ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Feb 21, 2013

As the conclave for new pope nears, Catholics are calling for cardinals embroiled in sex-abuse scandals to abstain from voting.

Can he who has sinned cast a vote for the next pope? Apparently so. But a growing number of the Vatican’s cardinal electors are being questioned over their knowledge of past sex-abuse scandals, calling into question their ethical right to vote in the next conclave.

In less than a week, the majority of the 117-strong College of Cardinals is expected to descend upon Rome to prepare for the conclave in which they will elect a replacement for Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned February 11. But as the Vatican prepares for the pageantry of the occasion, survivors of the church’s sex scandals and everyday Catholics are raising concerns about whether it is appropriate for certain cardinals to be allowed to dictate the church’s future. “In our view, it’s very safe to assume that almost every one of the prelates who’ll pick the pope … have ignored, concealed, or enabled child sex crimes,” Zach Hiner, a spokesman for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), tells The Daily Beast.

While many cardinals have been stained by the extensive clergy sex scandals, Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles Roger M. Mahony has become a poster priest for the corrupt cardinals of this conclave. Mahony was effectively let go as head of America’s largest diocese in January by his Vatican-endorsed replacement, Archbishop José Gomez, when a California court released 120,000 pages of internal church documents sequestered during investigations of 120 predatory priests in the Los Angeles diocese. The documents show that Mahony was directly involved in moving known pedophiles between parishes in an attempt to conceal their crimes. “I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil,” said Gomez in a statement when he fired his predecessor. More than $600,000 has been paid in lawsuits to victims in the Los Angeles diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

A FORMER spiritual leader of the Melbourne community is at the centre of fresh child abuse allegations.

The rabbi, who is no longer alive, is alleged to have sexually abused two male congregants, with the incidents dating back as far as the early 1960s. One of the victims is understood to have been abused while receiving bar mitzvah lessons from the rabbi.

The AJN understands police have been made aware of the allegations.

Manny Waks, founder of victims advocacy group Tzedek, said it was likely there were more children who had suffered at the rabbi’s hands and urged them to come forward. “It is my hope that when past victims hear about these particular cases, that they realise that they are not alone – this happened to many others within our community. It is irrelevant how prominent a rabbi is – anyone may be inflicted by this sickness and, importantly, no-one has immunity from the crimes they committed,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
JTA

February 21, 2013

SYDNEY (JTA) – The head of a suburban Sydney day school denied allegations that he was aware of child sexual abuse taking place at the institution decades ago and failed to report it to authorities.

One of two men accused of sexually abusing boys at the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi told New South Wales police that he confessed to Rabbi PInchus Feldman, the head of the school, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday.

The police are investigating allegations of sexual abuse at the Orthodox school in the 1970s and ’80s.

The man who confessed told his alleged victim of a meeting 25 years ago with Feldman, according to the Morning Herald.

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VATICAN CITY
Business Insider

Adam Taylor
Feb. 21, 2013

Following Pope Benedict’s surprise resignation earlier this month, it didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to come out of the woodwork.

To a certain extent, this is expected — a Pope hasn’t resigned in centuries, and certain aspects of Benedict’s time at the top of the Vatican have been controversial — not least the damaging ‘VatiLeaks’ scandal.

Today, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper added fuel to the fire, alleging that Benedict’s resignation was prompted by a report prepared by three Cardinals on conflict and corruption in the Vatican — including what it says is the “inappropriate influence” of a gay lobby within the Holy See.

The newspaper — which has the largest circulation within Italy — says that Benedict asked three Cardinals, Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, to conduct an internal report after the VatiLeaks scandal. When the 300 page report was delivered to Benedict in December, it reportedly cemented a decision that he had already been considering — it was time to resign.

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UNITED STATES
BBC News

Two US cardinals due to go to Rome to help elect a new pope are being questioned about cases of child abuse by priests under their supervision.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan testified about his release of names of accused clergy members in his former archdiocese.

Cardinal Roger Mahony will be questioned on Saturday about a Mexican priest accused of abusing 26 children.

Pope Benedict XVI unexpectedly said last week he would retire, becoming the first pontiff to do so since 1415.

Cardinal Dolan, 62, also the Archbishop of New York and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been seen as a long-shot candidate for the papacy.

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The conclave, the secretive process by which the Roman Catholic Church will elect a new Pope, has been tainted by scandals affecting Timothy Dolan, a contender for the papacy, and other cardinals.

Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, has become the latest cardinal to be questioned over his handling of sex abuse by priests and victims in Ireland, US and Belgium.

Of the 116 cardinals who will gather beneath Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, several are embroiled in controversies connected to the Church’s systemic failure to tackle sex abuse against children by paedophile priests.

The question marks over the cardinals’ management of sex abuse cases are an embarrassment for the Holy See, just as Benedict prepares to resign the papacy next Thursday.

Timothy Dolan, the charismatic archbishop of New York, who is considered to have a chance of being elected Benedict XVI’s successor, was formally questioned about abusive priests in his former archdiocese of Milwaukee, just days before his departure for Rome to take part in the conclave.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die deutschen Bischöfe billigen die nachträgliche Verhütung für Vergewaltigungsopfer. Auch die Rolle der Frau in der Kirche wurde diskutiert. Alois Glück bewertet diese Entwicklung sehr positiv. Von Gernot Facius

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK) hat klargestellt, dass Frauen nach einer Vergewaltigung von katholischen Krankenhäusern die “Pille danach” erhalten, wenn diese eine verhütende und nicht eine abtreibende Wirkung hat. Ausdrücklich betonten die Bischöfe zum Abschluss ihrer Frühjahrsversammlung in Trier: “Medizinisch-pharmazeutische Methoden, die den Tod des Embryos bewirken, dürfen weiterhin nicht angewendet werden.”

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VATIKAN
Bild

Von Vatikan-Korrespondent ALBERT LINK.

In wenigen Tagen wird in der Sixtinischen Kapelle ein neuer Papst gewählt. 117 Kardinäle haben die Aufgabe, das nächste Oberhaupt der Katholiken zu bestimmen. Der Bestmögliche soll es sein, ein Diener Gottes, der die Kirche ins 21. Jahrhundert führt und die gespaltene Kirche aus Reformern und Konservativen eint.

Nun gerät ein Kardinal ins Fadenkreuz: Roger Mahony (76), ehemaliger Erzbischof von Los Angeles. Er hat bei der Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchs-Skandals pädophile „Mitbrüder“ gedeckt. Er wurde zwar von der Kirche durch Entzug vieler Verantwortlichkeiten abgestraft, durfte aber Kardinal und somit Teilnehmer am Konklave bleiben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Publik-Forum

Was tun – so allein gelassen, ohne Papst Benedikt? Auf den Image-Absturz der deutschen katholischen Kirche nach dem Skandal von Köln und dem Scheitern des Forschungsprojekts zur Aufklärung sexueller Kleriker-Gewalttaten reagieren die Bischöfe ratlos. Ihre Frühjahrsvollversammlung in Trier zeigt nur eines: Einer zornigen Kirchenbasis reißt der Geduldsfaden

Die von sexueller Gewalt von Priestern Betroffenen fordern umfassend Aufklärung. Etwas, was sie der Amtskirche nach vielerlei schlechten Erfahrungen und persönlichen Enttäuschungen kaum noch zutrauen.

Doch unter den katholischen deutschen Bischöfen herrscht Sprachlosigkeit. Journalisten fragen: »Wie soll es weitergehen in der Kirche? Jetzt, da die Wahl eines neuen Papstes bevorsteht?« Statt eine umfassende Antwort zu geben, laden der Kölner Kardinal Joachim Meisner – der seit vielen Jahren in einem erzkonservativen Paralleluniversum zu leben scheint – und der Konferenzvorsitzende, Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch, zur Pressekonferenz mit einem einzigen Thema: Der Kölner Eucharistische Kongress im Juni 2013. In Köln, so sagen sie, solle die Verehrung der verwandelten Hostie den Menschen wieder nahe gebracht werden. Was geht in den Köpfen dieser Bischöfe vor? Offenbar sind sie beherrscht von der Sehnsucht nach Bewahrung. Eine sehr traditionelle Frömmigkeitsform wiederzubeleben, die im 19. Jahrhundert und bis vor dem Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil (1962–1965) ihre hohe Zeit hatte, wird zum Ausdruck dessen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MDR

Nach mehreren Missbrauchsfällen in Schulen, kirchlichen Einrichtungen und Heimen war im Frühjahr 2010 ein Runder Tisch einberufen worden, der mehr als ein Jahr lang über Konsequenzen diskutierte. Bund und Länder einigten sich, 100 Millionen Euro in die Opferhilfe zu investieren. Das Geld ist bis heute nicht geflossen.

Bund und Länder bleiben bei der Finanzierung des Hilfsfonds für die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs zerstritten. Ein entsprechendes Treffen verlief am Mittwoch ergebnislos. In Berlin waren Vertreter von Bund, Ländern, Kirchen sowie Beratungsstellen zusammengekommen, um Bilanz zu ziehen. Vor mehr als einem Jahr war am Runden Tisch zum Thema “Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch” vereinbart worden, dass Bund und Länder einen Hilfsfonds in Höhe von 100 Millionen Euro einrichten. Beide Seiten sollten jeweils die Hälfte des Geldes einzahlen. Doch die Länder haben bis heute nicht gezahlt und knüpfen die Mittel an Bedingungen.

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ROM
WAZ

Rom. Mitte Dezember soll Papst Benedikt XVI. einen 300 Seiten langen Report erhalten über die Untersuchungsergebnisse des Vatileaks-Skandals erhalten haben. Die darin dargelegten Zustände sollen ihn zum Rücktritt gebracht haben. Das berichtet eine italienische Zeitung.

Homosex, Geld und Macht im Vatikan als eigentlicher Grund für den Papstrücktritt – es klingt wie eine Räuberpistole, erfunden von einem der zahlreichen Kritiker der katholischen Kirche. Doch was der Bestsellerautor Dan Brown nicht hätte besser erfinden können, ist nach Berichten der Tageszeitung “La Repubblica” Realität. Nicht Altersschwäche, sondern ein belastender Bericht über Sex-, Geld- und Machtgelüste innerhalb der römischen Kurie stünden hinter dem Rücktritt von Papst Benedikt XVI., berichtete das Blatt am Donnerstag. Der Vatikan lehnt jeden Kommentar ab.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Los Angeles

SEAL BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Victims of alleged sex abuse by Catholic priests were expected to distribute leaflets Thursday outside of an Orange County retirement community where two convicted predator priests have recently lived.

Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) say Michael Wempe and Denis Lyons may pose a threat to children visiting family members at the Leisure World retirement community.

Both Wempe and Lyons have been convicted of sexually abusing kids and have been accused of or admitted to abusing many others, according to SNAP.

Wempe – whose file was a part of a massive release of documents by the Los Angeles Archdiocese – was convicted in 2006 of sexually abusing a boy, although the former priest admitted to molesting at least 13 other boys during his career in the Archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 21, 2013

Let’s get specific. What exactly DID Pope Benedict do about the committing and concealing of child sex crimes in the church? LA Times writer Mitchell Lansberg did a good job of summarizing the case made by Benedict’s defenders, who say that he:

1. “essentially banished an influential Mexican priest, Father Marcial Maciel, who had long been suspected of sexually abusing seminarians and boys in his care and had fathered at least three children”

2. “ordered investigations into sexual abuse and issued guidelines in 2010 that made it easier to punish abusive priests”

3. “spoke of the ‘deep shame’ and ‘humiliation’ the scandal had brought on the Catholic Church. He apologized to victims”

Now, let’s talk about these points in greater detail.

1. To call say that Benedict “banished” Fr. Maciel is over-the-top. Fr. Maciel was actually “invited to retire from public ministry” by Benedict following an investigation into his crimes in 2006. (Serious and credible allegations against Maciel by several victims were first made in the late 1990s.) Maciel was not forced to apologize, and neither he nor his supervisors were told to help in any sort of criminal investigations. It’s estimated that there are around 37,000 predator priests worldwide. By tepidly slapping Maciel’s hand after considerable publicity and pressure, Benedict took belated action one predator priest. We hardly think that’s worth much praise.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Jesus may not have written anything down, but his followers did. They recorded in the Gospels many of His mandates very clearly. These include: (1) Love one another, (2) Avoid accumulating excessive wealth, (3) Avoid oppressive religious leaders, and (4) Protect children always. Simple enough, but too often overlooked at the Vatican.

Instead in 2013, we find Cardinals who seek to injure each other, often over money, sex or power, who then oppress with sexual guilt and fleece with mystical myths the overly trusting faithful, while protecting revenue generating priests who sexually abuse children.

Now the octogenerian Cardinals clique, who had survived Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Franco, have reportedly found the culprits—greedy homosexuals whose sins purportedly pushed poor Benedict to resign. A fitting fairy tale from the Mythical Magic Kingdom! These oldtimers surely learned alot from Fascist propaganda techniques. Apparently, it is too dangerous for the oldtimers to use the historically longstanding Vatican anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic allusions, so blaming gay persons appears to be the latest default excuse.

Meanwhile, the ultimate careerist, Benedict, seems to blame other Vatican careerists, who in turn blame each other, while longtime Vatican journalists tell us Benedict and John Paul II were always known to be lousy managers, something they seldom reported earlier. Who’s on first?

Jesus’ mandates require more than rearranging the furniture in the Sistine Chapel to suit octogenerian fashions. It requires reforming the papacy which Cardinals must do first and do now. With so many of them weakened by their own sins, they may not be able to do this, but they must try. Among other things, they must make effective and adequate efforts (1) to obtain justice for innocent abuse survivors, (2) to assure the accountability of wrongdoers, including aiders and abettors, and (3) to minimize recurrences. …

We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:

[Click here for the petition]

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue issued the following remarks today:

Here is how the Catholic Left reacted right before a new pope was elected on April 19, 2005:
◦E.J. Dionne blasted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for using “fighting words” in an address before the cardinals.
◦Father Richard McBrien said, “I think this homily shows he realizes he’s not going to be elected. He is a polarizing figure.”
◦Peggy Steinfels agreed, saying, “Oh well, that gets rid of him.”

A few hours later, he was elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Here is how the Catholic Left greeted the news:
◦The president of Dignity, Michael Rocks, said of the new pope, “I didn’t think he had a chance because he already was so negative.”
◦Sr. Donna Quinn, head of the pro-abortion group, National Coalition of American Nuns, slammed him for lacking “sensitivity” to women.
◦Scott Appleby of Notre Dame opined, “This is the worst nightmare come true.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Vatican Insider

Archbishop has come out in support of Cardinal Mahony’s participation in the conclave to elect the next pope, thereby rejecting widespread demands from organizations representing victims of abuse by priests that this not happen

Gerard O’Connell
Rome

In a highly significant move and in the midst of a ferocious controversy in the USA, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose H. Gomez, has publicly expressed his support for Cardinal Roger Mahony’s participation in the conclave that will elect the next Pope.

He did so in a letter to the priests of the LA archdiocese on February 15, in the midst of a heated debate in the USA and elsewhere in which organizations representing victims of abuse by priests demanded that Cardinal Mahony not participate in the conclave because of his alleged role in the cover up of 129 cases of abuse in the LA archdiocese where he was archbishop for many years.

In his letter, Archbishop Gomez invited the LA priests to join him in extending their “prayers and warm wishes for Cardinal Roger Mahony as he prepares to travel to Rome to exercise his sacred duty as Cardinal Elector of our next Pope.”

As a cardinal, he said, “Cardinal Mahony has all of the prerogatives and privileges of his standing as a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 20, 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.

If the process of picking a pope were like a hiring process in any other walk of life, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri’s résumé would probably be a slam-dunk at least to get him past the initial screening and earn him an interview.

We’re talking about a 69-year-old, so he’s in the right age window, not too old or too young; he’s an Argentine by birth who’s spent most of his life in Italy, so he brings together the First World and the Third World at the precise moment when Catholicism is seeking a bridge between the two; and he’s a veteran Vatican official with a reputation as an adept administrator at a time when many cardinals believe getting the Vatican under control has to be at the top of the next pope’s to-do list.

In other words, there’s a lot to like about Sandri as a papal candidate.

Currently the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, Sandri was born in Buenos Aires in 1943 to Italian immigrant parents. He served briefly as a parish priest in Argentina before being sent to Rome for studies in 1970, where he entered the Vatican’s diplomatic service. In addition to stints in Madagascar, Venezuela and Mexico, Sandri also worked in the Vatican embassy to the United States from 1989 to 1991.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Portuguese magazine “Visão” has reported that complaints have allegedly been made against Bishop Azevedo, a delegate of the Pontifical Council for Culture, about sexual abuse committed in the 80’s

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

The Catholic hierarchy is in the thick of a new sex abuse storm and this time the Roman Curia’s in the eye of it. Portuguese bishop Carlo Azevedo, 59, previously Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon who coordinated the Pope’s visit in 2010, he is now a delegate of the Pontifical Council of Culture and is being accused of allegedly molesting a seminarist. Portuguese magazine Visão reported the news, dedicating its front page tot he report filed against the bishop in 2010 at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon.

According to the print edition of the magazine on news stands today, the abuse was committed during the 80’s. A priest who is currently in charge of coordinating hospital chaplains reported Azevedo three years ago. Visão magazine writes that the case was looked into and the Catholic hierarchy collaborated in this, but the outcome is as yet unknown.

In November 2011, the bishop who is believed could be the next successor to Lisbon’s patriarch, Cardinal José Policarpo, left Portugal and was nominated delegate of the Pontifical Council for Culture, a role which was not part of the Curia dicastery system but was a role created ad hoc, especially for the occasion, by Vatican leaders. It was believed the bishop may have been transferred to Rome because he did not see eye to eye with Patriarch Policarpo.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

[Wallace Daley – Los Angeles archdiocese]

By Gustavo Arellano
Thu., Feb. 21 2013

The recent Archdiocese of Los Angeles document dump continues to reveal more and more with every plunge into the pedo-priest pool, specifically with Orange County angles. But the latest one comes as an especially strange story: the tale of one Wallace J. Daley.

Daley had lawsuits against him settled in 2006, back when the LA Archdiocese settled a bunch of them for about $600 million, but his personnel file wasn’t released until this year. It showed that the priest ministered at Our Lady of Guadalupe in SanTana in the mid-1970s…then disappeared into Baja.

Like, seriously disappeared. Before the Diocese of Orange split off from the LA Archdiocese, Daley was listed in The Official Catholic Directory as being in charge of the small parish in the Delhi barrio. Upon the split, Daley wasn’t listed anywhere in the 1977 edition…then pops up as “On duty outside the diocese,” which is where priests are placed when not ministering locally but frequently served as a euphemism for pedo-priests who were exiled to poorer parishes somewhere in the world. In Daley’s case, his personnel files only say he was near El Rosario, which is about 200 miles from anywhere in Baja.

In 1988, Daley magically popped up for one year in Orange County–first, St. Joachim in Costa Mesa, then a brief stint at the Mission. Then, back to Baja until he passed away in 2000 (his victim wouldn’t come forward until 2002). The mysterious disappearance seems veeeery similar to the case of Eleuterio Ramos, the worst-ever pedo-priest in Orange County history, who was scurried to a children’s parish in Tijuana to make sure he wasn’t arrested by the cops for molesting another boy. And actually, this long-term exile seems more similar to the case of Franklin Buckman, a priest who spent decades ministering at an Indian reservation in Oregon after the legal heat became too much.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

February 21, 2013

Editorial

It should be a jarring thing for Catholics in the pews and the society at large that two Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, Timothy Dolan and Roger Mahony, are being deposed regarding sexual abuse cases before their flights to Rome to participate in what is called their “sacred duty” to elect the next pope.

Quite a juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane.

Cardinal Dolan is being deposed regarding Milwaukee cases and Cardinal Mahony for a case involving a fugitive priest who fled to Mexico.

The fact that these depositions are taking place is eminently noteworthy:

◦they are rare instances in which hierarchs, particularly Cardinals are questioned under oath for what they did and didn’t do regarding sexual abuse by priests in their dioceses
◦they are strong and stark reminders that the crisis of sexual abuse in the Church cannot be swept away by frivolity, back slapping, joking demurring or casting one self’s as a scapegoat
◦their timing bears the whiff of vigilance against flight to a sovereign state

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Peter Isely on February 21, 2013

When Timothy Dolan was appointed to run the Archdiocese of New York in 2010, he expediently left behind him a Milwaukee Archdiocese on the verge of bankruptcy for fraudulently concealing and transferring scores of known clerical child sex offenders.

Finally, ten years after coming to Milwaukee and failing to resolve the sex abuse crisis here, Dolan is under oath today in a deposition for the Milwaukee Federal Bankruptcy Court. In it, Dolan is going to hopefully have to answer many disturbing and detailed questions about how handled abusive clerics, their victims, and the tens of millions of dollars he transferred and took off the books before the archdiocese declared the bankruptcy.

Since the bankruptcy filing and following the blueprint and blessing left by Dolan before going to New York, church attorneys have launched an unprecedented legal attack on victims, attempting over the last two years to do little else than throw out every single case filed by victims and, in hearing tomorrow, claiming that the 10 million dollars the church has spent on the sex abuse bankruptcy has gone entirely into the pockets of lawyers and consultants. There is no money left, they now claim, to provide any restitution for victims.

It is absolutely essential that Dolan’s deposition is not placed under court seal at the request of church lawyers. In fact, Dolan himself should insist that his testimony be made public. The 570 victims of priest sex offenders who filed cases, Catholics of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, and the public deserve to read and see Dolan’s testimony.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 20, 2013

The New York Times reports this afternoon that two high ranking US Catholic Cardinals – Timothy Dolan of New York and Roger Mahony of Los Angeles – must answer questions this week under oath about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. We are grateful and encouraged by this. This happens all too rarely.

Dolan has been particularly adept at evading responsibility for his wrongdoing in clergy sex cases, having moved twice since the scandal started gaining international attention more than a decade ago, and having worked, three times, in states with especially archaic child abuse laws that favor defendants.

Civil justice can expose predators and their enablers, but only criminal justice can imprison and deter them. So while these depositions represent progress, it’s crucial to remember that the best way to prevent and discourage future crimes and cover ups is for secular authorities to investigate, charge and convict Catholic officials who hide and enable heinous crimes against kids.

Just this week, a United Nations committee criticized US authorities for not doing enough to pursue criminal charges against Catholic officials. We share that criticism.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI is studying a Motu Proprio regarding norms governing the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, but “no date has been set yet for its promulgation” and if there are changes to the Constitution governing papal transitions and the Sede Vacante “they will probably be small ones”, announced the Director of the Holy See press office Thursday in his latest briefing. Emer McCarthy reports

Fr. Lombardi was flanked by Basilian priest and Canadian native Fr. Thomas Rosica who has flown in specially to aid the Vatican spokesman over the coming week, in translating for English language press.

Together, they addressed mounting press speculation regarding a number of issues in the lead up to Pope Benedict’s resignation in exactly one weeks time. Such as the date for the beginning of the conclave.

Fr. Lombardi noted – and not for the first time – that the date is decided by the cardinals when they gather in their first Congregation. He said “the date has not yet been established for the beginning of the meetings of the Cardinals although it’s recommended that it take place as soon as possible after the beginning of the Sede Vacante, its being worked on right now and it will be announced”.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, February 20 – The head of the Vatican’s press service on Thursday said claims by an article in a weekly newsmagazine that Pope Benedict XVI decided to step down in December after reading a report into the Vatileaks scandal were “fantasies”. A committee of three cardinals which carried out the investigation “did its work, did its report” and delivered it to the pope, Lombardi said. “Let’s not run after all these conjectures, fantasies and opinions. Do not expect comments, confirmations or denials of particular points”.

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VATICAN CITY
Ocala.com

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

Published: Thursday, February 21, 2013

VATICAN CITY – If evidence was ever needed that the next pope must urgently overhaul the powerful Vatican bureaucracy called the Curia, the scandal over Pope Benedict XVI’s private papers is Exhibit A.

The pope’s own butler stole sensitive internal letters to the pontiff and passed them off to a journalist, who then published them in a blockbuster book. The butler did it, he admitted himself, to expose the “evil and corruption” in the Vatican’s frescoed halls that he believed was hidden from Benedict by those who were supposed to serve him.

And if that original sin weren’t enough, the content of the leaks confirmed that the next pope has a very messy house to clean up. The letters and memos exposed petty wrangling, corruption and cronyism at the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The dirt ranged from the awarding of Vatican contracts to a plot, purportedly orchestrated by senior Vatican officials, to out a prominent Catholic newspaper editor as gay.

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UNITED STATES
Watch Keep

What makes child molesters so successful in going undetected?

Dr. Salter: Deception. They are master deceivers, both in deceiving themselves and others. I have found that there are two characteristics of sex offenders:
It is in their best interest to lie.

It is something they can lie about and not get caught.

Sexual offenders look for opportunities in which they can minimize the risk of getting caught, and part of doing so is to create an environment in which they are liked, trusted and accepted without question. This is why religious institutions are particularly vulnerable.
Why don’t more victims come forward?

Dr. Salter: This is a very difficult question. In the case of child molestation, often the victim feels as if he/she has done something wrong or won’t be believed when compared to a respected adult. In other situations there are direct threats that force silence, and often the child is just confused by conflicting emotions and chooses silence rather than confronting someone their parents trust.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

All of the articles and buzz about the prospect of Cardinal Sean O’Malley becoming pope are asking the wrong questions and missing so much, it is almost impossible to know where to start. The latest, a column in the Boston Globe, says “One thing that is striking about Cardinal O’Malley and which makes him supremely “papabile,” or one who might become pope, is his sense of humor.”

Really? Someone thinks a supremely important character trait for being Pope is a sense of humor, and it gets a column in the mainstream media?

First off, the responsibilities of the successors of the apostles are to teach, sanctify, and govern. Before anyone continues promoting Cardinal O’Malley for pope–especially those in the media–they should ask themselves, “How would I grade him on those points?” How is he as an episcopal leader? What has his efficacy been as an episcopal leader in these areas and in making the salvation of souls a top priority for the Boston Archdiocese? This is not about perceived humility. It is not about sense of humor. It is not about resolving sexual abuse cases. It is about efficacy as an episcopal leader and shepherd/leader of the flock to save souls.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
Courier-Post

Written by
Jim Walsh
Courier-Post Staff

CAMDEN — A judge has rebuffed the Diocese of Camden’s bid to spend two days questioning a man over claims he repressed memories of clergy sex abuse for more than 40 years.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Williams said the diocese has not shown “sufficient evidence” that extended questioning was needed for Mark Bryson, an Ohio man who alleges he was molested as a child by a Camden priest.

Bryson’s attorney had asked the judge to limit questioning at a pretrial hearing to a single day, or seven hours.

A group that represents victims of clergy sex abuse had criticized the diocese’s request, saying it was intended to discourage future lawsuits against the church.

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VATICAN CITY
Gay Star News

21 February 2013 | By Joe Morgan

An Italian newspaper is blaming the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on the ‘gay influence’ within the Vatican.

Referring to an internal report prepared by three senior cardinals, La Repubblica claims there was an ‘inappropriate influence’ by gay priests in internal Holy See affairs.

Filed by cardinals Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, it was commissioned by Benedict himself.

The newspaper suggests when Pope Benedict saw the report back in December, it hardened his resolve to quit as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the 300-page report, it speaks of ‘Impropriam Influentiam’ on the part of various lobbies within the Vatican, including some of a ‘worldly nature’.

The Italian newspaper specifically referred to Angelo Balducci, who was accused of being a member of a ‘gay ring’ active within the Vatican, as well as preying on choral boys three years ago.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
la Repubblica

Lotte di potere e denaro in un rapporto segreto con i risultati di un’inchiesta sul Vatileaks consegnato da tre cardinali al Papa. Ipotizzata anche una lobby gay. Il documento passerà nelle mani del nuovo pontefice, dovrà essere abbastanza “forte, giovane e santo”

di CONCITA DE GREGORIO

“In questi 50 anni abbiamo imparato ed esperito che il peccato originale esiste, si traduce sempre in peccati personali che possono divenire strutture del peccato. Abbiamo visto che nel campo del Signore c’è sempre la zizzania. Che nella rete di Pietro si trovano i pesci cattivi”.

La zizzania. I pesci cattivi. Le “strutture del peccato”. È giovedì 11 ottobre, Santa Maria Desolata. È il giorno in cui la Chiesa fa memoria di papa Giovanni XXIII, cinquant’anni dal principio del Concilio. Benedetto XVI si affaccia al balcone e ai ragazzi dell’Azione cattolica raccolti in piazza dice così: “Cinquant’anni fa ero come voi in questa piazza, con gli occhi rivolti verso l’alto a guardare e ascoltare le parole piene di poesia e di bontà del Papa. Eravamo, allora, felici. Pieni di entusiasmo, eravamo sicuri che doveva venire una nuova primavera della Chiesa”. Breve pausa. Eravamo felici, al passato. “Oggi la gioia è più sobria, è umile. In cinquant’anni abbiamo imparato che la fragilità umana è presente anche nella Chiesa”. Che c’è la zizzania, ci sono i pesci cattivi.

Nessuno ha capito, in quel pomeriggio di ottobre. I ragazzi in piazza hanno applaudito e pianto il ricordo di papa Giovanni. Nessuno sapeva che due giorni prima Benedetto XVI aveva di nuovo incontrato il cardinale Julian Herranz, 83 anni, lo spagnolo dell’Opus Dei da lui incaricato di presiedere la commissione d’indagine su quello che i giornali chiamano Vatileaks. Il

corvo, la fuga di notizie, le carte rubate dall’appartamento del Papa. Herranz ha aggiornato Ratzinger con regolarità. Ogni settimana, in colloquio riservato, da aprile a dicembre. Il Papa ha appreso con crescente apprensione gli sviluppi dell’inchiesta: decine e decine di interviste a prelati, porporati, laici. In Italia e all’estero. Decine e decine di verbali riletti e sottoscritti dagli intervistati. Le stesse domande per tutti, dapprima, poi interviste libere. Controlli incrociati. Verifiche. Un quadro da cui veniva emergendo una rete di lobby che i tre cardinali hanno diviso per provenienza di congregazione religiosa, per origine geografica. I salesiani, i gesuiti. I liguri, i lombardi. Infine, quel giorno di ottobre, il passaggio più scabroso. Una rete trasversale accomunata dall’orientamento sessuale. Per la prima volta la parola omosessualità è stata pronunciata, letta a voce alta da un testo scritto, nell’appartamento di Ratzinger. Per la prima volta è stata scandita, sebbene in latino, la parola ricatto: “influentiam”, Sua Santità. Impropriam influentiam.

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VATICAN CITY
Herald (Ireland)

AN ITALIAN NEWSPAPER has claimed that Pope Benedict’s decision to resign was confirmed by the contents of an internal Vatican report which revealed significant adultery and theft problems within the Vatican.

La Repubblica says the Vatican report, chaired by Cardinal Julian Herranz and delivered to the pope in December, is reported to have uncovered details of an ‘underground’ gay network among Vatican and Holy See employees and officials, where members organised events around Rome and inside the Vatican itself.

The report, summarised by The Nation, adds that the members were prone to blackmail because of how their sexual orientation is frowned upon by the Church.

The authors of La Repubblica’s report said the information was “all about the breach of the sixth and seventh commandments” – referring to God’s commands that followers neither steal or commit adultery.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Day after Dolan deposition, Milwaukee Archdiocese wants bankruptcy court to stop payments to victims and creditors legal representatives as required by law

Day after Dolan deposition, Milwaukee Archdiocese wants bankruptcy court to stop payments to victims and creditors legal representatives as required by law

Archdiocese lawyers, however, will likely remain fully compensated to continue legal battle against victims

Contrary to Dolan’s claims, court has ruled that posting list of some abusive priests on archdiocesan website in 2004 was not proper notification to stop fraud cases

WHO
Victim/survivors of childhood sexual abuse by clergy of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, including leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org/SNAPwisconsin.com) will be joined by victim/claimants in the
Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy hearing to discuss Judge Susan V. Kelley’s rulings after Thursday’s hearing.

WHEN
Thursday, February 21st. Court hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE
On the front steps of the Federal Courthouse, 517 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, after the hearing.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says on Thursday, February 21st the Archdiocese of Milwaukee could ask a judge to stop payments to victims and creditors’ legal representatives due to a lack of financial resources.

The hearing comes the day after Cardinal Timothy Dolan was deposed in New York.

Dolan was one of two men deposed by lawyers representing victims in the Milwaukee Archdiocese abuse case. Dolan was Archbishop in Milwaukee from 2002 until 2009.

Representatives from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee were in New York for the deposition.

“It’s clear in talking with Cardinal Dolan that he was part of the solution not part of the problem and I think that`s clear looking back and history will judge all the good work that Cardinal Dolan did when he was in Milwaukee,” Jerry Topczewski, Milwaukee Archbishop Chief of Staff said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

THE trial of defrocked Hunter Catholic priest John Sidney Denham has been transferred to Sydney.

Denham, 70, is charged with sexually assaulting 17 boys at Hunter Catholic schools in the 1970s.

In Newcastle District Court yesterday he was not required to enter pleas to 43 charges of abusing boys at St Pius X school Adamstown between 1977 and 1979, and at Rutherford, Wingham, Toronto and in the Hornsby area.

The court was told the trial had to be moved to Sydney because of Crown estimates it would run for three weeks.

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NEW YORK
Gazzetta del Sud

New York, February 21 – Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York who will vote in the upcoming papal conclave, has been questioned by prosecutors about sex-abuse cases against Roman Catholic priests, a spokesman for the New York diocese has confirmed. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which Dolan led from 2002 until 2009, faces allegations from hundreds of people and has said it is going broke due to some $9 million in legal fees. He is the second American cardinal to be asked by prosecutors about sex-abuse cases in the weeks leading up to the conclave to elect a new pope, which will commence soon after Benedict XVI formally resigns on February 28.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
February 22, 2013

A PRIEST described as “one of the worst offenders in the history of the Anglican Church” moved between parishes in NSW, and later joined the Baptist Church, despite senior clerics knowing he had allegedly committed serial sex abuse.

Geoffrey Albert Taylor is alleged to have abused dozens of predominantly teenage women and girls over at least three decades from the 1960s.

During this time, he worked at a number of Anglican Sydney parishes and spent almost four years as director of the diocese’s youth department.

Anglican officials received the first allegations of potential abuse as early as 1970, but Taylor was not asked to resign as a priest until 1993, after signing a statement admitting to “having sexual relationships with my parishioners”.

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UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News

The last time the Chair of St. Peter stood vacant, during Pope John Paul II’s funeral in 2005, the Roman Catholic Church enjoyed a wave of unusually favorable coverage in the U.S. The Polish pope had a way of disarming even his most stringent critics, and that power extended beyond his death, turning his funeral into a spectacle that almost felt like an infomercial for the Catholic faith.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the mid-2000s were the last time the Catholic vision of the good society — more egalitarian than American conservatism and more moralistic than American liberalism — enjoyed real influence in U.S. politics. At the time of John Paul’s death, the GOP’s agenda was still stamped by George W. Bush’s compassionate conservatism, which offered a right-of-center approach to Catholic ideas about social justice. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, was looking for ways to woo the values voters (many Catholic) who had just helped Bush win re-election, and prominent Democrats were calling for a friendlier attitude toward religion and a bigger tent on social issues.

Since then, the sex abuse scandals that shadowed John Paul’s last years have become the defining story of his successor’s papacy, and the unexpected abdication of Benedict XVI has only confirmed the narrative of a church in disarray. His predecessor was buried amid reverent coverage from secular outlets, but the current pope can expect a send-off marked by sourness and shrugs.

The collapse in the church’s reputation has coincided with a substantial loss of Catholic influence in U.S. political debates. Whereas eight years ago a Catholic view of economics and culture represented a center that both parties hoped to claim, today’s Republicans are more likely to channel Ayn Rand than Thomas Aquinas, and a strident social liberalism holds the whip hand in the Democratic Party.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By
Matt Stout / Boston Herald

The explosion of interest surrounding Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s potential to become pope will likely not be the last suggestion of who could be the next pontiff to emerge from the Vatican, where Pope Benedict’s XVI’s resignation has created what experts are calling an “unprecedented” gap in time rife for papal prognostication and politics.

That void — stretching nearly three weeks between Benedict’s Feb. 11 announcement and his official Feb. 28 resignation, and at least a month before the conclave even begins — observers said, lends itself to super-charged speculation over a process that has never experienced the full impact of modern social media.

“It means that there is room for maneuvers, for trial balloons and for head fakes,” said Peter Borre, chairman of the Boston-based Council of Parishes. “I’ve seen in the past disinformation; usually some sources inside the Vatican want to bring down a competitor by either pushing somebody’s name too soon or by splitting a national block.

“I don’t have any pretense to superior insight, but I’ve learned the rules of the road,” he said. “What’s extremely unprecedented is that gap between the Feb. 11 announcement and the start of the conclave.”

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PHILIPPINES
Gulf News

By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief
Published: 13:49 February 21, 2013

Manila: Popular TV host and movie star Kris Aquino, the younger sister of President Benigno Aquino led Filipinos in promoting Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as the next pope, a TV report said.

“I hope [that will happen],” Aquino told ABS CBN, adding, “It [having a Filipino Pope] might not happen in our generation yet, but we never know.” She added: “Let us not hope too much.”

Explaining the basis of her choice, the young Aquino said it would be good for all Catholics to have a young Pope. Tagle is only 55.

She also said that Cardinal Tagle officiated mass for the Aquino family last Christmas, after the two houses of Congress passed a controversial health bill that allows government subsidy for a family planning programme for the poor, including the use of ‘artificial’ family planning programme.

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VATICAN CITY
The Nation

Vatican City – Pope Benedict XVI decided to resign after an internal probe informed him about the extent of sex and graft-scandals inside the Vatican, an Italian newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources.

Three cardinals, including the former chief of the Vatican’s secret services, were asked to verify the allegations of financial impropriety, cronyism and corruption brought up by the publication of confidential papal papers in the so-called VatiLeaks affair.

On December 17, 2012, they handed to the pontiff two red-leatherbound volumes, almost 300-pages long, containing “an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish” inside the Holy See, daily La Repubblica reported.

“It was on that day, with those papers on his desk, that Benedict XVI took the decision he had mulled over for so long,” the report suggested.

The Vatican’s press office declined to comment on the story.

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VATICAN CITY
Gulf News

AFP
Published: 15:58 February 21, 2013

Vatican City: With Pope Benedict XVI’s impending resignation creating shockwaves around the world, the Vatican’s official daily L’Osservatore Romano is now the most closely watched newspaper in Rome – with its blend of an official Vatican line and a modern outlook.

The paper flew off the shelves with a scoop within hours of the pope’s historic announcement last week – a report revealing the 85-year-old made his mind up during a tiring trip to Mexico and Cuba last year.

The article was signed simply “gmv” – the initials of Giovanni Maria Vian, a cheerful 60-year-old historian who has been editor at the paper since 2007 and is one of Benedict’s biggest admirers.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW, in Rome

Italian daily La Repubblica this morning sensationally claims that Pope Benedict’s resignation was at least partly prompted by an internal report prepared by three senior cardinals, alleging that various lobbies, including a gay lobby, exercise an “inappropriate influence” in internal Holy See affairs.

The newspaper suggests that such was Benedict’s dismay when presented with the details of the report on December 17th that it hardened his long-meditated decision to resign. The internal report prepared by Cardinals Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi had been commissioned by Benedict himself.

He had ordered it in response to the so-called Vatileaks scandal which culminated with the arrest and subsequent conviction last autumn of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, found guilty of having stolen confidential documents from the papal apartment.

In this morning’s article, it is claimed that the cardinals reported that various lobbies within the Holy See were consistently breaking the sixth and seventh commandments, namely “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”.

The “stealing” was in particular related to the Vatican Bank, IOR, whilst the sexual offences were related to the influence of an active gay lobby within the Vatican.

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GERMANY
Catholic Herald (United Kingdom)

The president of the German bishops’ conference has asked Pope Benedict XVI’s forgiveness for “errors committed against him” in his homeland, adding that most Germans respect him as a “spiritual and intellectual authority”.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgau said: “After eight years, we feel a deep, overriding respect and gratitude, but also a sadness – farewells always hurt, especially when they concern people familiar and revered. The Pope has asked forgiveness for his own shortcomings. I would also ask the Holy Father, in return, to pardon errors committed against him within the Church in Germany,” the archbishop said in his opening address to the German bishops’ spring plenary.

His remarks were an apparent reference to media criticisms of the Pope, especially during his September 2011 visit to Berlin. Archbishop Zollitsch said all Germans had “in some sense shared the honour” bestowed on the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at his 2005 election as pope.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Nearly seven years after he went to prison for the 1980 murder of a nun, Gerald Robinson’s fight to have his conviction overturned continues to move through the courts.

In the latest ruling, the Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals rejected the Toledo priest’s claims that prosecutors withheld key documents from his defense attorneys and that his defense attorneys failed to focus on a known serial killer as the more likely suspect in the death of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. The court affirmed the April, 2011, finding of Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gene Zmuda, who denied Robinson’s petition for postconviction relief.

Richard Kerger, attorney for Robinson, said Wednesday that the fight for a new trial will not end with this decision.

“We will be appealing the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court and doing so in the next week or two,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY
Feb. 20, 2013

HALF a century ago first a stranger then a trusted church volunteer sexually assaulted the son of a Methodist minister.

The stranger’s assault was reported to police but was so poorly handled the boy retreated into silence, a silence that continued to hide the three years of abuse by the church volunteer.

This week the son, Reverend Wes Hartley – the new leader of the Uniting Church in the Hunter and a former mayor in Western Australia – spoke of the abuse in public for the first time.

As Australia prepares for two inquiries into child sexual abuse, Reverend Hartley hopes it will encourage others to speak out.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL

[with video]

WWLTV.com
Email: webteam@wwltv.com | Twitter: @WWLTV

NEW ORLEANS — No comment — that’s the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ response to a new lawsuit filed against it and the Archdiocese of Lake Charles, claiming both had knowledge of sexual abuse involving a priest.

Back in August Mark Anthony Broussard was indicted on several charges, including aggravated rape and molestation of a juvenile.

The suit claims both institutions knew of the abuse while he attended the New Orleans Seminary and while working as a part-time cleric in Lake Charles.

Officials are urging anyone else who was abused to come forward.

“We encourage anyone with information about where this person has been to step up and give an information you can,” said Felecia Peavy, the plaintiff’s attorney.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

New York Archbishop questioned by lawyers over priest sex abuse as he is floated as top American candidate to become Pope

By Michael Zennie

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is mentioned most as the top American candidate to become the next Pope, but he cannot shake off his connection to the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church in the United States for the past decade.

He faced questions from lawyers in New York on Wednesday about his handling of allegations that priests in the Archdioceses of Milwaukee had abused children. Dolan led the archdioceses from 2002 until 2009.

The Archbishop of New York, who is also the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is the highest-profile leader of the church in America and is widely liked by Catholics across the country for his strong charisma and jovial personality.

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TEXAS
Permian Basin

[with video]

By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: February 20, 2013

BIG SPRING — A former Big Spring youth minister will spend the next 25 years in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting a young girl.

The Big Spring Herald reports that Samuel Lee Lyte was to 25 years in prison last week.

The sentence came after Lyte, 72, pleaded guilty to felony charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, 2 counts of indecency with a child and tampering with physical evidence in the 118th Judicial District Court.

Lyte sexually abused a girl (who’s only identified as being under the of 14) multiple times.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
ABC News

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has made it clear he plans to attend the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope. A lot of people don’t like that one bit.

“It sends the wrong message,” said Ken Smolka, one of hundreds of people who were sexually abused by priests in America’s largest archdiocese. ”If Mahony helps choose the new pope, what it says is, ‘Nothing has changed.’”

Mahony is the latest Roman Catholic prelate to have his moral authority compromised because of his poor handling of the sexual abuse scandal during the 1980s and ’90s. But he is not the first.

The scandal in L.A. is similar to the scandal in Boston that eventually led Cardinal Bernard Law to resign as archbishop of Boston. One key difference is that, for years, Cardinal Mahony successfully fought the release of key personnel documents relating to his administration’s handling of abuse cases. Ultimately, a judge ordered their release.

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CANADA
Saaanich News

By Staff Writer – Saanich News
Published: February 20, 2013

A former Saanich priest facing sexual assault charges is expected to learn his fate on Monday (Feb. 25).

Phil Jacobs, 63, is charged with sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference of a person under 14 and touching a young person for a sexual purpose for alleged incidents that occurred between 1996 and 2001 involving three boys under the age of 14.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice J. Miriam Gropper will deliver her judgment at 9 a.m. in Victoria.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Timothy Cardinal Dolan was questioned Wednesday in a deposition about child sex abuse by priests.

The New York Times reported the New York archbishop was questioned for hours by attorneys representing hundreds of people who said they were sexually abused by priest in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Dolan was the archbishop there for seven years until moving to New York in 2009.

The attorneys were trying to determine whether Dolan tried to stand in the way of lawsuits against the archdiocese and priests when he was Milwaukee archbishop, and whether he kept church assets from people who said they were sex abuse victims, the newspaper reported.

New York Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling released a statement to CBS 2′s Tony Aiello about the deposition.

“Today Cardinal Dolan had the long-awaited opportunity to talk about his decision nine years ago in Milwaukee to publicize the names of priests who had abused children and how he responded to the tragedy of past clergy sexual abuse of minors, during the time he was privileged to serve as Archbishop of Milwaukee,” the statement said.

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UNITED STATES
Post-Crescent

Written by
Eric Tucker
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A small evangelical Christian denomination called Sovereign Grace Ministries was already grappling with fractured leadership, outside scrutiny of its policies and public criticism from former members when a new round of problems emerged.

A lawsuit last fall brought by former members accused church officials of covering up allegations of child sexual abuse committed by its members. Then a onetime member of the church’s former flagship congregation was indicted in December on charges that he molested multiple boys in the 1980s while involved in ministries.

The church hasn’t yet answered the specific accusations, but has signaled that it may lean on the First Amendment — a defense that religious institutions have used repeatedly and with some limited success in the last decade to inoculate themselves from sex abuse claims.

A statement issued in response to the lawsuit, filed in Maryland, says permitting courts to second-guess confidential advice given by church leaders to congregation members would “represent a blow to the First Amendment.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Jewish Daily Forward

London — Media outlets have identified Chaim Halpern as the man believed to be arrested in London on charges of sexual misconduct.

The London Metropolitan police arrested four men they would not name on Wednesday morning in connection with an investigation into sexual misconduct. Two media outlets reported that one of those arrested is believed to be Halpern, 54, of the Beis Hamedrash Divrei Chaim synagogue.

A Beis Hamedrash Divrei Chaim spokesman would not comment when asked by JTA about reports in The Times of Israel and Behadrei Haredim, an Israel-based haredi Orthodox news site, of the rabbi’s alleged arrest. The spokesman would not give his name.

According to The Jewish Chronicle, police arrested four men on Wednesday in the area in connection with investigations into sexual assault and perverting the course of justice, including one unnamed 54-year-old man. Police said they could not provide further details.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jerusalem Post

By JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

02/21/2013

LONDON – Metropolitan police arrested a London rabbi on Wednesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting women who came to him for marriage counseling and spiritual guidance.

As part of their investigation into the sexual abuse and into three suspects for perverting the course of justice, four men were arrested in the north London borough of Barnet on Wednesday. Police have not named the men, but one of them is believed to be Rabbi Chaim Halpern, 54, of the Beis Hamedrash Divrei Chaim synagogue in Golders Green.

The rabbi has been at the center of an alleged sexual abuse scandal that has shocked London’s haredi community.

In November, Rabbi Ephraim Padaw, head of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, received a complaint about inappropriate behavior by Halpern toward about 30 women who had sought marriage guidance from him.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS Los Angeles

[with video]

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —There is worldwide outrage that former Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony will be part of next month’s papal conclave in Rome.

A poll by an influential Italian Catholic magazine found that an overwhelming majority of its readers don’t want Mahony to be part of the papal conclave to select the next pope after Pope Benedict XVI finalizes his retirement.

“It’s a total slap in the face to victims of sexual abuse — and to Catholics,” Joelle Casteix, a victim of sex abuse at the hands of a priest, said. Casteix is also the western regional director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 20, 2013

One admitted to molesting 13 and is part LA priest “document dump,”
Another served year in jail, abused at least 6 kids
Victims to community: Protect your children and grandchildren
Mahony must stay home from papal election, group begs

What: Victims of sex abuse and their supporters will have an outreach leafleting outside of the retirement community where two convicted predator priests have recently lived. They will urge residents to:
•Talk to their grandchildren, neighbors, and family members about child-molesting priests Michael Wempe and Denis Lyons,
•Read the sex abuse and cover-up files that were recently a part of the LA Archdiocese “document dump,” and
•Report any suspected abuse to law enforcement.

They will also urge Catholics to:

•Demand that Cardinal Roger Mahony stay home from the upcoming papal election, and
•Beg Archbishop Gomez to cooperate completely with law enforcement.

Where: Outside of the main gates of Leisure World, 1901 Golden Rain Road (at Seal Beach Blvd) in Seal Beach Map

When: Thursday, February 21 at 11 am

Who: Three-to-four victims of child sex abuse and their supporters who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including one Spanish-speaking victim.

Why: Victims of sexual abuse will pass out educational leaflets at the Seal Beach Leisure World retirement community where two convicted predator priests have recently lived. They fear that children visiting family members at the community may be at risk.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: February 20, 2013

A week before Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan is set to leave New York for Rome, where his name is being floated as a candidate for pope, he was questioned for three hours on Wednesday behind closed doors in a legal deposition concerning the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The lawyers deposing Cardinal Dolan represent hundreds of people who say they were sexually molested by priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led for seven years before his appointment as archbishop of New York in 2009. The lawyers want to know when Cardinal Dolan, as archbishop of Milwaukee, learned of allegations against certain priests, and how quickly he made those allegations public.

Cardinal Dolan is one of two American cardinals who are being deposed in sexual abuse lawsuits this week, and who plan to travel to Rome next week in advance of the proceedings to elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who announced last week that he was resigning Feb. 28.

The other American is Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles. He is expected to be deposed on Saturday in Los Angeles, and he has been under fire since the court-ordered release last month of 12,000 pages of internal church files revealing his role in shielding accused priests from the law.

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NEW YORK
Washington Post

NYC Cardinal Dolan deposed in connection to Archdiocese of Milwaukee abuse lawsuits

By Associated Press,

Updated: Wednesday, February 20

NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was deposed Wednesday about abuse cases against Roman Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led from 2002 until 2009.

Frank LoCoco, an attorney for the Milwaukee Archdiocese, and Jeff Anderson, a plaintiffs’ attorney, confirmed the cardinal was deposed.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese faces allegations from nearly 500 people. Archbishop Jerome Listecki, the current Milwaukee church leader, sought bankruptcy protection in 2011, saying the process was needed to compensate victims fairly while ensuring the archdiocese could still function. Milwaukee is the eighth diocese in the U.S. to seek bankruptcy protection since the abuse scandal erupted in 2002 in Boston.

Dolan is one of two U.S. cardinals to be deposed this week. Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be questioned Saturday in a lawsuit over a visiting Mexican priest who police believe molested 26 children in 1987. The Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico in 1988 after parents complained. He has been ousted from the priesthood but remains a fugitive.

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NEW YORK
CNN

By Matt Smith, CNN
updated 8:19 PM EST, Wed February 20, 2013

(CNN) — New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan sat for questions from lawyers for victims of sexual abuse by priests in Milwaukee while he was that city’s Roman Catholic leader, his office disclosed Wednesday.

“Today Cardinal Dolan had the long-awaited opportunity to talk about his decision nine years ago in Milwaukee to publicize the names of priests who had abused children and how he responded to the tragedy of past clergy sexual abuse of minors, during the time he was privileged to serve as archbishop of Milwaukee,” Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said in a written statement.

“He has indicated over the past two years that he was eager to cooperate in whatever way he could, and he was looking forward to talking about the good work and progress that took place to ensure the protection of children and pastoral outreach to victims.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson and Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel

Feb. 20, 2013

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the former archbishop of Milwaukee, was deposed about clergy sex abuse Wednesday in the Milwaukee archdiocese’s bankruptcy case, church officials and lawyers said.

The deposition, taken in New York and first reported by the New York Times reports, comes as Dolan prepares to leave next week for the Vatican, where a conclave of cardinals is set to choose a new pope to replace Pope Benedict XVI. The pope announced last week that he was stepping down, the first sitting pope to do so in more than 600 years.

Dolan, the most influential Catholic bishop in the United States, has been mentioned as a long shot to succeed Benedict, though many feel an American is unlikely to be picked.

Dolan headed the Milwaukee archdiocese from 2002 to 2009, before being named to the New York position. During his term here, archdiocesan officials sought to reach financial settlements with people who had been sexually abused by priests over the years, but those talks weren’t successful. In January 2011, Dolan’s Milwaukee successor, Archbishop Jerome Listecki, announced the archdiocese was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because the financial claims against it “exceed our means.”

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CALIFORNIA
KGO

[with video]

Saturday, January 26, 2013

by Sergio Quintana

VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) — A hazing scandal is surfacing at a Vallejo High School. Five students were expelled and a football coach was fired. On Friday night ABC7 News spoke to that coach in Petaluma.

This all started in December just before St. Patrick – St. Vincent High School in Vallejo went on Christmas vacation.

Former varsity coach Chris Cerbone says that he overheard some junior varsity students say that the junior varsity coach was allowing varsity students to haze them.

According Cerbone, the students described lewd acts done by a few upper classmen inflicted on some of the under classmen. They also said that when they reported the behavior to the junior varsity head coach, he told them it was not his problem.

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CALIFORNIA
Times-Herald

By Ted Vollmer and Thomas Gase/Times-Herald staff
writerstimesheraldonline.com
Posted: 01/26/2013

The head football coach of St. Patrick-St.Vincent High School was fired Friday, only weeks after he reported sexual hazing incidents involving several varsity and freshmen football players.

St. Patrick-St. Vincent Principal Mary Ellen Ryan said in a statement released by the Sacramento Diocese that Coach Chris Cerbone was fired, and that five varsity players were expelled after an investigation. The Diocese indicated there were six hazing victims. It was not immediately known if the expelled students now face criminal charges.

Ryan said in the statement that Cerbone was not involved in the hazing, but nevertheless “had ultimate responsibility for supervising the students during the time the inappropriate behavior took place.”

Meanwhile, four assistant coaches, who had been placed on paid leave earlier this month pending the outcome of the investigation, were reinstated.
Only Cerbone lost his job.

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Bay Area

[with video]

By Lisa Fernandez and Jodi Hernandez

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013

The head football coach of a Catholic high school in Vallejo sued the Sacramento Diocese on Wednesday claiming he was unfairly fired after he reported sexual abuse in a hazing scandal.

Chris Cerbone, who had been the coach at St. Vincent-St. Patrick High School for six months, said he was told by freshmen players that varsity players were involved in serious hazing and sexual misconduct.

Specifics in the lawsuit refer to the varsity players “punking” the freshmen, which included assaulting them with their genitalia.

In December, Cerbone reported that abuse to Child Protective Services and filed a report with the school’s principal. He and some other coaches were put on leave, and then he was fired at the end of January. The school is part of the Sacramento Archdiocese, and the lawsuit was filed in Sacramento County.

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VATICAN CITY
USA Today

By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY
February 20, 2013

Timing is everything, as they say, and John Thavis’ timing could not be better.

By sheer coincidence, The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church arrives just over a week after Pope Benedict’s shocking resignation announcement.

Wonder what’s going on behind those huge doors at the Vatican? Wonder what those cardinals are up to as they scurry about getting ready to elect a new pope? Wonder what the man who rings the bells when that new pope is finally elected is thinking? (Actually he’s waiting for the phone call that says it’s OK for him to let loose.)

Thavis answers all in this fascinating book.

An award-winning journalist recently retired from the Catholic News Services, Thavis has covered the Vatican since 1983. He knows his way around its marble halls, and it shows in this amazingly informative, and at times humorous, tour given by a true insider. (Often Thavis knew more about what was going on than the pope did.)

In short, the place, despite its grandeur, is a mess. Thavis has described the Vatican as “more Keystone Kops than Machiavelli.”

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NEW YORK
WISN

Cardinal Timothy Dolan questioned by lawyers about sex abuse in Milwaukee archdiocese

NEW YORK —New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been deposed in connection to accusations of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

New York archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said Dolan’s deposition started Wednesday afternoon in New York City. It is unclear how long it is expected to last.

“Today, Cardinal Dolan had the long-awaited opportunity to talk about his decision nine years ago in Milwaukee to publicize the names of priests who had abused children and how he responded to the tragedy of past clergy sexual abuse of minors, during the time he was privileged to serve as archbishop of Milwaukee,” Zwillling said in a statement obtained by WISN 12 News.

Dolan led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee before he was appointed to the New York position in 2009.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WPRI

By Jennifer Quinn
Field Reporting By Jennifer Mobilia

FREETOWN, MASS. (WPRI)- In the long history of the Catholic church, there has never been an American Pope.

But that could soon change.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is considered a strong candidate for the papacy. However, he’s not the only American name being thrown around. Reporters in Rome are now mentioning Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

The 68-year-old’s handling of the church’s sex abuse scandal while serving as Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River has strengthened his chance of being elevated.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Maura Grunlund/Staten Island Advance
on February 20, 2013

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — An affable Cardinal Timothy Dolan laughed at the suggestion that he would be the next pope and expressed support for holding the conclave to choose the new pontiff as soon as possible in an appearance Wednesday at Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Dongan Hills.

“All the cardinals are really embarrassed to talk about that,” the archbishop of New York said when reporters asked him whether he would succeed Pope Benedict. The cardinal added that the “church needs somebody like Jesus” to serve as pope and after listing a few of the qualities he thought important in a pontiff, Cardinal Dolan quipped, “Are they trying to get me out of here?”

As for reports that the date may be moved up from Mid-March for the cardinals to choose the new pope, Cardinal Dolan said he was in favor of “anything we could do to make sure we prudently and patiently have a new Holy Father and I can get back for Holy Week here.”

The cardinal also defended the right of embattled Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, who has been accused of hiding sexual abuse by priests, in selecting a new pope.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Does New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan have a serious chance at becoming pope? He usually makes a joke when asked, but a leading Italian newspaper is taking Dolan’s papal prospects seriously.

On Wednesday, the cardinal spoke about his trip to Rome for the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, CBS 2’s Tony Aiello reported.

He sported a hard hat for a ribbon cutting at a Carmelite Sisters nursing home on Staten Island, but could Cardinal Dolan soon don the white “zucchetto” worn by the pope?

“I hate to lose him in New York, but I think, I think, he would be one of the best holy fathers. He would,” said Sister Mary Virginia.

Since Benedict XVI made Dolan a cardinal one year ago some have touted him as a potential papal successor.

Now, with Benedict leaving office next week, it’s becoming clear Dolan is a serious candidate.

The Italian paper La Repubblica reported the powerful cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is working behind the scenes to advance Dolan’s chances in the upcoming conclave.

Cardinal Dolan was in a good mood Wednesday, but didn’t really want to answer Aiello’s question about the La Repubblica report.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Daniel Beekman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Cardinal Timothy Dolan was reportedly slated to be deposed Wednesday afternoon by lawyers for hundreds of people who claim they were abused by priests in Milwaukee, where Dolan was previously archbishop.

Dolan was set to face lawyers for 575 people who allege they were abused over several decades by clergy in the Milwaukee archdiocese, which Dolan led until 2009 when he became the pope’s man in New York.

“The deposition of Cardinal Dolan is necessary to show that there’s been a long-standing pattern and practice to keep secrets and keep the survivors from knowing that there had been a fraud committed,” Jeff Anderson, lawyer for 350 of the Milwaukee plaintiffs, told the New York Times, which first posted the story Wednesday.

It is unclear how the deposition will affect Dolan, who has been discussed as a candidate for the papacy in the wake of Pope Benedict’s resignation.

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AUSTRALIA
CathNews

A spokesperson for the Bishop of Wollongong, Peter Ingham, said the Diocese has categorically denied claims by a Catholic priest who he suspects the church paid his alleged victim in return for evidence against him, reports AAP in the Sydney Morning Herald.

John Gerard Nestor was laicised by the Vatican after a child abuse case. As a priest in the Wollongong Diocese in NSW he was charged with the indecent assault of a 15-year-old altar boy in 1991.

He was convicted and sentenced to 16 months in jail in Wollongong Local Court on February 18, 1997.

But in October of that year, he won an appeal against the conviction, serving no time behind bars.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Tom Kington
February 20, 2013

ROME — A senior Vatican official called Cardinal Roger Mahony’s participation in the selection of the next pope “troubling,” but said there was no formal procedure to stop the retired Los Angeles archbishop from attending the conclave next month.

The remarks by Cardinal Velasio De Paolis added to a growing murmur about the propriety of Mahony’s decision to attend the conclave. Mahony recently was rebuked by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, for his handling of sexual abuse cases, although Gomez also has expressed support for Mahony’s role in the papal conclave. But several Vatican officials have appeared to raise questions about it, without actually saying that Mahony should not take part.

As a cardinal younger than 80, Mahony is entitled to vote for the man who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who recently announced his retirement.

In other realms, the comments by De Paolis might be considered innocuous, but the meaning of comments from the Vatican is often found between the lines.

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INDIA
Times of India

By Joseph John, TNN | Feb 21, 2013

RAIPUR: In a shocking incident, a Catholic priest was arrested on Wednesday from a remote village in Ambikapur district of Chhattisgarh for sexually assaulting four minor tribal girls. Medical examination of the minors aged between six and eight years confirmed rape.

Confirming the arrest Ambikapur district collector R Prasanna told TOI, “Father Vincent Toppo, a priest of Latin right, has been arrested. Parents of minor girls had complained on Tuesday that their children were sexually assaulted. We sent them for a medical examination that confirmed sexual assault.”

He said the girls have been shifted to a children’s home under the direct supervision of district administration. Sexual assault case came to light when parents of girls came forward to lodge a complaint with the administration that their children were sexually assaulted by the priest, who was in-charge of “Ashadeep Missionary School” at a village in Dahima development block in Ambikapur district.

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NEDERLAND
NRC

door Anouk Eigenraam

Het ministerie van Volksgezondheid doet te weinig om seksueel misbruik bij pleeggezinnen en instellingen aan te pakken. Dat zegt voorzitter Rieke Samson van de commissie die dit seksueel misbruik onderzocht vandaag in Trouw. Het is “oorverdovend stil” volgens Samson.

De commissie-Samson kwam in oktober met haar conclusies en aanbevelingen, maar daarna is er volgens de voorzitter weinig gebeurd. Volgens Samson worden de aanbevelingen van de commissie doorgeschoven.

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NEDERLAND
BN DeStem

DEN BOSCH – Katholieke congegraties en kloosterordes zetten de hakken in het zand bij het onderzoek naar het seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Die beschulding komt van de stichting Klokk, die opkomt voor de slachtoffers.

Mede door de weigerachtige opstelling van veel congregaties, leiden veel klachten uiteindelijk niet tot een schadevergoeding, aldus een woordvoerder van de stichting Klokk. De voorzitter van de klachtencommissie, voormalig rechter Wiel Stevens, stelde vorig week dat waarschijnlijk één op de drie klachten niet gegrond kan worden verklaard wegens een gebrek aan bewijs. In het Brabants Dagblad van zaterdag zegt Stevens ook dat veel oversten zich ‘weinig empathisch’ opstellen in de gesprekken met de slachtoffers. “Ze slaan niet de goede toon aan.”

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NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

Het is tijd voor een collecte in alle reformatorische kerken voor de bekostiging van de goede en hoogst noodzakelijke initiatieven die zich richten op de bestrijding van huiselijk en seksueel geweld in de gereformeerde gezindte, stelt José Baars-Blom.

Columnist Braaf memoreerde donderdag dat een jaar geleden het rapport ”De mantel der liefde” uitkwam (RD 7-2). Het rapport van Movisie gaf op basis van een quickscan een beeld van huiselijk en seksueel geweld in de biblebelt. De inhoud gaf alle aanleiding om te werken aan verandering. Braaf veronderstelt dat er weinig is veranderd („men drinkt een glas, doet een plas en alles blijft zoals het was”) en slaat alarm.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

[UN report]

By Caleb Bell
Religion News Service,

Updated: Wednesday, February 20

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is failing to pursue and prosecute clergy guilty of child sexual abuse, according to a recent United Nations committee report.

The U.N.’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, in a little-noticed Jan. 25 report, urged the U.S. to “take all necessary measures to investigate all cases of sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics.”

David Clohessy, the director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, described national efforts to deal with child-molesting clergy as “woefully inadequate.”

“There has been and continues to be too cozy a relationship between religious and governmental figures,” Clohessy said. “Other than a handful of local prosecutors, there’s been almost no action at the state or federal level.”

The U.S. Department of Justice did not return requests for comment, and the National Association of Attorneys General declined to comment. Abuse cases are typically handled by local and state prosecutors, not the federal government.

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BELGIE
HLN

In totaal hebben 621 slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk een aanvraag tot verzoening en arbitrage ingediend bij het Centrum voor Arbitrage. Tot nu zijn 67 dossiers of ruim een tiende van de aanvragen afgehandeld. De dossiers zijn goed voor 303.000 euro aan schadevergoedingen. De totale schadevergoeding zou kunnen oplopen tot een bedrag tussen 2,5 en 3 miljoen euro.

In 2012 werden 30 zaken via bemiddeling afgehandeld, wat voor Stefaan Van Hecke (Groen) erop wijst dat de kerk echt akkoorden wil afsluiten.

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IRELAND
The Times (United Kingdom)

James Bone Rome

The Primate of All Ireland has been dragged into the growing uproar over cardinals who are accused of covering up sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and yet will be voting to choose the new pope next month. Victims of abuse have demanded that Cardinal Seán Brady, the Archbishop of Armagh and the head of the Catholic church in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, does not go to the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor.

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UNITED STATES
Nifty Christian

The African cardinal widely tipped to be the first black pope in modern history faced a firestorm of criticism last night after he laid the blame for clerical sex abuse crises at the feet of gay priests.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, who comes from Ghana, told an American journalist that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality.

‘African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,’ he told Christiane Amanpour of CCN. ‘Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind, are not countenanced in our society,’ he continued. ‘So that cultural taboo, that tradition has been there,’ said Cardinal Turkson, 64. ‘It has served to keep it out.’

As the head of a major Vatican department – the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace – Cardinal Turkson is ranked as the 5/2 second favourite to take the papal crown when a Conclave of Cardinals meets next month to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his abdication last week on the grounds of ill health.

Catholics throughout the African continent and the developing world are praying that he will be chosen ahead of the Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Archbishop of Milan, who Paddy Power has made its 9/4 favourite.

But his public comments blaming homosexual priests in for the sexual abuse of many hundreds of children in Europe, the United States and Australia mean his election would be severely criticised in the West.

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VATICAN CITY
Digital Journal

By Brett Wilkins
Feb 20, 2013

Rome – By remaining in the Vatican after resigning later this month, Pope Benedict XVI will enjoy immunity from prosecution in connection with the global epidemic of clergy sex abuse claims.

The Pope’s decision to live in the Vatican City, a sovereign state, after his retirement means that he will be protected by both Vatican security and diplomatic immunity.

“His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless,” a Vatican official told Reuters under the condition of anonymity. “He wouldn’t have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security if he is anywhere else.”

The source added that the pontiff should lead a “dignified existence” for the rest of his life.
Under the Lateran Pacts, the 1929 treaty between Italy and the Holy See that established the Vatican City as a sovereign state, those with Vatican citizenship enjoy immunity even if they travel into Italy. The Pope also enjoys diplomatic immunity as an official head of state. Efforts by renowned British evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins and the late British-American author Christopher Hitchens to have Benedict arrested and prosecuted during a 2010 visit to Britain came to naught because of the Pontiff’s diplomatic immunity.

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UNITED STATES
National Secular Society (UK)

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has expressed deep concern to the US Government about its failure to properly deal with “sexual abuse committed by clerics and leading members of certain faith-based organizations and religious institutions on a massive and long-term scale amounting to sexual slavery or servitude of children”.

Concerned that the failure of the US authorities to prosecute the sexual abuse, the UNCRC has urged them to investigate all cases of “sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics”.

The condemnation (shown in full below) was made as part of a cyclical five yearly review of states by the committee, and followed evidence given by the National Secular Society focussing on the Catholic Church.

NSS executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, commented: “$2 billion has been paid out to abuse victims in compensation by the Catholic Church in the US indicating a massive scale of abuse. Yet very few clerical perpetrators have been convicted and only one official has been convicted for facilitating the abuse. Hundreds, if not thousands, of clerics have wrongly escaped justice due to the continuing secrecy of the Church and the issue being almost ignored by law enforcers.

“That so many perpetrators have escaped scot-free is yet a further abuse of the victims whose whole lives have often been ruined as a result.

“Pope Benedict has been responsible since 1981 for the policing of the Church, and with it, child abuse, and many think, as I do, that no one is more culpable than he is. He has hushed up abuse accusations to protect clerics, the Church’s reputation and funds. He has obstructed secular justice rather than encouraged it. We can only hope that his successor opens the secret files and treats victims with the respect they deserve.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 20, 2013

The New York Times reports this afternoon that two high ranking US Catholic Cardinals – Timothy Dolan of New York and Roger Mahony of Los Angeles – must answer questions this week under oath about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. We are grateful and encouraged by this. This happens all too rarely.

Dolan has been particularly adept at evading responsibility for his wrongdoing in clergy sex cases, having moved twice since the scandal started gaining international attention more than a decade ago, and having worked, three times, in states with especially archaic child abuse laws that favor defendants.

Civil justice can expose predators and their enablers, but only criminal justice can imprison and deter them. So while these depositions represent progress, it’s crucial to remember that the best way to prevent and discourage future crimes and cover ups is for secular authorities to investigate, charge and convict Catholic officials who hide and enable heinous crimes against kids.

Just this week, a United Nations committee criticized US authorities for not doing enough to pursue criminal charges against Catholic officials. We share that criticism.

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IRELAND
TheMediaReport

For the past several decades, the media has told a story of how the Catholic Church in Ireland operated homes for troubled youth – the Magdalene Laundries – that were rife with unspeakable barbarity and unrivaled cruelty from the nuns who operated them. However, a new report thoroughly examining the famed laundries now reveals that the media’s characterization of the laundries has been complete fiction.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Irish government released the independent McAleese Report, which sought to examine the country’s role in the laundries, which operated for over two centuries until 1996. The findings are indeed eye-opening, and one of the only journalists to candidly reveal the report’s discoveries is the UK Telegraph’s Brendan O’Neill. Kudos to Mr. O’Neill for his honesty and good journalism.

The simple facts

Of the many scores of women who were interviewed for the report, exactly zero reported being sexually abused by a nun. None. Nada. Zilch. In a recent must-read blog post at the Telegraph, writer O’Neill explains:

“In the Irish mind, and in the minds of everyone else who has seen or read one of the many films, plays and books about the Magdalene laundries, these were horrific institutions brimming with violence and overseen by sadistic, pervy nuns. Yet the McAleese Report found not a single incident of sexual abuse by a nun in a Magdalene laundry. Not one. Also, the vast majority of its interviewees said they were never physically punished in the laundries.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: February 20, 2013

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, will be deposed on Wednesday afternoon by lawyers representing hundreds of people who say they were sexually abused by priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, where Cardinal Dolan served before his appointment to New York in 2009.

Cardinal Dolan is one of two American cardinals who are being deposed in sexual abuse lawsuits this week, and who plan to travel to Rome next week in advance of the proceedings to elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who stunned the world last week with the announcement that he was resigning effective Feb. 28.

The other American is Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles. He is expected to be deposed on Saturday in Los Angeles, and has been under fire since the court-ordered release last month of 12,000 pages of internal church files revealing his role in shielding accused priests from the law.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 20, 2013

For the third time in the past week, Cardinal Roger Mahony has written of the humiliation he has experienced since being publicly disgraced for his handling of priests accused of sex abuse in the 1980s.

Reflecting on the matter on his personal blog Wednesday, Mahony obliquely refers to his experience as a “painful and public humiliation, which is spiritually a grace-opportunity.”

Mahony writes that he has “tried to live out — poorly and inadequately far too often” two “implications of humiliation:”

1. “The acceptance of being scapegoated, pointing out the necessary connection between humiliation and redemption;”
2. That the Catholic church’s continuing sexual abuse scandals are “putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong — with the excluded ones.”

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue addresses accused priests and rabbis:

Today, the New York Times has a story on a Bridgeport priest who was arrested, Msgr. Kevin Wallin; it is the second story on him. So far this year, two New York rabbis have been arrested, each meriting one story in the Times: Rabbi Yoel Malik was arrested on January 31, and Rabbi Nathan David Rabinowich was arrested on February 14. (Only the print editions are being counted.)

◦Msgr. Wallin was arrested for drugs.
◦Rabbi Malik was arrested for sexually abusing three teenage boys. He was charged with 12 counts of sexual abuse, 4 counts of criminal sexual contact, 11 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and a single charge of forcible touching.
◦Rabbi Rabinowich was charged with four sexual offenses, including the attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl.

The total number of words in the Times story on the priest is 3496 (today’s front-page story merited 2745 words). The total number of words on the two rabbis combined is 828 (the stories appeared on pages 22 and 25, respectively). It’s not just the Times that gives rabbis a pass: the New York Daily News had two stories on Malik (only mentioning him by name in one!); the New York Post ran one story on him; the Daily News ran one story on Rabinowich; and the Post had none.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Yahoo! News

By Sylvia Cochran | Yahoo! Contributor Network

With the surprising resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, California Cardinal Roger Mahony has been preparing to attend the Vatican conclave to elect a new pope. In light of documents made public that detail Mahony’s role in the Los Angeles archdiocese sexual abuse scandal, the Religion News Service now reports that there are renewed demands that Mahony should stay home.

What is the status of Mahony’s role in the church?

Although still an American cardinal, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, has relieved Mahony of all “administrative or public duties” in the wake of the court-ordered release of previously confidential church records. Nevertheless, the cardinal is still entitled to travel to Rome and vote in the conclave.

Does Archbishop Gomez support Mahony’s travel to the Vatican conclave?

While Gomez does not discuss his personal preference, the Los Angeles Times reports that he reminds the faithful that Mahony is still considered to be in “good standing” — recent revelations in the sexual abuse scandal notwithstanding. “Cardinal Mahony’s accomplishments and experience in the areas of immigration, social justice, sacred liturgy, and the role of the laity in the church will serve the College of Cardinals well as it works to discern the will of the Holy Spirit in these deliberations that will lead to the election of our new pope,” Gomez wrote in a press release.

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FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

By Lona O’Connor
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

In the constant stream of speculation on who will be the next pope, it was inevitable: Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s name is now being mentioned as a credible candidate to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who will step down on Feb. 28 for health reasons.

O’Malley was bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach for eight months in 2002. The 125-member College of Cardinals is expected to meet no later than March 15 to name a successor in an election that is by tradition shrouded in secrecy.

John Allen, a commentator for the National Catholic Register, started the speculation in his Tuesday post:

“Another name has generated a surprising degree of buzz in the Italian press: Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, partly on the strength of his profile as a reformer on the church’s sexual abuse scandals, and partly because of his Capuchin simplicity as a perceived antidote to the Vatican’s reputation for intrigue and power games.”

On Tuesday the betting site Paddy Power gave 33 to 1 odds against O’Malley. That made O’Malley’s chances better than those of New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan at 66 to 1, but not as good as the two front-runners, Archbishop Angelo Scola of Rome at 2 to 1 and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana at 5 to 2 odds. Paddy Power betters correctly identified German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the successor of Pope John Paul II in 2005. Sure enough, Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Berliner Zeitung

Den Opfern sexueller Gewalt wurde ein Hilfsfonds versprochen, der Beratungen, Hilfen und Therapien ermöglichen sollte. Doch seit 14 Monaten ist nichts passiert. Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig ist verärgert.

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig ist ein besonnener Mann. Verärgerung ist ihm deshalb umso besser anzumerken. Dass der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung fordert, den von Bund und Ländern seit über 14 Monaten versprochenen Hilfefonds für die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs jetzt ohne weitere Verzögerung aufzulegen, ist ein deutliches Zeichen von Verärgerung. Über ein Jahr liegt der Abschlussbericht des Runden Tisches nun vor. Ebenso lange warten die Betroffenen darauf, dass die Empfehlungen des Gremiums umgesetzt werden.

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VATIKANSTADT
Volksblatt

VATIKANSTADT – Der dunkle Schatten der Missbrauchsskandale belastet den Vatikan vor dem Konklave für die Wahl des Nachfolgers von Papst Benedikt XVI. Nach US-Kardinal Roger Mahony geraten vier Kardinäle wegen ihres umstrittenen Umgangs mit den Skandalen unter Druck.

Zu ihnen zählt der belgische Kardinal Godfried Danneels. Vor drei Jahren hatte die Polizei seine Wohnung durchsucht und seinen Computer beschlagnahmt, um festzustellen, ob er über Missbrauchsfälle in der belgischen Kirche zwischen den Sechziger- und Achtzigerjahren informiert war.

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VATIKANSTADT
Blick

Vatikanstadt – Der dunkle Schatten der Missbrauchsskandale belastet den Vatikan vor dem Konklave für die Wahl des Nachfolgers von Papst Benedikt XVI. Nach US-Kardinal Roger Mahony geraten vier Kardinäle wegen ihres umstrittenen Umgangs mit den Skandalen unter Druck.

Zu ihnen zählt der belgische Kardinal Godfried Danneels. Vor drei Jahren hatte die Polizei seine Wohnung durchsucht und seinen Computer beschlagnahmt, um festzustellen, ob er über Missbrauchsfälle in der belgischen Kirche zwischen den Sechziger- und Achtzigerjahren informiert war.

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OSTERREICH
religion@ORF

Nach dem Ex-Erzbischof von Los Angeles, Kardinal Roger Mahony, geraten nun auch weitere Kardinäle wegen ihrer Rolle im Missbrauchsskandal in die Kritik. Verschiedene Initiativen fordern sie auf, dem Konklave fernzubleiben.

Der dunkle Schatten der Missbrauchsskandale belastet den Vatikan vor dem Konklave für die Wahl des Nachfolgers von Papst Benedikt XVI. Nachdem eine Vereinigung von US-Katholiken und italienische Anti-Pädophilie-Verbände erklärt haben, die Teilnahme des früheren Erzbischofs von Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, am Konklave verhindern zu wollen, weil dieser Vorwürfe des Missbrauchs gegen Priester seiner Diözese vertuscht haben soll – mehr dazu in: USA: Petition für Konklave ohne Kardinal Mahony – geraten weitere vier Kardinäle wegen ihres umstrittenen Umgangs mit Missbrauchsskandalen unter Druck.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

One very insightful and powerful Address has sustained me over these past difficult years as all of us in the Church had to face the fact that Catholic clergy sexually abused children and young people.

Entitled On Carrying A Scandal Biblically it was first delivered in late 2002 by Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I., in Canada. The Address was edited into an article, and is readily available on his website. (1)

There is nothing else in print which has so captivated my heart and soul, and served as the basis for countless meditations and reflections. I recommend it to anyone who is searching for a truly counter-cultural approach at dealing with this terrible sinfulness which has overwhelmed all of us in the Church.

You will never find the Rolheiser approach even mentioned in any news media, since it is not about condemning others, but about how disciples of Jesus are called to carry and live out a terrible scandal day by day.

He calls our suffering what it really is: painful and public humiliation, which is spiritually a grace-opportunity. I have tried to live out–poorly and inadequately far too often–his two implications of humiliation:

1. the acceptance of being scapegoated, pointing out the necessary connection between humiliation and redemption;

2. this scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong–with the excluded ones; Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves crucified with him.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

Philip Pullella– 20 February 2013

POPE BENEDICT may change rules governing the conclave that will secretly elect his successor.

It’s a move that could move up the global meeting of cardinals who are already in touch about who could best lead Catholics through a period of crisis.

The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected and then formally installed before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services leading to Easter.

The rule changes could mean that the conclave in the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals will choose the next leader of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, might be able to start before March 15, which is currently the earliest it can begin.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said today that Benedict, who will lose all power when he abdicates on Feb 28, was considering issuing a “Motu Proprio,” a personal document which has the force of Church law and addresses a specific need.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

February 20, 2013

NSAC takes note of Cardinal elector Velasio De Paolis for publicly taking the position that while Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles can be part of the conclave he should not be.

This kind of sharp elbowing by a Cardinal is rarely seen in the media and is in his princely class edging up to the category of a glove slap duel challenge.

Here’s the link to USA Today’s story: [Click here]

Cardinal De Paolis was part of the Vatican commission that reviewed the Legionnaires of Christ religious order in the wake of public revelations about its disgraced founder, Marcial Maciel.

His strong dropping of a conscience hint conclave embargo against Mahony, let us hope, is built on the insight he may have gain from that commission.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Matthew Fox

The pope has chosen to step down, the first pope in seven centuries to do so. As a Christian, I witness his legacy, and that of his predecessor, with profoundly mixed feelings: outrage over the crimes committed against the people of God, and relief that the masks covering the corruption of the papacy have at last been removed.

I see that the 42-year reign of the past two popes has so destroyed the church we once knew that now the Holy Spirit can give birth to a community far more attuned to the revolutionary Gospel of Jesus than the current and dying structures ever could be. More than ever, we recognize the warning of historian Lord Acton after Vatican Council I defined papal infallibility: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

We have witnessed how Cardinal Martini on his deathbed, issued a damning call to action to a church “200 years behind the times.” We have witnessed the retaliation of the past two popes against theologians and pastoral ministers who have dared to dissent for the sake of social justice, eco-justice, gender and gender preference justice: 105 and more have been and continue to be hounded, silenced and expelled.

So as one of these dissidents, speaking now from outside the Vatican’s punitive reach, I offer a short list of some of the issues for which history will hold Ratzinger accountable, both as cardinal and as pope (I offer page numbers of my study on his life and papacy in my book, “The Pope’s War: How Ratzinger’s Crusade Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved,” to see the backup evidence).

1.His silence for years about the notorious pedophile priest Father Maciel, who was so close to Pope John Paul II that he was often invited on the papal plane — and who sexually abused dozens of his seminarians, had two wives on the side and sexually abused his own children. Fr. Maciel was not fully investigated until 2005 even though a New York bishop reported his actions to Ratzinger’s office in 1995 (125-130).

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UNITED STATES
Non-Profit Quarterly

Written by Rick Cohen Created on Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Sometimes, the best-motivated bequests don’t go as intended, as evidenced by documents recently released about the fundraising of a Catholic organization called the Legion of Christ. A Rhode Island widow named Gabrielle Mee gave millions of dollars and bequeathed 90 percent of her estate to the Legion of Christ. She was so taken with the Legion and its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, that she became a “consecrated woman” in the Legion’s lay wing.

When she made her donations, Mee probably never anticipated that Pope Benedict XVI would order an investigation of the Legion to reveal that Fr. Maciel sexually molested numerous seminarians and fathered children by two different women. Pope John Paul II had been a prominent supporter of Maciel, calling him “an efficacious guide to youth.” Even when he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict has initiated investigations of Maciel’s behavior and operations, though it took until 2006 before he retired Maciel to a life of penitence and prayer. It wasn’t until 2009 that the Legion acknowledged Maciel’s paternity in regards to at least one child.

Although Pope Benedict finally took action against the Legion, the Vatican had heard reports of Maciel’s sexual abuse for many years. Like U.S. dioceses dealing with abusive parish priests, the Vatican spent years protecting the religious institution of the Legion rather than calling Maciel and the Legion to account.

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MALTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 20, 2013

Shame on Bishop Charles Scicluna. He is either deceptive or woefully ignorant about Cardinal Roger Mahony’s deliberate, decades-long work to conceal child sex crimes.

It’s just wrong for Scicluna to claim that Mahony “did what he could” but “made mistakes.” This implies that he attempted to do the right thing and failed. Yet what has been revealed from the recently released LA documents shows that Mahony repeatedly and purposefully acted in the best interests of predators, not kids.

Any reasonable person reading even a few of the thousands of pages of long-secret LA church abuse records would conclude that Mahony wasn’t “ignorant” or “ill-informed.”

Kids are safer when adults judge wrongdoers by real life standards, not by preposterous standards. It’s preposterous to claim that Scicluna is some kind of serious “reformer” just because most Catholic officials have even more horrific track records on abuse.

These comments illustrate that Scicluna is out of touch with reality but perfectly in line with the stance taken by other Vatican officials on child sex abuse. They claim to not have understood the problem and not known how to deal with it, despite their best efforts. This is ludicrous.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on February 20, 2013

Two high ranking Catholic officials say Cardinal Roger Mahony must decide whether to avoid the papal conclave, and one of them admits that higher church authorities could ask him to stay home.

Yesterday, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis of Italy told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Mahony “could be advised not to take part only through a private intervention by someone with great authority.”

And the Vatican’s former point man on abuse, Maltese Bishop Charles Scicluna, voiced similar opinions in an interview with the National Catholic Reporter, saying Mahony “will decide in conscience what to do.”

Yet, given Mahony’s actions in Los Angeles and the multitudes of crimes he abetted – and in some cases may have committed – we hardly think that’s a good outcome. His church superiors should insist that Mahony stay home, and his church colleagues should publicly prod Mahony to stay home.

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UNITED STATES
Queerty

Over the President’s Day holiday, your Facebook wall may have blown up with links to various “articles” insisting that Pope Benedict had announced his retirement because he was about to face criminal charges connected to his involvement in covering up child molestation committed by priests.

These reports claim that an unnamed European government is preparing to issue an arrest warrant for Benedict for crimes against humanity, but that His Eminence worked out a deal with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano that granted him immunity from prosecution or extradition.

Addicting Info is just one site with the story:

The Pope, whose given name is Joseph Ratzinger, has a meeting with the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano on February 23 to beg for immunity against prosecution for allegations of child sex crimes. Apparently, this hastily arranged meeting, and likely the resignation as well, are the result of a supposed note received by the Vatican from an undisclosed European government that stated that there are plans to issue a warrant for the Pope’s arrest.

This letter was allegedly received on February 4, and Ratzinger resigned a week later.

There’s even a serious-sounding quasi-governmental group, the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, calling for the Pope’s head and demanding that Napolitano “not collude in criminality” by protecting Benedict.

The only problem is that this story is completely made up.

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