosecutor about the six-year delay.

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CHICAGO (IL)
San Francisco Chronicle

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago rabbi is being accused of molesting a teenage boy.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/Z99HfZ ) that 45-year-old Larry L. Dudovitz, of the West Rogers Park neighborhood, has been charged with one count of criminal sexual assault.

Dudovitz was arrested Saturday and was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
According to court records, Dudovitz is accused of abusing the boy, who was 15 at the time, while he was sleeping in the rabbi’s home in 2006.

A Cook County judge questioned prosecutors about why it took so long for charges to be brought.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell has told a sex abuse inquiry the church has made progress but victims say its leaders still just “don’t get it”.

Cardinal Pell admitted the fear of scandal led to cover-up in the church but said its response had borne “very significant fruit”.

He opened and closed his submission to Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse with an apology, saying he was “absolutely sorry”.

Australia’s most senior Catholic said the church should have been called earlier to deal with searing criticism that kicked off the inquiry.

“Because these charges were unanswered, many people in the public think not only were there many mistakes made a long time ago but there’s been no progress at all over the last 20 years.

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NEW JERSEY
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | May 27, 2013

Today’s news headlines prompt a couple of quick thoughts:

When a priest was found ministering to young people, in apparent violation of a court order, there were howls in Newark for the resignation of Archbishop John Myers. Now the vicar general of the archdiocese has stepped down. Do you suppose that will satisfy the archbishop’s critics? Neither do I.

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by DAVID SCHECHTER
WFAA

[with video]

Posted on May 24, 2013

FORT WORTH — A Virginia pastor was extradited to Texas Friday to face charges he sexually abused two Fort Worth girls under the age of 14 while he was here.

Geronimo Aguilar ran a large church in Richmond, Virginia, called The Richmond Outreach Center and was arrested this week to face justice in Texas. Recent TV news reports in Virginia uncovered a string of alleged inappropriate sexual relationships Aguilar had with young church members.

Those reports led two more adult women to come forward.

“I was about 11 when I had my first encounter with Geronimo that was inappropriate,” said one alleged victim, interviewed by WRIC in Richmond, who did not want to be identified.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

Australia’s most senior Catholic official has apologised for decades of child sex abuse by priests.

During questioning at a state parliamentary inquiry, Cardinal George Pell said a culture of silence within the church was partly responsible.

The Catholic church in Victoria state confirmed more than 600 cases of child abuse by its clergy since the 1930s.

The hearings in Victoria are running alongside a national inquiry into abuse in state and religious institutions.

“I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” Cardinal Pell said during the final day of the hearings, which lasted for several hours.

He denied being personally involved in the cover-up of paedophile priests, but acknowledged it happened.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Genevieve Gannon
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 28, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic has apologised for sex crimes committed by clergy but said he did not believe there had been a culture of abuse.

“I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse yesterday.

“I think the bigger fault was that nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it.

“I was certainly unaware of it.

“I don’t think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on.”

He agreed placing paedophiles above the law and moving them to other parishes resulted in more heinous crimes being committed.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 28, 2013

Jane Lee

Celibacy might be a factor in the high rate of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell has told an inquiry.

He also acknowledged that senior figures in the Australian Catholic Church covered up evidence about child abuse.

Appearing before the Victorian inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse, Cardinal Pell said the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse stems from loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgment and inaction.

Australia’s most senior Catholic admitted that the fear of scandal had led to the cover-up of instances
of abuse by some within the church but he denied that there was a culture of abuse among priests.

He said his predecessor as Archbishop of Melbourne, Sir Frank Little, was involved in a cover-up and he said that a former Ballarat archbishop had destroyed documents.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PIA AKERMAN From: The Australian May 28, 2013

GEORGE Pell has admitted that senior figures in the Catholic Church in Australia had covered up child sex abuse, with devastating consequences for the victims, but he denied a “culture of abuse” existed.

Yesterday a defiant Cardinal Pell disappointed victims’ groups by rejecting calls for the church to increase compensation payments, saying its Australian arm would do only what was required to meet “the law of the land”.

In landmark testimony to a Victorian government inquiry examining how abuse claims have been handled, Cardinal Pell acknowledged there had been cover-ups within the church, that abusers had been moved from parish to parish, and that this had led to more crimes being committed.

“There’s no doubt about it, that lives have been blighted,” he said.

“There’s no doubt about it that these crimes have contributed to too many suicides.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

STUART RINTOUL From: The Australian May 28, 2013

FOR 4 1/2 hours, Australia’s most senior Catholic, George Pell, was grilled about the abuse of children by clergy.

At the end of his evidence, he said he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about the crimes that had been committed. He also agreed that his predecessor as archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, covered up a priest’s abuses in a way that was “unChristlike”.

Cardinal Pell was greeted when he arrived at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry, with a victim calling out two words that he wanted to hear: “the truth”. After he finished giving evidence, another man standing by the wall of the committee room in the Victorian parliament yelled out at him: “Hell is waiting for you George Pell — remember that.”

He was also forced to listen to a mother’s account of how pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell pressed his penis against the bodies of two children, Emma and Katie Foster, who had parts of their souls stolen by what was done to them.

The most dramatic evidence came four hours into his testimony, when Nationals MP David O’Brien began reading from a 1993 letter from archbishop Little to vicar general monsignor Gerry Cudmore that pedophile priest Des Gannon should be made a “pastor emeritus” as soon as possible, that illness should be used as the excuse, that a letter to that effect should be backdated and that Gannon should be thanked for his good deeds.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

EDITORIAL HERALD SUN MAY 28, 2013

“THE primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church. There was a fear of scandal.”

With these words, the nation’s most senior Catholic leader, Cardinal George Pell, laid bare the true motivation behind decades, not merely years, of church complicity and obfuscation in ignoring or actively covering up the heinous and widespread abuse of vulnerable children who looked to it for protection and guidance.

Cardinal Pell said while saving the church from scandal was a primary motivation, the ugly cancer of abuse was allowed to remain and spread because the church either “did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims” or there was a culture of silence within ranks and a misjudgment of how endemic abuse could be.

In fact, Cardinal Pell confirmed to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into church abuse the cover-up also occurred at the highest levels – including by former Melbourne archbishop Sir Frank Little, who remained silent, and previous Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who destroyed documents.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

From: The Australian May 28, 2013

THE Catholic Church, like the Australian Defence Force, state-run children’s services and other churches, has been forced to learn hard lessons about the criminal abuse of innocent victims by those in positions of trust. In some cases, such depravity led to lifelong damage and even contributed to suicides.

For two decades, Catholics have suffered a sense of betrayal as the church’s propensity to cover up criminal activity, shield perpetrators and transfer them from parish to parish or school to school has been exposed. Victims naturally seek justice, comfort and closure from the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse and the upcoming Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The inquiries, however, have another important task: to ensure that safeguards are enacted to prevent abuse in future. Judging by the evidence of Australia’s most senior Catholic leader, Cardinal George Pell, to the Victorian commission yesterday, the church has made some progress towards putting its house in order.

Two months after his appointment as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, Archbishop Pell set up the Independent Commission into Sexual Abuse headed by independent QC Peter O’Callaghan, with a separate panel assessing compensation payouts of up to $50,000, in line with state criminal compensation. At the time, the move was cutting-edge, putting the Archdiocese ahead of the rest of the church and other institutions. The process was more transparent than the Towards Healing protocol established shortly afterwards in other parts of the Catholic Church in Australia and well ahead of most of the US and Ireland, where the main government inquiry did not start until 1999. As the Cardinal said, the fact that 242 abuse complaints had been upheld from the 1970s, 82 from the 1980s, between 22 and 24 from the 1990s and fewer than 20 since 2000 indicated the problem was being contained.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 28, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Analysis

Say what you like about George Pell – and journalists sometimes have – you have to admire his fighting spirit. Apart from the four support staff he brought with him on Monday, nearly everyone in the Legislative Council committee room at Parliament house, and the overflow room nearby was antagonistic at best and hostile at worst.

It brought out the combative spirit and unshakeable self-belief of the street fighter that Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop has often seemed.

He sat composed, often with hands clasped in front of him, and fought every point, while the gallery – mostly victims – made its derision and disbelief clear at every opportunity.

The six members of the committee conducting the inquiry were determined to give no quarter in challenging the cardinal about the church’s record on dealing with child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. And he gave barely an inch in reply, though the weight of evidence used by the members forced a series of damaging admissions.

Cardinal Pell clearly learnt the lessons from Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart’s unconvincing display a week earlier, especially the smirk with which he said “better late than never” when asked why it took 18 years until after the inquiry was announced to seek to have a serial abuser defrocked.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

PATRICK CARLYON HERALD SUN MAY 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell was told that Hell awaits him after he finished four hours of evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse yesterday.

He didn’t seem fazed: he has, after all, had almost two decades to perfect his explanation for what he describes as the Catholic Church’s “imperfect” response to paedophile priests.

Cardinal Pell played chess as a kid. Through the afternoon he struck the pose of a master pondering his next move – elbows on the arms of his chair, fingers steepled in front of him.

Yet his opening play was the obvious one, a thoroughly modern tact adopted by corporations keen to be seen to accepting responsibility for perceived wrongdoings.

Cardinal Pell may have been refused his request to give an opening statement, but he gave an abbreviated form anyway – he offered his “full apology” for the Catholic Church’s failings in handling child abuse cases.

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AUSTRALIA
GMA News (Philippines)

By JAMES GRUBEL, REUTERSMay 27, 2013

CANBERRA – The head of the Catholic Church in Australia on Monday blamed a former culture of silence for the cover-up of child abuse by clergy, making it difficult to know the full extent of abuse, but added that the number of cases had dropped significantly since the church started taking stronger action.

Cardinal George Pell, an adviser to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, told a parliamentary hearing the church had been slow to address the suffering of victims and again issued an apology.

“I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry,” said Pell in a tense hearing marked by at times angry questioning over the church’s compensation and investigations. Pell was questioned for more than four hours.

Pell said the number of reports of abuse by clergy members peaked in the 1970s and 80s, but had fallen as the church changed its approach.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Victims and support groups call for Cardinal George Pell’s resignation

ANNIKA SMETHURST HERALD SUN MAY 27, 2013

VICTIMS and support groups have called for Cardinal George Pell’s resignation following his appearance at yesterday’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

Abuse survivor Stephen Woods, 51, who was sexually assaulted and beaten by three priests when he was a student at St Alipius Christian Brothers Primary School in Ballarat, said that Cardinal Pell should stand down.

“The apology is political. It’s still about saving face, it’s still about saving the political power of the church, and that’s what they are afraid of losing,” he said.

“The little care for the victims that he showed, it shows that they still don’t get it,” he said.

Mr Woods slammed Cardinal Pell’s claims that he had always shown support for victims of child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Cardinal George Pell has confessed to creation of false documents and ‘reprehensible’ cover-ups of child sex abuse

MATT JOHNSTON, MICHELLE AINSWORTH From: Herald Sun May 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell has confessed false documents were created and priests took part in “reprehensible” cover-ups of child sexual abuse.

The most prominent Catholic in Australia was grilled by a Victorian parliamentary committee for 4 1/2 hours about systemic failings by the church to deal with abuse.

Cardinal Pell said the fear of scandals drove much of the reaction to rampant abuse in the 1970s and ’80s, but that a concern about money was also involved.

“I am fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” he said.

“I would agree that we’ve been slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly,” the cardinal said.

In a victory for victims, Cardinal Pell said he would ask the Vatican to send all documents it holds on Victorian sex abuse accusations to the inquiry – a promise he had also made to the federal royal commission into abuse.

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AUSTRALIEN
Radio Vatikan

Die durch katholische Kleriker verübten Missbräuche täten ihm „absolut leid“: diese Aussage tätigte der höchste Würdenträger der katholischen Kirche in Australien, George Pell, vor dem Untersuchungsausschuss des Parlaments, der sich in diesen Tagen im Staat von Victoria mit der Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen in Nichtregierungsorganisationen beschäftigt. Dennoch, so der Erzbischof von Sydney, glaube er nicht daran, dass es in der katholischen Kirche eine „Kultur des Missbrauchs“ gebe. Pell war in den Jahren von 1996 bis 2001 Erzbischof von Melbourne in Victoria, dem Staat, der im Zentrum der Untersuchungen des Ausschusses steht und in dem nach Kirchenangaben 620 Minderjährige durch Kleriker missbraucht worden seien. Pell erinnerte in seiner Aussage auch daran, dass die katholische Kirche in Australien das Phänomen des Missbrauchs bereits 1988 als gravierendes Problem erkannt habe. Die Kirche, so der Kardinal, hätte jedoch wie andere Institutionen auch behandelt werden sollen, insbesondere, was die Frage nach Schadenersatzzahlungen angehe.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON May 27, 2013

Cardinal George Pell’s appearance at the state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse was less than convincing yesterday.

Cardinal Pell blustered his way through some tough grilling, exchanging particularly terse words with committee member Andrea Coote over any potential church compensation.

He gave long-winded answers, often veered off topic and was critical of a committee decision not to allow him a brief opening statement, which is in line with previous testimonies by anyone dealing with abused children.

He constantly defended the church’s actions but provoked laughter when he accidentally referred to the Holy See as a company.

A huge crowd turned up for Cardinal Pell’s appearance, with the Parliament House Legislative Council committee room and a second viewing area both overflowing.

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NEWARK (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

[letter to parishioners]

By Ryan Hutchins and Victoria St. Martin/The Star-Ledger

NEWARK — Parishioners across the Archdiocese of Newark said this weekend that Archbishop John J. Myers appropriately handled a dogging scandal that has threatened his legacy, while others said the demotion of his top deputy was merely a scapegoating tactic that came amid calls for his own resignation.

Congregants listened in mostly hushed churches across the region as priests read a letter from the archbishop announcing the removal of Monsignor John E. Doran, who stepped down from his leadership position for mishandling the supervision of a priest who violated a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

Myers, whose letter was first run in a longer form as an opinion piece in Saturday’s Star-Ledger, said he was implementing a series of reforms to “strengthen internal protocols” and “ensure we are doing everything we can to safeguard the children of our community.”

As in other parishes, the letter was read without commentary at Holy Family Church in Nutley, where the priest in question — the Rev. Michael Fugee — was a familiar face and had frequent interactions with teenagers. Few people were willing to discuss the matter after one Mass there Sunday, rushing through the windy morning to their cars.

Parishioners at Holy Family and elsewhere gave a range of reactions — from satisfaction to ambivalence to disappointment. While many Catholics said they supported Myers’ handling of the situation, others did not mince words and called for Myers to resign.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s most senior Catholic did nothing to ease the pain caused by clergy sexual abuse when he gave an “insincere” apology, victims and their supporters say.

Cardinal George Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” for the abuse at the hands of clergy.

During intense questioning on Monday that lasted more than four hours, Cardinal Pell admitted that abuse had been covered up, documents destroyed and priests had been moved on.

A fear of scandal led to the cover-up and the primary reason would have been to protect the reputation of the church, he said.

He also admitted a priest’s resignation letter had been backdated and made no mention of his crimes.

But Cardinal Pell denied personally being involved in any cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Victims of clergy sexual abuse say the Catholic Church must change and end an era of cover-ups and unaccountability.

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has apologised to victims and said he accepted moral responsibility for failures committed by his predecessors.

Hundreds of victims and their supporters attended Monday’s hearing of the Victorian parliamentary abuse inquiry in Melbourne, with many queueing for several hours to hear the cardinal’s evidence.

Some victims protested outside the hearing, holding banners that urged Cardinal Pell to tell the truth.

There were angry scenes before the hearing when it appeared space would not be able to be found for people in an overflow room, but they were all accommodated.

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PEORIA (IL)
Pantagraph

By Edith Brady-Lunny | eblunny@pantagraph.com

PEORIA — The bishop and the vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria must answer questions in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed five years ago against the diocese and a deceased Twin City priest, under an order entered in Peoria County Circuit Court.

Lawyers for Andrew Ward, 25, a former student at Epiphany School in Normal, challenged the diocese’s refusal to require that Bishop Daniel Jenky and Chancellor Patricia Gibson appear for a deposition in Ward’s 2008 lawsuit. Ward, who now lives in Michigan, has accused Monsignor Thomas Maloney, who died in 2009, of sexually abusing him at Epiphany Catholic Church between 1995 and 1996 when he was in second grade.

The diocese resisted the deposition, saying both leaders took office in 2002, long after the alleged abuse took place, and the same year Maloney retired from active ministry for health reasons.

The deadline for the depositions, initially set for May 25, has been extended to accommodate scheduling conflicts, said Jeff Anderson, one of Ward’s lawyers. A Sept. 9 trial is scheduled in the lawsuit.

The order for the depositions sets out strict rules for how the bishop and chancellor will respond to questions about the alleged abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A letter accepting the resignation of a pedophile priest was backdated, contained no reference to abuse allegations and praised him for his “good deeds”, an inquiry has heard.

Cardinal George Pell has admitted the letter written by former Melbourne archbishop Francis Little was evidence of a cover-up.

Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse heard that when pedophile priest Desmond Gannon was stood down in 1993 the reason nominated was “poor health”.

The title of Pastor Emeritus was conferred on Fr Gannon, meaning he was no longer an active priest.
Inquiry committee member David O’Brien said the title also indicated he was a person of merit.

In 1995 Fr Gannon was jailed for 25 months for molesting an altar boy in the 1960s, and in 209 he received a suspended sentence after being found guilty of molesting boys at Victorian parishes between 1958 and 1976.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

27 MAY 2013, 8:20 PM – SOURCE: AAP

Victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are disappointed with Cardinal George Pell’s response to their plight, says Father Kevin Dillon.

Outspoken Victorian priest Father Kevin Dillon says the victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church remain disappointed after Cardinal George Pell said he was sorry for their suffering.

Fr Dillon said church officials “still don’t get it” and have failed to introduce practical measures that meet the needs of victims.

“If we had been doing things well then why do we have so many dissatisfied victims?” Fr Dillon told AAP.

Cardinal Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Monday that fear of scandal led to the church covering up sexual abuse by priests.

Fr Dillon said courageous victims had come forward to acknowledge what had happened to them but they had never been asked what the church could do for them.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

Posted by: 3AW News | 27 May, 2013

Cardinal George Pell has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse that he is fully apologetic and deeply sorry that child sex abuse occurred in the Catholic Church.

But he has denied there is a culture of abuse within the ranks of the clergy.

Some people in the packed public gallery today wept as Cardinal Pell told the inquiry that he agreed there had been a systemic cover-up that allowed paedophile priests to prey on innocent children.

He also said there was no doubt that crimes by pedophile priests contributed to too many suicides.

Cardinal Pell has admitted that, in hindsight, one of the worst offending priests, Father Kevin O’Donnell, should have been sacked as a priest.

He denied he personally covered up offending and he said he was ”fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” for abuse by clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

May 28, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age

Cardinal George Pell has admitted the Catholic Church had put paedophile priests ”above the law”, covered up abuse and moved abusers.

In a gruelling session of more than four hours, he told the Victorian inquiry into child abuse that the church had changed the date on a document making serial abuser Des Gannon a priest emeritus and had kept paying a stipend to another paedophile, Ron Pickering, who fled Australia to avoid police.

The Sydney Archbishop said he and his successor as Melbourne Archbishop, Denis Hart, took moral responsibility for helping victims and that the church was open to paying higher sums in compensation – whatever the law deemed necessary.

The church would be happy to contribute to an independently managed redress fund for victims, provided ”others are asked too”.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The priest and the church stole part of their souls and shattered their lives.

Melbourne priest Kevin O’Donnell, who raped Anthony and Christine Foster’s two daughters while they were in primary school, was “certainly among the worst of them”, Australia’s most senior Catholic admits.

But Cardinal George Pell drew the line at extending the family’s description of the impact of O’Donnell’s actions to all victims of clergy abuse, sparking an angry response from some in the public gallery at Victoria’s abuse inquiry.

“I understand people feel deeply about this,” the Sydney archbishop and former Melbourne archbishop said.

“There’s no doubt whatsoever about the terrible spiritual and emotional turmoil that he produced. It’s totally reprehensible.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Journal (Ireland)

THE LEADING FIGURE in Australia’s Catholic Church has admitted that a fear of scandal and a greater concern for reputation led to a systemic and massive cover-up of abuse within the organisation.

Facing a formal inquiry by Victoria’s parliament, Cardinal George Pell said he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” for how the Church dealt with abusers and victims. He said that there was awareness of the problem as early as 1988.

“There’s no doubt about it that lives have been blighted,” he said.

When asked if “the fear of the scandal led to the cover up”, he answered simply: “Yes, it did.” And the follow-up question: “Do you agree that the systemic cover-up allowed paedophile priests to prey on innocent children?”

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

By Daniel Fogarty and Genevieve Gannon
From: AAP
May 27, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic did nothing to ease the pain caused by clergy sexual abuse when he gave an “insincere” apology, victims and their supporters say.

Cardinal George Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” for the abuse at the hands of clergy.

During intense questioning on Monday that lasted more than four hours, Cardinal Pell admitted that abuse had been covered up, documents destroyed and priests had been moved on.

A fear of scandal led to the cover-up and the primary reason would have been to protect the reputation of the church, he said.

He also admitted a priest’s resignation letter had been backdated and made no mention of his crimes.

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SCOTLAND/IRELAND
Daily Record

A PRIEST at the centre of child sex abuse claims has left the country.

The clergyman moved back to his native Ireland. Police have started an investigation but have not questioned him.

Catholic Church officials claimed the priest’s move was pre-planned and had nothing to do with the claims.

The clergyman, who is in his 80s, has been accused of being part of a ring of paedophile priests who abused Pat McEwan as a boy more than 50 years ago.

Pat, now 63, claimed the priests molested him many times.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

SUNDAY MAY 26, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER

Churchgoers in the Archdiocese of Newark on Sunday were read a letter written by Archbishop John J. Myers, who for the first time addressed a scandal in which a former Wyckoff assistant pastor has been charged with violating a ban on ministering to children.

And at three Bergen County churches — each where the Rev. Michael Fugee left footprints — parishioners gave the letter mixed reviews — some saying it was reassuring with others saying Myers should resign. Myers said in the letter — which had been made public late last week — and in a video on the archdiocese website that his top aide had resigned and the church would bolster its sex-abuse prevention policies.

Meanwhile, pastors of two Bergen County parishes where prosecutors say Fugee had heard confessions of children refused to discuss the allegations on Sunday — as they have since Fugee was arrested last Monday and charged with seven counts of violating a judicial order.

Prosecutors said then that Fugee heard children’s confessions twice last year at Sacred Heart Church in Rochelle Park, where archdiocese officials allowed him to live for two years, and once in December at Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness | GLOBE STAFF MAY 27, 2013

The drunken driving case against Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester is scheduled to take its next turn this week in a Rhode Island courtroom. The prelate faces civil penalties and criminal charges, which include an allegation that he left the scene of an accident.

But past practice suggests it is unlikely that his employer, the Roman Catholic Church, will take strong action against him.

“There is no clear mathematical formula for deciding exactly how they will react,” the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, said of the Vatican’s process for disciplining bishops. “They look at the whole context of the situation. But the desire is to save the bishop and keep him in his ministry, as long as it’s not harmful to the diocese.”

Reese noted that a number of US bishops have survived drunken driving cases in the past. Salvatore J. Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in 2012, when he was still archbishop-elect; he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and went on to be installed. The late Archbishop John Roach of St. Paul and Minneapolis was arrested for drunken driving in 1985; he lost his license temporarily but served another decade before retiring.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi Aryeh Leib “Larry” Dodovitz, 45-year-old messianist Chabad rabbi from the Chicago neighborhood of West Rogers Park, was arrested Saturday and charged with sexually assaulting a child six years ago, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Dudovitz was charged with criminal sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 13 and 17, police told reporters.

He was remanded to custody until he meets a $100,000 bail requirement.

Dudovitz serves as the assistant rabbi of a Chabad messianist synagogue in the Chicago area and has taught in a Chabad girls school in the Chicago area, as well.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

by state political reporter Peta Carlyon

A handful of abuse victims stood on the steps of Parliament holding red signs calling on Cardinal Pell to tell the truth.

Valda Hogan, 66, and her brother were both victims of abuse.

Ms Hogan was abused in church and state-run orphanages and was 50-years-old before she learned to read or write.

She used to draw pictures to express her feelings

She had at least one child, a daughter, to an abuser and put her up for adoption.

“It’s disgusting, degrading, deceitful and dishonest,” Ms Hogan said of the church’s response to complaints of child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Brigid Andersen

Australia’s top-ranking Catholic has admitted to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that some members of the Church tried to cover up child sexual abuse by other members of the clergy.

Cardinal George Pell told the inquiry he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of child sex abuse within the Church.

Some members of the packed public gallery wept as Cardinal Pell was forced to answer questions about the Church’s systemic cover-up of cases of rape of children as young as five-years old.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father is too,” he told the inquiry.

————
Key points

*Cardinal George Pell apologises for decades of abuse in Melbourne diocese.
*Cardinal Pell admits a systemic cover-up of child abuse within the Church.
*He says former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns destroyed documents relating to abuse cases.
*He says former Melbourne archbishop Frank Little covered up cases of abuse.
*Cardinal Pell says abuse became widespread because the Clergy did not talk about the problem.
*Cardinal Pell has defended the Melbourne Response which he established to deal with abuse cases.
*He defended maximum compensation level of $75,000 for victims of abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP MAY 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell has defended the independence of the commissioner in charge of handling Melbourne abuse complaints against the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pell, the archbishop of Sydney and former archbishop of Melbourne, has defended Melbourne Response commissioner Peter O’Callaghan QC saying he has received shabby treatment.

Cardinal Pell said Mr O’Callaghan was given complete independence and any suggestion that either he or his successor as Melbourne archbishop Denis Hart interfered with his independence was totally incorrect.

“A suggestion that somehow he was not independent is I think totally misleading and unfair to one of the most senior members of the bar who is constrained by the principles of the bar to be independent,” he told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

“The suggestion that somehow he wasn’t independent I totally reject.”

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AUSTRALIA
Huffington Post

Agence France Presse
Posted: 05/27/2013

Fear of scandal prompted the cover-up of child sex abuse allegations within the Catholic Church, Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal George Pell admitted Monday.

Pell, speaking at an inquiry by Victoria’s parliament into child sex abuse in the state, denied being personally involved in the cover-up of paedophile priests, but said it was clear it happened.

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church,” he told the inquiry into the abuse of children by religious and non-government bodies.

“There was a fear of scandal.”

Pell, one of eight cardinals selected by Pope Francis to advise him on reforming the Catholic Church’s opaque administration, was speaking on the final day of the probe.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP May 27, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic Cardinal George Pell should resign, a victim of Catholic Church sexual abuse says.

Cardinal Pell, the final witness at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse, spent more than four and a half hours giving evidence on Monday.

Victim Stephen Woods called for Pell to resign.

“He needs to resign. His era is finished,” Mr Woods said.

“The little care for the victims that he showed, showed that they still don’t get it.”

Mr Woods said Pell’s apology was a political one and not real.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has admitted the fear of scandal led to cover-up in the church.

He said former Melbourne archbishop Sir Frank Little was involved in a cover-up and a former Ballarat archbishop destroyed documents.

He denied he personally covered up offending.

“No. Never,” he told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse on Monday.

He agreed under questioning that the fear of scandal led to a cover-up.

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

AAP

May 27, 2013

Cardinal George Pell has acknowledged that senior figures in the Australian Catholic Church covered up evidence about child abuse.

Before Victorian inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse, Cardinal Pell said the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse stems from loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgement and inaction.

Australia’s most senior Catholic admitted that the fear of scandal had led to the cover-up of instances of abuse by some within the church but he denied that there was a culture of abuse among priests.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

APN Newsdesk 27th May 2013

CARDINAL George Pell has conceded it was “a mistake” for him to appear in court during the trial of convicted Victorian paedophile Father Gerard Ridsdale in the 1990s.

In 1994, Father Ridsdale was jailed after pleading guilty to numerous charges of sexually abusing children in his care in Victoria.

During the trial Cardinal Pell, the Australia’s only Archbishop in the Catholic Church, appeared in court supporting Father Ridsdale.

He said at the time Father Ridsdale had committed “terrible mistakes”, but did not refer to the criminality of Ridsdale’s actions.

On Monday, Cardinal Pell appeared before the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse in the church.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

BY GENEVIEVE GANNON AAP MAY 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell says the Catholic Church will pay victims of child sex abuse appropriate compensation but he doesn’t think it has a moral obligation to match the billions paid out in the United States.

Australia’s most senior Catholic says the church will pay whatever the law deems necessary.

“We are always ready to pay whatever the law of the land says about compensation,” Cardinal Pell told a Victorian child abuse inquiry.

“Many of the victims aren’t particularly interested in money.

“The more important thing is due process, justice and help with getting on with their lives.

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AUSTRALIA
Oye! Times (Canada)

Written by Chris Harper

Cardinal George Pell expressed grief and concern over the child sex abuse that has taken place in Australian churches. Many cried in disbelief and agony when Cardinal Pell told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that he is fully apologetic and absolutely sorry.

Cardinal Pell acknowledged the existence of a systemic plan that sheltered the pedophile priests who abused young children. Also, he did not hesitate to acknowledge that there have been cases in which clergymen successfully dodged the law.

However, Cardinal Pell clarified that these incidents were very strategically kept hidden from common discussions and most of the leadership was not aware of the bitter truth.

“I think many persons in the leadership of the Church, I don’t think they knew what a horrendous widespread [issue] we were sitting on,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
eNCA (South Africa)

AUSTRALIA – Fear of scandal prompted the cover-up of child sex abuse allegations within the Catholic Church, Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal George Pell admitted Monday.

Pell, speaking at an inquiry by Victoria’s parliament into child sex abuse in the state, denied being personally involved in the cover-up of paedophile priests, but said it was clear it happened.

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church,” he told the inquiry into the abuse of children by religious and non-government bodies.

“There was a fear of scandal.”

Pell, one of eight cardinals selected by Pope Francis to advise him on reforming the Catholic Church’s opaque administration, was speaking on the final day of the probe.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON May 27, 2013

No questions have been asked about Cardinal George Pell’s time in Ballarat in the 1970s at the state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse.

Cardinal Pell was in Ballarat at the same time as disgraced paedophiles Gerald Ridsdale, Edward Dowlan, Robert Best and Stephen Farrell.

It was expected Cardinal Pell would be asked what he knew of their child sexual abuse but was not quizzed at all.

Instead, he was asked to publicly denounce former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns.

Cardinal Pell told the inquiry he would take the request by committee member Andrea Coote on notice.

Ms Coote’s request came after former Pope Benedict said there were grave judgement errors and leadership failures in the treatment of Irish paedophile priests.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MEGAN NEIL AAP MAY 27, 2013

A $30 million palace or a hostel for Australian pilgrims in Rome?

The Domus Australia is no palace, Australia’s most senior Catholic says.

The “casa per ferie” or holiday home has been drawn into the Catholic Church’s child sex abuse scandal, with Victorian MP Andrea Coote suggesting the church sell its “splendid residence” to help pay compensation to victims.

The cost of the Rome property could have been enough to provide $75,000 – the cap the church places on compensation – to 400 abuse victims, she said.

Cardinal George Pell took exception to the ‘misleading’ classification of the guest house during his appearance before Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse on Monday.

He says he has two nice rooms at Domus Australia which he uses as a base while in Rome but it is no palace and is not his home.

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AUSTRALIA
Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)

CANBERRA – Reuters

The head of the Catholic Church in Australia on Monday blamed a former culture of silence for the cover-up of child abuse by clergy, making it difficult to know the full extend of abuse, but added that the number of cases had dropped significantly since the church started taking stronger action.

Cardinal George Pell, an advisor to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, told a parliamentary hearing the church had been slow to address the suffering of victims and again issued an apology.

“I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry,” said Pell in a tense hearing marked by at times angry questioning over the church’s compensation and investigations. Pell was questioned for more than four hours.

Pell said the number of reports of abuse by clergy members peaked in the 1970s and 80s, but had fallen as the church changed its approach.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Catholic church covered up child sex abuse, Cardinal George Pell tells Victoria’s inquiry

PIA AKERMAN From: The Australian May 27, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell has acknowledged the Catholic Church within Australia covered up the “foul crime” of child abuse, leading to suicides.

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric has taken the stage today as the final witness for the Victorian inquiry into how religious and non-government organisations have responded to sexual abuse claims.

Cardinal Pell said while he had personally never covered up offending, it had largely escaped the view of church officials who didn’t know what a “mess” they were presiding over.

He vehemently rejected claims that there had been a “culture of abuse” among priests.

“I think the bigger fault was nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it,” he said, admitting his predecessor as Melbourne archbishop had “mishandled” one abuse case by destroying

“He clearly did the wrong thing.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Brigid Andersen, ABC
Updated May 27, 2013

Australia’s top-ranking Catholic has admitted to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that some members of the Church tried to cover up child sexual abuse by other members of the clergy.

Cardinal George Pell told the inquiry he was “fully apologetic and absolutely sorry” about decades of child sex abuse within the Church.

Some members of the packed public gallery wept as Cardinal Pell was forced to answer questions about the Church’s systemic cover-up of cases of rape of children as young as five-years old.

“I’m certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father is too,” he told the inquiry.

Despite being heckled during parts of the inquiry, Cardinal Pell defended the action the Church had taken action to tackle abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

AAP

May 27, 2013

All the documents the Vatican has on child sex abuse will be made available to the royal commission, Australia’s most senior Catholic says.

Cardinal George Pell says he has discussed the royal commission with a senior Vatican official.

“He assured me that every document that the Vatican had will be available to the royal commission,” Cardinal Pell told Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

He added the proper channels would have to be followed, “recognising that the Holy See is an independent company”.

He corrected himself to say country, but this was drowned out by uproar from the public gallery at Monday’s hearing.

“We’ve said we will co-operate fully with the royal commission and we mean to,” Cardinal Pell said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP May 27, 2013

Cardinal George Pell has acknowledged that senior figures in the Australian Catholic Church covered up evidence about child abuse.

Before Victorian inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse, Cardinal Pell said the Catholic Church’s history of child abuse stems from loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgement and inaction.

Australia’s most senior Catholic admitted that the fear of scandal had led to the cover-up of instances of abuse by some within the church but he denied that there was a culture of abuse among priests.
He said his predecessar as Archbishop of Melborune, Sir Frank Little, was involved in a cover-up and he said that a former Ballarat archbishop had destroyed documents.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

CAROLYN DAVIS AND SARAH SMITH, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
POSTED: Sunday, May 26, 2013

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput placed a priest on administrative leave after an accusation was made this month that he sexually abused a child more than 40 years ago, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said Sunday.

The Rev. James J. Collins, 74, retired earlier this year from a faculty position at Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia, where he had served since 1976. The school’s website still lists him as a professor of religious studies with an expertise in Eastern Christian studies.

Collins served at numerous parishes, schools and offices in Philadelphia since being ordained in 1964, including at Roman Catholic School for Boys, Our Lady of Pompeii, and Cardinal Dougherty High School, said a statement released Sunday by the archdiocese announcing Chaput’s decision.

About 40 years ago, the statement said, Collins was working at Roman Catholic High School for Boys.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 27, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

It was meeting George Pell that that severed Chrissie Foster from her faith in the Catholic Church.

The mother of two daughters who were horrifically abused by a priest went to her 1997 meeting with the then archbishop of Melbourne still a committed servant of the church. She left it crushed, embittered and furious.

Displaying what her husband Anthony Foster later described as a ”sociopathic lack of empathy”, Archbishop Pell was bullying and confrontational from the start of the meeting organised so Pell could listen to their experiences.

Chrissie Foster describes the encounter in her book Hell on the Way to Heaven. She had prepared a dossier of her varied church involvements, but never had a chance to show it. The Fosters were shown into a cramped furniture storage room in the presbytery and given a small wooden bench for both of them to sit on. The only other seat was a throne-like red leather armchair in which Pell was stretched out in a way they found intimidating.

When Anthony Foster told how Father Kevin O’Donnell repeatedly raped Emma and Katie Foster, starting when each was five years old, Pell replied: “I hope you can substantiate that in court.”

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AUSTRALIA
Parliament of Victoria

[submissions]

INQUIRY INTO THE HANDLING OF CHILD ABUSE BY RELIGIOUS AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS

Transcripts will be available once they have been checked by witnesses.

Hearings in May 2013
Attending a hearing
Hearings will be open to the public and held in the Legislative Council Committee Room on level 1 at Parliament House.

People are welcome to attend hearings however space will be limited.

The Legislative Council Committee Room will be open 30 minutes before hearings commence and seating for the public will be on a first-in, first-seated basis. Once all seats are full, people will be shown to another room in Parliament House where they can view proceedings via a live video link.

Hearings will not be broadcast on the Parliamentary website.

Monday 27 May, Legislative Council Committee Room, Parliament House
1.30pm – Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Cardinal George Pell

Monday 20 May, Legislative Council Committee Room, Parliament House
Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Archbishop Denis Hart

Friday 3 May, Legislative Council Committee Room, Parliament House
Christian Brothers

Brother Brian Brandon, Executive Officer for Professional Standards
Brother Julian McDonald, Deputy Province Leader
Mr Shane Wall, Co‑Executive Officer, Professional Standards Office

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AUSTRALIA
TVNZ

Australia’s most senior Catholic has been urged to be honest about crimes committed against children by clergy when he appears before a parliamentary inquiry.

Cardinal George Pell will be the last witness to give evidence at Victoria’s child sex abuse inquiry on Monday afternoon.

Victims rights groups are calling on Cardinal Pell to face up to the horrors committed by members of the Catholic Church.

And Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has called on him to be completely open and frank about the church’s handling of such crimes within its ranks.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By BARNEY ZWARTZ May 26, 2013

CARDINAL George Pell’s spokeswoman has replied to a victim’s mother three years after she wrote and just before he gives evidence today at the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled sex abuse.

The victims said the timing was insulting and the charm offensive merely offensive after Sydney Archdiocese communications director Katrina Lee told the mother that the cardinal believed that helping victims and treating them with compassion and respect must be the church’s first priority.

Ms Lee told Ballarat mother Clare Linane that she was looking at previous correspondence in the light of the Victorian inquiry, and offered to help Mrs Linane’s son report the abuse to police if he had not done so.

The son, Ballarat survivor and victims’ advocate Peter Blenkiron, asked: “Do they think we are idiots? Do they think the community are stupid?’’

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

Protests promised as Cardinal George Pell fronts Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse

ANNIKA SMETHURST, WITH AAP HERALD SUN MAY 27, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will be the final witness at the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse when he appears before the committee today.

To date, the committee has received more than 400 written submissions and heard from more than 160 witnesses since October.

But many victims have been waiting to hear from Cardinal Pell, who helped establish the Melbourne Response to deal with victims of child sexual abuse when he was the Archbishop of Melbourne

Hundreds of people are expected to gather at Parliament House ahead of the hearing to protest, including members of the Care Leavers Australia Network.

Co-founder Leonie Sheedy said she wanted to see Cardinal George Pell face up to crimes committed against children by members of the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine says the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell needs to be open, apologetic, and frank when he appears before a parliamentary committee today.

Cardinal Pell will give evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children by members of non-government organisations this afternoon.

Cardinal Pell was the Archbishop of Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.

In its submission to the inquiry, the Catholic Church said at least 620 Victorian children had been abused by its clergy in the past 80 years.

Dr Napthine says Cardinal Pell needs to be upfront about the church’s failings in its handling of abuse allegations and paedophile clergy.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

By David Chang | Sunday, May 26, 2013

A Philadelphia priest has been placed on leave following allegations of child sex abuse.

Reverend James Collins, 74, is accused of sexually abusing a minor over 40 years ago., according to the Philadelphia Archdiocese. Collins has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a police investigation. The Archdiocese says his case is not connected to the February 2011 Grand Jury Report which followed an investigation into accusations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy while another priest sexually abused a 14-year-old boy.

The Archdiocese says they immediately contacted police after they received the allegations against Collins.

The announcement was made at the Saint Martha Parish where Collins was living. Collins did not have any formal duties at the parish, did not assist at masses and did not make any visits to the school, according to the archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

Only The Very Top Haredi Rabbis Can Decide Whether Child Sex Abuse Should Be Reported To Police, Neturei Karta-Linked Rabbi Writes

The Jewish Press has posted an op-ed on child sexual abuse reporting written by a sometime spokesperson for Neturei Karta, Rabbi Hillel “William” Handler. Handler also served as a spokesperson for the campaign to raise funds to support convicted child rapist Rabbi Yisroel Weingarten, who Handler insisted was innocent because the girl Weingarten raped – Weingarten’s own daughter – couldn’t be believed, despite the evidence supporting her. The Jewish Press posted this atrocity less than a week after posting a “news report” from its Internet editor, Yori Yanover, that attacked little children who say they were sexually abused by their teacher.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By MARY ALEXANDER May 27, 2013

FORMER senior Catholic Ballarat diocese official Cardinal George Pell will today appear before a parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

Australia’s head Catholic was the vicar-in-charge of the Catholic education system in the Ballarat diocese from 1973 to 1984 when many south-west children suffered at the hands of priests and brothers.

Dr Pell was heavily criticised for providing moral support to the diocese’s worst serial offender Gerald Ridsdale when he faced paedophile charges in May 1993.

Then an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne, Dr Pell said Ridsdale “had made terrible mistakes” and his decision to accompany the former priest to court “was simply a gesture on my part”.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has placed Reverend James J. Collins on administrative leave following an allegation that he sexually abused a minor over forty years ago. No other allegation of this nature has been received against him. While on administrative leave he is not permitted to exercise his public ministry pending the outcome of the investigation. His leave is not connected to the cases of priests placed on administrative leave following the February 2011 Grand Jury Report.

Consistent with the Archdiocesan Policy for the Protection of Children and Young People promulgated in October of 2012, the allegation was received and immediately reported to law enforcement. The information was also reviewed by the Office of Investigations, the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Office of the Vicar for Clergy. Those offices provided a joint recommendation to the Archbishop, who decided to place Father Collins on administrative leave pending any possible action by law enforcement and a full internal investigation. In keeping with standing Archdiocesan policy, that internal investigation will not proceed until after the allegation is reviewed by the district attorney’s office.

An announcement regarding Father Collins was made this weekend at Saint Martha Parish in Philadelphia, where he had been residing, and crisis counselors were made available. Although he was in residence there, he had no formal duties at the parish, did not assist at Masses or make visits to the school. The Archdiocese also communicated information about this allegation to Holy Family University where Father Collins had been a faculty member since 1976. He retired from that position earlier this year.

Biographical Information
Father Collins is 74 years old. He was ordained in 1964. He served at the following parishes, schools and offices: Saint John the Evangelist, Philadelphia (1964); Roman Catholic High School for Boys (1964-1965); Saint Paul, Philadelphia (1964-1965); Office of the Metropolitan Tribunal (1964-1965); Our Lady of Pompeii, Philadelphia (1965); Student Priest at the Pontifical North American College, Rome (1965-1968); Saint Stephen, Philadelphia (1966); Cardinal Dougherty High School, Philadelphia (1968-1969); Immaculate Conception, Philadelphia (1968-1975); Roman Catholic High School for Boys, Philadelphia (1969-1976); Saint Paul, Philadelphia (1975-1976); Saint Christopher, Philadelphia (1976); Holy Family University (1976-2013); placed on administrative leave (2013).

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

BY MATTHEW GAMBINO
Father James J. Collins, 74, has been suspended from ministry following an allegation that he sexually abused a minor over 40 years ago. No other such allegation has been received against him.

Archbishop Charles Chaput placed the priest on administrative leave Sunday, May 26, the Archdiocese announced in a statement. The decision is not connected to the cases of priests placed on administrative leave following the February 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report on sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

Father Collins, ordained in 1964, had been a professor at Holy Family University since 1976 before he retired early this year. He had been living at St. Martha Rectory in Northeast Philadelphia. Parishioners there were informed of the action at Masses this weekend.

The archdiocesan statement said that although the priest lived at the rectory, “he had no formal duties at the parish, did not assist at Masses or make visits to the school. The archdiocese also communicated information about this allegation to Holy Family University.”

The archdiocese provided no details on the nature of the allegation, which said was received and immediately reported to law enforcement officials. The information was also reviewed by the archdiocesan Office of Investigations, the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Office of the Vicar for Clergy. Those offices provided a joint recommendation to the Archbishop, who decided to place Father Collins on administrative leave pending any possible action by law enforcement and a full internal investigation.

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OSTERREICH
Gegen Sexuelle Gewalt

Zivilklage gegen Stift abgewiesen

Die Zivilklage, die zwei Missbrauchsopfer gegen das Stift Kremsmünster eingebracht haben, ist vom Landesgericht Steyr abgewiesen worden. Die ehemaligen Klosterschüler sind der Ansicht, dass Abt Ambros Ebhart Zusagen nicht eingehalten habe.

Im Mittelpunkt der Klage mit einem Streitwert von 30.000 Euro steht ein Treffen im Jänner 2012 im Stift, an dem Missbrauchsopfer, der Abt, der Prior sowie zwei vom Kloster bestellte Mediatoren teilnahmen.

Die Kläger sagen, der Abt habe ihnen dabei die Aufarbeitung durch externe Historiker, ein Mahnmal am Stiftsgelände und eine Entschuldigung samt Eingeständnis der Mitwisserschaft über die Missbrauchsfälle versprochen. Der Geistliche will hingegen nur zugesagt haben, darüber nachzudenken. Der Richter schloss sich allerdings der Position

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AUSTRALIEN
kath.web

Regierung fordert von Kardinal Pell vor Anhörung vor dem Missbrauchsausschuss im Bundesstaat Victoria Ehrlichkeit

26.05.2013

Melbourne, 26.05.2013 (KAP) Sydneys Kardinal George Pell ist von Regierungsseite zu Offenheit und Ehrlichkeit bei seiner Anhörung vor dem Missbrauchsausschuss im Bundesstaat Victoria aufgerufen worden. “Es ist an der Zeit, dass George Pell im Namen der Katholischen Kirche nicht nur gegenüber dem Ausschuss, sondern gegenüber dem Volk von Victoria und Australien offen und ehrlich ist”, zitierte die katholische deutsche Nachrichtenagentur KNA Aussagen des Premierministers im Bundesstaat Victoria, Denis Naphtine vor australischen Journalisten. Pell wird am Montag vor dem parlamentarischen Untersuchungsausschuss erwartet. Das Parlament in Victoria hatte den Ausschuss eingesetzt, nachdem Polizei und Missbrauchsopfer schwere Vorwürfe gegen die Erzdiözese Melbourne erhoben hatten.

Der Kardinal war vor seiner Berufung zum Erzbischof von Sydney von 1996 bis 2001 Erzbischof von Melbourne. Er gilt als einer der Wegbereiter von Standards der katholischen Kirche Australiens in der Handhabung von Missbrauchsfällen. Gleichzeitig steht Pell aber auch in dem Ruf, den Missbrauchsskandal nicht ausreichend ernst zu nehmen. Auf einer Pressekonferenz in Sydney im vergangenen November hatte Pell den Medien vorgeworfen, das Ausmaß des Missbrauchs von Kindern und Jugendlichen durch Priester und Kirchenmitarbeiter zu übertreiben. Die Kirche sei einer “Schmierenkampagne” ausgesetzt, mit der der Eindruck geweckt werden solle, “dass wir vertuschen”, klagte Pell seinerzeit.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

The voluntary resignation of one Newark Catholic official changes virtually nothing.

It’s Myers, not Doran, who put an admitted child molesting cleric in a hospital job, live in rectories, work in other dioceses, let him be around kids, hear their confessions and go to Canada with them.

It’s Myers, not Doran, who refused to say “Fr. Fugee admitted sexually abusing a child, so he’s gone, no matter what the prosecutor does or doesn’t do.”

It’s Myers, nor Doran, who won’t post the names of his predator priests on his website or force them to live in remote treatment centers. It’s Myers, not Doran, who won’t reveal the names of the people on his abuse panel.

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UNITED STATES
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
on May 26, 2013

By David Clohessy

There are plenty of reasons to be upset about Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ actions and inaction that kept an admitted pedophile priest around kids for years despite a legal agreement forbidding such contact.

I’m troubled about it, though, for a different reason than most. The Rev. Michael Fugee controversy is considered by many — and is depicted by Catholic officials — to be a disturbing anomaly. But it’s not.

Tragically, a number of U.S. bishops are, like Myers, letting proven, admitted or credibly accused child-molesting clerics stay on the job near children. Consider these recent examples:

• Earlier this month, a Wisconsin Benedictine monk, Thomas Chmura, was out of jail on bail, but was found back at an abbey working with children, so he was arrested again.

• In the Joliet, Ill., Diocese, Bishop Daniel Conlon lets the Rev. Carroll Howlin essentially live and work, as he has for 30 years, among poor families in eastern Kentucky, despite four clergy sex-abuse settlements involving Howlin as well as a Vatican order that he be kept away from children.

• In the Fresno, Calif., Diocese, Bishop John Steinbock lets the Rev. Eric Swearingen remain on the job as a pastor despite the fact that a jury found Swearingen guilty of molesting a boy.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, may not be aware of it, but he is about to shape the country’s history.

On Monday, when he fronts the Victorian Parliamentary enquiry, he will send the nation down one of two very different paths. One will lead to a continuing cohesive, yet varied, society. The other will see a generation of conflict between the secular and the religious movements.

On Monday, George Pell can come clean. He can abolish all confidentiality agreements. He can give up the names of all of his abusive priests, together with the names of all of those involved in the cover-ups. He can renounce the seal of the confessional. He can show real remorse for his past transgressions of public trust. He can decline to continue with his arrogant disregard for the welfare of victims. He can sack his PR advisors and lawyers. He can place the Church’s wealth and power at the disposal of his victims.

On Monday, he can achieve both power and glory.

On Monday, he can continue with the lies of the past. He can treat the committee with disdain. He can follow the PR script of those members of his organisation who have preceded him at the enquiry. He can continue to lead an organisation that protects criminals. He can continue to hold power without glory.

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SCOTLAND
Gay Star News

26 MAY 2013 | BY JEAN PAUL ZAPATA

Amazon.com has dropped from its website a book that reveals alleged gay sex cover-ups in the Catholic Church.

Priesthood in Crisis, written by Father Matthew Despard of St John Ogilvie church in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, accuses the Catholic Church in Scotland of concealing a ‘powerful gay mafia’ of priests who engage in sexual acts with other men.

Despard says he warned Church leaders of what he saw, but nothing was done. The book is a personal account of the abuse and bullying the priest allegedly endured after rejecting sexual advances of other priests and fellow students.

Since its release earlier this year, the book became a best-seller online, ranking 125 out of 1.9 million books available for download to portable reading device Kindle. The book is no longer for sale on that website.

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TROY (MI)
Patch

By Timothy Rath May 25, 2013

A former priest at the St. Thomas More Catholic Church on North Adams Road in Troy, accused of mishandling hundreds of thousands of dollars in church money, is suing the city in an effort to have his assets unfrozen.

It was reported in The Oakland Press that attorneys for Edward Belczak filed the suit this week in an attempt to have his Merrill Lynch funds and bank safe deposit box unfrozen following an order from the Troy Police Department.

Belczak’s attorneys, Ernest Essad Jr. and William Hosler, argue that Belczak “is being wrongfully deprived of his lawful rights,” The Press reports.

Belczak was removed from his position at the parish after an audit by the Archdiocese of Detroit revealed “questionable financial transactions and practices.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail

An elderly priest has been given a police caution after lewd behaviour in a Birmingham shopping centre toilet.

Sixty-eight year-old Father Pat Costello is said to have approached a 17-year-old youth in a bathroom and made lewd comments before stroking him on the shoulder last Wednesday.

He was quickly arrested after security staff at the centre called for the police.

Costello, an Irish priest in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, said he had behaved “shamefully” in a “moment of madness”.

Now his biggest concern is that his family will suffer because of his “terrible” actions. “I am prepared to accept all the consequences of my action and any punishment including losing my priestly ministry,” he reportedly said.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

A WHISTLE-BLOWING churchman’s best-selling book featuring explosive claims about gay bullies in the Catholic priesthood has been pulled by web giants Amazon.

Priesthood in Crisis by Father Matthew Despard was released in the wake of the Cardinal Keith O’Brien scandal.

The shocking account – which accuses church leaders of covering up powerful homosexual cliques in the priesthood – became an online bestseller, charting at No.125 out of 1.9 million digital books available on Amazon.

But the controversial book has been axed from the website’s Kindle store.

Amazon say it is no longer available because it does not adhere to their guidelines.

Sources in the Catholic Church have suggested that Father Despard could face legal action from one of the subjects named in his self-published book.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

SATURDAY MAY 25, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

The day after Newark Archbishop John J. Myers announced the resignation of his top deputy in response to a growing scandal centered on a former Wyckoff assistant pastor, Catholic officials provided more detail about a series of initiatives designed to prevent future instances of sexual abuse by clergy members.

Critics, meanwhile, said they were not swayed by the archbishop’s move and maintained their calls for his resignation.

In a letter that will be read Sunday in Catholic parishes throughout the four-county archdiocese, Myers wrote that he accepted the resignation of Vicar General John E. Doran, who signed an agreement in 2007 with Bergen County prosecutors that barred the Rev. Michael Fugee from working with children for as long as he remained a priest. Fugee, who had initially been found guilty of groping a teenage boy, recently was charged with violating the agreement.

Politicians and victims’ advocates said the resignation and Myers’ other proposals did not go far enough. A spokesman for state Sen. Barbara Buono, the leading Democratic contender for governor, said she had not reviewed Myers’ statement but she stood by her demand for his resignation.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

[Myers: Newark Archdiocese is doing all we can to safeguard kids]

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on May 26, 2013

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers has broken his long silence with a remarkable statement in yesterday’s Star-Ledger that attempts to evade any personal responsibility for allowing a known sex offender under his supervision to mingle with children.

He offers no apology to the families whose children were put in harm’s way. He offers no explanation for the breathtaking lapses in this case. And he makes no significant policy changes.

In the place of moral leadership, Myers offers a carefully parsed and legalistic dodge, while demoting one of his senior aides in a transparent attempt to mollify critics who have called for his own resignation.

Myers, it seems, still doesn’t get it. While many bishops are making sincere efforts to root out abusive priests and to make amends for past efforts to cover up the problem, he remains stuck in the past. He has long been too tolerant of priests facing credible accusations, and too secretive about his responses.

Myers, for example, will not release the names of people he appointed to an internal review panel — again, as many others do. In this case, the review panel found that no abuse occurred, an impossible conclusion when you consider the detailed confession of the accused priest, the Rev. Michael Fugee, who told police he groped a boy’s genitals and derived sexual pleasure from the act. The panel, as The Star-Ledger’s Mark Mueller reported, made virtually no effort to find the victim or his parents and did not hear their testimony.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A senior police officer will help in the investigation into how Jersey’s Dean dealt with allegations of abuse.

Det Supt Stewart Gull, head of special branch and CID in Jersey, will join a team lead by Dame Heather Steel.

The inquiry will look at how the Very Reverend Bob Key, the head of Jersey’s Anglican Church, handled a woman’s claims of abuse by a church warden.

It will look specifically at the actions of the Dean from when the unnamed woman came to him in 2008.

It will be used to inform a review led by Bishop John Gladwin into how victims of abuse are treated across the Diocese of Winchester, of which Jersey is a part.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

May 26, 2013

Australia’s most senior Catholic has been urged to face up to child sex crimes committed by members of the church and to apologise when he fronts a parliamentary inquiry on Monday.

Cardinal George Pell will be the last witness to give evidence at Victoria’s child sex abuse inquiry.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has called on him to be open and honest with the public about the church’s handling of child sexual abuse within its ranks.

“It’s time for George Pell, on behalf of the Catholic Church, to be open and frank, not only with the inquiry but with the people of Victoria and Australia,” Dr Napthine said on Sunday.

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