ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Truthdig

On Thursday, a trio of Superior Court judges in Pennsylvania ordered the release of Monsignor William Lynn from the state prison where he has been serving time for his role in dealing with sex abuse claims against fellow Catholic clergy members.

Lynn, 62, was 18 months into a jail sentence originally set to span three to six years when the ruling reversed his conviction, which was connected not to his own sexual misconduct but that of accused clergymen over whom he had jurisdiction, as the AP reported that day:

Prosecutors had argued at trial that Lynn reassigned predators to new parishes in Philadelphia while he was the archdiocese’s secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004.

Lynn’s conviction stems from the case of one priest, Edward Avery, found to have abused a child in 1998 after such a transfer.

Lynn’s attorneys have long contended the state’s child-endangerment law at the time applied only to parents and caregivers, not supervisors like Lynn. Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina rejected their argument and allowed the case to move forward, but the Superior Court panel reversed her decision.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON DECEMBER 26, 2013

Once again, another high-ranking Catholic official who repeatedly endangered kids and enabled predators is escaping punishment.

Once again, another high-ranking Catholic official who repeatedly endangered kids and enabled predators is escaping punishment.

We are heart-sick over this decision and we applaud prosecutors for appealing it. We know thousands of betrayed Catholics and wounded victims will be disheartened by this news.

[Associated Press]

This ruling gives corrupt Catholic officials encouragement to continue deceiving police, stonewalling prosecutors, ignoring victims, destroying evidence, fabricating alibis, hiding crimes, and protecting pedophiles.

If kids are to be safer, we need to hold employers more responsible, not less responsible, for putting innocent children in harm’s way.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

ALEX WIGGLESWORTH, FOR PHILLY.COM
LAST UPDATED: Thursday, December 26, 2013

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said he will most likely appeal the Superior Court’s reversal Thursday of the conviction of Monsignor William Lynn.

“I am disappointed and strongly disagree with the court’s decision,” Williams said in a statement. “While we are deciding what our next course of action will be, we most likely will be appealing this decision.”

Lynn from 1992 to 2004 served as the secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and was tasked with handling child sex abuse complaints. He was in June 2012 found guilty of felony child endangerment for covering up sex abuse claims brought against Catholic priests by reshuffling the accused to other parishes.

The Associated Press first report the court’s reversal. The AP reported his lawyers are trying to get Lynn released from prison as early as Thursday afternoon.

Lynn was at the time the first U.S. church official criminally convicted for charges stemming covering up sex abuse claims. The case was hailed as a landmark when it came to holding large institutions accountable for such oversight. Lynn is now 18 months into a 3 to 6 year prison sentence.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

DECEMBER 26, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

A timing technicality or interpretation of the law may set Msgr. Lynn free, but it does not relieve him of moral or ethical guilt. While once again victims are robbed of justice, the evidence was crystal clear during his trial. The memos and letters proved the archdiocese covered up clergy child sex abuse with the knowledge of many Church administrators, including Lynn. No court decision lessens the horrific nature of his actions. The fact that others were more or just as guilty doesn’t lessen his own responsibility as a human being. Whether or not Lynn sits in jail, the world knows what happened in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

In the face of this injustice, let’s seek a meaningful and longer lasting justice for the future. It’s time for window legislation in Pennsylvania. It’s time for the statute of limitations to be removed. Let’s make it happen in 2014.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

[Note: This is not an article about the pros and cons of the alcohol and gaming industries. It is only about the Salvation Army’s position on them.]

The Salvation Army in Australia appears to be resolutely hypocritical about what it regards as sins. Older Australians will remember when the Salvos would congregate outside hotels, making a lot of noise, and preaching against the evils of the “demon drink”. They also opposed legalizing gambling establishments.

Later, the Salvos stopped doing this, and were permitted to enter the hotels and bars to collect donations from the “sinful” drinkers. Similarly, the Salvos entered legalized gambling establishments to solicit donations from the “sinful” gamblers. In both cases, while it was prepared to take money from the drinkers and gamblers, it did not take money or other help from those who profited from these sinful activities, the alcohol and gambling establishments.

In Australia, the Salvation Army now does do this.

The founder of the Salvation Army, “General Booth”, in the 1860s, replying to criticisms that he was prepared to accept what he admitted was “tainted” money from the exploitative capitalists of the early days of the Industrial Revolution, responded by saying that the money was “purified” by passing through the hands of the Salvation Army, because of the good works it funded.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Time

By Courtney Subramanian @cmsub
Dec. 26, 2013

A Pennsylvania court ordered the release of a jailed church official Thursday, after reversing his conviction for allegedly mishandling a clergy sex-abuse scandal.

Monsignor William Lynn, 62, was the first U.S. Catholic official to face legal action in the cases of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse and is serving a three to six-year sentence. A Superior Court panel of three judges unanimously struck down prosecutors’ contention that Lynn was guilty of child endangerment, the Associated Press reports.

Prosecutors accused Lynn of concealing abuse by reassigning priests to new parishes while he served as the archdiocese’s secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. The jailed church official’s conviction centers on the case of Edward Avery, a priest accused of abusing a child in 1998 after Lynn had relocated him. Lynn’s lawyers argued that the state law at the time was applicable only to parents and caregivers. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said he would likely appeal the ruling, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily

BY MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press
December 26, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania appeals court has ruled that a Roman Catholic church official was wrongly convicted for his handling of priest sex-abuse complaints.

The unanimous decision released Thursday by the state Superior Court also dismisses the criminal case against Monsignor William Lynn.

Lynn has been serving three to six years in prison after his child-endangerment conviction last year. Prosecutors had argued that Lynn reassigned predators to new parishes in Philadelphia when he was secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004.

Lynn’s conviction stems from the case of one priest, Edward Avery, found to have abused a child after such a transfer.

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Latin Post

By Nicole Akoukou Thompson

Archbishop and Papal Nuncio Józef Wesołowski is the latest member of the Catholic faith to face allegations of child sexual abuse. Dominican Republic prosecutors investigating the former man of the cloth have concluded that he sexually abused at least five boys under the age of 15. Santo Domingo, the country’s capital city, is where allegations first aired on a local program, stating that Wesołowski paid to have sex with minor boys.

Investigative reports revealed that the Polish priest was a regular visitor to Zona Colonial area of Santo Domingo, where he was seen drinking libations and paying for sex in open areas. The 65-year-old represented the Vatican’s interests in the Catholic-majority country for six years before the allegations surfaced. Dominican authorities investigated after the abuse allegation surfaced, and his duties were officially revoked by the Vatican in August after findings and testimonies from the five young men was sent to the Vatican, claiming molestation. Another damning testimony suggests that Wesołowski abused cocaine and had sexual relations with a deacon.

The Vatican and the church have been fully cooperative with the investigation, according to Dominican authorities. Authorities are now determining if they will charge the priest with child sexual abuse. He’s since been recalled to Rome.

Catholicism and child sexual abuse are becoming increasingly correlated as allegations, trials, investigations and convictions have linked priests, nuns and members of Catholic order to the malicious behavior. As young as three years old, though a majority of the children’s ages are between 11 and 14, clergymen have been/are being prosecuted for forcing/coercing children to participate in acts of anal, oral or penetrative sex.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Beth McDonough

Christmas time is an important fundraising season for many charities, especially for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

It’s wrapping up its annual fundraising drive. The church is also entertaining a huge capital spending campaign.

Some parishioners told KSTP, the clergy sex abuse scandal made them think twice about how much to give … or not give.

At the Basilica of St. Mary’s, Christmas decorations are going up for popular holiday services.

Some, like Laurel Keitel came to church before the crowds. She admits her resolve has been tested, and her contribution to the Archdiocese was reconsidered.

Keitel made a small donation to the parish. She believes the amount of money sent a message. Others wavered too because of sex abuse cover-ups and large legal settlements. “I can see why people might have reservations to give,” said Sam Bostrom.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 25, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Pope Francis’ humility, inclusive tone and emphasis on helping the poor instilled a sense of new hope for Catholics attending Christmas Mass on Wednesday in Bergen and Passaic counties, especially after a difficult year of revelations about clergy sex abuse in North Jersey.

Monsignor Ed Ciuba greeting parishioners at Christmas Mass at the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River. Many North Jersey Catholics are encouraged by Pope Francis’ non-judgmental tone.

Mary Beth Just and her son, Justin Machia, wishing each other peace during a Christmas morning Mass at the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River.

“We always have a pope who’s appropriate for the time he’s been in office,” said Monsignor Robert Harahan, pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Wyckoff. “Now, we need a resurrection of basics of Christian life, commitment to the faith and service to people in need.”

Pope Francis, 77, has used his office to draw attention to poverty and youth unemployment and has surprised many Catholics with his non-judgmental tone on social issues, including homosexuality and divorce. In his first Christmas address at the Vatican, he extended a hand to atheists to join the cause of ending violence in Syria and Africa. …

The pope’s uplifting message is especially welcome after several controversies emerged this year over sexually abusive priests in the Archdiocese of Newark, which covers Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties. Archbishop John J. Myers was accused of not supervising a priest who was banned from working with children and failing to investigate a molestation complaint received by his former diocese in Illinois.

Mary Anne Nugent, a parishioner at the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, said the pope’s appointment of assistant Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda is a “move toward healing” from a “great deal of pain, suffering and disappointment.”

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CHILE
Bio Bio

El ministro de la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago, Juan Muñoz Pardo, decretó la audiencia de conciliación en el caso de la demanda contra el Arzobispado de Santiago, presentada por las víctimas de abusos sexuales del ex párroco Fernando Karadima.

La diligencia judicial, obligatoria en todo proceso civil, ya fue notificada a los demandantes, el médico James Hamilton, el periodista Juan Carlos Cruz y el presidente de la Fundación para la Confianza, José Andrés Murillo.

El 3 de septiembre de este año, los ex fieles de la Iglesia El Bosque interpusieron una demanda contra el Arzobispado de Santiago, exigiendo el pago de 450 millones de pesos, por la presunta responsabilidad de la Iglesia por los abusos sexuales que sufrieron a manos de Karadima.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

AAP

VICTORIAN church leaders have acknowledged victims of abuse and urged the community to open their hearts to others while celebrating Christmas.

Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart says people must remember victims of violence, those abused by clergy and the thousands left devastated by natural disasters, such as in the Philippines.

In his Christmas message he says the community’s response to such tragedies must always be of compassion, action and solidarity.

“We are also a church touched by grief, especially when we see innocent people suffer,” he said.

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ZIMBABWE
allAfrica

The Herald

EDITORIAL

Church leaders and ministers have a special relationship with their parishioners and followers, a blend of authority, care, loyalty and love. And some abuse this relationship.

We have all heard of the worldwide scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, where a tiny minority of priests and brothers went way off the rails and where a substantial number of bishops then tried to hush-up the problem. We know the solution that has been put in place. In future there is no hushing up and those who commit offences that both church and state see as criminal will be turned over to the cops.

There could be no other decision.

But we also need to note that the Catholic church, or rather the authorities in each diocese where there was a problem priest, knew about the abuses and crimes. Under an old policy they tried to fix the matters internally and failed. What is now different is that they will co-operate with the civil authorities.

In other hierarchical churches with a formal structure – the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and most churches deriving from the Reformation – there is again little difficulty in someone facing abuse or worse from a minister of the church from getting this information to the church authorities. And presumably, as the Catholic church has now done, these churches will also take swift and effective action.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By ANNETTE BLACKWELL Dec. 25, 2013

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse ended four months of public hearings with a sting.

On the receiving end was YMCA NSW, which had spent weeks arguing it was also the victim of a paedophile who had infiltrated the childcare provider.

The paedophile was Jonathan Lord, now 27, and in jail for six years. His victims were children aged six to 11 who attended the YMCA childcare centre at Caringbah in south Sydney in 2010 and 2011.

Parents who were told YMCA NSW was a leader in child safety, even after Lord was arrested, were also victims, the commission heard.

Up to December 20, the last sitting day for 2013, the YMCA argued that master manipulator Lord had fooled junior staff who had been trained but ignored child-safety protocols. …

Part of the commission’s work is to evaluate recommendations from at least 80 of some 300 related inquiries in Australia in the past three decades. It is also examining what has happened overseas.

The Ryan Commission in Ireland took nine years, mostly because the Catholic Church took legal action. The Australian commission has learnt a lot from Ireland.

When former prime minister Julia Gillard announced this royal commission on November 12, 2012, she said such crimes against children were ‘‘insidious, evil acts to which no child should be subject’’.

The extent of the evil and the spread of institutions in which it occurs are still being revealed.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Salvation Army in Australia receives nearly half of its income from the taxpayer. In some countries this would raise concerns about state-supported religion. It would be of further concern to such people that the Salvation Army has not only a special status of being tax-free and not required to give any information on its finances or spending, it is also exempted from other laws, such as discrimination in employment and adherence to the minimum wage laws applicable to general businesses, in certain cases.

The organisation has always courted Australian politicians; especially Prime Ministers (see photos below). This is because the most money can be obtained from the Federal, rather than the State, governments.

A past “General” (i.e., sort of Pope) of the Salvation Army was an Australian, Eva Burrows. When she retired, the Prime Minister at the time, Bob Hawke, attended her “welcome home” to Australia party. She noted that, after a federal government “tax summit” she addressed, the Hawke government “announced that charities [like hers] would be free from the consumer tax and so forth.”

“We were quite friendly…. I may not have liked other aspects of his life [such as being a drunk and womanizer] but, nevertheless, there was a style in his leadership that I’d say was similar to mine.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A former priest, accused of molesting two children decades ago, has been suspended from teaching sex education for Wright County.

The county board recently canceled their contract with 79-year-old Harry Walsh.

Walsh was one of five priests named in an internal archdiocese memo about parishes with “some connection to a history of clergy sexual abuse.”

Walsh has denied the accusations, which date back to the 1960s and 1980s.

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UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

By Travis Gettys
Tuesday, December 24, 2013

It seems that American Catholics love the seemingly liberal Pope Francis and the direction he’s taking their church.

A pair of recent polls found the new pontiff’s approval rating among his U.S. followers to be about as close to full approval as candy, ice cream and puppies.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday found that 88 percent of American Catholics approve of the pope nine months into his term.

That’s not far off the survey’s 3 percent margin of error from a Washington Post-ABC poll released earlier this month, which found a 92 percent approval rating among American Catholics.

Pope Francis, who has urged Catholics to shift their focus from culture war issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion to care for the poor and vulnerable, was the most talked about person on the Internet this year, and he was named person of the year by both Time magazine and The Advocate.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

El Ministerio Público solicitó ampliar el plazo de investigación que termina este 25 de diciembre en contra del sacerdote John O’Reilly. La defensa del religioso pedirá el cierre de las indagatorias con el fin de apurar el juicio oral y probar la inocencia del acusado.

El próximo 3 de febrero, el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago determinará si acepta o rechaza la ampliación de plazo de investigación que solicitó la Fiscalía, en el caso de los presuntos abusos sexuales que habría cometido el sacerdote John O’Relly en contra de dos hermanas de 8 y 11 años, en el colegio Cumbres de la comuna de Las Condes.

El plazo para investigar termina este 25 de diciembre, por lo que la fiscal Lorena Parra solicitó ampliar el plazo de indagaciones alegando que aún quedan diligencias pendientes.

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CHILE
La Tercera

por Karen Soto Galindo – 24/12/2013

El 27 de agosto fue formalizado el sacerdote de la Congregación Legionarios de Cristo, John O’Reilly, por presuntos abusos sexuales en contra de dos hermanas de 8 y 11 años del Colegio Cumbres en la comuna de Las Condes.

Entonces quedó libre y sin cautelares, porque el Tribunal determinó que no se justifica existencia de los delitos investigados, pero la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago estimó lo contrario, y resolvió dejarlo con arresto domiciliario total.

El plazo para investigar de la Fiscalía Oriente, concluyó esta semana, sin embargo, la fiscal Lorena Parra pidió al Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía que se otorgue más tiempo “en atención a que existen diligencias pendientes”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Leesha McKenny
Urban Affairs Reporter

Sydney’s Christian leaders have turned to Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year and Time magazine’s person of the year in their annual Christmas messages.

”What is it about our society that ‘selfie’ is the landmark word for 2013?” said Dr Glenn Davies in his first year as Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop.

”At Christmas time we should remember that there is an ultimate self-image, the image of God, which far outweighs the supercilious picture of a face filling our screen. We are all stamped with the image of God and it is this image that makes us precious in his sight.”

Dr Davies said the Christmas image of Jesus as a ”cute and inoffensive” baby in a stall was only part of the picture.

”Christmas without Easter is not the full story,” he said. ”We fail to appreciate Christmas if we fail to appreciate the reason why he came – to suffer death upon a cross on Good Friday, rise again on Easter Day so that the bonds of death may be broken and new life become a reality for all who put their trust in him.”

In a year marked by inquiries delving into the Australian church’s handling of child sexual abuse, Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, urged Christians to keep the faith. ”We acknowledge the wide scepticism and occasional hostility of those around us, but because we know Christ, we should have the courage of our convictions, we should not lapse into timid silence and we should not be frightened to appear as different,” Cardinal Pell said.

He called on Catholics to recall the messages of the man Time dubbed ”The People’s Pope”.

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CONNECTICUT
Waterbury Republican-American

By Peter Wolfgang

Ten years ago this month, I attended the installation of Henry J. Mansell as archbishop of Hartford and wrote an op-ed about it for the Republican-American. Last week, I was back at St. Joseph’s Cathedral for the installation of his successor, Leonard Blair, and I was struck by the differences between 2003 and 2013.

Archbishop Mansell became the spiritual leader of the Catholics of our Archdiocese the year after the clergy sex-abuse crisis became known to the nation. He addressed it from his very first homily with skill and sensitivity, and leaves behind a legacy of outstanding social action on behalf of Connecticut’s most vulnerable citizens.

But he was archbishop during a time of growing public hostility — hatred, even — toward Catholicism (in large part because of the abuse scandals), and this limited what the Church could reasonably hope to accomplish over the last decade.

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UNITED STATES
Battle Creek Enquirer

Written by
Gene Lyons

Somewhere in the midst of an avalanche of sickening revelations about child sex abuse by Catholic clergy, it occurred to me that if the Vatican sought an appropriate penance for its sins, it would go mute on issues of sexual morality for about 100 years.

Needless to say, that’s not about to happen.

Instead, habemus papam. (We have a Pope.) Catholics have witnessed the unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict, widely seen to have failed utterly to cope with the church’s grave crisis — perhaps even in his own estimation — and the remarkable accession of Pope Francis.

During the months since his selection, the 76-year-old Argentine has stirred an outsize response throughout the world — galvanizing not only the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, but members of other faiths and even the irreligious with a shrewd blend of public theater and spiritual humility.

Writing in the New Yorker, James Carroll reports that “even ‘kick the Pope’ Orangemen in Northern Ireland love Pope Francis. The press is obsessed with him. Time recently named him Person of the Year.”

Who else, indeed?

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COLORADO
Daily Caller

Greg Campbell

A man who says he was molested by three Catholic priests is suing the Archdiocese of Denver in federal court.

The suit alleges that church officials knew that one of the priests was a prolific pedophile, but covered up his activities by moving him to different posts where he continued to prey on children.

“This is the worst of the worst,” said Merit Bennett, the lawyer for former altar boy Eran McManemy of New Mexico, in an article in the Denver Post. “They allowed him to roam free — church to church, diocese to diocese, children to children. Not one of them picked up the phone and dialed 911, including Denver.”

McManemy alleges he was raped as a child by Father David Holley in Alamogordo, N.M., the diocese to which Holley had been transferred after working in a hospital ministry in Denver. Holly was sentenced in 1993 to 275 years for molesting eight boys in New Mexico. He died in prison in 2008, the Post reported.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Cassie Hart
A former priest who denies accusations of sexual abuse from the 1960s and 1980s has been suspended from teaching sex education for Wright County.

The Star Tribune reports Harry Walsh has taught birth control, sexual disease prevention and human sexuality for the Wright County Human Services Agency in Buffalo for 16 years.

County Commissioner Charles Borrell said the county board voted Monday to cancel Walsh’s contract effective Jan. 31, 2014. He said the board decided “without casting any guilt.”

He says officials at the Monticello school district didn’t want the 79-year-old working with them.

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UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
December 24, 2013

The Pope has called for the creation of a commission investigating the sexual abuse of minors. It is good that the Pope is talking about the issue because silence has been what has been driving most of what the Church has done with this tragedy. However, what will a commission do? Will it be filled with either yes men or individuals with no authority? Will it be prevented from getting all available documents? Will there be cannon law vs. common law distinctions made that are used to prevent disclosure?

The New York Times reported on two very important reactions:

Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, the leading United States-based support group for clergy abuse victims, called the news a disappointment that reflected badly on the new pope. David Clohessy, executive director of the group, said the announcement suggested that the Vatican remained strongly resistant to making sexually abusive members of the clergy and their church protectors accountable to external criminal prosecution.

“A new church panel is the last thing that kids need,” Mr. Clohessy said in a telephone interview. “Church officials have mountains of information about those who have committed and those who are concealing horrible child sex crimes and cover-ups. They just have to give that information to the police.”

BishopAccountability.org, an organization that has amassed an enormous collection of documents on the abuse problem in the church, gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, but also expressed skepticism.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

As a billion Catholics during this holiday season focus on baby Jesus, the most famous child in history, many of them will ponder a top priority: How can their Church, that worships Jesus as God, curtail its continuing child abuse scandals? Jesus knew many children and advocated strongly for them. The shameful and seemingly endless sexual abuses perpetrated, often with impunity, by childless men are unacceptable, especially to Catholic parents. See, for example, the troubling recent remarks of an abuse survivor and former priest at:

[Herald News]

Will Pope Francis make the difference? As Pope Francis’ poll numbers skyrocket, the obvious question arises–so what? If Francis fails to make bishops accountable and the priest child abuse continues, for how long will polls matter?

Pope John Paul II enjoyed high poll numbers until the media began reporting on the Boston priest child abuse and similar scandals. Pope John Paul II and his successor, ex-Pope Benedict XVI, dismally failed to address effectively the abuse scandal. Ex-Pope Benedict has, in effect, been exiled to a convent for life for his failures. John Paul’s shameful legacy, including his protection of the perverted priest, Fr. Maciel and his cult-like Legion of Christ, is still reverberating, see:

[National Catholic Reporter]

Will Pope Francis curtail the priest abuse scandal by making bishops accountable, a clear necessity to curtail the scandal ? Francis’ actions to date, perhaps influenced unduly by the cardinals who elected him, suggest he may try to protect bishops mainly and hope to ride out the priest abuse scandal.

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WYOMING
Billings Gazette

By PATRICK SIMONAITIS Casper Star-Tribune

A retired 25-year pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Casper was arrested near Crossroads Park on Sunday evening and charged with public indecency, distributing obscene literature and incitement to a crime after an undercover sting operation by the Casper Police Department.

The Rev. Bryant Badger, 75, also previously served as an adjunct professor for Casper College.

Authorities say Badger left multiple obscene notes in a portable restroom at Morad Park.

Graphic propositions

The notes included graphic propositions to the reader and what police say is Badger’s phone number. According to a police affidavit, the notes were discovered and reported Sunday morning by a Natrona County High School cross country coach concerned for the safety of student-athletes training at the park.

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WYOMING
The Raw Story

By David Edwards
Tuesday, December 24, 2013

A retired pastor told police in Wyoming that his high sex drive was to blame after he was arrested when he asked an undercover officer to perform oral sex on him.

The Casper Police Department on Sunday charged 75-year-old Rev. Bryant Badger with public indecency, obscene literature and incitement to a crime.

According to an affidavit obtained by the Casper Star-Tribune, Badger had left his phone number and graphic propositions scrawled in a portable restroom at Morad Park, which was discovered by a Natrona County High School coach.

Officer Mitch Baker, using the pseudonym “Paul,” contacted Badger and told him that he was willing to do “anything.” Badger recommended that they meet at the Emporium Adult Video store, where the reverend said he had “been there several times to perform sexual acts,” the affidavit said.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. . .A Delaware jury has awarded $2.4 million to a man who was sexually assaulted as a child by Marist Brother Damian Galligan, who now lives in a retirement facility in our town and reportedly is quite wealthy, according to news reports. . .

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WISCONSIN/MICHIGAN
The Mining Journal

December 24, 2013

CHRISTIE BLECK – Journal Staff Writer (cbleck@miningjournal.net) , The Mining Journal

MARQUETTE – The Rev. John Doerfler, who last week was announced as the new bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, says the destruction of records he oversaw while he was chancellor in the Diocese of Green Bay was in keeping with the recordkeeping policy of the diocese.

Doerfler, now serving as vicar general of the Diocese of Green Bay, responded to reports in the media he destroyed documents relating to priests accused of sexual abuse.

“I certainly believe in transparency and wanted to bring this up right away,” Doerfler said.

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MINNESOTA
dotCommonweal

December 23, 2013

Grant Gallicho

Two days before the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced that it had received an allegation of sexual misconduct against Archbishop John Nienstedt, he visited a parish to apologize for the way he responded to accusations of sexual abuse by priests.

When I arrived here seven years ago, one of the first things I was told was that this whole issue of clerical sex abuse had been taken care of and I didn’t have to worry about it. Unfortunately I believed that. And so my biggest apology today…is to say I overlooked this. I should have investigated it a lot more than I did. [When the story broke] at the end of September, I was as surprised as anyone else.

Really? Because in 2009 Nienstedt’s former top canon lawer, Jennifer Haselberger, warned him not to promote a priest with a history of sexual misconduct. Nienstedt made him a pastor (the priest was already administrator of the parish, thanks to the previous archbishop’s bad judgment). The priest went on to abuse two children in the parish. Haselberger provided Nienstedt with a golden opportunity to “investigate it more.” Why wasn’t he more alarmed? Where was his sense of urgency? Calmed by the assurance that in the Twin Cities “this whole issue of clerical sex abuse had been taken care of”?

And just last year Haselberger informed Nienstedt about another time bomb–this one was sitting in the chancery basement: a report indicating that “borderline illegal” pornographic images had been found on a priest’s computer. Nienstedt did not report it to the police (in Minnesota, priests are mandated reporters). Haselberger did, just before she resigned.

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MINNESOTA
NECN

December 24, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former priest who denies accusations of sexual abuse from the 1960s and 1980s has been suspended from teaching sex education for Wright County.

The Star Tribune reports ( ) Harry Walsh has taught birth control, sexual disease prevention and human sexuality for the Wright County Human Services Agency in Buffalo for 16 years.

County Commissioner Charles Borrell said the county board voted Monday to cancel Walsh’s contract effective Jan. 31, 2014. He said the board decided “without casting any guilt.”

He says officials at the Monticello school district didn’t want the 79-year-old working with them.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Salvation Army in the Canadian city of Toronto ran a toy collection for underprivileged children. It had such support that even the Ontario Province Premier, Dalton McGuinty, personally donated two bicycles. Eventually, $2 million worth of toys were donated and stored in the Salvation Army central warehouse, on Railside Rd. in Toronto’s north end. There were about 100,000 toys.

The Executive Director of Toronto Salvation Army, David Rennie, was taken into police custody, and fired by the Salvation Army. The reason? He had stolen the toys. The Salvos only found out about it through a whistleblower, after two years.

Local media reported that police raided warehouses and retail stores across the Greater Toronto Area, recovering more than 150 skids of the missing toys – enough to fill three tractor-trailers (B doubles in Australia). Among the items recovered at one warehouse were the two bikes donated to the Salvation Army by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MACDONALD – 24 DECEMBER 2013

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said he hopes the Vatican’s newly announced commission on child sexual abuse can learn the lessons of the Irish church’s “appalling situation” and help other countries deal with the issue.

The committee was set up earlier this month to improve measures to protect children against sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

“I fully welcome this,” Dr Martin told the Irish Independent.

“I hope it will ensure that what has been achieved in countries like Ireland can be spread around the world and lessons can be learned both about the effects of abuse on survivors and their families and the roots and causes of abuse.”

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

(CNN) – As Pope Francis prepares to celebrate his first Christmas at the Vatican, Americans’ opinions of the pontiff appear to be as high as the dome on St. Peter’s Basilica, according to a new survey.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday found that 88% of American Catholics approve of how Francis is handling his role as head of the 1.2 billion-member church.

The popular pontiff has also made a positive impression among Americans in general: Nearly three in four view Francis favorably. The new survey suggests that the Pope is arguably the most well-regarded religious figure among the American public today, said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

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COLORADO
The Denver Post

By Alison Noon
The Denver Post
POSTED: 12/23/2013

An Albuquerque man has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Denver, claiming the arm of the Catholic Church turned a blind eye in the 1980s on a priest who molested children across the country.

The federal lawsuit, filed Wednesday, is the latest that Eran McManemy, 35, has brought against the dioceses that oversaw the three priests he has accused of molesting him as a child in New Mexico.

One of the three priests, a notorious pedophile who died in prison in 2008, had practiced Catholic ministry at St. Anthony Hospital in Denver under the local diocese two years before he allegedly raped McManemy in Alamogordo, N.M. Denver was the sixth American diocese to which Father David Holley had transferred.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: MARY LYNN SMITH , Star Tribune Updated: December 23, 2013

Wright County takes action after sexual abuse allegations disclosed.

A former priest, who was named in an internal archdiocese memo about parishes with “some connection to a history of clergy sexual abuse,” has been suspended from his work teaching sex education for Wright County.

Wright County Commissioner Charles Borrell said the county board, acting as the Human Services Board, unanimously voted Monday to suspend and cancel Harry Walsh’s contract with the county effective Jan. 31, 2014. He said the board made its decision “without casting any guilt.”

“We made it clear we’re not saying he did this or did that in the past,” Borrell said. “But there was some concern that one of our large school districts — Monticello — said they didn’t want him working with their district, so that makes it pretty hard to do the job.”

Walsh, 79, had been teaching birth control, sexual disease prevention and human sexuality for the Wright County Human Services Agency in Buffalo for the past 16 years.

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UNITED STATES
Pop Matters

By Sarah Boslaugh 23 December 2013

On 4 February 2013, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, a documentary by Alex Gibney about the clerical sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, aired worldwide on HBO. On 11 February 2013, Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) resigned from the papacy, the first pope to do so in 600 years. The timing of these two events could have been a coincidence, but there’s good reason to believe otherwise.

Although the abuse had been regularly covered in the news media since the ‘90s, Gibney’s film delivers convincing proof to a wide audience that the Vatican had known about it for decades, and had refused to take effective action against the offending priests. Even more damning, Mea Maxima Culpa convincingly establishes that, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 to 2005, Ratzinger repeatedly chose not to investigate cases of reported abuse, instead advising that compassion be shown the accused priests.

The heroes of Mea Maxima Culpa are four students who attended St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee and were among the numerous sexual abuse victims of Father Lawrence Murphy, a priest at the school: Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Pat Kuehn, and Arthur Budzinski. They speak (in sign language, with voiceovers by Jamey Sheridan, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, and John Slattery) about how much they loved the school and how beautiful it was (“like a castle,” says one)—and also how pervasive and systematic was the sexual abuse perpetrated by Father Murphy.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Anglican Church in Canberra and Goulburn has used its annual Christmas message to reach out to those who have been hurt by the church.

This year the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard there were potentially dozens of paedophiles in the Anglican clergy across Australia who had not been formerly identified due to poor safeguards.

Bishop Stuart Robinson says faithfulness and broken promises are heavy on the hearts of leaders in the church.

“If you have been mistreated, or injured, or self-excluded for any reason, we want you to know that you are welcome in our churches,” he said.

“Christmas is a time of great celebration, the churches are open, the welcome is warm and we’d love you to continue with us into 2014.”

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MINNESOTA
Enlightened Catholicism

I made a promise to myself that I would refrain from making any more comments on Bill Donohue, president/well paid CEO/self styled mouth piece for Cardinal Dolan/ head of the right wing Catholic League. However, after his latest press release I gave myself permission to break that promise. Here is the pertinent part of the press release having to do with the abuse allegation against Minneapolis’ embattled Archbishop Neinstedt:

“Archbishop Nienstedt has been the subject of a non-stop crusade orchestrated by ex-Catholics, and Catholics in rebellion against the Church, simply because he stands for everything they are not: he is a loyal son of the Catholic Church.

Now—out of the blue—comes an unidentified male who claims he was touched on his buttocks in 2009 by the archbishop while posing for a group photo. Nienstedt denies the charge, adding that he has never inappropriately touched anyone. Moreover, he has not been told the identity of his accuser.

The Catholic League is asking those who were there to share with us any information they have. Specifically, we are interested in obtaining a tape recording, or set of photos, of any Confirmation ceremony in 2009 where Archbishop Nienstedt was present; presumably, the alleged victim was standing next to the archbishop. Also, we are asking anyone who knows anything about the accuser (someone knows who he is) to come forward.”

I wonder if the members of the Catholic League really want to go after an anonymous kid who did not make this allegation on his own initiative. It was given to the police by a mandated reporter after the mandated reporter was told by the Archdiocese to do so. I hope this is Bill using ‘we’ language without consulting the ‘we’ he represents. It beggars the imagination that conservative Catholics actually think they have some mandated mission to interfere with an official police investigation in order to ‘save’ a culture warrior bishop from a ‘crusade orchestrated by ex-Catholics, and Catholics in rebellion against the Church….’ In reality it’s called bullying a potential abuse victim just because Donohue has the access and the influence and the money to do so. This is no longer about ranting the party line, this has crossed the ranting line and moved to personal intimidation and abuse. Bill might be a parody for some of us, but this kind of thing is all too real for the poor kid who may not even have wanted the issue reported.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

BY MEGHAN HURLEY, OTTAWA CITIZEN DECEMBER 20, 2013

OTTAWA — All of the witnesses subpoenaed to testify at the preliminary hearing for Rev. Joseph Leclair have been cancelled, suggesting a plea deal may be in the works.

The witnesses were contacted by Ottawa police Friday — a month before the Jan. 20 preliminary hearing was set to begin — to inform them they were no longer needed.

The Citizen has also learned that several days set aside for the former Blessed Sacrament Church pastor’s preliminary hearing have been cancelled.

Leclair’s lawyer, Matthew Webber, would not comment Friday.

Leclair was charged with fraud, theft, money laundering and breach of trust in July 2012 after an 11-month police investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
Human Headline

by Derryn Hinch – Monday, 23 December 2013

IT NOW SEEMS OBVIOUS, and this should surprise and repulse some members of the Jewish community, but Melbourne’s conservative Yeshivah College has been as bad as the Catholic Church in protecting paedophiles and covering up their sex crimes against children.

What really pisses me off here is that Catholic Church leaders, and powerful men in the Jewish hierarchy, thought (and I fear, still think) that protecting the barn is more important than safeguarding your flock. It’s a shocking, continuing theme.

That whistleblower, Manny Waks, was right when he claimed that rabbis at Yeshivah College were Yiddish George Pells when it came to sexual assaults and cover-ups.

Was right to bravely start an advocacy group called Tzedek for Jewish child sex abuse victims in their own Orthodox college in St. Kilda.

The Age also ran damning stories about the culture of it being against Jewish law to go outside the religion to complain to Police.

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VATICAN CITY
Vice (UK)

By Katie Engelhart

On Wednesday, Pope Francis interrupted his general audience in St Peter’s Square to kiss and bless a severely disfigured man. The subsequent photos – his eyes clenched tightly in prayer, his hands around the ailing man’s face – have gone viral. “Many saw echoes of Jesus’s healing of the leper,” reported the Washington Post that day.

Just another fine move from the Pope who keeps on giving. Over the last few months, Pope Francis has nabbed headlines for cold-calling worshippers; launching Vatican sports teams; joking around in a red clown’s nose (and also a firefighter’s helmet); allowing a small child to hug him for the duration of a pilgrims address; and promising to personally baptise the baby of a woman who refused pressure from her partner to have an abortion. Breaking rank with his stiffer-lipped co-workers, Francis has recently suggested that “even the atheists” can be saved – and affirmed that he is totally not about to judge gay and lesbian Catholics. Last month, Pope Francis hit 10 million Twitter followers, which placed him just behind Kanye West.

Far and wide, observers speak of a “Francis Effect”.

But every modern-day media darling needs a PR machine, and Pope Francis is no exception. Enter Greg Burke: the 53-year-old Fox News correspondent turned Holy See handler (officially, Senior Communications Advisor to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State) who is quietly changing the way things are done in Vatican City.

To some, Burke may have seemed an unlikely candidate for papal spin-doctor. He’s a layman without PR experience: a cheery American with a penchant for sports analogies. He’s also a member of the controversial Catholic order Opus Dei: a traditionalist and a celibate whose spiritual practice reportedly involves self-flagellation. But after a year and a half on the job, Burke is credited with helping to open up and rejuvenate the Holy See. Of course, Burke would say it’s all Francis’s doing. “I’m going to kick the ball to the Pope,” Burke explained at a recent lecture in London. “I mean, the Pope scores goals, you know? The Pope scores goals for us… The people are just eating this stuff up.”

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

KONRAD YAKABUSKI
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Published Monday, Dec. 23 2013

My sister and I have a running argument. Whenever we get together, the conversation inevitably turns to the Roman Catholic Church and whether it’s done more harm than good in the world. The journalist in me takes over to enumerate the atrocities: the Crusades, the Inquisition, the sexual abuse scandals and the anti-contraception doctrine that has destroyed countless lives.

If that’s not enough, anyone who grew up Catholic can testify to the church’s use of shaming and shunning to keep the flock in line. Think of all the brilliant minds left fallow because of priests who frowned on inquisitiveness and challenges to doctrine. Or the rampant hypocrisy and lavish lifestyles of church authorities that belied any claim to holiness.

My sister, who’s 18 years older than me, is no church apologist. As someone who mostly grew up before Vatican II’s modernization of the mass, she has more bones to pick with a church that put a bigger cramp on her intellectual freedom than mine.

Yet, she also has what I don’t: faith. It’ s why I know I’ll never win this argument. But can she?

Now, along comes a movie made for our sibling symposiums. Director Stephen Frears’s Philomena tells the true story of Philomena Lee, a Irish woman who spent more than 50 years searching for the child she was forced to give up for adoption, by the nuns who took her in as an unwed teenaged mother in 1952. The film is a crowd-pleaser that takes plenty of artistic liberties. But there is no mistaking the villain of the piece.

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MISSOURI
Kansas City Business Journal

Dec 23, 2013

Staff
Kansas City Business Journal

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood agreed to settle a suit alleging sexual assault by a priest, The Kansas City Star reports.

The diocese and religious order each will pay $65,000 as part of the settlement with the unnamed plaintiff. The plaintiff alleged that the Rev. James Urbanic sexually assaulted him in the mid-1970s, when the plaintiff was a student at Bishop LeBlond High School in St. Joseph.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FROM the time its founder walked the dusty lanes of the Middle East more than 2000 years ago, Christianity has been a religion of light and darkness.

Each Christmas and at Easter, it renews its promises of love, generosity, hope and, for those who accept its teachings, redemption. Forgiveness and atonement are also an intrinsic part of the Christian message, an acknowledgment that weakness of character, sinfulness and sometimes evil are part of the human condition. This Christmas, after years of appalling publicity over their mishandling of child sexual abuse, it is the mainstream Christian churches themselves, and other institutions, that have been forced to confront their failures and seek forgiveness from the wider society.

In the midst of one of its darkest hours, however, Christianity has again shown its resilience and capacity for renewal, with the emergence of Pope Francis as a popular figure on the world stage. For some within the Catholic fold, some of his more unpredictable statements and decisions have created unease, but in reaching out to atheists, non-Christians, homosexuals, prisoners, the disabled, the disfigured and those disenfranchised from his own faith with spontaneous gestures of compassion, he has won the respect and affection of many who previously had little, if any, time for the church. Prudently, the Pope has also accepted the advice of his group of eight cardinal advisers, including Australia’s George Pell, in establishing a Vatican commission to oversee and strengthen efforts to combat the sexual abuse of children by church personnel.

In Australia, the harrowing stories of many who have so far related their experiences to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse won’t be forgotten. With revelations to come, it is impossible to gloss over the issue during one of the two main Christian festivals of the year. While such crimes are more prevalent among families than in any other sphere, the betrayal of trust by those in positions of spiritual leadership has left many people deeply disillusioned.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

ROSIE LEWIS THE AUSTRALIAN DECEMBER 24, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S highest ranking Catholic has urged fellow Christians not to “lapse into timid silence” in the face of adversity, as church leaders across the country delivered their annual Christmas messages. In the wake of the royal commission into institutional child sex abuse, Cardinal George Pell painted a picture of a church and religion under siege after one of the most tumultuous years for the Catholic Church.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. • A religious order and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have settled a 2012 lawsuit accusing a priest of sexual abuse.

The lawsuit was filed by a former Missouri man identified as John Doe M.R. against the Rev. James Urbanic, the diocese and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Urbanic’s religious order. The case was scheduled for trial in January.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1c26WPt ) reports the $130,000 settlement was finalized earlier this month.

Jack Smith, spokesman for the Diocese, says the diocese’s share of the settlement was $65,000 and the diocese had no further comment on the case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

CHIEF COURT REPORTER SEAN FEWSTER THE ADVERTISER DECEMBER 23, 2013

THE Anglican Church has the legal right to investigate and internally discipline priests accused of bad behaviour, the state’s highest court has ruled.

In a unanimous decision this morning, the Full Court of the Supreme Court granted orders sought by the Anglican Church in Australia and the Diocese of the Murray.

Chief Justice Chris Kourakis and Justices Tom Gray and David Peek declared the Church’s Professional Standards Board had the right to investigate and discipline controversial priest Peter Coote.

They further ruled an independent review of that board’s decision to be invalid.

The judgment means there is no avenue for disgruntled former priests to file civil claims over their sackings or disciplinings.

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INDIA
The Hindu

Preliminary report on the incident has been sent to Vatican

The Palayamkottai RC Diocese has relieved a priest of his pastoral duties following rape charges levelled against him.

As Fr. Gnanapragasam Antony Selvan, parish priest of Pettai, has been accused of raping a 16-year-old girl and surgically removing her five-month-old-foetus with the help of a doctor. The Tirunelveli All Women Police filed a case against him.

Subsequently, he surrendered before a court at Uththamapalayam and was remanded to judicial custody.

He has been lodged in Madurai Central Prison.

Bishop of Palayamkottai RC Diocese, Rev. A. Jude Paulraj has confirmed that the priest has been relieved of religious duties.

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ARIZONA
The Republic

By Dennis Wagner
The Republic | azcentral.com
Fri Nov 1, 2013

A Pinedale minister who operates a Christian foster home for low-income Native American girls has been indicted on charges that he molested two Apache children during stays at his residence.

Bradley S. Bieganski, 57, advertises on the Internet that his non-profit organization, known as Kingdom Flight, is “designed to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of indigenous children in remote areas. … We believe in demonstrating Christ’s love through our actions by meeting physical needs and by building long-term relationships.”

According to Navajo County sheriff’s records and a grand-jury indictment, Bieganski was arrested in September after a school official in the White Mountain Apache community of Cibecue filed a complaint.

A sheriff’s report says two girls of elementary-school age reported that Bieganski had touched their private areas while they were bathing and alleged that he had done the same to other children. The report says the girls were “allegedly once foster children” of Bieganski and his wife, Lesli. It says the couple frequently visits the Fort Apache Reservation, taking toys and books for children and obtaining permission to take them back to Kingdom Flight Ranch.

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ILLINOIS
Huffington Post

[with video]

By Emily Thomas

An eyewitness is speaking out to support a woman’s allegations of sexual abuse against her former counselor at a Christian summer camp in the mid-1990s.

The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, was 16 years old when she attended the religious Camp Awana, run by Chicago’s North Side Gospel Center, where she says counselor Cherie Carlson repeatedly molested her during the summers 1996 and 1997.

“She said she was showing me God’s love,” Doe recalled to NBC 5 in Chicago last month. “Eventually the physical demands became constant. Sometimes maybe four times a week.”

Doe has filed a lawsuit against Carlson alleging sexual abuse in the form of oral sex and penetration. She is also suing the church for not taking action against Carlson. Her lawsuit seeks $300,000 in damages.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

December 22
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese and a Catholic religious order have settled a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a priest.

The lawsuit, settled for $130,000, was filed in 2012 by a former Missouri man against the Rev. James Urbanic, the diocese and the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Urbanic’s religious order. The settlement was finalized earlier this month, an attorney for the plaintiff said. The case was scheduled for trial in January.

“He’s very pleased to have this behind him and to be able to move on with his life,” said Sarah Brown, the Kansas City attorney representing John Doe M.R., who now lives in another state.

Diocesan spokesman Jack Smith said the diocese’s share of the settlement was $65,000. The diocese had no further comment on the case.

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MAINE
The Forecaster

Seth Koenig, Bangor Daily News
Monday, December 23, 2013

PORTLAND — The newly appointed bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is credited with playing a key role in the Vatican’s purge of priests accused of sexual abuse, and later as the Archdiocese of Boston took the step of identifying abusive priests openly on its website.

Both were considered significant moves in the effort to overcome sex abuse scandals that came to light over the last decade and a half and tarnished the Catholic Church’s reputation.

Now, as Catholics and others in the state react to last week’s appointment of Bishop Robert Deeley, some of the strongest statements are from Maine clergy abuse victims and their supporters, who hope Deeley will continue his reconciliation work in Maine.

In 2011, after seven years away, Deeley rejoined the Archdiocese of Boston and served as one of the top aides to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who that year opened the vault on the archdiocese’s sex abuse cases by posting a database of priests who had been accused, as well as what became of them.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Dec. 23, 2013 NCR Today

Rome
If most Catholics were to compile a list of counter-intuitive things to do with one’s life these days, deciding to become a priest with the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order probably would finish fairly close to the top.

The once-powerful group became a poster child for the church’s sexual abuse crisis after revelations of misconduct by its founder, the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, which were denied by the Legionaries until Pope Benedict XVI sentenced the Mexican priest to a life of “prayer and penance” in 2006.

Even then the Legion maintained public silence, and didn’t really start acknowledging Maciel’s double life, which included relationships with two women and fathering up to six children as well as charges of abuse of boys, until 2009.

Today, the order is still struggling to clean house. Just two weeks ago, it announced that an investigation had found “significant evidence of sexual abuse” by a priest who served as novice master at a Cheshire, Conn., seminary.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Interestingly, the English common law and free press legacy in two former British imperial colonies, Australia and the United States of America, is energizing politically sensitive and fundamentally interrelated investigations of Catholic priest child abuse cover-ups by local bishops. Both former colonies are now federal democratic republics that apply common law concepts that favor individual rights, public proceedings and a free press. Ironically, these concepts originated in part as a reaction to biased and secretive monarchical procedures that are still fully operative almost uniquely under Pope Francis’ continuing canon law process.

It appears that local national political developments may soon lead to confrontations between Pope Francis and the political leaders, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Both lawyers, as young men Obama worked as an advocate for needy Chicago Catholic parishes and Abbott had been a Jesuit seminarian. Obama is frequently opposed by US Catholic bishops and Abbott is close to Australia’s sole Cardinal Pell. A close advisor to Francis, Pell reportedly has advised him especially on handling priest child abuse cases.

Coincidentally, Rupert Murdoch’s major media outlets generally play a key role in both countries, including the USA’s FOX News, which seemingly often features and favors the Catholic Church hierarchy’s views. Murdoch has been a papal knight for some years.

Francis’ top media advisor and reported Opus Dei affiliate, Greg Burke, had worked for FOX News following a stint at TIME Magazine, which just made Francis its “Man of the Year”. A coincidence? Perhaps. TIME has had declines in readership and Francis stories help magazines sell more. Burke at times seems pleased to discuss his efforts to “sell” Francis almost as some kind of hot new consumer product, which can be counter productive to Francis’ more powerful Gospel message to the poor. Perhaps, that may have been a factor in the Vatican’s recent retention of a high priced consulting firm to study the Vatican’s presently inadequate communications efforts.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with audio]

Susie Jones

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Former priest Tom Esch believes it was a courageous move for Archbishop John Nienstedt to apologize to parishioners at Our Lady of Grace church last weekend.

“I think, for many people, it helped.” Esch said.

Nienstedt was then accused of touching a young man several years ago during a confirmation ceremony photo session. On Monday, he decided to temporarily step aside pending the outcome of the investigation.

Esch said there is pain on every side of this scandal.

“There is pain from the victims. There is pain on the side of the leadership of the church. There is pain on the side of the priests who have abused,” Esch said.

He said there are also false accusations and a lot of what he called “reactivity.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sonia Elks

Last updated at 5:14AM, December 22 2013

More than 100 convicted sex attackers ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life have been removed from the list this year after a human rights court ruling.

Paedophiles and rapists were among those who successfully applied to have their names removed, according to a Sun on Sunday investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 22 December 2013)

For 50 years, Sydney child-abuser Father Finian Egan was supported by the Catholic Church and influential friends but he was finally brought to justice by three of his victims, with help from Broken Rites.

Egan was sentenced on 20 December 2014 to at least four years’ jail after a jury found him guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape, committed against three girls who were aged from 10 to 17 in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

These victims have slammed the Catholic Church for harbouring Egan in the priesthood for five decades, putting numerous children in danger.

Broken Rites research

Broken Rites can reveal that these three women were not the only complainants against Egan. This trial was confined to female complainants, and it covered only these three women who agreed to take part in the prosecution. A fourth woman exercised her right to opt out of the proceedings.

Broken Rites first heard of Father Finian Egan in January 2003, when we were contacted by one of his female victims. Five years later, in 2008, Broken Rites was contacted by a second Egan victim and later by a third, fourth, fifth and sixth victim. These six female victims were from several parishes. They were of various ages. They did not know each other. And they contacted Broken Rites separately, not realising that Broken Rites already knew about Egan.

And Broken Rites knows about a male complainant.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Four Salvation Army Boys’ Homes will be the focus of the next hearings of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse beginning on 28th January. Two of the Homes were in Queensland. Riverview (http://lewisblayse.net/2013/06/14/riverview-salvation-army-boys-home-or-unfinished-business/), near Ipswich, and Alkira, in Brisbane.

The word “Alkira” is aboriginal for “bright and sunny” which, needless to say was exactly what it was not.

While this author was in Alkira, another man, Wally McLeod, was in both of them, Riverview and Alkira, at about the same time as this author. Wally is one of the people hoping to give evidence at the hearings. He must be allowed to do so, and on his terms.

There is no point in the Commission arbitrarily choosing those who will have a say, or how.

Wally McLeod was 12 years old when, as an orphan, he was sent to the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly in western Brisbane in 1960. He says he was regularly caned and flogged. “Just talking at the meal table was enough to get you caned and sometimes flogged. Even talking after lights out that could earn you a flogging. I can’t say I had ever drawn blood but it has happened to other boys.” He describes it as a hell-hole run by so-called Christians.

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SPAIN
Euro Weekly News

RESIDENTS in San Luis de Sabinillas, Manilva, have collected 1,500 signatures to ask Malaga Bishopric to get rid of a priest who has reportedly reprimanded people for crying at funerals.

He is also accused of playing Christmas carols at funerals. One woman, whose son, 25, died in a traffic accident in September, reports that at his funeral, the priest shouted at the relatives to stop crying or he would end the mass, because the young man had died “because he was a sinner.”

When he was questioned by one of the man’s cousins, she was told to “shut up” because the “same thing could happen” to her.

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ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe Mail

The ongoing trial of RGM Independent End Time Message church leader Martin Gumbura appears to have opened a can of worms as an increasing number of women are coming forward to report cases of sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of men of the cloth.

The Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ), a grouping of churches, last week disclosed that they have since handed over cases of suspected sexual abuse, spanning more than 10 churches, to the police for further investigations.

ACCZ president Archbishop Johannes Ndanga a loyalists of President Mugabe’s Zanu PF said the sudden increase in abuse cases that are being reported to his organisation shows that a number of women have for long been suffering in silence.

“Pastors from more than 10 churches stand accused of rape and sexual abuse. In some cases, the pastors are accused of acts such as drug abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Vatican Bank closes thousand accounts/criminal transactions BURNT to leave no trail of crimes further/future investigations…drowned by loud Francis-maniacs at St. Peter’s Square

Updated December 22, 2013

Pope Francis and his Vatican Titanic Deceits Empire of PR media stunts army are doing a “feel-good” Hollywood strategy by making non-stop political photo-ops of Pope Francis with children and the sick so that robotic Catholic Francis-maniacs will continue to flock to St. Peter’s Square and chant, “Francesco, humble Francesco”…….and therefore, those over a thousand lay accounts holders won’t be noticed as they slip in and out circumspectly of the Vatican to close their personal accounts at the Vatican IOR Bank! He was even named Person of the Year by Time Magazine to segue Americans’ attentions away from Vatican crimes of money-launderings with drug lords and terrorism, read our analysis in FRANCIS UPDATES

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INDIA
Gulf Times

A Roman Catholic priest accused of raping a teenage girl surrendered in Tirunelveli last week.

Police had been searching for Gnanapragasam Selvan, of St Antony’s church in Pettai. The victim’s parents had alleged Selvan raped their daughter who was a member of the church choir. When she became pregnant he arranged for her abortion through a local doctor and buried the foetus in the church cemetery.

The police are now on the lookout for the female doctor.

Meanwhile the church diocese has distanced itself from the controversy saying the police have not informed them.

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ALASKA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Andrew Eordogh was a Jesuit priest of the Hungarian Province, ordained in 1958. He worked in Alaska in the late 1960s-early 1970s. In a 2006 lawsuit Eordogh was accused, along with another Jesuit, of sexually abusing a young Alaskan boy, when the boy was 4 to 7 years-old. At the time of the lawsuit Eordogh was living in a retirement home for priests in Hungary. His last known U.S. address was in Chicago.

Ordained: 1958

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OHIO
Vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a self help group for men and women who were abused by clergy, will have a confidential support meeting in Youngstown, at a site to be announced, from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 28.

“Victims, family members, and supporters are welcome and encouraged to attend,” said Judy Jones of St. Louis, SNAP’s Midwest associate director. “Getting together in a private setting, with others who know your pain, is helpful to start the healing of anyone who has been abused as a child or exploited as an adult.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
skipshea

Skip Shea

Lisa,

I’m a survivor of clergy sexual abuse from the Diocese of Worcester. At one point in my life the objective reporting on the church and clergy sexual abuse scandal by the Boston Globe is what prompted me to turn my life around. A life filled with drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal ideation and worse.

This morning’s piece, Catholics in the Age of Francis Speak Out, brought me back to the days prior to 2002, when nothing could be said objectively about the church.

I am no longer Catholic so perhaps my view doesn’t fit the story you were trying to tell. It wouldn’t have been positive. Just the opposite. And clearly the point of the story was to find people who would discuss how positive Francis makes them feel. A nice PR piece.

And so far that’s all this is. In an opinion column for Al Jazeera America, Michael Tracey writes that the Vatican PR campaign is “…headed by former Fox News reporter Greg Burke. A member of the ascetic Opus Dei order, Burke is wedded to lifelong celibacy and professional communications services.”

Part of that campaign is the appearance that Francis lives a more humble life. Tracey writes. “Burke correctly surmised that in an era of austerity and continued economic misery, a leader who takes on austere appearances would win favor with the public — no major doctrinal alterations necessary. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book: former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for instance, stripped his office of fine Persian carpets to secure a few favorable headlines. Most important, it works.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness | GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 22, 2013

A year ago, it would have been impossible to imagine: A pope who dresses simply, who lives in a Vatican guesthouse, who calls for a “poor church for the poor.”

Who speaks warmly about gay people. Who poses for selfies with young fans.

Who says church leaders have become too preoccupied with contraception, homosexuality, and abortion.

After one of the worst decades in Roman Catholic church history, marked by a devastating sexual abuse scandal, internecine turf battles at the Vatican, and a widening chasm between the hierarchy and the people, Pope Francis is changing the conversation about Catholicism around the world — and here at home.

Interviews with a dozen local Catholics offer a sense of how New Englanders have been absorbing the pope’s words and gestures, considering their meaning for the church and for their own spiritual lives.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Aljazeera America

by Amel Ahmed @amelscript December 20, 2013

Students from Eastside Catholic School in the Seattle suburb of Sammamish protested outside the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle Friday following news that their vice principal was forced to resign for marrying his same-sex partner.

The demonstration followed a Thursday sit-in and subsequent walk-out at the school, which has middle school and high school students, after students learned that Mark Zmuda, 38, would have to leave his position.

Caelan Colburn, a student organizer at the Friday protest, told Al Jazeera that about 150 students from various Catholic schools in the area convened in front of the archdiocese in support.

The Eastside Catholic School announced Thursday that classes would be canceled Friday due to forecast snow “and in light of the difficult day” the school had experienced when hundreds of students staged the sit-in.

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VATICAN CITY
NBC News

Could five little words uttered in 2013 change the course of the Catholic Church?

Pope Francis — also known as Time’s Person of the Year and Twitter’s #bestpopeever — has done a lot of talking since he was installed on the throne of St. Peter in March, tackling everything from luxury cars to income inequality in a series of interviews, sermons and written exhortations.

But for veteran Vatican watcher John Thavis, the pontiff’s most significant pontificating came July 29 when he gave a press conference on a flight back from Brazil.

“Who am I to judge?” he asked.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

By John Higgins
Seattle Times education reporter

Condemnation of Eastside Catholic School’s dismissal of its gay vice principal for marrying his partner — ignited by student protests Thursday — grew louder Friday with demonstrations in Sammamish and downtown Seattle.

Disapproval has spread far wider over social media, especially among Eastside’s far-flung alumni. Many are returning to the Seattle area for the holidays and reunions with classmates.

So far, at least, the voices of anger over the school’s dismissal of vice principal Mark Zmuda have been louder than the voices of those who may support the school’s decision.

Either way, there were no signs Friday that the issue would die down during the Christmas break.

“I’m getting texts from all over the country and all over the globe. I’ve got somebody in Thailand who is upset about it,” said Mary Kopczynski, a 1996 Eastside Catholic graduate and CEO of a financial-consulting firm in New York City, who is coming home for Christmas week. “This is not small, and this is just the beginning.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Joe Soucheray
jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/21/2013

It was an additional and surprising revelation that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was not cooperating with St. Paul police concerning investigations into alleged sexual improprieties by clergy, but now they are. Rather than send only lawyers into the front parlor to meet with investigators, the archdiocese this past week sent its vicar general, the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, to meet with police. Yes. Lachowitzer was accompanied by one of the lawyers, but at least there was a high-ranking collar in the room.

That is progress. Progress seems to have been jump-started by the allegation made last week by an unnamed male that Archbishop John Nienstedt inappropriately touched the fellow on the butt during a photo session following a confirmation ceremony in 2009. Confirmations are, in their aftermaths, clamorous affairs because everybody has a camera these days and everybody wants a chance to get a photo or a bit of video stream with an archbishop posed with a new young soldier of the faith.

It might be foolhardy to say that I am not buying it — the alleged touching — because we have been surprised at nearly every turn, including Nienstedt’s apology last week when he delivered sermons at Our Lady of Grace in Edina. Here, again, we simply had a failure of modern public relations.

Nienstedt said he failed to pay close enough attention because he said he was told upon his arrival as archbishop in 2008 that sexual abuse by clergy had been contained and taken care of. That was a ridiculous position for him to take. It wasn’t exactly a non-apology apology, so common today in America’s cultural swoon, but it did not meet the standards expected of a boss.

No less ridiculous is the suggestion that Nienstedt did what he is alleged to have done. Come forward, young man, and tell us exactly what you mean when you charge that the archbishop inappropriately touched you. What exactly is an inappropriate touching of the butt — a pat, a slap, a brushing against? A brushing against is entirely plausible giving the clamorous nature of the post-confirmation excitement.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Herald News

By Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Dec 21, 2013

Pope Francis has invited homeless men for dinner and embraced physically handicapped people in St. Peter’s Square.

But Robert M. Hoatson said the pope has yet to connect with victims of clergy sex abuse.

“What greater population of need is there than people who have been abused by their own clergy?” said Hoatson, a survivor of clergy sex abuse and co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., a New Jersey-based nonprofit that advocates for sex abuse victims.

Hoatson, along with nine other high-profile Catholic whistleblowers on clergy sex abuse, signed an open letter on Dec. 9 to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston and a member of Pope Francis’ panel of cardinals that advises him on church governance and reform.

The letter called upon Cardinal O’Malley, the former bishop of Fall River, to appoint Hoatson and two other victim advocates to the new commission that Pope Francis is creating to advise him on protecting children and counseling victims of sex abuse.

Hoatson, whose organization has advocated for sex abuse victims in the Diocese of Fall River, said the new Vatican commission needs to focus on providing victims with legal, juridical and psychological services, not just pastoral initiatives.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A former church youth volunteer and child mentor charged with 38 counts of child sexual abuse related charges has waived the time limit for his preliminary hearing.

Timothy Probert, 55, was taken into custody by Sgt. M.D. Clemons, with the Crimes Against Children Unit of the West Virginia State Police, earlier this month. He was scheduled to appear this morning before Mercer County Magistrate Jim Dent for a preliminary hearing, but waived the time limit. A new preliminary hearing date for Probert will be set sometime in January, according to court officials.

The alleged crimes stem from incidents that occurred when Probert was a youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield and a volunteer with the Working to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect (WE CAN) program.

Probert is charged with 22 counts of sexual abuse by a custodian; six counts of first-degree sexual abuse; seven counts of third-degree sexual assault; one count of distribution and display of obscene matter to a minor; one count of use of obscene matter with intent to seduce a minor; and one count of use of a minor to produce obscene matter or to assist in doing sexually explicit conduct.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

Jeff Anderson statement of erroneous depiction of priest on “Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ List of 34”

Firm issues public apology to Father Patrick J. Ryan

(St. Paul, MN) – Jeff Anderson and Associates sincerely apologizes for the incorrect depiction of Father Patrick J. Ryan at its Press Conference on December 5, 2013. At the conference and included in the media kit, our firm depicted Father Patrick J. Ryan on “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ List of 34.” The image of Father Patrick J. Ryan was mistakenly confirmed as the Father Patrick Joseph Ryan contained on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ List. There are no known allegations of sexual abuse against the Father Patrick J. Ryan pictured on December 5, 2013.

When told of the potential mistake, we immediately alerted all media personnel present at the press conference.

We are not aware of any media running that picture individually. There were two stations that we are aware of that posted a picture of the survivors at the press conference with the background of the Archdiocese List of 34 which included several pictures, including the mistaken picture of Fr. Ryan. We immediately called the two stations that posted those pictures the same night to let them know so that the photo would be removed.

Jeff Anderson personally telephoned Father Patrick J. Ryan that evening to apologize profusely for the inaccuracy and issued an apology letter the following day.

Jeff Anderson and Associates expresses our heartfelt regret for the inadvertent depiction of Father Patrick J. Ryan as a priest on the Archdiocese’s list of 34.

The apology letter to Father Ryan can be found on our website at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3458 Mobile/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3458 Mobile/612.205.5531

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OHIO
The Plain Dealer

By Tom Feran, The Plain Dealer
on December 21, 2013

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Rev. James McGonegal, the 68-year-old priest indicted on a felony charge in October for soliciting sex from an undercover ranger at Edgewater Park, has been replaced as pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Cleveland.

Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese accepted McGonegal’s resignation as pastor on submission. Lennon then appointed the Rev. Michael Troha as the church’s new leader. Troha was pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Willoughby since 2004.

The change was effective Dec. 10.

The announcement was made in Friday’s edition of the biweekly Catholic Universe Bulletin, the diocesan newspaper.

Troha’s official installation as pastor will be at a 5 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Jan. 25, at St. Ignatius of Antioch, with Lennon presiding.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Source:Jim Accurso

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis greatly appreciates the comments by St. Paul Police Chief Smith today. We affirm that we received his letter and answered within the two-day span requested. In our response, we asked for an opportunity to meet with members of the St. Paul Police.

Our hope was that, through this meeting, which the police set for tomorrow, we could better understand the requests for information in greater detail.

We look forward to the meeting, which will include not only an attorney but also our new Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, Fr. Charles Lachowitzer, as was requested by Chief Smith. Although we cannot speak for Fr. McDonough and his choice not to speak with the police, as we have stated repeatedly, the archdiocese seeks to cooperate with the police and all civil authorities.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Thursday, December 19, 2013

Source:Jim Accurso

A media report was published today regarding Harry Walsh, a former member of the Redemptorists religious order in Ireland, and a former priest who ministered in the Archdiocese of Detroit and who later moved to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Walsh agreed to resign from priestly ministry in 2005 and was subsequently permanently removed from the priesthood (laicized) in 2012.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is committed to disclosure because it can be an important means of assisting victims of abuse in their healing process. Our sorrow for all acts of abuse by clergy can never be communicated enough. Our new disclosure practices began on December 5 and are ongoing. This is a process that has just begun and will take some time in order to proceed thoroughly and factually.

As we continue that work with a genuine sense of urgency, we want to provide the following facts regarding a number of assertions made in today’s media report regarding Walsh.

The Archbishop did not know of the allegations relating to Walsh’s alleged sexual abuse of a minor until 2010. The Archbishop informed Walsh (who was then no longer in active ministry) that he could either choose to request a dispensation from the obligations of Holy Orders, or the archdiocese would seek his dismissal through the appropriate canonical process. Walsh chose to request a dispensation and he was subsequently laicized.

Minnesota law and the archdiocese’s policies at the time did not obligate the archdiocese to report these dated allegations to police. In accordance with our present policy, we will report all past and present credible claims of sexual abuse of minors to the police as our file review continues.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Whatever the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse uncovers in its up-coming hearings on Salvation Army Children’s Homes, history will always remember the abuses committed by Salvation Army officers and staff in their Children’s Homes, due to one person who no longer lives.

The Salvation Army ran an orphanage in the suburb of Woolton in the U.K. city of Liverpool, from 1936 to 2005. It has been listed by www.abuselaw.co.uk as having complaints of child sexual abuse.

One victim’s statement alleges that he was in this Children’s Home “from 1987 – 1992. I witnessed abuse, and was victim to it also. It was physical, sexual, mental and psychological abuse. My sister was abused, and she took the abuser to court, yet he got away with it, it was brushed under the carpet. She was moved to another Home, and the abuser stayed, allowing him to carry on abusing more victims, including myself. That is my story.”

There was a boy who lived around the corner from the Home. As a child in the 1950s, he squeezed through the Home’s tall, wrought iron gates and played on the grounds with some of the orphans who lived there. He felt a kinship with them after he was abandoned by his father and sent by his mother to live with his Aunt. He played with childhood friends in the trees behind the orphanage when he was a boy, and always attended an annual fete there, with his Aunt.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

Pope Francis’ meeting today with officials of the Roman Curia was important for what was said and what wasn’t said.

The annual Christmas encounter between the pope and his bureaucratic support system is often a time for “big” speeches that outline papal agendas, and what better occasion for Pope Francis to explain his big project of Curia reform?

That didn’t happen. Instead, in a short speech, the pope made three points that, while offering some praise for the performance of the Roman Curia, also seemed to challenge the reigning attitudes there.

First, the pope spoke of the need for professional skill and competence. “When professionalism is lacking, there is a slow slide toward the area of mediocrity,” he said. Tasks become routine and communication closed, while awareness of the bigger picture is lost.

Incompetence and lack of communication, of course, have been two of the biggest criticisms of the Roman Curia in recent years – criticisms that were aired in the cardinals’ meetings that took place ahead of last spring’s conclave.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/20/2013

After the St. Paul police said in October that they wanted to hear from victims of clergy sexual abuse, a former White Bear Lake woman picked up the phone.

She called an investigator in that north suburban city, saying she had been abused by the Rev. Ambrose Filbin at St. Pius X in the 1960s, while she was in grade school there.

“He caught me in a (school supply) room and just started kissing me, French kissing,” said the woman, who will be referred to as “Donna” for this report. It is not her real name. “And as I struggled to get away, he said, ‘Coward.’ ”

She was 14.

Donna said Filbin followed up the kissing with fondling. She said the abuse lasted six years.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran · St. Paul, Minn. · Dec 20, 2013

An internal church memo from 2002 names three priests with “known abuse histories” who weren’t on the list of “credibly accused” priests released by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis earlier this month.

The three priests are: the Rev. Tom Gillespie, the Rev. Harold Whittet, and the Rev. Ambrose Filbin. Gillespie, a Benedictine monk, was identified by St. John’s Abbey on Dec. 9 as a cleric “likely to have offended against minors.” Whittet and Filbin are dead.

The Aug. 12, 2002, memo obtained by MPR News provides further evidence that the archdiocese has not released the names of all priests it believes sexually abused children.

Archbishop John Nienstedt has said the archdiocese will update its public list if it “learns of additional credible claims of abuse by a minor by a member of the clergy.” However, Nienstedt won’t say why he hasn’t disclosed the names of several priests identified in the 2002 memo as known abusers.

A spokesman for the archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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UNITED STATES
GoodTherapy.org

For those who experience abuse—physical, sexual, or emotional—the consequences can be devastating, and the road to recovery may be a long and challenging one. Some survivors of childhood abuse may repress memories until later in life; others may carry the memories with them their entire lives.

Abuse affects several facets of a person’s well-being, from the ability to cope with stress to the ability to hold down a job, maintain intimacy in relationships, and handle the many emotional ups and downs of life. Depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, sleep disturbances, panic, sexual dysfunction, and issues with self-esteem are just a few of the challenges someone who has survived abuse may experience on a regular basis. Support and guidance during the healing and recovery process is essential to move forward and find peace amid the inner chaos.

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 best websites for survivors of abuse in 2013—GoodTherapy.org excluded. As with our previous top 10 lists, our selections are based on quality and depth of content, presentation, and functionality.

Joyful Heart Foundation: The mission of the Joyful Heart Foundation is “to heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues.” The site focuses its resources and information on healing and wellness, education and awareness, and policy and advocacy. Its approach centers on mind-body-spirit healing, and it offers an assortment of day and multiday retreat programs for survivors as well as a “Heal the Healers” program and training workshops for health professionals who work closely with survivors.

ASCA: Adult Survivors of Child Abuse: Created by the Norma J. Morris Center for healing from child abuse, the ASCA program was designed to offer self-help support and resources for adult survivors of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect as a child. The site encourages victims to make the shift “from survivor to thriver” with the help of workbooks and support groups.

MaleSurvivor: This not-for-profit organization caters to boys and men who have been sexually abused or victimized. It emphasizes that although the male experience of abuse does not receive a great deal of attention, statistics indicate that one in six men endures sexual abuse before the age of 16. To facilitate hope and healing for male survivors of various ages, the organization provides resources and information, support group links, weekend recovery programs, discussion forums, personal stories of recovery, and a national program called Dare to Dream. Educational materials also are available for parents and professionals working with survivors.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio News

Joe Schmidt’s church can count on him this year for a Christmas donation. His generosity, however, won’t reach the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

He plans to send only $1 to Archbishop John Nienstedt’s annual Catholic Services Appeal, which helps run the archdiocese. The dollar will come with a message of frustration over allegations that archdiocese leaders for decades covered up sexual abuse by priests.

“I give them a nominal amount just to say I considered it, but I’m going in a different direction,” said Schmidt, a parishioner at Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis. The dollar “sends the message that I’m no longer going to support the administration.”

Church leaders across the metro are bracing for similar reactions from Catholics across the Twin Cities.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Lauren Markoe Religion News Service | Dec. 18, 2013

Clergy used to rank near the top in polls asking Americans to rate the honesty and ethics of people in various professions. This year, for the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1977, fewer than half of those polled said clergy have “high” or “very high” moral standards.

But opinions on clergy differed markedly by party, with Republicans viewing them far more favorably than Democrats.

Overall, 47 percent of respondents to the survey gave clergy “high” or “very high” ratings, a sharp drop in confidence from the 67 percent of Americans who viewed them this way in 1985.

Among Republicans, 63 percent gave clergy one of the two top ratings for ethics, compared with 40 percent of Democrats.

In a piece accompanying the poll, Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey M. Jones wrote that Republicans might think more highly of clergy, police and military officers “because those people work in traditional institutions in American society, which Republicans may hold in greater esteem because of their generally conservative ideology.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 22, 2013

Paul McGeough
Chief foreign correspondent

And so another rock star is born. Welcome Francis – that’s Pope Francis.

Just as the Norwegian Nobel Committee rushed to sanctify Barack Obama by awarding him the 2009 peace prize, even before he’d done unpacking at the White House, there’s a rush by the world’s news media to canonise Pope Francis, even before he’s warmed the papal throne at the Vatican.

As a new world figure Francis is a sensation, to be sure. One of the more endearing welcomes came from MSNBC’s cool and bespectacled young commentator Chris Hayes: ”Given the constraints of what being Pope is, you can operate in one of two ways: you can be a jerk about it, or you can be awesome – and this guy is choosing to be awesome.”

The Huffington Post is in raptures: ”We love him.” At Gawker, Francis is ”our cool new Pope” and Time magazine has named him its 2013 Person of the Year. Out with Benedict, the theology professor; in with Francis, the former janitor, nightclub bouncer, chemical technician and literature teacher.

These days we just can’t help ourselves. The insatiable appetite of a 24/7 news machine means we must constantly feed the beast, so we race ahead of the news and, in this case, serve notice that the hapless Francis must live up to our expectations as reformer extraordinaire.

As an institution, the church is in a bad way. Think child sex abuse on an industrial scale and money laundering, graft and homosexual blackmail at the Vatican. And will we ever forget the Bishop of Bling and the bathtub that cost $20,000 in the $42 million renovation of his palace at Lindberg, Germany?

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Daily News

JULIE SHAW, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER SHAWJ@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-2592
POSTED: Sunday, December 22, 2013

ARTHUR BASELICE Jr. is a lost soul, a man destroyed by the Catholic Church.

His son, Arthur Baselice III, died at age 28 of a drug overdose, and the father has blamed Charles Newman, the Franciscan friar and former president of Archbishop Ryan High School, for his death.

Newman was convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school and his religious order. He was sentenced in May 2009 to three to six years in state prison, followed by 10 years’ probation.

On Monday, he is scheduled to be released on parole and sent to the Self-Help Movement community correction center – a halfway house – on Southampton Road in the Far Northeast, according to a letter by the Office of the Victim Advocate, provided to the Daily News by Baselice Jr.

The fact that Newman could soon be free to walk the streets outrages Baselice Jr.

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INDIA
Hindustan Times

A temple priest was arrested late in the evening on Saturday for sodomising a minor in Lehnu village in Trikri area of Udhampur. According to reports, a well known ‘mahant’ of a temple situated at village Lehnu on the Jammu-Srinagar highway was arrested by the police on allegations of sexual assault of a minor boy who is under treatment at Government Medical College, Jammu.

As per the police, a few members of a Jammu-based NGO filed an FIR at Tikri police station demanding the arrest of mahant Kamal Giri alleging that he had sexually assaulted a minor boy in his ashram for several days.

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UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2013

Over the pontificate of Benedict XVI, the traditional “Christmas greeting” to the Roman Curia became one of the year’s most anticipated speeches as the now Pope-emeritus both recapped the closing cycle and mused on topics of his interest. Among the group, perhaps the emblematic talks are 2005’s watershed address on the interpretation of Vatican II, which aimed to lay the groundwork for one of his most controversial projects – the reintegration of the SSPX – and 2010’s reflection on clergy sex-abuse in the wake of that year’s European outbreak of the scandals, which a media frenzy attempted to drive right up to Joseph Ratzinger’s doorstep.

Like so much else this time around, it was unclear what Pope Francis would do with his first turn at the speech today… but given the Argentine pontiff’s habit for dropping rhetorical bombs at any time – especially when top officials are present – most observers went into this morning’s appointment expecting more, not less. While the result was much briefer than Benedict’s elegant, detail-rich meditations in years past, the new Pope’s usual “three words” on this occasion still packed a considerable punch. (Above, Francis is shown high-fiving young members of Italy’s influential Catholic Action, who he received in an audience last night.)

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

A PRIEST accused of sexually abusing three altar boys is now “likely” to be facing charges against four more alleged victims.

Francis Paul Cullen, who spent 18 years working at Christ the King Catholic Church, on the Mackworth Estate, was extradited this summer from Tenerife, where he had been living.

The 85-year-old had been detained on a European arrest warrant issued by Britain.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court yesterday, wearing a khaki-coloured T-shirt over a short-sleeved shirt and beige trousers, for a plea and case management hearing.

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CHILE
El Universal

La Iglesia católica chilena anunció este viernes la expulsión de estado clerical del sacerdote, René Benavides, tras ser hallado culpable del delito de abuso sexual a tres menores, por un tribunal canónico.

“En fallo definitivo e inapelable de un tribunal canónico de segunda instancia, la Iglesia ha confirmado la sentencia que condena al presbítero René Benavides Rives como culpable del delito de abuso sexual contra tres menores de edad”, dijo un comunicado de la Iglesia chilena.

“El tribunal ha impuesto al sacerdote la pena expiatoria perpetua de expulsión del estado clerical, que es la máxima sanción dispuesta por el ordenamiento jurídico de la Iglesia”, agregó.

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CHILE
El Diario

By: Andrés Alburquerque Fuschini

POSTED: DEC 20, 2013

Santiago de Chile – En fallo definitivo e inapelable, el Tribunal Canónico de Segunda Instancia de la Iglesia católica chilena condenó al presbítero René Benavides Rives a la perpetua expulsión del estado clerical, tras ser hallado culpable de abuso sexual contra tres menores de edad.

Así lo confirmó esta mañana el Obispado de San Felipe, que detalla que el tribunal impuso al sacerdote la máxima sanción dispuesta por el ordenamiento jurídico de la Iglesia.

“Esto significa que el señor Benavides no conserva el ejercicio del ministerio sacerdotal: no puede administrar sacramentos ni ejercer los derechos propios de dicho estado, como tampoco puede desarrollar otros encargos o actividades en parroquias, colegios u otras instituciones católicas”, explicó la institución en un comunicado.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer

The Diocese of Gallup obtained two loans totaling $229,000 from neighboring dioceses to help pay for professional services related to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a church official said this week.

The loans included $29,000 from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and $200,000 from the Diocese of Phoenix, according to court records the Gallup diocese filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albuquerque.

The loans were obtained shortly before the Diocese of Gallup filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 12, to help pay for legal and financial services, Gallup Bishop James Wall said Thursday at a creditors’ meeting in Albuquerque.

Wall did not specify the date or terms of the loans, which are listed as unsecured nonpriority claims in the diocese’s court filings.

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MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Bishop John Quinn spoke of “a very long and painful road” to forgiveness when discussing the 14 priests from the Winona Diocese who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

We’ve long believed that public disclosure is a necessary step for the Catholic Church to restore its credibility after decades of stonewalling on child-abuse allegations. However, it took a court order to force the church to release the names after a lawsuit was filed against the Winona Diocese in 2008.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com

EBENSBURG — With a potential criminal investigation waiting in the wings, Bishop McCort High School appears to be cleaning house of those who may have or should have known that Brother Stephen Baker was sexually abusing students for years.

The Tribune-Democrat has learned from multiple unnamed sources that longtime math teacher Carol Grove was dismissed from her post at the school earlier this month, and word is that others may be dismissed.

“It sounds like guilt by association,” said one former Bishop McCort student. “I think the McCort graduates and others need to know what is going on.”

Grove, who is listed on the school’s website as a math teacher, was also Key Club moderator and overseer of Mu Alpha Theta, a school-based math club.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

(CNN) — Pope Francis put the ideals of professionalism, service and holiness to the fore Saturday in his first Christmas message to the Curia, the Roman Catholic Church’s governing body.

The Roman Curia, which includes Vatican staff, priests and cardinals, gathered in the ornate Clementine Hall. The pope praised those who have worked in the Vatican for “many years with immense dedication, hidden from the eyes of the world.”

The church needs “people who work with competence, precision and self sacrifice in the fulfillment of their daily duties,” he said.

Without professionalism, Francis warned, “there is a slow drift downwards towards mediocrity” and “dossiers become full of trite and lifeless information” that fail to inspire.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, December 21

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned Vatican administrators Saturday that their work can take a downward spiral into mediocrity, gossip and bureaucratic squabbling if they forget that theirs is a professional vocation of service to the church.

Francis made the comments in his Christmas address to the Vatican Curia, the bureaucracy that forms the central government of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church. The speech was eagerly anticipated given that Francis was elected in March on a mandate to overhaul the antiquated and oftentimes dysfunctional Vatican administration.

Already, heads have started to roll: Just last week, Francis reshuffled the advisory body of the powerful Congregation for Bishops, the office that vets all the world’s bishop nominations. He removed the arch-conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a key figure in the U.S. culture wars over abortion and gay marriage, and also nixed the head of Italy’s bishops’ conference and another hardline Italian, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, earlier axed as head of the Vatican office responsible for priests.

Other changes are on the horizon: In the coming weeks Francis will name his first batch of cardinals and in February will preside over the third summit of his “Group of Eight” cardinal advisers, who are expected to put forward a first round of proposals for revamping the Holy See bureaucracy.

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CHICAGO (IL)
New York Daily News

BY CAROL KURUVILLA / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2013

A middle school teacher in Chicago has reportedly been hiding a sickening secret for nearly twenty years.

Two women are accusing teacher Cherie Carlson of using her status as a spiritual mentor in the 1990s to sexually abuse young girls at a church camp owned by Chicago’s North Side Gospel Center.

“She said she was showing me God’s love,” said one survivor, who spoke to NBC Chicago under the pseudonym “Jane Doe.”

Jane Doe has filed a lawsuit against Carlson, accusing her of forced oral sex and penetration between 1996 and 1997. The lawsuit also accuses the church of not doing enough to stop the abuse.

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OHIO
Canton Repository

YOUNGSTOWN
SNAP, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, will host a confidential support meeting in Youngstown from 1 to 3 p.m. on Dec. 28.

“Victims, family members and supporters are welcome and encouraged to attend,” said Judy Jones, SNAP’s Midwest Associate Director. “Getting together in a private setting, with others who know your pain, is helpful to start the healing of anyone who has been abused as a child or exploited as an adult.”

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Predator priest now lives in Dallas
Catholic officials say he’s “credibly accused”
He was “outed” for first time last week in Minnesota
And he supposedly faces a church defrocking trial this month

For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 20, 2013

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

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging a Texas bishop to warn his flock about an abusive priest who has reportedly moved to the Dallas area.

Last week, a Minnesota judge ordered the Winona diocese to release a list of credibly accused predator priests. One of them is Fr. Joseph C. Cashman.

It was the first time Fr. Cashman was publicly accused of molesting kids. Church officials are trying to defrock him.

“We believe that Fr. Cashman is still dangerous and belongs behind bars,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “But this predator will probably continue to escape consequences for his crimes unless bishops in Dallas and Minnesota start acting with real compassion and decisiveness.”

“Bishops recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train, transfer and shield predator priests,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “So when credible abuse reports surface, they must warn the public and take active steps to help police investigate the allegations and help parents safeguard their kids.”

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