ABUSE TRACKER

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

By Joe Holleman jholleman@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82540

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is honoring its 25th anniversary with a reception and showing of the work of STL artist Karen Jones.

The event is at 7 p.m. Aug. 30, at the Cielo Bar of the downtown Four Seasons Hotel. There is complimentary valet parking and no cover charge. Jones will raffle off a painting to benefit the advocacy group, of which her mother, Judy Jones, is an associate director.

Jones is known for her oil-on-steel paintings of pets. Her work will be shown on the terrace near the pool, as will a new swimwear collection from Ola Hawatmeh.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El periodista Juan Carlos Cruz, el médico James Hamilton y el filósofo José Andrés Murillo, denunciantes del llamado “caso Karadima”, manifestaron su rechazo a un reciente pedido de “perdón”, que hicieron los obispos Horacio Valenzuela y Tomislav Koljatic, discípulos del ex párroco de El Bosque condenado por abusos sexuales a menores de edad.

En la misiva -publicada en la sección de cartas al director del diario El Mercurio y titulada “El perdón de los obispos”- los profesionales refieren que el pasado 15 de agosto los mencionados obispos “pidieron perdón” a través del mismo medio “a la Masonería por haberla involucrado en cartas de defensa al sacerdote católico Karadima”.

“En esas cartas de defensa del sacerdote -quien fuera su mentor y guía espiritual- aludían a una suerte de complot contra él debido a su santidad. Parte del complot era de la Masonería y del Poder Judicial, pero también de la izquierda, los Cristianos por el Socialismo, la Teología de la Liberación, los medios de comunicación, los liberales, entre otros, y todos ellos liderados por nosotros. Nosotros que, según las cartas de los obispos mencionados y otros sacerdotes fieles a Karadima, habríamos estado motivados por una serie de problemas familiares, personales, vocacionales, sed de venganza y otras múltiples dolencias”, escriben Cruz, Hamilton y Murillo.

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ESCOSIA
BBC Mundo

Viernes, 23 de agosto de 2013

La Iglesia Católica Romana en Escocia admitió que su antiguo líder, el cardenal Keith O’Brien, bloqueó una investigación sobre acusaciones de abuso dentro de la iglesia.

O’Brien, quien dimitió tras reconocer conductas sexuales inapropiadas con sacerdotes, se negó a participar en un informe sobre acusaciones de abuso en la iglesia.

Esto hizo que la investigación no pudiera llevarse a cabo.

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SCOTLAND
Telegraph

Cardinal blocked independent inquiry into cases of historic sexual abuse that had support of every other bishop in Scotland.

By News agencies 23 Aug 2013

The retired Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, revealed that the Catholic Church in Scotland had planned to invite an independent academic to compile a report on each diocese’s “secret archives” and each bishop’s handling of allegations, which would then be made public.

However, Cardinal O’Brien, then the president of the Bishops’ Conference, refused to co-operate and the planned inquiry was shelved, Archbishop Conti wrote in a letter to be published in the Catholic newspaper the Tablet today.

Cardinal O’Brien was forced to resign in March after admitting “inappropriate behaviour” with priests and a seminarian, and is currently in an unknown monastery for a period of “prayer and penance” ordered by Pope Francis.

In a letter defending the Catholic Church in Scotland’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse, Archbishop Conti wrote: “It was the intention of all but one member of the Bishops’ Conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results, but this was delayed by the objection of the then president of the conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty.”

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SPAIN
Straits Times

MADRID (AFP) – A Spanish judge ordered on Friday that a British priest be extradited back to England to face charges of sexually assaulting choirboys, a judicial source said.

The 85-year-old is wanted by British authorities on 16 charges of sexual assault, 10 of them “serious” and one involving attempted sodomy, against choirboys, the source told reporters.

The source did not name the suspect but said the alleged crimes were against choirboys in Derbyshire, central England.

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PERU
Peru This Week

by Diego M. Ortiz

According to the “Married Priests”, they were victims of persecution by the Catholic Church.

An Association of married priests from Chiclayo, Peru decided to sue Pope Francis for S/. 20 million, as well as to the authorities of the Catholic Church for alleged damages, local news outlets reported.

The “World Association of Married Priests of the Church Reborn in Firm and Happy Union”, which was cited in 2004 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo, is behind the Pontiff lawsuit.

As indicated by El Popular.pe, back in 2004 charges of generic falsehood, fraud and illicit association to commit a crime in tort of the society, the State and the Catholic Church of Peru, were filed against this group of priests. As a result, they were asked to cease performing Church Liturgical acts.

But after 8 years of legal fighting, the Civil Court of Chiclayo dismissed the complaint. Now, the organization under the command of the priest Roberto Villanueva Rodríguez, is suing the highest authorities of the clergy, including Pope Francisco, for S/ 20 million.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, August 23, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

We’re disappointed that a Michigan judge is letting a minister off the hook for refusing to report suspected child sex abuse. Decades of excessive deference to religious figures in child sex cases has led to tens of thousands of devastated lives. Our society – especially our judges and lawmakers – must make it abundantly clear that every single adult has a duty to call police when he or she fears a child is being hurt.

We can protect kids and respect belief at the same time. But we can’t let an adult’s belief trump a child’s safety.

We hope that Michigan’s highest court will reverse this tragic ruling.

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SCOTLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday August 23, 2013

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

Shame on the bishops of Scotland, who reportedly let one corrupt colleague block a so-called church “investigation” into child sex crimes and cover ups.

If O’Brien opposed this move, Scotland’s bishops should have proceeded without him. Or they should have publicly exposed O’Brien as an obstructionist.

To make this disclosure now is nothing more than posturing by Scotland’s bishops.

Let’s be clear: no institution that has shielded predators and hurt children should investigate itself. Independent, professional secular agencies should be investigating – and prosecuting – the complicity Catholic hierarchy.

But even a poor, internal “investigation” is sometimes better than none at all. And if any one church official stands in the way of shedding even a little light on this crisis, his peers and supervisors should immediately, harshly, and publicly denounce him.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Staff | Aug. 22, 2013

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has awarded a grant of $2.3 million over three years that will allow the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Co. to embark on a groundbreaking project to give greater voice to countless Catholic sisters around the globe. With the use of the Hilton Foundation grant, NCR plans to build a network of editors and reporters not only to write about women religious, but to help them develop their own communication skills by working with them as columnists who report their own missions and challenges.

“We’ve been standing with sisters from the beginning, and I consider the grant encouragement to go on telling their stories,” said NCR Board Chair Annette E. Lomont.

“The work of these women religious is one of the least-told stories in the church,” NCR Publisher Tom Fox said Thursday. “It’s really an exciting challenge to bring these stories and voices to greater awareness. It also recognizes the changing nature of our global church.”

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 23

Statement by Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com )

In a huge victory for innocent kids and a huge defeat for child molesters, Illinois’ governor has signed a bill permanently lifting the civil statute of limitations on child sex crimes (SB 1399, sponsored by Sen. Link and others).

This measure will stop more sex offenders. It enables child sex abuse victims to expose dangerous predators in court. It enables employers and neighbors and even relatives to learn about and protect themselves from child molesters who otherwise would have stayed “under the radar.”
Illinois kids are safer now because more child molesters will face justice.

Kids are safest when predators are jailed. But that can’t always happen. So the next best option is to expose predators. Now, thankfully, Illinois lawmakers are letting more crime victims do this.

Recently, Governor Pat Quinn has also signed HB 1063 which eliminates the criminal statute of limitations on child sex crimes. This too is a huge step forward for the safety of kids.

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CALIFORNIA
Mercury News

By Mark Gomez
mgomez@mercurynews.com

POSTED: 08/23/2013

SAN JOSE — Officials at a San Jose church fired a camp counselor on three separate occasions after reports he inappropriately touched young girls, then gave him a positive 2010 recommendation for a job at a Trace Elementary School child care program, where he is suspected of molesting nine girls, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The latest lawsuit in the case of Keith Woodhouse, 28, was filed by the parents of a girl who claims she was molested by Woodhouse while attending a Church on the Hill summer program in 2007. Woodhouse, who is facing criminal charges in the Trace case, worked at the church in its summer camp program at the time.

“Several executives within this church repeatedly had an opportunity to identify obvious signs of a pedophile in their midst, and each time they not only failed to contact the authorities, as the law required, but they unconscionably allowed him to continue having unsupervised access to minors,” said Robert Allard, an attorney representing the girl and her family.

Allard is also representing the families of three girls claiming to be molested by Woodhouse at Trace in a separate negligence lawsuit against the child care center and the church.

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SCOTLAND
Catholic Herald

The former Archbishop of Glasgow has said that Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an investigation into the Scottish Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse in 2012.

In a letter to the Tablet, Archbishop Mario Conti wrote: “It was the intention of all but one member of the bishops’ conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results.”

He continued: “But this was delayed by the objection of the then-President of the Conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty.”

A statement from the Catholic Church in Scotland said: “Archbishop Conti’s letter refers to a decision taken in 2011 by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland to commission an independent academic analysis of statistics relating to abuse and allegations of abuse over a 60 year period from 1952 to 2012.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Press

[with audio]

The rant attacks Hynes for prosecuting sex offender Nechemya Weberman. By: Jacob Kornbluh

Published: August 23rd, 2013

The following is an audio recording of an attack ad against Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes which is being spread around in smartphone whatspp groups. The rant, pushing votes for Ken Thompson, attacks Mr. Hynes for prosecuting prominent members within the Orthodox Jewish community, including Nechemya Weberman. The narrator likens community leaders supporting the reelection of Mr. Hynes to Rabbi Neiderman’s call in 2009 to vote for Mike Bloomberg “because he’s anyway going to win.”

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

Emeritus Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti
23 August 2013

The Emeritus Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, responds to an editorial in The Tablet of 10 August that criticised safeguarding in the Catholic Church of Scotland and compared it unfavourably with England and Wales.

The Tablet’s editorial, “Curse of Complacency”, made some damning judgments of the Catholic Church in Scotland with respect to safeguarding, suggesting that it “has a long way to go” and that “the Catholic Church in England and Wales [is] streets ahead of Scotland” in respect of caring for survivors. The editorial illustrates this with reference to the recent revelations about alleged abuse of boys at Fort Augustus School by monks of the Abbey.

Firstly with regard to Fort Augustus, the school and monastery was within the ecclesiastical area of Scotland but not under the jurisdiction of the Church in Scotland other than in respect of its parish responsibilities. The internal life of the abbey and the management of its school was outside these. It was autonomous as a Benedictine community and in terms of its affiliation was a member of the English Benedictine Congregation. If any of these allegations had been made to me while I was Bishop of Aberdeen from 1977 to 2002, I would have alerted the proper authorities to them.

A statement was made recently on behalf of the Church in Scotland with which I fully concur: “We deplore acts of abuse at any time, in any place, committed by anyone representing the Church, or working in, with or for the Church. Although legal and criminal responsibility for any abusive behaviour may lie elsewhere, Scotland’s Catholic Dioceses are prepared to accept pastoral responsibility for those who have been harmed to help them heal.” Each diocese has someone in place to hear complaints and to advise complainants how to proceed in having them addressed.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

[letter from Archbishop Emeritus Conti]

Christopher Lamb – 23 August 2013

Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an independent examination of clerical sex abuse files held by Scottish dioceses, a senior bishop has claimed.

The Archbishop Emeritus of Glasgow, Mario Conti, has said all but one member of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland had agreed in recent years for diocesan case files to be reviewed but this did not go ahead due to the cardinal’s objection.

“It was the intention of all but one member of the bishops’ conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results but this was delayed by the objection of the then-president of the conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty,” the archbishop writes in a letter to The Tablet’s editor.

Cardinal O’Brien was President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland from 2002 until 2012.

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NEW JERSEY
Renew America

By Daniel Cassidy

The disgraced and discredited Archbishop of Newark, John J. Myers, has lashed out like a cornered rat at his critics, the media, politicians, members of the clergy and even the families of victims whose safety he utterly disregarded. In response, today’s Star-Ledger rightly states that “it boggles the mind that in 2013 an archbishop would dare speak of families like this.”

It boggles the mind, indeed, that any Christian leader would be allowed to wreak the destruction this man has caused in the Archdiocese of Newark. His haughty contempt and refusal to meet with anyone disagreeing with him is well known, but the irreparable damage he has caused to peoples lives, to the salvation of souls driven out of the Church, to the Church’s institutions like the approximately 70 schools closed by Myers, and the scores of once vibrant parishes now boarded up are testament to a pompous ass who seeks not to serve, but to be served.

His only apparent defender appears to be Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. Since it is well known that Donohue speaks for the Catholic hierarchy and certainly for his own Archbishop, Cardinal Dolan, who also presides over the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, one must ask, how much damage will this unstable narcissist be allowed to wreak before any bishop here or abroad speaks out? What price will they pay? Bishops like Myers have already cost the Church more than $2 billion. Have they no moral responsibility beyond loyalty to a brother bishop? They may wish to ponder the words of Saint Ambrose: “Not only for every idle word,but for every idle silence must man render an account.”

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ARGENTINA
Misiones Cuatro

[con video]

11:51 | Lo ratificó el abogado defensor José Luis Rey, quien enfatizó que no se han producido pruebas que ameriten la detención del ex-sacerdote católico Miguel Ángel Santurio, acusado de abusar sexualmente de al menos cuatro mujeres jóvenes en 2008. El abogado destacó que los testimonios ofrecidos por las denunciantes fortalecen la posición del acusado, quien fuera detenido tras haberse producido amenazas contra las denunciantes, por parte de allegados a Santurio

(Posadas) El excura Miguel Ángel Santurio, quien fuera acusado de abuso sexual múltiple contra mujeres jóvenes de un grupo formado por él, recuperó la libertad y viajó a San Luis, donde se encuentra radicado. La información la confirmó su abogado, el Dr. José Luis Rey, quien enfatizó que no se han producido pruebas que ameriten que su defendido permanezca detenido. El exjuez aseguró que los testigos aportados por las denunciantes fortalecieron la posición de la defensa, por lo que el juez interviniente, Dr. Marcelo Cardozo, decidió la excarcelación.

“No hay aporte de ningún elemento de prueba que permita sostener lo que dice la imputación (que se basa en) una mera manifestación verbal”, comentó Rey en diálogo con TVA Misiones Cuatro, respecto del resonante caso.

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ARGENTINA
Primera Edicion

Las jóvenes presuntamente abusadas por el “cura sanador” siguen aportando testimonios desgarradores.

No es para nada sencillo revivir la pesadilla para Verónica (22) y Alejandra (24), quienes en varias ocasiones rompieron en llantos y como pudieron, relataron a PRIMERA EDICIÓN los terribles tormentos y abusos que padecieron mientras eran novicias.

Las jóvenes coincidieron en que durante siete meses, bajo la tutela del ex “cura sanador” Miguel Ángel Santurio (actualmente preso bajo sospecha de reiterados abusos), y cuando aún eran menores vivieron una verdadero infierno.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

THE Special Commission of Inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Hunter won’t hand down its findings until next year.

The inquiry opened in February and was due to report to the government by September 30.

But Premier Barry O’Farrell told question time yesterday that Commissioner Margaret Cunneen had sought an extension and would report on February 28 next year.

“We should all agree that it is obviously more important that the relevant matters are properly and thoroughly investigated,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/ASIA
J-Wire

August 23, 2013 by J-Wire Staff

During last Shabbat, pluralistic Rabbis across Australia, New Zealand and Asia read out the Statement below as part of the Sabbath service.

It should be noted that the idea came about after a similar initiative was undertaken in the United Kingdom, where the Imams of all the mosques issued an identical sermon on this issue. It is unfortunate that the entire Australian Rabbinate could not unite for this important initiative.
Well done to the pluralistic leadership for responding in such a positive way and we hope that the Orthodox Rabbinate will follow suit.

RABBIS’ STATEMENT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

The recent launch of the National Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provides the opportunity for Rabbis across all denominations to declare our abhorrence of child sexual abuse and to state our commitment to assist in the work of preventing its occurrence in our communal institutions and organisations.

In Judaism human life is essential and so Pikuach Nefesh, the obligation to save a life in jeopardy, is considered a major value to uphold. The responsibility to act extends to the bystander, i.e., one who happens to find themselves in the presence of a person in peril or in danger of being victimized by a crime. The obligation to act is summarized by Maimonides (1135-1204) in his Code as follows: “If one person is able to save another and does not do so, they transgress the commandment “Neither shall thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16).

We must not stand by and allow this evil to flourish because to do so would be Chillul HaShem, for “one honors The Eternal One and the Jewish people when one honors others; one dishonors the Eternal and desecrates the people of the Almighty when one abuses a human being created in the divine image.”

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CANADA
Daily Herald Tribune

By Alexis Kienlen, Off the Shelf
Thursday, August 22, 2013

This past week, I finally got around to reading Richard Wagamese’s book Indian Horse. I’ve been a long-time fan of Wagamese and have read some of his previous novels and non-fiction work.

Wagamese is an Ojibway writer who currently lives in British Columbia. His book Indian Horse should be required reading for all Canadians. The book was a 2012 Globe and Mail notable book, and a 2013 Canada Reads contender.

Many people have heard about the horrors of residential school, but Indian Horse does its best to take the reader into the school and gives those horrors an emotional impact. Saul Indian Horse is an older Ojibway who is looking back at his life. To help himself heal, he has decided to write a diary to tell the story of his life and what happened to him.

Saul’s parents were damaged by the residential school system, and they have already lost one of their children to the system. They move through the bush of northern Ontario like nomads, trying to flee the people who will take their children from them. At one point, Saul becomes separated from the other members of his family, and is left alone with only his grandma.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

In seeking to dismiss a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese of St. Louis, Archbishop Robert Carlson has vehemently denied one of the allegations against him … sort of.

The suit was filed regarding the alleged behavior of Fr. Joseph Jiang, who is charged with the crime of molesting a 15-year-old girl. Archbishop Carlson has been subpoenaed to give a deposition in that case, but has so far manged to avoid doing so. The trial has been delayed several times.

Meanwhile, the girl’s parents have filed a civil suit against the archdiocese for negligence in not properly supervising the priest, who was a personal favorite of Archbishop Carlson’s, perhaps living with him in the archbishop’s mansion (there are conflicting reports of this), and at least having been taken by Carlson under his wing in a kind of mentor relationship.

Carlson’s denials in the civil suit avoid the merits of the case, seeking dismissal on technicalities – which is well within his rights, though perhaps not the most Christian thing to do. However, at one point, in a footnote, the archbishop

vehemently denies the baseless allegations set forth by Plaintiffs in Count VI (Attempted Tampering with Evidence)

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Christopher McKinley

Thu, Aug 22, 2013

The only legal representative for the voluntary advocacy group ‘Justice for Magdalenes’ has been announced as the Family Law Awards 2013 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.

While still a student Maeve O’Rourke represented victims of the church-run Magdalene Laundries at the Irish Human Rights Commission, the UN Committee against Torture and the UN Human Rights Council.

Since the Irish Government apologised to the thousands of Magdalene victims, who were forced into unpaid labour between 1922 and 1996, she has also written a follow up report to the UN Committee against Torture, drafted parliamentary questions and corresponded with the President of the Law Reform Commission regarding the reparations process.

Jordan Publishing, who specialise in legal materials, launched the awards in 2010 to recognise the work of family lawyers.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

FIONNAN SHEAHAN – 23 AUGUST 2013

THE young lawyer who took on the cause of the Magdalene Laundries victims has won a prestigious award for her human rights work.

London-based trainee barrister Maeve O’Rourke has been selected as the Family Law 2013 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.

The 26-year-old is the eldest daughter of RTE broadcaster Sean O’Rourke and Caroline Murphy.

It’s the second accolade she has received for her work, after receiving an award from the Ireland Fund last year.

But Ms O’Rourke says the awards are a testimony to the work carried out by many on behalf of the Magdalene Laundries women.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on the 23 August 2013

DISGRACED Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an independent inquiry into cases of historic sexual abuse that had the support of every other bishop in Scotland, the retired Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, has revealed.

The Catholic Church in Scotland had planned to invite an independent academic to compile a report on each diocese’s “secret archives” and each bishop’s handling of allegations, which would then be made public.

However, Cardinal O’Brien, then the president of the Bishops’ Conference, refused to co-operate and the planned inquiry was shelved, Archbishop Conti wrote in a letter to be published in the Catholic newspaper the Tablet today.

Cardinal O’Brien was forced to resign in March after admitting “inappropriate behaviour” with priests and a seminarian, and is currently in an unknown monastery for a period of “prayer and penance” ordered by Pope Francis.

In a letter defending the Catholic Church in Scotland’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse, Archbishop Conti wrote: “It was the intention of all but one member of the Bishops’ Conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results, but this was delayed by the objection of the then president of the conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Mail

Shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien personally blocked an inquiry into sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Scotland less than a year ago.

The probe had been agreed by the most senior members of the Church hierarchy.

It would have examined all abuse cases on file on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.

The hierarchy planned to publish the results of the investigation, but the then president of the Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal O’Brien, who resigned earlier this year after admitting sexual misconduct, objected.

He refused to allow his archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh to participate, forcing the project to be scrapped.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an independent inquiry into cases of historic sexual abuse a year before resigning over his own inappropriate sexual conduct, the Catholic Church has said.

The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland commissioned a report into allegations of abuse in 2011 but it was halted the following year when Cardinal O’Brien, then president of the conference, withdrew his support.

The cardinal stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

DISGRAced church leader Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an inquiry into cases of historic sexual abuse in the Catholic Church – just months before he resigned in a gay sex scandal.

The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh used his role as president of the Scottish Catholic Bishops Conference to stop the probe.

Retired Glasgow archbishop Mario Conti revealed the move in a letter to Catholic newspaper The Tablet. He said “all but one” of the bishops had wanted to commission an independent inquiry.

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SCOTLAND
Eagle Radio

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an independent inquiry into cases of historic sexual abuse a year before resigning over his own inappropriate sexual conduct.

The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland commissioned a report into allegations of abuse in 2011 but it was halted the following year when Cardinal O’Brien, then president of the conference, withdrew his support.

He stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

He issued an apology, saying “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me”.

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CALIFORNIA
Ein News

Lawsuit claims that the alleged negligence of the Church allowed a sexual predator to sexually abuse a then seven-year-old girl.

SAN JOSE, CA, USA, August 21, 2013 /EINPresswire.com/ — Sex abuse victim advocate/attorney Robert Allard of Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard has filed a sexual molestation lawsuit (Santa Clara County Superior Court, Case #113CV251524) against Church on the Hill, also known as The First Baptist Church, of San Jose, alleging the Church enabled an alleged sexual predator named Keith Woodhouse to molest a then seven-year-old girl. The minor is now 14-years-old and is named as Jane Doe due to her age and serious medical and psychological problems resulting from the sexual molestation.

The lawsuit alleges that Woodhouse was observed by Church lifeguards during a summer camp called “Camp on the Hill” in July of 2007 holding the seven-year-old as she was sitting in his lap in the Church’s swimming pool. At that point in time, Woodhouse was observed kissing the minor’s shoulder and/or neck. Soon afterwards, another female lifeguard heard the young girl scream out that something was “poking” her in the butt. The lifeguard claims she saw Woodhouse exit the pool with a full erection. A third lifeguard then followed Woodhouse into a nearby bathroom where, the complaint alleges, he overheard Woodhouse masturbating. Woodhouse returned back to the pool where he immediately resumed holding Jane Doe, at which point the lifeguards intervened and ordered him to release the girl.

Despite all three lifeguards providing reports of the incident to Church management, including two comprehensive typewritten statements from two of them, Church Pastor Elliot Sands failed to notify law enforcement and the parents of the child. Instead, he simply fired Woodhouse and ordered him not to return to the Church property for the time being.

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ARIZONA
Fox 10

By FOX 10 News – Staff Report

GLENDALE, Ariz. –
The Phoenix Catholic Diocese has responded to an allegation of sexual abuse against one of it’s deacons.

62-years-old Ron Gonzalez worked at St. Thomas More parish in Glendale until just a few days ago.

He was been at the church since 2003, but the allegations stem from incidents in Texas and Pennsylvania 15 to 20 years before he was transferred to Arizona.

The Diocese of Phoenix released this statement, in part:

“Gonzalez’s faculties to function in ministry within the Diocese of Phoenix have been revoked and he is no longer employed by the parish. The Diocese of Phoenix has also contacted the authorities regarding the allegations. The Diocese of Phoenix takes these matters very seriously and urges anyone who may know of any other such misconduct, or who may have any relevant information regarding Gonzalez, to contact local law enforcement and the Diocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection at (602) 354-2396.”

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TEXAS
KFOX

Updated: Thursday, August 22 2013

By: Jesse Martinez

EL PASO, Texas – Another victim has come forward saying he was sexually abused by a now-deceased local priest in the 1970s.

According to the law offices of Merritt & Watson, the victim claims to have been sexually abused by Alfonso Madrid during 1974 and 1975 when he was eight years old at Sacred Heart Church.

The victim filed a suit against the El Paso Diocese.

As KFOX14 previously reported, a settlement was reached on July 11 with the New Orleans Province of the Jesuit Order and the El Paso Diocese when a former student and parishioner came forward stating that he was abused by Madrid.

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ARIZONA
The Republic

By Michael Clancy
The Republic | azcentral.com
Thu Aug 22, 2013

A Catholic deacon who worked at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Glendale for 10 years has resigned after he was accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

The allegation against Ron Gonzalez came to the diocese on Aug. 13. It referenced incidents that took place in Gonzalez’s previous postings in Texas and Pennsylvania 15 to 20 years ago. The name of the accuser and the nature of the incidents were not disclosed.

Gonzalez was removed from ministry immediately, a diocese spokesman said, and resigned from his job the next day. The pastor of St. Thomas More, the Rev. Jim Turner, informed parishioners during weekend masses, and the diocese posted a community notice on Monday.

Gonzalez, 62, assisted at St. Thomas More parish in Glendale since 2003 and was officially assigned to the parish in January 2011, after he retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where he had been working as a supervisory chaplain in Phoenix.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The former archbishop of Glasgow has said Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked a report into sex abuse in the church.

Writing to the Tablet, Emeritus Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti said Cardinal O’Brien, who has admitted sexual misconduct with other priests, prevented the investigation.

Other Scottish bishops had agreed the inquiry should go ahead.

Archbishop Conti told the Catholic paper he was confident the percentage of priests involved in abuse was small.

The Catholic Church has said it will engage in any process which allows “lessons to be learned”.

Commenting on the continuing investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at Fort Augustus School, Archbishop Conti said he would have alerted the proper authorities if the allegations had been made to him while he was Bishop of Aberdeen.

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SCOTLAND
Press TV (Iran)

Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has been accused of blocking a report into sex abuse in the church before resigning over sexual misconduct during his career.

In a letter to the Catholic newspaper The Tablet, former Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti revealed that O’Brien prevented an independent investigation into cases of historic sexual abuse a year before stepping down from his post as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh over his inappropriate sexual conduct.

The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland commissioned an inquiry into church-related abuse allegations in 2011, but it was halted when O’Brien withdrew his support as the then-president of the conference.

“It was the intention of all but one member of the bishops’ conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results but this was delayed by the objection of the then-President of the Conference,” Archbishop Conti wrote.

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SCOTLAND
Metro

By Mark Molloy Friday 23 Aug 2013

An independent inquiry into historic allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was ‘blocked’ by disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien before he resigned, it has emerged.

The report was commissioned by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland in 2011 but was delayed after Cardinal O’Brien objected, the former archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti has said.

It was to analyse statistics relating to abuse and allegations of abuse over a 60-year period from 1952 to 2012.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned from his position in February after admitting inappropriate sexual conduct with other priests.

His opposition to an inquiry into Church-related abuse allegations was revealed by Mr Conti in a letter to the Catholic newspaper The Tablet.

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SCOTLAND
Sky News

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an independent inquiry into cases of historic sexual abuse a year before resigning over his own inappropriate sexual conduct.

The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland commissioned a report into allegations of abuse in 2011 but it was halted the following year when Cardinal O’Brien, then president of the conference, withdrew his support.

He stepped down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

He issued an apology, saying “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me”.

Cardinal O’Brien’s opposition to an inquiry into Church-related abuse allegations was revealed by the retired Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, in a letter to the Catholic newspaper The Tablet.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

BLOSSBURG — A judge in Tioga County sentenced Father Thomas Shoback to serve five to ten years of prison time on Monday.

Investigators say Shoback abused an altar boy between 1991 and 1997 while serving at St. Mary’s parish in Blossburg.

Shoback also served as a priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary in Jermyn, Lackawanna County.
In his 34 years as a priest, Shoback also served as a pastor at St. Joseph, Hudson and Sacred Heart, Plains; Holy Redeemer, Falls-Harding; Our Lady of Lourdes, Montoursville; St. Mary and St. Andrew, Blossburg; as an Assistant Pastor at St. Joseph’s, Hazleton; Nativity BVM, Plymouth; and St. Matthew’s, East Stroudsburg.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

A former Wilkes-Barre priest convicted of molesting an altar boy was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison this week.

Thomas P. Shoback, 66, was found guilty in May in Tioga County Court of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related counts.

Mr. Shoback, born in Pittston, was a faculty member at Bishop Hoban High School and had served as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Plains Twp., St. Joseph’s Church in Plains Twp. and Holy Redeemer Church in Exeter Twp., as well as assistant pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in Hazleton and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Plymouth.

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UNITED STATES
ConWebBlog

Dave Pierre is NewsBusters’ resident apologist for the sexual abuse conducted by Catholic Church priests, even going so far as to claim that one bishop’s paying off abusive priests rather than subjecting them to the criminal justice system was “fast and economical.”

Pierre is at it again in an Aug. 12 NewsBusters post proclaiming that former Milwaukee Archbishop (and current cardinal and head of the New York City diocese) was vindicated over a judge’s ruling that the creation of a cemetery trust fund that effectively shielded more than $50 million from exposure to lawsuits from victims of abusive priests was permitted. Pierre insists that “Dolan created the trust for the explicit purpose of protecting donors’ donations and having them used as they were intended – for the care of over 100 Catholic cemeteries in the archdiocese.”

Pierre didn’t mention that Dolan specifically stated that he created the trust fund because “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability,” which would seem to belie any vindication Pierre is claiming. Just because Dolan’s creation of the fund is legally permitted doesn’t mean that shielding the funds from abuse lawsuits wasn’t a motivation for creating it.

Pierre then turns his venom on David Clohessy, head of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, calling him “nasty” and a “bigot.”

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

Editorial

It is now eight months since the Forward reported allegations that two rabbis at Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan had sexually and physically abused students during the 1970s and 1980s, and that the Y.U. administration allowed the rabbis to go to other jobs rather than face prosecution. Eight months since the school hired a law firm to conduct what it promised would be an independent investigation of the charges. According to reliable sources, the investigation, which reportedly cost $2.5 million, should be complete by now.

And yet America’s flagship Modern Orthodox educational institution maintains its silence.
All the university will say is this, from spokesman Mike Scagnoli: “Nothing has changed since last we spoke. That’s all I have for you at this time.”

But things do change. Another cycle of students will soon enter a high school that has not openly come to terms with the claims of many of its former students for whom the pain of past abuse remains quite present. As yet another example of how widespread knowledge of that abuse was at Y.U., and how ridiculous it is for administrators to plead ignorance, a handful of former students are publicly apologizing for their own “utter silence.”

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UNITED STATES
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Proposed Consensual Plan of the Irish Christian Brothers Bankruptcy
Schedules and Exhibits of Proposed Consensual Plan

August 22, 2013

Offenders operated schools in 17 U.S. States and Canada including schools in CA, HI, IL, MI, NY, NJ and WA

(White Plains, NY) – The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors for The Christian Brothers Institute and The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc. have approved the terms and conditions of a consensual reorganization plan filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York in the Chapter 11 cases of The Christian Brothers Institute and The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc.

The religious order filed for bankruptcy on April 28, 2011 and a plan has now been submitted for reorganization that includes compensation to victims of abuse and powerful non-monetary sanctions providing for additional safety within the organization.

As part of the reorganization plan, the Irish Christian Brothers have agreed to independent reviews of files and protocols. The provincial leadership team also agrees to meet with sexual abuse survivors and release the names of multiple alleged abusers. Some of the schools affected by the Irish Christian Brothers bankruptcy include Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu, Hawaii; Palma High School in Salinas, CA; Brother Rice High School in Chicago, IL; Leo High School in Chicago, IL; St. Laurence High School in Burbank, IL; Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, NJ and Essex High School (Bishop Francis) in East Orange, NJ.

“We’ve had a chance to work with many courageous survivors and hopefully this will bring some relief to each of those who have participated,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson of the St. Paul, Minnesota-based law office of Jeff Anderson & Associates who represents 92 survivors in the bankruptcy case. He continued, “Most importantly, it has brought to this organization a level of transparency and accountability that it has never known. We are inspired and grateful to those who have bravely stepped forward during this process and because of their actions others in the future are better protected.”

Over 400 survivors of sexual abuse are included in the group of unsecured creditors that will share in a financial settlement in excess of $16.5 million dollars, an amount that will be paid by the province and some insurance carriers.

A copy of the proposed Plan of Reorganization along with a complete list of schools and clerics associated with the Irish Christian Brothers can be found at www.christianbrotherabuse.com.

Jeff Anderson is an internationally known St. Paul, Minnesota-based trial lawyer widely recognized as a pioneer in sexual abuse litigation and has earned a reputation as a tireless champion of civil rights for children and the under-privileged. One of the first trial lawyers in America to publicly and aggressively initiate suits against religious organizations and hold them responsible by utilizing the American civil justice system, Anderson has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651-227-9990 Mobile/612-817-8665
Contact J. Michael Reck: Office/631-458-1099 Mobile/714-742-6593

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UNITED STATES
Care 2

by Kristina Chew
August 20, 2013

Last month, the FBI announced that it had rescued more than 100 sexually exploited children in Operation Cross Country, a nationwide sweep of sex traffickers. Some 150 people, most “pimps” who profit from sexually exploiting children, were arrested. A bill introduced last week in Congress, the End Sex Trafficking Act of 2013, goes a step further, calling for those “patrons” who seek sex with children to also be federally prosecuted.

It goes without saying that the new bill makes an important step in protecting children by recognizing that those who “obtain, patronize, or solicit” prostituted children are guilty of the crime of human trafficking. Beyond prosecuting both those who seek sex with children and those who profit from it, we also need to make provisions to better identify children who are being exploited and to help those who have survived such an experience.

“Soliciting or obtaining sex with minors, paying to have sex with a child, is a crime — period, end of story. This is a monumentally important bill that will do more to curb this terrible crime of [sexual] slavery in the 21st Century,” said Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, a sponsor of the bill.

The new bill amends the existing Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Under the TVPA,”the guy that brings those girls throughout the United States” is the one who is prosecuted, as Republican Congressman Ted Poe (a former state district judge from Humble, Texas) said during a news conference at the Capitol but “the consumer, the buyer, is not prosecuted on the federal level.” The new bill will mean that “patrons” will also face federal prosecution.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

JAMES GREENLAND

The mother of a girl who was sexually abused by retired Nelson clergyman Alec Charles Brown has refused to accept his apology and his request for forgiveness.

In the Nelson District Court yesterday, the girl’s mother said the most devastating thing was that she couldn’t erase the irreparable damage Brown caused her daughter.

Brown, 79, who was a vicar at the Anglican Church’s Richmond parish until 1976 and more recently had volunteered as chaplain at Nelson Hospital, was sentenced to six months’ home detention for an indecent act on a girl younger than 12, after an incident in Nelson in January.

Brown admitted putting his hand down the front of a girl’s pants and touching her genital area after he was caught in the act by his wife. They have since separated.

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Church and State

By Joanne Omang
Catholics for Choice

During the Vatican conclave in March, while pundits in Rome spotlighted Pope Francis’s new-era penchant for buses and informal speech making, the old-era Vatican was hard at work at the United Nations, trying once again to take women’s rights out of the global dialogue. It failed, but was this a last attempt? Pope Francis, with his genial manner and his preference for the poor, has raised flutters of optimism among many Catholics hoping for a less arrogant and more modern church. That can’t happen too soon at the UN, where the Holy See has played serious hardball against women’s human rights for nearly 50 years.

The New York Times called the latest example of the Holy See’s interference at the 53rd meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women an “unholy alliance.” Working with Iran, Russia and others, Holy See representatives tried to delete document language asserting that religion, custom and tradition are no excuse for allowing violence against women. The commission ultimately rejected this effort and the final document stands as a precedent against invoking any of these reasons to justify human rights abuse.

The Holy See’s modus operandi has been to impose its conservative social ideology at the UN via relentless pressure—evident ever since it gained semi-official standing there in 1964. Pope Paul VI spelled out his privileged position at the UN the following year: his dual status as head of a church and head of state for the Holy See, he said, left him “independent of every worldly sovereignty” and made him the “bearer of a message for all mankind.” Nearly half a century later, the Roman Catholic church has global influence via the UN that is unique among the world’s religions. Only the Holy See and Palestine (since November 2012) hold Non-member State Permanent Observer status at the UN and most of its agencies. They have the right to speak, reply and circulate documents in the General Assembly, as well as take part in international conferences with “all the privileges of a state,” including the right to vote.

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ARIZONA
KTAR

By Martha Maurer
Originally published: Aug 21, 2013

PHOENIX — A deacon working in Phoenix has been accused of sexual abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix said in a statement.

Deacon Ron Gonzalez, 62, allegedly sexually abused a minor in Texas and Pennsylvania between 15 and 20 years ago.

Gonzalez, a deacon in the Diocese of Dallas, has been serving Arizona since 1999. No allegations were brought against him in Arizona.

As a result of the charges, Gonzalez was removed from his position of parish manager at the St. Thomas More Parish in Glendale, where he had been assigned since 2011.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Marist Brothers is a world-wide Catholic Church order, noted for its role in teaching at primary and secondary school levels. Many of its “teachers” entered the order as teenagers, and gained their first teaching appointment while still teenagers. They are “trained” internally, and their qualifications would be rejected by Education Departments in all states of Australia.

There is consistent evidence that Marist offenders were sheltered by the church, over many decades in some cases. It has been well established that a cover-up technique adopted for abusive parish priests was to transfer them to new, unsuspecting, parishes. The same thing happened with Marist teachers, who were shifted to other schools when things got too hot for comfort.

Many of the Marist brothers, who were convicted of offences, remained members of the order, in good standing, until their deaths.

The schools receive many millions of dollars annually from the taxpayer, with virtually no accountability for educational outcomes.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Publicado por Carolina Reyes | La Información es de Fabián Polanco

En la Quinta Sala del Juzgado de Garantía de Concepción comenzó este jueves la audiencia de preparación del juicio oral contra Audín Araya, el sacerdote salesiano imputado de abuso sexual por el Ministerio Público.

Recordemos que la audiencia se había rechazado en dos oportunidades, sin embargo, y aunque estaba planificada en un inicio para este viernes 23 de agosto, se adelantó un día.

Esta cita es previa al juicio oral al que será llevado por la Fiscalía contra este sacerdote, imputado por abusar de jóvenes cuando era director del Colegio Salesiano de Concepción en 2008.

El abogado representante de dos de las presuntas víctimas, Renato Fuentealba, indicó que en la ocasión se anularon algunas pruebas tanto de su parte como de la defensa, situación normal en este tipo de juicios.

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SCOTLAND
Highland News

Written by Nick Humphreys

MORE than 20 possible victims of sexual and physical at two Catholic schools, one in the Highlands, have been identified.

The victims were identified as part of the ongoing investigation into allegations of abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey and its feeder school Carlekemp Priory in East Lothian, which began in March following a complaint from a former pupil.

The allegations were also the subject of a high-profile BBC Scotland documentary.

Specialist officers from Police Scotland will carry out a thorough investigation and thereafter will report their findings to the procurator fiscal for the North of Scotland.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Eugene Cullen Kennedy | Aug. 22, 2013

The keen observer of all things ecclesiastical, David Gibson, tells us that Pope Francis has unsettled and divided those who designate themselves as traditional or right-wing Catholics.

Just when Pope Benedict XVI had reassured traditionalist Catholics that his reform of the reform would overturn the Second Vatican Council and make it safe for them to stay out of the sanctuary and yield it to the clerical culture cardholders who, backs turned to the faithful, could make the Mass mysterious again by mumbling it in Latin, along comes Pope Francis who, to traditionalists’ horror and discomfort, is recalling the church to Vatican II and emphasizing its themes.

Philadelphia’s arch-conservative archbishop, Charles Caput, is uncomfortable with the idea that Pope Francis’ election has rendered Pope Benedict XVI’s return to Vatican I kaput. He sounds, according to Gibson, surprised and somewhat hurt that the new pope did not, like the resigned one, sign on to Blessed Pope John Paul II’s efforts to restore the faith to the stiffness that marked the vestments and customs of pre-Vatican II Catholicism.

Catholics on “the right wing of the church,” Chaput said as Pope Francis prepared to leave for World Youth Day in Brazil, “have not been really happy about (Francis’) election,” and sounding, as Charles J. Reid Jr. observes, like the prodigal son’s brother who despite his goodness didn’t get a good seat at the party, insists Francis “will have to take care for them, too, so it will be interesting to see how all that turns out in the long run.”

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UNITED STATES
New Republic

BY DAMON LINKER

It is natural to judge a man by the car he drives, or is driven in, especially when the man happens to be the Pope. On the evening of March 13, 2013, a short time after the College of Cardinals elected him the two hundred sixty-fifth successor to St. Peter and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, Jorge Mario Bergoglio surprised Church authorities and the international press corps by eschewing the papal limousine provided for his use and instead riding back to his hotel by bus. Since then, he has swapped out the armored Mercedes SUV that ferried his predecessor to events in favor of a far less fancy make and model. Pope Francis’s Pope-mobile is sometimes a Ford Focus.

The gestures have continued. The Pope who took his papal name from Saint Francis of Assisi, an apostle to the downtrodden, has urged admirers from his native Argentina to donate money to the poor instead of spending it on a trip to pay their tributes in Rome. He has chosen to reside in the Vatican’s modest guesthouse rather than the comparatively lavish Apostolic Palace and makes it clear that he prefers to carry his own bags. On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis washed the feet of two women in juvenile detention, one of whom was a Muslim, breaking from the tradition that restricts the ritual to men and mostly to priests in the Vatican entourage.

Such expressions of modesty and humility have come as a shock to many observers. From October 1978, when Karol Józef Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II, until this past February, when his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, renounced the throne, the world became accustomed to a very different style of Vatican leadership. The last two Popes appeared to rejoice in elevating themselves above the laity with theatrical displays of pontifical pomp. Both permitted clericalism to flourish, sometimes (as in the case of child sexual abuse by priests and its cover-up by higher-ranking officials) with horrifying consequences. Both appeared to delight in upbraiding the Western world for its (mostly sexual) sins.

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CALIFORNIA
The Press Democrat

By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

August 22, 2013

A second civil lawsuit has been filed accusing a Lakeport Catholic priest, now deceased, of sexual molestation.

The lawsuit accuses the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa and St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Lake County of failing to protect a boy, then 16, from a known sexual predator.

“The Diocese of Santa Rosa possessed knowledge of numerous incidents of inappropriate sexual contact and conduct by Father Ted Oswald with minors” before the plaintiff was molested, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court.

In addition, the youth “essentially was being abused at the same time other people were mounting lawsuits” against Oswald, said Skye Daley, the plaintiff’s attorney. Daley is part of an Irvine-based law firm that specializes in sexual abuse cases.

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CALIFORNIA
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the California bill that would allow those who claim they were molested in a private institution more time to file lawsuits:

On August 14, SB 131 lost in the Assembly Appropriations Committee by a 6-4 vote; there were seven abstentions. Yesterday, it passed 12-4. The bill now heads to the Assembly; it could be voted on as early as Monday.

It was the Democrats who made the difference between last week and this week. Last week, they were indecisive; this week they decided to cast their vote in favor of a bill that discriminates against the Catholic Church.

We need a lawmaker who will introduce a bill that discriminates against the public sector. The bill should suspend the statute of limitations in cases involving the sexual abuse of minors who were victimized in a public school or any other public entity. All private institutions, including Catholic schools, would be given a pass.

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

Fecha: 22/08/2013

– La declaración del acusado será en el hipotético escenario en el cual quede firme la resolución sobre la prescripción, que ahora está en proceso de apelación; Tanto la Fiscalía como los querellantes han acudido con un recurso de casación; El cura tendría documentación que desacreditaría todos los cargos en su contra

El sacerdote Justo José Ilarraz, dice su abogado tucumano, Jorge Muñoz, nunca pensó que fuera conveniente apelar al recurso de prescripción para evitar sentarse en el banquillo de los acusados en la causa por abuso de menores en el Seminario Arquidiocesano de Paraná, que se abrió en su contra en la Justicia entrerriana en septiembre de 2012.

En ese expediente, caratulado “Ilaraz Justo José s/Promoción a la corrupción de menores agravada”, siete víctimas contaron de qué modo fueron abusados por el cura, cuando éste ocupó el cargo de prefecto de disciplina en el Seminario Menor, una escuela secundaria orientada al sacerdocio con internado, entre 1985 y 1993. Ilarraz era, a la vez, director espiritual y confesor de muchos de ellos.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

A former Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexual assault of an altar boy in northern Pennsylvania in the 1990s has been sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.

The (Williamsport) Sun-Gazette says 66-year-old Thomas Shoback of Wilkes-Barre was sentenced Monday in Tioga County Court.

He was convicted in May of seven counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Prosecutors alleged that the assaults occurred at St. Mary’s Parish in Blossburg from 1991 to 1997, at the parish rectory and a private cabin in Farmington Township.

The victim testified that he felt “controlled” by Shoback if he didn’t spend time with him and do the things the priest wanted him to, and that Shoback would become angry, but that he never threatened him, according to the paper.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Ham & High

by Tim Lamden
Thursday, August 22, 2013

As a young girl, Yehudis Goldsobel felt powerless to stop the sex abuse she suffered at the hands of a family friend.

In June this year, almost 15 years after the abuse first began, the 27-year-old saw some of her power restored as her abuser Menachem Levy, 41, a Golders Green father-of-six, was jailed for three years for his crimes.

Waiving her right to lifelong anonymity, Ms Goldsobel has now taken the decision to speak out about her experience in order to tackle the challenges facing victims of abuse in Orthodox Jewish communities.

She said: “We don’t have sex education and we are not taught about abuse. Rabbis don’t want to know the word abuse, they don’t want to think it exists. Ignorance is bliss.

“They don’t want to admit that Jews could do this because Jews are supposed to live a life of goodness.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Sun Gazette

August 22, 2013
By CHERYL R. CLARKE (cclarke@sungazette.com) , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

WELLSBORO – The former Blossburg and Montoursville priest convicted in May of sexually assaulting an altar boy was sentenced in Tioga County Court Monday to 5 to 10 years in state prison.

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

According to court documents, Thomas P. Shoback, 66, of Wilkes-Barre, was sentenced for seven counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal attempt to have involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, as well as six months to two years for endangering the welfare of a child, concurrent.

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CALIFORNIA
Lake County News

Teen sues Diocese of Santa Rosa over sexual abuse allegations involving former Lakeport priest

THURSDAY, 22 AUGUST 2013

ELIZABETH LARSON

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A teenager who previously served as a St. Mary Immaculate Parish altar boy has sued the Diocese of Santa Rosa, alleging he was sexually abused by a former priest.

The law firm of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi filed the lawsuit on behalf of the 16-year-old plaintiff, identified as “John JC Doe,” on Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court, according to attorney Skye Daley.

This suit alleges that the late Father Ted Oswald sexually abused John JC Doe while he was serving as an altar boy and participating in the parish youth group under Oswald’s supervision.

Dan Galvin, the diocese’s attorney, said Wednesday that he hadn’t yet seen the complaint and therefore couldn’t offer any comment.

Oswald, who died in July 2010 at age 65, was put on leave and later retired after a 2008 lawsuit was filed against him and the diocese in Sonoma County Superior Court by Tracy resident Christopher Griego, as Lake County News has reported.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Elizabeth Tenety, Published: August 21

When Pope Francis convened his now-famous press conference aboard the papal plane during his trip home from World Youth Day, international attention was seized on his comments on homosexuality, specifically his words, “Who am I to judge?” (Only the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.)

But many in the church are raising their eyebrows–and their hopes–over the first Jesuit pope’s call for a “deeper theology of women” and his note on “a lack of a theological development” when it comes to the female half of the world’s population.

Sure, Francis dismissed the possibility of women’s ordination to the priesthood, calling it a “closed door,” but he also said that “the role of the woman in the church mustn’t only end as mom and worker.” He said women are ”more important than the bishops and priests” and referenced debates over women in the church, implying that the controversy over whether women can be altar servers, lectors and heads of major organizations is over. They can. They are. And Catholic women are eager for more.

There is no one “Catholic woman.” They are single and married, nuns and lawyers (sometimes both), liberal and conservative, gay, straight and bisexual. Some are even religion reporters. (Full disclosure: I am Catholic and a woman.) But in an age of the “nuns on the bus,” the “mommy wars” and the “war on women,” Catholic women leaders see in Francis’s call to action tremendous potential for new conversations about gender in the church and society, with possible consequences as vast as finding feminine ways to describe the divine to church support for paid maternity leave. …

Some say that one place greater female leadership might have made a difference is the sexual abuse scandal. Alvaré, who has worked extensively with the Vatican on issues of women and the law, headed the commission investigating clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She says that during the decades of church inaction on the issue, many of the involved leaders–from those doing the intake on the complaints to the lawyers working on the cases –were men who “didn’t actually grasp the horror of the sexual violation of a child or a young adult.” Alvaré adds that “the lack of appropriate horror is not a mistake a woman would have made.”

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ILLINOIS
Southwest News Herald

• Friday, August 23, 2013

State Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-16th) applauded the signing last Friday of a law that removes the statute of limitations on filing charges of sexual assault or abuse when the victim was younger than 18 and when there is either corroborating physical evidence or evidence that a mandated reporter knew about the crime but failed to notify authorities.

“This law gives the gift of time to victims of horrific crimes,” Collins said. “Letting them take all the time they need to come forward may offer these victims peace and closure, could prevent a child molester from victimizing others and — most importantly — gives justice a chance.”

According to the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, most child victims are not ready to report sexual abuse until after the current 20-year statute of limitations has expired.

This means perpetrators may remain free to exploit and abuse other children throughout their lives.

There are numerous reasons child victims may not be willing to come forward and press charges, even after they are adults.

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CALIFORNIA
Capital Public Radio

A previously-stalled California bill that would expand the ability of victims of sexual abuse to file lawsuits is on its way to the Assembly floor after getting a second chance in committee today.

(Sacramento, CA)
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
By Harry Gibbons

The measure extends the statute of limitations by a year for anyone older than 26 seeking damages for sexual abuse.

Ellen Yin-Wycoff is with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She said the bill is necessary to give those who come to terms with their abuse later in life the ability to pursue legal recourse.

“What it allows for is accountability in terms of every institution that may have had some contributing factor or may have been involved in protecting a perpetrator or offender of sexual violence,” said Yin-Wycoff.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

In separate decisions, a federal district judge and a Connecticut court have rejected dioceses’ arguments that the First Amendment bars lawsuits against clerical sexual abuse, according to the Religion Clause blog.

Rejecting a motion by the Diocese of Yakima, the federal judge ruled that “the Free Exercise Clause does not bar a negligence claim against Defendants for hiring [Deacon Aaron] Ramirez and placing him in a position of trust and authority from which he was able to sexually abuse Plaintiff.”

According to the BishopAccountability.org database, the deacon fled to Mexico after being accused of raping a teenage male parishioner in 1999. Blessed John Paul II subsequently laicized him, and he became an Episcopal priest.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The State Government has again extended the reporting date for the special commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Hunter.

Margaret Cunneen was originally due to report back in April but as the witness list lengthened that was pushed back until the end of next month.

The Premier Barry O’Farrell has told parliament he has now given Ms Cunneen until the end of February next year.

“While we all want the commission to report as soon as possible on these matters so that hopefully we can learn the lessons we should all agree that’s it’s obviously more important that the relevant matters are properly and thoroughly investigated,” he said.

“No one wants any shortcuts when it comes to inquiries involving matters as serious as these.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

An inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests in the NSW Hunter Valley won’t hand down it findings until next year.

The special commission of inquiry opened in Sydney in February and was due to report to the NSW government by September 30.

But Premier Barry O’Farrell told question time on Thursday that Commissioner Margaret Cunneen had sought an extension and will now report her findings on February 28 next year.

“We should all agree that it is obviously more important that the relevant matters are properly and thoroughly investigated,” he said.

“No-one wants any shortcuts when it comes into matters as serious as these.”

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by FRANK URQUHART
Published on the 21 August 2013

DETECTIVES investigating allegations of physical and sexual abuse at two Catholic boarding schools in Scotland have identified more than 20 potential victims, it was revealed today.

• Police have identified over 20 potential victims of sexual abuse in an investigation into two Catholic boarding schools in Scotland

• Investigation into Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands and Carlekemp in East Lothian began in March following a complaint from a former pupil

The investigation centres on allegations of abuse at the Benedictine-run Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands and its prep school Carlekemp in East Lothian.

The investigations began in March following a complaint by a former pupil. A BBC Scotland investigation, broadcast last month featured five men who claimed they had been raped or sexually assaulted by two Australian monks Father Aidan Duggan and Father Chrysostom Alexander. Father Fabian Duggan, Father Aidan Duggan’s brother has also been accused of abuse.

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SCOTLAND
Strathspey and Badenoch Herald

Police Scotland are continuing their investigations in relation to allegations of historic physical and sexual abuse carried out at Fort Augustus Abbey and Carlekemp School.

The investigation under the direction of Crown Office began in March 2013 following a report from a previous pupil.

A police spokesperson said: “The investigation has so far identified more than 20 possible victims and extends to liaison with a number of law enforcement agencies across and outwith the UK.

“Specialist officers from Police Scotland will carry out a thorough investigation and thereafter will report their findings to the specialist prosecutors of the Crown Office National Sexual Crimes Unit which leads the prosecution of the most serious sexual offences.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A paedophile pensioner who preyed on vulnerable children in care at a church-run home faces a lengthy jail sentence.

Ian Samson, 72, serially abused young people and raped one girl at the premises where he lived in while his wife worked there as the matron.

Even after he severed links with the home, Samson continued to abuse children.

He wore a cross round his neck at his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

A string of victims relived their ordeals from the witness box and one woman, now aged 48, told the court: “I just thought it happened because I was in a children’s home.”

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A sex offender who abused children across Edinburgh and the Lothians over three decades has been jailed for 14 years.

Ian Samson, 72, was found guilty of 22 charges of serious sexual offences at an Edinburgh care home in the 70s and other addresses in the 80s and 90s.

Samson also raped one girl at the home where he and his wife worked.

Detectives uncovered the offences after Samson was convicted of similar crimes in 2010 and made further inquiries.

He was employed at the care home as a janitor and his wife as a matron. …

A Church of Scotland spokeswoman said: “There are no adequate words to convey how horrified we are by the abuse these children suffered. Ian Samson’s crimes are truly sickening.

“What has emerged in court is deeply shocking.

“We take note of the issues raised by the judge and are launching an urgent critical review of this period.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

Ian Samson, 72, organised his whole life around gaining access to youngsters and carrying out his “wicked campaign” of abuse, taking jobs in places such as a boys’ hostel and a children’s home.

He was convicted after trial of 22 offences involving the sexual abuse and rape of 12 children.

Many of the offences were committed against children at an Edinburgh care home in the 1970s while others took place at locations in the capital and the Lothians throughout the 1980s and 1990s, police said.

Passing sentence at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lady Scott said Samson had been assessed as posing a very high risk of serious harm to others.

She told him: “The overwhelming evidence in this case demonstrated that you are a prolific predatory and violent sexual offender who poses a serious danger to all children and vulnerable youngsters.

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OHIO
Mansfield News Journal

Written by
Mark Caudill
News Journal

MANSFIELD — Scott Butner will serve his complete prison term.

Butner has been denied parole. Members of the Ohio Parole Board interviewed him last Friday at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

In 1992, Butner, then 17, pleaded guilty to five counts of rape and five counts of gross sexual imposition in a child molestation case. He received a concurrent sentence of eight to 25 years in prison for the rape counts and a suspended 10-year sentence for the gross sexual imposition convictions.

Butner was a volunteer baby sitter at First Presbyterian Church, 399 S. Trimble Road, in 1990 and 1991 when the abuse happened. Richland County Prosecutor James Mayer Jr. said there were 18 victims between the ages of 4 and 10. He said seven of the victims contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

The abuse occurred from the summer of 1990 to February 1991. Butner and co-defendant Lawrence Rohde were convicted of sexually abusing the children in church bathrooms, classrooms and in nearby woods while the children’s parents attended church services and other church activities.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Thursday 22 August 2013

The Church Of Scotland has launched an investigation after a predatory and violent paedophile was able to get a job at a care home solely to prey on children in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Ian Samson, 72, is starting a 14-year jail sentence for a catalogue of abuse that included a number of attacks on youngsters at the Lord and Lady Polwarth Children’s Home in Polwarth, Edinburgh. The home closed in 1982.

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TENNESSEE
Times Free Press

by Beth Burger

A 21-year-old pastor’s son won’t be allowed to work with children or hold a leadership position at the Vineyard Community Church in Chattanooga after being charged with simple battery, two counts of third-degree cruelty to children and sexual assault in connection with an incident at a church camp.

The church, which holds services at Tyner Middle Academy, 6837 Tyner Road, hosted a church camp in Temple, Ga., last month and Zachary Anderle served as a camp counselor.

Affidavits in Carroll County, Ga., allege that Anderle climbed on top of a 13-year-old camper and placed his penis on top of the boy’s crotch while other boys were watching. Anderle also slapped the child’s face, the report states.

The Times Free Press does not name victims of sex crimes.

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ARIZONA
AZFamily

[with video]

by Tami Hoey
azfamily.com
Posted on August 21, 2013

GLENDALE, Ariz.– A deacon at a Valley Catholic church is facing accusations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Ron Gonzales, 62, served at St. Thomas More Church in Glendale. He stands accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The accusations stem from incidents in Texas and Pennsylvania, 15 to 20 years ago.

The Diocese of Phoenix has relieved Gonzales of his duties at St. Thomas More parish. Gonzales has been at that church since 2003. There have been no accusations against him at that parish.

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CALIFORNIA
Press-Enterprise

AUGUST 21, 2013 BY DAVID OLSON

As my colleague Jim Miller from the Press-Enterprise Sacramento bureau reported, the Assembly appropriations committee today approved a bill temporarily lifting the statute of limitations for some older cases of alleged sexual abuse.

The 11-3 vote came a week after the bill failed to muster enough votes in the same panel. Several legislators – including Assemblyman Eric Linder, a Corona Republican – who had abstained Aug. 14 voted in favor the measure today.

The California Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s dioceses, is lobbying against the bill, as are the YMCA and private athletic, school and university associations. They say the bill unfairly excludes public institutions – and victims abused by public-school teachers and other public employees – from its coverage.

Bishop Gerald Barnes, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, is continuing to contact Inland legislators to urge them to vote against the bill, diocesan spokesman John Andrews said.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

[Assembly members]

Posted by Joelle Casteix on August 21, 2013

The news broke this morning, but I was swamped buying school supplies, picking up kids, and trying to find new size 1 soccer cleats.

SB 131, The California Child Victims Act, has passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and now is now heading to the Assembly floor.

The vote is a huge win for all victims of abuse, who see this bill as a tremendous opportunity to expose abusers and hold wrongdoers accountable. It is also an important first step in the long-term goal holding of ALL institutions accountable for abuse.

What can you do?

Write your Assembly Member NOW and tell him or her that you support SB 131. Tell them that ALL victims support exposing as many predators as possible and keeping kids safer NOW. Be sure to also say that we will NEVER be able to hold public institutions accountable unless we take this important first step.

You can also throw in the crimes that have been exposed in your area ONLY because of the 2003 window.

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CHILE
Univision

Los abusos ocurrieron cerca del altar de la parroquia

Omar Rogel Pinuer, un exsacerdote chileno fue declarado culpable de abusar sexualmente de cuatro niños de al menos 14 años de edad.

De acuerdo con declaraciones del un fiscal chileno, Pinuer, de 53 años, cometió los abusos entre 2006 y 2011, cuando se desempeñaba como administrador del internado en San Francisco de Cunco, al sur de Chile.

Los menores, cuya edad oscilaba entre los 14 y 16 años habrían recibido alcohol y dinero a cambio mantener relaciones sexuales con el sacerdote, según refieren los informes difundidos por el tribunal.

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CALIFORNIA
Press-Enterprise

AUGUST 21, 2013 BY JIM MILLER

The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would extend the statute of limitations for some alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse, reversing course from a week ago.

Senate Bill 131, sponsored by the National Center for Victims of Crime, would create a one-year window for people to sue groups who otherwise would be immune from litigation because of the amount of time elapsed since the alleged abuse.

Supporters say the measure would override a recent California Supreme Court ruling that prevents some childhood sex abuse victims from having their day in court.

The California Catholic Conference, private schools and nonprofit groups such as the YMCA and USA Swimming strongly oppose the proposal. They say it would be unfair to extend the statute of limitations on previously expired claims.

The measure passed the Senate and another Assembly committee. Last Wednesday, though, it fell three votes short of the nine necessary to pass the appropriations panel after several lawmakers abstained.

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CALIFORNIA
Fresno Bee

By Melody Gutierrez — mgutierrez@sacbee.com

The Assembly Appropriations Committee resurrected a bill extending the statute of limitations for some sex abuse victims after it failed last week amid fierce lobbying.

Senate Bill 131 by Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would open a one-year window for victims who were excluded from a 2003 law that extended the time during which sexual abuse victims can file a civil lawsuit.

Opponents have argued that the bill unfairly excludes public agencies, such as school districts, and instead only revives abuse claims against private institutions, such as the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts.

An umbrella organization of groups like the California Catholic Conference and California Association of Private School Organizations spent $250,000 in the fist six months of this year to fight the bill.

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CALIFORNIA
Houston Chronicle

LAURA OLSON, Associated Press | August 21, 2013

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Some victims of childhood sexual abuse would have more time to file civil lawsuits against private or nonprofit organizations that protected their alleged abusers under a bill that passed a key legislative committee Wednesday.

The bill has already passed the Senate and is similar — although narrower in scope — to a 2002 bill that passed during the height of the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal.

SB131 by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, heads to the full Assembly after passing the Assembly Appropriations Committee on a 12-4 vote. Wednesday’s action came after the bill fell three votes shy of advancing from the same committee last week.

It would lift the statute of limitations for one year for a group of alleged victims who were 26 and older and missed the previous window to file lawsuits in 2003. Beall said he introduced the legislation after hearing from people who said they had been victims of sexual abuse as children and had been unable to seek restitution. …

The National Center for Victims of Crime, which sponsored the bill, and other supporters say victims need the extra time to file lawsuits because it might take years for them to acknowledge that they were molested.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement after the vote praising the committee’s action and calling on the Legislature to give final approval to the bill.

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CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle

Ellen Huet
Published 2:55 pm, Wednesday, August 21, 2013

LAKEPORT, LAKE COUNTY — A Lake County family is suing a Roman Catholic parish and the Diocese of Santa Rosa, claiming they knew a priest had a history of sexual abuse and didn’t protect an altar boy from being molested.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court, claims that the late Rev. Ted Oswald of St. Mary Immaculate in Lakeport had already been accused several times of abusing young parishioners, but was still promoted to pastor and allowed unsupervised access to young boys at and outside the church.

The suit claims that unfettered access allowed Oswald to abuse an altar boy, now 16 years old, whose mother is also a plaintiff in the suit.

Oswald targeted the boy when he was about 10 years old, said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Skye Daley. The priest invited the boy to wash his recreational vehicle at his house, which is where the alleged abuse began, Daley said.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix

Re: Deacon Ron Gonzalez
Aug. 19, 2013

On Aug. 13, 2013, the Diocese of Phoenix received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against Ron Gonzalez, a deacon of the Diocese of Dallas who has been serving in Arizona since 1999. The allegations relate to incidents reported to have occurred in Texas and Pennsylvania 15 to 20 years ago, prior to his arrival in Arizona.

Gonzalez, 62, assisted at St. Thomas More Parish in Glendale since 2003 and was officially assigned to the parish in January 2011. He had been the parish manager since May 1, 2013. There have been no reported allegations or incidents of any wrongdoing at St. Thomas More or elsewhere within the Diocese of Phoenix.

According to Diocese records, Gonzalez was a chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., from 1983 to 1999, and a supervisory chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in the Diocese of Phoenix from 1999 to 2010.

Gonzalez’s faculties to function in ministry within the Diocese of Phoenix have been revoked and he is no longer employed by the parish. The Diocese of Phoenix has also contacted the authorities regarding the allegations.

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ARIZONA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 21

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Phoenix Catholic officials admit having gotten a child sex abuse report on 8/13. They admit suspending the accused cleric on 8/19. And they apparently posted a small notice on their website, rather than warning Phoenix parents and parishioners by holding a news conference or sending out a news release.

The alleged offender is Deacon Ron Gonzalez. Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmstead doesn’t disclose why a deacon from Dallas was sent to work in Harrisburg Pennsylvania and then to Phoenix. Nor does Bishop Olmstead doesn’t disclose where Gonzalez is now. We call on Bishop Olmstead to reveal these facts.

These delays and this secrecy is troubling because every day the identity of a credibly accused child molester remains hidden, there are more opportunities for the offender and his supervisors to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and even flee the country. And every day the whereabouts of a credibly accused child molester are unknown is a day when kids are needlessly at risk.

And we call on Bishop Olmstead to personally visit any and all Phoenix parishes where Gonzalez worked, even briefly, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact law enforcement officials, not Catholic church officials.

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CALIFORNIA
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

California Assembly Appropriations Committee,voteD YES to SB 131… Contact/ Write to members of the House Appropriations Committee – let them know you support the bill!

Updated August 21, 2013

Muchas Gracias! Thank you, California State Assembly Appropriations Committee – for voting YES to SB 131 – you did the right thing and may God bless you all.

Now victims – especially of JP2 Army – the Los Angeles branch of John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army – can proceed and claim the ONLY JUSTICE they have left – from the living hell 27 years of Opus Dei papacy could not let them taste. Cardinal Mahony have some unfinished business left – which Opus Dei Archbishop Gomez must now finish to pay out to victims, read our related article, Los Angeles files. Mahony must be jailed as Nazis caught in their old age and retirement http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/los-angeles-files-mahony-must-be-jailed.html. .

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NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Satmar Man Who Tried To Force Child Sex Abuse Victim To Drop Charges Gets Sweetheart Plea Deal

Yesterday, I reported that Abe Rubin – who is charged with bribery, witness tampering and coercion for trying to force Nechemya Weberman’s victim to leave the country and not testify against Weberman – would get a sweetheart plea deal and will not receive any prison time. In exchange for that, Brooklyn’s challenged DA Charles J. Hynes would get the Satmar bloc vote.

Today as part of a sweetheart plea deal, Rubin admitted he offered the victim’s then-boyfriend $500,000 to get her out of the country so she could not testify against Weberman. For that crime, Rubin could serve at most 6 months in jail – but he likely won’t serve any time at all.

The DA ‘asked’ for prison time. But the DA had also allowed Rubin to plead guilty to a an E felony. People convicted of E felonies with no prior criminal history rarely get prison sentences, and the judge therefore said he will sentence Rubin, in late October at the earliest, likely to no prison time – another coodinated travesty of justice in corrupt Brooklyn.

Satmar got what it wanted and Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes will now get what he wants – the Satmar bloc vote.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By JOSH SAUL
Last Updated: 2:43 PM, August 21, 2013

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who tried to bribe a pretty young Brooklyn teen in a slimy attempt to get her to drop her sex abuse case against a once-prominent Hasidic counselor pleaded guilty today to bribing a witness in a deal that could let him off with no jail time.

Abraham Rubin, 49, admitted in Brooklyn Supreme Court that he spoke directly to the teen’s then-boyfriend – now husband – when he offered the bribe.

Brooklyn prosecutors charged that Rubin offered the couple $500,000 to leave the country so the case against Nechemya Weberman would be dropped.

Weberman was convicted last year on the strength of his victim’s multi-day testimony about the abuse and was sentenced to 103 years behind bars.
The victim’s husband said he accepts the deal but wishes Rubin would get some jail time.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY OREN YANIV / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2013

A Brooklyn Hasid admitted Wednesday to offering $500,000 to buy the silence of victim in a sensational sex abuse case – but the cash-flush offender may still skirt jail time.

Abraham Rubin, 49, acknowledged offering the hefty sum to the husband of a teenage girl who testified against Satmar counselor Nechemya Weberman, pleading guilty in Brooklyn Supreme Court to a felony of bribing a witness.

The couple declined the bribe and the 18-year-old took the stand for four days last winter, sealing Weberman’s conviction on 59 counts in a high-profile trial that highlighted abuse in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and intimidation of those who report it. Weberman is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence.

While prosecutors offered Rubin a deal of six months in jail plus five-year probation, Justice Danny Chun agreed to the defense’s request and will consider giving a lesser or no jail time at the Oct. 29 sentencing.

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NEW YORK
Huffington Post

Nechemya Weberman, an esteemed religious counselor in New York’s Hasidic Jewish community, was sentenced in January to 103 years in prison for sexually abusing a young girl who came to him for guidance about her faith. Now the story of Weberman’s transgressions is being told in a new book called “The Devil of Williamsburg.”

Author Allison Yarrow joined HuffPost Live’s Mike Sacks to discuss what she learned about the man who was convicted of 59 counts of sexually abusing a minor.

Weberman’s trial sparked a wave of controversy among a religion known for its carefully composed way of life.

“These are the Satmars. They are a sect of ultra-religious Jews that have very strict rules,” Yarrow said. “They have strict rules of dress. They have strict codas of marriage and children and family. When something goes wrong of this magnitude, it’s really not discussed.”

The situation was complicated by the support Weberman received from the Satmar community despite the egregious charges against him.

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CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

LAURA OLSON Associated Press
POSTED: 08/21/2013

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—A bill that would give some victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to file civil lawsuits is heading to the Assembly floor after it previously failed to clear a key committee.

The legislation from Democratic Sen. Jim Beall of San Jose would lift the statute of limitations for one year for a group of alleged victims who were 26 and older and missed a similar window to file lawsuits in 2003.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed the bill Wednesday, 12-4.

The Catholic Church is a main opponent of SB131. Representatives of the church and other institutions say it unfairly applies only to private or nonprofit groups.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, August 21, 2013

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

A California legislative panel today passed a bill that will enable more child sex abuse victims to warn parents about molesters through the civil justice system.

[Los Angeles Times]

California kids are the winners today. Lawmakers can make it easier or harder for crime victims to expose predators.

These lawmakers are making it easier.

Those who commit and conceal heinous child sex crimes in California can’t breathe easier now. Those who want to prevent and expose such crimes still have a tough road. We hope the rest of the California legislature will fully pass this measure so that California kids will be safer.

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NEW JERSEY
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

For a contemporary example of Catholic hierarchical scapegoating that doesn’t seem to get the church very far down the road to credibility as it proclaims the gospel in the public square:

1. Read Grant Gallicho at Commonweal on the problems poor Opus Dei Archbishop Myers of Newark, New Jersey, appears to have with memory–understandable, perhaps, with all his trips to the race track to distract him from remembrance, all the silver and gold gewgaws given him by priests who serve under him to take his attention away from the dreary task of remembering.

2. Read poor Archbishop Myers’s response to his critics, which Brian Roewe discusses yesterday at National Catholic Reporter. A précis: said critics are “evil,” and in cahoots with a secular media and politicians out to attack the Catholic church and its truths.

3. Then read the response of the New Jersey Record to poor Archbishop Myers’s attempt to engage in a bit of nasty (and entirely unconvincing) scapegoating, as he attacks his critics, the media, politicians–faithful Catholics asking for transparency and accountability from him and other bishops:

The archbishop apparently believes criticism is an act of evil. Not all men of the church have felt that way. The Gospel of Matthew says: “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
Myers should start sawing.

The Record is clearly correct. The days in which Catholic prelates could count on wild allegations about the evil of their critics and the anti-Catholicism of the media and politicians to carry the day, when said prelates are asked to account for their indefensible actions, are long since over and done with. That kind of shoddy scapegoating to avoid responsibility for indefensible episcopal actions no longer plays even in Peoria.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By Melanie Mason
August 21, 2013, 12:09 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — After failing to muster enough support last week, a bill that would give some sex-abuse victims more time to file lawsuits advanced in an Assembly committee Wednesday.

SB 131, sponsored by Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose), would lift the statute of limitations for one year to enable some victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue private or nonprofit employers that failed to protect them from known molesters.

The Catholic Church has fiercely lobbied against the measure, saying a flood of new suits could cripple the church economically, forcing parochial schools to close.

At an emotional hearing of the Assembly Appropriations committee last week, victims told stories of grappling with their abuse for decades after it occurred. Supporters of the measure say that because some victims can take years to acknowledge they were molested, they need more time to file lawsuits.

The church and other opponents, including private-school consortiums and organizations such as the YMCA, argued that the bill unfairly targets private and nonprofit employers.

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CALIFORNIA
Digital Journal

SANTA ROSA, Calif., Aug. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Attorneys representing the victim of child sexual abuse, allegedly committed by a former priest and pastor of St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Lakeport, filed a civil lawsuit late yesterday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa and St. Mary Immaculate Parish. The case was filed in Superior Court in Sonoma County.

The lawsuit accuses the Diocese and the Parish of failing to protect plaintiff, and all children, from a known sexual predator. Father Ted Oswald, the alleged perpetrator had been previously accused of sexual misconduct with minors dating back to the 1980’s. In 2009, the Diocese of Santa Rosa paid $1.3 million to settle another sexual abuse lawsuit against Father Oswald.

This suit alleges that Father Ted Oswald sexually abused the victim, while the victim was serving as an altar boy and participating in the parish youth group under Father Ted Oswald’s supervision.

Plaintiff’s attorney Skye Daley said, “Knowing the alleged perpetrator had a history of child sexual abuse, the Diocese of Santa Rosa and St. Mary Immaculate Parish had a responsibility to keep its parish members and their children safe from child sexual abusers. Instead, the Diocese allowed Father Ted Oswald to continue with his duties of hearing confessions from minors, overseeing altar servers, running youth programs, counseling programs and church-sponsored trips and events. The parish members were led to believe their children were safe. They were not.”
eling to the victim’s home under the guise of providing spiritual guidance and support to his family.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

We are grateful to New Hampshire’s highest court for recognizing that kids’ actual safety trumps adults’ professed beliefs. We hope this ruling will deter other ministers from trying to exploit legal loopholes and evade responsibility for child sex crimes and cover ups.

Not every sentence uttered between clergy is protected or privileged, especially when it relates to endangering or protecting children.

We still hope that Rev. Phelps’ church demotes or disciplines him. It’s dreadfully wrong for anyone, especially a minister, to mistreat an abuse victim like he mistreated this girl.

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SCOTLAND
STV

More than 20 potential victims of alleged abuse by monks at two Catholic boarding schools have been identified by police.

Former pupils at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in the Highlands and its East Lothian feeder school, Carlekemp, have claimed that they were molested and beaten by the monks who taught them decades ago. Both schools are now closed.

Police said they have been investigating since March following a report from a former pupil and more allegations came to light in a recent BBC documentary.

Charity Children 1st has set up a dedicated support line for anyone affected to contact them.

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SCOTLAND
Ross-Shire Journal

MORE than 20 possible victims of sex and physical abuse at a former Highland school have been identified following a police probe.

Police confirmed today that a joint investigation into reports of historic physical and sexual abuse carried out at Fort Augustus Abbey and Carlekemp School are continuing.

In a joint statement, Police Scotland and the Crown Office

said the probe – started in March 2013 following a report from a previous pupil “has so far identified more than 20 possible victims and extends to liaison with a number of law enforcement agencies across and outwith the UK2.

Specialist Officers from Police Scotland will carry out a thorough investigation and then report their findings to the Procurator Fiscal for the North of Scotland.

Police have appealed to anyone with information about this case to come forward and report it using the 101 number or by emailing fortaugustusabbeyenq@scotland.pnn.police.uk

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SCOTLAND
Inverness Courier

Written byJamie Durent

MORE than 20 possible victims of the Fort Augustus Abbey and Carlekemp School sexual abuse scandals have been identified by police.

In a joint investigation with the crown office, the police are continuing their enquiries into the historic physical and sexual abuse at the schools, which dates back to the 1970s.

The investigation was launched in March after a former pupil came forward with the allegations against staff at the school.

Specialist Officers from Police Scotland will carry out a thorough investigation and thereafter will report their findings to the Procurator Fiscal.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A Holy See representative is to meet with members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)

ALESSANDRO SPECIALE
ROME
The new climate of dialogue and trust which has settled in the Vatican since Francis arrival seems to have spread to the U.S., to the point of healing the split between the LCWR’s nuns and U.S. bishops, which had been worsening in recent years.

The Vatican appointed a commissioner to oversee the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in April 2012, when Benedict XVI was still Pope, after the nuns were accused “radical feminism” and of failing to obey church teaching on matters such as the possible ordination of women priests and contraception. Rome’s decision was met with indignation by a majority of faithful but was also supported by the more conservative sectors of U.S. Catholicism which have always accused the nuns of not contributing enough to the cultural battles against abortion and same-sex marriage. These issues have been top priorities for U.S. bishops in terms of public commitments.

During their annual assembly held in Orlando, Florida between 13 and 16 August, the LCWR extended an olive branch to the Archbishop of Seattle, J. Peter Sartain – the Vatican-appointed commissioner who was given the task of overseeing the group’s reform -, inviting him to speak at their meeting. The prelate promptly accepted the invitation and attended three closed-door meetings, the content of which was closely examined during the group’s plenary assembly. He also participated in a three-day meeting with the heads of the LCWR.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By ANNMARIE TIMMINS
Monitor staff
Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the rape and sexual assault convictions against Ernest Willis who is serving a 15-to-30 year prison sentence for forcibly raping his teenage babysitter twice, whom he knew through Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, in 1997.

The court issued its ruling this morning.

The girl, who became pregnant, was later made to stand before their congregation to apologize by then-pastor Chuck Phelps. A Merrimack County jury convicted Ellis of three counts of rape and one count of felonious sexual assault in 2011.

Willis’s attorneys appealed the conviction on several grounds, including the admission of testimony from Phelps, who told jurors Willis had confessed to twice having sexual contact with the 15-year-old girl and described himself as the “aggressor.”

In their appeal, attorneys for Willis asked the Supreme Court justices to decide whether the trial court erred in deciding that conversations between Willis and his Phelps weren’t protected by religious privilege.

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