ABUSE TRACKER

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Victims Write Parents & Judge about Teachers
Both will be in court in Little Rock next week
One of them pled guilty to molesting a student
Another didn’t report the crimes as required by law
Group wants families & school officials to help prosecutors
And it tells Little Rock’s bishop “Do aggressive outreach now”
Parents should “ask their kids if they saw or suspected wrongdoing,” victims
say

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will urge local school officials and church officials to “actively seek out” people who “saw, suspected or suffered” crimes by two teachers who will be in court next week.

They will also disclose that they are writing to

— nearly 400 parents of students at the school where both of the accused worked, and
—the judge in the cases, urging harsh sentences if/when the teachers are found guilty of child sex crimes and/or cover ups.

WHEN
Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Pulaski County Court house, 401 W. Markham in downtown Little Rock (near S Spring Street)

WHO
Two members of a support group for clergy sex abuse victims called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director.

WHY
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging officials with a Little Rock school and the Little Rock Catholic diocese to “aggressively seek out” others who may have “seen, suspected or suffered crimes” by two former Catholic school teachers who will be in court next week on child sex charges. The group is also writing to families who attend the school prodding those with information or suspicions about the crimes to contact law enforcement.

One of the teachers, Kelly Ann O’Rourke, admitted molesting a student. The other, Kathy Gene Griffin, allegedly concealed O’Rourke’s crimes.

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.

ALABAMA
WHNT

MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – A local church musician pleads guilty to harassment.

Blake Jerrod Earl was arrested in 2012, and was initially charged with sexual abuse. Police say Earl sexually abused a 17-year-old girl while on a church trip in Enterprise, Alabama.

Earl pleaded guilty to harassment, a lesser charge, on August 22, 2013 in Coffee County. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but that was suspended, and now must serve one year of unsupervised probation. Earl also must also attend counseling as part of his plea agreement.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Australia’s most senior orthodox rabbi, Moshe Gutnick, has formally apologised for child sexual abuse within the Jewish community.

In a written apology on the eve of Yom Kippur, he said the issue has been handled inappropriately with a culture of covering up abuse.

Rabbi Gutnick asked victims of abuse for forgiveness and urged them to come forward to ensure police can prosecute the perpetrators.

“We need to empower ourselves and victims to help to bring this scourge to an end,” he said.

Talking to reporters, the rabbi addressed what he called a “cultural cover-up” with those inside the church refusing to contact the proper authorities in the belief sexual assault was a church issue, not a criminal one.

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.

TEXAS
Kilgore News Herald

By JAMES DRAPER
news1@kilgorenewsherald.com

A Rusk County Grand Jury reindicted Glenn Douglas Barton for aggravated sexual assault of a child last week following an analysis of DNA evidence collected by local investigators.

Awaiting the forensic report, Rusk County District Attorney Micheal Jimerson dismissed the original indictment against Barton after his March 4 arrest stemming from KPD’s investigation into allegations he sexually abused a young family member for several years.

At the time of his first arrest Barton was senior pastor of Calvary Way Church in Kilgore, taken into custody at his residence on the grounds of the West Woodlawn ministry.

Facing the new first degree felony, on Friday the 62-year-old turned himself in to the Rusk County Jail and was later released on $50,000 bond. His defense attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

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.

CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Sacramento, Calif., Sep 11, 2013 / 02:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- California Gov. Jerry Brown should veto an abuse lawsuit bill that is “flagrantly discriminatory” and “targeted at the Catholic Church,” says Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

“Going after the Catholic schools today for cases of abuse that took place decades ago, while exempting the public schools – at a time when there is a serious problem with the sexual molestation of minors in the public schools – is irrational, discriminatory and grossly unjust,” the Catholic League president said in a Sept. 10 letter to Gov. Brown.

His comments come in response to S.B. 131, a bill now headed to the governor’s desk that would lift the statute of limitations on abuse lawsuits only for private institutions, but not for public schools.

Donohue said the bill is “indefensible” because under its provisions “no one who was abused in public schools before 2009 can sue the teacher, the school, or the school district, but if someone was abused in a Catholic school when JFK was president, he can sue the teacher (if he is alive), the school, and the diocese.”

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Hoy

[Summary: The prosecutor is attempting to determine the whereabouts of former apostolic nuncio Josef Wesolowski who has left the Dominican Republic.]

Escrito por: CRISTAL ACEVEDO (c.acevedo@hoy.com.do)

El procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito, dijo hoy que en estos momentos investiga el paradero del exnuncio apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, quien está acusado de abuso sexual a menores de edad.

Domínguez Brito agregó que aunque las autoridades se mantienen investigando acerca de dónde se encuentra albergado el exnuncio, tienen como prioridad investigar sobre las presuntas víctimas para poder establecer responsabilidades.

Entrevistado en un programa radial, Domínguez Brito manifestó que la Iglesia Católica ha colaborado con las investigaciones que realizan las autoridades.

Con relación al proceso legal contra Wesolowski, precisó que existen dos posibilidades: que sea procesado en el país o en su defecto que sea el Vaticano quien le conozca causa.

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Listin Diario

Rafael Castro
Las Américas

El exnuncio apostólico, Józef Wesolowski, acusado en el país de pederastia, viajó a la ciudad del Vaticano el día 4 de agosto por el aeropuerto Las Américas, según reportes del área protocolar de la terminal aeroportuaria.

Según el informe, Wesolowski salió pasada las 7:00 de la noche en el vuelo 088 de la línea aérea Air Europa con destino a Madrid, España y desde esa ciudad realizó una conexión con otro vuelo que lo llevó a su destino final, la ciudad del Vaticano.

El exnuncio se ha visto envuelto en un escándalo por alegados actos sexuales con menores en el país, caso que está siendo investigado por la fiscalía del Distrito Nacional.

De acuerdo con el informe, Wesolowski fue despedido en el Salón de Embajadores de Las Américas, tras abordar el vuelo de Air Europa que lo llevaría primero a España y luego al Vaticano, según se registra en el libro de record del área protocolar de la terminal.

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Terra

[Summary: The Dominican prosecutor has received several formal complaints against deposed apostolic nuncio Joseph Wesolowski. Extradition may be requested. Several parents have filed complaints, according to Bolivar Sanchez, chief investigator appointed by the attorney general for the Dominican Republic.]

Fiscalía dominicana recibe denuncias contra ex nuncio por abuso de menores

La Fiscalía dominicana recibió varias denuncias formales contra el destituido nuncio apostólico en ese país, Josef Wesolowski, por supuesto abuso sexual a menores, caso por el que entrevistó a siete niños y adolescentes y por el que podría pedirse la extradición.

“Hay varios padres que ya han puesto la denuncia”, declaró este martes a la prensa el procurador adjunto Bolívar Sánchez, designado jefe de la investigación por el procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito, y quien no descartó que República Dominicana solicite la extradición del funcionario católico.

“Se está contemplando eso también (la extradición)”, respondió Sánchez a una pregunta de la prensa. Pero “eso conlleva un proceso que no es el mismo que si se tratara de un ciudadano que no estuviera revestido de la investidura de un diplomático”, agregó de inmediato.

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias SIN

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Organizaciones como la Colectiva Mujer y Salud y La Multitud protestarán mañana, miércoles, frente a la Nunciatura ante las denuncias de presunto abuso sexual a menores y mujeres por parte de sacerdote y el destituido nuncio apostólico en el país, Jósef Wesolowski.

La actividad está convocada para las 5 de la tarde frente a la Nunciatura Papal, en la Máximo Gómez esquina César Nicolás Penson.

Sus organizadores protestarán para reclamar “que los crímenes sexuales contra niños, niñas y adolescentes cometidos por exnuncio y los otros curas no queden impunes”.

Asimismo, para pedir “que se ofrezca protección a víctimas que no se atreven a denunciar por temor a represalias”.

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.

NEDERLAND
Eindrapport van de Commissie Archiefonderzoek handelen Openbaar Ministerie bij seksueel misbruik Rooms-Katholieke Kerk

Voorwoord

In december 2011 verscheen het rapport van de commissie-Deetman over seksueel misbruik in de
Rooms-Katholieke Kerk (RKK).1

Het rapport leidde tot een uitgebreid debat in de Tweede Kamer.

Een van de discussiepunten was het optreden van het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) in zaken van
seksueel misbruik door rooms-katholieke geestelijken.2

Naar aanleiding daarvan heeft de vaste commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie de minister gevraagd om de archieven van het OM te laten onderzoeken. Het onderzoek zou meer inzicht moeten geven ‘in de wijze waarop het OM in het verleden is omgegaan met misbruikzaken binnen de Rooms Katholieke kerk.’3

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.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Sep. 10, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

My colleague Brian Roewe reported yesterday on an interview given by Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois. There is much that is – how to put this as kindly as possible – jarring about the bishop’s comments. His comparison of the situation of the Church today in America to that of the early Christians in imperial Rome was histrionic to say the least: Whatever one thinks of Obama, he is not Nero or Diocletian. Paprocki’s comments on homosexuality exhibited a fifth grade understanding of the issue. But, what was most alarming were the bishop’s remarks about the sex abuse crisis. Those who criticized the Church’s handling of the issue are dismissed as anti-Catholic bigots. Many bishops have forthrightly confronted the issue of clergy sex abuse, to be sure. Others, not so much. And the Holy See has so far failed to establish a procedure for removing bishops who do not enforce the canonical norms that have governed the Church’s response since 2002. Bishop Robert Finn is still the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Archbishop John Myers is still the Archbishop of Newark. By refusing to admit any wrong-doing, but sweeping everything under the proverbial rug, by blaming the media for its coverage, Paprocki looks like no one so much as the tobacco executives who once insisted that smoking cigarettes had nothing to do with causing cancer.

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.

STOCKTON (CA)
Capital Public Radio

[with audio]

By Rich Ibarra

(Sacramento, CA)
Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Sexual abuse lawsuits have cost the Stockton Catholic Diocese almost 20 million dollars over the last decade. The church is preparing for bankruptcy as more victims may come forward.

Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire oversees 250,000 Catholics in 6 counties.

He has written in an open letter that he is ready to have the diocese declare bankruptcy because of pending lawsuits, and future claims by victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests.

David Clohessey of the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests is urging the bishop to reconsider.

He says bankruptcy would prolong the suffering of victims who are still coming forward.

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.

CANADA
The Province

VANCOUVER — The Roman Catholic diocese that ran a school where former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong once taught is denying allegations of abuse in a lawsuit filed by two women, questioning in a statement of defence whether one of the students even attended the school.

A cloud has hung over Furlong since last fall, when the Georgia Straight, a weekly newspaper based in Vancouver, published a story alleging Furlong physically and verbally abused students while teaching in Burns Lake, B.C., and Prince George, B.C., in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Furlong subsequently launched a libel lawsuit against the Georgia Straight newspaper and the reporter who wrote the piece, condemning the article as a hatchet job and denying he ever abused anyone.

Those allegations were amplified this past July, when Grace West and Beverly Abraham, who identified themselves as former students of Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake, filed separate lawsuits against Furlong alleging physical and sexual abuse while they attended the school.

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.

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Descents from Darkness

SNAP (the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests) is a national organization focused on preventing and drawing attention to clergy sexual abuse and the recovery of those abused by clergy. On Wednesday, September 11, 2013, they will hold a confidential support meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Please see the link below for more information.

Information on SNAP Support Meeting

I’ve had contact with several members and staff of SNAP over the last few years, including their chapter focused on abuse within the Southern Baptist community (found here). They have been nothing but supportive and understanding.

If you are in the Central Arkansas area and have personally struggled with, or watched family members or close friends struggle with clergy abuse issues, you should seriously think about attending.

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.

ST. PAUL (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

MEDIA ADVISORY: FORMER BOY SCOUT TO SPEAK ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE BY SCOUTMASTER RICHARD HOKANSON IN ROCHESTER

Media Advisory
September 10, 2013
St. Paul News Conference Wednesday

Former Boy Scout to Speak About Sexual Abuse by
Scoutmaster Richard Hokanson in Rochester

Attorney to discuss “Perversion Files” from 1999-2008
and the BSA’s failure to warn about pedophiles in scouting

WHAT: At a news conference on Wednesday in St. Paul, prominent sexual abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will:
• Announce the filing of a lawsuit involving the National Boy Scouts of America Foundation d/b/a The Boys Scouts of America (BSA) filed under the new Minnesota Child Victims Act. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a former Boy Scout Doe 17, names the Boy Scouts of America, Gamehaven Council, Inc., St. Pius X Catholic Church, troop sponsor, and former troop leader and convicted child molester Richard Hokanson, as defendants.
• Introduce survivor, Doe 17, who has courageously decided to speak publicly about the abuse he suffered by Hokanson from the age of 11-16 while a member of Troop 210 in Rochester, Minnesota.
• Two sets of IV Perversion Files, one already made public in an Oregon sexual abuse case, and the second, not yet able to be publicly released but intended to be used at a cancelled trial in Ramsey County this week, will be in boxes at the news conference.
• Alert the community and other sexual abuse survivors in Minnesota about the Child Victims Act and encourage them to come forward and tell others about the new legislation.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 11th at 11:00 AM

WHERE: Offices of Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Nacional

Escrito por: Alberto Caminero y Diogenes Tejada

Josef Wesolowski, ex nuncio en República Dominicana y quien enfrenta un escándalo internacional por alegados actos sexuales con menores en el país, salió el 4 de agosto por el aeropuerto de Las Américas con destino a Madrid, según se confirmó de manera extraoficial. Wesolowski fue despedido en el Salón de Embajadores y abordó el vuelo 088 de Air Europa que lo llevaría primero a España y luego al Vaticano, según se registra en el Aeropuerto. Cuando estalló el escándalo de pederastia atribuida a Wesolowski el 26 de agosto pasado, ya el ex nuncio apostólico había salido de República Dominicana.

El Nacional publicó la semana pasada la especie de que el ex nuncio apostólico podría estar escondido en algún lugar del país, ya que la Dirección General de Migración no tiene registro de su salida de República Dominicana tras su destitución como embajador del Vaticano el pasado 26 de agosto.

Tras una minuciosa verificación esta mañana, su nombre no aparece registrado en la lista de salidas de pasajeros por los puertos y aeropuertos del país desde el 26 de enero hasta la fecha.

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.

REPUBLIC DOMINICANA
El Nuevo Diario

[Summary: Unofficial sources said Joseph Wesolowski, former apostolic nuncio in the Dominican Republic, who faces an international scandal for alleged sexual acts with minors in that country, on Aug. 4 passed through the international airport in the Dominican Republic en route to Madrid, Spain. El Nacional newspaper reported that he boarded Air Europa flight 088 that would take him first to Spain and then on to the Vatican. The scandal broke Aug. 26 and the nuncio had already left the country.

On Saturday, journalist Nuria Piera interviewed a 13-year-old boy who said he was approached several times by the former nuncio and was paid 500 pesos to masturbate in front of him while filming him with his phone. Wesolowski is also said to have contacted other children in the Montesinos area and brought them to a house in Boca Chica. The boy was asked by Ms. Piera how he explained the money when he got home. He said he worked shining shoes in a tourist area.]

SANTO DOMINGO, RD.- Fuentes no oficiales aseguran que el ex nuncio apostólico en República Dominicana, Jósef Wesolowski, quien enfrenta un escándalo internacional por alegados actos sexuales con menores en el país, salió el 4 de agosto por el Aeropuerto Internacional de Las Américas con destino a Madrid, España.

Según publica el periódico El Nacional, Wesolowski fue despedido en el salón de Embajadores y abordó el vuelo 088 de Air Europa que lo llevaría primero a España y luego al Vaticano, según se registra en el Aeropuerto, por lo que cuando estalló el escándalo de pederastia atribuida a Wesolowski el 26 de agosto pasado, ya el ex nuncio apostólico había salido del país.

Sin embargo, la Dirección General de Migración no tiene registro de su salida de República Dominicana tras su destitución como embajador del Vaticano el pasado 26 de agosto.

De acuerdo a las autoridades, el representante del Vaticano, está siendo objeto de una investigación por denuncias de alegada pederastia, empero, en los registros de Migración no figura ningún tipo de impedimento de salida impuesto por las autoridades.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Nuevo Dia

Por Agencia EFE

Santo Domingo – El Ministerio Público de la República Dominicana identificó y entrevistó a siete menores de edad presuntamente abusados sexualmente por el destituido nuncio en el país, Jósef Wesolowski, informó hoy el encargado de investigar el caso, el procurador adjunto, Bolívar Sánchez.

Las declaraciones ofrecidas por las supuestas víctimas son “coherentes y contundentes”, dijo a la prensa Sánchez, quien, sin embargo, se abstuvo de ofrecer mayores detalles para no entorpecer las investigaciones.

Los menores narraron a las autoridades que sostenían relaciones sexuales con el exnuncio a cambio de dinero, según adelantó Sánchez.

Asimismo, el procurador adjunto informó que los padres de los menores ya han sido entrevistados, y que en este caso hay situaciones “bastante dolorosas”.

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICA
Acento

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Moradores de la zona del Monumento a Montesinos confirmaron que el nuncio Joséf Wesolowski visitaba todos los días el lugar, aproximadamente a las 3:30 de la tarde y permanecía máximo durante una hora.

“El viejo venia todos los días, nosotros sabíamos quién era él, uno sospechaba, uno e´ tiguere, uno sabe, inclusive uno que es de por aquí, (refiriéndose a un amigo) yo lo estaba confundiendo y él me dijo que sí, que era él”, explicó un vecino del lugar que no quiso revelar su identidad.

Explicó que su amigo trabajaba en la Iglesia Católica y le confimó en una ocasión que se trataba del nuncio del Vaticano.

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.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Prensa Latina

[Summary: At least seven minors in the Dominican Republic have been identified as victims of sexual abuse by former apostolic nuncio Josef Wesolowski, according to official sources. Deputy Attorney Bolivar Sanchez, who heads the investigation that began last week, said victims range in age from 13-18. The testimonials are harrowing, compelling and delicate, he said.]

Santo Domingo, 10 sep (PL) Al menos siete dominicanos menores de edad fueron identificados como víctimas de abuso sexual del ex nuncio apostólico Joséf Wesolowski, revelaron hoy aquí fuentes oficiales.

De acuerdo con el procurador adjunto Bolívar Sánchez, encargado de la investigación abierta la semana pasada, las edades de los afectados van de 13 a 18 años.

Los testimonios son desgarradores, contundentes y delicados afirmó Sánchez, quien precisó que el religioso llevaba un lustro en esa práctica.

Explicó, citado por el sitio digital acento.com.do, que las víctimas tenían relaciones sexuales con Wesolowski, de origen polaco, a cambio de dinero, y sus padres fueron entrevistados también.

El Ministerio Público desconoce el paradero del ex nuncio apostólico, destituido del cargo a finales del mes anterior.

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.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santiago, Dominican Republic.- The Santiago Appellate Court’s Criminal Chamber declared Polish priest Wojciech Gil (Alberto) in contempt , at the request of the Office of the Prosecutor, on charges he sexually molested several minors in the village of Juncalito, Janico township (central).

The Justice Ministry’s Domestic Violence Unit filed the charges against Gil, 36, at the Children and Adolescents Court.

Although there’s no precise figure as to how many minors figure in the complaint, initial reports place the number at 14. The priest worked with 180 vulnerable children.

The authorities reportedly found videos and other unspecified “incriminating belongings” at Wojciech’s residence.

The prelate allegedly went on vacation amid the complaints, prompting the authorities to search his residence, where they found compromising items such as “tailless” panties and porno films, among other belongings. His whereabouts are unknown.

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.

UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah

We ask our Rabbonim: Please issue a statement supporting Nechemia Weberman’s victims and condemning the harassment they continue to suffer.

Petition by
Miriam Pearlmutter
Cleveland Heights, OH

Despite Nechemia Weberman’s conviction, Mrs. Deutsch and her family continue to be harassed and intimidated by members of the religious community. In the most recent display of baseless hatred, she and her family were shamed during Rosh Hashanah davening and made to leave their shul. This event was chronicled in secular newspapers, such as the New York Post.

We, as the Orthodox community, cannot allow this Chillul Hashem to go unaddressed. This is not who we are, and we must publically condemn the shaming and bullying that many sexual-abuse victims experience following their ordeals. Victims of these horrific crimes are entitled to our communities’ support and encouragement. In the alternative, victims will fear speaking out and we will be complicit in their suffering.

The specific Rabbonim asked to issue a statement are: the Agudas Yisroel (Chaim Dovid Zweibel,Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, Rabbi Shlomo Gertzulin,Rabbi Labish Becker); the Orthodox Union (Rabbi Simcha Katz,Rabbi Steven Weil); the Rabbinical Council of America (Rabbi Leonard Matanky, Rabbi Mark Dratch, Rabbi Basil Herring, Rabbi Barry Kornblau); National Council of Young Israel (Rabbi Perry Tirschwell, Rabbi Chaim Leibtag); Chabad- Lubavitch (Rabbi Osdoba, Rabbi Schwei, Rabbi Braun, Rabbi Heller); Satmar (Rabbis Aaron and Zalman Teitelbaum); and the Beis Din of America (Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz; Rabbi Mordechai Willig,Rabbi Yona Reiss,Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann).

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.

HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 10, 2013

According to the Honolulu Civil Beat: Deputy Attorney General Randall Nishiyama’s memo, dated Sept. 3, 2013, notifies Mercado Kim that the grant for Kalihi’s Damien Memorial School violates a provision in Hawaii’s constitution prohibiting the state from contributing public money to private schools.

A spokeswoman for the AG’s office told Civil Beat that means the state won’t end up releasing the grant money, which would’ve subsidized a $12 million construction project that includes a new athletic complex, library and student services building, among other renovations.

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.

UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

S/he has served his or her time. Now what?

For victims, it can be sheer horror

There is both relief and joy for a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and their families when a convicted perpetrator goes to jail. The perpetrator can no longer gain access to a child. But that relief can be short-lived.

The typical felony child abuse sentence is a 2-3 years, unless there are special circumstances.Why? The economics of prison overcrowding and state constitutional rules regarding civil commitment.

The situation of Oblate priest James Rapp OSFS is different. Rapp is a Roman Catholic priest convicted to 40 years for child abuse, reduced to 16 years. He will be free in 2015. But his case is the exception, not the norm.

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.

VATICANO
ACI Prensa

VATICANO, 10 Sep. 13 / 11:01 am (ACI).- El director de la Sala de Prensa de la Santa Sede, el Padre Federico Lombardi, reiteró el compromiso del Vaticano para proseguir con las investigaciones en el caso del ex Nuncio en Rep. Dominicana, el Arzobispo Joseph Wesolowski.

El sacerdote hizo estas declaraciones luego de que se difundiera el fin de semana un reportaje en el que un adolescente narró una serie de detalles de los abusos que él y otros muchachos habrían sufrido con el Arzobispo Wesolowski.

En declaraciones hoy a ACI Prensa sobre lo revelado en el reportaje transmitido el sábado y ayer en los medios locales de República Dominicana, el Padre Lombardi explicó hoy que “la Santa Sede se puso en contacto con el Nuncio (Wesolowski) que fue apartado de su cargo y actualmente las investigaciones siguen su curso. No tengo nada más que decir”.

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.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Justice minister Francisco Dominguez Brito on Monday said he doesn’t know the whereabouts of ousted Vatican nuncio Josef Wesolowski, accused of pedophilia, a case reminiscent of Dominican Republic’s most shameful episode of the abuse of a minor, also linked to foreign diplomats.

He said although an investigation into the Pope’s former representative has been launched based on media reports, allegations and statements by Catholic Church dignitaries, Wesolowski has yet to be formally charged.

He said international law provides for prosecution of Polish bishop Wesolowski at the Vatican, but based on evidence gathered locally.

Dominguez cited precedents of diplomats charged in a host country and tried, convicted, sentenced and serving time in theirs.

The official affirmed that Catholic Church representatives maintain communication and collaborate in the case.

As to the related case of the Polish priest Wojciecj Gil (Alberto), also accused of pedophilia, Dominguez said in a hearing today Tuesday, the prosecution will ask he be declared a fugitive, prior to issuing an international arrest warrant.

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FRAMINGHAM (MA)
Boston.com

By John Swinconeck, Town Correspondent

Framingham State University will kick off its 2013-2014 lecture series with a performance by Michael Mack, based on his experience during the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal.

Mack will perform his one-man show “Conversations with My Molester: A Journey of Faith” on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Dwight Hall Performing Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Mack will recount how his dream to become a priest in the 1960s came to an end after he was abused, how he wrestled with sexuality, spirituality, and his confrontation with the abuser. Directed by Daniel Gidron, Mack’s monologue premiered at the 10-year anniversary of Boston’s clergy sexual abuse crisis, according to Framingham State.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the new Secretary of State of the Vatican, made some surprisingly frank remarks about priestly celibacy that may indicate a new openness to “the democratic spirit of the times.” Pope Francis’ plans to reform the Vatican and “shake up the church” have received a lot of attention, but he has not yet publicly addressed the issue of mandatory celibacy for priests.

Parolin said in an interview with Venezuelan newspaper El Universal that the tradition of priestly celibacy is not dogma, or a law of divine origin, and is therefore open to discussion. He went on to note that while the church is not a democratic institution, it needs to “reflect the democratic spirit of the times and adopt a collegial way of governing.”

While previous popes have declared some topics closed off from discussion, Parolin’s remarks may be indicative of the possibility of a greater conversation about an ancient Church tradition.

Though it’s not clear exactly when celibacy became mandatory for priests, the first written mandate for chastity dates back to 304 C.E., when Canon 33 of the Council of Elvira stated that all “bishops, presbyters, and deacons and all other clerics” should “abstain completely from their wives and not to have children.” A definitive ruling was handed down at the Second Lateran Council of 1139, which ruled that priests were forbidden to marry.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Some court updates:

(1) Father Jacques Faucher

Father Jacques Faucher had a court date this morning, 10 September 2013, in Ottawa:

10 September 2013: 08:30 am, courtroom #5, “to be spoken to,” Ottawa Ontario courthouse (161 Elgin St.)

I will find out tomorrow when the next courtdate is.

As always, keep the complainants in your prayers.

If anyone attended court this morning and has news of what transpired please post a comment or send me an email.

(2) Father Damian Cooper

The diocese has to disclose most of the files etc which were requested by the plaintiff. I understand that about 95% of the materials requested must be disclosed.

That’s good news.

Meanwhile the Archdiocese and Father Dmain Cooper are now pushing for disclosure of material which the plaintiff considers privileged. They will all be back in court for that battle next Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

In a surprise move, the NSW government enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse in the Newcastle region has reconvened in Sydney to hear more detail on the previous evidence of Paul Lucas, the Secretary of the Australian (Catholic) Bishops’ Conference.

Lucas was the one who, in six years of interviewing suspected paedophile priests, with a view to convincing them to retire discreetly without police being involved, decided to keep no notes of his activities. In the absence of notes, poor Lucas was unable to remember anything about his activities in this regard, which ran from 1990 to 1996.

Suggestions have been raised at earlier hearings of the enquiry that this was so that there would be no “paper trail” which would be available to police and victims lawyers. It was raised again at this new hearing, which suggests it may be a serious focus of the enquiry report, possibly leading to accusations of misprision of a felony offence (covering up a crime), or perjury to the enquiry.

Lucas briefly attended the hearing and told TV news that he had no comment because his lawyers had advised him to hold his tongue until the final enquiry report is released. Lucas himself is a lawyer as well as a priest.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Ein Papstgesandter greift in den Streit um Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst ein: Der als vatikanischer Vermittler ins Bistum Limburg entsandte Kurienkardinal Giovanni Lajolo (78) ist am Montag in Deutschland eingetroffen. Trotzdem hegt der Papst “volles Vetrauen” in die Amtsführung.

Der als vatikanischer Vermittler ins Bistum Limburg entsandte Kurienkardinal Giovanni Lajolo (78) ist am Montag in Deutschland eingetroffen. Das bestätigte die Limburger Bischöfliche Pressestelle am frühen Montagabend auf Anfrage. In einem am Wochenende von dem Bistum veröffentlichten Schreiben an den wegen seiner Amtsführung in die Kritik geratenen Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (53) hatte der Präfekt der vatikanischen Bischofskongregation, Kardinal Marc Ouellet, einen „brüderlichen Besuch“ des Vatikandiplomaten angekündigt. In seinem Schreiben betonte Ouellet ausdrücklich, bei dem Besuch Lajolos handele es sich nicht um eine „Apostolische Visitation“. Der Heilige Stuhl sehe dazu keinen Anlass und hege „volles Vertrauen“ in die Amtsführung des Limburger Bischofs.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

By Anne Cohen
Published September 09, 2013.

The young Orthodox woman whose testimony of sexual abuse was the basis for the arrest and conviction of counselor Nechemya Weberman was booed out of synagogue on Rosh Hashana, the New York Post reported Monday.

The 18-year-old victim was praying in a Williamsburg synagogue during the holiday when a man reportedly yelled out: “*Moser *, out of the shul!” — a shaming term for a Jew who betrays their community to secular authorities.

“They stopped the praying until she left,” the victim’s husband, Boorey Deutsch, 26, told the Post. “Some woman tried telling my wife to stay there and not leave. She shouldn’t care what they say. But my wife ended up leaving.”

“She felt horrible and mistreated. They treat survivors as if they are the abusers,” Deutsch added.
Deutsch said that he and his wife have been under constant pressure from the community ever since she first came forward about her abuse at the hands of Weberman, an ultra-Orthodox community counselor in Williamsburg.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Sep. 9, 2013 NCR Today

Pope Francis has summoned heads of the Vatican’s various congregations and pontifical councils, meaning the cardinals and archbishops who run the place, for a rare joint meeting Tuesday.

The idea may be to take stock of the new papacy at its six-month mark, though the unknowns about the encounter outnumber the certainties. At this stage, it’s not clear what topics may come up, who’s going to speak or in what order, and whether the pope may use the occasion to announce further personnel moves or structural changes.

The gathering is sandwiched between two key developments — the Aug. 31 announcement of Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin as the Vatican’s new Secretary of State and the looming Oct. 1-3 meeting of the council of eight cardinals created by Francis to advise him on church governance. As a result, it may be a chance for the pope to solicit feedback on decisions already made and to talk about what’s still ahead.

Watch the NCR Today blog for news about the meeting as it develops.

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CALIFORNIA
Catholic League

On September 6, the California Senate passed SB 131, the bill that makes it easier for alleged victims of sexual abuse to sue if the molestation happened when they were a minor. But it does not apply to the public sector, just to institutions such as the Catholic Church.

Bill Donohue wrote a letter today to California Governor Jerry Brown about the bill. He will decide its fate; he has until October 13. To read the letter, click here.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Pope Francis has called the leaders of the Roman Curia to a meeting on Tuesday, September 10.

Although the Vatican has not disclosed the purpose of the meeting, the Pope is likely to discuss plans for internal reforms at the Vatican. The meeting of dicastery officials comes nearly a month before the first official meeting of the council of 8 cardinals appointed to advice the Pope on Vatican reforms.

Pope Francis has already made the first critical appointment of his pontificate, choosing Archbishop Pietro Parolin to become Secretary of State. He has made several other important appointments to the Roman Curia, and created panels to scrutinize the financial dealings of the Vatican. But to date he has made no major changes in the structure of the Roman Curia.

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, September 10, 2013

More than 30 pages of long-secret Catholic church records about a predator priest who worked in four Montana parishes have been made public as part of a 2007 settlement.

He is Fr. John Kohnke. He worked in Hingham, Sunburst, Chester and Shelby.

Here are the files: http://www.lorpb.com/documents/Clergy-September/Norbertines-(Kohnke).PDF

http://www.lorpb.com/September-Release.aspx

Here’s an article about the release of the files:

http://www.sunherald.com/2013/09/09/4937123/priest-recalls-la-flight-after.html

Here’s what we think should happen now:

Both Montana bishops should publicly

–announce the release of these files, and

–post the names and files of each of these predators on their diocesan websites, so that more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers might come forward, the criminals will be prosecuted and jailed, and kids will be safer and victims will get help. (NOTE: Fr. Kohnke is deceased, so he can’t be prosecuted. But we suspect that other current and former Catholic employees who may have concealed his crimes might still be prosecuted.)

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NEBRASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Records released on predator priest
He worked in Nebraska but abused in California
Support group urges Omaha Catholic officials to “do outreach”
SNAP: “Some of victims may still be suffering in silence, shame and self-blame”

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Omaha’s Catholic archbishop to reach out to anyone who may have been hurt by an abusive priest who is now in the limelight because his records have just been made public.

Father Gabriel Salinas is one of five clerics who were sued in California for alleged child sex crimes. Those suits settled in 2007. But 11 pages of long-secret records about Salinas, who is now deceased, were released yesterday and posted on line as part of a settlement of hundreds of civil abuse lawsuits.

http://www.lorpb.com/documents/Clergy-September/Augustinians-(Salinas).PDF

http://www.lorpb.com/

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are asking Archbishop George Lucas to “let Nebraska Catholics know about” the credible child sex abuse allegations against Salinas.

“This predator spent more than 30 years in Nebraska, so it’s silly to think that he assaulted kids in California but never in Omaha,” said SNAP Director David Clohessy. “Archbishop Lucas can be irresponsible and do nothing. Or he can show courage and compassion by using his archdiocesan website and parish bulletins to reach out to others who were wounded by this child molesting cleric.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By I. Michael Bellafiore, Published: September 10

Reform is afoot in the Vatican. Pope Francis has tightened the reins on the Vatican bank, worked through a grueling visit to Brazil, named a new secretary of state, and is now busy preparing for the October meeting of cardinals who will advise him on how to breathe new life into the Catholic Church.
The new pope’s agenda is simple: spread the good news of Jesus Christ in a freer and more convincing way. Christ stated the church’s mission very plainly: “Go out and make disciples of all the nations.”

Here in America, Catholic parishes need to take measures to better carry out this mission:

1. Parishioners and clergy must take responsibility for evangelization. The church is not a spiritual McDonald’s whose success largely depends on its managers, the clergy. Paraphrasing President John Kennedy’s call to service, “Ask not what the church can do for you, but what you can do for the church.” Evangelicals and Pentecostals have much to teach Catholics in this regard. Polls show Catholics stayed away from church because they were ignored, slighted, or scandalized. Sometimes they misunderstand church teaching. They need to know that they are missed and that the door is open for them.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 September 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Sala Bolonia in the Apostolic Palace the Holy Father presided over a meeting of all the heads of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the president of the Governorate and the cardinal vicar general of Rome.

The Pope has met personally with all the heads of the dicasteries during recent months and has spoken at length with each of them. He will now preside over a joint meeting of all the heads, as he completes the sixth month of his pontificate.

A meeting in order to listen to the considerations and advice offered by the highest-ranking figures in the Roman Curia and the Pope’s main collaborators in Rome fits naturally within the context of the implementation of suggestions presented by the cardinals to the congregations in preparation for the Conclave and the Holy Father’s reflections on the government of the Church. Another key event on this theme will be the forthcoming meeting of the Group of Eight cardinals in early October.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Fr Tony Flannery

People regularly ask me how I am? The answer to that is complex, and I do not usually burden or bore my questioner by going into details about it. It is more than a year since I was forbidden to minister as a priest.

I miss being able to celebrate the Eucharist and I miss being able to preach. I know I can say Mass privately, but I seldom do, since I regard it as a community exercise. I mostly attend Mass with the people.

Having been out of ministry and in conflict with church authorities for an extended period of time has had a significant impact on my perspective on the church, but more fundamentally on my faith and my life.

Decision making

I have come to know a great deal about how the church operates, particularly in its management structures and methods of decision making, that I would probably be better off not knowing.

Sadly I have found it to be true that the closer you get to the Vatican system, with all its power struggles and careerism, the more disillusioned you can become. I know that faith in Jesus Christ is more important than any of this, but while I can accept that totally at an intellectual level, it is much more difficult to deal with my emotional responses to it. The church introduced me to Christ, and for my whole life my faith has been lived out within the church, most of it within religious life. So I suppose I am now experiencing something of a crisis of faith.

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STOCKTON (CA)
California Catholic Daily

The following comes from a September 4 letter issued by the diocese of Stockton.

An update on our financial situation from Bishop Stephen Blaire

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In my letter to you in June, I shared with you some difficult news about the financial situation of the Diocese — the funds we have used to settle sexual abuse lawsuits have been almost depleted, and we have no apparent way to meet the expenses of pending lawsuits and possible future claims.

I promised you we would examine the options available to us, and that I would keep you updated on any developments. This is the reason for my letter to you today.

We continue to investigate our options, and no final decisions have been reached. I feel, however, that it is important to tell you that options other than filing for bankruptcy protection have not emerged. It appears likely to me that the Diocese will need to re-organize financially under the protection of the Bankruptcy Court. I want to keep you and the wider community informed as best I can in this process. That is why I am meeting in the days and weeks ahead with your pastors and with others who may be affected by a bankruptcy filing by the Diocese.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Yeshiva sex abuse trial: Ex-administrator Norman Lamm, suffering from senility, should not testify, say defense lawyers

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Defense lawyers in the sex abuse lawsuit against Yeshiva University say longtime administrator Norman Lamm, who retired in July amid allegations of a coverup, should not be questioned because he suffers from dementia.

They claim his testimony would be unreliable due to his condition, citing reports by his doctors.

But the plaintiffs, former students who allege they were preyed upon by staff, want to grill Lamm no matter what. They also want him deposed right away, before his purported condition worsens.

“Months matter,” Kevin Mulhearn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday in Manhattan federal court.

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Opposing Views

By Amanda Schallert, Sat, September 07, 2013

An Illinois Catholic bishop said he thinks the Catholic Church has handled its multiple sexual abuse scandals better than any other institution in the world would have, and that a hostility against Catholics is rising in the U.S.

In a recent interview, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., warned that the media is at fault for the anti-Christian sentiment in America, according to the Washington Times Communities.

He said he thinks the Catholic Church has been responsible and that people are still attacking it unfairly, according to Wonkette.com.

“I would venture to say that of any institution in the country – perhaps in the world – I don’t think anyone is dealing with (sexual abuse scandals) as responsibly as the Catholic Church has,” Paprocki said. “So public figures like that continue to point their finger at the Catholic Church and say you have a problem with sexual abuse and people are ignoring where most sexual abuse is taking place. It’s occurring in families. It’s occurring in schools.”

He added that he thinks people are trying to label sexual abuse as “a Catholic problem.”

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
DFW Catholic

Springfield, Ill., Sep 10, 2013 / 02:08 am (CNA).- Bishop Thomas J. Papropcki of Springfield, Ill., said that Catholics should be aware of an “unconscious hatred for the faith” as they seek to interact with the modern culture.

In an interview with the Washington Times, published Sept. 3, the bishop reflected that in past generations, “many of the values in our secular world mirrored the values of the religious world.” …

He pointed to an “anti-Catholic bigotry” in the culture, seen in a “Late Night with David Letterman” segment where the host joked about the sexual abuse of altar boys.

He said the joke showed a “profound ignorance” in identifying the Catholic Church and the priesthood with sex abuse.

“Certainly, we have had our unfortunate share of scandals and sin and the church is dealing with that,” the bishop said.

However, he added that the Catholic Church is now one of the most responsible institutions in dealing with sexual abuse, implementing rigorous abuse prevention measures, training requirements and safe environment programs.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Sacramento

[with video]

STOCKTON (CBS13) — Victims of church sex abuse may get more time to sue religious organizations and those who abused them under a bill heading to the governor’s desk.

“It’s very exciting and we are very hopeful.”

Kathleen Conti is pleased the senate passed SB131. The Stockton woman says she was abused by a Jehovah’s Witness leader when she was a teenager, and a family member also became a victim.

“The only way you are going to stop pedophiles is to identify them and warn people—allow us as parents to know who they are within our congregations. Otherwise, how do we know? How can we protect other children.”

Lawmakers say the bill corrects a Supreme Court case that, because the statute of limitations had been reached, denied a narrow group of child sex-abuse victims the right sue religious organizations, private and nonprofit groups that employed their abusers.

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CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 10, 2013 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A California sex abuse bill that has been described as discriminatory against the Catholic Church has passed the legislature and is advancing to the governor’s desk.

Last Friday, the bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 21-8 at the close of the legislative session, and opponents are now asking for a veto from California Governor Jerry Brown.

The legislation would lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits against private schools and private employers who failed to take action against sexual abuse by employees or volunteers. It would allow alleged victims younger than 31 to sue employers of abusers, extending present age limit for alleged victims presently set at 26 years-old.

The bill specifically exempts public schools and other government institutions from lawsuits. It also exempts the actual perpetrators of the abuse from civil action in some cases, while leaving their employers vulnerable.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Daily News

[the documents]

By Barbara Jones, Los Angeles Daily News
POSTED: 09/09/13

One priest admitted to fathering a daughter, while another was hustled off to a treatment center after confessing to having sex with a teenage boy.

Yet another reportedly failed a lie-detector test when he was asked about sexual misdeeds with male students.

Those details are among many contained in a new set of confidential personnel files of six more priests who were accused of molesting children while working for their Roman Catholic religion orders — the Vincentians, the Norbertinese and the Augustinians — while assigned to parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The files are the second set to be released this summer and at least a half-dozen more are expected in the coming weeks as religious orders comply with a 2007 settlement with hundreds of clergy abuse victims.

Some of the details were released earlier this year when the archdiocese released thousands of pages on its own priests who were accused of sexual abuse, but the full picture of the problem has remained elusive without records from the religious orders.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Citizen-Times

Written by
Romando Dixson

ASHEVILLE — The parents of a child sex abuse victim reached a settlement of more than $1.5 million with the Diocese of Charlotte to resolve a lawsuit alleging the Catholic Church’s pattern of hiring and protecting sexual predators allowed a former parish music minister to repeatedly molest their daughter.

The child will be awarded $1.2 million and the parents will receive $340,000 based on the settlement, the diocese’s official newspaper reported. The money will be divided between a direct payment and the purchase of an annuity that will benefit the victim.

The settlement closes the latest chapter surrounding a case that began in 2009 when Asheville police charged Paul Lawrence Berrell, a former music minister at St. Eugene Catholic Church, with taking indecent liberties with a child, then 13.

Berrell was sentenced in 2011 to 28 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to production of child pornography.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Father Tony Flannery, the 66 year old Irish priest and founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland (ACP) who has been threatened with excommunication from the Catholic Church for his outspokenness, has claimed this week that there is a link between clerical sex abuse and clerical celibacy.

Flannery said that the celibate lifestyles which priests were forced to live led to struggles over sexuality and could have resulted in children being sexually abused.

Priests faced an inevitable struggle with their sexuality, Flannery said.

‘The Catholic Church in Ireland seems to believe that it has dealt with the problems of clerical sexual abuse by putting structures in place to protect children,’ he said.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Outrage at football fan with sign ‘taunting’ girl who killed herself after alleged sexual assault… but he claims he was trying to ‘raise awareness’

A sign held up by a University of Michigan student behind the hosts of ESPN’s College Gameday pregame show that said ‘Hi Lizzy Seeberg’ sparked outrage and appeared to taunt a girl who accused a University of Notre Dame football player of sexual assaulting her Aug 31, 2010 only to have the allegations appear to have been ignored every step of the way.

Ms Seeberg, 19, was a freshman at St Mary’s College, a small women’s only Catholic college literally across the street from the mighty Notre Dame.

Unable to live with the aftermath of the alleged sexual assault and Notre Dame’s refusal to even acknowledge her repeated attempts to engage the school in any manner, Ms Seeberg was found dead nine days later – the devout Catholic had overdosed on antidepressants prescribed to treat her anxiety and depression.

The name of the player was never made public and the prestigious Catholic University appeared to have swept the whole thing under the rug, until addressing it earlier this year.

Having seemingly dissipated into the ether of time, Lizzy Seeberg’s name, and alleged plight, weren’t on the minds of many people Saturday morning until a sign saying ‘Hi Lizzy Seeberg’ appeared behind College Gameday co-host Desmond Howard while discussing the Notre Dame-Michigan game being played later that day on UM’s campus.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

September 8
BY MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A disgraced Catholic priest who produced child pornography should be sentenced to 50 years in prison, federal prosecutors say.

Neither Shawn Ratigan’s vow of chastity nor his advanced education stopped him from taking lewd photographs of five little girls over an almost six-year period, Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham argued in a biting sentencing memorandum filed in federal court.

Fincham urged U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner to disregard the report of an expert hired by Ratigan’s defense lawyer to soften the sentence for the 47-year-old cleric.

That expert, Fincham observed, had “wistfully” noted that the word “Ratigan” means “caretakers of the church.”

“This Ratigan photographed Jane Doe #2 without any pants on next to a stained glass window in the choir loft of a church in which Ratigan was the pastor,” Fincham wrote. “The public can do without this kind of caretaker for the rest of his life.”

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NEW YORK/VERMONT
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on September 9, 2013.

The Catholic Church has yet to learn that the lesson coming from the clerical child sexual abuse scandal is that it is not the crime that gets you, it’s the cover up. Federal judge William K. Sessions III has ruled against the Catholic Church and refused to throw out a lawsuit brought by a Warren County man who was taken across state lines from New York to Vermont where he was raped by a priest.

The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese wanted the lawsuit dismissed arguing that it does not have any legal ties to the Burlington diocese. Jerome F. O’Neill, an attorney for the victim, was able to show that priests connected to the Albany Diocese routinely ministered at parishes in Vermont even though they were under the authority of Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, NY.

The Survivors’ Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) stated that “Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard should accept the court’s ruling, stop further delays, and let this brave victim seek justice. Hubbard’s splitting hairs over which court has jurisdiction rather than showing leadership and helping to resolve this case. We’re glad this judge didn’t buy Hubbard’s reasoning.”

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published September 09, 2013.

A federal judge has ordered an independent medical examination of the mental health of Rabbi Norman Lamm, Yeshiva University’s former president, in the opening stages of a $380 million sex abuse lawsuit.

Judge John Koeltl ordered a medical evaluation of Lamm as early as next week, during a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court on September 9.

The order came in response to claims by Lamm’s lawyer, Joel Cohen, that Lamm is unfit to be deposed in the lawsuit because he is suffering from dementia.

Lamm, perhaps the most revered living rabbi in Modern Orthodox Judaism, was president of Y.U. from 1976 to 2003, a period when dozens of students at Y.U.-run schools are alleged to have been abused.

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NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Judge Orders Mental Health Evaluation Of Rabbi Norman Lamm In Yeshiva University Abuse Case

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A federal judge has ordered an independent medical examination of the mental health of former Yeshiva University President and Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm after Lamm’s lawyer, Joel Cohen, told the court that Lamm should not be deposed in a $380 million dollar sex abuse lawsuit against the university because he is suffering from dementia, the Forward reported today.

Lamm’s alleged dementia was first reported by FailedMessiah.com on July 1 and then again more fully on July 4 based on information from Lamm’s family. FailedMessiah.com’s first report caused the Forward – which had allegedly ambushed the elderly and frail rabbi in his Upper East Side home last December – to deny Lamm was impaired.

In subsequent reporting, the Forward continued to cite its quotes from Lamm gained during that interview but failed to mention the allegation that Lamm’s mental health was compromised – a clear ethics violation that could easily open up the paper and the foundation which funds it to what could be a large civil suit.

Judge John Koeltl ordered an independent medical evaluation of Lamm, the results of which could take place as early as next week.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Anne Cohen
Published September 09, 2013.

Yeshiva University’s resident legal expert on child sexual abuse is condemning her employer’s recent report on the alleged sexual abuse committed by YU staff against high school students under their care.

Marci Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair of Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a nationally recognized legal expert on child sexual abuse, said the report, released August 26, failed to deliver.

“In my view,” she wrote in a detailed critique of the report, “they did not do the right thing.”

“It [the YU Report] provides a four-paragraph (that is not a misprint) summary of ‘Findings,’” she noted in her September 5th article, posted on the website of Verdict, a website of commentary and opinions on legal issues. “Readers are told that ‘multiple incidents of varying types of sexual and physical abuse took place’” at Yeshiva University High School for Boys and at other schools comprising the University, she noted. The report finds that the abuse took place “in some instances, after members of the administration had been made aware of such conduct” but failed to act.

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CANADA
Global News

By Caroline Plante
Reporter

QUEBEC CITY – “I’m nervous, but we’ll see.” Frank Tremblay, 40, was hoping he would never have to revisit his old dormitory. That’s where he said the abuse took place.

Tremblay and about 50 other men have launched a class action suit against nine Catholic priests, including one already serving time in jail.

On opening day of the trial, Tremblay was asked to accompany the judge and a throng of lawyers inside Séminaire St. Alphonse, in Ste. Anne de Beaupré. Very rarely does a judge travel to a crime scene.

“In this case, there’s an obvious need for this because there are dormitories to visit, allegations children were moved and traveled from one place to another, allegations priests used the cars owned by the congregation to bring the children to cottages on weekends for the children to be further abused,” said Carlo Tarini, director of communications for the Association of victims of priests.

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CANADA
The Province

BY JENNIFER SALTMAN, THE PROVINCE SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

A former Hindu priest who committed sexual offences involving teenage members of his Abbotsford congregation has been sentenced to 21/2 years in prison.

Karam Vir, 33, was convicted in May of two counts of touching a young person for a sexual purpose and one count of sexual assault in connection with incidents that took place in 2009 and 2010 while he was employed at a Hindu temple on Walmsley Avenue.

Sentencing took place Sept. 4 in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwack.

Vir made sexual advances toward the two victims, who were 17 years old, after befriending them at the temple. One young woman said Vir kissed her and there was brief sexual intercourse and/or touching three times. The other victim testified that Vir talked about wanting to get sexually involved with her but she resisted his sexual advances.

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CANADA
CBC News

Seventeen men who claim they were sexually abused when they were boys at a seminary near Quebec City are expected to testify in court as part of a lawsuit against priests.

Court proceedings began today at the Quebec City courthouse for the largest sex abuse class-action lawsuit ever launched in Quebec.

Fifty alleged victims are seeking $100,000 each in damages, plus interest.

Though there have been other civil lawsuits against Quebec priests and religious institutions, this class-action lawsuit is the first to make it to court and be heard by a Quebec judge. All of the others were settled out of court.

The day’s proceedings started with a visit to the St-Alphonse Seminary in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré, just outside the provincial capital.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, September 8, 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)

Because brave clergy abuse survivors insisted on disclosure, more files about more California child molesting clerics are being released today. We beg California’s bishops to spread the word far and wide about these predators. But we seriously doubt that they will. And we urge the Vincentians to start defrocking Fr. Jerome Herff, “who told (an admitted predator priest) to flee after his 1987 confession and placed him back in ministry the following year” (according to the Associated Press).

Herff’s claims that he told Fr. Carlos Rodriguez to flee because he feared for the priest’s safety ring false. (If this is true, why didn’t he call the police?) And it doesn’t explain why Fr. Herff quickly put Fr. Rodriguez back on the job, even though Fr. Rodriguez admitted molesting kids.

This happened in 1987 when even virtually every adult knew that child sexual abuse was illegal and should be reported to police. But of course church officials – in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and in the Vincentians – did the opposite: they helped an admitted child molester flee the state, get back to work, and sexually assault more children.

So what should happen now? Every California bishop should publicly announce that Fr. Herff will never work in their dioceses. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez should lead this charge, since Fr. Herff enabled Los Angeles kids to be hurt by Fr. Rodriguez. Every California bishop should post the names and files of each of these predators on their diocesan websites, so that more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers might come forward, the criminals will be prosecuted and jailed, and kids will be safer and victims will get help.

Other files of child molesting clerics released today include Fr. John Kohnke (Norbertines), and Fr. Gabriel F. Salinas, Fr. Jose J. Mendez (Augustinians), and Fr. John V. Farris and Fr. John (Jon) E. Ruhl (Vincentians). http://www.lorpb.com/September-Release.aspx

This happened in 1987 when even virtually every adult knew that child sexual abuse was illegal and should be reported to police. But of course church officials – in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and in the Vincentians – did the opposite: they helped an admitted child molester flee the state, get back to work, and sexually assault more children.

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CALIFORNIA
Law Offices of Raymond Boucher

[Click here for the documents.]

After eleven years of litigation and a six year battle over the release of files, the more than 600 victims of clergy sexual abuse have secured for publication, additional confidential files which reveal a painful history of cover-up and betrayal by the Catholic Church. The confidential files were turned over to the victims as part of global settlement with the Archdiocese by the Vincentians, Augustinians and Norbertines.

“One needs only to compare the just released file from the Vincentian Order on Carlos Rodriguez with the Archdiocese’s prior “full and complete” disclosure of this serial child molesting priest to grasp the extent to which the Catholic Church was involved in a cover-up. The file’s show clearly the Church was more concerned about “scandal” than the safety of minors” said Raymond Boucher.

“These files underscore the churches preoccupation with protecting its image in the face of “scandal”. It shows a church so indoctrinated with the view of protecting itself that they allowed heinous sexual acts to be committed upon the very children whose care they were entrusted with,” Boucher said.

“That’s the irony in all of this. In their vain attempts to protect the image of the church, they’ve tarnished it beyond repair.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Sun Herald

[September 2013 Religious Orders Released Files via Raymond Boucher law offices]

By GILLIAN FLACCUS and GREG RISLING — The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The orders the Rev. Carlos Rodriguez got from his religious superiors after he confessed to molesting a 16-year-old boy just hours before were swift and decisive: Leave immediately. Check into a motel. Don’t tell anyone where you are going. Wait for further instructions.

Rodriguez, then 31, picked up cash at a Catholic retreat center and waited by the phone. The next day, the regional leader of his religious order called and told him to book a plane ticket out of state. By the time the victim’s family went to police, he had checked in at a residential treatment center for troubled priests in Maryland.

“I felt like a fugitive. But what else could I do under the circumstances. I had no other choice but to follow orders,” he wrote years later in an essay that was included in his Vatican petition to be defrocked.

The essay was part of a 330-page confidential personnel file on the priest that was released Monday along with files for five other priests who were also accused of molesting children while working for their Roman Catholic religious orders — the Vincentians, the Norbertines and the Augustinians — while assigned to parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholica

The harsh reality
by Dr Gabe Lomas

Of late we’ve been confronted by a succession of horrendous tales about the perpetration and institutional mis-management of pædophilia in the Catholic church. We’ve sat through the revealing Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by Religious and other non-governmental organisations, and the equally confronting New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into matters relating to the police investigation of certain child sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. And we’re at the beginning of a probing Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Catholic institutions, along with other organisations, are certainly in the Public Eye.

An exposition of the horrifying experiences endured by victims of pædophilia, and the monstrous damage those experiences have wrecked on them, have jolted us into seeing more clearly the consequences of this perverted activity. The pædophile can injure the other person fatally, leaving nothing but bitterness and sourness where once there was innocence and trust, poisoning the other’s mind and life forever. The worst consequences of the whole loathsome process are lasting effects that cloy the abused persons’ existence, continually threatening to overwhelm them — and sometimes succeeding in doing so.

It’s doubtful if there can be an adequate recompense for such injuries, one that restores the balance and brings things back to where they were. This is the heinousness of pædophilia: certain human beings do things that can destroy the lives of others for ever. It’s at this point that our considerations should begin, long before any thought arises about the position of the pædophile or of the institution that’s involved. Only when we are earnestly and properly trying to remedy the effects on the abused can we turn to consider other factors.

How did this horrible state of affairs come about?

Virgin and Child
Image above of The Didache from the Early Christian Writings website which has a page with links to various translations and other scholarly resources on this doument: www.earlychristianwritings.com.

How did this horrible state of affairs come about? Well, slowly. With stealth. Pædophilia got a grip on the church as it developed and evolved. It’s been there from time out of mind, and crops up in some ancient prescriptions. Thus in about 10 CE one of our earliest documents, The Didcache,[2] tells Christians:

2.2 : you must not corrupt young boys
Greek text

And the Synod of Elvira[3] [c 300-309 CE] targeted pædophilia when it compiled its eighty-one canons, saying that:

12. Parents and other Christians who give up their children to sexual abuse are selling others’ bodies, and if they do so [ … ] they shall not receive communion even at death.
and,
Those who sexually abuse boys (stratoribus puerorum) may not commune even when death approaches.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Niemand kann zwei Herren dienen: Gott und dem Mammon. Limburgs Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst hat diesen Spagat dennoch probiert – und zerbricht gerade daran. An der harschen Reichtumskritik, die Jesus in der Bergpredigt formuliert, kommt kein Christ vorbei. Jeder muss sich seinen Reim darauf machen. Die bequemste, zugleich dümmste Formel: Reich sind immer nur die, die mehr haben als ich.

Bischof Tebartz hat bislang einen anderen Weg eingeschlagen. „Zur größeren Ehre Gottes“ darf die Kirche es an nichts fehlen lassen. Was dabei an Extravaganzen für einen bischöflichen Diener Gottes abfällt, ist Ausdruck für die Würde seines Amtes. Es ist kein Zufall, dass Tebartz mit dieser spirituellen Überhöhung des materiellen Luxus gerade jetzt aus der Bahn fliegt. Bis vor einem halben Jahr konnte er sich gegen die Kritik an liturgischem Gepränge und prunkvoller Attitüde auf den „Diener der Diener Christi“ berufen, wie einer der päpstlichen Ehrentitel lautet. In Rom exerzierte Benedikt XVI. vor, was Tebartz in Limburg nachahmte.

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DEUTSCHLAND
AFP

Limburg — Der Vatikan hat sich in die Querelen im Bistum Limburg um den umstrittenen Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst eingeschaltet. Der Papst-Gesandte Kardinal Giovanni Lajolo sollte am Montag in Limburg eintreffen, um sich ein Bild von der Situation zu machen. Ein Bistumssprecher wollte dessen Ankunft aber zunächst nicht bestätigen. Es handelt sich offiziell um einen “brüderlichen Besuch”. Der Limburger Bischof steht seit Wochen wegen seiner Amtsführung und angeblicher Verschwendung in der Kritik.

Zu dem Besuch des Kardinals heißt es in einem am Wochenende vom Bistum veröffentlichten Schreiben aus dem Vatikan, der Heilige Stuhl hege “volles Vertrauen” in die Amtsführung des Bischofs. Gleichwohl seien die genannten Punkte “ernst zu nehmen”. Diese belasteten “die Einheit zwischen Bischof und Volk, trüben die Sendung der Kirche und drohen nicht zuletzt, die Integrität Ihres Amtes wie Ihrer Person öffentlich zu beschädigen”, heißt es in dem Brief an Tebartz-van Elst.

Der Frankfurter Stadtdekan Johannes zu Eltz hofft derweil, dass Kardinal Lajolo auch das Gespräch mit Kritikern des Bischofs sucht. Es sei wichtig, dass Lajolo nicht nur mit dem Bischof sprechen werde, “sondern auch mit jenen, die ihn sehr kritisch sehen”, sagte zu Eltz der “Frankfurter Rundschau”. Er werde ihm dabei “in aller Offenheit sagen, dass ich den Bischof in der Ausübung seines Dienstes behindert sehe, weil sich das Bistum in einer tiefgreifenden, zerstörerischen Vertrauenskrise befindet”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Vor dem mit Spannung erwarteten Besuch eines päpstlichen Gesandten geht der umstrittene Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst weiter auf seine Kritiker zu.

Während er allerdings in einer Predigt Dialogbereitschaft zeigte und um Vertrauen warb, legt sein schärfster Widersacher nach.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Während Bischof Tebartz-van Elst noch versucht, das Vertrauen seiner Gläubigen zurückzugewinnen, geht der Mainzer Kardinal Karl Lehmann bereits davon aus, dass der Konflikt um den Limburger Geistlichen nicht mehr intern zu lösen ist. Ein Papstgesandter soll den Disput schlichten.

Mainz/Limburg – Der Vatikan geht laut Einschätzung des Mainzer Kardinals Karl Lehmann davon aus, dass sich der Streit um den Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst nicht mehr intern beenden lässt.

“Ein Alarmzeichen” sei der Besuch des päpstlichen Gesandten Kardinal Giovanni Lajolo in der Diözese, sagte Lehmann. In Rom sei man der Meinung, “dass sich das offensichtlich nicht mehr alleine innerhalb des Bistums Limburg lösen lässt.”

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CHILE
La Tercera

por Angélica Baeza Palavecino – 09/09/2013

Luego de leer la declaración de la Iglesia por los 40 años del Golpe de Estado, el arzobispo de Santiago Ricardo Ezzati, aseguró que las acusaciones que hiciera una de las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, James Hamilton, “son fruto de la fantasía”.

“La Iglesia ha colaborado con la Justicia, yo lo escuché anoche (a James Hamilton) me dio mucha pena por él, por lo que dijo y quiero decir que muchas cosas que dijo son fruto de la fantasía que no corresponde a la verdad”.

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GERMANY
Zee News (India)

Paris: The Vatican launched a rare review of a German Catholic diocese on Monday following accusations its bishop spent lavishly on a new residence, putting him out of step with the new “church of the poor” promoted by Pope Francis.

The inquiry is officially called a “fraternal visit” to Limburg diocese by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the former Vatican nuncio (ambassador) in Berlin, and Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst said in a statement he was looking forward to it.

Limburg diocese, which includes Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, has been in turmoil for months as reports of high cost overruns put pressure on Tebartz-van Elst, 53.

A growing number of critics had already accused him of staging pompous church services and communicating poorly.

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NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The now 18-year-old child sex abuse victim of Satmar community big wig Nechemya Weberman was harassed in her family’s synagogue on Rosh Hashana, the New York Post reported.

“Moser, out of the shul!” a hasid screamed when he saw her come into the Kapish Synagogue in Williamsburg to hear the shofar be blown on Thursday, the first day of Rosh Hashana.

Prayers were reportedly stopped and the shofar was not blown until the victim left.

Her husband wrote about the synagogue harasment on his Facebook page. (Please see below.)

The victim and her family have faced nearly constant harassment and shunning since she went to police with her complaints against Weberman more than one year ago.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Sept. 8

For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Sex Abuse Victims Urge Bankruptcy Delay
They Ask Bishop to “Listen To Flock” Before “Making Radical Moves”
Group Wants Open Meetings in Each Deanery Before Decision is Made
They Fear Protracted Legal Process Will Mean “Wounds Will Keep Festering”

A group of clergy sex abuse victims is publicly begging a California Catholic bishop to open his financial records and hold open meetings throughout his diocese before deciding whether to seek bankruptcy protection.

Leaders with the Chicago-based SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are writing Stockton’s Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, urging caution before taking “a radical, risky step that may prolong the pain so many Catholics and victims still feel, and delay the healing so many Catholics and victims deeply deserve.”

They want Blaire to allow “independent auditors to examine the diocese’s checking accounts, savings accounts, stocks, bonds, property and insurance policies” so “there can be an objective determination about whether church officials have sufficient resources to help victims.”

“Until you take this simple step toward being open and building trust, reasonable people will doubt your claims of ‘poverty,’” said the letter.

The group also wants Blaire to hold open meetings in all of the diocese’s ‘deaneries,’ or regions, before making a decision about a possible bankruptcy.

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INDIA
Daily Bhaskar

Ranchi: In a deplorable act, a temple priest was on Monday arrested for allegedly having ‘unnatural sex’ with a 14-year old boy in Ramgarh district near state capital of Ranchi. The act is said to have taken place on Sunday night.

“Based on a complaint filed by accused’s neighbour, we have arrested priest of Shiv Mandir Ramdhar Dwivedi which lies in factory complex of Gautam Ferro Alloy for sexually abusing and sodomising the minor boy who lived with him,” Station Incharge Dillu Lohar conformed the development.

He further told that tainted priest, who hails from Patna, had adopted the boy from one Chakradhar Tewari of Bihiya village in Ara district. Ramdhar had reportedly assured the victim’s indigent father that he would take care of boy’s educational and other needs.

In his complaint which was filed by a neighbour in who the victim confided after the incident, the minor has reportedly mentioned that Ramdhar had made him dress in attire of a woman with facial embellishments including lipstick before committing the heinous act.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Josh Saul September 9, 2013

The brave Orthodox Jewish teen whose testimony helped convict the prominent Brooklyn counselor who had sexually abused her was driven out of her own synagogue on Rosh Hashana last week.

The married, 18-year-old victim was in the Williamsburg synagogue where her family has prayed for the past decade when a man yelled, “Moser, out of the shul!” the woman’s husband told The Post on Sunday.

The word “moser” refers to a Jew who informs on another Jew to secular authorities.

“They stopped the praying until she left,” said her husband, Boorey Deutsch, 26. “Some woman tried telling my wife to stay there and not leave. She shouldn’t care what they say. But my wife ended up leaving.”

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VERMONT/NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, September 8, 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 )

A clergy sex abuse and cover up case involving an Albany Catholic priest will proceed, despite a pathetic effort by Albany’s bishop to exploit legal technicalities to keep the cover up covered up.

[Albany Times Union]

Bishop Howard Hubbard should accept the court’s ruling, stop further delays, and let this brave victim seek justice.

Hubbard’s splitting hairs over which court has jurisdiction rather than showing leadership and helping out resolve this case.

It’s clear he’s dreadfully afraid that long-secret church records about Fr. Mercure will surface. Hubbard also fears that he’ll have to face tough questions under oath in open court about what he and his top staff did to ignore, conceal or enable Fr. Mercure’s crimes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A man who was sexually abused as a child by a Church of England priest has confronted his past and says he can finally move forward with his life.

Brian Bond, 49, was born in Birmingham but placed into foster care in Eastbourne, East Sussex, as a baby in 1965 by his single mother.

However, he said his formative years were far from happy, with mistreatment from his foster mother leaving him psychologically and physically abused.

At the age of eight, Mr Bond came into contact with the Reverend Roy Cotton, a Church of England priest who he met through a church connected to his primary school.

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ITALY
The Local

A church community in Messina, Sicily, is in shock following the arrest of a priest for allegedly stealing gold jewellery worth more than €40,000 from the parish.

Father David Ingodi Olusi, a Kenyan priest who was exposed in a blog by Father Salvatore Danzi, the archpriest of San Nicola di Bari church in Gioiosa Marea, is alleged to have sold the jewellery and then sent the money to his family in Kenya.

The jewellery, which had been donated to the church, was taken from statues of the Virgin Mary and St Nicholas, the patron saint of Gioiosa Marea.

Father David was arrested at Rome’s Fiumicino airport after being caught stealing the items on a camera set up by Father Salvatore.

In a message on a blog, Father Salvatore said the theft has “deeply shocked and hurt the community”, which has “inevitably risen in indignation and dismay”.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

The special inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Newcastle Hunter region has wrapped up its public hearings with testimony from two senior Catholic Church leaders.

The chancellor of the archdiocese of Sydney, Monsignor John Usher, appeared for the first time, and Father Brian Lucas was recalled to provide further evidence to the commission.

Monsignor Usher told the commission he never met the notorious paedophile priest Denis McAlinden, who died in 2002, nor did he have any records of the case.

This was at odds with evidence given by Father Lucas.

During the Newcastle inquiry in July, Father Lucas said he met with a victim of McAlinden and Monsignor Usher was at that meeting.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

NSW church child abuse inquiry winds up public hearings – Catholic church thought they could ‘cure’ abusers

AUSTRALIA’S Catholic bishops could not believe that a “man of God” could be a pedophile, the NSW church child abuse inquiry was told yesterday.

When allegations of sexual abuse by priests and clergy began to flood out with mandatory reporting laws in the late 1980s, Father John Usher said the church hierarchy still thought that pedophiles could be “cured” with therapy.

He said the bishops took some convincing that even if a pedophile priest or religious brother said he was sorry, he was likely to do it again.

“We had to convince church leaders that they had to come to terms with this,” Father John Usher said.

He said it had been a steep learning curve to understand the way pedophiles operated.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As a new work week begins, I’d like to take note of something happening in my own backyard this week: as this recent press statement from Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) states, SNAP is calling on the Catholic bishop of Little Rock, Anthony Taylor, to make a public notice of two impending court hearings involving employees of a Catholic school in Little Rock, Mount St. Mary high school, which is sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.

A former teacher at Mount St. Mary, Kelly Ann O’Rourke, has admitted having sexually molested a student at the school, and on 16 September, she’s to appear in court on charges that she has repeatedly violated the terms of her parole by contacting the minor she molested. The following day, another former teacher at the school, Kathy Gene Griffin, is also to appear on court on charges she helped O’Rourke conceal her crimes.

SNAP is calling on Bishop Taylor to publicize the cases because there may be people who have more information about these two cases or other cases in which the sexual abuse of minors in local Catholic institutions has been covered up, and those folks need to be prodded to come forward. As David Clohessy of SNAP states, such public disclosure of information about cases of sexual abuse of minors in Catholic institutions is vitally necessary:

This is especially crucial in Catholic institutions for three reasons. First, because bishops have long ignored and concealed child sex crimes by Catholic employees. Second, because bishops have repeatedly promised to change their ways in child sex cases. And third, because child sex cases are especially difficult for police and prosecutors to pursue, because predators – and those who help them – are usually very shrewd, while their victims are often frightened or confused.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has announced it will hold a confidential supporting meeting next Wednesday at the downtown library. You can find more details here. The group emphasizes that, though the group name mentions priests, it is open to anyone harmed by a predator in an institutional setting.

The meeting precedes by less than a week Little Rock court dates in which SNAP has announced…

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Freethinker (United Kingdom)

BY BARRY DUKE – SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

AMIDST “rumours” that Archbishop Josef Wesolowski has been kiddie-fiddling, the Catholic Church has speedily removed their nuncio from the Dominican Republic, and Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, confirmed that that Church is conducting an investigation.

But he declined to provide any details about the accusations against the Polish-born prelate.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic say they will investigate allegations of child sex abuse against the papal envoy to the Caribbean country.

Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito was careful to note that his office is aware only of “rumours” about the papal nuncio and has not received any accusations.

A nuncio is the pope’s ambassador to a country and such an abrupt removal is rare.

Dominguez told reporters at a news conference that the investigation was in its initial stages and largely in response to media reports of allegations of sexual misconduct by Wesolowski as well as a friend and fellow priest. He said that he had designated a senior official to lead the investigation and coordinate with the Vatican.

We will not allow anyone to use the Catholic Church or other religious institutions as a shield to commit illegal acts, especially against children.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON SEPTEMBER 09, 2013

Last week, another child molesting nun was publicly exposed. She’s Sister Agnes Daniels, who worked at St. Mary School in Boston when she reportedly committed the abuse. (Thanks to attorney Mitchell Garabedian for disclosing the accusations.)

[The Republic]

In July, two other abusive nuns were publicly exposed: Sister Agnes Santomassimo and Sister Mary Joseph. Both allegedly molested in California. (Santomassimo also worked in Chicago. Joseph also worked in Idaho, Arizona and Washington state.)

(Thanks to attorney Tony Demarco for disclosing the accusations.)

http://www.lorpb.com/documents/Agnes-File.pdf

(In all three cases, Catholic officials settled cases with victims of these nuns.)

And last month, the umbrella group for most of America’s nuns held its annual meeting. Clergy sex abuse wasn’t on the agenda. No reporters apparently questioned them about clergy sex crimes or cover ups by women religious.

This part of the church’s continuing clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis remains largely unexamined – the nuns who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

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IOWA
UPI

By VERONICA LINARES, UPI.com

A former youth pastor in Council Bluffs, Iowa claims he had sex with teenage boys because it was his duty “to help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them].”

Brent Girouex, 31, was arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist after authorities found out about his actions.

In February Girouex confessed to Council Bluffs police detectives that he had sexual relations with four young men starting in 2007 to help them gain “sexual purity” in the eyes of God. However, at least eight men have come forward with complaints that the pastor molested them.

Girouex told investigators that the longest relationship he had with any of the victims lasted four years. He said that it started when the boy was 14 years old and that the “mutual” contact took place 25 to 50 times. The victim, who is now an adult, told investigators the real number of times was between 50 and 100 times.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CathNews New Zealand

A lawyer in the United States this week released the names of five priests, a nun and a choir director linked to clergy sex abuse cases.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian released the names on Wednesday. The lawyer periodically releases new names publicly, and is highly critical of Catholic church officials for what he says is their refusal to consistently do so.

He said the public disclosures are needed to help victims heal and also as a matter of public safety, if the alleged abuser is still alive.

Garabedian said it is also a reminder that, despite decreased media coverage, the clergy sex abuse crisis is ongoing. “I don’t expect it to ever end,” he said.

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IRELAND
International Business Times

By HANNAH OSBORNE
September 9, 2013

An Irish priest who has been threatened with excommunication from the Catholic Church has said there was a link between clerical sex abuse and mandatory celibacy.

Tony Flannery, who has been warned about his outspokenness by the Vatican before, said that the celibate lifestyles that priests were forced to live led to a struggle over sexuality and could, in some cases, result in children being sexually abused.

He was preparing to launch his book, A Question of Conscience, which questions the Vatican watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), in the methods it uses to “stamp out” anything it regards as dissent.

Flannery was a founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland. In February 2012, the CDF became unhappy with some of his writings relating to the Church and he was summoned to Rome, where he was ordered to step down as ACP leader.

Months later, the CDF ordered him to issue a statement saying that he believed women could never be ordained as priests and that he accepted all the moral teachings of the Church. He was suspended from ministry and threatened him with excommunication.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Brendan Hoban’s review of Tony Flannery’s book, A Question of Conscience, which will be launched at the Royal Irish Academy next Thursday, 12th, at 6.30pm by Bill O’Herlihy

A Question of Conscience: Brendan Hoban

An important question: what have we learned in the Catholic Church over the last few decades about the way we do our business? One, that dealing with problems behind closed doors can cause more problems than it solves. A cult of secrecy has served the Church very badly. Two, respect is fundamental to the Christian enterprise. Without is we lose our bearings ­ without it the institution becomes more important than the person, sometimes more important than the message.

In church matters, it is unarguable that those two defining principles ­­transparency and respect ­ are fundamental to Christian discourse.Unfortunately, as we know, as a Church we have often failed to practice whatwe preach, to the detriment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the reputation of our Church.

Tony Flannery has written a book ­ A Question of Conscience ­ about his experiences at the hands of the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) ­ and it offers compelling evidence as a case study (quite apart from its devastating implications for his life and priesthood) in how not to conduct our business.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The following list of some of the organisations receiving federal funding related to the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse is given for the purposes of recording the on-going history of the Royal Commission itself.

Relationships Australia is the largest recipient at $11.4 million. This organisation has worked previously with people, following the Forde Enquiry, who were in Children’s Homes. Bravehearts, founded and run by Hettie Johnson, is a general child protection awareness organisation. It received $5.1 million.

The next largest grant went to Anglicare, a general Anglican Church family support services organisation. It received $2,615,000.

Berry St. Victoria received $600,000 while Drummond St. Services Inc. got $1,600,000. These are general child support service providers.

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AUSTRALIA
The Examiner

By PATRICK BILLINGS Sept. 9, 2013

THE landmark royal commission into child sex abuse will meet Tasmanian victims this month.

It will first hold private hearings with victims.

Royal commission chief executive Janette Dines said there had been a strong response from people wanting to tell their story in a private session.

“More than 326 people have already told their story in private sessions across the country, and we expect to speak to at least 850 more before the end of the year,” she said.

The royal commission will examine how institutions with a responsibility for children managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

September 9, 2013

Annette Blackwell
AAP

Scouts Australia wants a national scheme of pre-employment screening for people applying to work with children.

Scouts Australia and the NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS) will give evidence at the first public hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney next Monday.

Among the matters being investigated by the commission, which is looking at how institutions handle complaints and share information, is if the Working With Children Check (WWCC) needs reform.

The first hearing will deal specifically with how Scouts Australia, Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services and DOCS handled allegations against convicted pedophile Steven ‘Skip’ Larkins, former chief executive of a foster care agency for Aboriginal children.

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He was also an adviser to the NSW government on child protection and a Scouts leader.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS
The Daily Telegraph
September 09, 2013

Australia’s Catholic bishops took some convincing that even if a pedophile priest said he was sorry, he was more than likely to offend again, the NSW church child abuse inquiry has been told today.

“We had to convince church leaders that they had to come to terms with this,” Father John Usher said.

He said it had been a steep learning curve to learn about the way pedophiles operated.

Father Usher, a former member of the NSW Child Protection Council and currently Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, is giving evidence as the inquiry gets to the heart of its investigation.

The commission chaired by Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC is sitting in Sydney after weeks in Newcastle.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian September 09, 2013

TWO of the most senior clerics in the Catholic church have given conflicting evidence to a NSW state government inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child abuse committed by priests.

The general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Brian Lucas, has previously given evidence saying he and John Usher, the current chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, met around 35 alleged pedophile priests during the early 1990s.

Most of these men were convinced to resign in a “secret and discreet” process that meant potential scandal could be contained, and without the police being informed of the allegations against them, Father Lucas said.

Giving evidence today to the NSW special commission of inquiry, Father Usher said “some of the recollections (Father Lucas) described differ from my own recollections” of what took place.

The two men met only one alleged pedophile priest together, Father Usher told the inquiry, and he did not know what Father Lucas meant by saying they shared a “broad methodology” for dealing with alleged pedophile priests.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Monday 9 September 2013

VICTIMS of alleged physical and sexual abuse by monks at a former Catholic boarding school are to launch a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands of pounds compensation.

The six who attended Fort Augustus Abbey school, in the Highlands, have instructed an English law firm to sue the Benedictine Order, which ran the institution. David Greenwood, a solicitor for Switalskis, said the firm would be seeking between £30,000 to £100,000 per person depending on the abuse and how it had affected their life and ability to secure employment.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

A legal case involving hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation against the Roman Catholic Church is to be launched by victims of physical and sexual abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands.

Six former pupils have instructed Switalskis, an English law firm, to sue the Benedictine Order which ran the school until it closed in 1993.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

Monsignor John Usher has told the special commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Maitland region that he took notes as part of his work with the church’s special issues committee set up to handle complaints and allegations about priests. His record keeping has been scrutinised by the Special Commission of Inquiry led by Margaret Cunneen, SC. His method of note-taking differs from that of his colleague Brian Lucas, who admitted during hearings that he took no notes of his meetings with alleged paedophile priests.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: The special inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Hunter region has begun hearing evidence from two witnesses from the Catholic Church.

Father Brian Lucas has been recalled to the commission, and Monsignor John Usher will appear for the first time as the commission investigates the Church’s response to allegations of abuse by two priests who’ve now died.

Today’s hearings come just one week before the national Royal Commission begins its public hearings.

The World Today’s Emily Bourke has been at the hearings in Sydney this morning and she joins us now. Emily, why is the evidence from these two church figures today so significant?

EMILY BOURKE: Well, Eleanor, Brian Lucas and John Usher had key roles. They were part of the special issues committee set up to handle allegations. And both men were really at the forefront of the Church’s response to child sexual abuse allegations in the 1980s and 1990s.

And this pre-dated the protocols towards healing and the Melbourne response – the official processes that the Church set up in the wake of mounting allegations and a need for the Church to really get a handle on how to deal with allegations both within the Church and in a civil sense.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Sunday, September 8, 2013

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Stockton Diocese Bishop Stephen Blaire says it’s becoming increasingly likely that the Catholic diocese that serves the Lodi area will file for bankruptcy.

In a letter to parishioners throughout the diocese, Blaire said that it doesn’t look like the diocese has an option, especially to pay off or settle any more clergy abuse lawsuits. No decision has been made by diocese officials, Blaire said.

“I feel, however, that it is important to tell you that options other than filing for bankruptcy protection have not emerged,” Blaire said in his letter, which was inserted in the weekly bulletin at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Lodi.

“It appears likely to me that the diocese will need to reorganize financially under the protection of the bankruptcy court,” Blaire added. “That is why I am meeting in the days and weeks ahead with your pastors and with others who may be affected by a bankruptcy filing by the diocese.”

————————————–

Statement by Stockton Diocese Bishop Stephen Blaire

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In my letter to you in June, I shared with you some difficult news about the financial situation of the diocese — the funds we have used to settle sexual abuse lawsuits have been almost depleted, and we have no apparent way to meet the expenses of pending lawsuits and possible future claims.
I promised you we would examine the options available to us and that I would keep you updated on any developments. This is the reason for my letter to you today.

We continue to investigate our options, and no final decisions have been reached. I feel, however, that it is important to tell you that options other than filing for bankruptcy protection have not emerged. It appears likely to me that the diocese will need to reorganize financially under the protection of the bankruptcy court.

I want to keep you and the wider community informed as best I can in this process. That is why I am meeting in the days and weeks ahead with your pastors and with others who may be affected by a bankruptcy filing by the diocese.

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VERMONT/NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Brendan J. Lyons
Published 10:34 pm, Sunday, September 8, 2013

A federal judge in Vermont has rejected a request by the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Warren County man who, as a young altar boy, was taken across state lines and raped by a priest.

The diocese had argued in a fierce court battle that it has no legal ties to the Burlington, Vt., diocese, and therefore could not be sued in that state for the actions of a rogue priest. But Jerome F. O’Neill, an attorney for the victim, used the diocese’s business records, which were turned over under a court order, to show ties between the neighboring dioceses, including documentation that priests from Albany routinely ministered at parishes in Vermont under authorization from Bishop Howard Hubbard.

Barring an appeal, the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions III puts the case on track for trial and exposes the Albany diocese to potentially having to disclose its clergy-abuse records for the first time.

Kenneth Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Albany diocese, said they disagree with the decision.

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NEW MEXICO
Deseret News

Compiled by Jamshid Ghazi Askar, Deseret News
Published: Sunday, Sept. 8 2013

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., confirmed this week that it will soon seek bankruptcy protection.

The diocese “plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month to cope with mounting costs of litigation arising from claims of child sexual abuse by members of its clergy,” Reuters reported Tuesday. “… The Gallup Diocese, which includes several Native American reservations, would become the ninth U.S. diocese or archdiocese to file for bankruptcy protection since 2004 in financial fallout from child molestation cases against the church.”

The Catholic New Service wrote, “The strategy, Bishop (James) Wall explained in his letter (to parishioners) will give the diocese the opportunity to present a reorganization plan that provides for a fair and equitable way to compensate those who were sexually abused as children by church workers and ministers as well as anyone who has not yet come forward with allegations of abuse but may do so in the future.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

BY SOPHIE TARR AAP SEPTEMBER 09, 2013

CATHOLIC leaders simply could not accept that ordained priests might commit child sex abuse, a senior church figure has told an inquiry.

And where they did, they believed it was a “one-off”.

Asked whether there was a “cultural disinclination” among senior Catholics to confront claims of abuse in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Monsignor John Usher replied: “It was not so much cultural but spiritual”.

The monsignor on Monday fronted the special commission of inquiry into how church leaders and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against two Hunter Valley priests.

He said that 20 years ago the first response from bishops and other senior Catholics to claims of child sexual abuse by a priest was disbelief.

“(They thought), ‘this couldn’t be true’,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

A senior NSW Catholic has told an inquiry how church leaders believed pedophile priests could be “cured” if they received counselling.

Monsignor John Usher on Monday fronted a Sydney court for the special commission of inquiry into how church leaders and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against two Hunter Valley priests, Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

Under questioning from counsel assisting the commission Julia Lonergan, Monsignor Usher recalled a steep “learning curve” faced by senior clergy who were grappling with abuse allegations in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“It’s important to understand that the church, like many other institutions, really believed that if someone committed these offences it was possible for them to go into therapy and to be cured,” Monsignor Usher told the inquiry.

“I’m not saying it was a universally held view but our church is strong on forgiveness and reconciliation and if someone said ‘I’m truly sorry, I’m not going to do it again’, there was a tendency to believe them.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MACDONALD – 09 SEPTEMBER 2013

A priest threatened with excommunication has called on the Catholic Church to openly debate whether clerical celibacy has contributed to the number of clerics who abused children.

Fr Tony Flannery – a co-founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, which has more than 1,000 members – said the lonely single lives that priests lead result in an “inevitable” struggle over sexuality.

Fr Flannery has been suspended from ministry and threatened with excommunication by the Vatican over his stand on mandatory clerical celibacy, contraception and women priests. He is one of the first priests to publicly question a possible linkage of celibacy and clerical abuse.

He made his comments in an interview with the Irish Independent ahead of the launch on Thursday of his new book, ‘A Question of Conscience’.

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UNITED STATES
A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

September 6, 2013

[with video]

Because of prior association with CMTV and Michael Voris, a lot of what is below consists of things I’ve heard before. But, few others have, so here is the video where Michael describes what happens to an apostolate when they bring up those things certain bishops and bureaucrats find embarrassing:

f you missed the live broadcast Wednesday night, there you go. Michael has spoken in the past of these “whisper campaigns,” and how destructive they can be. Such has been conducted against Saint Michael’s Media/Real Catholic TV/Church Militant TV since shortly after its inception, when it failed to “stay in the middle,” that is, embracing the many progressive shibolleths of the post-conciliar Church. By being openly orthodox, Michael Voris offended against the cherished beliefs, plans, and programs of a very large section of the hierarchy. That’s it – it wasn’t tone, or politics, and certainly wasn’t the proclamation of any real error – it was simply that Michael Voris was giving too orthodox a presentation of the Faith, and that offended the sensibilities of the power that be.

And they be. Oh do they be.

UPDATE: When I first posted the video, I had not watched much of it (is anyone else having trouble getting it to play? One commenter complained). Having watched all of it now, some notes:

Do you think any famous Catholic personalities will accept Voris’ challenge to get together and discuss why they won’t broach any of the forbidden, episcopate-embarrassing topics?

How revealing was it when Archbishop Chaput said he couldn’t believe the massive pile of evidence against CCHD, because to do so would mean that a brother bishop (that would be Bishop Morin) had blatantly misrepresented, even lied, about CCHD and what it does?

Isn’t it interesting that the ONLY bishop in the USA to ever get a criminal indictment over the child sex abuse crisis, when dozens of bishops were blazingly, criminally involved in cover ups and perpetuating the most horrible, soul destroying abuse, was Bishop Finn, and that was an incredibly weak case involving third hand involvement in child porn on a computer that he failed to report quickly enough? Compare that to Cardinal Roger Disciple of Bernadin Mahony, the very definition of an establishment insider, and his decades of what could well be lies under oath and far more egregious acts of deliberately covering up ongoing child rape in LA. He’s never faced even a slight slap on the wrist for his gross dereliction of duty and likely immorality. And isn’t it interesting that Bishop Finn is one of the very few bishops who has ever raised a voice of criticism of his brother bishops, such as, how they agree to be interviewed by the heretical National Schismatic Reporter? Do you see how the system works, now? Any bishop who bucks the progressive dominated system is very exposed, and very alone. It takes great courage to be even moderately orthodox, let alone the Saints we desperately need. And yet, the office has so much Grace……

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