ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Journal

NEARLY 800 PEOPLE have been in contact with the Department of Justice in relation to accessing the fund that will be set up for survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

The Department confirmed this morning that at the close of business yesterday evening there were 790 calls to it in relation to the fund which survivors are being asked to register their interest in.

Survivors are being asked to fill out a form on the Department’s website and include details of the institution they were based in, their date of entry, length of stay, reason for entering laundry, and details of any records they have from the institution.

A spokesperson said that at the moment it was simply a process of registration and that incomplete forms are not being returned and will not be discounted from processing.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

Cardinals aren’t allowed to read the dossier on leaked papal documents, but they may still be influenced by it as candidates jockey for the post.

February 26, 2013|By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times

VATICAN CITY — Deep inside a safe in the papal apartment lies a top-secret report — for his holiness’ eyes only — that has become the most talked-about document in Rome.

Written by three elderly cardinals, the dossier delves into the most damaging security breach in the Vatican in living memory: the recent leak of private papers belonging to Pope Benedict XVI. The pontiff commissioned the senior prelates to find out how such a major lapse could have occurred and why.

Where the fingers point — already a matter of fevered conjecture in the Italian press — could become a factor in the selection of the next pope after Benedict’s retirement Thursday. Even though the 115 cardinals who will choose a new pontiff are not being allowed to read the confidential file, what they believe to be in it could color their decision.

Speculation over the dossier’s potentially explosive contents is just part of the politicking that is likely to go into the heavily veiled process of picking a new leader for the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

That process in effect started earlier than usual because of Benedict’s surprise announcement of his intention to step down from office rather than let death remove him from it. The advance notice of a vacancy on the throne of St. Peter means that papal hopefuls, their supporters and detractors have already begun sizing one another up, plotting strategy and assessing chances.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Michael E. Wallace, criminal defense lawyer, has a cardinal rule: don’t ever believe anything your client tells you.

Wallace’s client in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse case was Edward V. Avery, a defrocked priest with a history of sexually abusing young boys. So when Avery told Wallace he didn’t touch “Billy Doe” — the former altar boy who accused Avery of raping him — Wallace was skeptical.

“Father, you’re saying Mass for me this Sunday,” Wallace told the former priest. “And next Sunday. And the Sunday after that.”

Wallace had Avery stop by his law office on the 12th floor of 2 Logan Square. Every Sunday morning, the lawyer would serve the former priest a cup of tea, and then grill him about the details of the crime. “After 65 Sundays of cross-examination, I believed him,” Wallace said. But that didn’t mean Wallace was done checking out his client’s story.

Wallace’s next move was to send the “smiling padre” out “to be boxed,” meaning a polygraph test. The man who administered the test was William L. Fleisher, a former FBI agent who did polygraphs for District Attorney Seth Williams and the U.S. Attorney’s office. How’d Avery do? “He passed it with flying colors,” Wallace said.

That brought Wallace to a firm conclusion about Billy Doe’s allegations — “It all added up to a big lie,” Wallace said.

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VATICAN CITY
Press TV (Iran)

Pope Benedict XVI has given his final papal address amid the Vatican’s decades-long scandalous record of pedophilia, sexual abuse, theft and bribery.

Outgoing Pope Benedict XVI held his final all-purpose speech in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Wednesday, reminding the 1.5 billion Roman Catholic followers that he will pray for and try to look past the Vatican’s history of transgression.

“Then there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been – and the Lord seemed to sleep,” said the 85-year-old high priest, while describing the tumultuous role of the papacy.

Pope Benedict confessed that “in recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased”, that I was too weak to carry out the duties of the Church along with the vices “that seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life… in a time in which many speak of its decline.”

Opponents criticized Benedict for failing to mend the Church’s decades-long history of worldwide scandalous wrongdoing including theft, bribery, rampant pedophilia and allegations of covering up sexual abuse by priests in order to protect its own reputation.

A report published last week by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica said that the real reason the pontiff decided to resign was in light of an internal church probe that informed him about a series of blackmails, grafts and underground gay sex in the Vatican.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Suzanne Moore
The Guardian, Wednesday 27 February 2013

‘Sexual intercourse began/ In nineteen sixty-three,” wrote Philip Larkin. And to judge by recent coverage, sexual abuse began last year, in 2012. Well, it had been going before, apparently, but no one knew too much about it. Except those actually being abused, who were on the whole young, female, damaged, unreliable and not “credible” witnesses. This is what anyone who has watched the media coverage of the past few months might ascertain. From Savile to the Socialist Workers Party, from the resignation of Cardinals to the allegations about Lord Rennard. No one knew much at the time at all! Raping a child is not the same as putting your hand on the leg of an adult woman, but what is this but a spectrum of systematic abuse being uncovered?

And what is our response? Still, the victims are mute, dispensable, irrelevant. Speaking out has not empowered them as it should: they remain a lumpen mass of unfortunate people to whom unfortunate things were done. The focus remains on the powerful as they scurry between media outlets changing their stories.

Abuse is shocking. Its covering up even more so, and a culture that is prepared to do this is rotten to the core. So where is this hidden culture? Oh look, it’s in Westminster, at the BBC, in the SWP, in the Catholic church, in the police force, in care homes and even in the godforsaken Lib Dem party. Sex scandals in the Catholic church are decades old. After Cardinal O’Brien resigned over the allegations against him, one of the men who had made them talked about his own decision to leave the priesthood: he said it had been presumed he did so to get married, but this was not the case. “I knew he would always have power over me.” This is key to understanding how abuse wrecks lives. Those detectives trying to meet their targets by persuading women to drop rape charges in Operation Sapphire are not much concerned with this. Those who covered up Cyril Smith’s grooming and abuse of institutionalised boys can’t be either. Those who knew the “difficulties” about Lord Rennard have known about them for some time, though, like O’Brien, he denies them. Likewise those in the BBC and the police who heard the Savile rumours ignored them.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jacqui Peake

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy are calling for the church to be opened up to compensation claims.

A number of Ballarat victims, from the group known as The Survivors, are making submissions to the hearing of the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into institutional abuse.

Keith Whelan was abused when he was a schoolboy and has told the hearing the church coerced him into signing a deed which prevents him from seeking compensation.

“The Towards Healing process was more about the church being seen to be doing something than healing for victims,” he said.

“I want support and funds to start my own business. We need ongoing medical and counselling support.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

[with video]

By JOANNE McCARTHY
Feb. 27, 2013

THE NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse allegations in the Hunter will open an information centre at Wallsend from next Monday.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC said the centre was to help make it as easy as possible for people to speak to the commission, which is investigating church and police handling of allegations against Catholic paedophile priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell ordered the inquiry after allegations raised by Hunter Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox last year, including that police had ordered him to stop investigating McAlinden.

The inquiry is also investigating church knowledge of McAlinden’s offending from 1949 to 1995, and the church’s response to allegations involving Fletcher.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Samantha Parent Walravens

As Catholic cardinals from around the world gather to elect a new pope, they face the growing ire of an international community that has lost confidence in the moral integrity of the Church. New details are emerging every day about Catholic priests who have committed acts of child sexual abuse and a Church hierarchy that has for decades worked to protect them.

Amid all the names, the one that has attracted the most anger in the U.S. is Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles. Last month, a court ordered the release of files relating to more than 120 priests accused of child sex abuse which showed that Mahony, along with other officials, had protected the clerics. He was publicly reprimanded by his successor and stripped of his public and administrative duties.

The Catholic Church is in crisis, no doubt. The next pope will be bogged down for years in ongoing worldwide investigations, civil litigation and criminal prosecutions of Church officials. He faces the even tougher job of regaining the diminishing trust of many Catholics who have left the Church out of frustration and disgust.

While the media has chosen to focus on the wrongdoings of the Catholic Church, the problem of child sexual abuse — and its cover up — is by no means unique to this one religion. Over the past year, we have seen evidence of several other organizations where moral integrity is a given (including the Boy Scouts of America, Penn State University and an Orthodox Jewish community in London) fall prey to widespread child sexual abuse. Like the Catholic Church, these institutions chose to protect themselves and their own image rather than the lives of innocent victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

[with video]

Updated 28 February 2013
By Suzanne Smith

New South Wales police are facing fresh questions over whether they forged an unhealthy relationship with the Catholic Church in dealing with sexual abuse allegations against priests.

Lateline can reveal that for eight years to 2004, a senior police officer was an integral part of Towards Healing, the church’s internal process for handling sexual abuse cases.

The state’s former director of public prosecutions says that was a serious conflict of interest for police and should never have been approved.

In the mid-1990s, the Wood royal commission into police corruption was highlighting the need for greater child protection measures in the church.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

THE Catholic Church harassed victims of sexual abuse and coerced them into signing legal settlements, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

The parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse within religious organisations heard personal accounts from a number of victims in Ballarat today.

One victim who was bashed and molested by two Christian brothers in the 1970s, said private detectives hired by the church had called victims asking them if they were continuing with their complaints.

He told the inquiry he had received such a call himself.

He said he threatened the caller before telling police.

“This is what happens when you go against an organisation such as the church. They harass you,” he said.

Another victim said he had felt coerced into accepting a settlement under the church’s Towards Healing program.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Frank Brennan February 28, 2013

Last night I attended the opening night of the Big Picture Film Festival in Sydney. The festival is the brainchild of the Reverend Bill Crews who sees a place for film enhancing the community’s commitment to social justice.

On the very eve of Pope Benedict’s last day in office, the program included the Australian premiere of the American documentary about clerical sexual abuse Silence in the House of God: Mea Maxima Culpa followed by a panel discussion with Tom Keneally, Geraldine Doogue and myself. It was a very confronting and draining night, particularly for me, the one Catholic priest in the audience.

Crews introduced the festival declaring that the common theme of all films chosen for the week was ‘Hope’. For the next 90 minutes the audience took in the relentless and overwhelming portrayal of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church presented by producer Alex Gibney, focusing on the horrendous case of Fr Lawrence Murphy, who abused up to 200 children at a school for the deaf in Milwaukee.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Not a day goes by without further allegations of rape and sexual abuse being made against the Catholic Church. The vast majority of accusations relate to abuse perpetrated outside the Vatican’s walls, in dioceses around the world. Evidence suggests, however, that high ranking members of the Church’s hierarchy were well aware of these despicable acts and actively shielded the perpetrators from criminal investigations. This has led to repeatedcalls for Benedict XVI to be held personally accountable for the grave harm inflicted on innumerable children.

To date, attempts to prosecute Benedict have been stymied by his immunity as the Head of State of the Vatican City. His resignation, however, changes the game and opens up the possibility that warrants will now be issued for his arrest.

Prosecuting a former head of state

The status of the Holy See and the Vatican under international law is anomalous. But for all intents and purposes, the Vatican City has been equated to a sovereign state since the Lateran Treaty of 1929, with the Pope as its head. International law accords complete immunity to heads of state from the jurisdiction of other states while they are in office. They retain this immunity with respect to acts performed in an official capacity even after leaving office.

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VATICAN CITY
RT

[with video]

There is little hope that even with Pope Benedict XVI stepping down, the Catholic Church will see an end to high-profile pedophile scandals. All Catholic clergy are culpable, David Lorenz of a priest abuse survivor network told RT.

Nothing has been done by the current pope to support the victims of pedophile priests, and nothing will be done in the next papacy, Lorenz said.

David Lorenz: We are working to raise awareness for sexual abuse crimes crisis that’s plagued the church a minimum of 25 years, if not hundreds of years longer. We want the church to take real action. There’s been a lot of words and a lot of apologies, but there hasn’t been a lot of action and we want those people who have sexually abused children to be held accountable.

RT: According to Pope Benedict, he decided to resign for health reasons. How much do you think his decision is actually connected to the numerous scandals surrounding the Vatican?

DL: There certainly are a lot of rumors and I hate to speculate on their truthfulness. I will say that clearly the sexual abuse crisis during his pontificate has probably weighted heavy on his mind. It’s been difficult for him, it continually comes up. And it continually comes up primarily out of his own failings. He has not fully addressed it, he said some nice words but it hasn’t been a lot of really true action. It has distracted him, it was something he had to deal with during his entire time. And it probably has caused him to wear out. If he’d only addressed it, I think it would have been a lot better.

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MASSACHUSETTS
KOSU

Filed by KOSU News
February 27, 2013

Among those watching the papal transition closely are survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including a handful who were selected to meet with Pope Benedict XVI five years ago as the crisis raged.

The group left the meeting hopeful that that Benedict would make significant changes in how the church handled both past and current cases. Among those at the meeting were Olan Horne and Bernie McDaid.

It would be hard to blame Horne or McDaid for being cynical, having survived repeated sexual abuse by their priest only to find out that it had also happened to thousands of others and was covered up by the church. It’s little wonder they reacted as they did when they heard the pope was resigning.

“My mind just immediately went to that there was a scandal or something behind it,” says Horne.

Since then Horne has read the stories swirling around and heard the news that Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric resigned amid allegations of inappropriate behavior with priests. Secrets have a way of coming out, Horne says, not that it brings him any satisfaction.

“My intent never was to inflict shame and damage. I’ve come from shame and damage. I want to work the problem. I don’t want to work the Catholic Church,” says Horne.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

By Patrick Caruana
From: AAP
February 28, 2013

CATHOLIC priests who hear confessions about the sexual abuse of children should be obliged to report the crimes to police, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

Priests aren’t subject to mandatory reporting requirements if they suspect child abuse and are obliged by the church to keep secret anything divulged to them during confessions.

Former Victorian MP and lawyer Dianne Haddin says laws covering the church’s disclosure obligations need to be toughened.

The protection of children must be paramount, Ms Haddin told a parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse within religious organisations in Victoria.

“We can no longer accept that a priest can abuse a child and continue to abuse a child and be protected by the church and canon law,” she told the inquiry in Ballarat on Thursday.

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UNITED STATES
fsunews

Written by
Adrian Chamberlin
Senior Staff Writer

Pope Benedict XVI made history when he announced he would resign at the end of February, citing his poor health as the reason for his decision. Unfortunately, being the first pope in 598 years to resign will not be the only legacy Benedict XVI leaves behind.

Much of Benedict’s papal reign has been tarnished by continued allegations claiming the Catholic Church participated in covering up instances of sexual abuse done by their priests. The latest news in this scandal also happens to be one of the pope’s last acts in office and concerns the resignation of a high-level official.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the Archbishop of Scotland, had previously announced to the pope and to the public he would resign effective upon his 75th birthday on March 17. In spite of this, O’Brien’s resignation was made effective immediately via official word of the pope, in light of his imminent resignation.

By itself, this does not seem too shocking; the pope appears to be cleaning up shop on his way out. The truth, however, is much more suspicious.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Fiona Henderson
Feb. 28, 2013

TWO teachers told a parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse by religious organisations that their careers had been destroyed for trying to expose offenders.

Anne Ryan resigned from a 25-year career while Michael Crowe hasn’t worked since 2010 for trying to report inappropriate behaviour by a parish priest.

Ms Ryan said her entire career had been spent teaching in the Ballarat diocese until she began to have concerns about sexual abuse.She complained to the then Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns – who she said described paedophilia as an “illness” – and representative Catholic bodies, but was ignored.

“Due to the inaction within the church, I began to use my voice more publicly,” Ms Ryan said.”I contacted Broken Rites, I wrote letters to the editor, I even went on a Four Corners program to try to raise the issue.

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EUROPE
CBC News (Canada)

By Karen Pauls, CBC News

Posted: Feb 28, 2013

Many devout Catholics in Europe feel that church doctrine and social reality have drifted too far apart – and that it’s time for a change.

But no matter who is chosen as the new pope, it won’t be enough to spur Chris Fischer to return to the parish pews.

“For me it’s over, it’s really over. Because I think there are so many things they [the Catholic Church] have to change,” he says, taking a deep breath and gazing out the window of a restaurant near the Munich Cathedral.

Fischer and countless others say they have been victimized twice. First, by priests or nuns who sexually or physically abused them. Second, by a church structure that protected the perpetrators and has been slow to offer help and healing to the victims.

Fischer was 12 years old when he was sent to a boarding school in southern Germany run by a Vatican missionary order.

“The sexual abuse usually took place in the evening. The priest would come to our bed and … touched us,” Fischer says, haltingly and mostly in German, adding that he doesn’t remember all the details.

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GEORGIA
Patch

By Adrianne Murchison

When news of Pope Benedict’s resignation was released, the first thought that came to many minds was that it must be related to a child sexual abuse scandal. Are children safe within the Catholic Church – Sandy Springs and North Fulton included?

Today is Pope Benedict XVI’s final day as the leader of Catholics around the world. Stories swirling around his resignation prompts many questions. The most pressing one: Are children safe within the Catholic Church – Sandy Springs and North Fulton included?

Last week, during a “CBS This Morning” town hall segment on the state of the Catholic Church, a mother said, “At this point, if I had to leave my child with a priest for him to watch him for the day, that would not happen.”

In full disclosure, I am Catholic. But as much as I love the holiness of the Catholic experience I have never been fully in step with the rules.

When news broke of Pope Benedict’s resignation, the first thought that came to my mind, and many others, was that it must be related to a child sexual abuse scandal.

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CALIFORNIA
Radar

By Jen Heger

On Pope Benedict XVI’s final day as head of the Catholic Church, attorney Gloria Allred, and her client, Rita Milla, who went public in 1984 and filed a lawsuit against the church, accusing seven priests of sexual abuse, will hold a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday to discuss newly revealed documents about the case that point to a massive cover-up and obstruction of justice by the Archdiocese, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

The famed civil rights attorney filed the groundbreaking lawsuit almost two decades before the priest sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church made international headlines. On the day that Allred filed the lawsuit on Milla’s behalf in 1984, all seven priests mysteriously disappeared from their parishes. Milla filed the lawsuit after giving birth to a child fathered by one of the priests.

According to a Los Angeles Times report from June of 1991, then-Archbishop Roger Mahony held a news conference and said, “The responsibility for apologies rests on the priests who misused their vow of priestly celibacy, not on the archdiocese,” which had supervised them and advised one of them to stay out of the United States after the story broke. On the same day, a former priest, Rev. Santiago (Henry) Tamayo, publicly apologized to Milla, and he admitted to having a sexual relationship with her.

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ROME
Hobsons Bay Weekly (Australia)

ROME: A frail Pope Benedict made his public farewell to the world’s Catholics on Wednesday morning, hours after one of his closest allies – Sydney Archbishop George Pell – criticised his decision to resign and said the church needed a stronger leader.

Cardinal Pell, who was close to the Pope when both served on the key Vatican watchdog congregation and played an important role gathering support for him at the 2005 conclave at which Benedict was elected, said the resignation created a precedent and left the church in an even more uncertain position.

Cardinal Pell, Australia’s only voter at the coming papal election, was unexpectedly candid in a television interview.

He said: ”People who, for example, might disagree with a future pope will mount a campaign to get him to resign.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
KGMI

By Mary Wisniewski

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago announced on Wednesday that it had suffered setbacks during the economic downturn and would cut about 14 percent of jobs in its central offices, as well as close or consolidate 5 schools.

Chicago Cardinal Francis George wrote about the cuts in a column on the archdiocesan website — he has gone to Rome for the conclave to choose the next pope to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who gave his last general audience Wednesday.

The Chicago Archdiocese is the third-largest in the country, with 2.3 million members.

George said that administration operations have run operating deficits of more than $30 million in each of the past four years and the trend is “unsustainable.”

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By MICHAEL KELLY
Published on Thursday 28 February 2013

ALLEGATIONS against Keith O’Brien elicit more compassion than anger from Catholics. The Church faces far more important issues, writes Michael Kelly

I never realised that there were so many opinion formers who were Catholics. However, this week I’ve met them all traipsing in and out of radio and television studios pontificating on the sensation that has surrounded the resignation of Keith O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, squeezed between the horsemeat horror and balloons in Egypt. For the few remaining conspiracy theorists, I should emphasise that I did not previously know them all to be Catholics, much less agree a party line with them to defend the Church. But I found a common thread among those gurus that I did manage to say a brief hello to as we passed each other on the way to and from the cameras.

There were no funereal tones or glum faces. This was to the grave disappointment of producers and the puzzlement of presenters, who clearly were expecting a flagellation of all things Roman. But the O’Brien scandal is not the crisis for the Church that the media is portraying. The main reaction I have had from “ordinary” Catholics is one of sorrow and compassion for all of those involved, which is exactly what one would expect from any Christian. There is, of course, shock and disappointment and some anger. But most are able to distinguish quite clearly between the dogma and doctrines of the Church, which we are all obliged to follow, however errantly and despite human frailty.

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ALASKA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Anchorage

Process underway to remove J. Michael Hornick from priesthood

CatholicAnchor.org

Two new accusations of inappropriate physical relationships have surfaced in regards to J. Michael Hornick, a priest of the Anchorage Archdiocese. Hornick was suspended from all priestly duties in 2011 for similar accusations with three separate women.

The new allegations, from two adult women, accuse Hornick of inappropriate behavior when the alleged victims were minors.

Following the Anchorage Archdiocese’s protocols for the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the Anchorage Police Department was immediately contacted in both cases.

The process to permanently prohibit Hornick from practicing as a priest will begin through an internal church court.

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ALASKA
KTUU

By Chris Klint
Channel 2 News
KTUU
3:13 p.m. AKST, February 27, 2013

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—

The attorney for an Anchorage priest accused of improper conduct with five women says the allegations are unfounded, and that he will fight attempts by the Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage to defrock him.

Father J. Michael Hornick was named in a Tuesday statement from the archdiocese as the source of allegations from five women that he engaged in inappropriate physical contact with them — two of whom recently came forward, saying the incidents occurred decades ago when they were minors.

Hornick’s attorney, Wayne Anthony Ross, says in a Wednesday statement that Hornick hasn’t seen details on the new claims against him, but “vehemently denies” them.

“Such allegations are easily made and one made, they cannot be recalled and unfairly tarnish the reputation of Father Hornick, who has faithfully performed his priestly duties for over forty years,” Ross said.

Ross also said the public release of the new information about Hornick was unfair to his side of the story.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

Documents released by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles shows again how the Orange diocese is still not telling the full story of its sex-abuse scandal

By GUSTAVO ARELLANO Thursday, Feb 28 2013

Over the past month, Southern Californians have largely turned their backs in communal revulsion at former Archdiocese of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. The outcry emerged after a judge forced the archdiocese to release tens of thousands of pages of once-secret priestly personnel files that told in exacting detail how Mahony and his cronies tried to shield pedophile priests from the law during his career. Because of his inactions, Mahony is now largely exiled from church life, his name forever tainted in any future analyses of his career.

Of course, the vile revelations are nothing new to longtime watchers of the Catholic Church—indeed, some of the breathless tales heralded by major media outlets as exclusives have circulated in the Catholic and alternative press for more than a decade. But the episode at least shows that members of the public will attack the church hierarchy once damning evidence is shoved in their faces. So there’s hope that another major Catholic figure will emerge with his reputation in further tatters after the LA document dump: former Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown.

He retired quietly late last year per Vatican rules requiring bishops to step down at age 75, and successor Kevin W. Vann has gamely tried to have OC’s 1.2 million Catholics remember Brown for his last-minute purchase of the former Crystal Cathedral (to be renamed Christ Cathedral) in 2011 instead of the $100 million-plus in sex-abuse settlements Brown had to sign off on during his term. But while the LA Archdiocese published almost all of its pedo-priests files on its website (it took a judge to do this, but still), it’s more than Brown ever did. When asked in 2005 if he’d publicly publish Diocese of Orange pedo-priests files that a judge forced him to hand over to lawyers, Brown flat-out refused and didn’t bother giving a reason for the secrecy.

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CANADA
CBC News

Aleksandra Sagan, CBC News

Posted: Feb 27, 2013

As Pope Benedict XVI prepares to retire this week, and the College of Cardinals readies to elect a new Roman Catholic Church leader, many wonder if Benedict’s successor will take a more liberal position on women joining the priesthood, a sacrament currently forbidden to women.

‘Whereas the Western world may be ready for women clergy … a lot of the world is just not ready for that yet.’—Terence Fay, theology teacher

“Respecting women and giving them a larger role in the church is very important,” Terence Fay, a Jesuit priest who teaches at the University of Toronto’s school of theology, told CBC News. “But, that takes time to move in that direction.”

He said the pope is the CEO of the largest corporation in the world and, like any administrator moving into a new leadership position, can only move so much on the political spectrum during a term. Making radical changes — such as starting to ordain women — would destroy the pope’s constituency, he said.

“Whereas the Western world may be ready for women clergy and so forth, a lot of the world is just not ready for that yet,” said Fay.

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FLORIDA
CBS Miami

MIAMI (CBS4) – In Rome Wednesday, Pope Benedict took a final lap around St. Peter’s Square and delivered a goodbye address to hundreds of thousands of cheering, adoring faithful.

In Miami, bells were tolling at the Archdiocese as advocates for alleged victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests called on the out-going Pope to fully reveal the scope of the Church’s sex scandals.

“This case implicates the Vatican,” said attorney Jeffrey Herman, referring to “John Doe #97,” now 52-years-old, who has filed suit accusing a disgraced, defrocked priest of sexually abusing him as a child at Our Lady of Divine Providence church in Miami-Dade.

Advocates for children of sex abuse by men of the cloth called for the departing Pope to fully confess the sins of the Catholic fathers.

“The Vatican is still protecting priests, is still not transparent, and is still not coming clean,” said Herman.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

There were about seventy cardinals present at St. Peter’s for this morning’s General Audience. Mahony, Pell, Wuerl and Marx were all there but did not issue many comments to the press

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

Cardinal Roger Mahony seems seraphic despite the accusations against him for covering up sexual crimes in the Church. He was one of the first to appear in the crowd that was pouring out of St. Peter’s Square after Benedict XVI’s last General Audience today. Journalists recognised him, went after him and tried asking him some questions. “God bless you!” the cardinal responded, smiling, and then slipped away.

Seventy out of the 208 cardinals were present in St. Peter’s Square this morning. There were lots of Curia members and some papabili present, but also a number of important absences. The papacy becomes vacant at 8 pm on 28 February and many of the 115 cardinal electors have still not arrived in Rome. Nearer the time of the Conclave, cardinals will stay inside the Vatican, in the Domus Sanctæ Marthæ. Before then, they will be staying in various parts of Rome.

Imposing Australian archbishop, George Pell, gives a few half answers to journalists. Will it be a long Conclave? “Who knows, I doubt it, but I don’t know.” Will it begin before 15 March? “Maybe a bit before, maybe.” There are “obviously” no splits in College of Cardinals. Will the next Pope be Italian? “The best cardinal will be the next Pope!” Will it be you? “No! It is possible an Italian may be chosen…”

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VATICAN CITY
Time

By Howard Chua-Eoan Monday, Feb. 25, 2013

The pilgrimage had seemed rather random, but its significance is finally clear. On April 28, 2009, while visiting the earthquake-stricken city of L’Aquila in central Italy, Benedict XVI paid a visit to the nearby tomb of Celestine V, a 13th century Pope who reigned for only five months. After pausing in silent prayer, Benedict left his predecessor a gift: his pallium, a liturgical vestment he received when he started his pontificate in 2005. Celestine’s claim to fame–and infamy–was his resignation from the office of the papacy, choosing instead to return to a hermit’s life. For that, the Roman Catholic Church eventually made him a saint. For the same act–the so-called Great Refusal–Dante Alighieri damned Celestine to the torments of the Inferno.

Benedict may well have reflected on Celestine’s dual fate before announcing, two days before Lent, that he would resign on Feb. 28. “The Pope must have felt very lonely in taking this decision,” says a well-placed member of the Curia, the secretive bureaucracy that runs the Vatican. “After all, there is no one higher up than him to defer the choice to. Above him, there is only God.” The papal announcement, delivered in Latin, stunned the church. Here was a Pope, in the ultimate exercise of free will, giving up his throne and his role as the Vicar of Christ. The last time that happened was 1415, when Gregory VII resigned as part of a negotiated deal to end the schism that had divided the church between rival papacies for close to 40 years.

There is no existential crisis to resolve this time. But Benedict’s abdication may transform the church he has ruled for almost eight years of both intractable controversy and burgeoning growth. He cited his physical condition, at age 85, as a reason for stepping down, and his brother Georg indicated that doctors have advised the Pontiff to give up transoceanic flights. The Pope has lived with a pacemaker since before ascending to the throne, and the Vatican acknowledged that its battery was recently replaced as part of regular maintenance. But unless Benedict’s health deteriorates rapidly, he will not only see the election of his successor but also watch the new Pontiff take his first steps in the job. That convergence is likely to have huge implications–and perhaps complications.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Pat Perriello | Feb. 27, 2013

Two contrasting viewpoints from NCR’s John Allen and Time magazine suggest that possibilities exist for either a conservative or more progressive successor to Benedict XVI.

I would put my money on Allen, as he is second to none on reporting on the Vatican. Yet there is perhaps much to learn from both articles. Certainly, as Allen intimates, progressivity is a relative issue. The new pope is not likely to say that abortion is a good thing, nor should he. Yet even the Time magazine article makes clear that simply by resigning, Benedict XVI has initiated a change in the governance of the church.

So what can we expect from a new pope? Everyone is speculating, so let me share my thoughts on the subject and encourage the readership to do so as well. First of all, what would I look for in a pope? Certainly he needs to be holy and a man of prayer. He needs to exemplify Gospel values, a preference for the poor and a commitment to social justice for all people. He needs to be thoughtful and learned. He needs to have experiences that go beyond the walls of the Vatican and chancery responsibilities. A parish ministry background is a must. He must be patently pastoral and open to the world around him.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By
Colneth Smiley Jr. / Boston Herald

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley flew to Rome last night, where he will join other cardinals tomorrow as they meet with Pope Benedict XVI for the final time before the pontiff steps down.

The Archdiocese of Boston today released a photograph of Cardinal O’Malley reading a newspaper onboard his flight to Rome.

Vatican watchers last week were circulating O’Malley’s name as a possible successor to the pope. But O’Malley, who has been praised for his handling of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal in the United States, has said he has no interest in the post.

“In these days, there will be endless speculation about candidates and outcomes. I assure you no cardinal goes into the conclave with the ambition of being chosen for this overwhelming responsibility,” O’Malley said last week.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion & Politics

By Tiffany Stanley | February 27, 2013

As Pope Benedict steps down this week, speculation stirs that the next pontiff could be a man of color or from outside Europe. And while many qualifications trump nationality when it comes picking the leader of 1.1 billion Catholics, an end to the European dominance of the Holy See is still an enticing suggestion. On his Sirius XM radio show last week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan mused that it was “highly possible” there might be a pope from the Americas or Asia or Africa. The former cardinal of Washington told the National Catholic Reporter that he thought the church was ready for a pope outside the West. The Pew Research Center found that most American Catholics (60 percent) think it would be good for the next pope to come from the developing world, hailing from South America, Africa, or Asia.

For some, a pope from the Global South would offer a new perspective, energizing a church faced with the challenges of the modern world. The move could signal an overcoming of past injustice, a herald that all parts of the church hold equal weight within the body. “I think it would send the message to the global church that they recognize the present and future of the church, and that they want to give voice and authority to what’s increasingly becoming the majority,” says Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, a professor of religion at the University of Miami who specializes in theologies of the Americas. “It says you are really a part of the authentic church, not just the colonized church.”

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TEXAS
WCSC

SAN ANTONIO (KENS/CBS) – A woman whose son committed suicide is filing a lawsuit against the man she believes is responsible for his death – the pope.

Barbara Boehland said her son killed himself after suffering sexual abuse from a priest while he was a student.

Boehland is the director of the San Antonio chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). The organization has asked the international crime court to open up an investigation requesting the prosecution of high-level Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI and several of his cardinals, as criminally responsible for aiding and abetting these crimes.

This includes moving priests to different locations after an alleged sexual incident has happened.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — A Fitchburg priest has been placed on probation with a suspended jail sentence hanging over his head after pleading guilty to child pornography and larceny charges.

The Rev. Lowe B. Dongor, 37, who fled to his native Philippines after being charged with the crimes, entered guilty pleas this afternoon in Worcester Superior Court to charges of possessing child pornography that was found on his laptop computer and larceny of more than $250 from St. Joseph’s Parish in Fitchburg, where he had formerly been assigned.

Judge Janet Kenton-Walker sentenced Rev. Dongor, who was previously relieved of his priestly duties, to 2-1/2 years in the House of Correction, but suspended the sentence for 5 years with probation. The judge imposed conditions of probation that included sex offender registration and counseling, no unsupervised contact with children under age 16, GPS monitoring and the payment of $750 in restitution.

The sentence imposed by Judge Kenton-Walker was requested by his lawyer, Shane W. Surrette. Assistant District Attorney Courtney Sans recommended the Roman Catholic priest, the Diocese of Worcester’s first Filipino priest, be sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison with probation to follow.

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CANADA
CBC News

Retired priest George Smith was in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in Corner Brook for sentencing Wednesday.

Smith, 75, pleaded guilty to 41 sex-related offences and has been in jail for more than a year.

Of those charges, 26 are for indecent assault, seven for sexual assault, and eight for assault.

A total of 13 victims have come forward, all of them either former altar boys or those who had families involved with the churches where Smith was parish priest.

During the reading of the agreed statement of facts, a pattern was presented for each victim.

They said they would be asked to go to Smith’s home to help with tasks, and Smith would give the boys alcohol. They would drink until they either passed out or fell asleep, often waking up while Smith was touching or fondling them.

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CHILE
El Mostrador

Un reportaje publicado por el diario estadounidense New York Times menciona al cardenal, Francisco Javier Errázuriz, como uno de los prelados considerados “cuestionables” en su lucha contra los abusos sexuales de sacerdotes a menores de edad y que participarán en el proceso para elegir al nuevo Papa.

El reportaje denominado “Ahora reunidos en Roma, un cónclave de cardenales cuestionables” se enmarca dentro los hechos que ha tenido que enfrentar la Iglesia Católica ante diversas acusaciones de abusos sexuales, siendo lo último la renuncia del cardenal británico Keith O’Brian, quien fue acusado de “conductas inapropiadas” por tres sacerdotes y un ex prelado.

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BRASIL
Veja

Vídeo mostra padre Emilson Soares Corrêa tendo relações sexuais com uma das meninas dentro da casa paroquial. Uma delas, segundo o pai das vítimas, teria 15 anos na época do crime

No momento em que a renúncia do papa Bento XVI chama a atenção para uma série de denúncias de abusos sexuais cometidos por padres, um caso assustador é descoberto no Rio de Janeiro, na cidade de Niterói, a 13 quilômetros da capital. O padre Emilson Soares Corrêa foi indiciado pela Polícia Civil por estupro de vulnerável. O pai de duas meninas, uma com 19 e outra com 10, afirma que o padre abusou das duas. Segundo a denúncia, Emilson tocou as partes íntimas da mais nova, quando tinha 7 anos, e mantinha relações sexuais com a mais velha, desde os 15 anos da jovem.

Segundo a arquidiocese de Niterói, Emilson, de 56 anos, está afastado desde outubro do ano passado. Até então, o padre era o responsável pela igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário e São Benedito. A irmã mais velha com quem Emilson teve relações sexuais dentro da paroquia era coroinha da igreja. Ela foi batizada aos 13 anos pelo padre, que também foi escolhido pela família da menina como padrinho.

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BRASIL
Correio de Brasil

27/2/2013

A Polícia Civil indiciou nesta quarta-feira o padre Emilson Soares Corrêa, de 56 anos, afastado da Igreja Católica, por estupro de vulnerável de duas irmãs em Niterói, na Região Metropolitana do Rio. Uma delas teria 7 anos quando o caso ocorreu, há três anos. A outra irmã, atualmente com 19 anos, disse ter feito sexo oral com o padre quando tinha 13 anos.

O pai das meninas, o técnico em refrigeração Ubiratan Homsi, foi indiciado pelo crime de extorsão. Segundo a delegada Marta Dominguez, da Delegacia Especial de Apoio à Mulher (Deam) de Niterói, testemunhas do padre e a mãe da jovem de 19 anos confirmaram em depoimento que o pai tentou obter vantagens financeiras ao mostrar ao padre o vídeo em que o religioso aparece fazendo sexo com uma menor de 15 anos.

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BRAZIL
Fox News

Published February 27, 2013

Associated Press

SAO PAULO – Police are investigating a Roman Catholic priest for alleged sexual abuse of three young girls in his parish in southeastern Brazil.

A police spokeswoman says Father Emilson Soares Correa is under investigation for committing the abuse in Niteroi, a city across Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. She declined to be identified in accordance with department policy.

The priest has been temporarily suspended during the investigation.

The spokeswoman said Wednesday that one of the girls, now a 19-year-old woman, claims the abuse started when she was 13.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

[with video]

By Laura Smith-Spark and Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN
Wed February 27, 2013

Rome (CNN) — In front of rapt crowds, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of moments of struggle as well as joy Wednesday during his final public address from a stage set up in St. Peter’s Square.

In an unusually personal message, he said there had been “many days of sunshine” but also “times when the water was rough … and the Lord seemed to sleep.”

But even as the church passes through stormy seas, God will “not let her sink,” he added, in what was his final general audience before he steps down Thursday evening.

Those words will be seen by many as a comment on the series of child sex abuse scandals and corruption claims that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church in the course of his pontificate. …

Meanwhile, the cardinals who must elect the new pope are already gathering in Rome, Lombardi said.

The dean cardinal will on Friday summon the cardinals to a general congregation, Lombardi said. That could come as soon as Monday, although the date is not yet fixed.

The cardinal-electors will then decide exactly when to hold the conclave, during which they will select a peer via paper ballot. The voting process will end when only when one cardinal gains two-thirds support.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Media Office

Wednesday 27th February 2013
Pope Appoints Apostolic Administrator

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has appointed the Most Rev. Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow, as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. With immediate effect, Archbishop Tartaglia will govern the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh until a new Archbishop is appointed.

Archbishop Tartaglia said: “These are painful and distressing times for the Archdiocese, I also feel pained and distressed. With the grace of God, I will do my very best to oversee and govern the Archdiocese until the appointment of a new Archbishop. I ask for your prayers.”

ENDS

Peter Kearney
Director
Catholic Media Office
5 St. Vincent Place
Glasgow
G1 2DH
0141 221 1168
07968 122291
pk@scmo.org
www.scmo.org

Notes for Editors

1.With the resignation of Cardinal O’Brien, the Archdiocese of Edinburgh is canonically a “Vacant See” and will remain so until the appointment of a new Archbishop. The Apostolic Administrator governs until that time.

2. The Apostolic Administrator governs with the authority, obligations and rights of a diocesan bishop.

3. Cardinal O’Brien is now the Archbishop Emeritus of St Andrews and Edinburgh. An Archbishop or Bishop Emeritus has no role in the governance of a diocese.

4. Bishop Stephen Robson will remain as Auxiliary Bishop and will assist Archbishop Tartaglia as his Delegate in the running of the diocese. The office of Vicar General and Vicar Episcopal lapse during the time of the vacant see, as do the Council of Priests and the Pastoral Council. The Offices of Chancellor and Treasurer remain, as does the College of Consultors as an Advisory Council.

5. When there is a vacant see, the diocese is governed by a diocesan administrator who is elected by a group of priests; or by An Apostolic Administrator who is appointed by the Pope. An Apostolic Administrator is often chosen for the governance of an archdiocese/diocese when the see becomes vacant before a new archbishop/ bishop can be appointed.

6. Contrary to some reports, the Apostolic Administrator will not be invited to be involved in any Vatican investigation into the allegations made against Cardinal O’Brien.

7. Archbishop Tartaglia will not be available for interview, but he will release a message to the people of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh later today (Wednesday 27 February)

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Media Office

Wednesday 27th February 2013

Message to the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh
From Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, Apostolic Administrator

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has appointed me Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

These are painful and distressing times for this venerable Archdiocese. You have lost your Cardinal Archbishop in the most difficult of circumstances. I am so sorry for everyone involved and I assure them of my prayers. I too feel pained and distressed. The people of the Archdiocese are having to bear the impact of these sad events as you go about your daily lives in your communities and at work. You have to cope with disturbing media reports and you have to face the questions, the critical comments, the unkind remarks and the jibes.

I want you to know that Bishop Robson, the priests of the Archdiocese and I are one with you in these unfortunate circumstances, and thank you for your faithfulness and love of the Church. At this time, we need more than ever to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ who alone is our Saviour, our Good Shepherd and our Consoler.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

A senior cleric who was forced to apologise after suggesting homosexuality can kill has stepped into the post held by Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s until his resignation.

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor
5:09PM GMT 27 Feb 2013

In one of the final acts of his pontificate, Pope Benedict appointed the Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, to run the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh temporarily.

The Vatican announced that Archbishop Tartaglia, the second most senior Catholic cleric in Scotland, would be the Apostolic Administrator until a permanent successor is found for Cardinal O’Brien.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down with immediate effect and announced he would not be joining the Conclave to elect the next Pope after allegations of “inappropriate” behaviour with male priests emerged.

He denies the allegations and it in understood he has not been told even who his accusers are.

Archbishop Tartaglia faced a furore last year when comments he made about the death of the Labour MP David Cairns in a speech at Oxford were published.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Initiative EhemaligerJohanneum Homburg

Im Vorfeld des geplanten Gespräches am 2.3.2013 wurde deutlich, dass der Orden, vertreten durch Herrn Dr. Kleer, weiterhin nicht bereit ist, auf die Betroffenen der INITIATIVE zuzugehen und seine seit drei Jahren unveränderte Position zu überdenken.

Um eine Weiterführung der Mediationsgespräche hatte der Orden gebeten, der Mediator hatte sich dazu bereit erklärt und die INITIATIVE zugestimmt.

Ausgangslage der Gespräche war von Seiten der INITIATIVE die Forderung:

1. Anerkennung der Tatsache, dass es weit mehr Täter und Opfer gibt als bisher bestätigt nach folgender Definition entsprechend der Leitlinien

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DEUTSCHLAD
MissBit

27.02.2013

Gespräche gescheitert. Prof. Dr. Haupert erklärt Mediation für beendet.

Im Vorfeld des geplanten Gespräches am 2.3.2013 wurde deutlich, dass der Orden, vertreten durch Herrn Dr. Kleer, weiterhin nicht bereit ist, auf die Betroffenen der INITIATIVE zuzugehen und seine seit drei Jahren unveränderte Position zu überdenken.

Um eine Weiterführung der Mediationsgespräche hatte der Orden gebeten, der Mediator hatte sich dazu bereit erklärt und die INITIATIVE zugestimmt.

Ausgangslage der Gespräche war von Seiten der INITIATIVE die Forderung:

1. Anerkennung der Tatsache, dass es weit mehr Täter und Opfer gibt als bisher bestätigt nach folgender Definition entsprechend der Leitlinien

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VATICAN CITY
AlterNet

AlterNet / By Lynn Stuart Parramore

February 25, 2013

It’s a place where angels fear to tread; where criminals, frauds and mysterious corpses turn up as regularly as rats in the metro. The Institute for Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, was set up in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage the vast Vatican finances. Often referred to as the world’s most secret bank, the operation is run by a CEO and overseen by five cardinals who report directly to the Pope.

The bank’s official role is to safeguard and administer property intended for works of religion or charity. The actual activities of the bank are somewhat different. They include money laundering for narcotics traffickers, bribery, skimming charitable funds to enrich priests, and tax evasion for wealthy Italians.

Finance, Vatican-Style

The scandals associated with the Vatican bank, particularly over the last four decades, are so sordid and improbable as to strain the creativity of a supermarket tabloid. The Church’s past offenses of selling indulgences and charging fees for sacraments have been updated for the world of modern finance, complete with shell companies, speculation and secret transfers. (For more on the antecedents of the current bank, see Betty Clermont’s handy synopsis at Daily Kos.) Last year, Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book delving into the intrigue and corruption swirling in a bank that has been answerable to no one. It was an eye-opener.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Senteinel & Enterprise

WORCESTER — A former Fitchburg priest pleaded guilty today to possessing child pornography on his computer and stealing from his parish.

At Worcester Superior Court, the Rev. Lowe Dongor was sentenced to five years probation and has to repay $750 in retribution to the Diocese of Worcester.

Timothy Connolly, spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., said prosecution was seeking a one- to three-year state prison sentence for Dongor as well as five years probation.

Dongor pleaded guilty to charges of possession of child pornography and larceny over $250. Charges related to Dongor’s escape to the Philippines while on bail were not mentioned and Connolly did not have information on that issue immediately.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 27, 2013

Rome —
John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

Back in 2000, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Ray Flynn and writer Robin Moore published a novel called The Accidental Pope. Although they didn’t have Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco in mind, if the 70-year-old Italian gets elected, there’s a sense the title would fit him like a glove.

When Bagnasco was installed as president of the powerful Italian bishops’ conference in 2007, known by its acronym CEI, he was seen as a compromise between competing camps. (CEI, by the way, is the only bishops’ conference in the world whose president is named by papal appointment.)

At one level, the contest was between moderates, who wanted Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, and conservatives, who wanted someone like Cardinal Angelo Scola (then of Venice, now in Milan) or perhaps Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna.

In another sense, it pitted Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the über-powerful Vicar of Rome and president of CEI during the John Paul years, against Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict’s Secretary of State. That clash wasn’t over ideology, but primacy. John Paul had let Ruini do the heavy lifting in Italy, but Bertone aspired to become the new point of reference. Neither wanted a third player in the game, so they settled on Bagnasco, who seemed sufficiently low-profile to stay out of the fray.

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UNITED KINGDOM/AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Julian Drape, AAP London Correspondent
From: AAP
February 28, 2013

ONE of the harshest critics of outgoing Pope Benedict XVI says his replacement could learn valuable lessons from Australia’s royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson hopes the commission will propose children not be confirmed in any religion until they turn 14.

And he thinks the new pope could embrace such a change.

Speaking on the eve of Benedict’s resignation Mr Robertson said Joseph Ratzinger would be remembered for ignoring the abuse of over 100,000 young children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Portsmouth News

Published on Wednesday 27 February 2013

THE HIGHEST court in the land has ruled against the Catholic Church in a row over whether it can be held responsible for the sexual abuse of a Waterlooville woman by one of its own priests.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear the Catholic Churches’ case that it could not be held responsible because the priest was not an ‘employee’.

The issue of responsibility arose after the woman, who can only be identified as Miss E, brought a civil action against the church.

She claimed she was abused in a children’s home run by the church and therefore the church has ‘vicarious liability’.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

The manner in which Cardinal O’Brien has been deposed is more despicable than anything he’s alleged to have done

By Brendan O’Neill
Last updated: February 27th, 2013

What did Cardinal Keith O’Brien do that was so bad? He is alleged to have made inappropriate advances to young men when he was a teacher of priests in the 1980s. But is not a crime to make sexual advances to men over the age of 18. It is not child abuse (despite the best efforts of the press to lump O’Brien together with paedophile priests). Nor is what he is alleged to have done perverted in any way. It can at best be described as stupid – and if everyone in Britain who has ever done something stupid was thrown out of their jobs, the nation would grind to a halt.

Ah, but O’Brien’s alleged behaviour makes him a hypocrite, say his exposers in the liberal press as they desperately scrabble about for a PC justification for why they are depicting adult gay interaction as something sinister and sordid. Perhaps it does make him a hypocrite, given his current stance on homosexuality. But perhaps not. We know nothing of Cardinal O’Brien’s inner spiritual life. For all we know he may have spent the past 30-plus years repenting for that “inappropriate” behaviour in the Eighties, before deciding that, on balance, he thinks that homosexuality is wrong and wicked. People change. People regret. Would we say St Paul was a hypocrite for criticising those who attacked Christians even though he spent his early life doing the same thing?

Now, what do we know about the allegations against O’Brien? We know they are being made by anonymous individuals, which makes it impossible for O’Brien to defend himself. In normal justice scenarios, it is paramount that the accused knows whom he is being accused by so that he can prepare his defence. We know the allegations are unsubstantiated, and will remain so for as long as the accusers are anonymous. They therefore linger in that limbo between rumour and truth. We know the allegations were leaked by someone – perhaps one of the accusers or perhaps someone in the upper echelons of the church – to the press, which immediately politicised them, allowing them to be used for the ideological end of getting one over on the Catholic hierarchy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation is an opportunity to reform Scotland’s complacent and philistine Catholic hierarchy

By Damian Thompson
Last updated: February 27th, 2013

Tom Gallagher, professor emeritus of politics at Bradford University, has sent me an article about Catholicism in Scotland that is so thoughtful and provocative that I’m reproducing it here in full. Prof Gallagher’s conclusion is upbeat – but the picture he paints is of a sclerotic, philistine and arrogant Church whose weakness has been exploited with deadly effectiveness by the country’s secular Labour/SNP/BBC/public-sector elite.

Cardinal O’Brien’s via dolorosa could well be a low road towards eventual oblivion for the bedraggled forces of Scottish Christianity. In Scotland, a defensive set of institutions seeking to uphold a Christian ethical code in the face of an apparently thriving secular culture has been on the retreat for some time.

A secular design for Scotland has flourished due to long-term intra-Christian strife in Scotland, robbing the Churches of broad authority. Operating most of the levers of state power, emphatically secular elites are determined to make their values the only ones that count through law-making and bold interventions at various levels of society.

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SCOTLAND
Clydebank Post

FORMER Clydebank priest and Glasgow Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, has been appointed Administrator of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh after the departure of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

He has taken over this role with immediate effect.

Archbishop Tartaglia said: “These are painful and distressing times for the Archdiocese, I also feel pained and distressed.

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CANADA
CBC

Retired priest George Smith was in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in Corner Brook for sentencing Wednesday.

Smith, 75, pleaded guilty to 41 sex-related offences and has been in jail for more than a year.

Of those charges, 26 are for indecent assault, seven for sexual assault, and eight for assault.

A total of 13 victims have come forward, all of them either altar boys or had families involved with the churches where Smith was parish priest.

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CANADA
The Western Star

Published on February 27, 2013

Gary Kean

CORNER BROOK One of George Smith’s victims wants to give something back to the former Roman Catholic priest who abused him when he was a child.

The man was one of 13 who suffered sexual assaults at the hands of Smith in western Newfoundland in the 1970s and ’80s when he was a parish priest in their communities.

The man was also one of three victims who read out their victim impact statements during Smith’s sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in Corner Brook this morning.

The first victim to read his statement carried a crucifix that he said Smith gave him more than three decades ago. He could not give it directly to Smith, but said after court that he hoped to find a way to get it back to him.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

February 27, 2013

Cardinal Levada: enough is never enough

We read with interest the following quote from Cardinal William Levada who will be an elector in the coming conclave.

‘There are some victims groups for whom enough is never enough, so we have to do our jobs as best we see it,’ said Levada, 76, who spoke with reporters from a Menlo Park seminary as he prepared for his trip to the Vatican for the papal conclave.

The dig at survivors is obvious, of course, from this man who was entrusted with care of souls in a California diocese before being promoted to Pope Benedict’s previous position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith where the clergy sexual abuse cases were sent.

We have to wonder what Cardinal Levada’s reaction would be if Catholics who sat in the pews where he preached or in the audience at dinners where he spoke simply said to themselves following the homily instructions, “enough goodness, sacrifice, fasting, almsgiving, or prayer will never be enough – why try it?”

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SCOTLAND
The Glaswegian

Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia appointed by Pope to fill in for Cardinal Keith O’Brien

Feb 27 2013

THE Archbishop of Glasgow has been named temporary successor to Cardinal Keith O’Brien following his resignation.

Philip Tartaglia will govern the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh until a permanent successor is appointed.

The pope named him as apolistic administrator after Cardinal O’Brien stepped down from the post on Monday amid allegations of “inappropriate” behaviour towards fellow priests.

Cardinal O’Brien has denied the allegations and is taking legal advice.

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VATICAN CITY
KMBZ

ABC News(VATICAN CITY) — Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, on Wednesday argued against electing a pope from the United States because the pontiff would be conflicted about delivering the “spiritual challenge” that a superpower needs from time to time.

Speaking with ABC’s Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos in Vatican City on Wednesday, Wuerl also commended the pope’s final public address and his historic decision to step down, while discussing the unlikely appointment of a U.S. pope at the upcoming Conclave.

“I think the conventional wisdom, which I think is correct, is a pope from the superpower would probably have a lot going against him when he’s trying to present a spiritual message to the rest of the world,” Wuerl said.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Lizzy Davies in Vatican City
The Guardian, Wednesday 27 February 2013

As his papacy entered its final hours, Pope Benedict XIV admitted on Wednesday that his eight-year spell as head of the Roman Catholic church had had its “difficult moments” when he felt that God “seemed to be sleeping”.

Before tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter’s square who had come to hear his final general audience, the outgoing pope looked tired but serene as he thanked believers for understanding his decision to resign “for the good of the church”.

Smiling and waving from an open-sided car, he toured the square, stopping occasionally to bless babies.

In a very personal homily, which differed in tone from his usual Wednesday messages, Benedict recalled that, when he agreed to become pope on 19 April 2005, he felt the calling placed “a great burden” on his shoulders. The eight years that followed, he said, had had moments “of joy and light” but also of difficulty. His papacy was marred by the unfolding clerical abuse scandal in Europe and the United States, and by the so-called Vatileaks affair.

“I have felt like St Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us … and the Lord seemed to be sleeping,” he said. …

Benedict will cease to be pope at 8pm Italian time on Thursday. After a final meeting with cardinals in the morning, he will leave the Vatican City at 5pm by helicopter, making a brief flight to the hilltop town of Castel Gandolfo. There, amid pilgrims, he is expected to make one last public appearance as pope before becoming, instead, “emeritus pope”, as he will be styled.

Cardinals, many of whom were massed on the steps of St Peter’s basilica alongside Benedict on Wednesday, will then begin consultations ahead of a conclave to choose a successor. The secretive process, which could start as early as next week, is already mired in controversy after the resignation of the Scottish cardinal, Keith O’Brien, who will no longer be attending. Another cardinal, the emeritus archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, has withstood pressure from grassroots Catholic activists to stay away after court papers indicated he had helped shield priests accused of sex abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Lez Get Real

There is something utterly ironic in a Catholic Cardinal condemning the judgmental attitude of others given that his Church has a long history of condemning people based upon the least little scrap of hearsay; however, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles did just that. Writing on his personal blog while at the Vatican to vote on the next Pope, Mahony wrote:

“I can’t recall a time such as now when people tend to be so judgmental and even self-righteous, so quick to accuse, judge and condemn. And often with scant real facts and information. Because of news broadcasts now 24/7 there is little or no fact checking; no in-depth analysis; no context or history given. Rather, everything gets reported as ‘news’ regardless of the basis for the item being reported — and passed on by countless other news outlets.”

“Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness has flooded the world over the centuries, and this message has had the power to change hearts and minds. May his challenge this Lent inspire us to do as he asks.”

Mahony has been under attack for not just going to Rome to vote for the next Pope, but for his handling of several child sexual molestation cases including ones that involved priests tying up and raping children. Mahony, who has apologized for his actions in the 1980′s, does not quite seem to grasp why people are so furious over his deliberate interference with police investigations into those crimes.

The blog post comes after Mahony tweeted “Anyone interested in loving your enemies, or doing good to those who persecute you? See my blog for today. Wow, Jesus is demanding.”

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that the Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia will take over the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh following the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Archbishop Tartaglia will act as Apostolic Administrator and govern the archdiocese until a new Archbishop is appointed.

He said: “These are painful and distressing times for the Archdiocese, I also feel pained and distressed. With the grace of God, I will do my very best to oversee and govern the Archdiocese until the appointment of a new Archbishop. I ask for your prayers.”

Cardinal O’Brien announced that he was stepping down with immediate effect on Monday in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young priests.

He had been due to formally submit his resignation in three weeks, but stood down with immediate effect after weekend revelations he was being investigated for the claims, which date back 30 years and relate to three priests and a former priest.

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SCOTLAND
Independent Catholic News

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has appointed the Most Rev Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow, as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. With immediate effect, Archbishop Tartaglia will govern the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh until a new Archbishop is appointed.

Archbishop Tartaglia said: “These are painful and distressing times for the Archdiocese, I also feel pained and distressed. With the grace of God, I will do my very best to oversee and govern the Archdiocese until the appointment of a new Archbishop. I ask for your prayers.”

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on Wednesday 27 February 2013

IN perhaps the last appointment of his Papacy, Benedict XVI has named Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow as the Apostolic Administrator for the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh following the scandal involving Cardinal O’Brien.

The ‘caretaker’ role will mean the Archbishop will govern the Archdiocese but will have no role in the Vatican’s investigation into the complaints raised about the Cardinal’s alleged ‘inappropriate behaviour’ to four priests.

Yesterday Archbishop Tartaglia said: “These are painful and distressing times for the Archdiocese, I also feel pained and distressed. With the grace of God, I will do my very best to oversee and govern the Archdiocese until the appointment of a new Archbishop. I ask for your prayers.”

Cardinal O’Brien is now the Archbishop Emeritus of St Andrews and Edinburgh, however as an Archbishop Emeritus he no longer has any role in the governance of a diocese.

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SCOTLAND
Gay Star News

27 February 2013 | By Joe Morgan

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a temporary successor to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Archbishop of Glasgow Reverend Philip Tartaglia will govern the vacant diocese until a permanent appointment is made.

It follows Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who has previously compared gay marriage to slavery, resigned after allegations he initiated inappropriate acts with his male priests.

Archbishop Tartaglia said: ‘These are painful and distressing times for the archdiocese, I also feel pained and distressed.

‘With the grace of God, I will do my very best to oversee and govern the archdiocese until the appointment of a new archbishop. I ask for your prayers.’

But with Tartaglia’s appointment, it shows the pope is not planning on putting a pro-gay Catholic in charge.

When he was made an archbishop last year, Tartaglia was criticized for connecting former minister David Cairns’ death, who passed away from pancreatic cancer, to his sexuality.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, has been put in charge of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The move comes after the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien from the post.

He stepped down on Monday amid allegations he behaved “inappropriately” to three serving priests and a former priest.

The church said Archbishop Tartaglia would lead the east coast diocese until a permanent appointment was made.

He has been appointed apostolic administrator of the archdiocese with immediate effect.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE Archbishop asked people to pray for him as he took control of the east coast diocese in “painful and distressing times”.

A TOP Glasgow Catholic has been named as the temporary replacement for Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

The Archbishop of Glasgow, Rev Philip Tartaglia, will govern the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

His appointment comes after the shock resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien on Monday

Britain’s most senior Catholic stepped down amid allegations he behaved “inappropriately” to three serving priests and a former priest.

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UNITED STATES
azfamily.com

[with poll]

[with video]

by Jay Crandall
azfamily.com

It is a week when the Catholic Church hoped to look forward, as the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new pope.

But, instead the church finds itself confronting ghosts of the past.

A British cardinal has resigned amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with priests.

Italian papers are filled with reports of sexual escapades inside the Vatican itself.

And now word that a U.S. cardinal accused of hiding sexual abuse by priests will be among those choosing the new pope, which has many wondering if the Catholic Church is once again turning a blind eye to its own failings.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Becky Ianni on February 27, 2013

It’s mind boggling and insulting that Mahony claims those who criticize him have “”scant information.”

Mahony has a three decade track record of ignoring, hiding and enabling pedophile priests. There are thousands of pages of records disclosed through more than 500 child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits against his archdiocese. There is a weeks-long Stockton trial in the 1990s about an admitted serial pedophile, Fr. Oliver O’Grady, who Mahony supervised. There are almost 300 proven, admitted and credibly accused LA area priests (see BishopAccountabilty.org)

And now there are 12,000 more new pages of documents released weeks ago.

“Scant information?” That’s absurd. The public now knows more about cover ups by Mahony than any other US Catholic official, even more than Cardinal Bernard Law, formerly of Boston and now of Rome.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[Now Gathering in Rome, a Conclave of Fallible Cardinals – New York Times]

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 27, 2013

Today’s New York Times reports that disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law, while too old to vote for the next pope, is eligible to “participate in the general congregations meetings that precede the conclave.”

We beg Pope Benedict and Cardinal Angelo Sodano (who heads the College of Cardinals) to insist that Law stay away.

His presence and participation hurts in two ways. First it inflicts more suffering on those who have already suffered enough – clergy sex abuse victims and Catholics in Boston and elsewhere.

And it sends precisely the wrong signals to church employees everywhere: “Endanger kids and you’ll rarely and barely pay any price at all. Your career will largely remain unscathed, no matter how irresponsibly and recklessly and deceitfully you behave.”

It’s tough to imagine that Law’s involvement in these meetings will benefit anyone. It’s easy to see, however, how his involvement will hurt many.

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UNITED STATES
Crisis Magazine

by Regis Martin

It must be because February is so fleeting that one naturally assumes the news cycle will follow suit. Less calendar time translates into fewer stories, right? Wrong. Recent events have blown that thesis completely out of the water. Begin with the announcement of a papal resignation—could anything be more newsworthy? It will take effect by the end of this month, too, leaving the See of Peter officially vacant until a conclave can elect a new pope.

So what else has happened this month? How about the unprecedented public rebuke of retired Cardinal Roger Mahony by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, in the largest Archdiocese in America, the City of Angels no less?

What an extraordinary moment this has been in the life of the Church. And, without doubt, the most stunning humiliation possible for a once popular prelate, who had championed all the hot-button issues so dear to the liberal heart, from farmworkers to immigrants to inmates on Death Row. What had he done to deserve this? He had, in a word, failed to protect children and young boys from sexual abuse by predatory priests. “Nothing in my own background or education,“ he confessed on his blog, equipped him to cope with such a problem. How competent does a Cardinal need to be to recognize and report criminal sex abuse among members of his own clergy? If it requires a masters degree in social work, then what possible use did he make of the one he had earned? On the other hand, one would have thought a class or two in Morals and Canon Law quite enough background for someone charged with the spiritual welfare of four million plus souls. That and a little courage with which to punish priests who set about perverting the young and the innocent.

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OSTERREICH
Die Presse

Wien/Kb. Von einem „erschreckenden Bild“, das teilweise an Überlebende von Folter erinnert, sprach Psychologin Brigitte Lueger-Schuster am Dienstag bei der Präsentation ihrer Studie über Spätfolgen für Missbrauchsopfer. Rund die Hälfte der Betroffenen leide an schweren „posttraumatischen Belastungsstörungen“, mehr als 80 Prozent zumindest unter einzelnen Symptomen wie Albträumen, Depressionen, Paranoia, sexuellen Problemen und „Flashbacks“. „Eine gesunde Gruppe“ – also Personen, die die Geschehnisse größtenteils überwunden haben – „gibt es nicht“, so Lueger-Schuster bei einem Symposium der Kommission zur Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen in kirchlichen Institutionen.

Insgesamt wurden für das Forschungsprojekt der Universität Wien die Daten (Berichte, Gutachten) von 448 Missbrauchsopfern (339 Männer und 109 Frauen) analysiert. 185 von ihnen füllten darüber hinaus ausführliche Fragebögen aus, 48 wiederum erklärten sich zu Interviews bereit. Die Täter gingen Lueger-Schuster zufolge zumeist einzeln vor, „aber es gab auch Übergriffe durch zwei oder mehr Kirchenmitarbeiter. Diese sind in allen Kirchenämtern zu finden.“ Den größten Anteil stellten Ordensmitglieder, die in katholisch geführten Institutionen oft als Erzieher fungierten, sowie Pfarrer. Die Schauplätze des Missbrauchs waren meist Heime und Internate, aber auch kirchlich geführte Schulen sowie Pfarren.

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DEUTSCHLAND
N24

Wer auch immer Papst Benedikt XVI. im Amt folgen wird, kann sich kaum auf ruhige Jahre im Vatikan freuen. Viele Probleme, die der katholischen Weltkirche bereits seit Jahren Sorgen bereiten, schwelen weiter. Vor allem sechs große Herausforderungen gilt es zu bewältigen:

MISSBRAUCHSSKANDAL:

In Europa und den USA wurden seit der Jahrtausendewende massenhaft Fälle des Missbrauchs von Kindern und Jugendlichen durch katholische Geistliche bekannt. Im Juni 2010 bat Benedikt XVI. erstmals öffentlich um Entschuldigung und versprach Aufklärung. Viele Kritiker sehen das Bemühen des Vatikans, Licht in die Verfehlungen zu bringen und die Verantwortlichen zu bestrafen, nicht als ausreichend an.

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IRELAND
UTV

The auxiliary bishop of Armagh, Gerard Clifford, has retired due to ill health.

His resignation after 21 years has been accepted by Pope Benedict.

Bishop Clifford, who was born near Dundalk in Co Louth and ordained as a priest in 1967, has worked closely with Cardinal Sean Brady.

However he is now stepping aside after receiving medical advice.

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PHILIPPINES
Sun.Star

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

MANY Filipino priests and bishops are hoping that Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who is second among the youngest cardinals, will have an equal chance to be elected as the next pope.

The 117 Cardinals from all over the world, including Tagle, will arrive Thursday and start converging in the Vatican for the conclave, an election of a new Pope after Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation takes effect Thursday, February 28, 2013.

Msgr. Rey Manuel Monsanto, vicar general of the archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and parish priest of Nazareno Church, said all Cardinals are candidates as anyone of them can be elected.

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

James Hanvey

Just southeast of Rome stands the small church of St. Mary in Palmis, better known as the Church of Domine Quo Vadis. It takes its name from the legend of St. Peter’s meeting with Christ as he flees persecution in Rome. “Lord, where are you going?” Peter asks. “To Rome to be crucified again,” the Lord replies. Whatever the actual origin of the name, there is a certain familiarity about this Petrine encounter with Christ: It ends in the reversal of what Peter originally had planned. The rest is history.

As the church prepares for Easter and the election of a new successor to Peter, the ancient question remains powerfully relevant, not only for the papacy but for us all. It is not easy at the moment to get a clear sense of where the church is heading. What we do know is that with his resignation, Pope Benedict has separated the office from the person. Even for a moment, he has created a space of reflection, an opportunity to hear Christ ask us the question, Quo vadis? Even more searchingly, in this moment we must ask not only “Where are we going?” but “Where do we desire to go?” …

The wound of abuse. We need to acknowledge deep desolation and the wound in the church’s heart caused not only by the crisis of abuse but by the way in which it is addressed. We need to accept that it is not the enemies of the church who have exposed this wound, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. It is the same Spirit who gives us the grace to act with integrity.

Abuse cannot be addressed by safeguarding procedures alone, necessary though they are. A purely juridical process can never be adequate. To attempt to blame others or a lax secular culture is not only a dangerous denial; it is a sin against the victims and against the Spirit who is their advocate. Though intensely personal, abuse is about an institutional failure and the ecclesial culture that supported it. Only through a deep, humble repentance that begins and desires a sustained metanoia of ecclesial soul and culture can there be healing and renovatio.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

Christiane Amanpour, Robert Hoatson and CNN’s Sr. Vatican Analyst John Allen detail the scandals weighing on the Papacy.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

[with video]

A former friar believes that homosexuality is a “ticking time bomb” for the Catholic Church.

Days before Pope Benedict XVI is officially set to resign from papal office, two bombshells rocked the Catholic Church.

First, On Feb. 21, an article published in Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper alleged that Benedict was influenced to resign by an unsourced report claiming the Vatican has been influenced by multiple internal lobbys, including a gay one. The report also claimed members broke the Sixth Commandment, which is “linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts,” according to The Guardian.

Then, three days later, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, known for his anti-gay rhetoric, was accused of “inappropriate” behavior with other priests and offered his resignation.

Mark Dowd, an openly gay man and a former Dominican friar, spoke on Monday with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about the recent gay sex scandals to hit the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Jeff Anderson, Special to CNN
updated 6:55 AM EST, Wed February 27, 2013

Editor’s note: Jeff Anderson is an attorney and the founder of Jeff Anderson and Associates in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has represented survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and other authority figures for 28 years.

(CNN) — As Pope Benedict XVI steps down, the moral authority and future of the Roman Catholic Church depends on the next pope forcefully dealing with child sex abuse in its ranks.

Benedict had the power to effect fundamental, institutional change from the top that would have protected children of future generations. Benedict failed on child protection and the sexual abuse of children was allowed to continue, with thousands of more cases on his watch.

Before his installation as pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the keeper of the traditional papal secrecy around sexual abuse as the leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He issued orders directing cardinals, archbishops and bishops to keep credibly accused priests in ministry, to move them to a different parish or to keep them in the priesthood because they were too young, too infirm or their removal would cause too much scandal for the church.

As pope, he condemned the abuse more strongly than his predecessors, but he did nothing to act on his words.

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NEW ZEALAND
Newstalk ZB

By: Newstalk ZB staff

The Bishop of a Christchurch church which was defrauded by one of it’ priests says it is extremely sad for all involved.

Father John Fitzmaurice was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for defrauding the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament of more than $150,000.

He had been a priest there for 34 years.

Bishop Barry Jones says the church has continued to support him.

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ALASKA
Juneau Enterprise

By Dan Joling
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE — The Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage said Tuesday it will take steps to defrock a longtime priest suspected of inappropriate behavior with women.

Father J. Michael Hornick resigned in 2009 as pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church after allegations were made by three adult women that he had engaged in inappropriate — not criminal — behavior.

After the claims were made public, two more adult women came forward and said they had inappropriate contact with Hornick decades before when they were minors, said Father Thomas Brundage, a spokesman for the archdiocese.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

Mahony’s online presence has continued to grow via Twitter and a blog, even as church leaders and Catholic groups continue to question his integrity over the sexual abuse cases.

By Victoria Kim and Harriet Ryan,
Los Angeles Times
February 26, 2013

As archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony responded to criticism of his handling of sexual abuse cases with a high-priced crisis management firm, full-page ads in Spanish and English newspapers, and a report naming accused priests.

In retirement, Mahony’s public relations operation consists mainly of his thoughts and a computer keyboard. Since last month, when outrage flared anew over files showing he shielded abusers, the cardinal has thrown himself into social media to give the public his side of the story.

It was on his blog that Mahony defended himself against a public rebuke by his successor, and it was on Twitter that he confirmed, to the dismay of many critics, that he would attend the conclave to elect a new pope.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Cathy Cash Spellman

I was raised an Irish Catholic. Six a.m. Mass most mornings, Novenas every Tuesday, First Fridays every month and as many rosaries as could be squeezed in between. I was taught by the long-suffering nuns and was usually the debater they sent to Archdiocesan Religion Contests to compete on matters of faith.

Then I grew up. I studied other peoples’ theologies and evolved my own connection to God. I’ve written about Him/Her from a Tibetan, Catholic, Mystic, Native American, Hindu, Jain and Kabbalist point of view in my books. I’ve penned a book of Uncommon Prayer.

So much for my bona fides.

I’m now an outsider who was once an insider, but I’m troubled enough by the ongoing and seemingly endless litany of scandals and coverups within the Church, to want to raise a few issues:

It’s now well documented that the Church spent 25 years and more than a billion dollars to protect pedophile priests by covering up their crimes and moving them from parish to parish, allowing them back into the company of children, and denying their guilt until forced by law and the sheer number of victims, to admit it. Did you know there’s now an insurance company that underwrites a policy for clergy that covers “any act of unlawful sexual intimacy, sexual molestation or sexual assault” available for $2,500 per cleric per year. Presumably such insurance policies would not exist without ample need for them. Insuring pedophiles? Really?

Pope Benedict XVI, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly called The Inquisition — yes, that Inquisition) was tasked with collecting all data worldwide on priestly sexual abuse cases. Doesn’t that mean he has possessed for decades all the data that was hidden from the law and the laity? Yet victims of these brutal crimes must still fight, diocese by diocese, and lawsuit by lawsuit to have the truth of the priestly sexual predators who abused them laid bare? Does anyone hold the Pope and his minions accountable for their complicity in the cover-up, I wonder? Maybe only God.

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INDIA
Hindustan Times

Mugdha Variyar, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, February 27, 2013

The wait for the next pope of the Roman Catholic Church may not be too long, with the papal elections slated to begin as early as the middle of next week, the Archbishop of Mumbai Cardinal Oswald Gracias has said.

The Archbishop, however, is doubtful that an Indian is in the reckoning for the post.

“While anybody can be elected, I do not think an Indian cardinal, or even an Asian cardinal, will be elected to become the pope this time, but one never knows,” said Cardinal.

The Archbishop will leave for the Vatican on Wednesday to participate in the farewell of Pope Benedict XVI, who will step down from office on Thursday.

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

As Pope Benedict XVI prepares to step down this week, the Catholic Church confronts new allegations of corruption. What can the church do to address recent scandals? Comments are from Twitter and Facebook:

I would kick priests involved in scandal out of the priesthood and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

— @tnmtman1

Scandals are all around us, in every institution. The church is led by human beings and imperfect.

— @2010ljn

Church has to handle rape accusations ASAP. Offer retribution and repent. Convict priests and settle old cases.

— @DeeMSea

Allow women priests and/or allow priests to marry. Humanity has surpassed the church in its ability to show love.

— @daveguy7

One of the church’s biggest dilemmas by far is this strange paradox it constantly finds itself in, preaching to us all the virtues of marriage and family while secretly carrying on lives of unmarried debauchery.

— Molly Jones

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Wednesday 27 February 2013

Cardinal Keith O’Brien is said to be very upset after resigning as the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland following allegations of inappropriate behaviour with young priests.

Cardinal O’Brien, who has spent the days since his resignation in his residence in Morningside, Edinburgh, is said by sources to be baffled over “who his accusers are and doesn’t know what they’re accusing him of”.

His fate will be decided by the new Pope, with the outcome of the Vatican investigation into the claims expected to determine how the cleric will see out his days.

Senior Vatican officials are to examine the allegations which, it is claimed, involve three priests and a former priest dating back 30 years. His case has to be dealt with at such a high level of the Church because of his seniority.

Cardinal O’Brien has denied the accusations and said he was taking legal advice. It is understood the full magnitude of his resignation has not fully hit home yet. Sources say he is “hurt and wounded”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

27 February 2013

The Catholic Church in Scotland has said the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien had not been brought forward because of allegations of “inappropriate” behaviour towards fellow priests reported on Sunday.

The Catholic Church in Britain was plunged into crisis on Monday after the resignation of Cardinal O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The cardinal – originally from Ballycastle, Co Antrim – has denied the allegations.

Peter Kearney, director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office, said: “When it comes to responding to the allegations I think what he will do is act on his legal advice, and the legal advice at the moment would be to not publicly engage with the detail… of the allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Robert Pigott

Even if you’re not a Scottish Catholic, the case of the disappearing cardinal has an unsettling effect.

So much about the case against Cardinal Keith O’Brien, until Monday the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, is unknown.

Even he is said by a close colleague to be unaware of who his accusers are, and exactly what they claim he did. The cardinal has said that he “contests” the claims against him.

Yet he has paid an extremely heavy price – resigning barely two weeks short of his 75th birthday, when he could have retired with dignity at the end of an illustrious career.

So why did he choose to go?

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

AS the Cardinal worked from home an ex-leader of England’s Catholics says the next Pope must put his house in order.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien seemed to be working away like normal in his study yesterday – despite claims he was “very upset” over the circumstances of his shock resignation.

The day after he stepped down as Britain’s most senior Catholic, the 74-year-old remained behind closed doors in his official residence in Edinburgh’s Morningside.

As O’Brien was making calls and talking into a dictaphone, a former leader of Catholics in England and Wales called for the “Pope’s own house to be put in order”.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE resignation of Britain’s most senior Catholic has been felt world-wide in the run up to the selection of the next Pope.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien’s decision not to take part in the conclave to elect the next pope has heaped pressure on other scandal-hit cardinals to follow his lead.

Several senior Catholic figures from around the world are planning to travel to Rome despite the fact they’ve been embroiled in damning claims of abuse cover-ups.

Father Tony Flannery, of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland, believes many of them will now be feeling the heat. He said: “Cardinal O’Brien has taken the decision on his own not to attend the conclave and that’s significant.

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IRELAND
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan

February 27, 2013

Ghana’s Peter Turkson is the Irish bookmakers’ favorite to replace Pope Benedict, putting a non-European in pole position to lead the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church for the first time in more than a millennium.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power offered odds of 11/4 against for Turkson, meaning successful punters would win 11 pounds for every four staked, while Britain’s second largest bookmaker Ladbrokes offered odds of 5/2 against.

Turkson would be the first non-European to lead the Catholic church in more than a millennium if he is chosen to succeed Benedict. Italian Angelo Scola is second favorite according to Paddy Power at 3/1 against.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

SNAP leaders Barbara Dorris and David Clohessy landed in Rome this morning and just five hours later held their first news conference challenging Pope Benedict to “take dramatic action” during his final days in office to “punish those who conceal child sex crimes.” Among those in attendance: Mary Ann Ahern of the Chicago NBC affiliate, the inimitable Sylvia Poggioli of NPR and two reporters – Dennis Coday and Josh McElwee – of the KC-based National Catholic Reporter. . .

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BOSTON (MA)
WGBH

By Ibby Caputo

This week, Pope Benedict XVI joins a handful of his predecessors who resigned as leader of the Catholic Church. In Boston, and around the world, the Pope’s startling decision has prompted weeks of reaction, reflection and curiosity.

There are 1.8 million Roman Catholics in the Boston area. They range from the devout to Catholic “in name only.”

I asked a few local people, “Are you Catholic?”

“Um, Kind of yes,” one young woman replied. “I was raised Catholic.”

“I do go to church on Easter, that’s about it,” a man said.

“I am a practicing Catholic,” an older woman said. “I go to church every Sunday and I’m delighted to do so to praise and thank God.”

For both the devout and the dubious, the Pope’s resignation has caused a stir, especially for Catholics here in Boston.

Because we’ve been immersed in it, possibly more thoroughly than the average Catholic,” said Anne Southwood, chair of the Boston Council of Voice of the Faithful, an international organization that supports victims of clergy sexual abuse, started in Massachusetts after the Boston Globe broke the scandal in 2002. …

Scholarly speculation about the next pope has been intense – including the mention of long shot American names like New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

Local scholars are also being asked to help put the Pope’s decision into a broader historical context. After all, it has been 600 years since a Pope resigned. We were curious about why — and why it’s been so long.

“There have probably been 4, 5 popes who have resigned, but all but one of them rescinded under duress,” said Richard Gaillardetz, professor of theology at Boston College. “Either an emperor or some political figure, maybe even local clergy forced them to resign.”

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | February 27

In the midst of the sexual abuse crisis now hounding the Roman Catholic church which ironically is in its most critical period in selecting the new pope, believers of the faith say it is not enough that the highly anticipated new leader is just plain spiritual or has charisma to convert bigots into the secular religion.

“From the new pope, we’d simply expect courage,” David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told reporters at a news conference in Rome on Tuesday.

“We long for the day when church officials announce that this cardinal or this bishop is being demoted because church officials have found proof of wrongdoing and church officials want to clean things up.”

The shock resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic clergyman, on Monday, who observers said was pressured to step down by no less than the outgoing Pope Benedict XVI himself, could be a most improved signal of better things to come for the secular Roman Catholic faith.

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VATICAN CITY
The Himalayan Times

REUTERS

VATICAN CITY: The sex and power scandals haunting the Catholic Church look set to play a big role in meetings before next month’s papal election after two senior cardinals called on Tuesday for more internal debate about them.

A leading support group for victims of clerical sexual abuse also made what it called a “last-ditch plea” to Pope Benedict to use his authority before resigning on Thursday to discipline bishops who have protected predatory priests in their dioceses.

The abuse issue took on new urgency after Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien, accused of improper behavior with young priests, quit as Edinburgh archbishop on Monday and pulled out of the Sistine Chapel conclave to elect a new pope. …

French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said in a newspaper interview that the cardinal electors, who number 115 after O’Brien stepped down, should also be informed about a secret report on Vatican corruption prepared for Pope Benedict.

The retiring pontiff has decided to reserve the report for his successor, but the three cardinals over 80 years old who drew it up will be allowed to inform the cardinal electors about some of its findings during next week’s consultations.

ASKING TO NAME NAMES

“The cardinal electors cannot decide to choose this or that name to vote for if they don’t know the contents of this dossier,” Tauran told La Repubblica newspaper.

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NETHERLANDS
Expatica

A 59-year-old man who was sexually assaulted once by church officials while living in a Catholic boarding school in Limburg is taking legal action against the church for years of physical abuse.

In an interview with the Volkskrant, the man says he was kicked and punched as a teenager over a period of several years. ‘I was literally beaten into hospital five times,’ the man said. ‘But the church does not comment on this sort of abuse.’

The case will be heard on March 11. The paper says it is the first time a victim of church physical abuse has gone to court. The man was earlier given €25,000 compensation for the sex attack he endured.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By EMMA SWAIN
Feb. 27, 2013

The mother of a son who suffered at the hands of a paedophile priest and a man abused by a Marist Brother when he was just a boy have revealed their stories in a DVD.

Breaking the Silence: The Impact of Sexual Abuse by Church Personnel presents the testimony of two Maitland residents, Patricia Feenan and Bob O’Toole, in a confronting and unflinchingly honest account of their experiences.

The DVD was produced by Insights – an arm of Zimmerman Services in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle that was established in 2009 to explore the ongoing consequences of historic child sexual abuse in the diocese.

“I think this is a very worthwhile venture because it’s a way of getting the message out there about what this does to a family,” Ms Feenan said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

Updated Wed Feb 27, 2013

A new DVD, commissioned by the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese, aims to raise the awareness of the impact of child sexual abuse at the hands of church workers.

Around a hundred people were at the Newcastle launch of the DVD titled, ‘Breaking the Silence’.

Pat Feenan’s son Daniel was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest from the age of 12.

She says he was sometimes assaulted between church services.

“He left one mass, he took my son to another mass to be an extra altar boy , and he abused him in the car,” she said.

“That’s disgraceful.”

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: February 26, 2013

The sudden resignation of the most senior Roman Catholic cardinal in Britain, who stepped aside on Monday in the face of accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward priests years ago, showed that the taint of scandal could force a cardinal from participating in the selection of a new pope.

His exit came as at least a dozen other cardinals tarnished with accusations that they had failed to remove priests accused of sexually abusing minors were among those gathering in Rome to prepare for the conclave to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. There was no sign that the church’s promise to confront the sexual abuse scandal had led to direct pressure on those cardinals to exempt themselves from the conclave.

Advocates for abuse victims who were in Rome on Tuesday focused particular ire on Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, and called for him to be excluded from the conclave. But Cardinal Mahony, who has vigorously defended his record, was already in Rome, posting on Twitter about the weather.

Even stalwart defenders of the church point out that to disqualify Cardinal Mahony would leave many more cardinals similarly vulnerable. Many of the men who will go into the Sistine Chapel to elect a pope they hope will help the church recover from the bruising scandal of sexual abuse have themselves been blemished by it.

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TEXAS
KENS

[with video

by Brix Fowler / KENS 5

Posted on February 26, 2013

“It’s been a very big loss. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Eduardo,” Barbara Boehland said.

Boehland’s son, Eduardo Ramon, committed suicide back in 1997. She says he did it because of sexual abuse by a priest.

‘I remember falling to my knees and crying because it didn’t happen at my house. It happened at my grandparents’ house where he hung himself,” Boehland said.

Boehland says the Catholic Church needs to be held accountable. She’s part of a nationwide group that supports survivors of religous sexual abuse.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate its 84-page legal complaint that the pope and several cardinals knowingly condoned sexual abuse and did very little, if anything, to stop it.

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