ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
The Voice of Russia

An ad-hock investigation commission is due to report to Pope Francis I later this month on its probe into financial irregularities at the Vatican Bank. The Pontiff decided to put an end to fraud at the Institute for the Works of Religion, which is the official name of the Roman Curia’s financial centre, right on his election in spring this year. The decision was prompted by advice from Italy’s Finance Guard, which has been conducting its own probe into the Vatican Bank fraud since early this year. The investigation caused “voluntary resignations” in summer of the Vatican Bank Director Paolo Cipriani, Deputy Director Massimo Tulli, as well as about a dozen of lower-rank officials.

The Vicar of Christ said during his Sunday Mass that it would be good to “tie corrupt officials to a rock and throw them in the sea”, which is a quote from St. Luke the Evangelist. It is the first time that the Pontiff has made such a peremptory statement, which is evidence of his irritation at the fact that corruption and profit have taken root in the Catholic Church, and is also an admission that graft has reached epidemic proportions that call for interventions and drastic moves by secular and clerical authorities.

Alas, it is human to be greedy, and man gives in to temptation, that is why Pope Francis called attention to that deadly sin, the general director of the Russian Political Information Centre, Alexei Mukhin, has told the Voice of Russia. Experience has shown that neither the super-hard measures, like shooting bribe-takers in China, nor attempted persuasion have proved helpful in extirpating that ugly phenomenon, he added.

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CONNECTICUT
The Mirror

Twenty-one new lawsuits filed last Thursday allege that Fairfield University and others failed to supervise Douglas Perlitz ‘92, who was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for sexually abusing boys at a school he founded in Haiti.

These new cases bring the total of lawsuits against Fairfield and others to 26, said the victims’ attorney, Mitchell Garabedian. The lawsuits demand $20 million for each victim.

The plaintiffs of the new lawsuits are ages 18 through 27, and they were abused from 2000 to 2008 at ages 10 to 20, according to Garabedian. Some were abused by Perlitz repeatedly, he added.

Garabedian is also investigating 30 other victims.

In addition to Fairfield, other defendants include Society of Jesus of New England and Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

A senior priest has told a court of the moment he was arrested by police probing allegations of sexual assault made against him.

Stephen Shield, 53, was due to officiate at a funeral service two hours after his arrest.

He denies three counts of indecent assault against a man – who had dreams of joining the priesthood – more than two decades ago.

Shield trained in Rome and spent some time at English Martyrs Church in Garstang Road, Preston, where two of the offences were alleged to have taken place.

Dressed in a blue jumper and shirt, he took to the witness stand at Preston Crown Court to be cross examined at his trial.

He said: “I was supposed to conduct a funeral at 9.30am that morning. I was lying in bed going through the last few words of the service in my head. “I was concerned about the family that I knew very well having another priest.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

[with video]

Prison push for child sex abuse lies follows Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into institutional failures

MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

NEW laws to jail fiends who groom children to molest, and church leaders who cover it up, will be introduced next year.

The reforms follow Wednesday’s tabling in State Parliament of a historic report on child abuse, which revealed police were investigating 135 new cases.

Tears flowed as victims stood in the rain to lend their voices in support of the report.

The report slammed leaders of churches and non-government organisations that failed vulnerable children during decades of “betrayal beyond comprehension”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Katharine Murphy deputy political editor
theguardian.com, Wednesday 13 November 2013

The prime minister has gone in to bat for his friend, the leader of the Catholic church in Australia, George Pell, a man who was “not perfect” but was nonetheless “a fine human being, a great churchman”.

Tony Abbott was asked to comment on a report that followed an inquiry in Victoria, which was highly critical of Pell, his attitudes to the problems evidenced in comments before the inquiry and the institutional failures of the Catholic church in stopping child abuse.

The report, tabled on Wednesday in the Victorian parliament, recommended a broad range of actions to strengthen protections for victims, as well as additional child protection measures.

The prime minister is close to Pell. Abbott said on Thursday his understanding was that Pell was the first “senior cleric who took this issue seriously”.

“Is he perfect? No,” Abbott told 3AW on Thursday morning . “He is in my judgment a fine human being, a great churchman.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A report that savages the Catholic Church’s response to child sex abuse is doing the institution a “great service”, a priest says.

Father Kevin Dillon said the Victorian parliamentary inquiry’s findings on institutional responses to child sex abuse is the wake-up call the church needed.

“Things have been so out of alignment in terms of what the church’s position has been,” Fr Dillon told AAP on Thursday.

“It’s taken something as far-reaching and honest as this to tell the church from the perspective of the people of Victoria that `you have done great damage, you are responsible for it and you are obliged to fix it as much as that’s possibly able to be accomplished’.”

The report is scathing of the church’s leadership before the 1990s, saying child abuse was trivialised and their protection of pedophiles meant abuse happened when it could have been avoided.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

David Marr
theguardian.com, Wednesday 13 November 2013

The Catholic church will not go quietly. True, the archbishops of both Melbourne and Sydney have welcomed the Victorian report into clerical sex abuse. But they signalled at the same time that despite everything the church is still fighting to defend its patch.

Tears and ovations greeted the tabling of the report in the Legislative Council on Wednesday. “The words from the politicians just rang in my heart,” Chrissie Foster told Guardian Australia. “There they were saying what I’d wanted to say for so long and they have the power to change things. It was astounding.”

The Fosters’ two daughters were raped by their parish priest. One killed herself. The other is now permanently disabled. The implacable dignity and determination of the Fosters is one reason we were all in the council chamber on Wednesday morning: victims, advocates and journalists in the galleries above. Politicians below.

“We need to have the government behind us,” said Foster, “because we have been at the mercy of another power, the Catholic church which has been heartless and relentless. Suddenly there is another power that is fighting for us. It was wonderful.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Victorian parliamentary report recommending the Catholic Church be immediately made liable for child sex abuse has been welcomed as a “dream come true” by a victims group.

Nicky Davis of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said she never thought the issue would be taken seriously or that anything meaningful would be done.

“We’re thrilled,” she told AAP on Thursday.

“They’ve got to the bottom of the issue and they haven’t held back from taking on what needs to be done.”

She described the 15 major recommendations made in the report as “comprehensive”, “innovative” and “groundbreaking”.

Aside from compensating victims and making those who had long avoided responsibility accountable, implementing laws and standards suggested by the committee would encourage more people to report abuse, Ms Davis said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

FOR decades, allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in Australia were handled in a piecemeal way.

Churches and institutions involved seemed able to deflect criticism, and law enforcers and politicians appeared to struggle with the issues.

Victims and their advocates were told matters were being fixed ‘‘in house’’, but somehow they weren’t.

At times it seemed as if some institutions were waging a war of attrition against their accusers, hunkered behind ancient practices that they believed entitled them to hide dreadful crimes.

Some shifted paedophiles from place to place, ducking and weaving and berating from the pulpit any who dared call their bluff.

And then, suddenly, the dam broke. The defences of church administrators fell away, exposed as the shams they always were.

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AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah

Child Sex Abuse Victim Who Fights Against Sex Abuse Coverups Speaks At National Rally Against Abuse

“On behalf of many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse within Jewish institutions, I would like to acknowledge and thank the Victorian Government for launching this Inquiry. With today’s publication of the Inquiry’s report, we can of course celebrate a milestone in a long journey but we should also reflect on the significant work that still lies ahead.…”

Speech at Rally of Hope
Victorian Parliament House
Wednesday 13 November 2013
Tzedek Founder & CEO Manny Waks

Thank you to In Good Faith and Associates for initiating this rally, and for the opportunity to address you all here today.

On behalf of many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse within Jewish institutions, I would like to acknowledge and thank the Victorian Government for launching this Inquiry. With today’s publication of the Inquiry’s report, we can of course celebrate a milestone in a long journey but we should also reflect on the significant work that still lies ahead.

This Inquiry was the catalyst for the establishment of Tzedek (“Justice” in Hebrew), the only organisation within the Australian Jewish community that is dedicated to the issue of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 14, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the brutal abuse suffered by many children in its care, following the release of an eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse.
The report, launched in the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, also recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accuses its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ”short-term embarrassment”.

Inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ”a betrayal beyond comprehension” and children suffering ”unimaginable harm”. She said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.

The report, Betrayal of Trust, wants to establish a new crime when people in authority knowingly put a child a risk. It wants to make it a crime to leave a child at risk or not report abuse, including for clergy, but does not recommend ending the exemption for the confessional. Grooming a child or parents should be a crime, child abuse should be excluded from the statute of limitations, and the present church systems of dealing with victims in-house should be replaced by an independent authority funded by the churches, the report says.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By PETER COLLINS and CLARE QUIRK Nov. 14, 2013

A HISTORIC Victorian parliamentary report on a child sex abuse inquiry has been welcomed across the south-west, where dozens of victims still live with their trauma.

The Betrayal of Trust report released yesterday makes 15 key recommendations to prevent a reoccurrence of the widespread abuses over several decades within the Catholic Church and other religious and secular organisations.

Warrnambool detective Colin Ryan, who was involved in investigating three Catholic clergy, described the report as a “very positive step”.

“I would think it would give a lot of victims a lot of comfort,” he told The Standard.

“The damage that is done by these sexual predators cannot be overstated.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Angela Pownall, The West Australian
November 14, 2013

A national public inquiry will return to Perth for the seventh time next month to hear about child sex abuse in Australian institutions as demand from abuse victims to tell their stories snowballs.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held private hearings in Perth last week and plans to return early next year.

Justice Paul McClellan, commission chairman, has revealed the massive scale of the abuse allegations being reported to the inquiry a year after it was set up by the Federal Government.

It comes as Victoria’s child abuse parliamentary inquiry, which has heard from 450 victims, tabled its report yesterday and called for legal changes, including making it a crime to conceal or fail to report child abuse offences.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

The Catholic Church says it wants to fund an unlimited national compensation scheme for child sexual abuse victims.

The church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council – a national mouthpiece established after the royal commission was announced – issued a statement on Thursday, saying that it would ask the attorneys-general of the federal, state and territory governments to begin working on the scheme.

The move comes a day after a state committee tabled its Betrayal of Trust report, the result of an 18-month inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Georgie Crozier, the chairwoman of the inquiry’s committee, delivered the report to parliament with a slew of stinging rebukes of the Catholic Church’s leaders, whom she accused of trivialising the problem of child abuse as a “short-term embarrassment”.

The report recommended an independent redress scheme run by the government but paid for by non-government organisations, to replace the Catholic Church’s internal systems for dealing with victims – called Melbourne Response and its national equivalent Towards Healing – which victims criticised throughout the inquiry as lacking transparency.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Victorian government says it will not wait to act on a child sex abuse report that is scathing of the Catholic Church and recommends widespread legislative reform.

The government has six months to consider the recommendations of the inquiry into child sex abuse which include a call for concealing child abuse offences to be made a crime.

But Premier Denis Napthine said the government would introduce changes to the law in parliament early next year.

‘The government will not wait to act on this report,’ Dr Napthine said.

‘Criminal abuse of children represents a departure of the gravest kind from the standards of decency fundamental to any civilised society.’

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says Cardinal George Pell does bear some responsibility for the errors of the Catholic Church, but in the same breath defended the senior Catholic’s response to child sex abuse.

A landmark Victorian report savaged the church’s handling of abuse allegations and said Cardinal Pell had shown a reluctance to acknowledge and accept responsibility for its institutional failures.

Mr Abbott, who has not read the report, said the Catholic Church was not the only institution that didn’t handle the issue well and Cardinal Pell had been the first senior cleric to act on allegations.

“I understand that these things probably did happen but I suspect it wasn’t just the church that didn’t handle these things well,” Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio.

He said Cardinal Pell was not perfect but he was a “fine human being” and a “great churchman”.

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AUSTRALIA
Pedestrian TV

November 14, 2013

After years of pressure to investigate child abuse, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is finally underway; thus begins the long process of healing for many victims. The Commissioners have been appointed for three years with their goal being to “expose the response of the institution in which the abuse occurred and identify the lessons which can be learned from that response in an endeavour to ensure that abuse does not happen again in any institution” as told by the Chair of the Commission, the Hon. Justice Peter McClellan, in his opening address.

Two days ago the Victorian Parliament released an inquiry, into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, entitled ‘Betrayal of Trust’. The inquiry’s key recommendations include:

. MANDATORY reporting of child sex abuse;
. EXCLUDING organisations such as the Catholic Church from any civil action statute of limitations;
. HAVING alternative avenues of justice for individuals who don’t wish to take legal action;
. GREATER monitoring of organisations and enhancement of prevention systems.

The inquiry states that government groups, including the Salvation Army and the Catholic Church, have previously failed to adequately deal with systematic child abuse and that it was “beyond dispute that some trusted organisations made a deliberate choice not to follow processes for reporting and responding to allegations of criminal child abuse”. It went on to say that “There has been been a substantial body of credible evidence presented to the inquiry and ultimately concessions made by senior representatives of religious bodies, including the Catholic Church, that they had taken steps with the direct objective of concealing wrongdoing.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Lawyers are today strongly backing one of the key recommendations of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse cases that laws be changed to allow victims to sue the Catholic Church. The recommendation says religious institutions which receive government funding or tax exemptions must be required to be incorporated. The recommendation is expected to be challenged by the Church.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: Lawyers and survivors of child abuse are today strongly backing one of the key recommendations of the Victorian Report into Child Sexual Abuse, that laws be changed to allow the Catholic Church to be sued.

The recommendation says religious institutions which receive government funding or tax exemptions, should be required to be incorporated.

It’s a powerful recommendation and one which many expect the Catholic Church to fight.

In Melbourne, Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: In its report to Parliament, the Victorian Committee strongly condemns the legal standing of the Catholic Church, upheld by politicians for decades.

EXCERPT FROM REPORT (voiceover): There is no doubt that the unincorporated structure of the Catholic Church has not only prevented victims of criminal child abuse from bringing legal claims against the Catholic Church as an entity. It has also been exploited by the Catholic Church to avoid financial liability.

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ City

The family of one of the victims of a Kaitaia business leader who sexually abused boys say his jail sentence is a “joke”.

Former senior member of the Mormon Church Daniel Taylor, 35, was sentenced to five years and seven months’ jail for nine counts of sexual offences against boys aged between 11 and 16 that he pleaded guilty to in September.

A number of the charges were representative.

In the High Court at Whangarei on Thursday, Justice Peter Woodhouse imposed a minimum non-parole period of two years and 10 months on Roberts.

It provoked disappointment from victims and their families.

Charles Hohaia, Te Waka Whaanui director and a counsellor, says families of the victims he talked to were disappointed by the sentence given that victims would need to live with what had happened to them for the rest of their lives.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 14, 2013

Dan Harrison, Jane Lee

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended Cardinal George Pell’s role in the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse cases, saying he deserved credit for being the first senior churchman to act.

Interviewed on Fairfax radio on Thursday following the release of a Victorian parliamentary report into institutional sex abuse, Mr Abbott said the church hadn’t handled the issue well, but defended Cardinal Pell.

“The only thing I’d say … is that my understanding is that the first senior cleric who took this issue very seriously was in fact Cardinal Pell,” he said.

Mr Abbott said it was well known that he had a lot of time for Cardinal Pell.

“Does that mean that he is perfect? No. Does that mean that he doesn’t bear some responsibility for the errors of the church? Of course not,” he said.

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NEW ZEALAND
TVNZ

[with video]

A Far North caregiver who admitted sexually abusing young boys could be out of jail in less than three years.

Daniel Taylor, 34, has been sentenced to five years and seven months behind bars but will be eligible for parole in half that time.

Family members of the victims said the jail term is not long enough, with one describing the sentence as a joke.

Taylor was a caregiver for Child, Youth and Family. One of his victims told the court the offending against him made him question his sexuality, while another contemplated taking his own life.

A family spokesperson said the families are very disappointed because as a church leader and businessman Taylor was given a lot of trust and had a lot of power.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

MIKE HEDGE –
November 14, 2013

Every kid in the school knew what was going on, and many had scars to show for it.

But until this week the victims of men like the Christian Brothers Robert Best and Edward Dowlan struggled with the thought that no one really believed them.

Thanks to the Victorian parliamentary committee that conducted Australia’s most far-reaching investigation into child sexual abuse in religious organisations, men like “Stephen”, who is now in his 40s, have a chance.

Stephen went to school at St Patricks in Ballarat, a town where there once lived some of the most despicable men this country has known.

Best and Dowlan have been convicted and another pedophile Christian Brother, Gerald Fitzgerald, is dead, Father Paul Ryan has been jailed and there are others who can’t be named. All of them preyed viciously and habitually on children they had vowed to protect.

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NEW ZEALAND
Newstalk ZB

By: Carla Penman, | Upper North Island News | Thursday November 14 2013 18:59

Northland police are calling for any further victims of sexual abuse to come forward, following today’s sentencing of Daniel Taylor at the High Court in Whangarei.

The former Child Youth and Family caregiver and church elder was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail for preying on boys.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A leader of a Catholic order has backed a call to make the church a legal entity that can be sued.

Christian Brothers deputy province leader Brother Julian McDonald said the recommendations of Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry on child sex abuse were sound and constructive and he supported them all.

Among the major changes called for by the report are reforms that would enable churches to be sued and make them liable for priests and teachers who commit abuse.

Br McDonald, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said the recommendations were sound.

“I’d hope that parliament will accept them so that we can move forward,” Br McDonald said.

“There’s none that I would reject out of hand at all.”

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

BY GENEVIEVE GANNON AAP NOVEMBER 14, 2013

ALL Australian states are being urged to change laws preventing the Catholic Church from being sued and to consider a compensation fund for victims of child sex abuse.

A peak legal group says every government should implement a Victorian inquiry’s recommended reforms to make the Catholic Church immediately liable for child sex abuse.

The church itself is leading a call for the establishment of a national compensation scheme, which it will partially fund.

The parliamentary report, tabled on Wednesday, made a number of recommendations, including a call to remove the barriers that prevent victims from suing the Catholic Church.

Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) spokesman Andrew Morrison said there had been enough delays.

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TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Weekly

by Mari Herreras @tucsonazmari

When Dove of Peace Lutheran Church parishioners walked out of last Sunday’s service, they were greeted by two television news crews and a newspaper reporter asking about a woman from a California-based sex abuse survivors’ organization passing out flyers about their music minister when they arrived for church that morning.

On Thursday, Nov. 7, Joelle Casteix, volunteer western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sent out a press release that she and other SNAP volunteers would be outside the 665 W. Roller Coaster Road church holding signs and childhood photos, and handing out flyers to warn church members that their music minister Eric Holtan was convicted in 2000 of first-degree and third-degree criminal sexual conduct; and that they should demand his removal and talk to their kids.

Dove of Peace member Brad Schwab told the Tucson Weekly that it’s been 13 years since Holtan pled guilty and he only has two years left on his 15-year probation. Another church member Nancy Day chimed in that many in the congregation knew about Holtan’s past and it was understood that Holtan’s probation officer checked in with the church pastor regularly.

Day added that Holtan does not work with children in the church in his duties as music minister. “He directs the adult choir,” she said, addressing the terms of Holtan’s probation in which he is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with underage females.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 15, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s support for Cardinal George Pell over child sex abuse is inappropriate and factually wrong, victims say.

This new controversy came as the Speaker of the Victorian Parliament, Ken Smith, accused the former Melbourne vicar-general, Gerald Cudmore, of committing perjury in evidence he gave to a parliamentary inquiry in 1993. Mr Smith said highly placed Catholics stifled his inquiry’s report.
Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio the former Catholic archbishop of Melbourne was the first senior cleric to take sexual abuse by clergy seriously.

Asked whether Cardinal Pell, now Archbishop of Sydney, carried any responsibility for the failures described by the report of the Victorian inquiry into the church’s handling of child sexual abuse, Mr Abbott said he hadn’t read it.

”As is pretty well known, I have a lot of time for George Pell … my understanding is that the first senior cleric who took this issue very seriously was in fact Cardinal Pell.”

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OKLAHOMA
The Lawton Constitution

Written by Malinda Rust Thursday, 14 November 2013

A local pastor accused of taking minors from a former Department of Human Services contracted group home to perform sexual acts in front of them at his church was bound over for trial Wednesday.

Bobby Burrell, 28, appeared relaxed, even chewing gum, alongside his defense attorney, Jason Lowe, during his preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon. Burrell was charged in August with one count of child sexual abuse following nearly a year of investigation into allegations of misconduct at the Sequoyah Group Home, 824 SE 2nd, and released on a $20,000 bond.

Burrell, who was employed as a counselor at the home, is accused of masturbating in front of teenage boys who were housed at the center after he escorted them to One More Soul Outreach Ministry, 1010 SW McKinley, under the guise of performing work at the church. Court documents allege that some staff members knew of the allegations but didn’t report them to authorities.

The incident for which Burrell is charged stems from one encounter with a 16-year-old that is alleged to have occurred in July 2012. The victim from the alleged incident testified Wednesday with outstanding poise, despite the defense’s attempts to attack the young man’s credibility.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Posted Wed 13 Nov 2013

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Dennis Hart has apologised for the church’s treatment of child sexual abuse cases.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, joined me just a short time ago.

Archbishop Hart, thanks very much for being there for us.

DENIS HART, ARCHBISHOP OF MELBOURNE: Thank you, Emma.

EMMA ALBERICI: Now Premier Napthine today said the Catholic Church should hang its head in shame. Do you now accept that the level of abuse in your church is out of proportion with any other religious organisation in this country?

DENIS HART: I think today has been highly significant. We welcome the report and we are committed to facing the terrible truth that victims have suffered beyond all proportion and it is very high in the Catholic Church and that I find shameful and shocking.

EMMA ALBERICI: You said today that your church leaders had made terrible mistakes. Given the strong language in today’s report regarding Cardinal Pell’s role, what will you be recommending to the Vatican as far as a response goes?

DENIS HART: I believe that our response has to be considered in the light of the whole picture. Cardinal Pell introduced the Melbourne response, which was the first attempt to do something about sexual abuse and to care for victims. I took that over when I was Archbishop and I believe that it really made significant steps forward in addressing this awful blight. Now we come to a new stage and we do have to remember that Cardinal Pell has been part of that progress to this point of time. There’s now a new stage when we, the Church, and the community can really move forward together and to be sure that the awful suffering is being addressed, that care is being provided for victims, ease of redress and appropriate reporting mechanisms so that we will not have abuse again in Victoria.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Richard Chin
rchin@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/13/2013 1

St. Paul police said Wednesday that some people have responded to a recent request for victims of sexual abuse by priests to report their experiences to police.

“We obviously have made calls for folks to come forward, for victims to come forward,” said police spokesman Howie Padilla. “Some folks have courageously, bravely come forward to help tell their stories. We’re looking into those.”

At a news conference Oct. 17, St. Paul police appealed to victims to contact them in the wake of the reopening of an investigation of a child pornography case involving a former Hugo cleric.

Earlier, on Oct. 8, police said they were again investigating allegations that the Rev. Jonathan Shelley possessed child pornography on a computer he owned in 2004. Shelley denied the allegation, and the case was closed Sept. 29 after discs turned over to police by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis contained only adult porn.

But a few days later, a Hugo parishioner, who later obtained Shelley’s computer, turned over files to police that he said he had copied from the device’s hard drive.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

14 November 2013

With the royal commission’s examination of the Catholic Church’s response to child sexual abuse imminent, Archbishop Denis Hart has welcomed the recommendations of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the issues.

Archbishop Hart, head of both the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Melbourne Archdiocese, said it was hoped the inquiry and its recommendations “will assist the healing of those who have been abused”.

He said the recommendations covered five important areas: changes to the criminal law; easier access to the civil justice system; an independent, alternative avenue for justice; greater independent monitoring and scrutiny of organisations; and further improvements to prevention systems and processes.

“The committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust. I have spoken before about this betrayal and the irreparable damage it has caused. It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime in the Catholic Church,” Archbishop Hart said.

“As the inquiry heard, we were far too slow to address the abuse, or even to accept that it was taking place. I fully acknowledge that leaders in the Church made terrible mistakes. These are indefensible. We know that the long-term suffering of victims and their families continues.

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.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
November 13, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Police investigators are sifting through new evidence coming from people who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests.

St. Paul Police spokesman Howie Padilla said since the department issued a call for victims to come forward four weeks ago, several people have responded.

“Some folks have courageously, bravely come forward to tell their stories,” Padilla said. “We’re looking into those.”

Police urged the public to contact investigators after they re-opened their investigation into the Rev. Jonathan Shelley and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The call for help came after MPR News reported that the archdiocese discovered pornography on Shelley’s computer in 2004 — images that the archdiocese’s internal investigation concluded were “borderline illegal.”

Police wouldn’t say how many people came forward to report abuse.

But Padilla said the victim accounts are providing new evidence for investigators.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

CENTER CITY –
The family of an alleged sexual abuse survivor is filing suit against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Sean McIlmail’s family filed charges against father Robert Brennan last September, but prosecutors dropped them after McIlmail died of a drug overdose in October.

The family claims the Archdiocese knew of the numerous sex abuse allegations against Brennan and is demanding justice for Sean.

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TUCSON (AZ)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 13, 2013

I could tell exactly what kind of person she was when she started wagging her finger at me. She was mean.

I hate finger-waggers. My dearly departed cat had the perfect reaction: If I ever wagged a finger at him, he’d attack (playfully, of course. But it was still an attack). Even my sister, as a super-wise 10-year-old, told me at age five, “You may be pointing one finger at me, but you’re pointing three fingers at yourself.”

Indeed.

It was last Sunday and I was standing outside of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church in Tucson. I had recently learned that their choir director Eric Holtan is a convicted child sex offender. He is possibly in violation of his probation—he is not registered anywhere, as ordered by the courts. I was there to talk to parishioners about the news, tell them how to report abuse (by Holtan or anyone else), and show them safe ways to talk to their kids about abuse. I also wanted to talk to church leaders, who had not responded to my emails and phone calls, to make sure that men like Holtan are not hired into positions of power in this church or any other.

I met a lovely family and a few nice parishioners who were anxious to talk. One women told me that her daughter had been molested as a child by a choir director. We hugged, sharing our mutual loss. I also learned that most of the families at the church only learned about Holtan’s conviction the day before, when they received a letter from the pastor in anticipation of my visit. If I had never raised the issue, would church members still be in the dark?

There were critics, too. There was the man who simply told me, “Eric is my friend. I don’t care what you say.” He was followed by people who politely declined to talk to me, saying that they knew and

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

Jessica Grewal 14th Nov 2013

THE treatment of abuse victims at the North Coast Children’s Home will be the focus of public inquiry headed by the Royal Commission in Sydney next week.

Earlier this year, whistleblower Richard Campion told the Royal Commission into institutional child abuse, he and about 22 others had endured a decade of physical and sexual abuse at the home, which was run by the Church of England at Lismore.

For years Mr Campion wrote open letters to the Anglican Church detailing the abuse children had been subjected to but it wasn’t until May this year that the church recognised and apologised for the way it had handled the allegations.

The public hearings will look into the response of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton to claims of child sexual abuse at the home and the policies adopted and applied by the diocese for handling such claims.

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
Ottawa Citizen

BY MEGHAN HURLEY, OTTAWA CITIZEN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

OTTAWA — The charges against a 72-year-old Pembroke priest accused of a historic sexual assault were withdrawn in court on Tuesday.

Father Howard Chabot was charged in July with sexual assaulting a boy and gross indecency after allegations were made to police about an 1985 incident.

Chabot’s lawyer, Mark Huckabone, said Wednesday the charges were withdrawn after Crown attorney Jason Nicol conceded there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

Chabot was a priest at Holy Name Parish in Pembroke, but he had also worked as a chaplain with the police force for 20 years.

Bruce Pappin, a spokesman for the Pembroke diocese, said in July that Chabot was ordained as a priest in 1968.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Phil Heron, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 11/13/13

PHIL HERON

This one is going to get ugly.

Marie Rogai is out as the principal at Cardinal O’Hara High School. But she has no intention of going quietly.

After being forced out after three years at the helm of the massive archdiocesan high school on Sproul Road in Springfield on Monday, Rogai decided to fire back.

The she hired a lawyer.

Uh-oh.

Not only is Rogai, who also taught advanced placement Spanish classes at the school, saying she was given no reason for her termination, she is alleging that she was the victim of unwanted advances from a male member of the school advisory board who voted her out.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Weekly

BY JOEL MATHIS | NOVEMBER 13, 2013

The Inquirer reports: “The principal of Cardinal O’Hara High School claims that she was fired this week because she rebuffed advances from a prominent member of the school community, but the Archdiocese of Philadelphia says she lost her job because of poor leadership and vision.”

Marie Rogai, who became the school’s first female principal in 2010, says she “repeatedly” fended off physical contact from an unnamed, prominent volunteer in the school community. Archdiocese officials said they were unaware of those allegations, and would investigate. Rogai said, in an open letter to parents, that the only direct reasons she was given for dismissal “were that she was ‘too direct’ and did not smile enough.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

[with video]

The Philadelphia family says their son would not have died if the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had heeded complaints.

Wednesday, Nov 13, 2013

Relatives of an alleged priest-abuse victim who died of a drug overdose say the man would still be alive if the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had heeded complaints about the cleric.

Attorneys for the family of Sean McIlmail announced a wrongful death lawsuit against Roman Catholic church officials on Wednesday.

They say the archdiocese moved the Rev. Robert L. Brennan from parish to parish, allowing him to prey on children. McIlmail claimed Brennan abused him for years, beginning at age 11.

Prosecutors filed charges in September against Brennan based on McIlmail’s allegations.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

We cannot let a planned United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) formal statement put into motion at the Bishops meeting underway this week in Baltimore to pass into the world of drafting, revision, and adoption without noting the gall of it.

The Bishops are going to draft a statement on pornography.

[US Conference of Catholic Bishops]

Bishop Richard J. Malone, chair-elect of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, the committee that will draft the document had this to say about it, “The number of men, women, and children who have been harmed by pornography use is not negligible, and we have an opportunity to offer healing and hope to those who have been wounded.”

The statement, the USCCB press release says, “will be pastoral in nature and will emphasize the effects of pornography on marriages and families, while attending to all those harmed by pornography use and addiction.”

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City- St. Joseph Missouri remains a sitting bishop with jurisdiction after being convicted of failure to report, as a mandatory reporter in Missouri, a priest of the diocese, Shawn Ratigan, who is now serving a 50 year sentence in federal prison on a child pornography conviction.

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LAWRENCE (MA)
The Eagle-Tribune

By Yadira Betances
ybetances@eagletribune.com

LAWRENCE — The Rev. Michael Kolodziej, former pastor of Holy Trinity Parish has been suspended from public ministry and cannot serve as a priest after being accused of sexually abusing a minor at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore.

A former student alleges he was abused on several occasions while wrestling between 1975 to 1979 when Kolodziej taught at the school, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Upon learning of the allegations, the police were informed and the school, the Franciscan Order, and the archdiocese are fully cooperating with the authorities, the release said. The three religious organizations do not know of any other misconduct against the priest while he was at Archbishop Curley, according to the release.

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ZIMBABWE
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

After abruptly leaving Morocco last week, Rabbi Eliezer Berland has reportedly relocated to Zimbabwe.

Berland lived in Morocco for seven months and Zurich and Miami for several months before that after fleeing Israel pending arrest for allegedly sexually abusing female followers, some of who were allegedly minors at the time the abuse took place.

Although Moroccan and Israeli media reports and reports on FailedMessiah.com said Berland was expelled from Morocco by the country’s king immediately after the king read a local media report detailing Berland’s alleged crimes, Moroccan media is now reporting that the king has now said that Berland is welcome back in Morocco at any time. Berland was allegedly forced to leave Morocco only because of the growing number of hasidim who followed him there and were trying to set up a community.

A follower has reportedly rented a private home in Zimbabwe for Berland to use. It is unclear how many hasidim are with him.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Victorian state Parliamentary Enquiry into child sexual abuse by clergy has presented its 800 page report to the Victorian Parliament. It is entitled “Betrayal of Trust”. It contains recommendations hoped for, but not necessarily expected, to control the excesses of religious organisations. While the report and recommendations apply only to the state of Victoria, it is anticipated that the reforms will be adopted by other states, and will be revisited by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. National legislation is likely, eventually, for consistency of approach and to encompass crimes which cross state borders.

The bi-partisan inquiry heard from more than 450 victims over a 12 month period, and its report names the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army as the main culprits. However, it notes that the Catholic Church was responsible for six times as many abuse cases as all of the other churches combined.

It has compiled 604 complaint files, but notes that the number of victims, in Victoria State alone, runs into the thousands. It has referred 135 previously-unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police Sano Taskforce, set up to investigate institutionalized child abuse. More such referrals are expected to be made. Overall, it received 578 submissions and held 162 hearings, of which 56 were private, including in the cities of Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. As a result, the report states that the churches “stand condemned”.

The Victorian enquiry is one of about 80 enquiries over recent years, so that it is about time for actions as well as enquiries.

The main recommendations from the report are as follows:

1. Compulsory reporting to police – Legislative amendments to ensure that a person who fails to report, or conceals, child abuse will be guilty of an offence. At present, under section 326 of Victoria’s Crimes Act, it must be proved that a person who conceals a serious indictable offence “received a benefit” and the committee recommends that this “element of ‘gain’ should be removed”. At present, this is what has let clergy off the hook, even where a cover-up has been firmly established. The recommendation is in conflict with the Catholic Church’s stance on the “inviolability of the confessional”.

2. New child endangerment offence – Making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from a known risk. This applies to the practice of transferring offenders to new parishes or schools, where new victims are often produced. It thus puts the onus on the official who engages in this practice. The recommendation refers to the situation in which “a person gives responsibility to another for the care of children and is aware there is a risk of harm to those children and who fails to take reasonable steps to protect them from that risk”. There will no doubt be debate about what being “aware there is a risk of harm” means and how “failing to take reasonable steps” is actually defined.

3.A new grooming offence – Creation of a separate criminal offence extending beyond current grooming laws to make it an offence to groom a child, their parents or others with the intention of committing a sexual offence against the child (regardless of whether the sexual offence occurs). A problem with this may be that it would be able to be challenged by smart lawyers for being too vague a definition. Parliament would have to be very specific, as to what constitutes “grooming”, in its legislation here to avoid such problems.

4. Address legal entity of non-government organisations – Require non-government organisations to be incorporated and adequately insured. This is a critical recommendation for the ability of victims to sue churches, and removes the appalling “Ellis Defence” used in the past by Cardinal George Pell to avoid paying compensation (see previous posting). It also removes the practice of setting up trusts for church money which are immune from the courts, for example the bogus “cemetery maintenance trusts” (see previous posting). The provision for compulsory insurance removes the defence of “yes, but we’ll just declare bankruptcy”. In the absence of a clear pathway to the courts, in the past, victims have had to merely accept the church’s, pathetic, settlements.

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CANADA
The Daily Observer

PEMBROKE – Charges against a former Pembroke priest have been dropped.

The Crown formally withdrew two charges against Father Howard Chabot on Tuesday in a Pembroke provincial court. Crown attorney Jason Nicol told the court the charges were being withdrawn because there was “no reasonable cause for conviction.”

Justice Robert Selkirk consented to the Crown’s request. Chabot, 73, had been arrested July 29 and charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of gross indecency. He had been represented by defense counsel Mark Huckabone.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

At KSTP-TV, Jay Kolls is reporting: “Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS officials at the Archdiocese are part of a criminal investigation by St. Paul Police, including Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar-General Father Peter Laird. We are told the investigation, in part, involves possible child pornography on a computer used by former priest John Shelley. St. Paul Police closed their case into the child pornography when they could not find enough evidence to charge Shelley. But, sources tell KSTP, police are looking at ‘everything’ connected to the case, including possible obstruction of justice, failure to report possible sexual abuse as required by the state’s mandatory reporting statute and possible child endangerment.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The family of a Willow Grove, Pa. man who died of an accidental drug overdose a month ago (see related story) — after cooperating with authorities in bringing charges in a clergy sex abuse case — has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the young man’s alleged abuser.

Attorneys for the family of 26-year-old Sean McIlmail insist it’s not about the money, but the search for truth and justice for all victims of clergy sex abuse in the archdiocese.

Sean’s mother, Deborah, says the family is still trying to cope with the loss.

“Sean appeared good on the outside,” she said today, “but on the inside, he didn’t believe in himself. The unspeakable, disgusting horrors that had happened to Sean by Father Robert L. Brennan would haunt Sean forever.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CT Post

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Relatives of an alleged priest-abuse victim who died of a drug overdose say the man would still be alive if the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had heeded complaints about the cleric.

Attorneys for the family of Sean McIlmail announced a wrongful death lawsuit against Roman Catholic church officials on Wednesday.

They say the archdiocese moved the Rev. Robert L. Brennan from parish to parish, allowing him to prey on children. McIlmail claimed Brennan abused him for years, beginning at age 11.

Prosecutors filed charges in September against Brennan based on McIlmail’s allegations. They were dropped last month after McIlmail died of an overdose.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Story Highlights
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Wednesday the mother of Sean Patrick McIlmail.
The lawsuit contends that church officials’ failure to remove Rev. Robert L. Brennan.
Brennan molested McIlmail from ages 11 to 14, beginning in 1998.

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by the mother of Sean Patrick McIlmail, the 26-year-old Willow Grove man whose accidental overdose death last month ended the criminal prosecution of the Rev. Robert L. Brennan for rape.

The lawsuit by Deborah McIlmail was filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court also names Brennan and Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former church official responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by priests.

Lynn, 62, former secretary for clergy, was found guilty of child-endangerment in a trial last year and is serving 3 to 6 years in prison.

The lawsuit contends that church officials’ failure to remove Brennan, a priest with a long history of complaints about misconduct with young boys, directly led to him molesting Patrick McIlmail from ages 11 to 14, beginning in 1998, when he was an altar boy at Resurrection of Our Lord parish at Castor Avenue and Vista Street in Rhawnhurst.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013

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

This is an absolutely heartbreaking case. We grieve with the relatives and friends of Sean McIlmail. And we share their sad belief that only through brave legal action will other innocent children be spared the horror of childhood sexual victimization by Catholic clerics and adult psychological victimization by Catholic officials.

This suit is brought by Deborah and Michael McIlmail, kind but wounded parents, on behalf of their son and other children who have been assaulted by priests, nuns, seminarians, and other Catholic employees. We are deeply moved by and grateful for their deep courage.

For years, these parents fought valiantly to help and save their son. They have suffered immeasurably. We hope and believe this action will bring them some measure of comfort and justice. Because they are speaking up and exposing corruption, they are helping to protect others. From this day forward, they can take some consolation in knowing that they’re doing all they can to prevent more devastating clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Father Robert L. Brennan could – and should – still be charged, convicted and kept away from kids. There are, we strongly suspect, several of his victims who are young enough to still pursue criminal cases. For the safety of children, we desperately hope they will do so.

And we hope that every single current and former church employee or member, who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds – by Father Brennan or other clerics – will find courage and speak up. That’s what protects kids – when adults care enough to call police and prosecutors about known or suspected child sex crimes.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Herald

The Monterey County Herald
Herald Staff Report
POSTED: 11/13/2013

A Monterey judge says he plans to release some of the depositions and documents produced during a clergy abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Monterey and one of its former priests.

In a preliminary determination filed Nov. 6 after review of the documents, Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills says evidence gathered in pre-trail proceedings in a case that ultimately settled, will not be released until after a Dec. 9 hearing to give the parties a chance to take issue with the order. He also stayed the decision for 30 days to give parties an opportunity to take it to appeals court.

The alleged victim filed suit against the Diocese and Father Edward Fitz-Henry in February 2011, alleging Fitz-Henry molested the former altar boy at Madonna del Salsso Church in Salinas in 2005. The diocese concluded the claims were credible, paid the alleged victim $500,000 and suspended Fitz-Henry.

The diocese had sought a protective order while the case was on track for trial and that order remained in effect after the settlement.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey County Weekly

Posted: Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Mary Duan and Sara Rubin

A judge has ordered the release of documents and deposition transcripts in the case of Father Edward Fitz-Henry, a Catholic priest suspended amidst allegations he molested a teenage parishioner at Madonna del Sasso Church in Salinas, and may have abused other young boys in the Monterey Diocese decades ago.

Monterey Superior Court Judge Tom Wills’ decision comes after the Monterey County Weekly filed a motion to intervene in a civil suit brought by the most recent alleged victim, a man now in his early 20s who claims Fitz-Henry assaulted him multiple times while at Madonna del Sasso starting in around 2005.

In making his preliminary order, Wills ordered the deposition of Don Cline, a former Salinas cop hired by the Diocese to investigate the abuse allegations, to be heavily redacted before its release, meaning portions of the text will be removed or blacked out.

Wills also ordered Fitz-Henry’s own deposition transcript to be heavily redacted, and ordered the same for the deposition of Agnes Leonardich, the former Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese, and Father Nicholas Milich, a priest who allegedly knew about the most recent allegations against Fitz-Henry but failed to alert authorities.

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News Release

November 13, 2013

Family of Sean Patrick McIlmail to File Lawsuit Naming Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Msgr.William Lynn, and Fr. Robert L. Brennan

Archdiocesan Officials had knowledge of Brennan’s inappropriate behavior with young boys as early as 1988

(Philadelphia, PA) – At a press conference today, Philadelphia-area Attorneys Marci Hamilton and Dan Monahan will announce the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of the estate and family of Sean Patrick McIlmail, a sexual abuse survivor who recently pressed charges against Father Robert L. Brennan. District Attorney Seth Williams announced the charges on September 26, 2013, but withdrew those charges on October 23, 2013, after Sean tragically passed away from an accidental drug overdose. Members of Sean’s family will also be present and will speak about Sean, his experience and the importance of pursuing truth and justice for Sean.

The lawsuit alleges that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Cardinal Bevilacqua, and Msgr. William Lynn knew of numerous child sexual abuse allegations against Robert L. Brennan at least ten years before Brennan sexually abused Sean. Brennan was sent for evaluation on numerous occasions after which the Archdiocese and its representatives persistently and intentionally misled parishioners, parents, and other priests about Brennan’s extreme risk to children, placing him back in ministry.

Whistleblowers came forward complaining about Brennan’s inappropriate behavior with minor boys only to go unnoticed and ignored. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Cardinal Bevilacqua and Msgr. William Lynn, negligently and recklessly assigned Brennan to positions with ample access to children, including St. Mary’s Parish in Schwenksville, PA, St. Ignatius Parish in Yardley, and Resurrection Parish in Rhawnhurst, among others.

WHEN: Wednesday November 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM EST

WHERE: Marriott Downtown, 12th and Market
Rooms 304-305
Philadelphia, PA

NOTES:

· This is the 18th civil lawsuit filed by Hamilton, Monahan and Anderson involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

· Copies of the Complaint will be available at the press conference.

Attorney Marci Hamilton said: “The McIlmail family is united, resolute, and uncommonly brave in the face of this terrible tragedy. Sean suffered debilitating shame and humiliation as a result of Brennan’s abuse of him, and struggled for years to deal with the abuse. His family did everything they possibly could to support him, and he had made dramatic strides over the last year. They are devastated that he lost his battle with drug addiction, which was caused by the extreme stress of dealing with the abuse, and the callous cover-up, by his home archdiocese, Philadelphia. Sean’s story is the horrific story of too many child sex abuse victims. It is time to bring the institutions that create the conditions for abuse to justice and to force out the full truth, so that we can turn the tide on America’s epidemic of child sex abuse and the institutions that let it happen. Legal justice is what Sean wanted and what he deserves.”

Attorney Daniel Monahan said: “As with all of the other cases we have filed against the Philadelphia Archdiocese, the abuse in this case never should have happened. Sean was only 2-years-old when the Archdiocese first learned about Brennan’s inappropriate acts with children. Had they done the right thing then, Sean would be with us here today, and he might have had the family he dreamed about. Instead, the McIlmail family has had to suffer the worst tragedy any parent can suffer, the loss of a child, because of the callous failures of the Archdiocese.”

Attorney Jeff Anderson said: “We are honored to stand beside Sean’s family today. Sean courageously came forward and started the journey to hold Brennan and top Archdiocesan officials accountable and to help protect other children by reporting Brennan to law enforcement. This lawsuit is a continuation of those efforts and from this unspeakable horror we will continue to fight for truth and justice in Sean’s memory and for all of the other brave survivors who have come forward and who are still suffering in shame, silence and secrecy.”

WHO:

Attorney and Professor Marci Hamilton is one of the United States’ leading church/state legal scholars, as well as an expert on child sex abuse in religious and secular institutions. Professor Hamilton holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, where she has taught for over 20 years. She is the author of God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005), and Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (Cambridge 2008, 2012). Professor Hamilton is a 1988 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. She clerked for Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court. She is a resident of Bucks County. Contact: Office/212.790.0215 Mobile 215.353.8984

Attorney Dan Monahan has represented thousands of individuals including victims of crime in personal injury cases throughout Pennsylvania since graduating from Villanova Law School in 1978. He is a Board Certified Trial Advocate and admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Federal District Court and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Advocacy. He is a resident of Chester County.

Contact: Office/610.363.3888 Mobile/484.883.2901

Attorney Jeff Anderson (available by phone), is a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, trial lawyer widely recognized as a pioneer in sexual abuse litigation. One of the first trial lawyers in America to publicly and aggressively initiate suits against religious organizations and hold them responsible by utilizing the American civil justice system, Anderson has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy. Contact: Office/651.227.9990 Mobile/612.817.8665

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PORTUGAL
TVI 24

[Summary: A judgment in the case of a priest accused of 19 crimes of sexual abuse of minors will be read in December in open court. The trial began Sept. 19 behind closed doors to protect privacy of the victims.]

O Tribunal do Fundão marcou para 02 de dezembro a leitura do acórdão do processo em que um padre está acusado de 19 crimes de abuso sexual de menores, confirmou à Lusa a oficial de justiça que acompanhou hoje a sessão.

O julgamento, que tem no banco dos réus o ex-vice-reitor do Seminário do Fundão, começou no dia 19 de setembro e decorreu à porta fechada para proteger as vítimas menores.

A leitura do acórdão, que ocorre quase um ano depois de o padre ter sido detido – a 07 de dezembro de 2012 – tem início marcado para as 15:00 e já será pública.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013

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

A credibly accused predator priest who spent time at three institutions in Baltimore and is accused of molesting in Maryland got “off the hook” yesterday when a court ruling ended a lawsuit against him and his church supervisors.

[Bangor Daily News]

Fr. Raymond P. Melville worked at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in Locust Point (1980 to 1984), the University of Maryland Hospital (1982 to 1983), and attended the University of Baltimore and St. Mary’s Seminary (1979 to 1985). Fr. Melville’s been accused of abusing while at the seminary (as well as in Maine).

[BishopAccountabilty.org]

[BishopAccountabilty.org]

He spent much of his clerical career in Maine. Yesterday, the Maine Supreme Court ruled that a civil suit charging that the Maine Catholic hierarchy should have disclosed Fr. Melville’s crimes should be tossed out.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Victims will have a much better chance of claiming compensation for historic child abuse from religious and other organisations if the state inquiry’s recommendations are implemented, lawyers say.

After an 18-month inquiry, the parliamentary committee investigating the matter recommended law reforms to remove major barriers that typically prevent victims from successfully suing the Catholic Church and other religious bodies. These include:

* Dismantling the “Ellis defence”, which prevents unincorporated religious organisations from being sued.

* Excluding child abuse from the statute of limitations, which bars lawsuits after a certain period.

* Creating an independent “alternative justice avenue” for criminal child-abuse victims.

Lawyer Angela Sdrinis said that as a package, the reforms were “the victims’ wish list”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 14, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the brutal abuse suffered by many children in its care, following the release of an eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse.
The report, launched in the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, also recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accuses its leaders of trivialising the problem as a “short-term embarrassment”.

The report, Betrayal of Trust, wants to establish a new crime when people in authority knowingly put a child a risk. It wants to make it a crime to leave a child at risk or not report abuse, including for clergy, but does not recommend ending the exemption for the confessional.

Grooming a child or parents should be a crime, child abuse should be excluded from the statute of limitations, and the present church systems of dealing with victims in-house should be replaced by an independent authority funded by the churches, the report says.

The report was the result of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse that began last year. A separate national Royal Commission into abuse will prepare an interim report by the middle of next year.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Barney Zwartz

The state government’s report on clergy child sex abuse recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accuses its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ”short-term embarrassment”.

Inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ”a betrayal beyond comprehension” and children suffering ”unimaginable harm”. Launching the report in State Parliament on Wednesday, she said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.

The report, Betrayal of Trust, wants to establish a new crime when people in authority knowingly put a child at risk. It wants to make it a crime to leave a child at risk or not report abuse, including for clergy, but does not recommend ending the exemption for the confessional. Grooming a child or parents should be a crime, child abuse should be excluded from the civil law’s statute of limitations, and the present church systems of dealing with victims in-house should be replaced by an independent authority funded by the churches, the report says. Premier Denis Napthine said the government would act quickly to begin drafting legislation reflecting the recommendations.

He said the abuse detailed in the report was ”absolutely appalling” and the religious leaders involved should hang their heads in shame.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

The Victorian joint parliamentary committee’s report into child sex abuse marks a watershed moment for our community. With an unwavering eye on the rights and needs of victims, the committee has peeled away layers of secrecy imposed by perpetrators of sexual abuse and by the non-government organisations which, for decades, did nothing about it. The committee members should be congratulated. Their report is deeply respectful, insightful and measured while traversing awful and confronting evidence of abuse.

This report should change us and the way our community lives. If, as we urge, the government adopts the proposed reforms, protective measures would be strengthened and victims’ avenues for redress improved. For example, anyone who conceals abuse or fails to report it would be criminally liable; an officer of an organisation who puts a child at risk or fails to take reasonable steps to protect a child, knowing there is risk, may be held criminally liable for endangering the child’s welfare. There is also a proposal to review the Wrongs Act to make organisations directly liable for criminal acts of abuse by employees.

These are important proposals because they go beyond staff selection procedures (such as compulsory checks on employees who will work with children) and impose an enduring duty on organisations to stay alert to the potential for abuse.

The inquiry has offered a glimpse into the unfathomable hurt wrought on several thousands of people in this state whose lives were damaged by sexual abuse. It has also highlighted the utter disregard some organisations demonstrated for those same victims’ rights, in particular the shameful conduct of the Catholic Church. That organisations as rich and powerful as the church ignored victims’ complaints, deliberately obfuscated or denied the wrongdoing of criminals in their ranks, almost defies belief today. That the church spends millions of dollars trying to beat down victims’ damages claims is simply reprehensible.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Chrissie and Anthony Foster showed the inquiry’s committee photographs of their daughter Emma’s arms, bloodied by a suicide attempt after she was repeatedly abused by a Catholic priest.

In a matter of hours, they calmly detailed the pain that had helped define their family’s lives. Their daughters, Emma and Katie, had been repeatedly raped by Father Kevin O’Donnell. Emma later committed suicide and Katie was left in a wheelchair after an accident.

But when the committee tabled its report, with recommendations to prevent similar crimes against children, there were no words left for the couple.

They went to embrace the MPs Georgie Crozier and David O’Brien as they entered a room filled with victims and victims’ advocates. Mrs Foster said the committee had been compassionate to victims, believed their stories and acted.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wisconsin Radio Network

November 13, 2013 By Bob Hague

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee has made a move toward resolving a long-running bankruptcy case by reaching agreement with insurers, including Lloyd’s of London, to buy back policies sold to the church in exchange for avoiding liability in paying claims to victims of sex abuse by priests.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that spokesman Jerry Topczewski would not say how much the archdiocese will receive from the settlement. That will be spelled out in the church’s financial reorganization plan which must be approved in federal bankruptcy court, although Topczewski did not know when that plan will be filed.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, in the wake of cases of sex abuse by priests dating back for decades. Archdiocesan officials have stated they don’t have the money to pay millions-of-dollars to those victims. In one of the most contentious Catholic bankruptcy actions in the U.S., both sides have argued over which victims should get compensated and which assets can be protected from creditors.

A bankruptcy court ruled the archdiocese could not tap assets from local parishes to pay creditors, including some 575 sex abuse victims who filed for compensation in the bankruptcy. The attorney representing victims, Michael Finnegan, said the Lloyd’s of London settlement excludes victims. He said that was a first among bankruptcies filed by U.S. Catholic dioceses.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTAQ

MILWAUKEE (WSAU-Wheeler News) The Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese has taken a big step toward resolving its nearly three-year-old bankruptcy case. A group of insurers that includes Lloyd’s of London has agreed to buy back policies they sold to the church, in exchange for avoiding liability in paying claims to victims of sex abuse by priests.

Church spokesman Jerry Topczewski would not say how much the archdiocese will get from the settlement. He says it will be spelled out in the church’s financial re-organization plan which must be approved in federal bankruptcy court. Topczewski did not know when the plan will be filed. Media reports say settlement talks continue with another carrier, Stonewall Insurance.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, saying it doesn’t have the money to pay millions-of-dollars to victims of sex abuse by priests dating back for decades. It’s been one of the most hard-fought Catholic bankruptcy actions in the country, as both sides have wrangled over which victims should get compensated — and which assets can be protected from creditors.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

NICK SQUIRES – 12 NOVEMBER 2013

Pope Francis has delivered a fiery sermon against corruption, quoting a passage from the Bible in which Jesus said some sinners deserved to be tied to a rock and thrown into the sea.

In one of his strongest homilies since he was elected in March, the Pontiff said Christians who led “a double life” by giving money to the church while stealing from the state were sinners who deserved to be punished.

Quoting from the Gospel of St Luke in the New Testament, he said: “Jesus says it would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea.”

While he did not allude directly to corruption within the Roman Catholic Church, his remarks yesterday came just days after a scandal erupted inside an ancient religious order linked to the Vatican, and as he forged ahead with a determined effort to root out cronyism within the Holy See and financial irregularities in the scandal-tainted Vatican bank.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

The Pope’s efforts to tackle corruption within the Catholic Church could put him at risk from the Italian mafia, a leading prosecutor warns

By Nick Squires, Rome3:15PM GMT 13 Nov 2013

Pope Francis is at risk of mafia retribution as a result of his determination to clean up corruption and cronyism within the Catholic Church, one of Italy’s best known anti-mob prosecutors said.

Nicola Gratteri, who has lived under police protection for nearly 25 years, said the Jesuit Pope’s campaign to tackle graft was upsetting powerful crime organisations in Italy, which have in the past enjoyed a cosy relationship with the Catholic hierarchy.

“Those who have up until now profited from the power and wealth deriving from the Church are now nervous, agitated. The Pope is dismantling centres of economic power in the Vatican,” said Mr Gratteri, 55, who has spent his career fighting the ‘Ndrangheta mafia of Calabria in the far south of Italy.

“I don’t know if organised crime is in a position to do something, but certainly they are thinking about it. It could be dangerous. If the godfathers can trip him up, they would not hesitate to do so,” he told Il Fatto Quotidiano, an Italian daily.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Tom Kington in Rome
The Guardian, Wednesday 13 November 2013

Pope Francis’s crusade against corruption has made him a target for Italy’s all-powerful mafia clans, a leading anti-mob prosecutor has warned.

Nicola Gratteri, who has battled Calabria’s shadowy ‘Ndrangheta mafia, said on Wednesday that Francis’s attempt to bring transparency to the Vatican was making the white collar mobsters who do business with corrupt prelates “nervous and agitated”.

He told the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano: “Pope Francis is dismantling centres of economic power in the Vatican.

“If the bosses could trip him up they wouldn’t hesitate. I don’t know if organised criminals are in a position to do something, but they are certainly thinking about it. They could be dangerous.”

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

By HANNAH ROBERTS

The Mafia are considering a lethal strike on Pope Francis, a senior prosecutor in Italy’s crime-torn deep South has warned.

The pontiff’s life is in danger because his desire to sweep away corruption in ‘a total clean-up’ is making organised criminal groups ‘nervous’, the deputy chief prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, Nicola Gratteri, claimed.

Since Francis took office in April, he has made it clear that he intends to rid the Holy See of its corrupt ways and clean up the notorious Vatican bank, long used by money launderers.

He immediately dispatched the chairman of the IOR bank Gotti Tedeschi and subsequently forced his own number two Cardinal Bertone, who had been accused of corruption, into retirement.

In one of his first sermons as Pope he took aim at the mafia calling on them to repent for ‘exploiting and enslaving people’.

And earlier this week in his most impassioned sermon to date, the pontiff said that officials who took bribes should be ‘tied to a rock and thrown in the sea’.

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CHICAGO (IL)
TheMediaReport

According to a truly shocking story in the Chicago Tribune, two men recently walked into the sacristy of a Catholic church after Mass and demanded cash from a 73-year-old priest.

That alone is frightening enough. But what accompanied their demand should send chills through any decent person. One of the men ominously said to the priest:

“We’ll say you touched us, read the paper, they’ll believe us.”

Indeed, such words are the fear of every living cleric. It is open season on Catholic priests today. An accusation, threat, or mere suggestion of abuse is enough to destroy a priest’s reputation and vault a man out of the priesthood forever.

Even long-deceased priests with previously unblemished records are not immune from specious accusations, which the media then dutifully and loudly trumpet.

Whereas mainstream media outlets like the New York Times and the Boston Globe are willing to fall over themselves to report any and all accusations against Catholic priests – no matter how long ago or how flimsy – the time is long overdue for them to seriously address the issue of false accusations and the dauntingly vulnerable position which priests in society find themselves today.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

RACHEL BAXENDALE
From: The Australian
November 14, 2013

LEONIE Sheedy witnessed brutality almost every day of the 13 years she spent in a Catholic orphanage as a child.

Yesterday, the Care Leavers Australia Network founder and spokeswoman said she was pleased with the recommendations of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, but felt that it should have included abuse in state-run institutions in its terms of reference.

“I feel very encouraged. The Victorian parliament and the committee have validated all the stories,” she said.

“They’ve recognised the extreme, heinous crimes that were committed against Victorian children in orphanages and children’s homes run by the churches and charities, and they’ve acknowledged that these organisations need to contribute to repairing people’s lives.

“The only thing that’s missing is the state-run orphanages . . . sadly this inquiry didn’t cover those institutions, but at least the royal commission (into child sexual abuse) will cover those.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Victorian government says it will not wait to act on a child sex abuse report that is scathing of the Catholic Church and recommends widespread legislative reform.

The government has six months to consider the recommendations of the inquiry into child sex abuse which include a call for concealing child abuse offences to be made a crime.

But Premier Denis Napthine said the government would introduce changes to the law in parliament early next year.

“The government will not wait to act on this report,” Dr Napthine said.

“Criminal abuse of children represents a departure of the gravest kind from the standards of decency fundamental to any civilised society.”

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 12 November 2013)

A court has heard how one of Australia’s most prominent Catholic archbishops, Most Reverend Sir Frank Little (of Melbourne), covered up the crimes of a priest (Father Russell Vears). A parent notified Archbishop Little about the crimes, but the church authorities managed to conceal the crimes from the police until one of the victims contacted the police three decades years later, in 2011.

Sir Frank Little was the archbishop of Melbourne (one of the largest Catholic dioceses in Australia) from 1974 to 1996 (when he was succeeded by Archbishop George Pell).

Father Russell Robert Vears (ordained in 1975) was protected by the Melbourne diocese until the 1980s. He later ceased working in parishes and changed his surname to Walker. However, although he no longer has a parish now, Vears/Walker still has not been officially stripped of his priesthood.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 13 November 2013)

Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into church child-sex abuse tabled its report on 13 November 2013. The report, commissioned by the Victorian State Parliament, criticises the Catholic Church’s culture of cover-up and it recommends changing the laws behind which the Catholic Church has been sheltering.

The report recommends:

MAKING it compulsory for church authorities to report church-related crimes to the police;

MAKING it a criminal offence if a person in authority conceals any church sex-crimes;

A CHILD endangerment offence – making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from risk;

EXPANDING grooming offences to create a separate offence for grooming a child regardless of whether sexual assault actually occurs;

CIVIL law reforms to make it easier for victims to sue non-government organisations, including churches.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 November 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Broken Bay, Australia, presented by Bishop David Louis Walker, upon having reached the age limit.

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GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

They will face questions from United Nations panel
But church hierarchy has missed Nov. 1st deadline
They were to answer questions about abuse crisis

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013

Contact: Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, snapblaine@gmail.com

A date has been set for Vatican officials to appear before a United Nations panel in Geneva and answer questions about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

On January 16 top Catholic officials are to meet for several hours with members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The meeting will be streamed live on line.

The date was announced by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and can be found here:

[UN Committee on the Rights of the Child]

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wonders whether the Vatican will send anyone to the January meeting. SNAP is also blasting Vatican staff for missing a deadline to answer questions in writing from the panel about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

“High ranking Catholic monarchs often break promises and rules,” said SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy of St Louis. “These monarchs are very accustomed to being treated like royalty and very unaccustomed to facing tough questions in public about this devastating and continuing crisis. So who knows whether any of them will show up in January?”

Last July, the UN committee sent Vatican authorities a list of about 20 questions, with a November 1 deadline. The questions were designed to help the committee determine whether the church is honoring the 23 year old Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
JEFF WATERS –
November 13, 2013

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine says the Government will immediately begin drafting legislation in response to the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

The report calls for a new law to ensure anyone failing to report serious child abuse or concealing it is guilty of an offence.

The report also recommends the creation of a criminal offence of “grooming” children and a new criminal offence of “endangerment” where figures of authority within institutions can be sanctioned for not taking enough precautions.

The report calls upon the Victorian Government to work with Canberra to require religious and other non-government organisations to incorporate legal structures – something resisted by the Catholic Church.

The Federal Government has six months to respond but Dr Napthine says the Victorian Government will not be waiting.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON and RACHEL BAXENDALE
From: The Australian
November 14, 2013

THE Napthine government will criminalise the grooming of child-sex victims and the concealing of abuse by officials after the first wide inquiry into the issue savaged the Catholic Church over systemic failures.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine also promised yesterday to exclude abuse from statute of limitations provisions to ensure victims have enough time to initiate civil legal action.

The Victorian parliament’s inquiry into the handling of abuse by religious and other non-government entities made a series of other recommendations yesterday, including the setting up of an independent, alternative avenue for justice for victims.

This would involve the government reviewing the functions of the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal to consider its capacity to administer a specific scheme for victims of criminal abuse.

The committee backed a new offence of child endangerment for anyone who relocates an offender — such as happened with some Catholic clergy — and offences for failing to report child abuse. This would fall under the government’s pledge to legislate against those who conceal sex-abuse crimes.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Editorial

ENDEMIC criminality and cover-ups warrant strong responses. To that end, the recommendations of the Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse by religious and other organisations should be considered on a national basis by the royal commission into child abuse and by political leaders. The recommendations include lifting the statute of limitations to assist victims, making it an offence to conceal abuse, a statutory body to monitor and audit compliance on child protection requirements, and an independent body to handle victims’ claims.

After years of frustration, the Victorian inquiry provided victims with much-needed comfort by hearing and understanding their painful experiences at the hands of clerics and others in positions of trust, especially in the Catholic and Anglican churches and Salvation Army. As one victim said: “Any abuse is dreadful … but when it happens within the context of the Christian community, it damages your soul … it attacks your meaning of life.”

The behaviour of past church leaders was unconscionable. In 1993, for example, former archbishop Frank Little wrote a letter lauding the services of retired priest Desmond Gannon, when he knew the priest had admitted abusing five or six boys. The worst damage occurred in the decades up to the 1980s, when church responses were condemned as “seriously inadequate and sometimes non-existent”. It was for that reason, Cardinal George Pell told the inquiry, he established the Melbourne Response in 1996. It was overseen by independent QC Peter O’Callaghan, an appointment welcomed by police. The inquiry was also scathing about the failure of church leaders in not reporting abuse to police. At that time, however, many victims refused to go to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
SNAP Australia

Victorian Parliamentary Committee has listened to victims of child sexual assault

November 13, 2013
Statement by Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia

Victims of child sexual assault across the country have reason to celebrate today.

Not only is it one year since the historic announcement of the national Royal Commission into this issue, but the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry hands down its report today, and we can finally see a glimmer of hope for justice, better child protection, and an end to our suffering.

The report itself will be available online shortly, but even from the details already available in the media release, and from the speeches to the Victorian Parliament, it is clear we have been listened to and we have been heard.

Equally importantly, the campaign of excuses, misinformation, minimisation and distraction by religious officials has not convinced anyone. For far too long victims have had a second, and at least equally painful, cause of suffering from not only the deliberate neglect of our rights and need for healing by these organisations, but also from the reassuring lies told to present an appearance that nothing is wrong and there is no need for outside action.

We call on all political parties in Victoria to express support for the law reforms proposed by the Committee, which are an absolute minimum requirement if justice is to be done and children are to be protected.

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AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry

Strengthening the criminal law, making access to civil litigation easier for victims and establishing a 
new independent avenue for justice are some of the key recommendations in the final report of the 
Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, 
tabled today. 
 
Committee Chair, Ms Georgie Crozier, MP hoped the recommendations would help victims to pursue
justice more easily and provide a foundation for protecting our children into the future. 
 
‘The criminal abuse of children involves extremely serious breaches of the laws of our community,’ Ms
Crozier said. ‘When it happens in our society’s most trusted organisations, it is a betrayal beyond 
comprehension.’ 
 
‘Those who engage in it, or are in positions of authority and conceal such offences, should be dealt 
with under the criminal law. 
 
‘In the past, crimes have been covered up and organisations have prioritised their reputation and 
finances, but no more.’ 

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UNITED STATES
skipshea

Posted on November 13, 2013

It is no secret that I am a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. Nor is it a secret that it has fueled a lot of my artwork. For most of my life. You can only imagine the excitement I felt when “Ave Maria” my horror short with very Catholic themes was accepted to the Interiora Horror Festival in Rome, Italy. For me that was a major artistic achievement. One that would be hard to top.

And then it won the Premio del Pubblico or Audience Choice Award for Best Film. This may be hard for many to believe, but I was actually rendered speechless. Which worked out fine because I can’t speak Italian anyway.

Image

The fact that those in attendance at the festival picked my very politically charged Catholic film was incomprehensible to me. I was literally on the doorstep of the Vatican and somehow my message was roundly embraced.

But I was viewing this with an American eye. We have distance from the church with it’s centuries of abuses and corruption as an institution. The Crusades, Inquisition, the encouragement of castrato, and sexual abuse of children all happened there. Only a quarter of that equation happened in the USA.

Which is why stories like this play so well here.

Recently Pope Francis made a speech where he said: “Jesus says ‘It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea’,” because “where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be”.

He said this in reference to the corruption with the whistleblowers and the Vatican Bank. They recently passed a law that made whistleblowing a major crime in order to get things back to normal, controlling the narrative while claiming that the corruption is over.

Right.

But the quote he used about the millstone ad nothing to do with corruption. It is in refernce to a quote by Jesus that made three of the gospels. Matthwe 18:6, Luke 17:2 and Mark 9:42. It says: But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

November 14, 2013

Frank McGuire

Despite the suffering of victims revealed by the sex abuse inquiry, some men of God still refuse to accept the damage they did.

Betrayal of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation report on the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations examined crime not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering. Many share the blame.

Perpetrators claiming to represent God committed the foulest crimes against children – formerly hanging offences – while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting paedophiles through cultures of concealment. The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.

Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered multiple betrayals of neglect or abandonment as infants; then when taken into the community’s care, they were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.

Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as schoolboys with sunshine smiles. A middle-aged woman presented a happy snap from her first Holy Communion depicting a young bride of Christ. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 13, 2013

Melissa Iaria
AAP

The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the “brutal” abuse suffered by many children in its care.

The organisation, which operated a large number of children’s homes around the country between 1893 and 1995, apologised to victims and their families for abuse that happened under its watch.

“These offences should never have happened,” the organisation said in a statement.

“It was a breach of the trust placed in us and we are deeply sorry.

“The Salvation Army is ashamed of the abuse suffered by many children placed in our care during that time.”

A substantial part of evidence received by the Victorian abuse inquiry related to complaints of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in Salvation Army institutions from the 1930s to the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

13/11/2013
Media release

​The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne welcomes the report by the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, which has been released today.

“We thank the committee members for their careful, thorough and patient work, and also the State Government for establishing the inquiry. It is vitally important that victims have been given the opportunity to be heard in this public way, and that church processes and protocols have been rigorously scrutinised to investigate where improvements need to be made,” said Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier.

He said the Anglican Church would study the findings of the report closely. “It is crucial that children be protected from abuse, and that we continue to strive to ensure that our protocols and processes meet the standards the community expects of us,” Dr Freier said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Anglican Church has backed the recommendations of Victoria’s child abuse inquiry and says it will fully co-operate with any changes to ensure children are adequately protected.

Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier says the church supports the report’s key recommendations.

“It is crucial that children be protected from abuse, and that we continue to strive to ensure that our protocols and processes meet the standards the community expects of us,” he said in a statement.

Dr Freier said the Anglican Church would continue to provide full co-operation with the state government in implementing “whatever is necessary” to ensure children were adequately protected and abuse victims were treated with compassion, justice and equity.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Jana Shortal

NEW PRAGUE, Minn. — In New Prague this week, news traveled fast after an MPR News team filed a report saying a retired priest living in that city admitted to sexually abusing young boys while he was serving in the Minneapolis St. Paul Archdiocese in or around 1975.

On Monday, Nienstedt released a letter acknowledging mistakes made in the case of former catholic priest Clarence Vavra.

Vavra, who now lives in New Prague, is a neighbor to Margaret Lexa. She describes him as a good man, but she admits she has a few reservations after hearing what he’s accused of.

“Oh, I’m totally shocked, totally shocked. You know, you get second thoughts but I’m still in shock,” Lexa said.

Lexa says she and her husband have lived next door to Vavra for 40 years. She says while her husband has been in ill health, Vavra made a point to tell Lexa he was praying for their family.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Jay Kolls

Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS officials at the Archdiocese are part of a criminal investigation by St. Paul Police, including Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar-General Father Peter Laird.

We are told the investigation, in part, involves possible child pornography on a computer used by former priest John Shelley.

St. Paul Police closed their case into the child pornography when they could not find enough evidence to charge Shelley. But, sources tell KSTP, police are looking at “everything” connected to the case including possible obstruction of justice, failure to report possible sexual abuse as required by the State’s mandatory reporting statute and possible child endangerment.

Attorneys for the Archdiocese issued a statement that says “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is aware that St. Paul Police have reopened their investigation into the Fr. Jon Shelley case. We will cooperate fully, as we did in the police’s previous 7- month investigation that found no evidence of child pornographic material. We take very seriously matters of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy. We encourage anyone who has been a victim of such sexual abuse to report it to police and to the Archdiocese.”

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON Nov. 13, 2013

OVER the past nine months, I attended three public hearings of the state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse.

During the first, in Ballarat, I heard graphic descriptions of rape and abuse that no child should ever have to endure.

In Melbourne, I heard the Catholic diocese of Ballarat lay the blame for its appalling child sex abuse record at the feet of former Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and his poor record keeping.

I heard the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, try to rationalise the church’s blatant failings regarding children in its care.

And I also observed a passionate committee of six MPs of all persuasions refusing to accept excuses or be awed by titles.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

By MERRAN REED Nov. 13, 2013

“We recognise the hurt victims suffered,” he said.

Bishop Tomlinson said the church had introduced procedures to address allegations of child abuse.

“In the first instance, victims are urged to contact the police,” he said.

“Where an allegation is sustained, financial compensation and counselling is provided.

“Reality is it can be a challenge to find effective ways to heal people who have been hurt in this way.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JOHN FERGUSON THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 14, 2013

THE national royal commission into child sex abuse can learn a great deal from the Victorian inquiry.

It should treat yesterday’s findings and the method of investigation as a first step towards getting to the bottom of the abuse epidemic.

The Victorian inquiry has suffered from being handed terms of reference that were too restrictive. The parliamentary committee should never have been precluded from properly examining the government sector, where – it could be argued – a large percentage of the offending has occurred and still occurs.

This was a mistake made by the then Baillieu state government that needs to be rectified in a more meaningful sense by the national inquiry. The royal commission’s terms of reference appear to deal with this mistake.

This is not to diminish any of the good work of the committee members in Victoria but the long-term future of public policy needs more work and vision.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The chairwoman of a committee looking at how Victoria’s religious organisations handled reports of child abuse says she was surprised to learn the extent of the problem.

Georgie Crozier MP, who chaired the community development committee’s inquiry, could not say how many Victorian children suffered abuse at the hands of religious and other organisations, but it was significant.

“I was surprised by the extent of the abuse across the state,” she told reporters.

“It was very widespread. Obviously the community of Ballarat was significantly affected.”

Ms Crozier says the inquiry believes there are many more people yet to disclose similar abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

David Marr
theguardian.com, Tuesday 12 November 2013

“We have called our report Betrayal of Trust,” said Victorian MP Georgie Crozier as she presented the findings of the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.

“Children were betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing and suffered unimaginable harm,” she said.

“Parents of these children experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension. And the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care.”

The report’s criticism of the Catholic church is unsparing. Its recommendations are radical. If adopted they would strip the Catholic church of its virtual immunity in the courts and compel religious leaders of all faiths to report child abuse to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Victorian parliamentary report into institutional child abuse should allow reconciliation and justice for victims, the Uniting Church says.

Moderator of the Victoria and Tasmania Synod Dan Wootton said the report, which recommends making the concealing of child abuse a criminal offence, was a positive development for victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

[with video]

Victims got everything they could have hoped for from the Victorian report on child sex abuse, but it can never be enough.

Mick Serch said as great as the inquiry was, the scar of abuse can’t ever be healed.

‘You can put a bandaid on it but it keeps falling off,’ Mr Serch told AAP.

Since he suffered sex abuse at the hands of a Christian Brother when he was in grade five at St Leo’s College in Box Hill, Mr Serch has endured chronic depression, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

‘I’ve also got paranoid schizophrenia which they say is due to the abuse,’ he said.

Mr Serch attended a victims’ ‘rally of hope’ on the steps of parliament after the report was tabled on Wednesday.

‘The more of this sort of thing we have the better for everyone,’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
13 Nov 2013

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has been tabled in parliament and released publicly – highlighting 15 recommendations.

The two-volume report entitled Betrayal of Trust is the nation’s first major inquiry report to be made public.

The report documents the terrible child abuse that occurred in the Catholic Church, and its failure to recognise and respond to that abuse, mainly over a 25-year period from 1960 to 1985.

The report’s key recommendations cover five important areas: changes to the criminal law; easier access to the civil justice system; an independent alternative avenue for justice; greater independent monitoring and scrutiny of organisations and further improvements to prevention systems and processes.

In tabling the report, committee chair Georgie Crozier said children had suffered unimaginable harm.
“We’ve not only listened but we have heard,” she told the Legislative Council in Melbourne.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Wednesday 13 November 2013

The Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart made the following statement today in response to the release of the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.

“I welcome the release today of the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.”

“It is our hope that the Inquiry, and its recommendations, will assist the healing of those who have been abused. We also hope they will enhance the care of victims and their families, and strengthen the preventative measures now in place.

“Victims bravely came forward to give their accounts, often at great personal cost. The Inquiry has been an important opportunity for victims to be heard.

Download the statement.

“The report documents terrible abuse that occurred in the Catholic Church, mainly over a 25-year period from 1960 to1985. It also sets out inexcusable failures in the Church’s response to that abuse.

“The Committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust. I have spoken before about this betrayal and the irreparable damage it has caused.

“It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime in the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, spoke today, acknowledging that the Parliamentary Inquiry had set out inexcusable failures in the Church’s response to abuse. Father Shane Mackinlay is spokesman for the Catholic Church in Victoria and he spoke to Mark Colvin.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, spoke today as we’ve heard. He also put out a statement saying the Parliamentary Inquiry had set out “inexcusable failures” in the Church’s response to abuse.

Father Shane Mackinlay is spokesman for the Catholic Church in Victoria. I asked him if it was inexcusable, why the Church had spent so long excusing it.

SHANE MACKINLAY: The Church’s submission to this report itself documents those failures and describes them as inexcusable, as terrible failures.

Facing the Truth, our submission, sets out the way in which victims have been betrayed and the trust that was placed in the Church was betrayed by priests and religious personnel who committed these appalling crimes.

And also, by church leaders who failed to respond to that in an adequate and appropriate and timely way: believing victims when they came forward, responding to them in a way that provided genuine assistance and intervening to ensure that that abuse couldn’t happen in the future.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

BY PATRICK CARUANA AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013

SENIOR Catholic Church leaders protected pedophiles, allowed them to keep offending and kept Victorians in the dark about the problem.

A Victorian parliamentary report is scathing of the church’s leadership prior to the 1990s, saying child abuse was trivialised and their protection of pedophiles meant abuse happened when it could have been avoided.

Archbishop Denis Hart apologised to victims and said previous responses to abuse cases were inexcusable, calling it the worst betrayal of his lifetime in the church.

“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible,” he told reporters.

“I have to accept that church leaders in the past concealed crimes and caused other children to be offended against.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

FRANK MCGUIRE HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013

BETRAYAL of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation was into crime, not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering.

Men claiming to represent God committed foul crimes against children, once hanging offences, while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting the paedophiles through cultures of concealment.

The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.

Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered the betrayal of neglect or abandonment as infants, then once taken into the community’s care were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.

The fortitude of the innocents who testified was inspiring. Their courage is humbling. Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as smiling schoolboys. A middle-aged woman had a snap from her first Holy Communion. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

NEW laws to jail fiends who groom children to molest, and church leaders who cover it up, will be introduced next year.

The reforms follow Wednesday’s tabling in State Parliament of a historic report on child abuse, which revealed police were investigating 135 new cases.

Tears flowed as victims stood in the rain to lend their voices in support of the report.

The report slammed leaders of churches and non-government organisations that failed vulnerable children during decades of “betrayal beyond comprehension”.

The report, following an 18-month inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, found “several thousand victims (were) criminally abused in non-government organisations”, many of whom had been denied justice.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THE Christian Brothers spent more than $1.1m over 15 years defending paedophile Brother Robert Best before he was finally jailed 2011 after pleading guilty to aggravated indecent assaults against children.

On another occasion, the Catholic Order hired private investigators to investigate victims who had complained to police about one of its members.

Wednesday’s report of the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse slammed the Catholic Church, saying it had “made a deliberate choice to pursue a course of concealing the problem of criminal child abuse.”

Worse, Church leaders had conceded “the Church had adopted a policy of cover-up and that this involved concealing offending, and moving priests and other religious to areas where further abuse then occurred”.

In dealing with the problem, the Church had been motivated by its desire “to protect itself” the Committee found.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

BY MIKE HEDGE AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013

THE Catholic Church’s “institutional failure” to respond appropriately to child abuse extends to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, a parliamentary inquiry reports.

But Cardinal Pell says he welcomes the Victorian inquiry’s report and supports many of its recommendations.

The parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had “minimalised and trivialised” the issue.

In a swipe at Cardinal Pell’s evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.

“That is quite different from the whole church … the whole church is not guilty of that,” he told the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Pedophile clerics abused children, thinking their crimes would not be revealed, a Victorian parliamentary report says.

Citing a Ballarat school at which four pedophile staff were employed in the 1970s, the report says pedophiles often relied on the protection of their religion.

“Offenders who were members of religious organisations were confident that they could abuse their victims and that their activities would not be revealed,” the report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, says.

“Victims have explained that upon reporting criminal child abuse to other members of the religious organisation, no action was taken or that they were physically punished.”

The committee says it is concerned the Christian Brothers cannot explain the “startling” situation in which four staff at St Alipius primary school, including Brother Robert Best and Brother Edward Dowlan, were later convicted of sexual offences.

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