ABUSE TRACKER

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Religion Reporter December 9, 2013

A network of survivors of priest sexual abuse is criticizing the Archdiocese of Chicago for its handling of an allegation of sexual misconduct by the pastor of a Lake View church.

Meanwhile a parishioner at a church where the priest had previously been pastor offered words of support for the priest.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said Sunday it was notified about an allegation that the Rev. Michael W. O’Connell engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor in the late 1990s while he was pastor at his previous parish, Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park, a church spokeswoman said. He served as pastor there from 1997 to 2012.

He is currently pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish, which includes St. Alphonsus Catholic Church and St. Alphonsus Academy & Center for the Arts, a pre-school and elementary school, on Chicago’s North Side.

The archdiocese contacted the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services after receiving the single allegation, a church spokeswoman said. At the request of Cardinal Francis George, O’Connell agreed to step aside from day-to-day responsibilities and reside away from the parish while the archdiocese investigates, according to the archdiocese spokeswoman.

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
Huffington Post

By James Keller, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – A freelance journalist who wrote an article alleging former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong verbally and physically abused British Columbia students in the 1960s and ’70s asked a judge Monday to force Furlong to put up $100,000 to prove he can pay legal costs if he loses.

The procedural application, which relied on a rarely used section of law that has only been used twice in more than a century, largely focused instead on what Robinson’s lawyer described as the “bitter” feud between the pair.

Laura Robinson wrote an article for the Georgia Straight newspaper published in September 2012, quoting several people who claimed to have been taught by Furlong in Burns Lake, B.C., and Prince George, B.C., in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The former students were quoted alleging Furlong verbally and physically abused them.

Furlong immediately denied any wrongdoing and subsequently sued Robinson and the newspaper for libel. He recently dropped the Georgia Straight as a defendant and has promised to “escalate” his legal action against the reporter.

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

HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 9, 2013

For tomorrow’s event in Honolulu …
Fmr. Bishop and 3-time accused predator Joseph Ferrario
Fmr. Bishop and accused predator Joseph Ferrario
Fmr top Catholic official accused of abuse
Victim speaks publicly for the first time
He says he was 7 when ex-Honolulu bishop molested him
New lawsuit is one of more than two dozen filed since 2012

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a news conference, a third alleged child sexual abuse victim of a now-deceased Honolulu Catholic bishop will speak publicly about his abuse for the first time. He’ll discuss why he’s filing a civil abuse and cover up lawsuit, and
–how he tried to warn neighbors and reach out to other survivors,
–how church officials flew to his home and tried to silence him, and
–how he hopes to encourage other survivors to reach out, and get help.

WHEN:
Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at 11 am

WHERE:
7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 400 in Honolulu

WHO:
The alleged victim and another abuse victim who is a leader of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), the nation’s largest support group for men and women sexually abused as children in religious and institutional settings.

WHY:
A third alleged victim of former Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario is filing a lawsuit and coming forward publicly saying that the cleric sexually abused him.

The man, who now lives in Las Vegas, was a seven-year-old student at Kailua’s St. Anthony’s grade school in 1975 when, he says, then-Fr. Ferrario began to groom and sexually molest him during and after school hours. Ferrario allegedly assaulted the boy in rooms on church property for roughly three years.

The alleged victim is the third man to come forward and file a lawsuit accusing Ferrario of abuse. In 2012, former St. Anthony’s parishioner Mark Pinkosh came forward and accused Ferrario and Kailua priest Joseph Henry. Ferrario was first sued for child sex crimes in 1993 by a now-deceased Honolulu man David Figueroa.

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

VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

Philip Pullella
Reuters
1:34 p.m. CST, December 9, 2013

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A European committee evaluating the Vatican’s financial reforms said the Holy See had made significant progress but needed more internal controls over its bank and another key financial office, sources familiar with the report said on Monday.

The plenary of Moneyval, a monitoring committee of the Council of Europe, adopted a progress report on the Vatican following a July, 2012 initial evaluation that made recommendations on how the Holy See could clean up its murky finances. Moneyval will issue its report on Thursday.

It is expected to add impetus to Pope Francis’s efforts after decades of scandal, particularly surrounding its bank.

According to two sources familiar with it, the Moneyval report says the Vatican has made much progress in the past 17 months in areas such as legislation to combat money laundering, tax evasion and the financing of terrorism.

“This is a very positive document,” one person familiar with the report said. Another expressed “massive satisfaction”.

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.

IRELAND
RTE News

The Catholic Church’s Irish child protection watchdog is to publish reports tomorrow morning on eight church entities.

They will include an audit of the response by Christian Brothers over the past 38 years to allegations of child sexual abuse in day schools.

Also included is a review of the diocese Down and Connor, the largest diocese the watchdog has audited to date.

It is the fourth tranche of audit reports from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Drawing on records in church files, they will examine the response to allegations since 1975.

It will also report on current arrangements for safeguarding children.

At the top of the list of the eight entities are the Christian Brothers’ day schools.

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.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

December 9
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

A former altar boy whose case prompted a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese that resulted in a $2.25 million settlement is suing a national Catholic organization, alleging defamation and invasion of privacy.

Jon David Couzens filed the lawsuit against the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; its president and CEO, Bill Donohue; the KC Catholic League; and two Kansas City men who were officers of the now-dissolved local organization.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges that Donohue published false statements about Couzens in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. In those statements, Donohue said that Couzens had been involved in a botched drug deal and implicated in a murder.

“It’s a very sad thing that William Donohue and the Catholic League are attacking those who the priesthood has already abused,” Couzens said in a statement. “I now understand why other victims don’t come forward. The things said about me are so cruel and offensive they cut to the core of my being.

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.

MICHIGAN
Fox 17

WAYLAND, Mich.– According to a news release from the Michigan State Police Troopers recently arrested 32-year-old Nathan Lavoie of Middleville in connection with an investigation into Child Sexually Abusive Activity, 2nd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and Accosting a Minor.

On December 5 troopers arrested Lavoie following an investigation into the alleged criminal activity, which reportedly occurred between 2011-2013. The allegations include multiple criminal sexual acts perpetrated against a female victim beginning when she was 15 years old.

Lavoie was employed by St. Therese Church in Wayland as the choir director.

The investigation remains open in an attempt to identify and interview other potential juvenile victims.

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.

MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

WAYLAND, Mich. (WOOD) – An Allegan County parish choir director is facing criminal sexual conduct charges in a case involving a teenage girl.

Nathan Lavoie, 32, who worked as the choir director at St. Therese Lisieux Parish in Wayland, is facing charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, child sexually abusive activity and accosting a minor.

Lavoie, who resides in Middleville, was arrested Dec. 5 after Michigan State Police investigated reports of criminal activity that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2013.

Police said the girl, who is connected to the church and was 15 years old when the alleged activity began, was reportedly the victim of multiple criminal sexual acts.

Lavoie has been on administrative leave from St. Therese Church since

The accusations first surfaced in March. A parent reported his suspicions regarding Lavoie’s behavior to the church priest. The priest then called Children’s Protective Services, who brought in MSP, and placed Lavoie on administrative leave.

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.

MICHIGAN
WZZM

Bob Brenzing

WAYLAND, Mich. (WZZM) – A choir director has been arrested on charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Nathan Lavoie, 32, of Middleville was arrested December 5 on charges of Child Sexually Abusive Activity, 2nd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and Accosting a Minor. He was arraigned in Allegan County’s 57th District Court and faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.

Michigan State Police say the alleged crimes happened between 2011 and 2013. Police say the female victim was 15 years old when it began, and Lavoie was the choir director at St. Therese Church in Wayland.

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.

MICHIGAN
WHTC

UNDATED (WHTC) — A Middleville man who worked as a parish choir director faces criminal sexual conduct charges involving a teenage girl. The man, 32-year-old Nathan Lavoie, worked as the choir director at St Therese Lisieux Parish in Wayland. Mlive reports that Lavoie was arrested on December 5th in connection with the charges, alleging that the sexual abuse went on between 2011 and 2013. Michigan State Police are investigating to find out if there are more victims. Lavoie could face up to 20 years in prison and 100-thousand dollars in fines.

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.

MICHIGAN
WWMT

[with video]

Updated: Monday, December 9 2013, 07:05 PM EST WAYLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – The music director at a West Michigan church is now facing multiple sex charges.

32-year-old Nathan Lavoie, an employee with St. Therese’s parish in Wayland was charged late last week with four felonies, including criminal sexual conduct.

Michigan State Police say Lavoie is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15 year old between 2011 and 2013.

State Police say they are concerned that there may be more victims out there, they’re hoping now that Lavoie has been charged, others will come forward.

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

MICHIGAN
MLive

By Andrew Krietz | akrietz@mlive.com
on December 09, 2013

Update: A statement from the Catholic Dioceses of Kalamazoo has been included in this story.

WAYLAND, MI — A man employed as a church choir director was arrested Thursday, Dec. 5, in connection with sexually abusing a teenager during a span of about three years.

Nathan Lavoie, 32, of Middleville, faces several sexual abuse charges, including criminal sexual conduct in the second degree and accosting a minor, according to the Michigan State Police.

He was employed by St. Therese Lisieux Parish in Wayland, police said.

Authorities allege Lavoie committed multiple sexual acts against a teenage female beginning when she was 15 years old from 2011 to 2013.

Police continue to investigate the allegations and are working to identify and interview other potential victims, they say.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

[with video]

Chuck Goudie

December 9, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The latest child sex abuse allegation to befall the Roman Catholic Church in Chicago involves the pastor of one of the city’s oldest parishes.

The pastor of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church is being allowed to remove himself from that job after being accused of molesting a child at a previous parish nearly two decades ago. Father Michael O’Connor is voluntarily stepping aside.

And the unusual consideration from church officials that he be allowed a temporary hiatus is angering victims’ rights advocates.

Outside Chicago Archdiocese headquarters, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says that O’Connell’s victim is now an adult. The alleged victim has told authorities that he was molested at Our Lady of the Woods parish in south suburban Orland Park.

“He’s claiming that the priest abused him on more than one occasion,” said Barbara Blaine, SNAP president. “That he was a student in the equivalent of Sunday school… that the priest called him out of class and that’s when the abuse occurred.”

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

David Marr
theguardian.com, Monday 9 December 2013

It was the gallery’s day. At one end of an immensely expensive room in the Sydney legal district was a squad of lawyers briefed months ago for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But in the gallery at the other end sat victims and the parents and friends of victims who have been on the case for nearly 20 years. For some it has become their life’s work. And they came from all points on Monday to see what they had managed at last: to put the Catholic Church in the dock.

They made their presence felt. They groaned. They protested. A handful walked out when Peter Gray SC, counsel for the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, began by quoting the “ageless words” of St Mark: “Let the little children come to me.”

Gray laid on the apologies not with a trowel but a front-end loader. He called abuse by clergy and its concealment by the church unbearable, disgraceful, heartbreaking, shattering and devastating. He declared the royal commission, “a watershed in church history and indeed in Australian history”.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: December 6, 2013

After decades of Vatican indifference and evasion, Pope Francis has ordered the creation of a commission to study the rape and intimidation of schoolchildren by priests and to recommend measures for effective reform. The new commission, long overdue, will be composed of international experts, both lay and religious, reflecting the global scope of the scandal. Its task is to propose concrete recommendations for firmer safeguarding of schoolchildren and better training of Roman Catholic priests.

The hallmark of the new pope has been a refreshing resolve to shake up Vatican intransigence, but Francis has a way to go to reassure Catholics, particularly parents, that a firmer hand will in fact produce credible reform. His new initiative, for instance, offers no guarantee that he will deal with a major dynamic in the scandal by ordering greater accountability from diocesan prelates, many of whom ran systematic cover-ups of the criminal abuse of children. Catholics, including the non-offending majority of clergy members, are entitled to clear progress on this.

Francis’s call for the commission came just days after Vatican officials rebuffed a request from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for details on how the church handled the scandal. The officials said the problem was primarily the responsibility of individual bishops and of local criminal justice authorities.

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.

Collegeville (MN)
Saint John’s Abbey

Official Statement of December 9, 2013

Saint John’s Abbey voluntarily is releasing the names of current and former monks who likely have offended against minors. Most of the names previously have been made public. The list includes 18 names: nine monks who are living at Saint John’s Abbey under supervised safety plans, seven monks who are deceased and two men who have been dispensed from their religious vows and no longer are connected to the Abbey.

The claims against each of those named were reviewed either by the Abbey’s External Review Board or by the Abbot himself. In each case, it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to include the person on the list. In some cases, however, all the facts could not be completely substantiated. Claims against some of those named on the list, for example, were not brought to the Abbey’s attention for decades after the accused monk’s death. It is in several of these cases where the Abbot made the determination to include the name of the monk on the list despite the lack of corroborating evidence.

The External Review Board was created in 2003. The seven-member panel includes those who have expertise in the treatment of sexual abuse of minors, judges, attorneys and current and former members of law enforcement. In addition, the Board consistently has included a survivor of sexual abuse. The Board is charged with evaluating allegations of sexual abuse against members of the Abbey and making recommendations for action to the Abbot, as well as conducting annual reviews of individual monks’ safety plans.

“This list reflects our best efforts to identify those who likely have offended against minors,” said Brother Aelred Senna, OSB, spokesperson for the Abbey. “That task often is complicated by the passage of time, the deaths of some of those involved and sometimes incomplete accounts of the past. Even so, we are including all 18 names to provide as complete of a list as we can to acknowledge the pain suffered by victims. This list underscores our commitment to being transparent in our policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse.

“Our commitment is reflected in the policies and procedures implemented over the past decade, particularly the External Review Board. This Board gives victims the assurance that allegations of abuse against minors will be investigated objectively, sensitively and thoroughly,” said Brother Aelred.

Bik, Michael
Eckroth, Richard
Gillespie, Thomas
Maiers, Brennan
McDonald, Finian
Moorse, Dunstan
Phillips, James
Schulte, Francisco
Tarlton, Allen
Bennett, Andre†
Blumeyer, Robert†
Dahlheimer, Cosmas†
Hoefgen, Francis*
Hohmann, Othmar†
Keller, Dominic†
Kelly, John*
Wendt, Pirmin†
Wollmering, Bruce†

† = deceased
* = no longer a monk of Saint John’s

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MINNESOTA
KARE

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Days after the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis released a list of nearly three dozen priests who likely committed sexual offenses against children, St. John’s Abbey is sharing its own list of likely predators.

On Monday Saint John’s Abbey voluntarily released a list of 18 names: Nine are monks who are living at Saint John’s Abbey under supervised safety plans, seven monks who are deceased and two men who have been released from their religious vows and no longer are connected to the Abbey.

“This list reflects our best efforts to identify those who likely have offended against minors,” said Brother Aelred Senna, OSB, spokesperson for the Abbey. “That task often is complicated by the passage of time, the deaths of some of those involved and sometimes incomplete accounts of the past. Even so, we are including all 18 names to provide as complete of a list as we can to acknowledge the pain suffered by victims.”

The claims against each of the 18 were reviewed either by the Abbey’s External Review Board or by the Abbot himself. In each case, it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to include the person on the list.

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
Patch

Posted by Mike Schoemer (Editor) , December 09, 2013

Brother John Kelly, who Patch attempted to speak with in 2011 regarding inappropriate contact with minors, was listed today as one of 18 monks “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct, according to the Order of St. Benedict at St. John’s Abbey and multiple news sources today. Kelly, now of St. Michael, is one of 17 monks accused in a lawsuit of sexual misconduct while he resided at the abbey, back in 2011.

Abbot John Klassen, Order of St. Benedict, has also named Kelly in his list of offenders who worked with students at St. John’s Prepatory School and St. John’s University.

Kelly and fellow monk and St. Michael native Cosmas Dahlheimer were both on today’s list, as well as:

Michael Bik, Andre Bennett (deceased), Robert Blumeyer (deceased), Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie, Francis Hoefgen (no longer a monk at the abbey).

Othmar Hohmann (deceased), Dominic Keller (deceased), Brennan Maiers, Finian McDonald, Dunstan Moorse, James Phillips, Francisco Schulte, Allen Tarlton, Pirmin Wendt (deceased), and Bruce Wollmering (deceased).

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

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Live stream.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Catholic New World – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

The Archdiocese of Chicago confirms that over the last two years, it has reached settlements with several victims of sexual abuse. For the most part, the cases discussed today are decades old and it is important to note that no priest with even one credible allegation of abuse is in active ministry. Five of the 11 priests discussed today are deceased.

Francis Cardinal George, OMI, archbishop of Chicago, stated, “For many years, despite the sins and crimes of some clergy, the Archdiocese of Chicago has tried to be an instrument of God’s mercy for those who have been sexually abused. This is the vision of the church that Pope Francis had recently brought to the fore.” No money from parish collections, parish savings or the “To Teach Who Christ Is” campaign, is being used to fund these settlements.

It has long been the practice of the archdiocese to reach out to victims regardless of when the abuse occurred and attempt to resolve their claims without the stress of an extended legal process. We remain committed to resolving sexual abuse cases in a way that results in a prompt and fair settlement for the victims and their families.

The names of priests who were credibly accused of abuse have been on the archdiocese’s website for years. We have cooperated with attorneys representing victims to release documents in January on 30 priests and are working to update our website with more complete information on approximately 30 others. The release of this information requires a careful process to ensure the privacy of victims and other innocent individuals. It is our hope that this and other actions will encourage victims of abuse to come forward to receive help and healing.

The Archdiocese of Chicago is concerned first and foremost with the healing of abuse victims and has maintained a victim-assistance ministry for more than 25 years. In addition, the archdiocesan Office for the Protection of Children and Youth, charged with the prevention of abuse, has trained and processed background checks on more than 160,000 priests, deacons, religious, lay employees and volunteers; conducted more than 3,000 training sessions; and trained more than 200,000 children to protect themselves from sexual predators.

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By STEVEN SLIVKA
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A former Las Vegas priest who faced sexual assault charges in Missouri during the 1980s died Nov. 27 of at the age of 71.

In 2011, the Rev. Bede Parry resigned as organist and choir director at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Las Vegas after a former choir boy filed a lawsuit in Missouri alleging the Roman Catholic monastery, Conception Abbey, kept secret the boy’s 1987 sexual assault by Parry, then a Catholic priest who directed the choir.

Parry had served at All Saints’ Episcopal Church since 2000. He resigned when his name surfaced in the lawsuit. Parry said he also asked the diocese to relieve him of his priest duties.

“I feel terrible for anybody that I’ve hurt,” he said after his resignation. “I feel terrible that my actions would cause a lawsuit to be filed against the abbey, and I feel terrible about letting down my friends and the diocese here.”

Parry did not deny the 1987 incident in Missouri and said the abbey sent him to New Mexico afterward for several months of treatment.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

SCHOOLTEACHER Joan Isaacs yesterday claimed a Catholic priest ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls and gave them the surname Brown, as in Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic.

Her voice wavering, Ms Isaacs told the royal commission into institutionalised responses to child sex abuse in Sydney how one member of the Brown group had Father Frank Derriman’s baby while the priest told them that if they loved God, it was OK to have sex with him because he was God’s representative.

He lied that he was terminally ill and wanted to have sex before he died. During holy communion, he put his fingers in her mouth, she said.

“Frank Derriman used the Peanut comic as a platform and used the surname Brown in reference to himself, the other three children and me,’’ Mrs Isaacs, who was known as Junkie Brown, said.

“(He) created a cult-like group which included myself and three other children.”
She said that his actions would now be called grooming.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Dec 9, 2013 / 02:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The founder of a new center aiding victims of abuse and their families praised the “courageous” actions of Pope Francis in facing the issue, stressing also the importance of helping victims to heal.

Discussing a new commission authorized by Pope Francis last which seeks to increase efforts preventing the abuse of minors, Father Fortunato Di Noto stated that “the commission is a proof” of the Pope’s “commitment to prevent abuses and take care of the victims.”

Fr. Di Noto is originally from Sicily, and is the founder of the new “Meter House” in Rome, which officially opened Dec. 9 and offers psychological, spiritual and legal assistance to both victims of abuse, as well as their families.

In comments to CNA, the priest stressed the importance of the Church addressing the issue, emphasizing that “Pope Francis is a courageous man, courageous as Pope Benedict” for his action in creating the new commission

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, December 9, 2013

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

We’re glad that three new names of credibly accused child molesting Minnesota Catholic clerics are now public.

[Pioneer Press]

But let’s remember some history.

Thirty years have passed since the first pedophile priest made national headlines in the US (Fr. Gilbert Gauthe in Louisiana). More than a decade has passed since US Catholic officials pledged to be “open” about clergy sex crimes.

So it’s sad that even now, in 2013, Catholic officials are hiding the identities of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of credibly accused child molesters. It’s a shame that Catholic officials only reveal these predators’ names under pressure from brave victims.

Now, St. John’s officials should

–permanently post these names on their websites,
— provide the work histories, photos and current whereabouts of each cleric,
–put these clerics in a remote, secure, independent treatment center far away from kids and from families with whom they have built up trust,
–beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police so that both these predators and those who concealed their crimes might be prosecuted, and
–urge St. Cloud’s bishop to post them in all his parish bulletins and websites.

And they should include on their list four clerics they disclosed earlier, all of whom sexually exploited vulnerable adults: John Eidenschink, Steven Lilly, James Kelly and Isaac Connolly.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, December 9, 2013

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

Temporarily ousting a credibly accused predator priest is the bare minimum. Cardinal Francis George must do more about Fr. Michael W. O’Connell who just left his post at St. Alphonsus Catholic parish (1429 W. Wellington Ave.) in Lakeview.

First, George should disclose where Fr. O’Connell is now. Parents and neighbors should be warned about him.

Second, George should insist that Fr. O’Connell move into and stay at a remote, secure, independently run treatment center so that he gets help and so that kids are protected.

Third, George should personally visit every parish where Fr. O’Connell worked – even briefly – begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact law enforcement.

Fourth, George should turn over to police every bit of information he has about Fr. O’Connell (without waiting to be subpoenaed).

Fifth, George should suspend Fr. O’Connell. Yesterday, his parishioners were told that he “voluntarily stepped away from the day-to-day administration of the parish.” (That almost sounds like he’s on sabbatical.)

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As anyone reading this blog for some time now may have realized, I tend to read the news with a pair of rabbinic spectacles on: I like to juxtapose news stories that make me think about this hand and that hand. On the one hand, it appears this way. But on the other hand, there’s this perspective.

Here are two one hand, other hand articles that catch my eye this morning:

At the New Ways Ministry blog Bondings 2.0, Francis DeBernardo reports that yet another teacher in a Catholic school has just been fired for choosing to marry his same-sex partner. This time, the story is taking place in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, where Michael Griffin was informed by Holy Ghost Catholic Prep School that he’d been fired after he obtained a license to marry Vincent Gianetto.

Another week, another Catholic school firing a gay teacher. Frank DeBernardo’s posting ends with a list of those fired by Catholic schools in the past two years, several of whom are new names for me.

People–gay people–are seeking to find ways to live in honest, committed, loving, stable relationships, and the Catholic church is doing all in its power to prevent that from happening. The implicit message the Catholic hierarchy keeps giving to those who are gay is that it would be preferable for us to lie about who we are, to remain hidden, to be ashamed of ourselves, to avoid forming honest, committed, loving, and stable relationships, because these make our identities known.

Better to engage in furtive, dangerous one-night stands than to live honestly, openly, in committed, publicly acknowledged relationships . . . .

And then there’s the other hand: for Minnesota Public Radio, Madeleine Baran reports on the list of priests with credible accusations against them for having abused minors that the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis has just released under duress. The list shows that the archdiocese has for years kept secret at least seven names of priests it has credible reason to know to have abused minors. And though archdiocesan officials have said most priests on its list of credibly accused priests are dead, the current list of 34 priests includes only 11 who have died.

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.

ROME
Vatican Insider

The Legion of Christ is to announce a complete restructuring of the order at its General Chapter next month. “All sick branches need to be removed in order to save a plant of great value”

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY

Francis is revolutionizing the Legion of Christ. Vatican Insider has learnt that the Legion plans to announce the order’s complete restructuring at its Extraordinary General Chapter in Rome, in a month’s time. “All the work carried out so far is oriented towards making each group that is inspired by the spiritual kingship of Christ, autonomous,” members of the Curia have stated.

The Legion is to be split into three sections: laity, consecrated persons and priests. Each of the Legion’s three branches will have “full autonomy in the organisation and choice of its leaders and internal roles.” The common reference to Christ’s kingship will translate into various “forms of collaboration” between the three groups which will, nevertheless, be completely independent from each another.

On the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on 4 October, Cardinal Velasio de Paolis, the Pontifical delegate to the Legion of Christ and the “Regnum Christi” movement, wrote a letter addressed to all members of the Legion, stating that the time had come to call an Extraordinary General Chapter. In the letter, the cardinal, who was nominated by Benedict XVI and kept on by Francis, mentions a letter Benedict XVI wrote in 2010. “Although Ratzinger did not give a specific time frame, it was predicted right from the start that the necessary spiritual renewal process and revision of the Constitutions of the Legion of Christ would not be complete in less than three years,” De Paolis informs.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By: Tom Olsen, Duluth News Tribune

A suit filed today in St. Louis County seeks the public release of the names and files of 17 Diocese of Duluth priests who are accused of sexually abusing children.

The action comes four days after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released the names of 32 Twin Cities priests with credible abuse accusations.

The suit was brought by an anonymous man, identified as Doe 28, who says he was abused by a Duluth priest in the 1970s. The man is represented by St. Paul-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, which has represented thousands of victims of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy.

According to the suit, the man was repeatedly the victim of “unpermitted sexual contact” by Fr. Robert Klein, a priest who, at the time, was assigned to St. Jean’s Elementary School and the Sacred Heart Church. The man was approximately 11 to 14 years old when the alleged abuse occurred over a period of several years in the early 1970s, according to the suit.

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
Northlands News Center

Duluth, MN (NNCNOW.com) — Attorneys have filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of Duluth in connection with accusations of sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse attorney Mike Finnegan of Jeff Anderson & Associates announced the lawsuit on behalf of a man in his 50’s who says he was sexually abused by a priest.

The lawsuit names the Diocese of Duluth as the defendant and alleges the Diocese was negligent in their supervision even though reports of inappropriate behavior with minor boys were received.

Attorneys have also requested the release of 17 names of accused and admitted child molesters from the Diocese of Duluth.

“Today’s lawsuit seeks to have the Diocese of Duluth release the names of 17 accused child molesters that it has kept secret. The sooner the Diocese takes action and releases this list, the better protected our children and communities will be,” says Finnegan.

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
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/09/2013

St. John’s Abbey has released a list of monks “likely to have offended against minors,” according to a Monday statement.

Most of the 18 names had been made public previously.

Of the monks listed on the Abbey website and released to media Monday, seven are dead, two have been “dispensed from their religious vows and are no longer connected to the abbey,” and nine are living at the abbey under supervision, said the written statement by Abbot John Klassen.

The living monks are: Michael Bik, Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie, Brennan Maiers, Finian McDonald, Dunstan Moorse, James Phillips, Francisco Schulte and Allen Tarlton. Those deceased are Andre Bennett, Robert Blumeyer, Cosmas Dahlheimer, Othmar Hohmann, Dominic Keller, Pirmin Wendt and Bruce Wollmering.

The two who are no longer monks are Francis Hoefgen and John Kelly. …

The abbey released a similar list of 18 names in April 2011, and kept the list on its website temporarily. It included three names that are missing from the current list: former Abbot John Eidenschink, Steven Lilly and Isaac Connolly.

It was not immediately clear why those names were dropped.

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — Saint John’s Abbey is disclosing the names of 18 current and former monks who it says have likely sexually abused minors.

Most of the names have already been made public.

On its website, the abbey says the list includes the names of nine monks who live at the abbey under supervision, seven monks who are dead and two men who have been dispensed from their religious vows and are no longer monks.

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
St. Cloud Times

COLLEGEVILLE — St. John’s Abbey released a list Monday of 18 monks and priests who it believes “likely have offended against minors.”

The list includes several names that previously have been released by the abbey; some are deceased and some are living at the abbey under “supervised safety plans.”

The abbey said Monday that it was voluntarily releasing the names after inquiries from the Times and after a lawsuit filed against the abbey demanded the release of a list as a condition of the lawsuit.

“This list reflects our best efforts to identify those who likely have offended against minors,” said Brother Aelred Senna, spokesperson for the Abbey. “That task often is complicated by the passage of time, the deaths of some of those involved and sometimes incomplete accounts of the past. Even so, we are including all 18 names to provide as complete of a list as we can to acknowledge the pain suffered by victims. This list underscores our commitment to being transparent in our policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse.”

The list includes nine monks who are living at the abbey under supervised safety plans, seven monks who are deceased and two men who have been “dispensed from their religious vows” and no longer are connected to the abbey, according to Senna.

Those listed are:

Michael Bik.
Andre Bennett (deceased).
Robert Blumeyer (deceased).
Cosmas Dahlheimer (deceased).
Richard Eckroth.
Thomas Gillespie.
Francis Hoefgen (no longer a monk at the abbey).
Othmar Hohmann (deceased).
Dominic Keller (deceased).
John Kelly (no longer a monk at the abbey).
Brennan Maiers.
Finian McDonald.
Dunstan Moorse.
James Phillips.
Francisco Schulte.
Allen Tarlton.
Pirmin Wendt (deceased).
Bruce Wollmering (deceased).

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MEXICO
Milenio

[Summary: The Vatican did not give detailed answers to questions posed by the UN regarding sexual abuse by priests but noted national civil authorities should proceed against those who commit this crime.]

El Vaticano no entregó respuestas detalladas a las preguntas formuladas por el Comité sobre los Derechos del Niño de la ONU sobre los abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes, y destacó que deja a las autoridades civiles de cada nación proceder contra quienes cometan ese delito.

En el informe entregado a la ONU, del que MILENIO obtuvo una copia, aclara que cuando la sede pontificia se adhiere o ratifica un tratado no lo hace en nombre de todos los católicos, sino que cada miembro de la Iglesia está sujeto a leyes de sus países.

Del 13 al 31 de enero el Vaticano participará en las sesiones de dicho comité, el cual en julio de 2012 formuló una serie de preguntas que la Iglesia católica debió responder a principios de noviembre.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Diocese of Antigonish is hosting meetings in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality this week in an attempt to heal the wounds created by the sexual abuse scandal.

Three years ago, the diocese reached a landmark settlement with victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Soon after that settlement was announced, then-bishop Raymond Lahey was charged with possessing and importing child pornography. He was later convicted, sentenced to time served, and defrocked by the Holy See in Rome.

The final installment of a $16-million dollar compensation settlement for victims was paid last fall.

Bishop Brian Dunn said the meetings are an effort to reach out to all parishioners affected by the scandal.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

There is another sex abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Church in Minnesota.

Jeff Anderson’s law firm will file a suit Monday against the Diocese of Duluth on behalf of a man in his fifties.

Last week the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released the names of 30 priests credibly accused of assault.

The latest man says Father Robert Klein sexually abused him at Sacred Heart Church in Duluth. The suit alleges the diocese knew about Klein’s inappropriate behavior with boys, and were negligent in supervising him.

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DULUTH (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

[the lawsuit]

Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Names the Diocese of Duluth

A list of 17 names of priests with accusations of
sexual abuse of minors still remains secret

What: At a news conference today in Duluth, sexual abuse attorney Mike Finnegan of Jeff Anderson & Associates will:

• Announce the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit on behalf of a man in his 50s, Doe 28, who was sexually abused by Fr. Robert Klein at Sacred Heart Church in Duluth. The lawsuit names the Diocese of Duluth as the Defendant and alleges the Diocese was negligent in failing to supervise Klein and allowing him ongoing access to children, despite receiving reports of Klein’s inappropriate behavior with minor boys.
• Request the release of 17 names of accused and admitted child molesters from the Diocese of Duluth.
• Discuss the release of 34 names released in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on December 5, 2013 of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors and encourage other survivors to come forward and report their abuse to law enforcement.

WHEN: Monday, December 9, 2013 at 1:00 PM

WHERE: Holiday Inn – Lyric Conference Center
200 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802

WHO: Attorney Mike Finnegan, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, sexual abuse lawyer has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy.

Notes: Copies of the complaint will be available at www.andersonadvocates.com.
Contact: Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3473 Cell/612.205.5531

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DULUTH (MN)
NECN

[the lawsuit – Jeff Anderson & Associates]

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A lawsuit filed on behalf of a man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest in the Diocese of Duluth in the 1970s is asking the diocese to release its list of 17 priests accused of molesting minors.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in St. Louis County District Court.

It alleges the diocese was negligent because it failed to protect children from a priest who had been previously accused of molesting boys. It says the diocese gave parents no warning that the priest was a risk.

In 2004, the diocese compiled a list of 17 priests who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. Attorneys for abuse victims want that list to be public.

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VATICAN CITY
Headlines from the Catholic World

December 6, 2013 By CNA Daily News

Vatican City, Dec 6, 2013 / 01:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Church’s latest step toward the prevention of the sexual abuse of minors is the newly-announced Vatican commission, which is expected to collaborate with the Jesuit-run Centre for Child Protection.

“The task of the new commission will be greater than what the Centre for Child Protection would ever be able to realize,” the center’s president, Fr. Hans Zollner, told CNA Dec. 6. “We take care of delivering a program with the aim of educating pastoral personnel. At first glance, this will be an occasion to collaborate with the commission.”

He added that “three months ago, we decided that the Centre for Child Protection would be moved to Rome at the end of the pilot phase – that is, at the end of 2014, and this will surely open many opportunities for the synergies O’Malley talked about.”

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, announced Dec. 5 that Pope Francis “has decided to establish a very specific commission for the protection of children,” which had been proposed by the group of eight cardinals he had assembled to advise him on reform of the Roman Curia and the governance of the Church.

The commission will be officially launched by a document by Pope Francis, and will probably work together with the Centre for Child Protection, which is run the Pontifical Gregorian University and is the fruit of the 2011 conference “Toward healing and renewal,” hosted at the university.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

SNAP blast archdiocese
It wants Cardinal to suspend priest
Instead, he’s being asked to “step aside”
Group: He should be put in treatment center
Last week, a serial predator’s time in Chicago was disclosed
He molested in Minnesota; has never been “outed” in Chicago

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and supporters will

–criticize Chicago Catholic officials for letting a credibly accused predator priest resign,
–urge them to suspend him instead and put him in a treatment center away from kids,
–disclose that another priest, who abused at least three kids in Minnesota, also worked in Chicago, &
–urge anyone who was hurt by either cleric to call police, not church officials.

WHEN
TODAY, Monday, Dec. 9 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the sidewalk outside of the Archdiocese of Chicago headquarters, 835 N. Rush Street (corner of East Chestnut) in Chicago

WHO
Two-five members and supporters of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, (SNAPnetwork.org) the nation’s largest support network for men and women abused in religious and institutional settings

WHY
Yesterday, Fr. Michael W. O’Connell stepped aside from his post at St. Alphonsus Catholic parish (1429 W. Wellington Ave.) in Lakeview. He should have been suspended, SNAP says.

Fr. O’Connell was accused of molesting a boy when he worked at Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park (1997-2012).

Despite promises to be “open” in clergy sex cases, Cardinal Francis George is not disclosing where Fr. O’Connell is now. SNAP believes he should be put in a remote, secure, independent treatment center so that kids will be safe. The group also says that, according to church policy, Fr. O’Connell should be suspended, not allowed to “voluntarily” step aside (which SNAP says minimizes his alleged crimes and enables more parishioners to assume he’s innocent).

Fr. O’Connell has worked in Lakeview since July 1, 2012. Previously he was assigned to St. Michael Parish in Orland Park and the Church of St. Mary the Lake in Lake Forest.

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NEVADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 9, 2013

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

Predator priest passes away
He admitted “inappropriate relationships”
Cleric later moved to NV & became a Episcopalian
Victims blast Catholic bishop for “continuing secrecy”

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is disclosing that a Catholic priest who was accused of molesting children has passed away.

He is Fr. Bede Parry who was working at All Saints Episcopal (4201 W Washington Ave, Las Vegas, NV (702) 878-2373) in 2011 when the allegations against him surfaced. Parry became an Episcopal priest in Las Vegas in 2004 but resigned from his position after the first of two child sex abuse lawsuits against him were filed. He also worked in Missouri, Minnesota and New Mexico.

Parry’s passing was noted on the Facebook page of his lawyer, Joseph Paul Smith:

[Facebook]

In 2011, Parry was sued for allegedly molesting a boy in the late 1980s in northwest Missouri. He admitted to his church supervisors that he had been involved in three “inappropriate relationships.”

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are urging Las Vegas Catholic Bishop Joseph A. Pepe and Episcopal Bishop Dan Edwards to “aggressively seek out anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Parry’s crimes.”

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ILLINOIS
Patch

Posted by Emily Stone (Editor) , December 09, 2013

A Chicago Catholic priest who previously worked at a Lake Forest church is stepping aside during an investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor 20 years ago while he worked at an Orland Park church, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

The priest, Rev. Michael O’Connell, is currently pastor at St. Alphonsus Parish in Lake View. According to the church’s website, he was assigned to the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest from 1989-1993. He started at St. Alphonsus last year.

According to the Tribune, the allegation of misconduct dates to O’Connell’s time at Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park. The Archdiocese of Chicago received the single allegation of misconduct last week and O’Connell has agreed to step aside from his work as pastor and not live at the parish until the investigation is finished.

According to St. Alphonsus’ website, O’Connell served at Our Lady of the Woods immediately prior to St. Alphonsus. The website says he was born in Chicago and grew up in the northwest suburbs.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its fourth hearing today. The lawyer representing the Catholic Church was afforded the courtesy of giving the opening statements – and he totally blew it.

Peter Gray (gray@blackstone.com.au), who bills himself as a specialist in defamation and related media matters, was an odd choice for the church. He sued the publisher of The Bulletin magazine for defamation, obtaining an ACT record damages verdict. His specialty could be seen as some kind of veiled warning to the media when reporting on the hearings.

His opening remarks caused many people to walk out of the hearing room in protest; many were very upset, to the point of tears while others simmered with rage. The reason? Mr. Gray quoted from the bible, specifically chapter 10 verse 14 from the gospel according to Mark, which refers to “suffer the little children to come to me” and contains the injunction in the image above concerning those who treat children badly, such as the Catholic Church.

Mr. Gray tried to convince the hearing that the church followed the bible with regards to how it treats children, when all of the evidence indicated that one would have to establish a special quarry to provide all of the mill-stones which would be required to deal with the church’s paedophiles.

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ARGENTINA
Diario El Argentino

A un año de la denuncia que sacudió a la Iglesia en Entre Ríos, el sacerdote Justo José Ilarraz rompió el silencio y habló por primera vez de las denuncias por abuso contra aspirantes a sacerdotes cuando ocupaba el cargo de prefecto de disciplina en el Seminario Menor de Paraná, entre los años 1984 y 1992. Ilarraz dijo que es inocente y que los seminaristas que lo acusaron armaron “un complot” en su contra con fines

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

JIM BELL

Though the Oblates of Mary Immaculate sent Father Eric Dejaeger to Igloolik in 1978 for the express purpose of learning Inuktitut, the Flemish priest put little effort into learning the language, Father Robert Lechat said Dec. 6 in the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

“Eric could not speak to the Inuit in Inuktitut, only in English,” Lechat said.

One of the eastern Arctic’s oldest surviving Christian missionaries, Lechat, 93, hobbled into an Iqaluit courtroom that morning to appear as a witness for the Crown at Dejaeger’s trial, which enters its fourth week Dec. 9.

When the trial opened Nov. 18, Dejaeger pleaded guilty to eight of the 77 criminal charges he faces, most of which allege the sexual abuse of children in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982.

He’s asked to be tried on the 69 remaining charges. Justice Robert Kilpatrick presides over that trial alone, without a jury.

Still robust and lucid, Lechat, dressed in a long grey cardigan and grey trousers, made his way into the courtroom with the help of a cane. Two workers helped him ease his five-foot-six-inch frame into the courtroom’s narrow witness box.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: The Royal Commission into Child Abuse has begun its final public inquiry of the year, this one putting the spotlight on Catholic Church. And emotions are already running high: some people in the public gallery in Sydney left the inquiry in tears as the lawyer for the Church quoted from the Bible.

The focus of this inquiry is the controversial Towards Healing process which was set up by the Catholic Church in 1996 to handle complaints about sexual abuse by priests.

The World Today’s Emily Bourke is at the hearings in Sydney and joins us now. Emily, so clearly it’s an emotional hearing already. Can you outline of the scope of this inquiry?

EMILY BOURKE: Eleanor, this is the first chapter of the Royal Commission’s examination of Towards Healing – the process, the redress, the apologies and the outcomes in four individual cases. It’s worth noting that a significantly greater number of people are expected to give evidence from around the country throughout the life of the Royal Commission.

There’s no published data on Towards Healing and so the Royal Commission requested details from the Church, but because of inconsistent and inaccurate databases there’s still no complete data.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Catholic priest ran cult-like ‘Charlie Brown’ group to sexually abuse young girls, royal commission hears

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 09, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls giving them all the surname Brown, as in Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip, the royal commission has been told.

Her voice wavering, one member of the group, Joan Isaacs, said Father Francis Derriman told her he was dying and had to have sex with her first.

He fathered a child with another girl in the group when she was 17.

Ms Isaacs said: “Frank Derriman used the Peanut comic as a platform and used the surname Brown in reference to himself, the other three children and me.”

At the time in 1967 and 1968, Father Derriman was a priest with the Archdiocese of Brisbane and chaplain of Sacred Heart Sandgate in Brisbane, she told the commission.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP

AN ABUSIVE priest set up a cult-like group based on the comic Peanuts and used it to groom convent school girls in Brisbane, an inquiry has heard.

The Brown group was created by Father Francis (Frank) Derriman, who was chaplain of the Sacred Heart Convent at Sandgate in Brisbane in the late 1960s.

Joan Isaacs, now 60, has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Derriman used the surname ‘Brown’ in reference to himself, three other children and herself.

“I believe that this conduct by Fr Derriman is what today would be called grooming,” she said.

Ms Issacs, who is a teacher, told how Derriman wrote her letters telling her he was dying from a lung disease and needed her to have sex with him before he died and when she was 16.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 10, 2013

THE Catholic Church has admitted paying at least $43 million in hush money to victims of its paedophile priests, as the church’s barrister outraged victims yesterday by quoting from the Bible.

In some cases, victims were not even allowed to tell their husbands, wives or children about the secret settlements negotiated through the church’s controversial Towards Healing process.

The royal commission into child sex abuse was yesterday also told how a Brisbane Catholic priest, Father Frank Derriman, ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls and giving them all the surname Brown, borrowed from the Peanuts comic strip’s Charlie Brown.

As the church apologised for its behaviour through the commission, survivors who were abused as children in orphanages and homes, walked out of the Sydney hearing in tears when the church’s counsel, Peter Gray SC quoted from the Gospel of Mark.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN DECEMBER 10, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest created a “cult-like group” of teenage girls, fathering a child with one while telling another girl he was terminally ill and she “needed to have sex with him before he died”.

One of the victims, Joan Isaacs, yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that her attempts to warn the church about the actions of Frank Derriman were ignored and the priest was able to abuse again.

Ms Isaacs, who received several standing ovations while giving evidence at the Sydney hearing, is one of more than 2200 alleged child abuse victims to have contacted the Catholic Church.

The church has paid out more than $43 million in compensation nationwide, the commission heard, but many of the victims felt they had been mistreated during the church’s “Towards Healing” process for dealing with their claims.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Seattle PI

BOSTON (AP) — Child welfare advocates are calling on the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to back legislation that would extend the time victims of childhood sexual abuse could file lawsuits.

The open letter to Cardinal Sean O’Malley came days after he announced a major effort by Pope Francis to explore ways the church can protect children from abuse and to care for victims.

The Vatican commission marks the Catholic church’s first comprehensive effort to address a worldwide scandal that exploded in 2002 in Boston.

The letter came Sunday from a group of advocates led by Massachusetts Citizens for Children.

Current state law applies to all abuse cases and is not limited to church-related incidents.

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ARGENTINA
El Litoral

El debate culminará el miércoles. Ese día serán los alegatos y se conocerá la sentencia. Esta mañana declaran ocho testigos. El sacerdote fue detenido en noviembre de 2011 luego de que Osvaldo Ramírez, un joven integrante del coro de una capilla, lo denunciara por abuso sexual.

Esta mañana empieza el juicio al sacerdote Domingo Pacheco, acu-sado de abusar durante años de un joven que integraba el coro de la capilla San An-tonio en la localidad correntina de Esquina. Serán tres audiencias y la sentencia se daría a conocer el miércoles.

El debate se inicia en un clima candente debido a que hace semanas el cura recuperó la libertad luego de que el obispo de Goya, monseñor Ricardo Faifer, decidiera pagar la caución impuesta por la Justicia.

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AUSTRALIA
The Jewish Daily Forward

By JTA
Published December 09, 2013.

Australian police have questioned the former principal of a haredi Orthodox Jewish boys’ school in Melbourne over allegations of decades-old child sex abuse.

Rabbi Avrohom Glick, a senior official inside the Chabad-Lubavitch community, made a voluntary statement to police and was released, his lawyer said Monday.

The allegations are understood to date back to the 1970s. Rabbi Glick vehemently denies them.

He immediately was removed from his position as head of Jewish studies at the Yeshivah College boys’ high school, its principal confirmed in a letter to parents Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN DECEMBER 09, 2013

THE former principal of a top Jewish school has been stood down after allegations he repeatedly raped a student in the school’s synagogue.

Rabbi Abraham Glick was interviewed by police last week. Police are making further inquiries.

Yeshiva College principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler said Rabbi Glick had been stood down immediately and “we will continue his suspension from duties and all contact with the students until the outcome of the inquiry is known”.

“The college’s action … should not be seen as prejudging the outcome of the investigation and the college affirms(the rabbi) is fully entitled to the presumption of innocence,” Rabbi Smukler said.

This is the first time Rabbi Glick has been accused of sexual misconduct.

Through his lawyers, he denied any wrongdoing.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The religious studies leader of Melbourne’s Yeshiva College has been stood down following allegations that he raped a student on several occasions during the 1980s inside the school’s synagogue.

Rabbi Abraham Glick, a former principal of the prestigious Jewish school, was last week arrested and questioned by Melbourne police but has not been charged, the Herald Sun reports.

The arrest comes after a statement was made to police in July in which Rabbi Glick was accused of raping a former student on numerous occasions while he was the school’s deputy principal.

“He was always a predator. I remember looking into his eyes and it was like someone looking at meat on a plate. There was no caring, there was something missing,” the alleged victim said in the statement.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

December 9, 2013

Barmey Zwartz

One of Australia’s most respected rabbis has been stood down from Melbourne’s prestigious Yeshivah College over allegations that he repeatedly raped a student in the 1970s.

Rabbi Avrohom Glick was then deputy principal, later principal and now head of religious studies.
A police spokeswoman said a 67-year-old man from Balaclava was arrested and interviewed on Monday and released pending further inquiries.

Two former Yeshivah employees were jailed in Melbourne this year over separate child sex offences.

Yeshivah College principal Yehoshua Smukler, who recently wrote to the ultra-Orthodox Yeshivah community to reassure them that police had said no staff members were under investigation, said in a statement that the centre learnt of the allegations only late last week.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

About Rush Limbaugh’s Attacks on Pope Francis: Total Silence from U.S. Bishops

William D. Lindsey

And in case you happen to have missed this:

I’ve noted in recent postings (here and here) some of Rush Limbaugh’s acerbic comments about Pope Francis. Limbaugh has stated that Francis is espousing Marxism, and that someone else must have written Francis’s recent work condemning the exploitation of the poor and trickle-down economics, or someone has “gotten to” the pope. I shared a petition last week by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good calling on Limbaugh to apologize for his attacks on Pope Francis.

How have the U.S. Catholic bishops responded to Rush Limbaugh’s statements about Pope Francis? In a word, zip. Their lips appear zipped, as Molly Redden notes last week for Mother Jones. When asked why the bishops are being silent about Rush (since, God knows, they can loosen their tongues about all kinds of other issues), USCCB spokeswoman Sister of Mercy Mary Ann Walsh says that “we don’t follow” Mr. Limbaugh.

Speaking out in defense of Pope Francis and against Rush Limbaugh would, I gather, set the bishops at odd with some of their most important friends in the Republican party, and with the super-rich handlers of the GOP.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By CATHERINE ARMITAGE Dec. 9, 2013

JOAN Isaacs was 14 years old and near the top of her class at the Sacred Heart Convent Sandgate in Brisbane when Father Francis Derriman got her to join his “cult-like” group of four children.

She told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse he used the Peanuts comic as a way to bond the group. He called himself and the rest of them Brown after the comic’s main character Charlie Brown.

To her knowledge three girls in their “Brown” group were sexually abused, including her, aged 14 and 15 in 1967 and 1968. One of the girls fathered a child to Derriman at age 17.

Her voice sometimes breaking, Mrs Isaacs detailed how the priest told her he was dying of a fatal lung disease.

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

December 8, 2013 By CNA Daily News
Washington D.C., Dec 8, 2013 / 04:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, has welcomed Pope Francis’ new commission to fight the sexual abuse of minors, pledging his help and support in its mission.

“Abuse of minors is a sin and a crime, and every step must be taken to eradicate this blight. Such abuse is especially grave when committed by anyone in ministry in our Church,” the Louisville, Ky., archbishop said Dec. 5.

Earlier in the week, Pope Francis approved a proposal for a new commission to advise him on how to protect children from abuse and how to help abuse victims.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, a member of an eight-cardinal council advising the Pope, explained at a Dec. 5 press conference that the commission will study current child protection programs and suggest new initiatives for the Roman curia, in collaboration with the bishops and episcopal conferences.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Catholic Church’s barrister, Peter Gray, begins his opening statement at Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Thomas Oriti

A lawyer representing the Catholic Church has been heckled by victims of child sexual abuse and their families on the first day of a public inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the Towards Healing process established by the Church in 1996.

The process was used to respond to complaints of abuse involving Church personnel.

When the Royal Commission was first announced by the Federal Government, the Catholic Church established the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.

The lawyer representing the Council at the hearing, Peter Gray SC, began his opening remarks by quoting the Gospel of Mark:

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such of these that the Kingdom of God belongs.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Dec. 9, 2013

AT first there were howls of anger.

Barrister Peter Gray, SC, for the Catholic Church had barely started quoting from the Gospel of Mark – “Let the little children come to me” – when the public gallery at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse erupted.

“You have got to be kidding,” was clearly heard. “I can’t believe they’re quoting the Bible,” cried another. People left the room.

And then there was the sound of sobbing. One woman’s cries of pain were heard from an outer room as Mr Gray read the Church’s opening statement.

On behalf of the Church he acknowledged it had betrayed the trust of children and their parents. He acknowledged it had “sometimes covered up” and protected “wrongdoers”. He acknowledged victims were disbelieved and “treated coldly”.

In the public gallery were the people who had fought the Church for years to admit those wrongs.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Carlos Sadovi
Tribune reporter
6:38 a.m. CST, December 9, 2013

The pastor of a Lakeview Roman Catholic parish has agreed to step aside after an allegation this week that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor 20 years ago while he served as pastor of an Orland Park church, officials said today.

Rev. Michael W. O’Connell has served at St. Alphonsus Parish, 1429 W. Wellington Ave., since July 1, 2012, said Archdiocese Spokeswoman Susan Burritt.

A single allegation of sexual misconduct was presented to the Archdiocese of Chicago last week. It is alleged that O’Connell engaged in the misconduct 20 years ago while he served as pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park, said Burritt.

O’Connell agreed to step aside from his role as pastor of St. Alphonsus and has agreed to live away from the parish until an investigation has concluded, according to a statement by the Archdiocese of Chicago. O’Connell decided to step aside from his duties at the request of Cardinal George, officials said.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

Catholic priest ran cult-like ‘Charlie Brown’ group to sexually abuse young girls, royal commission hears

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 09, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls giving them all the surname Brown, as in Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip, the royal commission has been told.

Her voice wavering, one member of the group, Joan Isaacs, said Father Francis Derriman told her he was dying and had to have sex with her first.

He fathered a child with another girl in the group when she was 17.

Ms Isaacs said: “Frank Derriman used the Peanut comic as a platform and used the surname Brown in reference to himself, the other three children and me.”

At the time in 1967 and 1968, Father Derriman was a priest with the Archdiocese of Brisbane and chaplain of Sacred Heart Sandgate in Brisbane, she told the commission.

After two committals and trial, Father Derriman was in 1998 eventually convicted of sexually abusing Mrs Isaacs, now aged 60, and sentenced to one year behind bars, to be suspended after he served just six months.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Monday 9 December 2013

The first witness to speak at the public hearing on the Catholic church’s Towards Healing program says she is “now free” and has “broken the shackles” after giving evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse on Monday.

The commission is to hear evidence from four victims who sought redress through the Towards Healing process, set up by the church in 1996 to respond to complaints of abuse by members of the clergy.

The first of these, Joan Issacs, told reporters: “Just as abusers control and silence their victims, the church had to silence and control people like me.”

Standing with her husband and two sons, she said: “Today was my opportunity to say I will never again be controlled and silenced. The opportunity to give evidence here has been both challenging and confronting. I hope it has been informative to the commission.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

[with video]

Francis Cardinal George has asked the pastor of a Chicago church to reside away from his congregation while a sex abuse allegation is investigated.

Reverend Michael O’Connell, the pastor of St. Alphonsus parish, agreed to step aside after an allegation that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor 20-years ago.

The allegation pertains to a time when he served in a different parish.

The archdiocese said the action is not a judgment of guilt and Rev O’Connell remains at the head of St. Alphonsus parish.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (STMW) – The pastor of a Roman Catholic church in the Lakeview neighborhood agreed to step aside from day-to-day responsibilities amid an allegation he had sexual contact with a child nearly 20 years ago while working at an Orland Park parish.

The Archdiocese of Chicago was notified of allegations earlier this week that Rev. Michael W. O’Connell engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor when he was the pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park, spokeswoman Susan Burritt said.

O’Connell worked at the southwest suburban parish between 1997 and 2012. He has held various posts within the archdiocese since his ordination in 1983, Burritt said.

At Cardinal Francis George’s request, O’Connell agreed to step aside from his duties at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church as church officials investigate, a statement from the archdiocese said.

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AUSTRALIA
Coffs Coast Advocate

A “SEARING and decisive moment in the history of the Australian Catholic Church” uncovered decades of child sex abuse allegations and prompted an apology to victims across the country as the royal commission returned to Sydney today.

The commission is looking at Church’s response to victims of child sex abuse through its counselling program Towards Healing, which was offered across northern NSW and south-east Queensland from the mid 90s.

Monday’s hearing was marked with tears, angry outbursts, disturbing revelations about a Brisbane priest who had fathered the child of one of his young victims and a controversial opening statement made by the man representing the Church, Peter Grey.

His seemingly tasteless introductory biblical scripture containing the words “let the little children come to me” prompted several witnesses to let out audible groans and walk out of the room but was followed by some long-awaited admissions on behalf of the Church and a warning to senior religious leaders to abandon the culture of secrecy.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy have gathered outside the royal commission in Sydney to call for justice.

Members of Care Leavers Australia Network and SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) carried placards and handed out leaflets as witnesses entered the hearing rooms of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday.

Nicky Davis from SNAP told AAP: ‘We want the truth, that some in the Church have been trying to suppress, to come out.’

The commission is starting two weeks of a public hearing into the Catholic Church’s internal process for dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse by its personnel.

Towards Healing was set up in 1996 to deal with the groundswell of abuse allegations against clergy and other who worked with the church.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 9, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them: for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”

With this remark, the Catholic Church’s barrister, Peter Gray, SC, had the hearing room at the royal commission into child sexual abuse erupting in anguish and anger.

They cried out “What an insult!”, “What a joke!” and “Good Lord!” Some walked out. From outside the room sobbing and wailing could be heard.

Survivor of abuse, Les Johnson 72, from Sydney grew up in orphanages in the Newcastle and Gosford area in the 1950s among protesters outside the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing into the response of ‘Towards Healing’, being held in Sydney. 9th December, 2013.

Many present were once little children, now damaged adults, thanks to their abuse at the hands of mainly brothers and priests who were supposed to be caring for them in Catholic schools and orphanages. They had come to see for themselves what Mr Gray, representing the church, described as a watershed in church and Australian history.

In the Catholic Church’s first appearances at the commission, Mr Gray acknowledged children were abused, the crimes were covered up, the wrongdoers were protected and the victims were disbelieved or treated coldly.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Royal Commission into Child Abuse has begun its final public inquiry of the year, with the spotlight on the Catholic Church’s controversial Towards Healing program. Emotions are already running high, with some people in the public gallery in Sydney leaving the inquiry in tears, as the lawyer for the church quoted from the Bible in his opening remarks. The Towards Healing process was set up by the church in 1996 to handle complaints about sexual abuse by priests.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: The Royal Commission into Child Abuse has begun its final public inquiry of the year, this one putting the spotlight on Catholic Church. And emotions are already running high: some people in the public gallery in Sydney left the inquiry in tears as the lawyer for the Church quoted from the Bible.

The focus of this inquiry is the controversial Towards Healing process which was set up by the Catholic Church in 1996 to handle complaints about sexual abuse by priests.

The World Today’s Emily Bourke is at the hearings in Sydney and joins us now. Emily, so clearly it’s an emotional hearing already. Can you outline of the scope of this inquiry?

EMILY BOURKE: Eleanor, this is the first chapter of the Royal Commission’s examination of Towards Healing – the process, the redress, the apologies and the outcomes in four individual cases. It’s worth noting that a significantly greater number of people are expected to give evidence from around the country throughout the life of the Royal Commission.

There’s no published data on Towards Healing and so the Royal Commission requested details from the Church, but because of inconsistent and inaccurate databases there’s still no complete data.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Travis Andersen | GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 09, 2013

Child welfare advocates are calling on the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to back legislation that would extend the statute of limitations in Massachusetts on cases brought by victims of childhood sexual abuse.

The open letter to Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley came days after he announced a major effort by Pope Francis to explore ways the church can protect children from abuse and to care for victims. The new Vatican commission marks the Catholic Church’s first comprehensive effort to address a scandal that exploded in 2002 in Boston and become a worldwide crisis.

The bills in Massachusetts are the latest efforts by advocates to get the state Legislature to allow more time for victims of childhood sexual abuse to pursue their alleged abusers in state court. One proposal would allow abuse victims to file a lawsuit in civil court up to the age of 55. Current law generally caps the filing age at 21. A separate bill would open a one-year window for those older than 55 to file claims. In criminal cases, accusers have until age 43 to file charges. The civil and criminal rules apply to all abuse cases and are not limited to church-related incidents.

A spokesman Sunday declined to disclose the archdiocese’s position on the proposals. But when the Legislature considered a more sweeping measure last year, the archdiocese’s policy arm, the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, warned that it could open church organizations to additional liability in decades-old cases and harm their charitable efforts.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Twelve years after being silenced by the Catholic Church, Joan Isaacs can now tell the world about the sexual and emotional abuse inflicted upon her as a schoolgirl.

Ms Isaacs was applauded as she left the witness stand at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday after finally talking publicly about the abuse dealt her by Father Francis Derriman more than 40 years ago.

The church last week lifted the legally binding agreement she made in 2001 in return for a $30,000 payment, in a gesture she said was ‘too little, too late.’

Ms Isaacs, 60, received a letter from Brisbane Archbishop, the Most Reverend Mark Coleridge, saying she was no longer required to observe the conditions of the settlement agreed to under the church’s Towards Healing process.

A confidentiality clause required her not to speak to anyone, except for medical reasons, about her abuse and demanded that she not make ‘disparaging comments’ about the process and the archdiocese.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Catholic Archbishop says sorry to victims of sexual abuse at hands of those within church

PERTH’S Catholic archbishop has issued an unreserved apology to the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of those within the church.

And as the child abuse Royal Commission began its investigations into the Catholic Church, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe also revealed he was considering appointing staff to specifically to maintain the safety of children in Perth.

Today the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse began public hearings into the Catholic Church’s internal process for handling allegations.

In response, Archbishop Costelloe admitted the church had been responsible for “too many failures, too many betrayals, and too many damaged lives.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

BY THOMAS ORITI – ABC
December 9, 2013

A lawyer representing the Catholic Church has been heckled by victims of child sexual abuse and their families on the first day of a public inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the “Towards Healing” process established by the Church in 1996.

The process was used to respond to complaints of abuse involving Church personnel.

When the Royal Commission was first announced by the Federal Government, the Catholic Church established the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.

The lawyer representing the Council at the hearing, Peter Gray SC, began his opening remarks by quoting the Gospel of Mark:

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ARIZONA
Arizona Republic

By Michael Clancy
The Republic | azcentral.com
Sun Dec 8, 2013

Two cases alleging sexual abuse by clergy members in the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix are slowly working their way through Arizona courts.

One case, filed in 2010, is scheduled to go to trial in March in Yavapai County Superior Court. It was filed on behalf of a Cottonwood woman whose son allegedly was abused by a Catholic deacon, Maxwell Rollin Pelton, who worked at Immaculate Conception Parish in Cottonwood.

The other is in Maricopa County Superior Court while the diocese awaits a Vatican determination in the case against the Rev. John Spaulding, who served in several local parishes.

In the Yavapai case, Pelton was awaiting final criminal charges when he died of natural causes in police custody.

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VATICAN CITY
City A.M.

by Tim Wallace
December 9, 2013

THE VATICAN’S bank could this week be blacklisted by the international finance community after investigators found poor anti-money laundering controls in place.

The 71-year old lender is being probed by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s watchdog which monitors standards in finance.

If the watchdog rules against the Institute for the Works of Religion, as the Vatican Bank is formally known, it will face difficulties transferring money around the world.

Such a blacklisting could prove problematic for the church which relies on the organisation to fund operations around the globe.

Previous reports from the Council of Europe have found the Vatican making strides in its anti-money laundering processes, particularly as Pope Benedict XVI extended several finance rules to cover himself.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Sunday 8 December 2013

Victims of child abuse and their supporters walked out of a public hearing at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse after the Catholic church’s legal representative quoted the Bible in his opening address.

Over the course of an estimated two weeks, the commission will hear evidence from four victims of abuse by members of the church who sought redress through the Towards Healing process, set up by the church in 1996 to respond to complaints of abuse by members of the clergy.

On Monday morning it was revealed that the Catholic church had paid more than $43m in compensation to victims in a process which it is alleged sought to mitigate public damage to the church rather than address victims’ needs.

Senior counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, said the highest payout since the establishment of Towards Healing was $853,000. The amount, which included legal, counselling and other costs, related to a diocesan priest, at the time appointed with the archdiocese of Sydney.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

[live stream]

Royal Commission will spend the next two weeks examining the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing protocols and how they’ve worked. The public examination over the next two weeks will look at the cases of four Queensland residents who were abused by Catholic clergy in Brisbane, Lismore and two Marist schools in Queensland. Catholic Church’s truth justice and healing council has resolved to reform the process. The Royal Commission’s public inquiry of Towards Healing will continue throughout the life of the inquiry.

Transcript

TONY EASTLEY: It’s been one of the Catholic Church’s more controversial responses to the scourge of child sexual abuse, and now it’s about to undergo a forensic examination by the Royal Commission.

For the next fortnight the Royal Commission will publicly examine how four abuse victims were treated by the Catholic Church when they lodged a complaint through the church’s Towards Healing process.

Sexual abuse victims and their lawyers maintain it’s a process that re-traumatises survivors and should be scrapped altogether.

Here’s Emily Bourke.

EMILY BOURKE: The Royal Commission says around 40 per cent of the calls, emails and statements it’s received are about the Catholic Church.

And over the next two weeks, the inquiry will publicly hear from four people who were abused by Catholic priests in Brisbane and Lismore and by Marist Brothers in two Queensland schools.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

BY THOMAS ORITI
December 9, 2013

A public hearing in Sydney has been told the majority of complaints of abuse within the Catholic Church involve incidents at a school, college or orphanage.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the ‘Towards Healing’ process, established by the church in 1996.

Four people will give evidence at the hearing relating to complaints involving the Archdiocese of Brisbane, the Diocese of Lismore and the Marist Brothers.

In her opening address, Counsel-Assisting the Commission Gail Furness SC said certain congregations stand out in the list of complaints.

“Over 60 per cent of all Towards Healing complaints detailed the incident location as a school, college or orphanage,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

“What an insult” was the response of some people when the Catholic Church’s lawyer quoted the Gospel of Mark at the opening of a hearing into how the church dealt with abuse victims.

About six or seven people left the royal commission hearing room in Sydney as Peter Gray, senior counsel representing the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, made his opening statement.

“This is a searing and decisive moment in the history of the Catholic Church in Australia,” Mr Gray said.

“The sacred place of children, their innocence and their trustfulness, is central to the Christian tradition and to the Catholic faith. Many will remember from their own childhoods, ageless words from the Gospel of Mark.”

He went on the quote the gospel, including the lines: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck, and he were cast into the sea.”

It was then that people became upset, and the phrases “goodness me” and “what an insult” could be heard as they left the hearing room. They gathered outside, some in tears.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP DECEMBER 09, 2013

A WOMAN who was abused as a girl by a Catholic priest had to sign a deed saying she would not make disparaging remarks about the Church authority or discuss with anyone her sexual abuse except for medical purposes.

Joan Isaacs was sexually abused by Father Francis Derriman at a convent school in Brisbane when she was 14 to 15 years of age.

Derriman was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended after four months served.

Senior counsel advising the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse, Gail Furness, outlined Ms Isaacs’ case on the opening day of a public hearing into the Catholic Church’s internal process for handling abuse allegations.

She said Ms Isaacs was referred to Towards Healing, a set of principles and procedures set up by the church for people who have been sexually abused by clergy or other church personnel.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Vatican Bank denies any wrongdoing in relation to cash transits and closure of ‘lay’ accounts

Paddy Agnew

Mon, Dec 9, 2013

Are Italian finance police about to set up a checkpoint outside the Vatican’s Porta Santa Anna gate to stop people who have visited the Vatican Bank, IOR, in order to ascertain the nature of their business?

That alarmist scenario emerged last weekend following Italian media speculation that the Holy See’s financial regulator AIF had been less than co-operative with Italian Customs in relation to movements of money at IOR in 2011 and 2012.

Furthermore, Italian daily, Corriere Della Sera yesterday reported that some 1,200 of IOR’s 19,000 accounts will shortly be closed by the bank. Corriere suggests the accounts in question, known as “lay” accounts, could account for up to €300 million.

Unruffled by reports

Sources at IOR were last night unworried by the media reports, claiming that the Vatican Bank co-operated with “all the appropriate authorities” and that the “lay” accounts had been closed because the account holders had “no ongoing affiliation with the Holy See”.

Speaking in parliament last Friday, however, junior finance minister Sesa Amici confirmed that the Customs agency was waiting for a reply from AIF to a June 19th request for a meeting. In particular, it is reportedly seeking information about almost 5,000 unregistered movements of money in and out of Italy via IOR. Inevitably, Italian finance police suspect the undeclared money may relate to tax evasion and money laundering.

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ROMA
Corriere della Sera

ROMA – Una lista di 1.200 destinatari. E altrettanti conti dello Ior da chiudere per un importo complessivo superiore ai 300 milioni di euro. I cosiddetti «conti laici». Milleduecento lettere uguali a quella che pubblichiamo in questa pagina. Un documento a suo modo storico anche per le annose vicende della cosiddetta banca vaticana. Nella lettera sono indicate tre date. Quella di invio: 19 settembre. Poi il 4 luglio, giorno in cui il board (o consiglio di sovrintendenza) dell’Istituto ha stabilito di limitare i rapporti di conto «alle istituzioni cattoliche, ecclesiastici, dipendenti o ex dipendenti del Vaticano titolari di conti per stipendi e pensioni nonché diplomatici accreditati presso la Santa Sede». Tutti gli altri fuori.

Il riferimento al 4 luglio 2013 è al consiglio di amministrazione avvenuto tre giorni dopo la drammatica uscita di scena dallo Ior del direttore generale Paolo Cipriani e del suo vice Massimo Tulli, travolti dall’arresto di monsignor Nunzio Scarano. L’ultima data contenuta nella lettera è la dead line di chiusura dei conti fissata al 30 novembre 2013 , termine dopo il quale, scrive il presidente Ernst von Freyberg, «si applicheranno le disposizioni interne previste per il recesso da parte dell’Istituto», senza specificare quali. Lo Ior, richiesto nei giorni scorsi dal Corriere di rendere noto se l’operazione di chiusura è effettivamente avvenuta e per quale numero esatto di conti, non ha voluto commentare l’operazione .

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CHICAGO (IL)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago via WLS

Rev. Michael W. O’Connell has agreed to step aside from St. Alphonsus Parish in Chicago, following receipt earlier this week by the Archdiocese of Chicago, of an allegation that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor almost 20 years ago while at his previous parish. Fr. O’Connell has agreed to take this action at the request of Cardinal George and is doing so out of pastoral concern for the safety of children.

The allegation was received by the Archdiocesan Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review and reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Cook County State’s Attorney. In compliance with the requirements of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the Archdiocese has also begun its investigation of this matter.

This action is not a judgment of guilt. Fr. O’Connell remains, according to church law, the pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish; however, he has agreed to reside away from the parish until the investigation is concluded.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

[statement from the Chicago archdiocese]

Chuck Goudie

December 8, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The pastor of one of Chicago’s oldest Roman Catholic parishes Sunday is facing an allegation of child sex abuse and is removed from his duties, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.

Fr. Michael O’Connell, the pastor of St. Alphonsus Church at 1429 W. Wellington in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, has “voluntarily” stepped aside according to the administrator of the parish, Rev. Shawn Gould.

Pastor O’Connell “is no longer residing at the parish,” Rev. Gould told the I-Team. The parish also has an elementary school, Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts.

In a letter to parishioners obtained by the I-Team, O’Connell was said to have “stepped away from the day-to-day administration of the parish pending an investigation of an allegation against him of sexual abuse of a minor.” While there are no details of the case under investigation, Gould states that the “allegation has not arisen from an event related to St. Alphonsus Parish.”

Before being assigned by the Archdiocese of Chicago to the Lakeview church on July 1, 2012, O’Connell was pastor at Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park for 15 years.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said in a statement that “an allegation that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor almost 20 years ago while at his previous parish.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY LEEANN SHELTON Staff Reporter December 8, 2013

The pastor of a Roman Catholic church in the Lake View neighborhood agreed to step aside from day-to-day responsibilities amid an allegation he had sexual contact with a child nearly 20 years ago while working at an Orland Park parish.

The Archdiocese of Chicago was notified of allegations earlier this week that Rev. Michael W. O’Connell engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor when he was the pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park, spokeswoman Susan Burritt said.

O’Connell worked at the southwest suburban parish between 1997 and 2012. He has held various posts within the archdiocese since his ordination in 1983, Burritt said.

At Cardinal Francis George’s request, O’Connell agreed to step aside from his duties at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church as church officials investigate, a statement from the archdiocese said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

Cardinal George has asked a Chicago priest to step down after allegations of sexual misconduct.

In a statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago, Rev. Michael W. O’Connell has stepped aside from St. Alphonsus Parish over allegations engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor almost 20 years ago while at his previous parish.

The allegation was received by the Archdiocesan Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review and reported to the Dept of Children and Family Services and the Cook County State’s Attorney, according to the statement.

The investigation is ongoing.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

THE Catholic Church has paid out $43 million through its Towards Healing process to victims who were sexually abused as children, it has been revealed.

The Christian Brothers were the most notorious religious order with the most complaints against them, followed by the Marist Brothers and then the De La Salle Brothers.

The highest amount paid out under the process was $850,000 which was to someone who was abused by a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of Sydney, the royal commission into the institutionalised responses to child sex abuse has been told today.

It is the first time details of the controversial Towards Healing had been revealed.

Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, said that as the commission puts the church’s Towards Healing process under the spotlight, it had served a summons on the church to obtain data which had never before been published about how the process worked.

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ROME
Rorate Caeli

A disgraced superior of the most powerful of the “new movements” favored by John Paul II under the protection of the most powerful of the Secretaries of State. One of the superior’s right-hand priests. The most prominent woman in the Church’s higher administration and a distinguished legal mind in the most prestigious university of our age. Journalists in the most influential Catholic news agency.

Roman intrigue. Family connections. Illegal relationships. Secret liaisons. Illegitimacy. Shadows in the highest echelons of the Vatican. Silence and mutual protection up to the last moment within a Catholic elite and media too enamored with close access and exclusive information.

A lousy and poorly written novel? No, the truth.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

The internal process used by the Catholic Church to compensate victims of child sexual abuse is under the microscope at a national inquiry this week.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse starts public hearings into the Church’s Towards Healing process in Sydney on Monday.

It will be the fourth case study by the commission and the first of a number of public hearings which will examine the application of Towards Healing.

Towards Healing was established by the Catholic Church in 1996 and was seen as a watershed moment in the Church’s approach to dealing with child sexual abuse within the institution.

It has been reviewed and reformed twice since then.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

The Salvation Army’s response to alleged child sex abuse at a number of its children’s homes in Queensland and NSW will be examined in 2014.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says the probe into the religious organisation would start on January 28.

It says the public hearing will investigate the Salvos’ response to allegations of child abuse in Queensland at the Alkira Home for Boys at Indooroopilly, and the Riverview Training Farm at Riverview.

The hearing will also look at its responses to claims of abuse in NSW at Bexley Boys Home, in Bexley, and Gill Memorial Home, at Goulburn.

In a statement, the commission said the hearing would examine the Salvation Army’s processes in investigating, disciplining, removing and transferring anyone “accused of, or found to have engaged in, child sexual abuse in these homes”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Emily Bourke, staff

The Catholic Church’s response to abuse complaints will be under the spotlight at the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse which gets underway today in Sydney.

The hearings will focus on the Towards Healing process, established by the church in 1996 to respond to complaints of abuse against the clergy.

Sexual abuse victims and their lawyers maintain it is a process that re-traumatises survivors and should be scrapped altogether.

Starting today, four victims are expected to give evidence relating to allegations against priests and brothers of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, the Diocese of Lismore and the Marist Brothers.

The commission’s chief executive, Janette Dines, says the four people giving evidence are courageous.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Tomorrow will see the first mention of the Catholic Church at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, more than a year after its announcement by former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard –an atheist. Times change. The new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is not only a Christian, he is a former Catholic Church seminarian who eventually chose politics over the priest hood, and is an old mate of Australia’s only Cardinal, George Pell (see previous posting). It is likely to be Abbott who will oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission, and even decide which ones will, indeed, be implemented at all.

One can only assume, and expect, that Mr. Abbott will not let his religion and friendships get in the way of doing the right thing by the enquiry. It is, given the low standing of politicians in general, in Australia and most of the western democracies, particularly notable that there is more confidence in them doing the right thing, than of members of the clergy of the different churches doing the right thing – at least of their own volition.

Politician may hold themselves up as being honest, moral and ethical but only to the standard of the average voter. Unlike the religious leaders, they do not hold themselves out as being paragons of virtue.

The revelations of clerical abuses of children have shattered the myth of the “holy” men and women in Western society, as being morally superior. However, it is the covering up of the crimes which have demonstrated that their ethical standards fall well below those of the average person. The church’s standards are down there with society’s criminals. That is what the general public finds so shocking.

What tomorrow’s hearing will begin to reveal, is that there is an even lower standard the churches get away with than even the average criminal. Society punishes the criminals, and in many cases makes them pay restitution, especially for white collar crimes and crimes committed by corporations and the like. Most jurisdictions have victim compensation schemes, paid for by the state if necessary. Not so with the churches.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Kyle Smith
November 21, 2013

With “Philomena,” British producer-writer-star Steve Coogan and director Stephen Frears hit double blackjack, finding a true-life tale that would enable them to simultaneously attack Catholics and Republicans.

There’s no other purpose to the movie, so if 90 minutes of organized hate brings you joy, go and buy your ticket now.

For the rest of us, the film is a witless bore about a ninny and a jerk having one of those dire, heavily staged, only-in-movies odd-couple road trips. Coogan plays Martin Sixsmith, a disgraced ex-government flack, journalist and pompous intellectual who, after getting fired, learns at a party about a human-interest story that might jump-start his career. It’s the woeful tale of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), a woman of about 70 who, 50 years ago in Catholic Ireland, gave up for adoption a son born out of wedlock.

Frears (the director of “The Queen”) and Coogan revel in the details. When Lee, then 18, started to gain weight after a sweet evening with a boy at a carnival, she didn’t even know the term “pregnant.” She was sent off to an abbey to give birth in secrecy and shame, with the son, at age 3, given up for adoption. The film can’t quite decide whether the young mother was forced to give up her son Anthony; it makes as look as though she was, but also includes a scene in which contemporary Philomena adamantly denies coercion.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Kyle Smith
December 7, 2013

I’ve never been flogged in the public square, but now I have a rough idea what it’s like.

On Thursday, Harvey Weinstein, the US distributor of the Judi Dench-Steve Coogan film “Philomena,” placed a full-page, color attack ad in The New York Times that screamed my name in blood-red letters.

“The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and USA Today ALL PRAISE ‘PHILOMENA’ WITH A 92 % CERTIFIED FRESH SCORE ON Rotten Tomatoes,” read the ad. “BUT THE NEW YORK POST’S KYLE SMITH HAS A DIFFERENT OPINION. ‘ANOTHER HATEFUL ATTACK ON CATHOLICS.’ ”

The ad (now brightening the wall over my desk) went on to quote my Nov. 21 pan of the movie, then printed excerpts of a rebuttal by Philomena Lee, the Irish woman portrayed by Dench in the movie.

“Philomena” is about Lee’s quest, in the company of a former BBC journalist played by Coogan, to learn what happened to her son after she gave him up for adoption at a convent in 1952 Ireland. The movie makes this particular Irish Catholic institution look about as pleasant as Abu Ghraib.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic bishop found by an inquiry to have moved abusing priests from parish to parish says he took action against the priests by sending them to counselling.

Father Ronald Mulkearns, who has also been accused of destroying documents, says he did not appear at the Victorian child abuse inquiry because he does not remember what happened, the Herald Sun reports.

The newspaper tracked Fr Mulkearns down in a coastal Victorian town and says he still conducts mass and lives an active lifestyle.

“To say I took no action is wrong,” the 83-year-old told the paper.

“I sent them for counselling. I can’t help it if they blame me for what happened.

“I didn’t go (to the inquiry) because I would’ve been no good – I don’t remember.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, has been quizzed by police over alleged sex attacks on children over a 20-year period while he was parish priest at St Vincent de Paul Church, in Norden, Rochdale

Hundreds of parishioners packed into a Catholic church rocked by historical sexual abuse allegations to hear the Bishop of Salford’s response to the shock police probe.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, has been quizzed by police over alleged sex attacks on children over a 20-year period while he was parish priest at St Vincent de Paul Church, in Norden, Rochdale.

He joined the church in the early seventies and retired to his native Ireland in 2002.

Three women accuse Catholic priest of sexually abusing them

Around 500 parishioners attended 11am mass at St Vincent’s, on Caldershaw Road, today – when a statement on behalf of Bishop Terence Brain was read out.

Child protection experts from Salford Diocese’s safeguarding commission were also on hand to talk to any member of the congregation following the service.

The statement, read out by safeguarding coordinator Fr Barry O’Sullivan, said: “This investigation is still on-going and in fairness to justice the diocese has avoided prejudicing the outcome.

“However, having listened to parishioners whose parishes have been affected by such allegations in the past, as your Bishop I wanted to communicate what action the diocese will take to support you as a parish and your parish priest Fr Paul Brindle through this very difficult time. …

Anyone with information should either call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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MINNESOTA
MN Progressive Project

by GRACE KELLY on DECEMBER 2, 2013

Archbishop John Nienstedt is classically saying one thing while actually acting to do the opposite. On the Catholic Archdiocese website, through the words of Jim Accurso, the Archbishop claims to want to protect children.

Sharing information about clergy who have substantiated claims of sexually abusing minors is a critical element of Archbishop Nienstedt’s commitment to strengthening archdiocesan procedures so that victims can begin to heal and to ensure the safety of minors in our care… As part of the previously stated plan to ensure a comprehensive approach to address the issue of clergy sexual misconduct, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis today announced that it is prepared to disclose its initial list of clergy who have substantiated claims of abuse of a minor against them.

Well, that would mean that all and any evidence of sexual misconduct is immediately turned over to police, right? No, even though everyone thought that the Archbishop had the ability, indeed even the moral obligation to turn over evidence, he didn’t do it. Archbishop Nienstedt waited until the courts forced him to turn over evidence.

Archbishop Nienstedt kept up the pretense that courts had to give him “permission” to turn over evidence. Well, the courts mandated turning over evidence today. And if Archbishop Nienstedt was telling the truth, then he would have released all the data as soon as the courts gave “permission”. Did that happen today? No, only a partial list was released.The court gave until Jan 6 for turning over all evidence.

This gives all the offending priests more time to move or to prepare a defense or to just continue their previous practices for another month.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

Rumours of a relationship between Elizabeth Lev, daughter of one of Francis’ top advisors and former Legion spokesman Thomas Williams – who was removed from the order after admitting he had fathered a child – have not only proven to be true but the two are planning to marry. The news raises some awkward questions for those involved, the order and the Church

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

Thomas Williams, the most publicly prominent member of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order who left the priesthood after admitting he fathered a child, is getting married the child’s mother. The bride is none other than the daughter of former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers, The Associated Press reports.

“Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, is one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican as president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. She is also one of five people on Francis’ commission to reform the scandal-marred Vatican bank. Her daughter, Elizabeth Lev, is a Rome-based art historian and columnist for the Legion-run Zenit news agency, which Williams published for over a decade while he was in the order.”

“Williams, a moral theologian, author, lecturer and U.S. television personality, admitted last year that he had fathered a child several years earlier. At the time, Williams apologized for “this grave transgression” against his vows of celibacy and said he had stayed on as a priest because he hoped to move beyond “this sin in my past” to do good work for the church. The Legion’s retired superior later admitted he had learned about the child in 2005 but allowed Williams to keep teaching and preaching about morality. After taking a year off for reflection, Williams left the priesthood in May to care for his son. According to their wedding registry, he and Lev are due to marry on Saturday in the United States,” The Associated Press informs.

After initially denying she had an intimate relationship with Williams, Lev confirmed by email on Thursday that the two planned to marry, saying: “We have no intention of ever discussing our personal life in this forum.”

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ROME
Vatican Insider

The Vicar General presents some guidelines and discusses the progress made against the plague of paedophilia. Meanwhile, another sex abuse case has come to light in the US

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

In a letter addressed to all members of the Legion of Christ, Fr. Sylvester Heereman talked about the progress made and explained the guide lines the Congregation has adopted to ensure transparency in cases of sex abuse committed by members of the clergy. He also described the measures taken to prevent such acts from being committed. The letter was published this evening, after Cardinal O’Malley announced the creation of a special commission for the protection of minors in the Holy See.

The dark past left behind by the Legion’s founder, Marcial Maciel Degollado remains a reminder of the trauma and suffering caused by the paedophilia plague. With this in mind, the Legion is preparing for the next General Chapter due to be held in January next year. In view of this Chapter, the new Vicar General decided to present the measures the Congregation’s leaders have taken to combat sex abuse and collaborate with the civil authorities in a spirit of complete transparency. “The central government has required that, wherever we have a presence, the appropriate steps are taken to protect the integrity of the minors entrusted to our pastoral care and to respond promptly and professionally to any accusation of sexual abuse,” Fr. Heereman writes.

The Congregation is doing all that it can to respond to the Holy See’s call for greater determination to be shown in putting an end to sex abuse crimes. This call was made during Benedict XVI’s pontificate and continues during Francis’ pontificate. Fr. Heereman explained that over the past few years the congregation has implemented some very precise plans to ensure a safe environment for children, including reviews of its structures, improved training for the congregation’s members and the adoption of a strict code of conduct. But he pointed out that “the prevention of future occurrences and the healing of victims (known and possibly unknown) are a priority. For this reason, at times it may be necessary for the superiors of the congregation to disclose the fact that an allegation has been received and, as well, the results of an investigation.”

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