ABUSE TRACKER

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

One was convicted of stealing from churches
The other was ousted from parish last Friday
Sex abuse victims want bishop to be more “open”
Neither, as best SNAP can tell, faces child sex allegations

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013

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

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is challenging Kansas City’s Catholic bishop over two priests – one who was convicted of burglarizing churches and another who was recently ousted from his parish.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are urging Bishop Robert Finn to be “honest with parishioners and the public” about the two clerics:

–Fr. Glen Gardner, who now works at St. Patrick’s Oratory in Kansas City (806 Cherry, 816 474 8995, http://www.institute-christ-king.org/kansascity/), was convicted on felony theft/burglary charges in Wisconsin in 2000.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Nov. 6, 2013 NCR Today

Pope John Paul II’s former secretary, in a recently published book, defends his late boss’s promotion of the now-infamous Marciel Maciel Degollado by saying that the pope knew “absolutely nothing” about him because of a lack of communication among the curia.

According to a CNS report by Cindy Wooden, Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, personal secretary to the late John Paul for 39 years, said in his book, Hi Vissuto con un Santo (I Lived with a Saint), that the pope should not have met with and praised the founder of the ultra conservative and secretive order, the Legion of Christ, in 2004. ”When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing. For him, he [Maciel] was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around.” The ignorance, he further explains “was the consequence of a still extremely bureaucratic structure” in which there was little communication.

I have not read the book, which is currently available only in Italian. Perhaps Dziwisz provides more explanation and context in the book, but on the face of the information provided in the CNS story, which gives the impression of a single meeting between the two in 2004, a great deal of history is left out.

The record on Maciel, who, according to the Vatican, abused “more than 20 but fewer than 100” of his former seminarians and who, it was ultimate discovered, had at least three children by two different women, is voluminous. Much of it was generated by journalist Jason Berry for NCR.

But the record extends back to initial stories by Berry and Gerald Renner, then a religion reporter for the Hartford Courant. In February, 1997, the two published an extensively documented story in the Courant, based on on-the-record interviews with nine former seminarians or ex-Legion priests, detailing a history of sexual abuse of seminarians by Maciel. Apparently the news either did not get to the pope or he chose to ignore the allegations.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Eric S. Fought

As a former senior-level political staffer and as someone who has advised leaders of organizations large and small in the midst of crises, I have often been forced to offer counsel that was difficult for the leader to hear. In some cases, the damage that has been done by their actions (or lack thereof) can be repaired; at other times the damage is far too great and the best path forward is for that leader to step aside.

While I am a member of a parish of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, I in no way serve as an adviser to John Nienstedt, its archbishop. However, if I did, I would advise him to take swift action for the benefit of the organization that he has been called to lead.

That swift action would include his resignation, and his own willingness to cooperate fully with both civil and ecclesial authorities.

If we are to be fully honest with ourselves, we would acknowledge that if John Nienstedt served in a leadership capacity with any organization other than the Roman Catholic Church, such action would have been taken by now. However, the archbishop does serve the church, an organization with a long, painful and unfortunate history of covering up and enabling the criminal behavior of a segment of its clergy — a history that must come to an end.

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CANADA
Le Soleil

Click here for the story.

[Summary: It took much of the day but American priest Thomas Doyle was finally recognized as an expert witness in canon law at the trial of the Redemptorists. Lawyers for the congregation unsuccessfully challenged the credibility of Fr. Doyle and claimed he was biased. By late afternoon on Tuesday, Judge Claude Bouchard agreed to recognize Fr. Doyle, whose curriculum vitae was nine pages long, as an expert in canon law. He can comment on structure and functioning of the Catholic Church as well as procedures of the church in sexual abuse cases.]

ISABELLE MATHIEU
Le Soleil
(Québec) Il aura fallu y passer la journée, mais le prêtre américain Thomas Doyle a finalement été reconnu comme témoin-expert en droit canonique au procès des Rédemptoristes. Les avocats de la congrégation ont attaqué en vain la crédibilité du prêtre catholique, le qualifiant de partial.

En fin d’après-midi, mardi, le juge Claude Bouchard a accepté de reconnaître le père Thomas Doyle comme expert en droit canonique. L’homme, dont le curriculum vitae tient sur neuf pages, pourra donc livrer ses commentaires sur la structure et le fonctionnement de l’Église catholique ainsi que sur les procédures de l’Église dans les cas d’abus sexuels.

Alors que Frank Tremblay et ses avocats souhaitaient qu’il puisse témoigner globalement comme expert dans les dommages spirituels, le juge s’est rendu aux arguments de la défense et demande de limiter la preuve psychologique, déjà couverte par d’autres témoins experts. «Mais du fait de son expérience auprès des victimes, il peut accorder un éclairage à la cour», a estimé le juge Claude Bouchard.

Depuis le milieu des années 1980, Thomas Doyle a rencontré des milliers de victimes de prêtres et témoigné comme expert ou agi comme consultant dans plus de 2000 causes aux États-Unis, au Canada, au Royaume-Uni, en Irlande, en Nouvelle-Zélande, en Belgique, en Australie et en Israël. Conférencier et auteur, Doyle a également été aumônier militaire.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 6, 2013

WASHINGTON On an otherwise dull agenda for the fall assembly of the American hierarchy, one item has been the subject of much discussion inside and outside the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Following a three-year presidency of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the bishops are set to elect a new chief and a spate of other leaders.

The discussion question is basic: Who’s going to lead this group?

More to the point: Will the new conference leadership maintain the status quo, allowing the conference to be, in the words of one former staffer, “defined by what they oppose”? Or will the leadership, in the words of a former conference president, “embrace the tone and the style of Pope Francis”?

Or, in the words of another former staffer, will the new leadership embrace dialogue and collaboration, or will it “hunker down and preserve and protect”?

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RUSSIA
Interfax

St. Petersburg, November 6, Interfax – Gleb Grozovsky, the former senior priest of the Church of John the Warrior, St. Petersburg Metropole of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is accused of molesting two children, has denied his guilt

“The case materials are full of emotions and there is not a single piece of evidence of my guilt.

According to the parents, they were threatened and psychologically pressured to accuse me of all these abominable things. The mothers were pressured to make their accusations. Many women gave in to emotions now they realize that they have been deceived and they don’t know what to do,” Grozovsky said on a social networking site on Wednesday.

Grozovsky said only witnesses for the prosecution have now been questioned by the investigators. “They haven’t questioned any camp counselors or the parents of the children who were in the camp, whereas there were educators in the camps who came there with their children and saw everything with their own eyes, plus I had my family and my four children with me,” Grozovsky said.

The priest said he is now on a visit to a center for alcohol and drug-dependent people in Israel at the blessing of the bishop.

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RUSSIA
GlobalPost

Russian investigators on Wednesday charged an advisor with football club Zenit, who is an ordained priest, with sexually assaulting two underage girls while at a religious summer camp.

Investigators said they are looking for 34-year-old Gleb Grozovsky, who works as an advisor to Maksim Mitrofanov, the general director of FC Zenit of Saint Petersburg and is now at large.

The Russian Investigative Committeee said it believed Grozovsky, an Orthodox priest and former rector of a parish near Saint Petersburg, has “sexually assaulted a nine-year-old and 12-year-old girls”.

Grozovsky, 34, was with the girls on the Greek island of Kos as part of an Orthodox summer camp in June, and molested them in a hotel, a statement said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 6 November 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father: …

– appointed Bishop Salvatore Ronald Matano of Burlington, U.S.A., as bishop of Rochester (area 18,400, population 1,580,000, Catholics 461,297, priests 235, permanent deacons 145, religious 148), U.S.A. Bishop Matano was born in Providence, U.S.A. in 1946, was ordained to the priesthood in 1971 and received episcopal ordination in 2005.

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RUSSIA
Interfax

St. Petersburg, November 6, Interfax – The Investigations Committee’s Investigations Department for St. Petersburg has opened a criminal case against priest Gleb Grozovsky, who is suspected of child molestation.

A criminal case has been opened and an investigation is underway, the press service for the Investigations Committee’s Investigations Department for St. Petersburg told Interfax.

According to media reports, Grozovsky was until recently the senior priest of the Church of John the Warrior in the village of Maloye Verevo, Gatchina district, and also deputy chairman of the diocese department for youth affairs of the St. Petersburg Diocese. However, he left his posts in mid-October and is now abroad.

According to some media reports, Grozovsky is an adviser to the general director of the St. Petersburg football club Zenit and has worked with the children’s village SOS, which is under the care of prominent footballer Andrey Arshavin.

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RUSSIA
RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russian investigators said Wednesday that an Orthodox priest with links to St. Petersburg’s Zenit football club is suspected of sexually abusing two children during a holiday trip to a Greek island.

Law enforcement officials say they have put Russian village priest Gleb Grozovsky on an international wanted list over allegations that he abused two underage girls at an Orthodox summer camp earlier this year.

Grozovsky, 34, is suspected of abusing the two girls, aged nine and 12, in June at a hotel on the territory of the Philadelphia Orthodox travel club on the Greek island of Kos. He also committed “a range of similar crimes in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

The clergyman, who formerly served at a village church in the Leningrad Region, was identified by the Investigative Committee as an adviser to Zenit’s general director.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A retired Catholic brother who left Australia to live in Rome has been charged with indecently assaulting Sydney schoolboys during the 1970s.

His arrest comes after a police investigation into allegations that four 12-year-old boys were assaulted by a teacher at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe, or while on camp at Dural.

The alleged assaults occurred between 1972 and 1981.

The 75-year-old was arrested at Strathfield on Tuesday and appeared in court charged with four counts of indecent assault on a male.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Rivers Echo

A RETIRED Catholic brother is the latest clergy member to be arrested over historic child sex offences in NSW.

Police allege that between 1972-81, four young boys were abused by a teacher at schools and at a camp in Sydney’s west.

Investigations into a 72-year-old suspect, who now lives in Rome, began in June this year.

Detectives swooped on the man while he was in Sydney on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

LOCAL police have charged a retired Catholic brother over the alleged historical indecent assaults of school children in Dural and Sydney’s inner west.

Between 1972 and 1981, four boys – all aged 12 at the time- were allegedly indecently assaulted while on camp at Dural, or at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe.

In June 2013, police from Kuring-Gai Local Area Command were alerted to the alleged incidents and commenced an investigation.

Following inquiries, a 75-year-old man was arrested at Strathfield just before 9.30am on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Retired Catholic brother charged with historical indecent assaults of Sydney school children

Wednesday, 06 November 2013

Police have charged a retired Catholic brother over the alleged historical indecent assaults of school children in Sydney’s inner west and north west.

Between 1972 and 1981, four boys – all aged 12 – were allegedly indecently assaulted by a teacher at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe, or while on camp at Dural.

In June 2013, police from Kuring-Gai Local Area Command were alerted to the alleged incidents and commenced an investigation.

Following inquiries, a 75-year-old man was arrested at Strathfield just before 9.30am yesterday (Tuesday 5 November 2013).

The man, a retired Catholic brother who now lives in Rome, was taken to Campsie Police Station where he was charged with four counts of indecent assault on a male.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Police have charged a retired Catholic religious Brother over the alleged historical indecent assaults of school children in Sydney.

A media release from New South Wales police (on 6 November 2013) says that, between 1972 and 1981, four boys (all aged 12) were allegedly indecently assaulted by a teacher at schools in Strathfield and Lidcombe (in Sydney’s inner-west), or while on camp at Dural (in Sydney’s north-west).

In June 2013, police from Kuring-Gai Local Area Command were alerted to the alleged incidents and commenced an investigation.

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.

VERMONT/NEW YORK
Whispers in the Loggia

Capping weeks of speculation surrounding Bishop Salvatore Matano, at Roman Noon this Wednesday the Pope named the 67 year-old prelate – head of Vermont’s statewide diocese of Burlington since 2005 – as bishop of Rochester.

In the upstate New York post, the Providence-born, Rome-trained canonist succeeds Bishop Matthew Clark, who led the 320,000-member diocese for 33 years – a length of tenure practically unheard of in recent times – until his retirement was accepted last September, two months after his 75th birthday.

While Rochester under Clark had been an outlier among Northeastern dioceses in its normative embrace of a progressive post-Conciliar ecclesiology, as was universally expected, the incoming bishop comes from a rather different cloth. And much like last week’s appointment of the now Bishop Leonard Blair to the archbishopric of Hartford, the choice of a fairly conservative figure with an extensive background in law and administration will be seen in some quarters as a clash with the prevailing “Francis narrative” on the wider scene.

A longtime veteran of 1 Cathedral Square – the Rhode Island Chancery, where he capped his service as vicar-general – Matano spent two tours of duty as a local aide at the Washington Nunciature before his appointment to Vermont as coadjutor in early 2005. Ordained in Burlington on the very afternoon of B16’s election, much of the bishop’s tenure has been taken up with the legal and financial fallout of scores of clergy sex-abuse lawsuits, the settlements of which have spurred the diocese to sell off extensive swaths of its real estate holdings – including its Chancery – to pay for the claims while avoiding bankruptcy. While a 2010 settlement for 26 suits totaled $17.6 million, the amount of another agreement to close 11 cases earlier this year was not disclosed.

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CANADA
CTV

A former residential school supervisor charged with abusing several students was found guilty in a North Battleford courtroom Tuesday.

72-year-old Paul Leroux was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency against several boys who attended Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s.

Leroux, who represented himself at the trial inside Battlefords Court of Queen’s Bench, was found not guilty of seven other charges. Discrepancies in witness testimonies were cited as reasons for why Justice Murray Acton dismissed the charges.

Leroux pled not guilty to all charges against him. He shook his head in disagreement as Acton read his decision.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

06 NOVEMBER 2013

MORE than half of the Magdalene Laundries survivors will get more than €50,000 in compensation.

Almost 700 survivors of the Magdalene Laundries have applied for compensation under the scheme being headed up by Mr Justice John Quirke. Based on the information provided so far, 55pc of applicants will receive more than €50,000 each. The cost of the scheme is expected to be €59m.

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CANADA
Canada.com

THE COURIER-ISLANDER NOVEMBER 6, 2013

What happened between 1879 and 1986 has been Canada’s dirty little secret.

Family priests, Indian agents and police officers forcibly took 150,000 aboriginal children, ages seven to 15 from their homes and they were placed in one of about 132 residential schools across Canada. The intent was to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.

The white culture. To kill the Indian in the child. There are about 80,000 survivors. Only just now is the damage being recognized. Only just now are significant numbers of individuals beginning to talk about their traumatic experiences of physical, sexual, emotional abuse, medical experimentation, starvation, even murder. Only now are many of us hearing about it.

Because what happened was unspeakable.

But now, survivors are speaking.

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CANADA
Canada.com

BY SIAN THOMSON, THE COURIER-ISLANDER NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Carihi teacher Ray Wilson looks at his oldest daughter, who is soon turning five years old, and knows if he lived back when Residential Schools were in existence, now would be the time “they” would be coming for her.

“They” are the Government of Canada who, according to survivors of Residential Schools, aimed to destroy Aboriginal culture by assimilating Aboriginal children into “good Christian Canadians”. Under the Indian Act of 1876, all Aboriginal people were, by legal definition, wards of the state. School administrators of approximately 143 schools were assigned guardianship, which meant they received full parental rights.

Three of those schools were on Vancouver Island. “Imagine your five year old being taken away from you and sent to a school where you would have no contact and likely not see them again,” said Wilson, who is from Cape Mudge and, after graduating with his teaching degree, returned to Carihi to teach.

“What would you have done? Imagine if there were no children anywhere in your community, They were all gone. What would that do to the psyche of the adults there?” he said.

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MISSOURI
San Francisco Chronicle

TROY, Mo. (AP) — The St. Louis archdiocese is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit by the family of a teenage girl claiming Archbishop Robert Carlson failed to prevent her molestation by a priest with whom he lived in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

The Rev. Joseph Jiang is accused in eastern Missouri’s Lincoln County of leaving a $20,000 check atop a car belonging to the girl’s family after the alleged improper sexual contact. The lawsuit says Carlson asked for the check’s return. The family instead reported the exchange to police.

A motion by the archdiocese to dismiss the lawsuit was scheduled to be heard Wednesday in a Troy courtroom.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) 2013 November General Assembly in Baltimore will be held on November 11-14. You will be able to view the bishops’ actions at the meeting by viewing the live stream or reviewing video-on-demand of the public sessions and reading through the tweets below. You will also find links to related USCCB news releases and coverage from Catholic News Service on this page. Links to the agenda, speeches, votes and other material are posted in the right hand column of this page.

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

Washington D.C., Nov 6, 2013 / 02:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ten bishops are nominees to become the next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the group’s general assembly to be held in Baltimore Nov. 11-14.

The nominees come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The conference president plays a significant role in coordinating and leading charitable and social work and education, while providing a public face for the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond is the first New Orleans native to head the city’s archdiocese, where he had served as an auxiliary bishop from 1997-2000. He is former Bishop of Austin, and has been archbishop of New Orleans since 2009.

The archbishop recently made news for asking Catholic schools in his archdiocese to stop holding Sunday events in order to reduce temptations to neglect faith and family life.

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

By VICTORIA NUGENT Nov. 6, 2013

A DEFROCKED priest facing historic child sex assault charges is expected to stand trial in relation to two of 11 alleged victims.

He faced Armidale Local Court heard today.

Crown prosecutor Peter Woods told the court there was “substantial agreement” in relation to the facts regarding nine of the alleged victims and a plea offer would be made.

“In relation to two victims, there is no agreement and we expect those matters to go to trial,” he said.

Mr Woods said the defence and the Crown were agreed on a number of facts relating to certain charges.

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CANADA
GlobalPost

BATTLEFORD, Sask. – A former supervisor at a Saskatchewan residential school has been found guilty of molesting several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who is now in his 70s, worked at the Beauval Indian Residential School.

A judge in Battleford court convicted Leroux on 10 of 17 charges involving boys at the school — eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency

Leroux, who appeared to be stunned by the conviction, has been taken into custody until sentencing Dec. 5.

Leroux was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998 for abusing 14 boys and young men at Grollier Hall, a residential school in Inuvik run by the Roman Catholic Church.

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CANADA
Global News

BATTLEFORD, Sask. – A former supervisor at a Saskatchewan residential school has been found guilty of molesting several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who is now in his 70s, worked at the Beauval Indian Residential School.

A judge in Battleford court convicted Leroux on 10 of 17 charges involving boys at the school – eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency

Leroux, who appeared to be stunned by the conviction, has been taken into custody until sentencing Dec. 5.

Leroux was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998 for abusing 14 boys and young men at Grollier Hall, a residential school in Inuvik run by the Roman Catholic Church.

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
CBC News

A former residential school worker in northern Saskatchewan has been found guilty of indecently assaulting young boys nearly five decades ago.

Paul Leroux, now 73, was a dormitory supervisor at the Beauval Residential School in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was accused of molesting 14 boys. Reporters in the court house Tuesday reported that the judge on the case found Leroux guilty on ten counts of indecent assault. Queen’s Bench Justice Murray Acton delivered his decision at the Battleford courthouse Tuesday afternoon.

There were 17 charges altogether, including indecent assault and gross indecency. The allegations included sexual touching, oral and anal sex, and bringing boys to his room where they were given alcohol and shown pornography.

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CANADA
StarPhoenix

A former supervisor at a residential school has been found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency against several students in the 1960s.

Paul Leroux, who is 72, represented himself at his trial, pleading not guilty to assaulting about a dozen former students at the Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s.

Justice Murray Acton read the verdict, along with a lengthy explanation, in the Battlefords Court of Queen’s Bench Tuesday. Leroux was found not guilty on seven other charges.

After a brief deliberation, Acton decided Leroux will be held in custody until his sentencing, prompting applause from the crowded gallery in the courtroom.

The accused denied all the charges against him in his final arguments, made last Tuesday.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, November 5, 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)

An Idaho Catholic priest working in Missouri has been ousted from his parish. Neither bishops – one in Boise and one in Kansas City – are saying why.

[Idaho Statesman]

We’re disappointed that Catholic officials continue to treat their flock like children and withhold potentially helpful information about the misconduct of priests.

KC Bishop Robert Finn is the only sitting US bishop to have been convicted for endangering kids after hiding evidence of a priest’s possession of child porn from police. So prudent people are skeptical of any claims Finn might make about alleged wrongdoing by clerics.

If Fr. Ramirez stole money, exploited adult parishioners or groomed potentially vulnerable kids, even if there’s no solid proof of a crime, Catholics in Idaho and Kansas City deserve to know this.

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MISSOURI
Idaho Statesman

Published: November 5, 2013

By Bill Roberts — broberts@idahostatesman.com

The Rev. Jorge Ramirez, an Idaho Catholic priest serving in the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese in Missouri, has been relieved of his duties by Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.

Ramirez had been serving as the priest at Sacred Heart-Guadalupe, a largely Hispanic parish, in Kansas City.

In a letter read to parishioners last weekend, Finn wrote, “My office has received a variety of complaints concerning Fr. Ramirez which I have considered serious enough to merit removing him from his priestly responsibilities at the parish.”

He did not provide specifics details.

Ramirez was removed last Friday. His removal did not involve impropriety with a minor, Finn said.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 5, 2013

I am super-duper excited to announce my next book project:

Raising the Armored Kid: A victim and advocate gives you the tools to help your children stay safe from sexual abuse (working title)

This easy-to-read, easy-to-use book will teach parents, caregivers and loved ones common sense strategies that will help children stay safe from child sexual abuse. I include age-specific tools to empower children—from toddlers to adults—and repel predators.

But that is only part of the book. I also explain predatory behaviors such as grooming, give insight into institutional cover-up of abuse, and show how something as simple as changing a parenting style can make the difference in your child’s safety.

Why this book?

I thought back to the more than 10+ years of conversations I have had about my work as an advocate for adult victims of child sexual abuse. The dialogue is always the same: They ask me what I do. I tell them. They ooh and ahh for a minute. Then every parent ASKS THE SAME QUESTION:

“Gosh, what can I do to make sure that it doesn’t happen to my kid?”

That’s when I realized that there is no easy-to-read “toolkit” type of book for parents when it comes to preventing child sexual abuse.There are websites here and there, but most are written by academics who have never been “in the trenches” with abuse victims. Information is difficult or impossible to find on important topics such as grooming, parenting styles, and institutional rot.

Somebody needed to write this book. But who?

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 6, 2013

Lucinda Schmidt

Melbourne lawyer Vivian Waller has spent nearly two decades chasing justice for hundreds of victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. And it’s nowhere near over.

For decades, the scandal of Catholic clergy sexual abuse of children has simmered, flaring up every now and again when yet another paedophile priest is convicted and jailed. Now, the issue is set to reach boiling point as the Catholic Church in Australia faces forensic scrutiny and publicity from three government inquiries into how much its leaders knew, when they knew it – and what they did about it.
On November 15, the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations hands its report to the government, after almost 18 months of hearings and submissions.

A few weeks later, on December 9, the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse begins two weeks of hearings examining the Catholic Church’s national ”Towards Healing” response, set up in 1996 to deal internally with sexual abuse allegations. And, in NSW, an inquiry into the police investigation of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is due to report by February 28.

The Christian Brothers spent $158,000 on legal costs for Robert Charles Best in his 1996 trial on child sex charges. He was convicted and jailed, but 14 years later, when Best was convicted of a further 27 offences against 11 boys, the Christian Brothers spent another $980,000 on legal fees.
The Christian Brothers spent $158,000 on legal costs for Robert Charles Best in his 1996 trial on child sex charges. He was convicted and jailed, but 14 years later, when Best was convicted of a further 27 offences against 11 boys, the Christian Brothers spent another $980,000 on legal fees.
For Melbourne lawyer Dr Vivian Waller, her wish list from the inquiries is topped by a typically blunt assessment. ”The church should no longer be trusted to deal with this issue in-house.”

Waller has spent the past 19 years chasing justice for hundreds of victims of Catholic clergy abuse. Many of her clients have been abused by Christian Brothers – she files these matters under ”U’ for unchristian. Since she set up her own firm Waller Legal in 2007, she has never advertised her services, but her three-room office in Thornbury has files stacked five deep on tables and the floor.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday November 5, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

A long time top Catholic official now says that Pope John Paul II knew “absolutely nothing” about multiple credible child sex abuse reports against Legion of Christ founder Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

[National Catholic Reporter]

We find this very hard to believe. And if it’s true, we find this very troubling.

Polish Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz of Krakow was the personal secretary to Pope John Paul II for 39 years and had been ordained to the priesthood by him. In a new book, Dziwisz claims the pontiff should not have met with Maciel.

Again, we just don’t believe this. (The first known letter to Vatican officials about Maciel’s crimes was in the mid-1990s though we suspect there were other reports even earlier. And the first known letter to Pope John Paul II about Maciel was in 1998.)

Among many excuses offered by Catholic prelates about their refusal to take action to protect kids, this is the most common excuse. And it’s the most inexcusable one. Bishop after bishop after bishop claims, over and over again, “I just didn’t know” about clerics who commit and conceal heinous crimes against children. After hearing this claim repeatedly for decades, we just don’t believe that any more.

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MINNESOTA
The Progressive Catholic Voice

Saturday, November 9, 2013
1:30-2:30 p.m.

Outside the Cathedral of St. Paul
239 Selby Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102

In recent weeks it has become clear that many Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis no longer accept the leadership of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt.

Archbishop Nienstedt has failed to garner the trust of a significant number of Catholics in the archdiocese or lost such trust over the course of his tenure. This failure in pastoral leadership is the result of a number of factors, including his leadership style, his unwillingness to dialogue with Catholics on their legitimate concerns, his dismissive stance and pastorally insensitive way of dealing with those who disagree with his agenda and priorities, his promoting of a culture that values self-protection and secrecy above disclosure and justice, and his ill-judged, perhaps even criminal mishandling of a number of recent cases involving both known sexually abusing priests and highly suspect ones. These cases and the archdiocese’s well-publicized mismanagement of them have shocked and scandalized many – both within and beyond the archdiocese.

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IRELAND
Journal

THE JUSTICE MINISTER Alan Shatter has confirmed that the first payments to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries will be made in the next four to six weeks.

Speaking in the Dáil this evening, Shatter said that over 600 applications have been made for lump-sum payments from the redress scheme established by his Department in the wake of the McAleese report.
Of these, Shatter said that over 200 applications have been processed to an advanced stage and the final details of the scheme were agreed at Cabinet this morning.

He said he expects his Department to be in a position to make its first offers of payments to survivors of the laundries in the next four to six weeks.

He also said that the provision of other benefits, including weekly payments from the Department of Social Protection and medical services from the Department of Health, will be dependent on the introduction of administrative and legislative measures and said work has already begun on this.

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NETHERLANDS
The Raw Story

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, November 4, 2013

A Dutch rights group said Monday it had identified over 1,000 paedophiles around the world by offering online sex with a computer-generated 10-year-old Filipina girl called Sweetie.

Terre des Hommes Netherlands has now handed over to police the identities of those who were willing to pay children in developing countries for online sex, a growing phenomenon, it said.

“They were ready to pay Sweetie for sexual acts in front of her webcam,” the rights group’s head Albert Jaap van Santbrink told journalists in The Hague.

The group said it wanted to raise the alarm about a largely unknown but quickly spreading new form of child exploitation that has tens of thousands of victims in the Philippines alone, known as webcam child sex tourism. …

Within a 10-week period, over 20,000 predators from 71 countries approached Sweetie, asking for webcam sex performances.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Editorial

Amid the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ recent disclosure it will limit information provided to panels it created to look into clergy sex abuse issues, here are three simple questions.

• What’s the price of silence?

For Pennsylvania State University, it’s literally $59.7 million to 26 sexual abuse victims of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky — plus more than $50 million on related costs. (Think lawyers’ fees, public relations expenses, and making new rules related to children and sexual abuse complaints.)

But be assured, it’s costing those victims and Penn State much more than money.

Those 26 people must live their lives knowing they were abused because adults didn’t do the right thing. Suddenly a big check seems like small compensation.

Meanwhile, a once-storied football program stands decimated while clouds hang posthumously over the record and reputation of once-iconic coach Joe Paterno.

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PERU
Jornada

[Summary: Priest Victor Medina, who is accused to sexually abusing a 17-year-old ex-seminarian, would be free from prosecution since the law allows full sex with minors who are older than 14, according to the dean of the Ayacucho bar.]

Según el decano del Colegio de Abogados de Ayacucho, Víctor Oriundo Medina, el sacerdote implicado en el presunto delito de abuso sexual contra un exseminarista de 17 años podría quedar libre de toda acusación según el pleno de jurisprudencia que permite las relaciones sexuales con menores de edad que sean mayores de 14 años.

Oriundo Medina dijo que en caso de que la presunta víctima mayor de 14 años declare que la relación sexual fue con su consentimiento el presunto responsable quedaría exculpado, ya que la ley lo ampara.

El decano de los abogados ayacuchanos lamentó que situaciones de posibles violaciones queden impunes por este tipo de leyes que van en contra de los derechos de la persona, pues las declaraciones podrían variar por cuestiones de presión o amenazas a la víctima.

En caso del menor que acusó al sacerdote Alejandro Balazar García, Oriundo Medina dijo que los abogados que llevan el caso deberían pedir una ampliatoria de sus declaraciones para verificar sus versiones, porque se podría sospechar que haya aceptado por algún tipo de presión o amenaza por parte del acusado.

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – A state judge approved a $1.35 million settlement against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, in a civil lawsuit alleging priest sex abuse.

The girl, who was not identified, and her parents sued the diocese, Bishop Robert Finn and the Rev. Shawn Ratigan in 2011.

Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison in September this year after pleading guilty to five child pornography counts.

Courthouse News first reported on the lawsuit in June 2011. The girl and her parents claimed the diocese and Finn knew about the pornographic pictures of the girl and other minor victims for almost six months before notifying police.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

THE BISHOP of Limerick has re-iterated his message to survivors of “horrific” clerical abuse that he wants to make their pain ‘his own’ and seek forgiveness, writes Anne Sheridan.

Speaking at a mass for survivors of abuse, called A Mass of Healing and Hope in St Saviour’s Church, Dr Brendan Leahy said: “We are all of us here because we want to support one another and, in some way, bring comfort and healing to what has been a most painful experience for many here today. It is moving that so many are here, still caring enough to want to be here, despite the abuse you have suffered in the past.”

“You have made this journey because this is a time of healing and hope. On the one hand, we receive this gift from God but also we give this gift to one another by coming here to support and be with one another.

“Thanks for hanging on in your faith despite everything. Thanks for making the effort to be here. Thanks for this coming together as part of our ongoing process of reconciliation.

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KENYA
Standard Digital

By Willis Oketch

Mombasa, Kenya: A Catholic priest who was sued by a woman in Mombasa for allegedly siring a child with her 14 years ago now wants the case against him dismissed.

Father Josephat Mweu Mwanzia wants the case filed by Syovinya Cecilia Mbiki dismissed after DNA tests done in South Africa and Kenya exonerated him from blame.

Monday lawyer Kiunga Kingirwa for Fr Mwanzia told Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Betty Koech that the case against his client should now be dismissed on grounds that there is no evidence against him.

He said laboratory reports from The Karen Hospital in Nairobi and Pathcare Paternity laboratory in South Africa had clearly shown that his client was not the biological father of the child in question.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Nov. 5, 2013

VATICAN CITY Blessed John Paul II’s 2004 meeting with and praise of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ — who later was banished to a life of penance because of sexual abuse — was a mistake, said the late pope’s longtime secretary.

“The Holy Father should not have received that individual,” said Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, who served as personal secretary to the pope for 39 years.

In a new book, Ho Vissuto con un Santo, (“I Lived with a Saint”), released in early November, Dziwisz said the meeting was just one example of a serious lack of communication in the Roman Curia, which Pope John Paul tried, largely without success, to reform.

Although rumors had been circulating for years that the Legionaries’ founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had sexually abused seminarians, Dziwisz said, “When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing. For him, he was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around.”

“Unfortunately,” the cardinal said, “it was the consequence of a still extremely bureaucratic structure” where important information was not always shared.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano Tue., Nov. 5 2013

It’s almost been 3 years since I broke the news that Ricardo Aldana, a Spanish teacher and volleyball coach at JSerra High School down in San Juan Capistrano, was arrested on charged of molesting a student at the school. He faces seven felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, and sources tell the Weekly it’s a seeming slam dunk case for the prosecution.

But yesterday came word that Aldana’s trial has been postponed yet again at the request of super-attorney Michael Molfetta (who also represents accused serial killer Itzcoatl Ocampo–Mikey really knows how to pick’em!), meaning any proposed trial won’t happen until January 2014 at the earliest? Reason? The delayyyyyyyyyyyy game.

It’s a classic tactic of defense lawyers in the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal: keep postponing a trial until the victim becomes an adult, until the teenager becomes a young adult and an easily swayed jury can be persuaded that the molestation was consensual because look at them! They’re young adults of age!

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Hunter Stuart
Hunter@huffingtonpost.com

In a move toward destigmatizing pedophilia, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in its updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), distinguishes between pedophiles who desire sex with children, and those who act on those desires.

The former group — those who want to have sex with children but whose desires are not distressing or harmful to themselves or others — is no longer classified as having a psychiatric condition in the updated DSM.

“The difference [from the last edition of the DSM] is, you’re not automatically saying that as soon as someone has a marked, unusual erotic interest that they have a mental disorder,” said Ray Blanchard, who cowrote the chapter on sexual disorders in the new DSM.

The change in the DSM, a kind of Bible among medical professionals, lawmakers, and drug and insurance companies, doesn’t just apply to pedophilia, but to several other deviant sexual desires listed in the manual. It represents “a subtle but crucial difference that makes it possible for an individual to engage in consensual atypical sexual behavior without inappropriately being labeled with a mental disorder,” explains the APA in its DSM-5 Paraphilic Disorders Fact Sheet.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday November 5, 2013

Statement by Mark Crawford, SNAP New Jersey Director ( 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net )

Today and tomorrow, four cardinals, 40 bishops, and 250 priests will wine, dine and celebrate the promotion of one of their own as the newest monarch of the Newark Catholic Archdiocese.

And when it’s over, the on-going crisis of clergy child sex crimes being covered up by Newark Catholic officials will remain unaddressed.

It’s a disservice to kids to suggest otherwise. It hurts kids when adults deceive themselves into believing that any one man can or will “fix” this continuing crisis.

We are all desperate to see kids protected, predators exposed, enablers punished and cover ups uncovered in the Catholic church. But we cannot, in our desperation, cling to illusions that make adults feel better but leave children vulnerable.

Make no mistake about it: Archbishop John Myers is still in charge. Nothing has changed. When he retires, nothing will change. This isn’t about “bad apples.” It’s about a very, very corrupt barrel, led by old, secretive, rigid, male monarchs who are accustomed to being treated like royalty and often ignoring or breaking secular laws about children’s safety.

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CYPRUS
Greek Reporter

By Nikoleta Kalmouki on November 5, 2013

The District Court of Nicosia, passed a guilty verdict to a priest in Cyprus accused of abusing a minor girl. The family of the priest was the girl’s foster family.

The priest was accused for indecent assault, between 1995 and 2000, while the victim decided to speak after years, at the instigation of a psychologist who also testified in court. The psychologist explained that children of vulnerable ages are not able to understand what constitutes as abuse.

The court ordered the detention of the priest in the central prison until his sentencing. According to the newspaper “Politis,” the court having heard the oration of the defence counsel, will announce the priest’s sentence on Monday.

The welfare services office, who placed the girl in the family wasn’t worried as they hadn’t received any complaints. The girl had only once reported maltreatment by the priest’s wife, but they didn’t believe her.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Chile Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is calling on former residents of the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore NSW, who suffered child sexual abuse, to come forward.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said the Commission is particularly interested in talking to anyone who made a claim to the Grafton Anglican Church.

“The Royal Commission is in the process of gathering information relevant to this matter. People’s experiences could help inform our next public hearing commencing on 18 November.

“We want to talk to anyone who was sexually abused at the North Coast Children’s Home and who made a claim,” Ms Dines said.

“We know that many children suffered terrible sexual abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home over a very long period of time, from the 1940s–1980s and that many victims are still suffering the long lasting effects of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites Australia researcher (article updated 4 November 2013)

A Catholic religious Brother is to face a committal hearing in a Queensland magistrates court, charged with sexual assault.

Police arrested the Brother in May 2013, placing him on bail pending the court proceedings. The case came up for a brief mention in court on 3 June 2013, and this was reported in the Cairns Post daily newspaper.

The case relates to one alleged incident. The alleged victim was not a student or a child.

The Brother, who occupies a senior position in a Catholic school in regional Queensland, indicated in court through his lawyer that he intends to contest the allegation.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Broken Rites has researched a Sydney Catholic priest, Father Finian Egan, who has has been found guilty on one charge of rape and seven charges of indecent assault, committed against four young girls during a period of almost three decades.

On Monday 4 November 2013, a jury returned these Guilty verdicts in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court. He was found not guilty on one other charge of indecent assault.

Finian James Egan worked as a priest at Leichhardt and Carlingford (suburbs in Sydney), and at The Entrance (north of Sydney on the Central Coast).

The court was told that he targeted girls aged between 10 and 17 in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Egan, aged 78 in 2013, pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The court was told that Egan is still officially a priest, although (now in his late seventies) he has retired from being in charge of a parish.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Sylvia

The verdict for the Paul Leroux sex abuse trial will be delivered tomorrow in Battleford, Saskatchewan. I don’t have the start time, but it will probably be around 10 am. It wouldn;t hurt to be there at 09:30 am, just in case…

Let’s pray for the complainants, and pray that justice is done.

I encourage anyone who is within driving distance to try to get there. The complainants need your support.

Please send along a link to any media coverage of the outcome, or, if you do attend please post a comment or send me an email to let us know what happens.

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NEW JERSEY
NJTV

This week on NJ Capitol Report with Steve Adubato and Rafael Pi Roman: Mark Crawford, NJ State Director, SNAP; Thomas A. Bracken, President & CEO, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce; Joseph F. Scott, FACHE, President & CEO, Jersey City Medical Center; Chair, The Hospital Alliance of NJ

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

By ALFRED P. DOBLIN
RECORD EDITORIAL COLUMNIST

THERE IS a change coming in Newark, and it has nothing to do with Cory Booker’s departure for the U.S. Senate. On Tuesday, Bernard Hebda is officially welcomed to the Archdiocese of Newark as a coadjutor bishop. Archbishop John Myers will no longer be solo at the helm.

Myers is only 72, three years shy of mandatory retirement. When the announcement came in September that the Vatican had named a coadjutor archbishop, Myers said he had requested one. Maybe so, but as a longtime observer of bishops and their relations with Rome, the odds of the Vatican sending in a second-in-command three years before a bishop’s usual retirement for no reason other than a simple request for help are about as likely as Justin Bieber announcing he has a priestly vocation and is entering a seminary.

The Archdiocese of Newark is in need of a shepherd, not an autocrat. And Myers has been very good at the latter and not so hot at the former. The archdiocese may be on good financial footing; the cogs may be turning fine and dandy when it comes to processing money coming in and money going out. But when it comes to speaking to the people of his church, Myers has been less successful.

Today every Catholic bishop pays the price for what too many bishops failed for decades to do: stop pedophile priests from doing harm. Knee-jerk defenders of Catholicism contend that the media’s refusal to let this issue die is proof that most journalists are anti-Catholic.

Defending children is about as Catholic and Christian a thing as there is. The media doesn’t let the issue die because bishops can come and go, but the children who were scarred under their watch remain and someone has to shout to the heavens, “No more.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

PATRICK CARUANA AAP NOVEMBER 05, 2013

THE Catholic Church doesn’t want police allegations that it hindered investigations into child abuse included in a Victorian parliamentary committee’s report.

The report, which is due to be handed to parliament next week, will make findings and recommendations on institutional responses to child abuse.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton told the inquiry that the church had covered up offending and not reported a single case to police.

Church spokesman Father Shane Mackinlay says the church has some reservations about the inquiry as it had not been able to test the evidence.

“The allegations that were made were presented in very general terms and without evidence to support them,” he told AAP.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

No amount of time or institutional muscle can match the power of the truth.

With the impending release of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry report, it appears the truth of institutional responses to child abuse is about to come out.

Abuse survivors have high hopes for the report’s findings, which come after an arduous 12 months of hearings around the state, involving often graphic and harrowing stories of sexual and physical abuse.

Judy Courtin, who is doing a PhD on sexual abuse and the Catholic Church, said the release of the report was hugely significant for victims.

“I think it will be a huge day for the victims and their families,” she said.

“They’ve opened up their hearts and souls to give evidence, which is always traumatic for them, and they will be hoping that there will be equal respect, if you like, coming back in the report.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on November 05, 2013

The Catholic Church has a troubling track record of tucking its problems out of sight. It’s common for priests accused of molesting children to be shuffled to new parishes, allowing church leaders to ignore them.

The latest example: The Star-Ledger’s Mark Mueller reported Sunday that a number of priests — including some stripped of robes and collars after the church found accusations of abuse to be credible — were sent to a retirement home in Rutherford, right next to two Catholic schools. That follows other reports of accused priests who chaperoned youth retreats or taught in parish schools, each under the supposed supervision of church hierarchy.

Those are the acts of an organization and leadership that believe they are immune from consequences.

Were it not for expired statutes of limitations — which often ran out before young victims could report their abusers to authorities or even understand the full consequences of those attacks — many of these men might have faced prison, not retirement. That escape hatch closed in 1996, when New Jersey eliminated the time limit for criminal charges.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

November 5, 2013

A 49-yr-old man has appeared in Waverley Local Court charged with the indecent assault of two male children in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs in the 1980s.

Daniel Hayman was granted conditional bail with the matter being adjourned until November 20.

Rabbi Pinchus Feldman is the spiritual leader of the Sydney yeshiva Centre in Bondi which the two alleged victims attended. He has repeated his claims that he has no recollection of Hayman confessing his crimes in light of media claims that he did.

A report issued by NSW police stated: “Strike force detectives have arrested and charged a man over the alleged historical indecent assaults of two children in Sydney’s east.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Businessman Daniel Hayman has been arrested and charged with the alleged abuse of two teenagers dating back to the 1980s. Members of the New South Wales Strike Force Bungo were tipped off by the advocate group Tzedek about Mr Hayman’s return to NSW. The group’s CEO Manny Waks spoke to PM.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: New South Wales Police have charged a 49-year-old man over the alleged abuse of two teenage boys in Sydney’s tight-knit Chabad Yeshiva community.

The man in question is a successful businessman, Daniel Hayman. In the 1980s he was a volunteer at camps ran by the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi.

Later, he became a philanthropist and set up a separate synagogue. For years he’s been living overseas.

The advocacy group Tzedek tipped off police to Daniel Hayman being back in the country.

Tzedek’s Manny Waks spoke to Sarah Farnsworth.

SARAH FARNSWORTH: How did you know Daniel Hayman was back in the country?

MANNY WAKS: We were given that information by a contact, that he had come back to Sydney apparently for the funeral of his mother, and when we had that information, we conveyed that to the New South Wales Police.

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AUSTRALIA/UNITED STATES
JTA

November 5, 2013

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – An Australian-born man who resides in the United States was charged with two counts of indecent assault against two children at a Sydney Chabad center in the 1980s.

Daniel (Gug) Hayman, who now lives in Los Angeles, was back in Sydney for the funeral of his mother last week. The 49-year-old was arrested Monday for allegedly assaulting two boys, then aged 14 and 16, between 1985 and 1986. He is alleged to have preyed upon them while he was a volunteer for a Chabad-run camp.

Hayman, the first alleged child sex offender to be arrested from the Sydney Jewish community,
appeared in court Monday but the case was adjourned until Nov. 20. He was refused bail, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Although Hayman was involved in the Yeshiva Center, the headquarters of Chabad in Sydney, he was never an employee, according to a Chabad spokesman.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 5, 2013

Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie

Sydney detectives have charged a businessman with child sexual abuse offences at Bondi’s Jewish Yeshiva centre during the 1980s.

A 49-year-old man was arrested on Monday afternoon in the suburb of Queens Park in Sydney’s east and later charged with two counts of gross indecency against 14 and 16 year old males at the Jewish Centre in 1985 and 1986.

He has been refused bail and detectives want people with further information about the alleged 1980s offences to come forward.

Fairfax Media has confirmed the arrested man is Daniel Hayman, who has been residing in Los Angeles in recent years.

The arrest and charging of Hayman overnight is likely to put some of Australia’s most senior rabbinical figures under scrutiny over their failures to act on complaints from victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Police in Sydney, Australia have arrested and charged a 49-year-old businessman, Daniel “Gug” Hayman, with charges related to child sexual abuse allegedly carried out at a camp affiliated with Chabad’s Yeshiva Centre in Bondi, The Age reported.

The alleged abuse took place in 1985 and 1986. The two alleged male victims were 14- and 16-years-old at the time of the alleged abuse, which allegedly took place while Hayman was working as a senior counselor at a Chabad camp run by the Yeshiva Centre.

Hayman, who was approximately 21- to 22-years old at the time the alleged abuse took place, was charged with two counts of gross indecency and was refused bail.

The Age reports that Hayman’s arrest and charging is “likely to put some of Australia’s most senior rabbinical figures under scrutiny over their failures to act on complaints from victims. Despite complaints, Hayman was never reported to police and left Australia to live in Los Angles Jewish community, where leaders again acted to shield him.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Advocates of victims of clergy abuse want laws changed to enable religious organisations like the Catholic Church to be sued and those who covered up crimes to be charged.

Churches have long been able to use technical defences to avoid being sued and advocates hope the Victorian parliamentary inquiry helps stop the practice.

Judy Courtin, who is conducting research into sexual assault and the Catholic Church, says there needs to be reforms within the Crimes Act to address the crime of concealment and cover up.

“If we are going to address one of the main elements of justice for victims, which is accountability of the hierarchy, that has to be addressed by making it easier to prosecute bishops and archbishops and other senior clergy,” she told AAP.

Ms Courtin says civil laws also need to be reformed.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Colette Douglas Home
Columnist

Charlene Downes was 14 when she disappeared 10 years ago, presumed murdered.

In her short life she might have been sexually abused by up to 100 men. The ghastliness of Charlene’s life and potential death cannot be exaggerated. She was of school age; in fact she had been expelled from school. Over the years did her behaviour ring no alarm bells about abuse with her teachers? Did a school nurse see no signs of sexual activity? What about her GP?

How could this happen in 21st-century Britain? Not only is it possible; we have a list of victims over whom we can only weep. The question is: how we can stop the growing litany of those who are abused time and time again.

Keir Starmer thinks there is a way. The former director of public prosecutions in England and Wales believes professionals who fail to report suspected child sex abuse should be prosecuted. He proposes fines or short prison sentences as punishment. On Panorama last night, he pointed out that similar mandatory reporting laws worked well in America, Canada and Australia. The Westminster Government reacted by saying no such reform was needed south of the border. Why not? Why not in Scotland?

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: November 4, 2013

Church spent heavily to prevent expansion of time limit for lawsuits by childhood sexual abuse victims.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was at the forefront of extensive lobbying against efforts to expand the time limit for lawsuits by victims of childhood sexual abuse, according to a document obtained by the Star Tribune.

An internal accounting analysis prepared by the archdiocese shows that the lobbying association known as the Minnesota Religious Council received more than $800,000 from the Catholic Church during a seven-year period ending in the middle of 2008. A similar analysis was not available for subsequent years, but state lobbying records show the council spent more than $425,000 on lobbyists from 2006 through 2012.

Lobbying records also show the council doubled its lobbying force to six individuals on March 22, 2013, just weeks before the passage of the Child Victims Act. That law eliminated the statute of limitation for child sexual abuse cases going forward. It also created a three-year window for litigation of many previously barred claims in cases where churches, schools and other institutions failed to provide protection to children.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Support to stop the tragically high number of suicides among victims of clergy sexual abuse must be a key recommendation of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry, victims and advocates say.

Clergy abuse survivor Stephen Woods says the deaths are a indictment of the Catholic Church, with as many as 60 linked suicides in western Victoria.

He hopes the Victorian parliamentary inquiry will recommend providing funds for abuse survivors to pay for health bills, counselling, housing and living expenses.

“There are so many victims who are hurting and whose lives are still shattered from pedophilic activity, that society is going to have to support them for the rest of their lives – and that support needs to be adequate to stop the deaths,” he told AAP.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | November 5, 2013

A jury at the Downing Centre District Court declared on Monday that 78-year-old Fr Finian Egan is guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape which he committed over 30 years.

Fr Egan had been assigned as priest and youth worker in several Sydney dioceses and on the central coast.

Among his victims was a 10-year-old female student at the St Martha’s Institution for Disadvantaged Girls at Leichardt. The girl testified, quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald, “Father Egan pulled me onto his knee, he put his hands up my dress, pulled down my underwear and put his hands into my vagina … He had an erection.”

The incident happened at the sacristy of the church.

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IRELAND
Journal

AN IRISH CATHOLIC priest has been found guilty of the rape and indecent assault of three girls between 1961 and 1987 in Australia.

A jury in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court yesterday found Finian Egan, 78, guilty of eight charges spanning almost three decades.

All of the girls were aged between 10 and 17 when the abuse took place, the court heard. Egan, who is now retired, had denied the allegations during the three-week trial.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Road to Recovery, Inc.
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ 07039
roberthoatson@gmail.com
NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Will new Newark Archbishop be transparent about clergy sexual abuse?
Will new Newark Archbishop release information about pedophile priests?
Can victims of clergy sexual abuse be confident that new Archbishop will treat them fairly?

What: A demonstration calling on the new Archbishop of Newark, Bernard Hebda, to be
honest, transparent, and truthful regarding sexual abuse of children by personnel of the Archdiocese of Newark and to treat victims with the respect they deserve.

When: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM (before and after the “Mass of Welcome” for new Archbishop Bernard Hebda).

Where: On the sidewalk across from the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Newark, 171
Clifton Avenue, Newark, NJ

Who: Survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Newark; the President of
Road to Recovery, a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse; supporters, and friends.

Why: For twelve years under the leadership of Archbishop John Myers, the Newark
Archdiocese has spiraled out of control relative to clergy sexual abuse. Archbishop Myers repeatedly has allowed credibly accused priests to remain in ministry, live in church facilities where children are often present, and not to be held accountable for their crimes against children. When he has gotten caught, he arrogantly blames everyone else for his blunders, including sexual abuse victims and the media. The new Archbishop of Newark, Bernard Hebda, has a herculean task ahead if he adopts the leadership and management style of Archbishop Myers. He will fail. He will succeed, more than likely, should he choose to operate with complete honesty, truthfulness, and transparency.

Bernard Hebda must come with a clean slate. He must be what Archbishop Myers is not:
open, honest, truthful, compassionate, and transparent. Archbishop Hebda needs to meet with survivors and listen to their stories. He needs to treat survivors and their advocates with respect. In general, the “air” of arrogance, so visible in the administration of Archbishop Myers, must be replaced with the “air” of compassion and mercy.

Contacts: Robert M. Hoatson, Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800 (survivor of clergy sexual abuse)
Kevin Waldrip, survivor of sexual abuse at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Newark, NJ – 862-202-1499
Fred Marigliano, survivor of sexual abuse at St. Bernard’s Parish, Plainfield, NJ –
732-421-0033

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CYPRUS
Cyprus Mail

A 58-YEAR-OLD priest who was found guilty of indecently assaulting his underage step-daughter will be sentenced by Nicosia District Court next week. The decision was made after the welfare services report on the incident was released on Monday.

Residents from Ergates vuillage gathered outside the courts on Monday to show their support for their priest.

In her police statement, the girl claimed that she had been indecently assaulted between 1993 and 2000 during which time she was considered a minor.

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AUSTRALIA
Irish Times

Padraig Collins

Mon, Nov 4, 2013

An Irish priest has been found guilty of child sex offences committed in New South Wales over a period of 26 years.

Father Finian Egan was convicted in the Australian District Court on seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape between 1961 and 1987, while he worked as a priest at two parishes in Sydney and one on the state’s central coast. He was found not guilty on one count of indecent assault.

Egan (78), who worked as a priest and youth worker in several dioceses, was found guilty of repeatedly abusing girls aged 10 to 17.

One attack he was convicted of was the indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl at St Martha’s Institution For Disadvantaged Girls in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt.

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UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

By Bryan Cones

The promotion of the current bishop of Toledo, Leonard Blair, to archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut is being treated as a sign that Pope Francis is not as serious as he seems to be about putting an end to careerism among bishops. Protests have come especially from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, though notably Tablet journalist and Toledo native Robert Mickens has also described Blair’s appointment as “more of the same.” Blair is known most recently for his position as one of the episcopal visitors of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

While I think the “promotion” of any bishop from one diocese to another is a sign of the careerism embedded in the current process of episcopal appointments, I’m not sure that some of the critics really understand how this works (not counting Mickens, who surely does). Take SNAP’s Claudia Vercellotti: “There is no congruency between the vision that Pope Francis puts forward and his actions here in Toledo, Ohio,” she said according to Toledo Faith and Values, a community news service associated with Religion News Service. “Either Pope Francis is asleep at the wheel and has no idea who he’s promoted, or he is ambivalent. Either way, it’s dangerous.”

The fact is, Pope Francis probably indeed has no idea who he has promoted because he likely doesn’t know Blair at all. These kinds of appointments begin at the national level, go through the papal nuncio, and on to the Congregation of Bishops, which makes the final decision for all practical purposes, and then forwards its decision to the pope. He could, of course, make a change, but he’d have no data on which to make that kind of decision. There are just too many dioceses in the world for him to be that hands on. Mickens is right: It’s an old boys’ network, and as long as the current crop of old boys in the U.S. are still bishop, they will still heavily influence who gets appointed.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Mon, Nov 4, 2013

The Holy See yesterday dismissed as “nonsense” weekend Irish media reports that Pope Francis might nominate two Irish women as cardinals.

Responding to reports in Irish and Irish-American media that Pope Francis might name both TCD ecumenics Prof Linda Hogan and former president Mary McAleese as cardinals at a future conclave, senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said: “This is just nonsense . . . It is simply not a realistic possibility that Pope Francis will name women cardinals for the February consistory.

“Theologically and theoretically, it is possible,” he added. “Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained but to move from there to suggesting the pope will name women cardinals for the next consistory is not remotely realistic.”

Since his election last March, Pope Francis has often spoken of the need to reassess the role of women in the Catholic Church.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 4, 2013 NCR Today

The Vatican’s chief spokesman said women could become cardinals in the Roman Catholic church, calling such a move “theologically and theoretically” possible, according to an Irish newspaper.
Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See Press Office, made the comments to The Irish Times, a daily published in Dublin.

While the Times reports that the Vatican spokesperson called “nonsense” the idea that Pope Francis would name a cardinal soon, it also reports the priest was rather open about the possibility in the future.

“Theologically and theoretically, it is possible,” Lombardi said about a female cardinal, according to the Times.

“Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained but to move from there to suggesting the pope will name women cardinals for the next consistory is not remotely realistic.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By WILLS ROBINSON
PUBLISHED: 07:04 EST, 4 November 2013

A banking executive has resigned after his past as an abusive vicar who preyed on young boys was revealed.

Former vicar Stephen Brooks, who was jailed for carrying out 19 sex attacks in Swansea, South Wales, during the 1980s and 1990s, quit his job as a director at Santander after the truth about his abusive background came to light.

The 59-year-old preyed on young boys over a seven-year period while working as a clergyman at St Paul’s Church in Sketty and was given a four-year prison sentence in 1994.

Eight of his victims are said to have suffered mental problems and one 38-year-old is said to have attempted suicide and turned to alcohol as a result.

Santander told The Sun they were ‘shocked’ to learn of his criminal history and confirmed he had quit his role after taking ‘immediate steps’ to resolve the matter.

Brooks moved to London to get away from the people he had abused and rose to become regional director of education, healthcare and communities at the bank.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By John Brewer
jbrewer@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/04/2013

Two priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have taken leaves of absence for “prior misconduct,” officials announced Sunday.

The instances of misconduct did not involve sexual abuse of minors, according to church officials, and did not involve members of any parish where the priests served. The church did not otherwise detail the misconduct.

The priests — Father David Barrett of the Church of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague and Father Paul Moudry of St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley — took the leaves voluntarily, the church said.

Barrett, an assistant priest in New Prague since 2009, “has been under supervision by pastoral leadership and others at the Archdiocese,” according to a press release, “and has undergone counseling during his current and prior assignments.”

Moudry has served as priest in Golden Valley since 2001.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 3, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced late Sunday that two priests have decided to take leaves of absence for “prior misconduct.”

The priests are the Rev. David Barrett, assistant pastor at the Church of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague, and the Rev. Paul Moudry, pastor of St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley.

In separate statements posted to its website late Sunday, the archdiocese said the priests volunteered to take leaves of absence. The archdiocese did not explain why both priests reached this decision at the same time.

In the statement regarding Barrett, the archdiocese said, “The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis announced today that after careful discernment and much prayer in conjunction with the Archdiocese, Father David Barrett has chosen to take a voluntary leave of absence. His decision is as a result of prior misconduct which occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Fr. Barrett has served. This misconduct did not involve a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

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OREGON
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 04, 2013

BEND, Oregon — A Roman Catholic priest is appealing his bishop’s decision to remove him from his post as pastor of a Bend church.

The Bend Bulletin (http://bit.ly/1cHKBt9 ) reports that the Rev. James Radloff was removed on Oct. 1.

Bishop Liam Cary of the Diocese of Baker didn’t explain the removal in a public statement he issued at the time

But in a letter to members of the congregation, Cary said Radloff had circulated a petition protesting the bishop’s decision to transfer another priest from St. Francis. Cary called that a serious error of judgment.

An Idaho priest advising Radloff says the appeal went to the Congregation for Clergy. The Rev. Tom Faucher says the Vatican body consists of clergy and laypeople appointed by the pope.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a priest of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese at age 46 in 2002, Keating was an assistant parish priest for three years before settling into a career as an associate professor of Catholic studies at the University of St. Thomas. In 2006 the parents of a young woman reported to the archdiocese and to law enforcement that Keating sexually abused their daughter from 1997-2000, beginning when she was 13 years-old. Keating was a seminarian at the time, and almost 30 years the girl’s senior. The family gave archdiocesan investigators emails the girl had received from Keating in which he professed his love for her. An internal archdiocesan investigation also yielded allegations that Keating had an “at best emotionally intense and at worst sexually abusive relationships with as many as four young women or girls“, including a 14-year-old Italian girl he met while studying for the priesthood in Rome. The archdiocesan review board determined that there was not enough evidence, but that Keating should be restricted from ministering to young adults or adolescents. He nonetheless continued to as a chaplain and teacher of young people at St. Thomas. He was not charged criminally. The young woman who’s family went to the archdiocese in 2006 filed charges against Keating in October 2013, and went public with the accusations. Keating denied the abuse and went on a leave of absence.

Ordained: 2002

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CANADA
Calgary Herald

BY MICHAEL WRIGHT, CALGARY HERALD NOVEMBER 4, 2013

As a boy, Nelson Mayer couldn’t understand why his mother would not speak her native tongue.

Mayer, the president of the National Association of Friendship Centres, addressed the opening of the Calgary hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee for Indian residential schools, and spoke of the effects the government-enforced education system had on his mother.

“I can remember my mother being ashamed to speak her own language – Cree,” he said.

He asked his mother why.

“She said she had witnessed her cousin being beaten because he was speaking Cree to her (at residential school). I could begin to understand why my mother would walk with her head down.” …

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up as part of a 2007 agreement to allow people to share their stories of the school, collect records and establish a national research centre. The agreement included a $1.9 billion settlement between the Canadian government, the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches and the Assembly of First Nations, and came with an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to former residential school students.

The commission has heard from more than 75 communities across Canada in the last five years. The Calgary hearing is the last of six community hearings in Alberta. It concludes Tuesday.

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UNITED STATES
They Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 4, 2013

I have never had any kind of tolerance for institutional malfeasance. Shocker, I know. But what really intrigues me is this: Why are the vast majority of America’s Catholic priests silent when it comes to child sex abuse and cover-up in the church?

In Los Angeles, a document release in January showed that high-ranking church officials knew about abuse, hampered police investigations, didn’t look for victims, lied to parishioners, and helped abusers escape justice. In Orange County, documents released in 2005 showed much of the same thing … except we are still MISSING the files of many of OC’s biggest perpetrators (Michael Harris, anyone?).

Then there is the fact that the man who personally engineered the cover-up of abuse and protection of predators, Msgr. John Urell, has never been punished and sits in a swanky south county parish. No shame, no remorse, no accountability.

In St. Paul & Minneapolis, an ever-growing scandal is unfolding daily. Besides the cache of porn and the sex abuse and cover-up lawsuits filed almost daily, two more priests were removed over the weekend. A long-time St. Paul priest finally admitted openly, “I am embarrased to be Catholic.”

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Sophia A. Nelson

As Fix My Life OWN Reality TV Star & Life Coach Iyanla Vanzant likes to say, “You must call a thing a thing” in order to get healed from that thing.

For years we have rightly dissected, discussed, and demanded change within the Catholic Church relative to the cover-up of sex scandals involving priests, homosexuality, and the molestation of boys. It is time that the black community, and America’s larger faith community start doing the same with respect to the black church. It is time we held senior clergy, church ministry leaders, and the gospel artists who make millions annually from their faithful following to a standard: God’s standard. The black church can no longer continue to be the sacred cow of religion, that we are not allowed to scrutinize, question, and challenge when the behavior of its leaders does not mesh with the doctrine it is founded upon.

The last few weeks have not been the best for black preachers, and gospel recording artists. Yet another “sex scandal” has emerged on the Internet, featuring a young black male gospel star (Kevin Terry) engaged in well, let’s just say a very graphic sexual act. Worse, just last week Preacher’s of LA star Pastor/Singer Deitrick Haddon was “exposed” on the Internet when photos of his genitals emerged via an ex-girlfriend who decided to share the star’s private texted images sent to her while they were dating.

“Sex Scandals” are nothing new, especially not in the black church. Atlanta Mega Church Super Star Bishop Eddie Long faced a myriad of lawsuits and allegations in the past few years that he had coerced and “groomed” young teen boys and young men under his stewardship to have sex with him. Using his powerful position as their “shepherd” to keep them silent, and subject to his advances for years. Of course, Long denied the allegations, but he settled the lawsuits out of court reportedly for millions of the churches money (churches have to carry liability insurance like most corporations do). And despite the public uproar, and disturbing nature of the allegations his “flock” stayed pretty much in place, supported him, lauded him, and some claimed he was the victim of a “smear” campaign.

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By DOMINIC GOVER
November 04, 2013

A convicted paedophile has been forced to quit his job as a senior manager at Santander, the Spanish banking group.

Former priest Stephen Brooks led an executive team at the bank and even judged its award for “responsible business of the year”.

Brooks, 59, was managing director of Santander’s UK corporate banking healthcare team. He helped business customers access cash tied up in assets and provided bank funding for growth.

He rose through the ranks of Europe’s biggest retail banking institution despite holding convictions for 19 sex attacks on young boys during the 1980s and 1990s.

Brooks was sentenced to four years in jail for the offences which he carried out for seven years until 1994 in Swansea, while he was a priest at St Paul’s Church in Sketty.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Nov. 4, 2013

Attempts in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese to take hold of a snowballing sexual abuse scandal have done little to quiet a growing clamor for a change in leadership.

Since the end of summer, Archbishop John Nienstedt and his predecessors, as well as other archdiocesan leaders, have drawn intense criticism for their handling of allegations of clergy sexual abuse of minors in recent decades, particularly when they were presented with suspicious behavior or apparent evidence of abuse.

Amid a stream of media reports — largely fueled by accounts and documents from former archdiocesan canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger (NCR, Oct. 25-Nov. 7) — Nienstedt’s first response came in appointing Dominican Fr. Reginald Whitt vicar of ministerial standards, and assigning him to select an independent lay task force to review archdiocesan policies and procedures related to abuse allegations.

But the shine of that move soon wore off after a letter Whitt sent Oct. 21 to archdiocesan clergy led to questions about how independent the six-member task force would be. Addressing access to individual priest files, he wrote: “Access to these files will be within my control, and limited only to what is necessary for the Task Force to be able to make an informed decision with respect to their policy review.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Messenger

VICTIMS of child sexual abuse will be better supported by the criminal justice system under new guidelines published by the Crown Prosecution Service.

A list of myths concerning victims’ behaviour is included in the guidelines, to prevent the undermining of victim credibility. Prosecutors have been told to focus on evidence.

Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester’s police and crime commissioner, said: “Victims of child sexual abuse have already made a brave step in coming forward and the criminal justice system has a duty to support them through the court process.

“Preconceived assumptions about how a victim is expected to behave have no place in a courtroom and only serve to undermine and humiliate them.”

A joint protocol has also been published by the CPS. They outline expectations for information in child abuse cases to be shared by prosecutors and police with child protection, family courts, schools and social services.

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WISCONSIN
Stevens Point Journal

Julie Lassa

Becoming the victim of any crime is enough to change your life forever, but sexual assault victims undergo a unique set of challenges. The shame and stigma of being victimized sexually makes it very difficult to go before strangers in the criminal justice system and relive the details of the crime. Unfortunately, some people are quick to blame the victims, believing that they “brought it on themselves” through their actions.

In most instances, the perpetrators of sexual assault are not strangers to the victim, but someone the victim knows – often authority figures like parents, relatives or coworkers. Reporting this crime means not only reliving one’s own humiliation, but can potentially turn the victim’s world upside down. This is especially true for children, who are the victims of two-thirds of sexual assaults.

For all these reasons, authorities estimate that sexual assault is among the most underreported crimes. According to the U.S. Justice Department, 74 percent of completed and attempted sexual assaults against females were not reported to law enforcement. It can take years for victims to come to terms with what has happened to them and to find the courage to talk about what happened to them.

Through the years, I have advocated for public policy that understands and respects the unique challenges that sexual assault victims face in reporting these horrific crimes. Arbitrary statutes of limitation and other deadlines that unnecessarily penalize victims who, for whatever reason, don’t immediately report these crimes have two negative consequences: They prevent sexual assault victims from obtaining justice and, because they discourage victims from reporting the crime, leave the perpetrator free to victimize others.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MAC DONALD – 04 NOVEMBER 2013

SPECULATION is mounting that Pope Francis may be poised to open the way for women cardinals in the Catholic Church.

Last night, the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland (ACP) said it was particularly delighted, as an Irish theologian was a leading contender.

Spokesman Fr Tony Flannery told the Irish Independent the ACP was very happy that women may finally get this recognition.

The Redemptorist priest was responding to media reports that TCD Professor of Ecumenics, Linda Hogan, who is also Vice Provost of the college, has been nominated on a list of contenders by the Professor of Moral Theology at Boston College, Fr James Keenan SJ.

Fr Keenan is one of a number of liberals proposing this key structural change.

He listed Prof Hogan top of his nominees of possible candidates. However, a spokeswoman for Prof Hogan said she would not be commenting on the matter, while a spokesman for the Irish bishops said he had no information and therefore could not comment.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

04 NOVEMBER 2013

A Catholic priest has stepped aside while an allegation of sexual abuse is investigated.

Bishop Leo O’Reilly, of the border diocese of Kilmore, said gardai are aware of the complaint against the parish priest, which is said to date back a number of years.

In a statement, he said all matters relating to child safeguarding, the safety and welfare of children, are an overriding concern in the diocese.

“It is in that context that I deeply regret to say that I have received a complaint against a priest of the diocese in pastoral ministry which raises concerns in relation to child safeguarding matters,” said Bishop O’Reilly.

“In accordance with diocesan child safeguarding procedures, the priest has voluntarily agreed to take administrative leave whilst an investigation takes place concerning the complaint.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

LEMA SAMANDAR – AAP
November 4, 2013

A Catholic priest accused of child sex offences spanning almost three decades, has been found guilty.

Father Finian Egan, 78, was found guilty of rape and seven counts of indecent assault by a jury in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Monday.

The charges relate to three girls aged between 10 and 17, between 1961 and 1987 while he worked as a priest at Leichhardt and Carlingford in Sydney, and The Entrance on the Central Coast.

His trial, which ran for about three weeks, heard that Egan regularly invited a 10-year-old girl into a small room.

The girl lived in a Catholic boarding house at Leichhardt, in Sydney’s inner-west, for almost two years.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Thomas Oriti

A Catholic priest remains on bail after being found guilty of child sex offences committed in New South Wales over almost 30 years.

Father Finian Egan was on trial for seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape between 1961 and 1987, while he worked as a priest at Leichhardt and Carlingford in Sydney, and The Entrance on the Central Coast.

The court was told he targeted girls aged between 10 and 17.

Today in the Downing Centre District Court, a jury found 78-year-old Egan guilty of the eight charges.

The ABC understands that a complaint from one of his victims in the case was upheld by the church in 2009, but it celebrated Egan’s career in a mass just weeks later.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A CATHOLIC priest accused of child sex offences spanning almost three decades was yesterday found guilty.

A District Court jury found Father Finian Egan, 78, guilty of rape and seven counts of indecent assault.

The charges relate to attacks on three girls, aged between 10 and 17, which occurred between 1961 and 1987 while Egan worked as a priest at Leichhardt and Carlingford as well as The Entrance on the Central Coast.

His trial, which ran for about three weeks, heard that Egan regularly invited a 10-year-old girl into a small room.

The girl lived in a Catholic boarding house at Leichhardt, in Sydney’s inner-west, for almost two years.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 4, 2013

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

A prominent Catholic priest who worked at dioceses across the state during a 40-year career has been found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing young girls over the course of three decades.

A jury on Monday found Father Finian Egan, 71, guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape in relation to attacks on girls aged 10 to 17 in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
He was found not guilty on one count of indecent assault.

Among the attacks committed by Egan, who worked as a priest and youth worker in multiple dioceses in Sydney and on the central coast, was the indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl at St Martha’s Institution For Disadvantaged Girls at Leichhardt.

“Father Egan pulled me onto his knee, he put his hands up my dress, pulled down my underwear and put his hands into my vagina,” the victim said of the incident, which allegedly occurred in the church’s sacristy.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, November 04, 2013

The Government was told to scrap its pledge on the cost of the child abuse redress scheme before the most powerful religious order in education would discuss school patronage.

By Conor Ryan
Investigative Correspondent

The demand was revealed in newly released records of a three-year stand-off between the State and congregations covered by the indemnity deal.

The Government’s original plan had been to pursue the transfer of school properties from religious orders to bridge a perceived €500m shortfall in contributions to the redress scheme. The Sisters of Mercy said no.

The 2011 Programme for Government said the transfers would be used to get the orders to cover 50% of the €1.5bn redress bill.

In July, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn got Cabinet approval for a more conciliatory tack that would allow congregations to remain in control of schools but relinquish title to the land.

According to a policy proposal put to Mr Quinn in February, the new strategy was designed to move the schools’ property debate away from the battle to get congregations to accept the 50:50 redress bill principle.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

A popular Catholic parish priest has been suspended pending a probe into complaints levelled against him.

Shocked parishioners received the new yesterday morning that Fr Owen Collins has temporarily stepped down voluntarily following an accusation.

Church-goers across Kilmore Diocese were dealt the hammer blow through a statement from Bishop Leo O’Reilly which was read out at all masses in the parish of Drumgoon in Cootehill, Co Cavan.

He said: “I deeply regret to inform you that I have received a complaint against your parish priest.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A PARISH PRIEST has voluntarily stepped down from his duties after a complaint was made against him.

A statement from the Bishop of Kilmore Leo O’Reilly, which was read in churches across the diocese over the weekend, said that the bishop had received a complaint in relation to a “child safeguarding matter”.

O’Reilly said that the alleged incident happened “a considerable time ago”.

“I deeply regret to say that I have received a complaint against a priest of the diocese in pastoral ministry which raises concerns in relation to child safeguarding matters.

In accordance with diocesan child safeguarding procedures, the priest has voluntarily agreed to take administrative leave whilst an investigation takes place concerning the complaint.”

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IRELAND
RTE News

A parish priest in the border diocese of Kilmore has voluntarily stepped aside while an allegation that he sexually abused a child is investigated.

Announcing the move on the diocesan website, Bishop Leo O’Reilly said the civil authorities had been informed of the complaint, which relates to events alleged to have taken place a considerable time ago.
He said the priest’s decision was in accordance with diocesan child safeguarding procedures.

Saturday evening mass-goers in the affected parish were first to learn of the developments when other clergy read a statement from Dr O’Reilly from the altar.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Gardaí are investigating a child protection issue in the Diocese of Kilmore after a complaint was made against a priest.

The priest has voluntarily stepped aside from office while an investigation takes place in Co Cavan.

The details of the allegation made against the priest are not clear, but Bishop Leo O’Reilly said it relates to events which took place a considerable time ago.

He said the complaint raises concern in relation to child safeguarding matters and the priest has voluntarily agreed to take administrative leave while an investigation takes place.

Civil authorities have been made aware of the issue.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

A Catholic priest, who has stepped aside while an allegation of sexual abuse is investigated in Co Cavan, must have “the right to the presumption of innocence”, according to Bishop Leo O’Reilly.

Bishop O’Reilly, of the border diocese of Kilmore, said gardaí are aware of the complaint against the parish priest, which is said to date back a number of years.

In a statement, he said all matters relating to child safeguarding, the safety and welfare of children, are an overriding concern in the diocese.

“It is in that context that I deeply regret to say that I have received a complaint against a priest of the diocese in pastoral ministry which raises concerns in relation to child safeguarding matters,” said Bishop O’Reilly.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Walpole

By Mary Garrity
Wicked Local Walpole
Posted Nov 03, 2013

WALPOLE —
Christ’s message of love, respect and service to others seems to be missing from the Boston Archdiocese’s pastoral plan called “Disciples in Mission.” The ouster of the parish priests from their current assignments as part of this plan is the latest in a string of deceptive acts created by the hierarchy and imposed on the parish priests and their congregations. The plan is designed to keep churches “open” so that the money continues to flow in, but fails to address the priest shortage in any meaningful way, while inflicting pain on the parish priests and parishioners.

In gratitude for years of service, parish priests were asked to tender their “resignations” earlier this month. In the work world, requesting a resignation means the termination of employment. Requesting the resignation of priests who have taken a vow of obedience and know they can be reassigned at any time shows a complete lack of respect for these men.

At St. Mary’s of the Assumption parish in East Walpole on Oct. 20, when questioned about the need for resignations and the pain inflicted on the parish priests by this plan, Fr. Paul Soper’s response was that he went to the chapel and cried. How similar to Peter’s weeping after he denied Christ three times in the garden.

After the clergy sex abuse scandal festered for years in the Archdiocese of Boston, and across the globe, under legal pressure, the hierarchy finally admitted its wrongdoing. For failing to supervise and take action, Cardinal Law was reassigned to a position in the hierarchy in Rome. People left the Catholic Church.

In 2004, the Archdiocese under Cardinal Sean O’Malley made decisions with limited, if any, input from the congregations to shutter parishes. People left the Catholic Church.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced that two Minnesota priests have both taken unrelated voluntary leaves of absence from their parishes.

On Sunday evening, the archdiocese released two statements in regards to Father David Barrett and Father Paul Moudry’s decision.

Barrett has chosen to take a leave of absence as a result of “prior misconduct which occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Fr. Barrett has served,” and did not involve a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, according to the archdiocese.

Barret had been serving as an assistant priest at the Church of Saint Wenceslaus of New Prague since 2009.

Moudry’s decision is unrelated, according to the archdiocese, but of a similar vague description, according to the statement, which states it was his decision “as a result of prior misconduct which occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Fr. Moudry has served.” It was also not in violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Leslie Dyste

Two Minnesota priests took leaves of absences Sunday for “prior misconduct,” according to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Both Father Paul Moudry and Father David Barrett took a “voluntary leave of absence.”

Father Moudry and Father Barrett’s leaves of absences were announced by the Archdiocese in separate statements.

In both instances, the decision was due to “prior misconduct” which occurred many years ago and did not involve any members of any parish where they had served, according to the Archdiocese.

Father Moudry has been serving as a pastor of St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley since 2001.

Father Barrett has been serving as an assistant priest at the Church of Saint Wenceslaus of New Prague since 2009.

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MINNESOTA
Valley News Live

Updated: Nov 04, 2013

(KARE 11) ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced late Sunday that two priests have decided to take leaves of absence for “prior misconduct.” The priests are the Rev. David Barrett, assistant pastor at the Church of St. Wenceslaus in New Prague, and the Rev. Paul Moudry, pastor of St. Margaret Mary in Golden Valley.

In separate statements posted to its website late Sunday, the archdiocese said the priests volunteered to take leaves of absence. The archdiocese did not explain why both priests reached this decision at the same time.

In the statement regarding Barrett, the archdiocese said, “The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis announced today that after careful discernment and much prayer in conjunction with the Archdiocese, Father David Barrett has chosen to take a voluntary leave of absence. His decision is as a result of prior misconduct which occurred many years ago and did not involve members of any parish in which Fr. Barrett has served. This misconduct did not involve a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

Barrett “has been under supervision by pastoral leadership and others at the Archdiocese and has undergone counseling during his current and prior assignments,” the statement said.

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