ABUSE TRACKER

NEW JERSEY
The Record

Monday, April 29, 2013

BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

The language of the agreement with prosecutors is clear: Rev. Michael Fugee, a Catholic priest who served probation on allegations he groped a boy at his Wyckoff home in 2001, was not to be in the presence of children unsupervised, and he was never to supervise or minister to children.

But weekend press revelations that, several years ago, Fugee attended weekend retreats with a Monmouth County youth ministry to hear one-on-one confessions by minors, in spite of the agreement, has prompted an investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and moved the bishop of Trenton to bar the priest from any further ministry with the Monmouth County parish.

On Monday, meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark argued that neither Fugee nor the archdiocese did anything wrong, that Fugee was always supervised while working with the youth ministry, and that the agreement, signed by the prosecutor and the archdiocese’s vicar general to avoid a trial for Fugee, is being correctly interpreted.

The Bergen County prosecutor, John Molinelli, pointedly disagreed Monday with that interpretation of the agreement — which he called “a very clear document” — but would say little more except that his office is conducting an open-ended investigation.

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UNITED KINGDOM/IRELAND
Daily Record

A FORMER priest accused of preying on children has been arrested.

Bill Carney, who ran a guesthouse in St Andrews, was in police custody last night and faces extradition to his native Ireland.

The 63-year-old, who left the church in Ireland in 1992, stands accused of abusing children while he was a priest.

He created a new life for himself with a wife in Fife and has also lived in Spain and the south of England.

Carney was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in Warwickshire and faces a court appearance this week to decide whether he can be taken back to Ireland.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 30, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age

Child rape victim Emma Foster received $450,000 compensation from the Catholic Church when the church limit was $50,000 because she took the church to court, the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sex abuse heard on Tuesday.

Peter O’Callaghan QC, the independent commissioner for the church’s abuse system, admitted he wrote to the church’s lawyer Richard Leder about “flushing out the Fosters’ real intentions” because he suspected they would use his Melbourne Response finding in court.

He also admitted going to the Fosters’ home and trying to persuade Emma to accept the church offer, saying it was because she was about to turn 18 and the legal arrangements would change.

Emma and Katie Foster were serially abused at primary school by paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell. Emma later committed suicide, while Katie is in a wheelchair after being hit by a car.

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AUSTRALIA
Adelaide Now

THE Catholic Church has saved hundreds of millions of dollars through its Melbourne Response complaints system, but it has been a very poor result for clergy abuse victims, a father whose two daughters were abused says.

More than 300 victims of clergy abuse have made complaints through the Melbourne-based process, with the majority of those complaints upheld, the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse heard on Tuesday.

Victims’ payments were initially capped at $50,000 under the system, but have now increased to $75,000.

But many victims have criticised the response, which was set up by Cardinal George Pell when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, saying the money is inadequate.

Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were raped by a priest, said the system had saved the Catholic Church in Melbourne at least $250 million, but had failed victims.

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SCOTLAND
Instinct

Written by Nigel Campbell | Monday, 29 April 2013

It appears that no action will be taken by the Vatican with regards to Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s sexual misconduct with four priests (those are just the ones that we know of).

Now that O’Brien’s admitted to “unbecoming” sexual conduct, the Vatican sees no point in pursuing an investigation–or at the very least punishing him for his blatant hypocrisy as he vocally advocated against the rights of homosexuals while getting his rocks off with men in the rectory.

Shocking. (Not shocking.)

More after the jump.

Scotland on Sunday writes:

The Vatican is expected to take no further action against Cardinal Keith O’Brien after he admitted having sexual relations with four priests and a seminarian.

The Archbishop of St Andr­ews and Edinburgh was forced by Pope Benedict XVI to step down in February after admitting that “my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, an archbishop and a cardinal”.

However, Scotland on Sunday has learned that there is no active investigation into his behaviour and that the Vatican is only keeping a loose “watching brief” on his case. O’Brien is also unlikely to be asked to give up his rank as a cardinal unless the new Pope decides to confer the traditional red hat on another senior Scottish catholic.

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UXBRIDGE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
susan.spencer@telegram.com

UXBRIDGE — Two men affiliated with the Church of the End Times, a nondenominational church at 19 Industrial Drive that has been the subject of controversy over the past year, were in Uxbridge District Court recently on separate charges.

Dennis H. Stanley, 36, of 41 Murphy’s Way was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of violating an abuse prevention order obtained by his estranged wife, Beth Ellen Merrill Stanley. He was released on personal recognizance.

Mr. Stanley, who co-founded the church with his brother David H. Stanley, 51 Murphy’s Way, and owns the Driveways Corp. paving business with his brother, located at the same address as the church, is prohibited from coming within 100 yards of Ms. Stanley or their home until the order expires Oct. 4.

According to court documents, neighbor Susan Dalpe filed a statement and photographs with police indicating that she saw Dennis Stanley enter and exit his brother David’s house, which is less than 100 yards from Ms. Stanley’s house, on April 14.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

An advocacy group for victims of pedophile priests wants Catholic bishops to force priests who are removed from ministry because of abuse allegations to be confined in residential treatment centers.

But a spokesman for the Joliet Diocese said that would be an exercise of authority that a bishop does not have over such priests.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter
10:22 p.m. CDT, April 29, 2013

Unable to get restitution in federal bankruptcy court, 31 Chicago-area men have filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, accusing the Congregation of Christian Brothers of putting them in harm’s way decades ago.

In three lawsuits filed Friday, plaintiffs accuse the religious order of allowing teachers to abuse them decades ago at Brother Rice, Leo and St. Laurence high schools.

More than half of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim they were sexually abused by a member of the order who was later convicted in Washington state of indecent behavior. According to the lawsuit, the religious order knowingly shuffled that brother to each of the three schools because of the allegations against him. One principal recommended the accused brother to a public school system in Washington.

Of the 15 men who allege abuse at Leo High School, a dozen claim they were sexually abused between 1969 and 1973 by the brother. Of nine men at St. Laurence High School between 1961 and 1996, three point to the brother. Of eight men who filed claims against Brother Rice for allegations between 1962 and 1984, one accuses the brother.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

netzwerkB Pressemitteilung 29.04.2013

Bezüglich der jüngsten Diskussionen im Justizministerium nehmen wir Bezug zur Ablehnung einer Untersuchungskommission der Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP), s. unter:

[Evangelisch]

Eine Untersuchungskommission muss auch den Opfern Nutzen bringen. Die Idee einer zentralen Erfassung finden wir gut. Wir wissen, dass es ähnliches in Australien, in den Niederlanden und in Irland gibt. Wenn eine solche zentrale Erfassung stattfindet, muss es den Betroffenen wirklich etwas bringen. So fragen wir uns dann auch, was aus tausenden von Anrufen, Briefen und E-Mails bei der Missbrauchsbeauftragten Bergmann und der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz geworden ist. Wir stellen fest nichts. Die Kommission muss auch Befugnisse haben, die Betroffenen juristisch dabei zu unterstützen und strafrechtliche Ermittlungen durch die Landeskriminalämter zu ermöglichen. Die Weitergabe von Daten an die Gerichte in Schadensersatzverfahren muss in irgendeiner Weise möglich sein. Akten müssen eingezogen werden können. Eine Verlade wie im Fall von Prof. Pfeiffer darf nicht stattfinden. Die Opfer müssen dabei Unterstützung finden, dass ihre gesundheitlichen Schäden von Traumata, PTBS und Spätfolgen anerkannt und angemessen entschädigt werden.

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UNITED STATES
Bangor Daily News

By Bill Lowenstein, Special to the BDN

Posted April 24, 2013

We are survivors, too.

Historically, those of us who are male survivors of sexual victimization are often an unrecognized, underserved and unmentioned population when the issue of sexual assault is discussed. Many of us do not even recognize or understand that we may have been victimized. Yet one in five males will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, many of us before the age of 16.

The harmful impact of the sexual victimization of males is felt daily by all of us — in our families, communities and workplaces. It is often the unspoken, unrecognized and untreated issue when we are dealing with the problems of addiction, mental health, physical health, relationship issues, domestic violence, anger management, criminal behavior and many other issues that impact boys and men. Yet many male survivors do not know there are resources available to help them recover, nor do they feel safe talking about the impact sexual victimization has had on them.

I believe we all need to work harder to create a safe climate and culture for male sexual assault survivors. It is time for us to look at sexual assault and victimization as a gender-neutral issue. All survivors of sexual victimization are in need of quality services to assist them in their recovery regardless of their gender or age.

We have done a good job promoting awareness of the issue of sexual victimization of females for many years. Yet we still have great strides to go in promoting the same awareness, understanding and availability of resources to men and boys. We need to take what we have learned from those efforts, expand it and apply it to our male population as well.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig stößt in der Bundesregierung mit seiner Forderung nach einer unabhängigen Kommission zur Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsskandale auf Ablehnung.

29.04.2013 | epd

Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) sagte dem Evangelischen Pressedienst (epd) in Berlin, der Runde Tisch gegen sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch habe sich bereits intensiv mit der Aufarbeitung befasst und gute Ergebnisse im Interesse der Opfer erzielt.

“Was wir jetzt brauchen, ist nicht eine neue Kommission, sondern eine rasche Umsetzung”, sagte die Ministerin, die gemeinsam mit Familienministerin Kristina Schröder und der damaligen Bildungsministerin Annette Schavan (beide CDU) den Runden Tisch geleitet hatte. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger erklärte, sie habe sich dafür eingesetzt, dass die Verjährungsfristen für zivilrechtliche Schadenersatzansprüche auf 30 Jahre erhöht werden. Das Gesetz, das der Bundestag bereits verabschiedet hat, soll am Freitag vom Bundesrat beschlossen werden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
hpd

BERLIN. (hpd) Das Kriminologische Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN) veröffentlichte Anfang April das Ergebnis einer Studie zum Thema “Christliche Religiosität und elterliche Gewalt”. Wichtigstes Ergebnis: In evangelikalen Familien werden Kinder sehr viel häufiger geschlagen als in katholischen oder evangelischen. Das ist aber nicht alles.

Als Nebenergebnis wird erwähnt, dass sich in katholischen und evangelischen Familien eine intensivere Religiosität eher hemmend auf die Gewalttätigkeit der Eltern auswirkt. Doch die Zahlen sprechen eine andere Sprache.

Das Forschungsinstitut konstatiert: “In katholischen Familien, in denen die Eltern keine Akademiker sind und in denen ein nicht religiöses Elternhaus vorliegt, berichten 14,3 % der Befragten von schwerer elterlicher Gewalt; in Familien, in denen das Elternhaus sehr religiös ist, liegt der Anteil bei 11,8 %. Mit zunehmender Religiosität geht die Erfahrung schwerer elterlicher Gewalt in katholischen Familien also leicht zurück.” (S. 7)

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

A Catholic priest once accused of molesting a child 10 years ago should not have been allowed to be involved in youth ministry at a Colts Neck church, Bishop David M. O’Connell said Monday.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, was convicted in 2003 of criminal sexual contact involving a boy in New Jersey. It was overturned by an appeals court and the priest eventually entered a pretrial intervention program. Fugee recently spent time working with minors in weekend youth retreats and heard confessions at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Colts Neck. But he never had permission to do so, according to O’Connell, the bishop with the Diocese of Trenton, who issued a statement Monday.

“Father Fugee had been given no permission to exercise ministry there by the diocese nor had he filed the letter of suitability required of all priests outside of the diocese with the chancery,” said O’Connell in the statement. “The diocese had no knowledge of his activity prior to this time.”

O’Connell said he immediately contacted the pastor of the parish and indicated that Fugee may not exercise ministry there, including any ministry involving youths. O’Connell then contacted officials in the Archdiocese of Newark to inform them of Fugee’s activities.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Patrick Caruana and Daniel Fogarty, AAP
Updated April 30, 2013

The commissioners in charge of investigating claims of child abuse in the Catholic Church in Melbourne deny they have helped cover up crimes.

They say senior Victoria Police officers are “plainly wrong” for attacking the church’s Melbourne-based complaints system for not reporting abuse cases.

Melbourne Response independent commissioners Peter O’Callaghan QC and Jeff Gleeson SC deny they are trying to protect the church.

Mr Gleeson said both men were disgusted at being accused of being involved in a cover-up in evidence before a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The lawyer who runs a complaints system for the Catholic Church in Melbourne has criticised police evidence to the Victorian child sexual abuse inquiry.

Police allege Peter O’Callaghan QC tipped off a member of the clergy who he knew was under investigation by police.

Mr O’Callaghan has told the inquiry that is not true and says the police submission to the inquiry was a farce.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
April 30, 2013

THE commissioners in charge of handling Melbourne abuse complaints against the Catholic Church deny they helped conceal crimes from police.

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry has also heard the Catholic Church’s insurer has paid out about $30 million in compensation to 600 Victorian victims of child abuse.

The independent commissioners in charge of the church’s Melbourne-based complaints system, Peter O’Callaghan QC and Jeff Gleeson SC, deny they are trying to protect the church.

Mr Gleeson said both men were appalled at the suggestion they had been involved in a cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

[with audio]

ELEANOR HALL: The man in charge of Melbourne Catholic Church’s response to child abuse had denied that he discouraged those who came forward with complaints to contact police.

The independent commissioner of the church’s Melbourne Response also told the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry that the church did not interfere with a police investigation into child abuse by tipping off a member of the clergy who was under investigation.

Rachel Carbonell has been at the hearing this morning and filed this report.

RACHEL CARBONELL: The Melbourne Response is the Catholic Church’s complaints system in Melbourne, which deals with allegations of abuse.

Barrister Peter O’Callaghan has been the lawyer in charge of that system since it was set up in the mid-1990s.

In evidence to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child abuse this morning Peter O’Callaghan began by defending himself against police criticism of his conduct which was given to the inquiry last year.

In the police submission it was suggested the church never referred complaints to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Danny Morgan and Rachel Carbonnell, ABC
Updated April 30, 2013

The insurers of the Catholic Church say they have paid out $30 million to about 600 victims of child sexual abuse in Victoria.

The church’s insurance arm, Catholic Church Insurance (CCI), has appeared before the Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse.

The payments relate to abuses committed mainly in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.

A submission by the insurance group’s chief executive officer, Peter Rush, states the CCI paid compensation and the cost of counselling.

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WYOMING
Laramie Boomerang

By The Associated Press • Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that a Colorado woman had filed against a Roman Catholic church in Casper.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson on Monday dismissed the lawsuit against St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, the Diocese of Cheyenne and individual church officials.

In the lawsuit the woman filed last year, she alleged a deacon had imposed a sexual relationship on her after she went to him for bereavement counseling. The lawsuit claimed the consensual sexual relationship started in 2007 and continued until 2008.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

Catholic Church Insurance has told the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse that since the early 1990s it has paid out about 600 abuse claims at a cost of $30 million. It admitted to the inquiry that in the past it may have given advice to the church not to admit anything when dealing with abuse claims.

Transcript

TIM PALMER: Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into the institutional handling of child sexual abuse today turned its attention to the way the Catholic Church handled claims of abuse made to it.

The church’s insurer, Catholic Church Insurance, told the inquiry it has paid out $30 million on 600 claims from victims of child abuse in Victoria. It went on to detail how it refused to indemnify a number of clergymen because the church knew of their propensity to sexually abuse children.

Rachel Carbonell reports.

RACHEL CARBONELL: It’s been two days of evidence from orders and organisations of the Catholic Church at the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse.

This afternoon it was the Catholic Church Insurance’s turn to answer questions from the committee.

Chief executive Peter Rush told the inquiry that it had paid out claims and cost of counselling to about 600 victims, at a cost of $30 million.

Mr Rush told the inquiry he didn’t believe the church structured itself to avoid paying out compensation.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Daily Mail

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A local pastor is behind bars for allegedly sexually abusing a young female family member over a period of several years.

Jonnie Franklin Winnell, 59, of Gypsum Lane in Elkview, is being held at South Central Regional Jail on a $20,000 property bond, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office.

Winnell was charged Friday with three counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian and/or a custodian.

Winnell is a pastor at United Gospel Mission on Charleston’s West Side, according to WCHS-TV.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WSAZ

[with video]

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A congregation is in shock after their pastor was arrested and charged with three counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian.

“[The church] is in limbo, don’t know what we’re going to do,” said a member of the United Gospel Mission who asked not to be identified because of the nature of the crimes.

Deputies from the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office tell WSAZ.com that Johnnie Franklin Winnell of Gypsum Lane in Elkview confessed Friday to abusing the young girl. Capt. Sean Crosier said the abuse happened during several years.

Neighbor Patricia Strickland says she’d never imagine the man she’s lived beside for 20 years could do such things. She said her young granddaughter even plays at Winnell’s house and, while she trusts him, she feared the worst when she heard the news.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

[with video]

COLTS NECK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Parents and teens at a Monmouth County Roman Catholic church were shocked Monday, after learning that a priest who attended overnight teen retreats was once accused of sexual abuse.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, a Newark Archdiocese priest, was convicted in 2003 of molesting a boy. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court, CBS 2’s Lou Young reported.

But Fugee’s past was not known while he was attending overnight teen retreats, parents and teens at St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck said.

“I’m upset that I wasn’t told, and I’m upset that they’re lying about it,” said youth group member Samara Franklin.

Fugee, 52, entered into an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to avoid retrial on the abuse conviction after the groping incident six years ago. The agreement required Fugee, 52, never again to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger

on April 30, 2013

Amid calls for a Vatican investigation, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers came under fierce criticism Monday for his handling of a priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

At the Monmouth County church where the Rev. Michael Fugee had been spending time with a youth group, angry parishioners said they were never told about Fugee’s background and they questioned Myers’ defense of the priest, the subject of a lengthy story in the Sunday Star-Ledger.

“It’s complete craziness that the church can let this happen,” said John Santulli, 38, a father of two at St. Mary Parish in Colts Neck. “I’m a softball coach, and I need a background check just to get on the field. Every single person I spoke to today said, ‘Oh my God. I didn’t know about this.’ It’s incomprehensible.”

Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell, who previously said Fugee was operating in the diocese without his knowledge or permission, has ordered the pastor of St. Mary to bar the priest from any church activities, a spokeswoman said in a statement Monday.

The bishop of Paterson, Arthur Serratelli, has likewise said Fugee was on a retreat at Lake Hopatcong without permission.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Ralph Cipriano | Apr. 29, 2013

Analysis

Philadelphia —
On Jan. 17, a former priest named Edward V. Avery was sworn in as a witness in a Philadelphia courtroom. The man once known as the “smiling padre” was dressed in an ill-fitting baby-blue prison uniform and was missing his usual toupee.

What Avery had to say would stun courtroom observers and enrage a prosecutor.

Avery had been in jail nearly a year since March 22, 2012, when he pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and to conspiring with Msgr. William J. Lynn, the Philadelphia archdiocese’s former secretary for clergy, to endanger the welfare of a child. The victim of both crimes was a former 10-year-old altar boy identified in a 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report as “Billy Doe.”

The prosecutor who called Avery as a witness asked a simple question that nobody had bothered to ask the year before, when the former priest pleaded guilty: Did you do it?

In a calm voice, Avery said he had never touched Billy Doe.

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PENNSYLVANIA
YouTube

On April 24, 2013, Channel 11 in Pittsburgh aired this news story regarding Archabbot Douglas Nowicki from Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (USA). More information is available at http://www.MisconductinLatrobe.com

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ARGENTINA
Terra

Justicia ordena a obispado argentino indemnizar a víctima de cura pedófilo

La justicia argentina ordenó al Obispado de Quilmes, cercano a la capital, a indemnizar en unos 30.000 dólares a un joven víctima de abuso sexual por parte de un cura, fallecido a causa de sida, según un fallo difundido este lunes y al que accedió la AFP.

El fallo dictado el 9 de abril por un tribunal de segunda instancia de Quilmes, un municipio en la periferia sur de Buenos Aires, se conoce luego de que el papa Francisco, nacido en Argentina, recomendara “actuar con determinación” y a ayudar a los que han sido víctimas en el pasado de abusos sexuales, en alusión a las cientos de denuncias en todo el mundo contra curas pederastas.

“Es histórico, la institución nunca antes tuvo que pagar una condena por estos actos. Me da tranquilidad y mucho consuelo y me alegra que pueda servir para que otras víctimas sepan que la Iglesia no se va a poder manejar con la misma impunidad “, se congratuló la víctima en el diario Página/12.

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ARGENTINA
La Nacion

Luego de un histórico fallo de la Cámara de Apelaciones de Quilmes, que condena al obispado de ese distrito a pagar una indemnización de 155 mil pesos a un joven abusado por un cura, el joven denunciante pidió hoy que las personas que sufran hechos similares se presenten en la Justicia, porque “callarlo es tener complicidad”, y denunció que en Córdoba existen “curas que siguen abusando de menores”.

“Nos interesaba que el fallo sea favorable porque sienta un precedente importantísimo para otras causas similares, para que otras víctimas puedan tener otro fallo favorable y puedan tener justicia”, resaltó la víctima, de nombre Gabriel, en declaraciones al canal Todo Noticias (TN) en la ciudad bonaerense de Berazategui.

Fallo histórico

La Cámara de Apelaciones de Quilmes ratificó en los últimos días la sentencia del Juzgado Civil y Comercial N2, que condena al Obispado de ese distrito por el delito de pedofilia y lo obliga a pagar una indemnización superior a los 155 mil pesos, tras diez años de batalla judicial de Beatriz Varela, la madre de la víctima.

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ARGENTINA
GlobalPost

An Argentina court ordered a bishop from a town outside Buenos Aires to pay damages of $30,000 plus ten years’ interest to a priest sex abuse victim, according to the ruling released Monday.

The appeals court ruling, handed down on April 9, came just days after Pope Francis, originally from Argentina, told Vatican disciplinarians to act “with determination” against the scourge of pedophile priests.

In Francis’s first official pronouncement, the newly elected pontiff asked for “stepped-up measures to protect minors and help those who were subjected to such violence in the past.”

The bishop, Luis Stockler, was ordered to pay $24,500 to the victim and $5,340 to his mother for “psychological” and other damages for the abuse — which was committed by a priest he supervised — in 2002.

The priest died of AIDS in 2005.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on April 29, 2013

An influential Wisconsin priest who advocates for victims of sexual abuse has called on the Vatican to investigate whether Newark Archbishop John J. Myers violated canon law in his handling of a clergyman who continues to work with minors despite a lifetime ban.

The Rev. James Connell, the former vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, aired his concerns in a letter he emailed this morning to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that has dealt with allegations of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

Connell, a canon lawyer, wrote the letter after reading a Sunday Star-Ledger story about the Rev. Michael Fugee, who is barred from working with minors under a 2007 agreement with law enforcement.

The newspaper found that Fugee, with the approval of Myers, continued to engage children through an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church, St. Mary Parish in Colts Neck. Fugee, who is friends with the church’s youth ministers, has attended retreats with the youth group, traveled with teens to Canada and heard the confessions of minors behind closed doors.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Ray Rossi
April 29, 2013

You may remember some months ago, I questioned the decision made by the Archbishop of Newark, John Myers, to elevate Father Michael Fugee to the position of co-director of the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests.

This was done in the wake of a report detailing the molestation past of the priest, and the subsequent disposition of the case, in which he was allowed to enter pre trial intervention, counseling for sex offenders; and allowed to sign an agreement never to work in any capacity with children.

At the time I felt it was a “sweet” deal not only to have been dealt with as an abuser, but to then be given a lofty administrative position within the church.

Some might call that “business as usual”, given the church’s penchant for hiding priests charged with sexual abuse of minors.

Sad but true, especially in light of the church’s recent history.

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AUSTRALIA
Neos Cosmos

29 Apr 2013

Helen Velissaris

Archbishop Stylianos has revealed the Greek Orthodox Church is not immune to child sex abuse cases a week after the Church fronted the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on the issue denying culpability.

The Archbishop believes that no religious organisation is immune, as the pattern of abuse isn’t an organisational problem, but a human one.

“Religious organisations, which consist of human beings, even as clergymen, can never be regarded in advance as immune of such criminal acts,” he told Neos Kosmos.

At the inquiry, Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis denied there were any cases of child sex abuse by Greek orthodox clergyman in Victoria and affirmed there were no attempts at cover up or “sweep under the carpet anything serious”.

But, as The Age reported this week, the Bishop “misled” the inquiry, saying there is at least one case where a priest has been charged for indecently assaulting a minor.

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SCOTLAND
STV

A former pupil at an approved school told a court a nun hit her repeatedly with a carpet beater.

Kathleen Humphries claimed that she had been battered by Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, while at the facility in Renfrewshire.

Kenny and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, deny assaulting eight girls at Dalbeth Approved School in Bishopton in the 1970s.

On Monday, the jury at Paisley Sheriff Court heard from 56-year-old Ms Humphries.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Maryland Province Jesuit ordained in 1969, Bradley was first removed from ministry in 1993 after accusations surfaced that he had engaged in “sexual misconduct” with three people, including two 15 year-old boys and a woman. He was sent to treatment and returned to ministry in 1995. In 2006 Bradley was again accused, this time of sexual misconduct with an adult male during the early 1980s. As a result of this and four other credible allegations involving minors and adults over the course of three decades, he was again removed from ministry. Subsequently five more people came forward, several with reports that Bradley had engaged in sexual misconduct with minors in the 1960s and ’70s at Gonzaga College High School, where he spent much of his career pre and post-ordination. Others complained that he had made inappropriate sexual comments involving a student and staff member at St. Joseph’s University, where he worked in the late 1990s and until his removal in 2006. In addition to his time in Washington DC, Bradley’s career took him to India, Chile, Baltimore MD, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In 2007 Bradley was said to be living under supervision in a Jesuit community on the East Coast.

Ordained: 1969

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MENDHAM (NJ)
NJ.com

By Brendan Kuty/NJ.com

on April 29, 2013

MENDHAM — The next person who tries destroying a memorial at St. Joseph’s Church honoring victims of clergy child sex abuse will be in for a big surprise, according to The Rev. Joseph Angiolini.

“They’re going to get scared out of their wits,” he said.

Security cameras now overlook the 400-pound millstone statue that was vandalized in early March — the second time it was attacked in two years — Angiolini said. He also said a motion-activated light will flip on when someone approaches the memorial at night.

Angiolini’s remarks came at a rededication of the memorial Sunday afternoon. About 75 people attended the ceremony, which featured speeches from Assistant District Attorney of New York Jill Starishevsky and Angel Rose, founder of nonprofit Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, or PAVE.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Annika Smethurst
From:Herald Sun
April 30, 2013

THE Ballarat Diocese has admitted it destroyed documents detailing accusations of paedophilia and moved offending priests to new parishes despite more than 100 case of sexual abuse, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Former Ballarat bishop Peter Connors said the church had effectively facilitated sexual offences against children by placing one of Australia’s worst child predators, Gerald Ridsdale, in positions that enabled him to abuse.

The inquiry heard that evidence of Ridsdale’s offences first surfaced in 1975 yet he continued to be protected by the church.

Deputy chairman of the Victorian inquiry, MP Frank McGuire, asked the Bishop of Ballarat, Paul Bird, why Ridsdale wasn’t reported to police.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Topics:sexual-offences, community-and-society, child-abuse, human-interest, law-crime-and-justice, religious-leaders, ballarat-3350, australia

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: A Catholic Church order has told the Victorian Parliament inquiry into the abuse of children by organisations that at one stage up to 25 per cent of its members were accused of sexual abuse

The inquiry heard from the St. John of God Brothers, the Salesians and the Diocese of Ballarat.

Both the Bishop of Ballarat and his predecessor admitted that the decision to allow a known abuser to continue to have access to children had tragic consequences

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: Many victims and their supporters saw today as a potential indication of how the Catholic Church will handle the Royal Commission into sexual abuse.

The St. John of God Brothers told the inquiry that of the 60 members who’d served in Victoria since the 1950s, 15 had been accused of abusing those in their care.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

–blast Joliet’s top Catholic official for letting a suspended predator priest live and work freely among unsuspecting Kentucky families,
–urge Chicago’s top Catholic official to disclose where dozens of local suspended predator priests now live, and
–prod both prelates to put all their child molesting clerics in secure treatment centers away from children.

They will also ask Chicago’s Cardinal George to help oust Joliet’s Bishop Conlon from his post as head of the US bishops’ child sex abuse committee.

WHEN
Monday, April, 29, at 2:30 p.m.

WHO
Three-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis man who is the group’s long time executive director

WHERE
Outside the Chicago Archdiocese headquarters, Archbishop Quigley Center, 835 N. Rush Street, Chicago, IL

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AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

Janet Fife-Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph
April 29, 2013

ONLY three of the 238 men convicted of having sex with a child under 10 in the past decade have been jailed for what the government has set as a standard minimum term of 15 years.

One man who raped a child was behind bars for as little as nine months.

The shocking truth of such lenient sentences is revealed as The Daily Telegraph launches a campaign to force judges to do what the community expects through setting mandatory minimum terms for all sex crimes against children.

Angry child protection advocates and victims groups say that judges should not be free to ignore the standard non-parole periods set as guidelines for paedophiles and others who possess child pornography.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

[with video]

By Rachel Carbonell

A Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse hears a bishop allowed a known paedophile priest to continue working.

A Victorian Inquiry into child sexual abuse has heard the former Bishop of Ballarat made a terrible mistake by allowing a known paedophile priest to continue working.

Father Gerald Ridsdale was convicted and jailed for child sexual abuse in 1993 and again in 2006.

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse has been told that by 1975 representatives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ballarat, in Western Victoria, had solid evidence of his crimes but he was not removed from his duties and was instead moved onto other parishes.

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SCOTLAND
Evening Times

DETECTIVES are investigating historical claims of abuse made against two priests.

It came after a father-of-two claimed a priest raped him at one of Scotland’s holiest Catholic sites, Carfin Grotto, near Motherwell in North Lanarkshire.

Pat McEwan, now 63, waived his right to anonymity to speak out about the alleged abuse.

He says the alleged sex attack happened when he was a young boy and claimed it was one of many he suffered at the hands of a group of priests in the west of Scotland.

He said he had visited the grotto, a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, with his mum and sister to visit a senior priest.

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OSTERREICH
Tammoxsche Gedanken II

Einer der erstaunlichsten Aspekte des sexuellen Kindermissbrauchs der Katholischen Kirche ist die Unverfrorenheit, mit der Topkleriker wie der Salzburger Weihbischof Andreas Laun erklärten man haben ja vor 2010 gar nichts dagegen unternehmen KÖNNEN, weil man es ja gar nicht gewußt hätte. So etwas habe man sich noch nicht einmal vorstellen können.

Sprachs und kam ohne Rüge davon.

Daß seit vielen Jahren Politmagazine und zahlreiche Blogger von diesen Fällen berichtet hatten, daß die Kirche dies sehr wohl gewußt haben MUSS, da sie anwaltlich gegen die Opfer ihrer kinderfickenden Priester vorgegangen war, zahlreiche Schweigevereinbarungen getroffen und unzählige Pädophile in ihren Reihen wegen ihrer „Veranlagung“ munter von Pfarrei zu Pfarrei versetzt hatte, störte den Bischof nicht.

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BELGIEN
BRF

Kay Wagner

Kindesmisshandlungen in katholischen Bildungseinrichtungen sollen in einer wissenschaftlichen Studie aufgearbeitet werden. Dafür bildet sich in Flandern zurzeit eine breite Mehrheit.

Auslöser für die neu entfachte Debatte um Missbrauch in katholischen Internaten und Heimen ist ein Bericht in der Tageszeitung De Standaard vom vergangenen Samstag. Die Leitung des katholischen Bildungswesens signalisiert Unterstützung für die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Von Katja Tichomirowa

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig spricht im Interview über die Arbeit des Runden Tisches Kindesmissbrauch, die finanzielle Hilfe für die Opfer und über die Pläne eine unabhängige Untersuchungskommission einzurichten.

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig ist seit 2011 Unabhängiger Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs. Er setzt sich für eine unabhängige Untersuchungskommission ein, die das Thema umfassend nachhaltig aufarbeiten soll.

Herr Rörig, was ist seit der Vorlage des Abschlussberichts des Runden Tisch Kindesmissbrauch im Jahr 2011 erreicht worden?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Von Katja Tichomirowa

Vor zwei Jahren hat der Runde Tisch Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch seine Arbeit abgeschlossen. Doch die Aufklärung ist ins Stocken geraten. Die Opfer wollen eine neue Aufarbeitungskommission. Am Dienstag werden sie erstmals über die Forderung beraten.

Matthias Katsch ist ein wunderbarer Gesprächspartner, souverän, wortgewandt und ein aufmerksamer Zuhörer. Sprechen hilft, sagt er, und dass er sich einmal entschieden hat, es zu tun, hat sein Leben verändert.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig stößt in der Bundesregierung mit seiner Forderung nach einer unabhängigen Kommission zur Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsskandale auf Ablehnung.

29.04.2013 | epd

Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) sagte dem Evangelischen Pressedienst (epd) in Berlin, der Runde Tisch gegen sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch habe sich bereits intensiv mit der Aufarbeitung befasst und gute Ergebnisse im Interesse der Opfer erzielt.

“Was wir jetzt brauchen, ist nicht eine neue Kommission, sondern eine rasche Umsetzung”, sagte die Ministerin, die gemeinsam mit Familienministerin Kristina Schröder und der damaligen Bildungsministerin Annette Schavan (beide CDU) den Runden Tisch geleitet hatte. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger erklärte, sie habe sich dafür eingesetzt, dass die Verjährungsfristen für zivilrechtliche Schadenersatzansprüche auf 30 Jahre erhöht werden. Das Gesetz, das der Bundestag bereits verabschiedet hat, soll am Freitag vom Bundesrat beschlossen werden.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

IF anything, the evidence provided to the state inquiry into institutionalised child abuse yesterday confirmed much of what has long been suspected about the handling of offenders in the Catholic Church.

The necessary knowledge and understanding about taking actions and informing authorities about abuse was simply not understood by church leaders.

The major failings of those presented with information about abuse was that they could not, or refused to, put the victims’ needs ahead of the perpetrators.

A serious example – that of the church’s handling of convicted paedophile Gerard Ridsdale – was laid bare on the public record yesterday.

According to recently appointed Bishop of Ballarat Paul Bird: “Dismissal was not the first option. They (paedophile priests) would go to be treated to correct the behaviour, which proved to be a terrible mistake with tragic consequences. Gerald Ridsdale should have been taken out of the ministry.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Rachel Carbonell

A Victorian Inquiry into child sexual abuse has heard the former Bishop of Ballarat made a terrible mistake by allowing a known paedophile priest to continue working.

Father Gerald Ridsdale was convicted and jailed for child sexual abuse in 1993 and again in 2006.

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse has been told that by 1975 representatives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ballarat, in Western Victoria, had solid evidence of his crimes but he was not removed from his duties and was instead moved onto other parishes.

The inquiry heard that the bishop in charge of the Ballarat diocese during the time that Ridsdale worked there, Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, was not fit to front the inquiry because he had suffered a stroke and now had poor memory.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Victorian Parliamentary inquiry in to abuse today heard from church elders about their handling of the issue.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Relatives and victims of countless cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church have waited years to hear the Church’s leaders explain their handling of the scandal.

Today, Church elders finally stepped up to faced questions at a parliamentary inquiry in Victoria.

Among them were the leaders of the Ballarat Diocese, where there’ve been 116 substantiated cases of abuse, 67 of them committed by a single priest. There’ve also been up to 50 suicides as a result.

This afternoon, the Ballarat Diocese revealed that not one of these cases was reported to police and victims groups remain outraged as they await the Federal Government’s Royal Commission.

National affairs correspondent Heather Ewart reports.

HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: The Catholic diocese of Ballarat is where some of the worst sexual abuse exposed within the Catholic Church took place. From at least the 1970s onwards, we now know more than 100 children were abused there by Catholic clergy. Up to 50 of those victims have since committed suicide.

STEPHEN WOODS (2011): The sheer number of victims and the sheer amount of assaults and rapes that went on is just hideous.

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UNITED STATES
AlterNet

Mother Theresa’s Masochism: Does Religion Demand Suffering to Keep People Passive?

Passive acceptance or even glorification of suffering can be adaptive when people have no choice. But why does so much religion — particularly Catholicism — fetishize pain?

April 28, 2013 |

With a new Pope at the helm, the Catholic hierarchy has set about to polish its tarnished image. Can an increased focus on the poor make up for the Church’s opposition to contraception and marriage equality or its sordid financial and sexual affairs? The Bishops can only hope. And pray. And perhaps accelerate the sainthood of Agnes Gonxha, better known as Mother Teresa.

In the last century, no one icon has improved the Catholic brand as much as the small woman who founded the Missionaries of Charity, whose image aligns beautifully with that of the new pope. In March a team of Canadian researchers noted the opportunity: “What could be better than beatification followed by canonization of [Mother Teresa] to revitalize the Church and inspire the faithful, especially at a time when churches are empty and the Roman authority is in decline?”

The question, however, was more than a little ironic. The team of academics from the Universities of Montreal and Ottawa set out to do research on altruism. In the process, they reviewed over 500 documents about Mother Teresa’s life and compiled an array of disturbing details about the soon-to-be saint, including dubious political connections and questionable management of funds—and, in particular, an attitude toward suffering that could give pause to even her biggest fans. …

Mother Teresa’s outlook on suffering played out in her order’s homes for the sick and dying, which doctors have described as deficient in hygiene, care, nutrition, and painkillers. Miami resident Hemley Gonzalez was so shocked by his volunteer experience that he has founded an accountable charity to provide better care. “Needles were washed in cold water and reused and expired medicines were given to the inmates. There were people who had chance to live if given proper care,” . . . “I have decided to go back to Kolkata to start a charity that will be called ‘Responsible Charity.’ Each donation will be made public and professional medical help will be given,” Gonzalez said after returning to the U.S. He also launched a Facebook page called, “Stop the Missionaries of Charity.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

By Chris Clements

A FATHER of two has told how a priest raped him at the famous Carfin Grotto shrine when he was eight.

Pat McEwan, 63, said that after the attack, his abuser told him: “Stop crying. Be a soldier of Christ. God doesn’t like boys who cry.”

Pat says the sex attack was one of many he suffered in three years of hell at the hands of a group of priests at addresses in the west of Scotland.

He believes he was the victim of a paedophile ring. It’s alleged senior clergy were involved.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Salesian Catholic order has paid $2.06 million compensation to Victorian abuse victims, with complaints made against 14 priests, an inquiry has heard.

There have been a total of 49 complaints made against 14 priests of the Salesian order.

Of those, 37 payouts have been made, the Victorian child abuse inquiry heard on Monday.

Five priests from the order have been convicted of criminal offences.

The first abuse case came to the organisation’s attention in 1986, its provincial Greg Chambers said.

Father Chambers said two priests accused of abuse remained in the order, but said both were bound to domestic duties and had no exposure to children.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 29, 2013

Patrick Caruana and Daniel Fogarty
AAP

Two Catholic orders have denied colluding to protect pedophile members of the clergy, but say they accept some responsibility for the crimes committed.

One in four St John of God brothers and 14 priests of the Salesian order have been the subject of child abuse complaints in Victoria, a state parliamentary inquiry heard on Monday.

More than 100 abuse cases have been upheld in the Catholic Church’s Ballarat diocese alone since 1975. More than 60 per cent of them involved one offender, the defrocked priest Gerald Ridsdale – who has been convicted.

The bishop now in charge of Ballarat has admitted a predecessor made a “terrible mistake” in letting Ridsdale – one of Australia’s worst pedophiles – remain in the ministry after being alerted to a complaint as long ago as 1975.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

Catholic orders and organisations have begun giving evidence at the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse. The inquiry has heard of hundreds of cases of abuse against children dating back to the 50s by St John of God brothers and priests from the Salesian order and the Catholic diocese of Ballarat.

Transcript

TIM PALMER: Representatives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ballarat, in Western Victoria, have told the State’s Parliamentary Inquiry Into Child Abuse that allowing a known paedophile priest to continue working as a priest was a terrible mistake.

Father Gerald Ridsdale was convicted and jailed for child sexual abuse in 1993 and again in 2006.

The inquiry heard today that by 1975 there was solid evidence of his crimes but he wasn’t removed from his duties and was instead moved onto other parishes.

Today was the first day for Catholic orders and organisations to give evidence at the inquiry and reporter Rachel Carbonell was there.

RACHEL CARBONELL: Representatives from the St John of God Brothers, The Salesian Order and the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat were all questioned at the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse today.

The inquiry heard that the bishop in charge of the Ballarat diocese during the time that paedophile priest Father Gerald Ridsdale worked there, Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, was not before the inquiry because he had suffered a stroke and now had poor memory.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Pilot

April 27, 2013

A high school teacher who authorities said posed as a teenage girl and solicited nude photos from more than 100 boys has pleaded not guilty to 60 felony charges, court records show.

Zachary Reeder, 30, of Orange, pleaded not guilty Friday at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach to charges of using a minor for sex acts, distributing pornography to a minor, contacting a child with the intent to commit a lewd act, lewd acts upon a child, lewd acts upon a child under 14, possession and control of child pornography and distributing child pornography, according to prosecutors and court records.

Reeder was a history teacher at Servite High School in Anaheim at the time of the crimes, and previously worked as a history teacher at Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine where he also worked as an assistant walk-on baseball coach for four seasons, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on 29/04/2013

A man who says he was sexually abused by an Eastbourne vicar when he was just seven or eight has told a court he felt ‘terrible and disgusting’.

Gordon Rideout, a 74-year-old Church of England minister, has pleaded not guilty to 38 sexual offences against 18 young boys and girls, some as young as five.

Rideout lives in Filching Close, Polegate, and is currently on bail but standing trial at Lewes Crown Court.

Yesterday (Thursday, April 25), two men, both Barnados children in care during the 1960s, gave evidence at his trial and told the court Rideout had put his hands down their trousers.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By FIONA HENDERSON
April 29, 2013

QUESTIONS have been raised over the absence of former bishop Ronald Mulkearns from the inquiry into institutionalised child abuse being held today at Parliament House.

Current bishop Paul Bird says Bishop Mulkearns memory has been affected by a stroke.

However, committee member Frank McGuire says he should appear to explain why Father Gerald Ridsdale was moved around parishes, even when his offending was known.

In response to Mr McGuire asking if Bishop Mulkearns had “wilful blindness”, Bishop Bird said he had instead made “tragic mistakes” and was just following the accepted opinions of his time.

“Dismissal was not the first option,” Bishop Bird said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A Catholic bishop made a tragic mistake in letting now convicted pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale remain in the ministry, the current bishop for Ballarat says.

The Catholic Church knew about child abuse complaints against Father Ridsdale as early as 1975 but let him remain as a priest and moved him to other parishes, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Police told former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns of complaints against Ridsdale in 1975, but he was moved to other parishes, the inquiry was told.

Ridsdale should have been removed when a child abuse complaint was first made, current Ballarat bishop Paul Bird said.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

Many non-aboriginal Canadians remain all too ignorant of the shameful history of Canada’s residential schools, whose damaging legacy continues to be felt in aboriginal communities across the country.

The recent Montreal hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada are part of the process of moving forward, not only for those who choose to testify, but for all Canadians.

At these public hearings, which are being held in seven Canadian cities, survivors of the residential school system are getting an opportunity to recount their experiences.

Over the course of more than a century, tens of thousands of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were wrenched from their families and communities, and sent away to boarding schools run by religious groups and funded by the federal government. Though the schools were winding down by the 1970s, the last of them did not close until 1996.

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NEW JERSEY
PhillyBurbs

Associated Press

Advocates for victims of childhood sexual abuse have gathered to rededicate a monument in northern New Jersey that has been a target of vandalism.

Part of the millstone monument near St. Joseph Church in Mendham was destroyed last month for the second time in less than two years. But several survivors and family members rededicated the monument during a ceremony Sunday.

The original monument was dedicated in 2004, near the rectory that was home to a priest who was defrocked and admitted molesting about a dozen children at St. Joseph and other parishes.

In November 2011, police charged a 38-year-old man with using a sledgehammer to destroy the monument. It was rebuilt and dedicated last April.

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April 29, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age

Comments by the Catholic Church spokesman on child sexual abuse were inappropriate, disingenuous and possibly in contempt of Parliament, MP Frank McGuire said on Monday.

Mr McGuire, deputy chairman of the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse, said: “Before you’ve even come before the inquiry it looks as though the church is trying to minimise” the abuse problem.

Mr McGuire criticised the church for taking an umbrella approach to the inquiry but not when it came to compensation or remedies.

Criticising remarks by Father Shane McKinlay that clergy sexual abuse coincided with the social and moral collapse of the 1960s and ’70s, including an attempt to lower the age of consent to 12, Mr McGuire said: “Is the church going to try to blame society?”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

By Daniel Fogarty
AAP
April 29, 2013

THE former bishop of Ballarat made a “tragic mistake” by not removing one of Australia’s worst pedophiles when he first became aware of sexual abuse allegations against the priest, the current bishop of the diocese admits.

Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew about child abuse complaints against Father Gerald Ridsdale as early as 1975 but let him remain as a priest and moved him to other parishes, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Church records reveal 67 abuse complaints have been made against Risdale, who is currently in jail for sex offences.

The church admitted on Monday that it effectively facilitated abuse by allowing a known abuser to continue to have access to children.

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UNITED KINGDOM/IRELAND
The Irish Sun

EXCLUSIVE by MICHAEL DOYLE

Last Updated: 29th April 2013

A DEFROCKED priest accused of abusing at least 32 children has been arrested, the Irish Sun can reveal.

Vile Bill Carney, 63, was described by the Murphy Report into clerical abuse as one of the worst offenders.

He has been living in the UK for over 20 years after the Catholic Church booted him out in 1992 and was arrested by British cops in London in the past few days on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

He is due to appear in court this week where he will fight to avoid being returned here.

A source said: “He will appear in court in the coming days. He still denies any wrongdoing and is fighting his extradition.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A Catholic order that provided services for children with intellectual disabilities has denied it was infiltrated by predatory paedophiles.

The St John of God Brothers are the first of the Catholic orders to give evidence at the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child abuse.

The inquiry first heard this morning that 15 of 60 St John of God Brothers had complaints made against them in Victoria since the 1940s.

Brother Tim Graham says he has been horrified by the allegations and acknowledges there has been a systemic failure of scrutiny and accountability.

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MENDHAM (NJ)
CBS New York

MENDHAM, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Advocates for victims of child sexual abuse rededicated a monument in Morris County, N.J., Sunday that has twice been the target of vandalism.

The rededication ceremony for the monument outside St. Joseph Church in Mendham took place on Sunday afternoon.

Part of the millstone monument near St. Joseph Church in Mendham was destroyed last month for the second time in less than two years.

As WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported, the destroyed statue representing girl victims remained missing, and the boy figure remained heavily damaged, as of Sunday. But despite the second occurrence of vandalism, victims and families rededicated their efforts to crack down on child sex abuse.

“It takes all of us as a community to stand up,” said Mark Crawford, of the New Jersey Chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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MENDHAM (NJ)
Patch

By Russ Crespolini

The damage physical damage to the monument may not be repaired, but to those assembled outside of St. Joseph’s Church in Mendham Borough on Sunday, it hardly mattered.

The crowd was there for the third time to rededicate the memorial to child victims of clergy sex abuse that was destroyed twice in as many years. Fittingly, the ceremony was scheduled just before the close of April, which is sexual assault awareness month.

The third dedication of the monument focused on female victims of clergy sex abuse. Angela Rose of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment (PAVE), an organization dedicated to “shattering the silence of sexual violence,” traveled from Washington, DC to speak at the event. Rose was tweeting before the event started about the number of people assembled and described the day as “incredible.” New York City sex crimes prosecutor Jill Starishevsky, author of “My Body Belongs to Me,” also spoke.

The monument was designed and built as a memorial to the victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and was dedicated in 2004 at St. Joseph’s where James T. Hanley, a pastor who has been defrocked, admitted to molesting children decades ago.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Pope Emeritus will be leaving Castel Gandolfo in a few days and returning to the Vatican

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

Benedict XVI returns to the Vatican. He left the Holy See on 28 February, the last day of his pontificate, which ended officially on the evening of that same day, following his resignation. Unless there is last minute change of plan, the Pope Emeritus is expected to return to the Vatican on 1 May. The former cloistered monastery where the former Pope will be living, is now ready for him to move in. The monastery is a four story building, with communal areas and twelve monastic cells, a new wing measuring approximately 450 metres squared, a chapel, the cloistered nuns’ choir, a library, a gallery, an evergreen hedge, a heavy gate that separates the cloistered area from the other parts of the monastery and a large garden where peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, cabbages, lemons and oranges are grown.

Benedict XVI will be living with the four members of the “Memores Domini” association and his personal secretary, Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household. Others who are allowed to stay in the monastery are the Pope Emeritus’ brother and the German deacon who joined the small former “papal family” and assists Ratzinger when Fr. Georg is busy in the Apostolic Palace. The move will make Mgr. Gänswein’s life much easier as, up until now, he has had to go back and forth from Castel Gandolfo to the Vatican every day. It will also make it easier for Francis to visit his predecessor.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Tom Farmery

Cardinal Keith O’Brien will face no further action from the Vatican after his admission of having sexual relations with four priests and a seminarian.

It emerged yesterday that there is no longer an active investigation into his behaviour and that Rome views the matter as closed.

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NEW JERSEY
dotCommonweal

April 28, 2013, 6:04 pm

Posted by Lisa Fullam

This time in Newark, NJ. The bishop is Archbishop John Myers, and the offending priest is Michael Fugee, who admitted groping a 14 year-old boy 12 years ago. (He later recanted his confession, saying that he’d only confessed so he could go home sooner.) He was tried and convicted, but the conviction overturned on appeal based on inappropriate instructions to the jury. The appellate ruling did not question the validity of the confession. According to the NJ Star-Ledger, rather than re-try the case,

the prosecutor’s office allowed him to enter pre-trial intervention, a rehabilitation program for first offenders. At the same time, the prosecutor’s office secured an agreement that Fugee undergo counseling for sex offenders and have no unsupervised contact with children as long as he is a priest.

I infer that Fugee’s agreeing to this condition means that he, in effect, recants his recantation. Otherwise, it would be a serious infringement on his ministry. A later effort to have his record expunged was denied on grounds of public safety. Subsequently, Fugee has been assigned to significant posts in the Archdiocese. His latest post is co-director of the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests.

On the face of it, this is a good resolution. After all, this job would not seem to bring him into contact with children, which is the terms of his deal with legal authorities.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

The Baptist Church in Britain has been hit by a string of child sex abuse claims.

Seven men allege that they were raped as teenagers by a paedophile minister.

Their High Court writ is the first action against the UK church and legal sources say it could cost it millions of pounds.

The men claim they were abused by Reverend Robert Dando, 48, who was jailed for eight years in Virginia, US, in 2011 for molesting two boys between 1995 and 1999.

Dando had been in the US on overseas ­missions. After his arrest in 2011 he resigned as senior minister at Worcester Park Baptist church in south-west London.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Investigators have been questioning whether New Jersey priest once accused of child sexual abuse may have violated an order never again to work with children.

The Rev. Michael Fugee has had an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church for several years, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported. Parishioners said he has attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors behind closed doors.

Newark Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness said Fugee was unavailable for comment.

But Goodness said the archdiocese believes Fugee, 52, can work with minors if he is supervised by priests or lay ministers aware of his past and the agreement’s conditions.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By John Blake, CNN

(CNN) – An angry outburst at a mosque. The posting of a suspicious YouTube video. A friendship with a shadowy imam.

Those were just some of the signs that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, accused of masterminding the Boston Marathon bombings, had adopted a virulent strain of Islam that led to the deaths of four people and injury of more than 260.

But how else can you tell that someone’s religious beliefs have crossed the line? The answer may not be as simple you think, according to scholars who study all brands of religious extremism. The line between good and evil religion is thin, they say, and it’s easy to make self-righteous assumptions.

“When it’s something we like, we say it’s commitment to an idea; when it’s something we don’t like, we say it’s blind obedience,” said Douglas Jacobsen, a theology professor at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. …

4. The end justifies the means.

It was one of the biggest scandals the Roman Catholic Church ever faced, and the repercussions are still being felt today.

In January 2002, the Boston Globe published a story about Father John Geoghan, a priest who had been moved around various parishes after Catholic leaders learned that he had abused children. It was later revealed that Catholic officials had quietly paid at least $10 million to settle lawsuits against Geoghan.

Kimball says the Catholic scandal revealed another sign that a faith has turned toxic: Religious figures start justifying doing something wrong for a higher good.

“The common theme was trying to protect the integrity of the church,” Kimball said of some Catholic leaders who covered up the crimes. “You get all of these rationalizations that we can’t let this scandal bring the whole church down, so we have to pay off this family and send the priests off to rehab.”

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NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Gallagher | Apr. 28, 2013

It’s generally not a positive development when an editorial board of a major newspaper takes the position that an archbishop should resign. Well that’s what happened today on this fourth Sunday of Easter in an editorial by The Star-Ledger, the largest newspaper in New Jersey.

The basis for the call for resignation is found in a related story in The Star-Ledger today with the headline: “Newark archbishop allows priest who admitted groping boy to continue working with children.”

Writer Mark Mueller reports:

“Six years ago, to avoid retrial on charges that he groped a teenage boy, the Rev. Michael Fugee entered a rehabilitation program, underwent counseling for sex offenders and signed a binding agreement that would dictate the remainder of his life as a Roman Catholic priest.

Fugee would not work in any position involving children, the agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office states. He would have no affiliation with youth groups. He would not attend youth retreats. He would not hear the confessions of minors.

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ILLINOIS
Seattle PI

ANTIOCH, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a Benedictine monk from Wisconsin has been charged with trying to abduct an Illinois teenager.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/1864id6) 57-year-old Thomas Chmura (shah-MOO’-rah) was arrested last week. He was charged with attempted child abduction and disorderly conduct and ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail Saturday.

Police allege the 14-year-old was walking in the northern Illinois community of Antioch when a man in a station wagon asked if she needed a ride. The girl ran and he drove off.

The teen recounted the description of the man and car to police. Chmura was arrested Friday.

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WISCONSIN/ILLINOIS
Fox 6

April 28, 2013, by Katie DeLong

MILWAUKEE/ANTIOCH (WITI) — A judge has set bail at $50,000 for a Benedictine monk from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Antioch, Illinois.

Police arrested Thomas Chmura on Friday, April 26th after seeing him stop his car in the middle of traffic to talk to three women on the sidewalk.

Police say Chmura was driving next to the girl on Thursday night when he asked her to get into his car. After his arrest, officers say Chmura admitted he approached the girl for purposes of sexual gratification.

SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests is reacting to charges filed against Chmura.

In a statement, SNAP’s Director, John Pilmaier says: “Thomas Chmura, a Benedictine monk assigned in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was arrested on Thursday for attempting to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Antioch, Illinois. Chmura informed police that he approached the child because he wanted sexual gratification. He further admitted to law enforcement officials that he had attempted similar child abductions up to 10 times in the past six weeks.”

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CANADA
Lankaweb

Posted on April 28th, 2013

Herold Leelawardena

A Canadian Indian Michael Cachagee did spent 12 years in three different schools from 1944, Associated Press said as he said: “I was beaten. I was put in tubs of hot water. I suffered great pains of hunger. I was force-fed rotten food.” Michael Cachagee added: “The intent was to destroy the Indian.” It is also a known fact that some of the students in residential schools were sexually abused. Such was the cruelty and ill-treatment inflicted on The First Nation of Canada in the so-called ‘residential schools’.

Lifting children from native Indian families and planting them in residential schools began in the 19th century and continued until the 1970s. At those schools, children were forbidden to use their own languages and they were discouraged from learning about their own cultures. It is obvious that the aim was to “kill the Indian in the child” until “there is not a single American Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed”. Today, the native population makes up about 4% of the population of Canada though it remains among the poorest. In the then Ceylon, Christian missionaries have done the same in their boarding schools except induction may have been deception and bribe, but the purpose remained the same.

In 1998, the Canadian government issued a general apology for hundred and fifty thousand students that were forcibly taken from their homes for enforced assimilation and destroying their culture. But mentality of the descendants remains the same as that of their ancestors. So, when the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper’s made a formal apology on June 11th in 2008 to former students of Indian Residential Schools and sought forgiveness for the students’ suffering and for the damaging impact the schools had on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language is indeed a surprise. He did not do so out of love for Indians but because the Australian prime minister at the time, Kevin Rudd, had issued a similar apology to his country’s aborigines taken from their families as part of a similar assimilation programme there.

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WISCONSIN
WTMJ

[with video]

By Keller Russell

WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Milwaukee’s archbishop opens-up about the handling of allegations against a Wauwatosa priest suggesting an error in judgment.

Archbishop Jerome Listecki shared his thoughts through his blog on the arch-diocese website. And now parents and the community are responding to his words.

In his blog, Listecki openly addressed allegations of improper conduct involving Wauwatosa priest, Fr. Bob Marsicek.

Referring to Marsicek’s pastoral history, Listecki writes:

” We see a priest who was repeatedly warned about boundary issues. None of these behaviors were sexual abuse, but collectively they call into question allowing this priest to remain serving as pastor of two parishes, each with schools or daycare programs.”

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NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

Sunday April 28, 2013

Associated Press

NEWARK — Investigators are questioning whether a New Jersey priest once accused of child molestation as a former assistant pastor in Wyckoff violated an agreement that called for him to never again work with children.

The Star-Ledger of Newark reports the Rev. Michael Fugee has had an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church for several years. Parishioners say he has attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors behind closed doors.

Newark Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness said Fugee was unavailable for comment.

But Goodness says the archdiocese believes Fugee can work with minors if he’s supervised by priests or lay ministers aware of his past and the agreement’s conditions.

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TEXAS
Go San Angelo

Robin Y. Richardson, ryrichardson@marshallnewsmessenger.com
Published Monday, April 15, 2013

MARSHALL, TEXAS — A trial date has been set for a former sheriff’s deputy who was arrested and indicted along with his wife last year for alleged child sex crimes.

Harrison County Criminal District Attorney Coke Solomon, whose office is prosecuting the case, said Eddie Nichols is set to stand trial for the crimes, starting in July.

“We’ll be ready,” Solomon said of the trial.

The DA noted that 71st District Judge Brad Morin has recused himself from the case; thus, visiting judge David Brabham, the 188th district court judge in Gregg County, will be presiding.

Defense attorney Vernard Solomon has been appointed to represent Nichols. Nichols initially retained attorney John J. Eastland, of Tyler, to represent both him and his wife. However, Eastland filed a motion in October 2012 to withdraw from the case; likewise, Nichols and his wife wrote a letter to Eastland, discharging him as their counsel, accusing him of not having a trial strategy and not diligently working on their case.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel Online

[with video]

The Very Reverend Bob Key has apologised for mistakes in the handling of a complaint which lead to his suspension, and added his own apology to the Bishop of Winchester, Archbishop of Canterbury and to the vulnerable parishioner involved.

The Bishop has acknowledges that, although mistakes were made, the Dean believed he was acting in good faith and reinstated The Very Reverend Bob Key with immediate effect.

Today, the Dean took the St Helier service and expressed his thanks for the support shown from people in the island.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jersey Evening Post

THE Dean of Jersey has been officially reinstated after apologising for mistakes made in the handling of a complaint from a parishioner about sexual misconduct.

Almost two months after being effectively suspended by the Bishop of Winchester after an independent review found that he did not follow proper practice or take the complaint seriously, the Dean, Very Rev Bob Key, returned to normal duties at 9 am this morning. The decision from the Bishop, the Right Rev Tim Dakin, followed meetings between the two men last week.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Anglican Dean of Jersey has been reinstated after apologising for the way he handled an abuse complaint.

The Very Reverend Bob Key was suspended in March by the Bishop of Winchester, who oversees Jersey.

His suspension came after an independent report found he did not follow policy over a complaint about a church warden’s behaviour in 2008.

Earlier the dean conducted a service in St Helier Parish Church, also known as Town Church.

Dean Key said: “I regret mistakes that I made in the safeguarding processes and I understand that, upon reflection, it would have been more helpful if I had co-operated more fully with the Korris [safeguarding} Review.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By MARY ALEXANDER
April 29, 2013

REPRESENTATIVES from the Catholic diocese of Ballarat will front the state parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse today.

They will appear at a public hearing in Melbourne, where inquiry committee members will also hear from other Catholic groups including St John of God brothers and the Salesians. Representatives from the Christian Brothers and the Catholic Education Office are due to appear on Friday.

The Ballarat diocese has been slammed by victims and their families for covering up claims of abuse by priests and brothers in the past.

The worst offender was Gerald Ridsdale, a former priest who served in more than 10 parishes including Warrnambool and Mortlake.

Ridsdale was jailed in 1994 after pleading guilty to 46 charges of sexually abusing 21 victims over two decades.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Stuart Rintoul
From:The Australian
April 29, 2013

CATHOLIC church officials intend to deny the church knew of and shielded pedophiles over a period of decades when they give evidence at Victoria’s sex abuse inquiry today.

Two Catholic orders and a diocese at the centre of the church’s sex abuse scandal will give evidence: St John of God, the Salesian Order and the Ballarat diocese.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

28 April 2013

An editorial on the National Catholic reporter sings praises for Bishop Charles Scicluna’s handling of sex abuse cases in the church.

The editorial lauded Bishop Scicluna for “breaking the ecclesial logjam and beginning to move effectively against clergy who have abused children.”

Bishop Scicluna acted as the prosecutor handling sex abuse cases for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 10 years until he was made a bishop last year.

Bishop Scicluna is quoted as saying that the “sore spots” in the church today are violations of the sixth and seventh commandments, sins against purity and theft.

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ILLINOIS
CBS Chicago

ANTIOCH, Ill. (STMW) – A Benedictine monk has been charged with trying to abduct a teen girl in north suburban Antioch this week.

The 14-year-old girl was walking on Skidmore Drive in Antioch Thursday when a man pulled up beside her in a station wagon and asked if she needed a ride, according to a release from Antioch police.

When the girl declined, the man said, “Come on, you’re so beautiful, let me drive you home,” and she declined again. The man said, “Get in the car,” and the girl ran away and he drove off, the release said.

The girl told her mother and a faculty member at Antioch High School what happened Friday morning. Antioch police interviewed her and she gave a detailed description of the man and the station wagon.

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ILLINOIS
WLS

April 27, 2013 (ANTIOCH, Ill.) (WLS) — A monk from Wisconsin has been charged with attempted child abduction and disorderly conduct.

Thomas Chmura is being held in Lake County jail in Illinois after police arrested him Friday after he allegedly tried to lure a 14-year-old Antioch girl into his car Thursday night.

The girl ran home.

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WISCONSIN/ILLINOIS
SNAP Wisconsin

Benedictine monk from Archdiocese of Milwaukee charged with attempted child abduction of 14 year old girl

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

Thomas Chmura, a Benedictine monk assigned in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was arrested on Thursday for attempting to abduct a 14 year old girl in Antioch, Illinois. Chmura informed police that he approached the child because he wanted sexual gratification. He further admitted to law enforcement officials that he had attempted similar child abductions up to ten times in the past six weeks.

Chmura, a member of the Benedictine religious order, resides at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wisconsin. The abbey, located within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, runs a retreat center that also offers its services to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago due to its proximity to the state of Illinois. The order states that the retreat house has “been the site for many individuals and groups to find a path closer to God”.

The arrest of Chmura for the attempted abduction of a child raises many deeply disturbing questions. How many children and vulnerable adults did Chmura have access to at the retreat center in Benet Lake? Did the Benedictine order have previous reports concerning Chmura’s interactions with children and youth that may have been criminal and reportable to law enforcement? Are there reports concerning other Benedictine monks at Benet Lake who may have sexually assaulted children?

Chmura’s arrest follows the suspension from ministry of Fr. Robert Marsicek, a member of the Society of the Divine Savior religious order. Marsicek, pastor of two Milwaukee area parishes and grade schools, Pius X and Mother of Good Counsel, was suspended in March after it was learned he was under a current child sex abuse investigation in Wauwatosa. Marsicek was already under investigation for child sexual assault in California since last May for sexual assaults that took place in the late 1980’s and 1990’s.

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WORCESTER (MA)
The Crusader

By Elizabeth O’Brien
Co-News Editor

Updated: Saturday, April 27, 2013

On April 3, Kate, a woman who was allegedly sexually abused while on a study abroad trip as a Holy Cross student, began a Hunger Strike. In the past she has done a Vigil for Justice outside the College campus in February of this year, and other forms of protest in the past. She claims she is doing the hunger strike until the administration addresses her concerns, in the way the she wants, regarding her sexual abuse case.

She has been receiving hate speech in the form of derogatory comments, and on March 29 talked to Public Safety about it. Kate has received hate speech in the past, but she felt it has severely escalated in the past few weeks.

“I encountered some last year, but much more kindness,” said Kate. “The same was true for most of the past eight weeks at the Vigil, but the hate speech really spiked recently, so I reported it.”

While Kate believes that students are sending her hate speech, the administration cautions the Holy Cross community about assuming where the derogatory comments are coming from. Dean Jacqueline Peterson, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, states that the college is following standard procedures for a filed complaint.

“She can give any information to Public Safety and the administration will investigate the situation with integrity and a standard response,” said Dean Peterson.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

[Documents from The Star-Ledger
• Read the Rev. Michael Fugee’s agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office

• Read the Rev. Michael Fugee’s confession to police

• Read Archbishop John J. Myers’ February letter to priests about the Rev. Michael Fugee]

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on April 28, 2013

After all the Catholic Church has been through, it is beyond infuriating that Newark Archbishop John J. Myers can be so neglectful of his duty to protect children from sexual predators.

He should resign immediately and apologize to the families whose children he left exposed, barring some stunning new disclosure that could exonerate him in the face of the damning facts presented by The Star-Ledger’s Mark Mueller in today’s edition.

The case concerns Michael Fugee, a priest who was convicted in a sexual abuse case in 2003 after he confessed to fondling a 14-year-old boy, and being a compulsive masturbator obsessed with penis size.

The conviction was overturned when a higher court found the judge had given improper instructions to jurors. Instead of trying Fugee again, as they should have, prosecutors allowed him to avoid jail by joining a program for first-offenders.

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ILLINOIS
WGN

Bail was set at $50,000 today for a Benedictine monk accused of trying to abduct a 14-year old girl in north suburban Antioch on Thursday.

57-year old Thomas Chmura of Benet Lake, Wisconsin appeared in Lake County court.

A judge ordered him not to have contact with anyone under age 17.

Antioch Police say the 14 year old told them he pulled-up in a van and approached the victim while she was walking on Skidmore Drive.

The girl ran away.

A police report was made and an off-duty officer spotted the van he was in, registered to Saint Benedicts Abbey in Benet Lake.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

BY JORDAN OWEN Staff Reporter/jowen@suntimes.com

Updated: April 27, 2013

A Benedictine monk from Wisconsin has been charged with trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in Antioch last week.

Police in the far north suburb said Saturday that Thomas M. Chmura, 57, a monk who has been living at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, Wis., for 32 years, was arrested Friday night and admitted he’d been offering rides to teenage girls the past six weeks.

Chmura was ordered held Saturday in lieu of $50,000 bail, charged with attempted child abduction and disorderly conduct.

Police said the 14-year-old girl was walking along Skidmore Drive in the Lake County suburb Thursday when a man pulled up in a Ford station wagon and asked if she needed a ride, telling her, “Come on, you’re so beautiful, let me drive you home.” When she refused, they said he told her, “Get in the car,” but she ran, and he drove off.

The girl told her mother and someone at Antioch High School and provided the police with a detailed description of the man and his car.

Friday afternoon, an off-duty officer saw a station wagon matching the girl’s description stop abruptly on North Avenue alongside three girls walking on the sidewalk, saw that the driver matched the description given by the 14-year-old and tried to follow the car. The officer lost the car, but got the license plate number.

Friday night, officers spotted the vehicle driving on Route 83 and arrested Chmuras.

“I shudder to think what we would be looking at had she got in that car,” Antioch police Chief Craig Somerville said.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Rosemary Sobol, Chicago Tribune reporter
April 28, 2013

A judge set bail Saturday at $50,000 for a longtime Benedictine monk accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in far north suburban Antioch, authorities said.

Thomas M. Chmura, 57, of the 12600 block of 224th Avenue in Benet Lake, Wis., allegedly tried to lure the girl into his station wagon last week — first by asking her if she needed a ride, then demanding that she get in, according to a statement from Antioch police.

The girl ran and later gave authorities a description of Chmura, who was stopped in his vehicle and arrested Friday.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Rosemary Regina Sobol
Tribune reporter
3:00 p.m. CDT, April 27, 2013

A judge set bail today at $50,000 for a long-time Benedictine monk accused of trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl in far north suburban Antioch this week.

Thomas M. Chmura, 57, of the 12600 block of 224th Avenue in Benet Lake, Wis., appeared in Lake County court today in Waukegan where a judge set the $50,000 bail and ordered him to have no contact with anyone under the age of 17, according to a statement from Antioch police.

Chmura was charged with one count of felony attempted child abduction and one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, according to the statement.

Chmura said he is a monk and has been living at the Benedictine Monks, St. Benedict’s Abbey, in Benet Lake for the past 32 years, the statement said.

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NEBRASKA
1011 Now

Apr 29, 2013
St. Mary’s Cathedral, 112 S Cedar, Grand Island, NE
Bishop William Dendinger will be celbrating a Mass for the Prevention of Child Abuse April 29 at 5:00 pm at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Grand Island. Following the Mass, the diocesan Office of Child Protection will be hosting family-focused activities at the Cathedral Square. Activities will include refreshments, children’s games, and resource for parents on topics such as bullying, internet safety, right relationships, and the prevention of abuse. Exhibits will feature abuse prevention efforts of Catholic schools and parishes from across the diocese.

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NEW JERSEY
Digital Journal

By Brett Wilkins
Apr 27, 2013

Mendham – A New Jersey memorial dedicated to child victims of clergy sex abuse that was destroyed twice in as many years will be re-dedicated on Sunday.

NJ.com reports that the memorial, located outside St. Joseph Church in Mendham, Morris County, was smashed with a sledgehammer in 2011 and vandalized again last month.

The memorial, which is composed of a statue of a young girl and another of a young boy alongside a millstone, was placed outside St. Joseph, where former Rev. James Hanley once sexually abused at least 15 boys. In 2003, the Diocese of Paterson defrocked Hanley and agreed to pay nearly $5 million to 21 of his victims the following year. Hanley, one of dozens of clergy from the Diocese of Paterson to be accused of sexually abusing children, never served any prison time for his crimes.

One of the boys sexually abused by Hanley, James Kelley, killed himself at the age of 37. Kelley’s suicide inspired Bill Crane, another of Hanley’s victims, to lead efforts to place the monument outside St. Joseph.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

[Newark Archbishop John Myers must go: Editorial]

[Documents from The Star-Ledger
• Read the Rev. Michael Fugee’s agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office

• Read the Rev. Michael Fugee’s confession to police

• Read Archbishop John J. Myers’ February letter to priests about the Rev. Michael Fugee]

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger

on April 28, 2013

Six years ago, to avoid retrial on charges that he groped a teenage boy, the Rev. Michael Fugee entered a rehabilitation program, underwent counseling for sex offenders and signed a binding agreement that would dictate the remainder of his life as a Roman Catholic priest.

Fugee would not work in any position involving children, the agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office states. He would have no affiliation with youth groups. He would not attend youth retreats. He would not hear the confessions of minors.

But Fugee has openly done all of those things for the past several years through an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church, St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, The Star-Ledger found.

He has attended weekend youth retreats in Marlboro and on the shores of Lake Hopatcong in Mount Arlington, parishioners say. Fugee also has traveled with members of the St. Mary’s youth group on an annual pilgrimage to Canada. At all three locations, he has heard confessions from minors behind closed doors.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

By JIM FITZPATRICK Mahtomedi, Minn.

Throughout scripture God asks each of us to protect our children as they are to inherit God’s kingdom. In Psalm 127:3 we pray, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.” As a priest, I was responsible not only for sharing God’s word, but living it.

I was a priest at the Cathedral in Winona when parents from Caledonia, near my home town, came to tell me that Father Tom Adamson had abused their sons and as many as 17 boys within the two Caledonia parishes. I reported Father Adamson to the Bishop of Winona. Father Adamson was eventually moved from Caledonia, but I was shocked to learn he was assigned to a Catholic high school in Rochester. Eventually he was moved to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis where he served in several parishes and, in every instance, he continued his molestation.

This is just one example of many that illustrates the lengths some church, school and other youth serving organizations will go to hide or cover up abuse. Some institutions have shuffled child predators to other sites, even to other states to shield known abusers from legal action in order to protect the institutions’ reputations. Worse yet, some church leaders have used a pretense of providing for a victim while time passes and the statute of limitations for legal action will expire. This ensures they can never be held accountable for their employee’s actions. The latter is a tactic known to have been used within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and made public by the recent $10 million settlement with two survivors of clergy sex abuse.

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KENTUCKY
The Virginia Gazette

Mary WisniewskiReuters
9:00 p.m. EDT, April 27, 2013

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) – In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority.

Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations.

In an interview before the ceremony, Smead said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church – the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law.

“It has no sting for me,” said Smead, a petite, gray-haired former Carmelite nun with a ready hug for strangers. “It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives.”

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COSTA RICA
La Nacion

Carlos Arguedas C.carguedasc@nacion.com 12:00 a.m.27/04/2013

El Tribunal de Juicio de Pavas absolvió ayer a un sacerdote de los delitos de violación y abuso sexual cometidos en perjuicio de un monaguillo de 13 años, porque, cuando se dieron los hechos (1999), la ley no castigaba la conducta acusada.

El caso ocurrió en Barbacoas de Puriscal, en el cual figuró como imputado el cura Jaime Cerdas Alvarado, de 54 años.

Cerdas, poco antes de terminar el juicio, dijo: “ Siempre había esperado este momento para desahogarme (…) porque me señalaron de algo tan vergonzoso y penoso”.

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