A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 13 November 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Broken Bay, Australia, presented by Bishop David Louis Walker, upon having reached the age limit.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
They will face questions from United Nations panel
But church hierarchy has missed Nov. 1st deadline
They were to answer questions about abuse crisis
For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013
Contact: Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, snapblaine@gmail.com
A date has been set for Vatican officials to appear before a United Nations panel in Geneva and answer questions about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.
On January 16 top Catholic officials are to meet for several hours with members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The meeting will be streamed live on line.
The date was announced by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and can be found here:
[UN Committee on the Rights of the Child]
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, wonders whether the Vatican will send anyone to the January meeting. SNAP is also blasting Vatican staff for missing a deadline to answer questions in writing from the panel about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.
“High ranking Catholic monarchs often break promises and rules,” said SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy of St Louis. “These monarchs are very accustomed to being treated like royalty and very unaccustomed to facing tough questions in public about this devastating and continuing crisis. So who knows whether any of them will show up in January?”
Last July, the UN committee sent Vatican authorities a list of about 20 questions, with a November 1 deadline. The questions were designed to help the committee determine whether the church is honoring the 23 year old Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
7 News
ABC
JEFF WATERS –
November 13, 2013
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine says the Government will immediately begin drafting legislation in response to the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.
The report calls for a new law to ensure anyone failing to report serious child abuse or concealing it is guilty of an offence.
The report also recommends the creation of a criminal offence of “grooming” children and a new criminal offence of “endangerment” where figures of authority within institutions can be sanctioned for not taking enough precautions.
The report calls upon the Victorian Government to work with Canberra to require religious and other non-government organisations to incorporate legal structures – something resisted by the Catholic Church.
The Federal Government has six months to respond but Dr Napthine says the Victorian Government will not be waiting.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
JOHN FERGUSON and RACHEL BAXENDALE
From: The Australian
November 14, 2013
THE Napthine government will criminalise the grooming of child-sex victims and the concealing of abuse by officials after the first wide inquiry into the issue savaged the Catholic Church over systemic failures.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine also promised yesterday to exclude abuse from statute of limitations provisions to ensure victims have enough time to initiate civil legal action.
The Victorian parliament’s inquiry into the handling of abuse by religious and other non-government entities made a series of other recommendations yesterday, including the setting up of an independent, alternative avenue for justice for victims.
This would involve the government reviewing the functions of the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal to consider its capacity to administer a specific scheme for victims of criminal abuse.
The committee backed a new offence of child endangerment for anyone who relocates an offender — such as happened with some Catholic clergy — and offences for failing to report child abuse. This would fall under the government’s pledge to legislate against those who conceal sex-abuse crimes.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Editorial
ENDEMIC criminality and cover-ups warrant strong responses. To that end, the recommendations of the Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse by religious and other organisations should be considered on a national basis by the royal commission into child abuse and by political leaders. The recommendations include lifting the statute of limitations to assist victims, making it an offence to conceal abuse, a statutory body to monitor and audit compliance on child protection requirements, and an independent body to handle victims’ claims.
After years of frustration, the Victorian inquiry provided victims with much-needed comfort by hearing and understanding their painful experiences at the hands of clerics and others in positions of trust, especially in the Catholic and Anglican churches and Salvation Army. As one victim said: “Any abuse is dreadful … but when it happens within the context of the Christian community, it damages your soul … it attacks your meaning of life.”
The behaviour of past church leaders was unconscionable. In 1993, for example, former archbishop Frank Little wrote a letter lauding the services of retired priest Desmond Gannon, when he knew the priest had admitted abusing five or six boys. The worst damage occurred in the decades up to the 1980s, when church responses were condemned as “seriously inadequate and sometimes non-existent”. It was for that reason, Cardinal George Pell told the inquiry, he established the Melbourne Response in 1996. It was overseen by independent QC Peter O’Callaghan, an appointment welcomed by police. The inquiry was also scathing about the failure of church leaders in not reporting abuse to police. At that time, however, many victims refused to go to the police.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
SNAP Australia
Victorian Parliamentary Committee has listened to victims of child sexual assault
November 13, 2013
Statement by Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia
Victims of child sexual assault across the country have reason to celebrate today.
Not only is it one year since the historic announcement of the national Royal Commission into this issue, but the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry hands down its report today, and we can finally see a glimmer of hope for justice, better child protection, and an end to our suffering.
The report itself will be available online shortly, but even from the details already available in the media release, and from the speeches to the Victorian Parliament, it is clear we have been listened to and we have been heard.
Equally importantly, the campaign of excuses, misinformation, minimisation and distraction by religious officials has not convinced anyone. For far too long victims have had a second, and at least equally painful, cause of suffering from not only the deliberate neglect of our rights and need for healing by these organisations, but also from the reassuring lies told to present an appearance that nothing is wrong and there is no need for outside action.
We call on all political parties in Victoria to express support for the law reforms proposed by the Committee, which are an absolute minimum requirement if justice is to be done and children are to be protected.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry
Strengthening the criminal law, making access to civil litigation easier for victims and establishing a
new independent avenue for justice are some of the key recommendations in the final report of the
Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations,
tabled today.
Committee Chair, Ms Georgie Crozier, MP hoped the recommendations would help victims to pursue
justice more easily and provide a foundation for protecting our children into the future.
‘The criminal abuse of children involves extremely serious breaches of the laws of our community,’ Ms
Crozier said. ‘When it happens in our society’s most trusted organisations, it is a betrayal beyond
comprehension.’
‘Those who engage in it, or are in positions of authority and conceal such offences, should be dealt
with under the criminal law.
‘In the past, crimes have been covered up and organisations have prioritised their reputation and
finances, but no more.’
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
skipshea
Posted on November 13, 2013
It is no secret that I am a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. Nor is it a secret that it has fueled a lot of my artwork. For most of my life. You can only imagine the excitement I felt when “Ave Maria” my horror short with very Catholic themes was accepted to the Interiora Horror Festival in Rome, Italy. For me that was a major artistic achievement. One that would be hard to top.
And then it won the Premio del Pubblico or Audience Choice Award for Best Film. This may be hard for many to believe, but I was actually rendered speechless. Which worked out fine because I can’t speak Italian anyway.
Image
The fact that those in attendance at the festival picked my very politically charged Catholic film was incomprehensible to me. I was literally on the doorstep of the Vatican and somehow my message was roundly embraced.
But I was viewing this with an American eye. We have distance from the church with it’s centuries of abuses and corruption as an institution. The Crusades, Inquisition, the encouragement of castrato, and sexual abuse of children all happened there. Only a quarter of that equation happened in the USA.
Which is why stories like this play so well here.
Recently Pope Francis made a speech where he said: “Jesus says ‘It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea’,” because “where there is deceit, the Spirit of God cannot be”.
He said this in reference to the corruption with the whistleblowers and the Vatican Bank. They recently passed a law that made whistleblowing a major crime in order to get things back to normal, controlling the narrative while claiming that the corruption is over.
Right.
But the quote he used about the millstone ad nothing to do with corruption. It is in refernce to a quote by Jesus that made three of the gospels. Matthwe 18:6, Luke 17:2 and Mark 9:42. It says: But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Age
November 14, 2013
Frank McGuire
Despite the suffering of victims revealed by the sex abuse inquiry, some men of God still refuse to accept the damage they did.
Betrayal of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation report on the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations examined crime not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering. Many share the blame.
Perpetrators claiming to represent God committed the foulest crimes against children – formerly hanging offences – while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting paedophiles through cultures of concealment. The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.
Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered multiple betrayals of neglect or abandonment as infants; then when taken into the community’s care, they were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.
Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as schoolboys with sunshine smiles. A middle-aged woman presented a happy snap from her first Holy Communion depicting a young bride of Christ. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
November 13, 2013
Melissa Iaria
AAP
The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the “brutal” abuse suffered by many children in its care.
The organisation, which operated a large number of children’s homes around the country between 1893 and 1995, apologised to victims and their families for abuse that happened under its watch.
“These offences should never have happened,” the organisation said in a statement.
“It was a breach of the trust placed in us and we are deeply sorry.
“The Salvation Army is ashamed of the abuse suffered by many children placed in our care during that time.”
A substantial part of evidence received by the Victorian abuse inquiry related to complaints of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in Salvation Army institutions from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne
13/11/2013
Media release
The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne welcomes the report by the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, which has been released today.
“We thank the committee members for their careful, thorough and patient work, and also the State Government for establishing the inquiry. It is vitally important that victims have been given the opportunity to be heard in this public way, and that church processes and protocols have been rigorously scrutinised to investigate where improvements need to be made,” said Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier.
He said the Anglican Church would study the findings of the report closely. “It is crucial that children be protected from abuse, and that we continue to strive to ensure that our protocols and processes meet the standards the community expects of us,” Dr Freier said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
The Anglican Church has backed the recommendations of Victoria’s child abuse inquiry and says it will fully co-operate with any changes to ensure children are adequately protected.
Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier says the church supports the report’s key recommendations.
“It is crucial that children be protected from abuse, and that we continue to strive to ensure that our protocols and processes meet the standards the community expects of us,” he said in a statement.
Dr Freier said the Anglican Church would continue to provide full co-operation with the state government in implementing “whatever is necessary” to ensure children were adequately protected and abuse victims were treated with compassion, justice and equity.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
KARE
[with video]
Jana Shortal
NEW PRAGUE, Minn. — In New Prague this week, news traveled fast after an MPR News team filed a report saying a retired priest living in that city admitted to sexually abusing young boys while he was serving in the Minneapolis St. Paul Archdiocese in or around 1975.
On Monday, Nienstedt released a letter acknowledging mistakes made in the case of former catholic priest Clarence Vavra.
Vavra, who now lives in New Prague, is a neighbor to Margaret Lexa. She describes him as a good man, but she admits she has a few reservations after hearing what he’s accused of.
“Oh, I’m totally shocked, totally shocked. You know, you get second thoughts but I’m still in shock,” Lexa said.
Lexa says she and her husband have lived next door to Vavra for 40 years. She says while her husband has been in ill health, Vavra made a point to tell Lexa he was praying for their family.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
KSTP
[with video]
By: Jay Kolls
Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS officials at the Archdiocese are part of a criminal investigation by St. Paul Police, including Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar-General Father Peter Laird.
We are told the investigation, in part, involves possible child pornography on a computer used by former priest John Shelley.
St. Paul Police closed their case into the child pornography when they could not find enough evidence to charge Shelley. But, sources tell KSTP, police are looking at “everything” connected to the case including possible obstruction of justice, failure to report possible sexual abuse as required by the State’s mandatory reporting statute and possible child endangerment.
Attorneys for the Archdiocese issued a statement that says “The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is aware that St. Paul Police have reopened their investigation into the Fr. Jon Shelley case. We will cooperate fully, as we did in the police’s previous 7- month investigation that found no evidence of child pornographic material. We take very seriously matters of sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy. We encourage anyone who has been a victim of such sexual abuse to report it to police and to the Archdiocese.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Courier
By FIONA HENDERSON Nov. 13, 2013
OVER the past nine months, I attended three public hearings of the state government inquiry into institutionalised child abuse.
During the first, in Ballarat, I heard graphic descriptions of rape and abuse that no child should ever have to endure.
In Melbourne, I heard the Catholic diocese of Ballarat lay the blame for its appalling child sex abuse record at the feet of former Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and his poor record keeping.
I heard the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, try to rationalise the church’s blatant failings regarding children in its care.
And I also observed a passionate committee of six MPs of all persuasions refusing to accept excuses or be awed by titles.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser
By MERRAN REED Nov. 13, 2013
“We recognise the hurt victims suffered,” he said.
Bishop Tomlinson said the church had introduced procedures to address allegations of child abuse.
“In the first instance, victims are urged to contact the police,” he said.
“Where an allegation is sustained, financial compensation and counselling is provided.
“Reality is it can be a challenge to find effective ways to heal people who have been hurt in this way.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
JOHN FERGUSON THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 14, 2013
THE national royal commission into child sex abuse can learn a great deal from the Victorian inquiry.
It should treat yesterday’s findings and the method of investigation as a first step towards getting to the bottom of the abuse epidemic.
The Victorian inquiry has suffered from being handed terms of reference that were too restrictive. The parliamentary committee should never have been precluded from properly examining the government sector, where – it could be argued – a large percentage of the offending has occurred and still occurs.
This was a mistake made by the then Baillieu state government that needs to be rectified in a more meaningful sense by the national inquiry. The royal commission’s terms of reference appear to deal with this mistake.
This is not to diminish any of the good work of the committee members in Victoria but the long-term future of public policy needs more work and vision.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
The chairwoman of a committee looking at how Victoria’s religious organisations handled reports of child abuse says she was surprised to learn the extent of the problem.
Georgie Crozier MP, who chaired the community development committee’s inquiry, could not say how many Victorian children suffered abuse at the hands of religious and other organisations, but it was significant.
“I was surprised by the extent of the abuse across the state,” she told reporters.
“It was very widespread. Obviously the community of Ballarat was significantly affected.”
Ms Crozier says the inquiry believes there are many more people yet to disclose similar abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)
David Marr
theguardian.com, Tuesday 12 November 2013
“We have called our report Betrayal of Trust,” said Victorian MP Georgie Crozier as she presented the findings of the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.
“Children were betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing and suffered unimaginable harm,” she said.
“Parents of these children experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension. And the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care.”
The report’s criticism of the Catholic church is unsparing. Its recommendations are radical. If adopted they would strip the Catholic church of its virtual immunity in the courts and compel religious leaders of all faiths to report child abuse to the police.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
A Victorian parliamentary report into institutional child abuse should allow reconciliation and justice for victims, the Uniting Church says.
Moderator of the Victoria and Tasmania Synod Dan Wootton said the report, which recommends making the concealing of child abuse a criminal offence, was a positive development for victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Sky News
[with video]
Victims got everything they could have hoped for from the Victorian report on child sex abuse, but it can never be enough.
Mick Serch said as great as the inquiry was, the scar of abuse can’t ever be healed.
‘You can put a bandaid on it but it keeps falling off,’ Mr Serch told AAP.
Since he suffered sex abuse at the hands of a Christian Brother when he was in grade five at St Leo’s College in Box Hill, Mr Serch has endured chronic depression, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.
‘I’ve also got paranoid schizophrenia which they say is due to the abuse,’ he said.
Mr Serch attended a victims’ ‘rally of hope’ on the steps of parliament after the report was tabled on Wednesday.
‘The more of this sort of thing we have the better for everyone,’ he said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
13 Nov 2013
The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has been tabled in parliament and released publicly – highlighting 15 recommendations.
The two-volume report entitled Betrayal of Trust is the nation’s first major inquiry report to be made public.
The report documents the terrible child abuse that occurred in the Catholic Church, and its failure to recognise and respond to that abuse, mainly over a 25-year period from 1960 to 1985.
The report’s key recommendations cover five important areas: changes to the criminal law; easier access to the civil justice system; an independent alternative avenue for justice; greater independent monitoring and scrutiny of organisations and further improvements to prevention systems and processes.
In tabling the report, committee chair Georgie Crozier said children had suffered unimaginable harm.
“We’ve not only listened but we have heard,” she told the Legislative Council in Melbourne.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne
Wednesday 13 November 2013
The Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart made the following statement today in response to the release of the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.
“I welcome the release today of the report by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.”
“It is our hope that the Inquiry, and its recommendations, will assist the healing of those who have been abused. We also hope they will enhance the care of victims and their families, and strengthen the preventative measures now in place.
“Victims bravely came forward to give their accounts, often at great personal cost. The Inquiry has been an important opportunity for victims to be heard.
“The report documents terrible abuse that occurred in the Catholic Church, mainly over a 25-year period from 1960 to1985. It also sets out inexcusable failures in the Church’s response to that abuse.
“The Committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust. I have spoken before about this betrayal and the irreparable damage it has caused.
“It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime in the Catholic Church.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, spoke today, acknowledging that the Parliamentary Inquiry had set out inexcusable failures in the Church’s response to abuse. Father Shane Mackinlay is spokesman for the Catholic Church in Victoria and he spoke to Mark Colvin.
Transcript
MARK COLVIN: The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, spoke today as we’ve heard. He also put out a statement saying the Parliamentary Inquiry had set out “inexcusable failures” in the Church’s response to abuse.
Father Shane Mackinlay is spokesman for the Catholic Church in Victoria. I asked him if it was inexcusable, why the Church had spent so long excusing it.
SHANE MACKINLAY: The Church’s submission to this report itself documents those failures and describes them as inexcusable, as terrible failures.
Facing the Truth, our submission, sets out the way in which victims have been betrayed and the trust that was placed in the Church was betrayed by priests and religious personnel who committed these appalling crimes.
And also, by church leaders who failed to respond to that in an adequate and appropriate and timely way: believing victims when they came forward, responding to them in a way that provided genuine assistance and intervening to ensure that that abuse couldn’t happen in the future.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
BY PATRICK CARUANA AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013
SENIOR Catholic Church leaders protected pedophiles, allowed them to keep offending and kept Victorians in the dark about the problem.
A Victorian parliamentary report is scathing of the church’s leadership prior to the 1990s, saying child abuse was trivialised and their protection of pedophiles meant abuse happened when it could have been avoided.
Archbishop Denis Hart apologised to victims and said previous responses to abuse cases were inexcusable, calling it the worst betrayal of his lifetime in the church.
“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible,” he told reporters.
“I have to accept that church leaders in the past concealed crimes and caused other children to be offended against.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
FRANK MCGUIRE HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013
BETRAYAL of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation was into crime, not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering.
Men claiming to represent God committed foul crimes against children, once hanging offences, while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting the paedophiles through cultures of concealment.
The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.
Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered the betrayal of neglect or abandonment as infants, then once taken into the community’s care were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.
The fortitude of the innocents who testified was inspiring. Their courage is humbling. Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as smiling schoolboys. A middle-aged woman had a snap from her first Holy Communion. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
NEW laws to jail fiends who groom children to molest, and church leaders who cover it up, will be introduced next year.
The reforms follow Wednesday’s tabling in State Parliament of a historic report on child abuse, which revealed police were investigating 135 new cases.
Tears flowed as victims stood in the rain to lend their voices in support of the report.
The report slammed leaders of churches and non-government organisations that failed vulnerable children during decades of “betrayal beyond comprehension”.
The report, following an 18-month inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, found “several thousand victims (were) criminally abused in non-government organisations”, many of whom had been denied justice.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
THE Christian Brothers spent more than $1.1m over 15 years defending paedophile Brother Robert Best before he was finally jailed 2011 after pleading guilty to aggravated indecent assaults against children.
On another occasion, the Catholic Order hired private investigators to investigate victims who had complained to police about one of its members.
Wednesday’s report of the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse slammed the Catholic Church, saying it had “made a deliberate choice to pursue a course of concealing the problem of criminal child abuse.”
Worse, Church leaders had conceded “the Church had adopted a policy of cover-up and that this involved concealing offending, and moving priests and other religious to areas where further abuse then occurred”.
In dealing with the problem, the Church had been motivated by its desire “to protect itself” the Committee found.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
BY MIKE HEDGE AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013
THE Catholic Church’s “institutional failure” to respond appropriately to child abuse extends to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, a parliamentary inquiry reports.
But Cardinal Pell says he welcomes the Victorian inquiry’s report and supports many of its recommendations.
The parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had “minimalised and trivialised” the issue.
In a swipe at Cardinal Pell’s evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.
“That is quite different from the whole church … the whole church is not guilty of that,” he told the inquiry.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
Pedophile clerics abused children, thinking their crimes would not be revealed, a Victorian parliamentary report says.
Citing a Ballarat school at which four pedophile staff were employed in the 1970s, the report says pedophiles often relied on the protection of their religion.
“Offenders who were members of religious organisations were confident that they could abuse their victims and that their activities would not be revealed,” the report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, says.
“Victims have explained that upon reporting criminal child abuse to other members of the religious organisation, no action was taken or that they were physically punished.”
The committee says it is concerned the Christian Brothers cannot explain the “startling” situation in which four staff at St Alipius primary school, including Brother Robert Best and Brother Edward Dowlan, were later convicted of sexual offences.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
The Victorian inquiry into how institutions and organisations responded to child abuse is the latest in dozens of state-based investigations concerned with the sexual abuse of children, either in institutional care, foster care, child migration, or child protection systems. The Royal Commission is expected to gather all of the previous Australian reports, identify the good and bad amongst the recommendations they made, and evaluate their effectiveness.
Transcript
ELEANOR HALL: While work of the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry has now wound up, the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues its work.
The World Today’s Emily Bourke has been reporting on the Royal Commission and she joins us now.
Emily, how will the Royal Commission – a national inquiry – handle this state-based report?
EMILY BOURKE: Eleanor, it’s expected that this will feed into the Royal Commission.
This report out of Victoria is just the latest in many state-based inquiries concerned with sexual abuse of children.
In fact The Head of the Royal Commission, Justice Peter McClellan, said this week that over the past 30 years there have been at least 80 state or territory based inquiries that have looked at issues directly relevant to the Commission’s work.
ELEANOR HALL: Eighty?
EMILY BOURKE: Eighty. That’s right. 80. Now, all of these previous Australian reports will be gathered up and the Royal Commission will try to identify the good and the bad amongst the recommendations and how effective they’ve been.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
As the child abuse inquiry report was handed down in the Victorian Parliament, the public gallery was packed with victims of child sexual abuse, and their families. Some later said they felt a sense of euphoria about the report, but they also had trepidation about the future. They also said they wanted the government to amend laws, as recommended by the report, as quickly as possible.
Transcript
ELEANOR HALL: As the report was handed down in the Victorian Parliament this morning, the public gallery was packed with victims of child sexual abuse and their families, many of whom gave evidence at the inquiry.
Our reporter Alison Caldwell spoke to some of them afterwards.
ALISON CALDWELL: Anthony Foster’s daughters, Emma and Katie, were repeatedly raped by their parish priest, Father Kevin O’Donnell, at their primary school in Melbourne’s south east, from 1987 until 1992.
The Catholic Church had received numerous complaints about O’Donnell’s behaviour dating back to the 1940s, but no action was ever taken.
Emma Foster eventually committed suicide. Her sister Katie was seriously disabled when she was hit by a car after binge drinking and now requires 24 hour care.
Anthony Foster says he and his wife Chrissie feel a sense of euphoria today, but also trepidation about what lies ahead.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Sky News
More than 100 new allegations of sexual abuse have been referred to Victorian police as a result of the state’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.
The final report of the inquiry says that as of November 6, 135 matters had been referred to the Sano task force, established by police to follow up specific allegations of child abuse raised during the inquiry.
The report says more referrals are expected as a review of submissions made to the inquiry continued.
‘As could be expected, the establishment of the inquiry and the task force … encouraged more victims to report abuse to the police,’ the report says.
Task force members attended all hearings, liaised with witnesses, gave assistance when required and in some cases the committee arranged for police to seek further information or clarification.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
A victim of church-related sexual abuse has hailed the tabling of the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations as a “watershed” moment.
The report outlines 15 recommendations to end abuse, including the creation of new criminal offences for concealing abuse and endangerment.
The report also calls for the creation of an independent tribunal to hear abuse complaints.
Premier Denis Napthine has pledged to immediately start drafting legislation in response to the inquiry’s recommendations.
“We will act and act immediately to protect children in Victoria,” he said.
Abuse victims who were in the public gallery stood and hugged each other after the report was tabled.
A former school teacher, who lost her job after pursuing a sex abuse case, called it a watershed moment, while another victim said the tabling of the report is immensely important.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
JOHN FERGUSON THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 13, 2013
THE nation’s first major inquiry into religious child sex abuse has recommended a sweeping legislative overhaul to curb future criminality.
The Victorian Parliament inquiry also has slammed the behaviour of the Catholic Church for failure to deal with the decades long problem.
The inquiry has called for the lifting of the statute of limitations on offences to assist victims to pursue justice.
It calls for the introduction of a criminal offence relating to child endangerment and backs a criminal offence of grooming.
The report calls for a law to be introduced calling for a new crime of failing to report a serious indictable offence.
As revealed in The Australian, the report backs an independent body to administer a scheme for dealing with victim claims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
THE Catholic Church’s “institutional failure” to respond appropriately to child abuse extends from parish priests to its leader in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.
The Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had “minimalised and trivialised” the issue.
In a swipe at Cardinal Pell’s evidence, its report said that following repeated questioning he agreed some bishops and religious superiors had covered up the issue.
“That is quite different from the whole church … the whole church is not guilty of that,” he told the inquiry.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
MELBOURNE Archbishop Denis Hart says senior figures in the Catholic Church made indefensible mistakes in response to sexual abuse claims.
Archbishop Hart said the church acknowledged the failings of the past, as highlighted in a Victorian parliamentary report handed down on Wednesday.
“The committee’s report is rightly called Betrayal of Trust,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“It is the worst betrayal of trust in my lifetime.
“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible.”
Archbishop Hart said the church had made significant progress since 1996, when it set up the national Towards Healing protocol and the Melbourne Response to handle abuse complaints.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Age
[with video]
November 13, 2013
Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.
It began slowly, amid some well-merited cynicism, but on Wednesday the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse delivered – and brilliantly.
Many of the victims who followed the inquiry religiously throughout its dozens of public sessions were almost euphoric after the report, Betrayal of Trust, was tabled in parliament and committee members rose to excoriate the concealers and enablers, and to recommend far-reaching reforms.
It was not just the recommendations, it was the tone. The inquiry had heard the victims – and believed them. It gave the vital verdict: vindication.
The inquiry heard from the church hierarchy too, in particular the Catholic Church – and took a far more sceptical view. The language with which they described the church made that clear, along with their rejection of the church claim that the problem was purely historical, as Archbishops Denis Hart and George Pell had suggested in evidence.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Hang your heads in shame, Denis Napthine tells Catholic leaders
Hannah Jenkins
From: The Australian
November 13, 2013
VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has condemned the culture of the Catholic Church in The Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into religious child sex abuse.
Dr Napthine said the Catholic Church had failed in its duty to protect the welfare of young children who had suffered in the hands of people they had every right to trust.
“The leaders of the Catholic Church should hang their heads in shame,” he said.
Dr Napthine criticised the Catholic Church for decades of concealing abuse and not taking action against the perpetrators responsible.
“The culture seemed to be putting the interests of the church and its priests ahead of the interests of children and victims, and that is totally and utterly wrong,’ he said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Conversation
Olivia Monaghan
PhD student in the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Melbourne
Twelve months ago, I wrote an article encouraging inquiries into child sex abuse to treat the church like a corrupt police force. Today, the first of the nation’s inquiries to child sex abuse, run by the Victorian government’s Family and Community Development Committee, released its recommendations, and they have done just that.
This inquiry was established prior to the national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As such, it focuses on child sex abuse in Victorian non-government organisations. Above all else, the findings and recommendations of the inquiry suggest a government-initiated response to child sex abuse in any part of Australia is long overdue.
As the committee acknowledges, the extent of abuse at the hand of non-government actors (especially in religious organisations) is difficult to measure. However, it reasonably estimates that:
…there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in non-government organisations in Victoria alone.
The nature of the organisations investigated by the inquiry prevents the true extent of the crime from being known. For example, the inquiry found that victims were often deterred or actively discouraged from making allegations of abuse against members of the Catholic Church because of the esteem held by the church and its employees within the community.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street
Ray Cassin | 13 November 2013
Will the recommendations of Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in non-government institutions be overshadowed by the proceedings of the Royal Commission that is now under way? Probably, but it doesn’t matter. The first thing to be said about the Victorian inquiry, which tabled its report, Betrayal of Trust, in the state’s parliament today (13 November 2013), is that the MPs have done a far better job than many people — including this writer — had expected them to do in the relatively short time allotted to them, and without the resources available to the commission.
The inquiry’s recommendations are, with one important exception, carefully considered responses to the evidence the bipartisan committee received from 405 written submissions and in more than 160 hearings. Apart from the exception, of which more later, the Napthine Government should implement these recommendations and, if they are later subsumed under all-state legislation recommended by the Royal Commission, that will not render them pointless. They will have been a model and a guide in dealing with a problem that all forms of institutionalised authority — not only the churches — have preferred to avoid dealing with openly for far too long.
That is not to say, of course, that the sexual abuse of children has ever been condoned, let alone treated as less than a serious offence under criminal law. As the inquiry’s report notes, buggery of children under 14 and rape were capital crimes until 1949. But that official abhorrence makes all the more lamentable the fact that until the early 1990s abuse happened extensively in non-government institutions, especially the churches, and that perpetrators were typically redeployed rather than being suspended from their duties and the police notified.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia
By Jeff Waters and staff
Melbourne Archbishop says confessional is sacrosanct despite inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.
The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has stood by the church’s stance on keeping information on abuse gained through the confessional secret, despite a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.
Denis Hart says he supports all 15 recommendations made by the inquiry into institutional child abuse, but he will not commit to implementing them in full.
Archbishop Hart was speaking to the media hours after a parliamentary committee tabled recommendations that would criminalise the withholding of information relating to child abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
In its final report, the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has condemned the Catholic Church for trivialising the problem, failing to hold perpetrators accountable and keeping allegations from the public. The Church has accepted some of the criticism and says it will consider the report’s recommendations carefully.
Transcript
MARK COLVIN: The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse has condemned the Catholic Church for protecting offenders, trivialising abuse and keeping the details from the public.
The inquiry tabled its final report today. It recommends a dramatic overhaul of the handling of abuse in the state’s religious and secular organisations.
The Catholic Church has accepted many of the report’s findings and says it will consider the recommendations carefully. They include setting up an independent scheme to compensate victims and making it a criminal offence to put a child in danger.
The Victorian Government says it will start drafting legislation to make some of the changes immediately.
Samantha Donovan reports.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: After nearly 600 submissions and more than 150 hearings, the committee conducting the inquiry tabled its report in the Victorian Parliament today.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
For the survivors of child sexual abuse, the victims and their families who gave evidence to the inquiry, the final report brought tears, joy and some trepidation about what lies ahead. Many want the other states to examine and even adopt the inquiry’s recommendations.
Transcript
MARK COLVIN: For the survivors of child sexual abuse, the victims and their families who gave evidence to the Inquiry, the final report brought tears, joy and some trepidation about what lies ahead.
Many want other states to adopt the inquiry’s recommendations.
Alison Caldwell reports.
ALISON CALDWELL: The survivors of sexual abuse who were inside the Victorian Parliament today as the report was handed down described it as an historic and wonderful moment.
Many say today’s recommendations will go a long way towards protecting children.
ANTHONY FOSTER: I think I feel particularly euphoric that we’ve got to this point. No doubt about that, and I feel great trepidation about the steps from now on. There are some big organisations out there who are going to be trying to protect their wealth because this was always been about the wealth and reputation of organisations like the Salvation Army, the Catholic Church and others.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
SBS
By Darren Mara
Source World News Australia Radio
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Victims groups say they’re satisfied with the outcome of a Victorian parliamentary child sex abuse inquiry.
The inquiry handed down its findings in an 800-page report which recommends making it a crime in Victoria to conceal sexual abuse by organisations.
Darren Mara has this report.
(Click on audio tab above to listen to this item)
The inquiry committee’s report recommends that people in positions of authority should be criminally responsible for placing children at risk of harm by other individuals.
Tabled in the Victorian parliament, the report comes after months of committee hearings, during which victims and Victoria Police alleged the Catholic Church had concealed child sexual abuse by clergy members.
The report states that it’s only in recent months that senior members of the Catholic Church have accepted responsibility for the church’s failure to pay due regard to the safety of children.
It’s also recommended that an independent statutory body be established to monitor and oversee the handling of sexual abuse allegations.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
A national compensation scheme is needed immediately for victims of sexual abuse, a Catholic Church body says.
Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, which co-ordinates the church’s response to the royal commission into child sex abuse, has called on the federal attorney-general to establish the scheme now rather than wait for the commission’s findings to be released.
“We think the attorney-general should meet as soon as possible with the state and territories to establish a national scheme for compensation,” Mr Sullivan said.
“People should not have to wait around for the end of the royal commission for other states and territories to address these matters.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
Editorial
AT last, the silent victims of sexual abuse of church clergy and other institutions have been given a unified voice.
The emotional tabling of a parliamentary inquiry into the enduring scandal is a major step forward in preventing and detecting future abuse, identifying risks and, hopefully, in healing.
For decades, lone victims have fought church hierarchy and a fraught legal system for true justice — recognition of the depth of damage caused by paedophile priests let loose on those they were obliged to protect.
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Such were the words of Jesus, in Mark 10:14.
It is a shameful hypocrisy the Catholic and some other church organisations not only allowed this biblical tenet to be systemically and horribly breached, but then worked to cover up abuse and deny victims access to justice or, in some cases, even recognition.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Rappler
BY MARTIN PARRY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
POSTED ON 11/13/2013
SYDNEY, Australia – An Australian state inquiry into the handling of child sex cases by the Catholic Church on Wednesday, November 13, said religious leaders trivialized the problem and recommended concealment of abuse should be a crime.
Its report tabled in the Victorian parliament follows a long-running probe and concluded that “we can reasonably estimate that there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in non-government organizations in Victoria alone”.
The most senior Catholic in Victoria, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, previously admitted to the hearing that the Church had been too slow to act on pedophile priests, but insisted things had changed.
The report, “Betrayal of Trust”, said failure to report serious child abuse should lead to prosecution, a move likely to conflict with the church’s insistence that information gathered in the confessional should remain secret.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
SLOVENIA
GlobalPost
Slovenia’s Catholic Church has warned a court decision ordering it to compensate a victim of sexual abuse could open the floodgates for lawsuits against other institutions, like schools or hospitals.
Local media reported a court ruling over the weekend that ordered the archdiocese of Maribor, Slovenia’s second city, to pay 80,000 euros ($107,000) to a woman who had been sexually abused as a child by one of its priests.
“Court sentences have to be obeyed,” the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference said in a statement on its website.
But it warned: “We are convinced it will open the doors for lawsuits not only against the Church, but also other institutions in education or health, for example.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with video]
A Victorian Parliamentary inquiry has released a scathing report accusing the Catholic Church of a systemic cover up of child sex abuse cases over years.
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: It was another day of reckoning for the Catholic Church today with the Victorian parliamentary inquiry releasing a scathing report accusing the Church of a systemic cover-up of child abuse cases over many years. Other churches and institutions were also slammed for failing in their duty of care to children. The findings could open up hundreds of claims for financial compensation in the courts, as national affairs correspondent Heather Ewart reports.
LES LAST: I’ve got about four plants in the house, and if they can survive, then I think there’s a chance for me.
HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: It’s the simple things that help ease a lifetime of suffering for Les Last.
LES LAST: I’ve been such a failure at so many things for so many years, it still amazes me that I have any desire to attempt anything, you know.
HEATHER EWART: Les Last and his sister Helen share a terrible story. He was repeatedly sexually abused by a Christian brother at Melbourne’s Aquinas College in the 1960s from the age of 12.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
GEORGIA
The Christian Century
Nov 07, 2013 by Bob Allen
An independent Baptist pastor has resigned his church in Georgia after allegations about sexual abuse 18 years ago in Michigan resurfaced on the Internet.
Leaders at King’s Way Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia, confirmed in a letter dated October 18 that Bill Wininger has resigned after more than 15 years as pastor. Another letter dated October 27 acknowledged that church leaders were aware of recent allegations and charges.
Wininger’s troubles started when a woman who is now 25 years old claimed she had been abused by Wininger, stating that it began when she was three at North Sharon Baptist Church in Grass Lake, Michigan. A Facebook group titled Justice for the Victims of Bill Wininger went online October 23 and in the first week grew to 466 members.
“The beauty of the technological age we are in today is that perps cannot hide any longer,” Julie Silvestrone, an Iowa resident who studied at Hyles-Anderson College, posted October 25. “We are forming an army that will not be silenced and powerful in-roads are being made behind the scenes.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register
November 12, 2013
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that with a court’s permission, it plans this month to release the names of some priests who sexually abused children. Archbishop John Nienstedt said the initial disclosure will be limited to priests who live in the archdiocese and have substantiated claims of abuse of a minor.
Critics are skeptical, noting Nienstedt’s criteria excludes priests who have died, moved from the archdiocese or have been accused of abusing adults.
While Nienstedt and other church leaders have previously argued against disclosing a list of accused clergy, about two dozen other archdioceses and dioceses have done it — including Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles — in different ways.
ORIGIN OF ‘THE LIST’
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a nationwide study published in 2004 to determine the scope of clergy sex abuse.
For the study, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis compiled a list of 33 priests deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Attorneys for victims obtained the list in 2009, but a judge ruled they couldn’t release it. At that time, archdiocesan attorneys said all the priests already had been removed from active ministry, and 23 of them had been publicly named.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
North Queensland Register
BARNEY ZWARTZ
The state government’s eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accused its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ‘‘short-term embarrassment’’.
Launching the report in State Parliament, inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ‘‘a betrayal beyond comprehension’’ and children suffering ‘‘unimaginable harm’’.
She said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.
The report into how the churches handled clergy sexual abuse wants to establish a new crime for people in authority knowingly to put a child a risk, and to make it a crime not to report suspected child abuse or to leave a child at risk, which apparently includes what priests hear in the confessional.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
THAT child sexual abuse by clergy has been found to be considered by Church hierarchy as “a short-term embarrassment” and not a reason to question their own culture is a toxic delusion hopefully to be exploded by today’s State Government report. It found the abuse of trust of children and parents was beyond comprehension.
Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as something that could be minimalized and trivialised, and that “a sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church”. How terrifying, how dangerous and yes, how incomprehensible.
As chairwoman Georgie Crozier said tabling the Betrayal of Trust report, and as became painfully clear during the committee’s hearings, the children betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing suffered unimaginable harm.
“Parents experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension, and the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care,” Ms Crozier told Parliament.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL, ANNIKA SMETHURST
HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013
HORRIFIC sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.
The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.
Committee chair Georgie Crozier has tabled the report in State Parliament and urged the Napthine Government to act on recommendations.
As revealed by the Herald Sun last week, the new laws proposed include compulsory reporting to police, with those who conceal child abuse able to be charged.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail
KEITH MOOR HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 13, 2013
NOTHING in the new parliamentary report on sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church comes as a surprise to paedophile catcher Chris O’Connor.
He was reactiing to the horrific sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church which has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.
The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.
The recently retired detective senior sergeant has been Victoria Police’s child sex expert for decades.
He has been warning for years about the disgraceful behaviour of the Catholic Church and other institutions with responsibility for caring for children
Sen-Sgt O’Connor said evidence suggested some priests chose to be priests because of the hold it would give them over children they could abuse, just as other paedophiles were attracted to jobs which gave them easy access to children.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post
A man who claims to have been sexually abused by a senior priest in Preston came face to face with his attacker in Rome, a court has heard.
Stephen Shield, 53, denies three counts of indecent assault against the man – who had dreams of joining the priesthood – more than two decades ago.
Shield trained in Rome and spent some time at English Martyrs Church in Garstang Road, Preston, where two of the offences were alleged to have taken place.
The man told the court he had been targeted by the priest several years earlier at a retreat centre in the Lake District. Rachel Grimshaw, a friend of the victim, said she had spent time with him at a retreat centre outside Rome.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register
November 12, 2013
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Authorities on South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation have opened an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest.
Supervisory special agent Grace Her Many Horses says authorities will try to locate several men who as boys may have been sexually abused by the Rev. Clarence Vavra.
She tells Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1fzesG0) authorities also will try to interview Vavra and officials with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Vavra self-reported in 1995 that he had sexual contact with several boys while working on the Rosebud reservation in 1975. Vavra was removed from ministry in 2003.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
SEXUAL abuse victims and their supporters burst into tears and applause as they welcomed a State Parliament report calling for sweeping new laws to protect children.
Some said the recommendations, including for new offences related to grooming and cover-ups, offered a “glimmer of hope” that children would be better protected.
Others called for a fresh look at compensation paid by churches to victims.
Chrissie Foster, two of whose three daughters were raped by a Catholic priest, Kevin O’Donnell, while they were in primary school, said the release of the report was a happy occasion.
One daughter, Emma, committed suicide in 2008.
Emma’s sister, Katie, became a heavy drinker and was left disabled when hit by a drunk driver in 1999.
Despite the family’s tragedies, Ms Foster said the release of the report of the parliamentary inquiry was a happy occasion for victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Crann, Minnesota Public Radio
November 12, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Tribal authorities on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota are opening a criminal investigation into alleged sexual abuse of several boys and a teenager by the Rev. Clarence Vavra. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis kept the priest in ministry after he admitted to abuse on the reservation in the 1970s.
MPR News reporter Madeleine Baran talked to All Things Considered host Tom Crann about the potential legal ramifications of Monday’s report.
How are tribal investigators handling this case?
They are first trying to locate the men who Vavra may have abused when they were children. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that one of his victims was nine or ten years old at the time. That person would likely now be in his late 40s.
Today, Grace Her Many Horses, the supervisory special agent at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said that she wants to question Vavra and anyone at the archdiocese who knew about the abuse. Vavra is now retired and lives in New Prague, Minn., halfway between the Twin Cities and Mankato. Her Many Horses said it is likely that she will need to ask the FBI for assistance.
This abuse is said to have taken place in the mid-1970s. Is it still possible to file criminal charges against Vavra?
It depends. The situation is complicated, because it involves a reservation. We don’t have all the information yet. Since this is considered a major crime, tribal authorities can investigate, but they will ultimately turn the case over to the FBI.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
Victorian police say they’re pleased the issues raised by the government’s inquiry into child abuse have been given the prominence and scrutiny they demanded.
Victoria Police made significant submissions to the inquiry, including that the Catholic Church destroyed evidence, shielded paedophile clergy members and put its own image ahead of the needs of victims.
In its response, the church acknowledged past failures but said it was not aware of a single example of a clergy authority not co-operating with police.
The inquiry’s final report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, recognised Victoria Police’s work in dealing with victims of sexual abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
MATT JOHNSTON, JAMES CAMPBELL, ANNIKA SMETHURST HERALD SUN
NOVEMBER 13, 2013
HORRIFIC sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.
The nation’s first inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations found several thousand children were criminally abused by people within non-government organisations in Victoria over decades.
Committee chair Georgie Crozier has tabled the report in State Parliament and urged the Napthine Government to act on recommendations.
As revealed by the Herald Sun last week, the new laws proposed include compulsory reporting to police, with those who conceal child abuse able to be charged.
The committee also recommended:
A CHILD endangerment offence, making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from risk;
EXPANDING grooming offences to create a separate offence for grooming a child regardless of whether sexual assault actually occurs;
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
These are the 15 recommendations of the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations
Reform criminal law
Compulsory reporting to police – Legislative amendments to ensure that a person who fails to report or conceals criminal child abuse will be guilty of an offence.
A new child endangerment offence – Making it a criminal offence for people in authority to knowingly put a child at risk, or fail to remove them from a known risk, of criminal child abuse.
A new grooming offence – The creation of a separate criminal offence extending beyond current grooming laws to make it an offence to groom a child, their parents or others with the intention of committing a sexual offence against the child (regardless of whether the sexual
offence occurs).
Easier access to the civil justice system
Address legal entity of non-government organisations – Require non-government organisations to be incorporated and adequately insured.
New structures – The Victorian Government is to work with the Australian Government to require organisations that engage with children to adopt incorporated legal structures.
Remove time limits – Legislative amendments to exclude criminal child abuse from the current statute of limitations, recognising that it can take decades for victims to come forward.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
9 News
Incorporating non-government bodies so they can be sued is a landmark recommendation from the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse, lawyers say.
Judy Courtin, a lawyer who is conducting research into sexual assault and the Catholic Church, says the recommendations contained in the inquiry report are extremely comprehensive.
“They address all the criteria for justice for victims and their families,” she told AAP.
She said at the moment the Catholic Church did not exist as an entity so could not be sued.
The committee has recommended such bodies be incorporated or miss out on tax exemptions and government funding.
“I think that’s a landmark recommendation,” Ms Courtin said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas Reese | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013
The election of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops puts him in the positions to be a key player in the appointment of bishops in the United States, perhaps even the kingmaker.
DiNardo has all of the attributes necessary to be a kingmaker. As a former staff person in the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, he knows the process, the key players, and the politics of episcopal appointments. As a cardinal, and now as vice president and eventually as president in three years, he will make numerous visits to Rome where he can make his recommendations known to the right people, including Pope Francis. He has the additional advantage of being able to communicate with the pope in Italian, since the pope is not at home in English.
Pope Francis has little personal knowledge of the United States. He will be dependent on people to advise him. The American prelate closest to him is Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, but O’Malley is a saint, not a politician. He will not push his favorites or even give his advice unless the pope asks him.
In previous papacies, Cardinals Joseph Bernardin, John O’Connor, Bernard Law, Justin Rigali, William Levada, James Stafford, and most recently Raymond Burke have influenced episcopal appointments in the United States. Cardinal Burke is still a member of the Congregation for Bishops, a committee composed mostly of cardinals in Rome.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward
By Paul Berger
Published November 12, 2013.
The troubled bribery and extortion trial of a Brooklyn man who says his son was a victim of child abuse has been delayed — again.
Laughter could be heard in the Brooklyn Supreme Court courtroom, November 12, when prosecutor John Holmes said that the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office was still not ready to try the case, which has dragged on for two years.
Kellner is accused of paying a witness $10,000 to falsely testify in the trial of a Brooklyn cantor on sex abuse charges. He is also accused of trying to extort the cantor’s family for $400,000.
Kellner’s lawyers had anticipated that the charges against their client would be dropped this week.
Lawyer Michael Dowd told the court that prosecutors contacted his office last week to say that they were dropping the case for lack of evidence.
The same prosecutors told the court in July that a key witness against Kellner had given inconsistent testimony.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By Josh Saul
November 12, 2013
The office of lame-duck Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes tried to postpone a troubled sex abuse-extortion case Tuesday until after the veteran DA leaves office in January after 23 years – but an exasperated judge set another hearing for later this month and chastised the latest unlucky prosecutor assigned to handle the case.
“I have an ADA who has no info on this case,” said Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Ann Donnelly, who told prosecutors to turn over evidence faster. “In a case from 2011, this should already have been done.”
Assistant District Attorney John Holmes took over the case this week after controversial rackets chief Michael Vecchione booted the two veteran ADAs handling the case Friday when they demanded he dismiss the evidence-challenged prosecution against Sam Kellner. The Post first reported the shakeup on Monday.
Asked if the DA investigation into the extortion was complete, Holmes said, “I’m not sure, Your Honor.”
“You’re not sure?” Donnelly said incredulously.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK
New York Daily News
BY OREN YANIV / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013
The Brooklyn District Attorney seemed intent to kick the can of a problematic extortion case in the Hasidic community down the road Tuesday as possible new evidence and allegations of prosecutors’ infighting added to the legal mess.
A new prosecutor assigned to the case against Samuel Kellner — after two assistant district attorneys that had handled it were demoted Friday — tried to push it back to January, days after lame duck DA Charles (Joe) Hynes leaves office.
The new ADA, John Holmes, said his office is not ready for trial and that he has no information about the status of the case, which has been dragging since April 2011.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK
Gothamist
The last we heard from ultra-Orthodox sex abuse whistleblower Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg he was recovering from an assault involving a cup of bleach tossed in his face on a Williamsburg sidewalk. Rosenberg, who was nearly blinded, has become anathema in the tightly-knit Satmar community for exposing perpetrators of sexual abuse. Almost a year after the bleach attack, Vice checks in on Rosenberg, who of course has more horrifying stories to tell:
On a visit to Jerusalem in 2005, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into a mikvah in one of the holiest neighborhoods in the city, Mea She’arim. “I opened a door that entered into a schvitz,” he told me. “Vapors everywhere, I can barely see. My eyes adjust, and I see an old man, my age, long white beard, a holy-looking man, sitting in the vapors. On his lap, facing away from him, is a boy, maybe seven years old. And the old man is having anal sex with this boy.”
Rabbi Rosenberg paused, gathered himself, and went on: “This boy was speared on the man like an animal, like a pig, and the boy was saying nothing. But on his face—fear. The old man [looked at me] without any fear, as if this was common practice. He didn’t stop. I was so angry, I confronted him. He removed the boy from his penis, and I took the boy aside. I told this man, ‘It’s a sin before God, a mishkovzucher. What are you doing to this boy’s soul? You’re destroying this boy!’ He had a sponge on a stick to clean his back, and he hit me across the face with it. ‘How dare you interrupt me!’ he said. I had heard of these things for a long time, but now I had seen.”
Rabbi Rosenberg believes around half of young males in Brooklyn’s Hasidic community have been victims of sexual assault, but Ben Hirsch, director of Survivors for Justice, tells Vice, “From anecdotal evidence, we’re looking at over 50 percent. It has almost become a rite of passage.” And yet it’s extremely rare that any of the perpetrators are brought to justice, a fact that may have cost Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes his job.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
A group of insurers has agreed to pay the Archdiocese of Milwaukee an unspecified sum to settle a lawsuit over its liability for sex abuse claims filed against the church, a move hailed as a major step toward a resolution of the archdiocese’s nearly three-year-old bankruptcy.
Under the terms of the agreement still to be finalized, London Market Insurers, including Lloyds of London, would effectively “buy back” policies they sold to the archdiocese in return for a release of liability for any current or future claims, according to court records.
Those general liability insurance policies, uncovered by creditors during the bankruptcy proceedings, could cost the insurers hundreds of millions of dollars if they were ruled enforceable, according to victims’ attorneys.
Church Spokesman Jerry Topczewski said Tuesday that the settlement amount would be spelled out in the archdiocese’s forthcoming plan of reorganization, which must be approved by the bankruptcy court for it to exit Chapter 11. He said he did not know when that would be filed.
Settlement talks are continuing with a second carrier, Stonewall Insurance, according to court records.
“This is just one part of a complex plan that will address the demands of all the creditors,” said Topczewski, who serves as chief of staff to Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. “We’re as anxious as anyone to move this forward.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
The Government has been challenged by the UN Human Rights Committee on what measures it has taken “to prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings”.
It has also been asked to explain the narrowness of abortion provision in the new Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, and the lack of an independent inquiry into the Magdalene laundries. Ireland’s treatment of asylum seekers and Travellers has also been raised, as have the issues of overcrowded prisons and why members of the judiciary must take a religious oath.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press
The name of an evangelical preacher linked to an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse has been dropped from a list of speakers at an upcoming conference at an SBC seminary.
By Bob Allen
A controversial evangelical preacher, named in a highly publicized lawsuit alleging participation in what has been described as the biggest evangelical sexual-abuse scandal to date, is no longer listed as a speaker for an upcoming collegiate conference at a Southern Baptist seminary.
C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville, Ky., and close friend to Southern Baptist proponents of theology that goes by names including the New Calvinism and “young, restless and Reformed,” originally appeared among speakers scheduled for next year’s 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.
Last month ABPnews reported his name on the program for “Ekklesia: God’s Perspective on the Church,” scheduled Feb. 7-8, 2014, alongside other speakers that included Southeastern Seminary President Daniel Akin and SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry
Each year hundreds of thousands of children and young people in Victoria spend time involved with religious and other non-government organisations. These organisations provide a broad range of valuable services and social programs including child care, education, social activities, spiritual guidance and sports and recreation programs.
Some organisations also provide temporary or permanent residential care away from the family.
The overwhelming majority of children who participate in organisational activities or who are cared for by personnel in non-government organisations are safe and they gain great benefit from engaging in such activities and services. …
There has been a substantial body of credible evidence presented to the Inquiry and ultimately concessions made by senior representatives of religious bodies, including the Catholic Church, that they had taken steps with the direct objective of concealing wrongdoing.
The Committee welcomed the commitment made by many organisations during the course of the Inquiry to actively cooperate with any new schemes that the Victorian Government establishes in response to the Inquiry’s recommendations. The CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Mr Francis Sullivan, recently stated that the community should ‘judge us on our actions’.3 It is reasonable for the community to expect that organisations will honour their undertakings.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
The Age
November 13, 2013
Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.
A government report on child abuse has savaged the Catholic Church, recommending a new independent mechanism for pursuing justice and new criminal laws.
Betrayal of Trust, the report of the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse, recommends a new law making it a criminal offence to allow a child to remain at risk, plus making it
The report also recommends excluding child abuse from the statute of limitations because victims can take decades to come forward.
It says organisations should be held accountable for their legal duty to protect children and should be vicariously liable – an indication the committee wants to end the so-called Ellis defence by which the Catholic Church argues it cannot be sued.
Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as a short-term embarrassment and not as a reason to question their own culture. “A sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church,” Ms Coote said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Jeff Waters
The Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has made 15 recommendations to the Government, several of which are likely to be strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church.
The two-volume report entitled Betrayal of Trust was tabled in the State Parliament’s Upper House this morning.
Among the recommendations is a call to change laws to ensure anyone failing to report serious child abuse is guilty of an offence.
The Catholic Church hierarchy has always insisted that information gathered by priests in the confessional should remain secret.
The report also recommends the creation of new criminal offences of “grooming” children and “endangerment” where figures of authority within institutions can be sanctioned for not taking enough precautions.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Victoria Inquiry
The Family and Community Development Committee has released its report from the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations entitled “Betrayal of Trust”.
Please click on the links below to download the report:
Summary and Recommendations (PDF 308Kb)
OR
Whole Report:
Volume 1 (PDF 2.2Mb),
Volume 2 (PDF 4.0Mb)
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013
THE concealment of sexual abuse should be a crime, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse says.
The inquiry committee’s report recommends that people in positions of authority should be criminally responsible for placing children at risk of harm by other individuals.
The report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, comes after months of committee hearings, during which victims and Victoria Police alleged the Catholic Church had concealed child sexual abuse by clergy members.
The church’s procedures for sexual abuse complaints – the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing – do not allow for public acknowledgment of wrongdoing, regardless of the circumstances, the report says.
“Only in recent months have senior members of the Catholic Church accepted responsibility for the church’s failure to conduct its operations with due regard to the safety of children,” the report said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MAINE
Houston Chronicle
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A Maine man who claimed he was abused by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1980s has lost in his effort to hold the Diocese of Portland accountable.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday upheld a judgment against William Picher of Augusta, who contended the priest’s supervisors knew he was an abuser but failed to intervene.
A judge previously ruled that the 39-year-old Picher failed to prove “fraudulent concealment” by the diocese. The state supreme court unanimously upheld the ruling, saying there was nothing in the record to prove the diocese was aware that the Rev. Raymond Melville sexually abused minors during the period in which Picher was abused.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MAINE
Morning Sentinel
By Scott Dolan sdolan@pressherald.com
Staff Writer
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has upheld a ruling in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland in the case of an Augusta man who alleges he was sexually abused by a priest as a child. The lawsuit also alleges that the church did not disclose that the priest was later accused of abusing other children.
William Picher of Augusta accused the Rev. Raymond Melville of molesting him while he was a student at St. Mary’s School, from September 1986 to June 1988, while Melville was serving his initial assignment as assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Parish in Augusta.
Picher filed his complaint against the diocese in 2007, saying the diocese covered up knowledge of earlier abuse complaints against Melville that came to light after Picher was abused.
A Superior Court judge had ruled in favor of the diocese in August 2012 that it was not obligated to reveal the other abuse claims to Picher because he did not file his own complaint until years later. The Supreme Judicial Court, in its unanimous decision issued on Tuesday, denied Picher’s appeal of the lower court judge’s ruling.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW JERSEY
Religion Clause
Bergen County, New Jersey prosecutor John L. Molinelli issued a press release last week announcing an unusual resolution in a clergy sex abuse case. As explained by an RNS report yesterday, in 2007 Catholic priest Michael Fugee, in order to avoid a retrial on improper sexual conduct charges, signed an agreement, embodied in a judicial order and Memorandum of Understanding, banning him from ministering to children. It was discovered earlier this year that Fugee violated the agreement by attending youth retreats and hearing confessions from teens. In response, in May he was charged with 5 counts of criminal contempt. On November 1, those charges were disposed of through a binding agreement and court order under which Fugee has agreed to petition the Vatican to remove him permanently from the priesthood. Prosecutor Molinelli said that this result could not have been achieved by a contempt conviction because:
it is not believed that the American Justice System has such authority as a condition of probation or upon conviction. This is a requirement that will eliminate the threat of Michael Fugee, ever again, obtaining the trust of people through his clerical position nor using his ordained position as a Priest to exert improper contact with children…. The agreement that has been reached forever bars Michael Fugee from holding himself out as a current or former priest or spiritual advisor. Most importantly, he is prohibited from working with children in any capacity.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
Wandervogel Diary
The rolling wave of outrage has recently been hitting the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, my home of 30 years, over charges that pedophile priests were for decades constantly moved (and not taken out of circulation) by their higher-ups in the Catholic Church.
John Nienstedt, as a sacrificial lamb for the archdiocese’s history of obfuscation and evasion. But he has just announced that he will release instead a list of some living priests who still reside in the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and who have been determined by the archdiocese to be guilty of abuse.
Nienstedt did not say how many names would be released, and it’s unclear if the list would include any priests not already known to the public through lawsuits and media reports. It has been reported that all priests on the list have been relieved of their priestly duties. Less than a day after he made this commitment, Neinstedt has begun backing off from this promise… so the list may not be released at all.
Chances are, the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will remain embroiled in this issue, not because this particular archdiocese is any worse than any other with respect to clergy abuse, but because the Twin Cities is the home of attorney Jeff Anderson, who has built his national practice around clergy abuse. Jeff Anderson & Associates pioneered the use of civil litigation to seek justice for survivors of child sexual abuse and is recognized as the nation’s premier law firm in that specialty.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
An appeals court says a clergy sex abuse and cover up suit against a Kansas City Catholic bishop and priest must be tossed out because the alleged crimes did not happen directly on church property.
Congratulations again to Bishop Robert Finn for successfully finding and using another legal loophole to keep the cover ups of Fr. Michael Tierney’s crimes covered up.
The “take away” is frightening here: Elementary teachers should molest students while parked on the street, not in the school lot. Middle school coaches should molest their players after “away” games, not “home” games. And ministers should molest their flocks on retreats, not in the church itself.
It’s hard to know what’s more outrageous: that secular officials permit this loophole or that allegedly religious officials exploit this loophole.
The 1997 Missouri Supreme Court ruling – Gibson v. Brewer – on which part of today’s ruling is based, will not stand. Catholic officials will, however, exploit it as long as they possibly can.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
Abuse victims say they hope there will be a strong response to the findings of the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.
The committee has spent the past year analysing the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations and will hand down its final report today.
It will make recommendations to the State Government, which has six months to respond.
There is a long history of the sexual abuse of children in Ballarat’s schools, churches and orphanages, dating back to the 1950s.
Many people gave evidence to the inquiry when public hearings were held in the city last December
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM
TONY EASTLEY: A Victorian inquiry into sex abuse in institutions will be tabled in Parliament today.
It began last year, before the national Royal Commission into similar sorts of systemic failures and the Victorian inquiry has had a special focus on the central Victorian city of Ballarat, which has a long history of abuse in schools and children’s homes.
Some of those who’ve made submissions are thankful for the chance to tell their stories.
From Ballarat, Kate Stowell reports.
KATE STOWELL: After being abused in the 1950s, John says he’s had a lifetime of suffering the consequences.
JOHN: I’ve had a lot of issues with relationship problems, in particular workplace difficulties. It affects your whole life. It affects your decisions with your family, with your children, with your society. In every way, it affects your life forever.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net
Posted on November 12, 2013
The Victorian state Parliamentary enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse will release its report tomorrow. It had originally been due for release by 30th September. While it is expected to recommend mandatory reporting laws for clergy, with a custodial sentence for non-compliance, much interest exists in its possible recommendations for victim compensation.
In the past, religious organisations have adopted an adversarial approach to the issue. It is well known that officials of all churches have been keen to hide abuse so as to protect the “reputation” of their organisations, but it is also becoming more and more evident that these same officials have been equally concerned with protecting their institutional wealth from victim compensation claims.
What financial help has been given to victims has been little, and given begrudgingly. The religious organisations, in particular the Catholic Church, have hidden behind their privileged legal status to avoid helping victims financially. The notorious “Ellis Defence” (see previous postings) is a classic example which basically says that the church does not exist, so they cannot be sued. This must change by way of Parliamentary legislation.
Another protection for the wealth of religious, and other, organisations is the provision of a statute of limitations. This is particularly unfair, since everyone agrees that it is normally a very long time before victims are able to report abuse. If these limitations can be avoided when prosecuting the abusers, they should also be avoided when it comes to the matter of compensation for those same victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )
We are grateful that South Dakota law enforcement officials are doing what Minnesota and South Dakota Catholic officials refuse to do – taking seriously the admitted child sex crimes of Fr. Clarence Vavra.
Today, Minnesota Public Radio reports that an investigation has been opened “into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest” who admitted molesting kids on a reservation in South Dakota.
This is precisely what should happen.
South Dakota’s two Catholic bishops should show real leadership and aggressively help police and prosecutors by visiting every place where Fr. Vavra worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward. Catholic officials recruit, educate, ordain, train transfer and shield child molesting clerics. When those clerics admit sexually assaulting kids – as Fr. Vavra has – the least Catholic officials can do is to act like the shepherds they purport to be and seek out others who have been hurt.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
November 12
BY MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Catholic diocese cannot be liable for the actions of a priest alleged to have sexually abused a boy away from church property, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.
A three-judge panel of the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals upheld a decision last year by a Jackson County judge dismissing civil allegations filed against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph by a plaintiff identified by the appeals court only as “D.T.”
In his suit, D.T. had claimed that the Rev. Michael Tierney had abused him twice in the early 1970s, once in a hotel room and once in the basement of Tierney’s mother’s home.
Tierney has denied all wrongdoing, and D.T. dismissed his claims against the priest while his appeal of rulings in favor of the diocese was pending.
D.T. filed three negligence claims against the diocese, which the appeals court agreed could not stand because of a 1997 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that limited such actions against religious institutions in order to avoid entangling courts in First Amendment, freedom-of-religion issues.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
VIRGINIA
WSLS
By Aaron Martin, Anchor, Reporter
By Tim Ciesco, Reporter
ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VA –
A Rockbridge County judge set bond for Pastor Larry Clark at $7,500 Tuesday morning.
Clark, who is the pastor at Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista, has been accused of molesting two teenage boys on separate occasions back in 2011. He was arrested last week on two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of cruelly treating a child.
The judge said given the nature of the charges, she felt the bond amount was “reasonable.”
She also attached several conditions to his bond that he must meet:
-No contact with either of the alleged victims in this case
-No unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18
-He must stay with his mother in Buena Vista while he is out on bond
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva
The King of Morocco plans to expel an Israeli rabbi who is wanted in Israel for questioning regarding alleged sex crimes, Moroccan media outlets report.
Rabbi Eliezar Berlan, head of the Shuvu Banim Hassidic sect, has been accused of committing indecent acts against several young female followers. Shortly after he fled the country his son and several other followers were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering involving the sect’s finances.
A source in the Shuvu Banim movement told the hareidi news outlet Kikar Hashabat that Berland would be forced to leave Morocco in the near future because local authorities were not pleased at the fact that dozens of his followers had arrived in the country with the intention of staying permanently.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK
Vice
By Christopher Ketcham
Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg—who is 63 with a long, graying beard—recently sat down with me to explain what he described as a “child-rape assembly line” among sects of fundamentalist Jews. He cleared his throat. “I’m going to be graphic,” he said.
A member of Brooklyn’s Satmar Hasidim fundamentalist branch of Orthodox Judaism, Nuchem designs and repairs mikvahs in compliance with Torah Law. The mikvah is a ritual Jewish bathhouse used for purification. Devout Jews are required to cleanse themselves in the mikvah on a variety of occasions: women must visit following menstruation, and men have to make an appearance before the High Holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many of the devout also purify themselves before and after the act of sex, and before the Sabbath.
On a visit to Jerusalem in 2005, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into a mikvah in one of the holiest neighborhoods in the city, Mea She’arim. “I opened a door that entered into a schvitz,” he told me. “Vapors everywhere, I can barely see. My eyes adjust, and I see an old man, my age, long white beard, a holy-looking man, sitting in the vapors. On his lap, facing away from him, is a boy, maybe seven years old. And the old man is having anal sex with this boy.”
Rabbi Rosenberg paused, gathered himself, and went on: “This boy was speared on the man like an animal, like a pig, and the boy was saying nothing. But on his face—fear. The old man [looked at me] without any fear, as if this was common practice. He didn’t stop. I was so angry, I confronted him. He removed the boy from his penis, and I took the boy aside. I told this man, ‘It’s a sin before God, a mishkovzucher. What are you doing to this boy’s soul? You’re destroying this boy!’ He had a sponge on a stick to clean his back, and he hit me across the face with it. ‘How dare you interrupt me!’ he said. I had heard of these things for a long time, but now I had seen.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
VIRGINIA
NBC 29
Nov 12, 2013
A valley judge has set bond for a pastor who faces several child sex abuse charges.
Larry Clark, 61, is charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of putting a child’s life at risk. The alleged incidents date back two years ago and involve two male minors. Clark is the pastor at Pentecostal Outreach Church in Buena Vista.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Star Tribune
Article by: Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — An attorney representing clergy sexual abuse victims says his clients were shut out of negotiations between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and one of its major insurers.
The archdiocese faces claims in federal bankruptcy court from hundreds of sexual abuse victims who have accused it of transferring abusive priests to new churches and covering up their crimes.
The archdiocese said in court documents filed Monday that it has reached a settlement with Lloyd’s, of London, which issued policies during the 1960s and 1970s, when much of the abuse occurred.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times
By Lindsay Toler
Tue., Nov. 12 2013
The St. Louis Archdiocese has paid $10 million in ten years in legal fees and victim payments associated with clergy misconduct, including sexual abuse, according to the church’s annual financial report.
The Catholic church in St. Louis paid $943,700 in abuse and misconduct costs in 2013, compared to $342,100 in 2012.
The costs recorded in a particular year don’t necessarily come from cases filed or tried in that year, says chief financial officer Frank Chauvin.
“There is a time lag, a significant time lag, in some of these cases as to when we might get a recovery for the legal fees or payment to victims,” Chauvin tells Daily RFT.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter
Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 12, 2013 Distinctly Catholic
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013
The election of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz as president of the USCCB was widely expected. But I think everyone was a bit surprised that the election was achieved on the first ballot. It is not easy to get more than 50 percent of the vote in a contest with 10 candidates.
The fact that +Kurtz won a majority so quickly attests to three things. First, the bishops want to return to the practice of allowing a USCCB president three years as veep as a kind of preparation for the post. Second, +Kurtz is not seen as belonging to any party or faction and so is ideally suited to lead a conference that has been dominated in recent years by conservatives and is now grappling with Pope Francis’ call to focus on issues that have a more leftward tilt, at least as they intersect with U.S. politics. Third, +Kurtz is a great guy and almost everyone likes him. Fr. Anthony Chandler, a priest of the archdiocese of Louisville and an old chum of mine, told me, “Archbishop Kurtz is a very genuine person. He works hard to give people the opportunity to share their views. He will work very hard. He keeps an amazing schedule in the archdiocese and gets to meet lots of people.” Sounds like the kind of guy the bishops can live with for the next three years.
The election of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as vice president is more difficult to read. As I noted before, I have never really gotten a handle on +DiNardo. He is very bright, and he has studied academically and works into his talks lots of references to the Church Fathers, which is a quick way to my heart.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
VICTORIA’S parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse should support the national work of the royal commission but must not wait for its findings to act, the state’s child safety commissioner says.
Bernie Geary, who used his inquiry submission to urge an expansion of the working with children checks, has said there is a lot that can be done immediately to make Victorian children safer.
The inquiry’s landmark report is due to be tabled on Wednesday after 12 months of submissions on the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, which began in October last year.
Mr Geary, along with victims’ advocate Bryan Keon-Cohen, said the Victorian government must act swiftly by amending legislation and providing compensation to victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
November 12, 2013
An attorney who represents victims of child sex abuse named four officials in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who he thinks bear criminal responsibility for failing to report abuse of children by priests.
Mike Finnegan, an attorney with Jeff Anderson and Associates, said the law in Minnesota and across the country requires church officials to notify authorities of even the suspicion of child sex abuse.
“They do have a criminal responsibility under our criminal laws here in Minnesota and in every state across the country to report any suspicions of child sex abuse,” Finnegan said. “As soon as they have a suspicion of child sex abuse, under law they are required to report that.”
He said that reports by MPR News made clear, in his view, that “the archbishop, the top official, and his lieutenant — any of them that knew and had a suspicion about child sex abuse — could face criminal responsibility.
“I think they are definitely criminally responsible: Archbishop [John] Nienstedt, [former] Vicar General Peter Laird, [former] Vicar General Kevin McDonough, former Archbishop Harry Flynn: all four of those men, I think, face criminal responsibility for their failure to report child sex abuse.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Sentinel
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE — The U.S. bishops this week approved the development of a pastoral statement on the dangers pornography poses to family life that would serve as a teaching tool for church leaders.
On Day Two of their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore, the bishops voted 226 to 5 to allow the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth to develop the statement.
Developing such a statement falls in line with an objective of the U.S. Conference of catholic Bishops’ 2013-16 strategic plan to address pornography and its dangerous effects on family life.
The committee planned to bring a draft to the bishops in 2015. It would be the first formal statement on pornography issued by the bishops as a body.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Tom Roberts | Nov. 12, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013
I read with interest my colleague Michael Sean Winters’ blog on the meaning of the elections that occurred this morning at the meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., the conference president-elect, he wrote:
“Kurtz is not seen as belonging to any party or faction, and so ideally suited to lead a conference which has been dominated in recent years by conservatives, and is now grappling with Pope Francis’ call to focus on issues that have a more leftward tilt, at least as they intersect with U.S. politics. … Kurtz is a great guy and almost everyone likes him. Fr. Anthony Chandler, a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and an old chum of mine, told me, ‘Archbishop Kurtz is a very genuine person. He works hard to give people the opportunity to share their views. He will work very hard. He keeps an amazing schedule in the archdiocese and gets to meet lots of people.’”
The term “genuine” applied to the archbishop would seem consistent with his reputation from his days as a priest in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa. Full disclosure, I knew him for a few years back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fuller disclosure: my wife, Sally, worked for him when he was head of the diocese’s social justice office. She worked on a staff that helped him open the diocese’s first soup kitchen and on other programs for the poor and disenfranchised.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Bishops elect chairman of Catholic Education Committee
Chairmen-elect chosen for five other USCCB committees
New CRS, CLINIC board members chosen
November 12, 2013
BALTIMORE—Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly, November 12, in Baltimore. Archbishop Kurtz has served as vice president of USCCB since 2010. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was elected USCCB vice president.
Archbishop Kurtz and Cardinal DiNardo are elected to three-year terms and succeed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Archbishop Kurtz, respectively. The new president and vice president’s terms begin at the conclusion of the General Assembly, November 14.
Archbishop Kurtz was elected president on the first ballot with 125 votes. Cardinal DiNardo was elected vice president on the third ballot by 147-87 in a runoff vote against Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia.
The president and vice president are elected by a simple majority from a slate of 10 nominees. If no president or vice president is chosen after the second round of voting, a third ballot is taken between only the top two vote getters on the second ballot.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 12, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Law enforcement authorities on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota have opened an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children by a Minnesota priest.
Supervisory special agent Grace Her Many Horses said authorities will attempt to locate several men who as boys may have been sexually abused by the Rev. Clarence Vavra. She said they will also try to interview Vavra and officials with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Tribal investigators will likely ask the FBI for assistance, she said.
“We would interview the victims and anyone else who would have knowledge of this,” Her Many Horses said. “And, apparently the archdiocese did have knowledge of it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have moved him around.”
The development follows an MPR News investigation that found Vavra, had admitted to sexually abusing several young boys and a teenager on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in the mid-1970s. Vavra admitted to the abuse in a psychological evaluation in 1995, but church leaders did not contact police. Vavra retired in 2003 and lives in New Prague in southern Minnesota.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.