ABUSE TRACKER

BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Culture

[candidate profiles – U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published profiles of the candidates who are in the running to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as conference president and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville as conference vice president.

The election takes during the annual fall bishops’ meeting, which begins on November 11 and concludes November 14.

The ten candidates are Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami.

The incumbent conference vice president of the USCCB has traditionally been elected to succeed to a 3-year term as conference president. But that pattern was broken in 2010, when Cardinal Dolan defeated Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, then the conference vice president, in the presidential election.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE As the U.S. bishops start their annual meeting here Monday morning, they are facing a number of tough choices: Who to elect as their new president, what tone to adopt in the new Pope Francis era, and how to engage the wider culture.

Another hard decision: Where to eat dinner each night, and with whom.

If the stakes on this one seem a bit more personal, perhaps they are. But Tomas Murray, a member of a Catholic Worker community in Ohio, thinks where the bishops choose to eat also sends a significant message about how they see the role of the U.S. Catholic church.

Murray is one of several people hosting an alternative dinner option for the prelates on Tuesday night. They want the focus of their meal, held on the night of the annual assembly at which the bishops have in the past had dinners in support of Catholic military chaplains, to be focused on peacemaking.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 11, 2013 NCR Today
Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

BALTIMORE Two Catholic nonprofit groups urged Monday that the U.S bishops, meeting here for their annual assembly, follow the lead of Pope Francis in building a “church for the poor” in the United States.

Specifically, the groups said, the American prelates could make their national office a “bishops’ conference for the poor” by drafting a new statement on the continuing economic crisis and by launching a nationwide poverty awareness campaign.

That campaign, they said, could follow a similar game-plan as the bishops’ focus over the past two years on issues of religious liberty, which the bishops devoted significant time and energy to in 2012 and 2013, hosting twice a “Fortnight for Freedom” centered around the implementation of the health care law.

The Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good made the call for the focus on the poor Monday, holding a press conference at which they released an open letter to Louisville, Ky., Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, currently the bishops’ vice president and one of ten candidates to be elected president at this year’s assembly.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Rome Reports

[with video]

November 10, 2013. (Romereports.com) For the last three years, Cardinal Tim Dolan, has served as president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, but a new president will be elected, during the bishops’ General Assembly in Baltimore, from November 11th to the 14th.

The new president will be one of the following 10 candidates:

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans.

From Philadelphia there’s Archbishop Charles Chaput. Also on the list is Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington.

From Galveston-Houston, there’s Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and from Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose Gomez.

From Baltimore, Archbishop William Lori is also on the list, along with the the Archbishop of Louisville, Joseph Kurtz, who currently serves as the vice president.

Cincinnati’s Archbishop, Dennis Schnurr is also a candidate, as is Detroit’s Archbishop Allen Vigneron and finally from Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathers in Baltimore Monday, the clash between Pope Francis’ gentle, welcoming brand of religion and the bishops’ hard-line push against issues such as abortion and gay marriage will lurk in the background.

The four-day meeting is the first gathering of the bishops since Pope Francis’ widely-publicized comments in September, in which he said Catholic officials should not be “obsessed” with deeply controversial issues such as gay marriage and abortion and should instead emphasize helping poor and disadvantaged people.

Howthe pope’s tone will be promoted is not on the conference agenda, but futurestances from the bishops group likely will be found in who is elected to leadership posts during the conference. Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, 65, is among the 10 nominees for the group’s president and vice president.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 10, 2013

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Several months into the era of a new pope with a flair for disarmingly dramatic pastoral gestures, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops begin meeting in Baltimore today to elect their own new leadership, with several candidates for top positions hailing from Pittsburgh and other parts of Pennsylvania.

This will be the first major gathering of the bishops since many of the headline-making actions of Pope Francis, such as his denunciations of clerical privilege; his literal embrace of the poor; and his interviews with media outlets, both secular and religious, in which he has called for a poorer, more pastoral and less combative church.

Francis, while calling himself a “son of the church” upholding its traditional teachings on sexuality, has said in interviews the church should not be “obsessed” with such battles and that he would not judge someone who is gay but also seeking God and acting in good will.

And yet the American bishops continue to find themselves in what they consider major struggles over religious freedom as they fight an increasingly rear-guard battle against provisions of the Affordable Care Act as well as same-sex marriage — which Illinois lawmakers voted to legalize, making it the 15th state to do so along with the District of Columbia.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Columbus Dispatch

By Mary Wisniewski
Reuters Monday November 11, 2013

BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops will choose new leaders at an assembly in Baltimore this week and might signal a new direction for the American church under the influence of Pope Francis.

The conference begins today and all eyes will be on whether the new leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continue vigorous opposition to gay marriage and Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, or increase their push to help the poor and immigrants given Pope Francis’ emphasis on social-justice issues.

The new leaders also will be preparing for an “extraordinary synod” of bishops in Rome to discuss teachings related to the family. The Vatican has asked bishops and parish priests around the world about local views on gay marriage, divorce and birth control ahead of the October 2014 meeting.

“Bishops have been stuck in a bunker fighting the culture war,” said John Gehring, the Catholic program director for Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group. “Pope Francis has said we can’t just be known by what we oppose.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun
5:00 a.m. EST, November 11, 2013

The nation’s top Catholic bishops will convene this week in Baltimore to choose a new leader, a decision that will help set the course for an American church striving to build its appeal while grappling with stances on immigration and contraception coverage.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops expects close to 300 active and retired members as it holds its annual convention at the Waterfront Marriott Hotel. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is to begin the four-day gathering Monday with his final address as president after serving a three-year term.

The bishops will elect Dolan’s successor Tuesday from a slate of 10 nominated bishops — including Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori.

It will be a telling decision at a key time in church history. This week’s meeting is the first during the tenure of Pope Francis, the first Latin American-born pontiff and a man widely seen as offering a friendlier face to the non-Catholic world than many of his predecessors.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of New Jersey

In response to today’s announcement from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office concerning the conclusion of the matter of Michael C. Fugee, James Goodness issued the following:

The Bergen County Prosecutor and Grand Jury have completed their investigation into the matter of Michael Fugee. The Grand Jury determined that there was no basis for any criminal proceedings against Michael Fugee. The Archdiocese’s position has remained consistent throughout the investigation: the Archdiocese did not violate the terms of the Fugee Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) and never authorized or condoned Fugee’s unauthorized actions that led to the Prosecutor’s investigation.

Throughout the past nine months, the Archdiocese of Newark has cooperated fully with the investigation. The Archdiocese has produced hundreds of documents. The Archbishop and other Archdiocesan staff have answered every question asked of them either by the Prosecutor’s staff or the Grand Jury. At all times, the Archdiocese has complied fully with the investigation process.

When the allegations that gave rise to the Fugee matter first surfaced in early 2001, Archbishop Myers was not Archbishop of Newark. At the time of the Archbishop’s arrival in October 2001, Fugee already was out of ministry and remained so throughout the time of his trial and appeal.

We are quite frankly stunned that the Prosecutor would even suggest, much less state outright, that the Archdiocese “did not nor would ever obtain” laicization of Michael Fugee, since there is direct evidence as well as Grand Jury testimony by the Archbishop that he had begun setting the preliminary groundwork for laicization.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Nov 11, 2013

Yo, Catholic bishops meeting today in Baltimore!

As you may not have heard, last Friday the Bergen County (N.J.) prosecutor announced a pretty amazing agreement with a priest charged with violating the terms of the deal by which he avoided being retried for sex abuse. The priest, Michael Fugee, pledged to seek to be laicized by Rome. The amazing thing was that his boss, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, was cut out of the arrangement.

How come? Prosecutor John L. Molinelli put it thusly:

By way of this agreement, the State of New Jersey need no longer rely upon cooperation by RCAN [the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark] in supervising Michael Fugee. It has appeared, based on many public comments by Archbishop Myers, that the Church had no intention of monitoring Fugee any further and, based upon this office’s review of the Archdiocese compliance with the terms of the original MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] dated July 18, 2007 wherein the Church committed to monitor Fugee, it does not appear that the Archdiocese made and significant effort to adhere to the terms of the MOU such that, at this juncture, we no longer have confidence in its ability as a signatory to honor the clear intent of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding, which had placed direct oversight responsibility upon the RCAN.

I recognize that your excellencies are unaccustomed to being called out by officials of the criminal justice system, especially when they have names like Molinelli, and that you may find the language here a bit harsh. Indeed, you’ll probably not be surprised to learn that the Archdiocese of Newark took umbrage at the prosecutor’s remarks, issuing a defense of its conduct in re: Fugee via a statement from Vice Chancellor James Goodness.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Watch this page for live streaming of the public sessions
November 11-14, 2012

INSTRUCTIONS: To watch the live stream, mouse over the player (black box) to see the controls, and then click on the play button to start the stream.

NOTE TO iOS DEVICE USERS: We regret that we cannot bring you the live stream at this time.

Watch the archived video on the Video On-Demand page.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Whispers in the Loggia

So, here we go again – greetings from Baltimore and, for the 95th time, another edition of American Catholicism’s Fall Classic.

Under Benjamin Latrobe’s stupendous and resonant dome, this USCCB Plenary will open with a 7am Mass this Monday in the Basilica of the Assumption – the nation’s first cathedral, the holy shrine built upon the tomb of John Carroll: cousin of the lone Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, founding shepherd of these shores, and the preeminent visionary of this faith’s meaning and role in a society unbound to the old Continent’s alliances of altar and throne.

Even if its complete agenda remains to be released, the meeting’s public sessions are slated to get underway at 10am Eastern. The morning business headlined by Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s farewell address from the conference presidency and the customary remarks from the Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, full coverage in video and text will be on-tap here all through.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santiago.- The investigation by the Santiago Office of the Prosecutor has yet to determine who tipped off the priest Wojciech Gil escape indictment on child abuse.

To sneak out of the country, the Polish national deceived one of his friends and used their Facebook account to communicate with a woman who unwittingly revealed that he was being sought for alleged sexual abuse.

Gil asked current Parrish secretary Ambiorix Espinal to let him use his account to send a message, but in fact used it to get the information.

Quoted by elcaribe.com.do by phone, Espinal said he didn’t know what the priest wanted with the access to Facebook, because he had confidence in the prelate and never thought he would do something wrong. “That happened an hour before leaving for Poland from the Dominican Republic.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

‘We’ll say you touched us’: Police arrest two men for intimidating and threatening to rob a Catholic priest, 73, after following him into sacristy after mass

By CHRIS PLEASANCE

Two men have been charged after attempting to rob a Catholic priest following Mass in Chicago.
Deandrea and Markquis Little, 22 and 20, followed the 73-year-old into the sacristy at around 8.30am last Monday before demanding money.

Deandrea is alleged to have poked the priest in the head and threatened to hit him before saying he would tell the papers the priest had ‘touched us’ if anyone found out.

According to police reports the pair had carried out a four-year campaign of intimidation against the church in the Back of the Yards area, taking at least $10,000, damaging windows and jumping on the priest’s car.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

School assistant could face jail over sex video with 16-year-old Belfast pupil at St Mary’s Christian Brothers Boy’s Grammar School

BY AMANDA FERGUSON – 11 NOVEMBER 2013

A former classroom assistant who allegedly made a sex tape with a Belfast schoolboy that ended up on a pornographic website could face up to five years in prison for ‘abuse of trust’ if charged and convicted.

Jo O’Neill-McBurney (21), from Crumlin, Co Antrim, was suspended from St Mary’s Christian Brothers Boy’s Grammar School in west Belfast after a 30-minute sex video, featuring her and a teenager, thought to be a 16-year-old, emerged on the internet.

It’s understood the footage, believed to have been recorded by the pair in April, has in recent weeks been viewed more than 6,000 times on a free website.

It is not known who uploaded the graphic footage to the site.

The age of consent for sexual activity in Northern Ireland is 16, however it is illegal for anyone in a position of trust to engage in sexual activity with a person under 18 years of age.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella

There’s fire in the portly Charles Scicluna, the auxiliary bishop whose diminutive stature belies not just his independence of mind, but the fact that he had been the Vatican’s chief prosecutor on the sexual abuse cases that rocked the Catholic Church ever since 2002. For years he stood by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, when the latter headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the successor to the Roman and Universal Inquisition – and in its modern incarnation, Scicluna served as a latter-day Bernardo Gui, an enforcer for the Roman pontiff and a hunter of sinners.

When Benedict XVI announced Scicluna’s appointment to auxiliary bishop, it was believed that a man who had done his job well on the Vatican’s hard-line stance against sex abuse was being punished through a “face-saving promote and remove” tactic. But as Scicluna himself said before leaving Rome, “if you want to silence someone, you don’t make him a bishop”. And silenced, he won’t be, having blogged and tweeted his views on, most recently, gay marriage and the sale of citizenship.

“Why are you so vocal – why are you entering the fray in this manner?” I tell him as we end our interview at the Curia in Floriana. “Because Charles Scicluna’s in town, and that’s who I am,” he responds, very matter-of-factly.

Canadian-born, the 54-year-old had to relinquish his citizenship under a Labour government in the late 1970s because Malta did not yet accept dual nationality. You can understand why the sale of citizenship under the IIP, approved in the House yesterday by a new Labour government, is a sore point for Scicluna. “Apart from the fact that a Bishop will always remain a citizen and will always enjoy the right to express himself as a normal citizen, given that he has also a say in democratic society, the Church cannot shy away from giving input with respect on issues that concern the common good. I have a great respect for citizenship, which is my bond to my homeland and to my country, and I feel that when you put a price on such a bond you are not necessarily doing citizenship and what it means the best of services.”

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COLORADO
Christian Post

BY MORGAN LEE , CP CONTRIBUTOR
November 10, 2013

Five Colorado church leaders covered up information about a youth pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted a female church attendee starting when she was 15, claim Boulder police officials.

Law enforcement have accused Vinelife Church executive pastor Robert Phillip “Bob” Young, pastor Luke Humbrecht, pastor Edward Bennell, church elder Warren Lloyd Williams and another member of the leadership team who is currently out of the country, of failing to report the alleged sexual abuse to law enforcement or human service officials.

Police arrested youth pastor Jason Allen Roberson, 35, on Sept. 4, “charging him with one count of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust; one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of unlawful sexual contact,” according to 7NEWS. The Boulder County District Attorney office later “added one count of stalking,”

Roberson is currently on administrative leave at the Longmont church, where his father, Walter Roberson, is senior pastor. Walter has not been charged, though his relationship with the investigation remains unknown.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

By Hilary Lane
November 10, 2013

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – Father Michael Kolodziej worked in the Buffalo area for about 15 years. Now that he is facing charges, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese is asking anyone who has knowledge of child sexual abuse to call a confidential hotline number.

That number is (716) 895-3010.

Father Kolodziej is accused of sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at a Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. The alleged victim claims Father Kolodziej abused him several times while Kolodziej “wrestled him.” The alleged incidents occured from 1975 to 1979.

Now, the Buffalo diocese is asking anyone with knowledge of any type of sexual abuse to come forward and call a hotline number. One alleged victim called our newsroom and told us he tried to call, but couldn’t get through. We tried the hotline multiple times, but found only a busy signal. When we contacted the diocese about the problem, they said they would look into it. However, the number still doesn’t work.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

[with video]

Michelle Armstrong attended regular Sunday Night Mass at Our Lady Of Calvary Parish in Northeast Philadelphia not expecting to hear it’s leader of 13 years, Father John Paul resigned amid child sexual abuse allegations.

“I haven’t heard anything through the grapevine so this really surprised me,” Armstrong said.

She got the word from church leaders who say the allegations date back more than 40 years…during father Paul’s time in seminary and it took time for the news to sink in.

“It was quiet. It was solemn. People had time to kind of grieve” Armstrong said.

The Archdioceses Of Philadelphia says it learned of the accusations earlier this year and allowed Paul to stay at the parish under a watchful eye.

Officials say he was later banned from having unsupervised contact with minors but church officials say it was his choice to leave out of emotional stress caused by the investigation.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 11, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a reversal of decades-old policy, Archbishop John Nienstedt said he plans to release the names of some priests who have sexually abused children.

The list will be limited to 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.

Nienstedt’s decision comes in response to an MPR News investigation, which found that the archdiocese continues to protect a 74-year-old priest who admitted to sexually abusing children on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the mid-1970s. The Rev. Clarence Vavra admitted to the abuse as part of a psychological evaluation in 1995, but Archbishops John Roach and Harry Flynn kept Vavra in ministry and did not contact police. Flynn asked Vavra to retire in 2003 – and gave him $650 a month in extra retirement payments. Vavra lives half a block from a middle school in New Prague, Minn. Prior to MPR News’ report, he was not a known abuser. …

THE LIST

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who’s represented thousands of victims of clergy sexual abuse across the country, has asked the archdiocese for years to release the names of offending priests.

Anderson often refers in news conferences to the list of 33 priests that he received from the archdiocese as part of a lawsuit in 2009. The list, which named priests against whom there were credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors, was sealed by a judge and cannot be released without a court order.

At a hearing in Ramsey County on Oct. 3, Anderson asked Judge John Van de North to unseal the list. “Until we know who the credibly accused offenders are and where they are … the peril exists,” he said.

The list of 33 priests is likely much longer than the one the archdiocese plans to release.

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MINNESOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[documents]

[with audio]

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio,
Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio,
Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio

November 11, 2013

One night on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest asked a young boy to share his bed.

The boy was about 9 or 10 years old. As he climbed into bed, he asked the priest a question: Are you going to molest me, like my relative does when he asks me to spend the night?

The answer was yes.

What happened that night remained secret. The priest, the Rev. Clarence Vavra, stayed in ministry and served in 16 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before retiring in 2003. He’s never been publicly identified as an abuser. There are no records of any police reports or lawsuits. No victims have come forward. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that he had attempted to anally rape the South Dakota boy. The report was stored in the vicar general’s filing cabinet at the chancery.

Today Vavra lives in a small, gray home in New Prague, Minn., less than a block from a school. He wouldn’t answer questions when approached by a reporter.

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ARIZONA
Tucson News Now

By Mauricio Marin

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) –
Joelle Casteix, with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spent Sunday handing out flyers to parishioners at the Dove Peace Lutheran Church to warn them about a convicted child sex offender. SNAP organizers say the church’s Music Director, Eric Holtan, should not be working at the church where he could be so close to children. Casteix says, “We feel that this is a serious problem. The fact that he’s here is a violation of the churches own rules of having sex offenders in positions of power inside of churches.”

In 2000, Holtan plead guilty to having sex with two underage female students in Minnesota. He served two years in prison and is currently on probation.

Casteix says she is fighting so hard to let people know about Holtan because she was molested as a teen by her own high school choir director. According to Casteix, as part of his probation conditions, Holtan is not allowed to be alone with underage girls.

Those we spoke we at the end of Sunday’s service say they received a letter from the church this past Friday about Holtan’s criminal past. Many were hesitant to comment about the matter, but Anita Balthaser told us, “He’s always been very nice, very cordial to us. He’s a great guy, he’s a great music director. We’ve never seen anything other than that sight of him.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

NOVEMBER 11, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Archdiocesan Statement

Father John Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish earlier this week. He came to that decision of his own accord amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese received allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 40 years ago during his time as a seminarian. Father Paul has denied these allegations.

Consistent with Archdiocesan policy, all information concerning the allegations was immediately provided to law enforcement, which declined to press charges. The Archdiocese then began its own internal investigation in accordance with its policy. That process has not yet concluded.

The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of the utmost concern to the Archdiocese. Father Paul was allowed to remain at the parish during this time only after careful consideration of all available facts by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Vicar for Clergy, the Director of Investigations, the Director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Archbishop. Throughout this time, and as a matter of precaution, Father Paul’s ministry had been restricted in that he had no unsupervised contact with minors. Appropriate notification of his restrictions was made to pertinent parties and a monitoring and support plan was implemented and followed. …

A NOTE FROM FR. JOHN PAUL –

On November 6, I resigned as Pastor Of Our Lady of Calvary. For physical and spiritual health, I feel this is best for myself and the Parish.

Basically, I am tired and exhausted and I need renewal for myself. I have been Pastor for 13 years and I feel proud of our parish – the school, the renovations, the new ministries – much has been accomplished. Our Lady of Calvary Parish is in need of new leadership…with new vision and enthusiasm.

I thank my fellow priests, our secretaries and maintenance staff, our school administrators and teachers for their loyalty and support. Please pray for me as I will pray for you.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Athena Yenko | November 11, 2013
An ex-Sydney priest, Kevin Lee, who had been married to a Filipina was one among the feared 10,000 dead in the wake of the world’s fourth strongest typhoon in 2013, storm Yolanda (Haiyan).

Mr Lee had been controversial when he exposed incidents of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. He was removed from service for publicly admitting that he married a Filipina in 2011 and for owning up to his sins of having had girlfriends while still serving in church as a priest for 20 years.

Back in Sydney, he made an important contribution when he established the Padre Pio in Glenmore Park, in Western Sydney. He was, however, removed from his parish in 2012 when he comes clean about his marriage and ex-girlfriends.

In a tribute done on Sunday, Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, expressed his sympathy for Mr Lee and acknowledged his roles for being a good husband and a father.

“I extend my deepest sympathy to his widow Josefina and her children during this time of personal tragedy for them and devastation for the people of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan,” News.com.au reported.

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GEORGIA
WRDW

By: Christie Ethridge

Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW) — News 12 confirms a priest has been removed for theft of funds at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic Church.

According to the church, Father Avery Hanna, a Parochial Vicar at the church, has been placed on administrative leave and no longer resides at the church.

Pastor Gerald Ragan made the announcement to church members at mass on Sunday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah has released this statement:

“Father Avery Hanna, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese as a result of criminal charges involving the theft of church property. Father Hanna, a native of the Bahamas and an Assistant Pastor at St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta, Georgia, has been placed on administrative leave as a result of his theft of tuition payments from the church office over a period of several weeks.

The total amount believed to have been stolen is approximately $1,700.00. As a result of these acts, which Father Hanna has admitted, criminal charges will be brought against him. Father Hanna has been removed from St. Mary on the Hill in Augusta and will reside at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah pending the outcome of the criminal charges and a determination of his immigration status.”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

Northeast Philadelphia –
Pastor Father John Paul of Our Lady of Calvary in Northeast Philadelphia has resigned after 13 years.

The Archdiocese says. earlier this year, they were notified of allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Father Paul dating back 45 years.

After investigating the matter, law enforcement authorities declined to press charges against father Paul.

Officials say none of the cases of sexual abuse involve members of Our Lady of Calvary.

The Pastor no longer resides at the 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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA – November 10, 2013 (WPVI) — A priest from Our Lady of Calvary in Northeast Philadelphia has resigned after serving 13 years as head of the congregation.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was notified of alleged sexual abuse of minors by father John Paul. The allegations dated back 45 years.

After an investigation, law enforcement officials decided not to press charges against the Catholic priest.

In a letter to the congregation, Church officials added that the allegations did not involve any members of Our Lady of Calvary.

The Archdiocese says Father Paul has denied the allegations and that he decided to resign on his own.

Read the full statement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia below:

Father John Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish earlier this week. He came to that decision of his own accord amid the stress and anxiety relative to an investigation into alleged misconduct on his part. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese received allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 40 years ago during his time as a seminarian. Father Paul has denied these allegations.

Consistent with Archdiocesan policy, all information concerning the allegations was immediately provided to law enforcement, which declined to press charges. The Archdiocese then began its own internal investigation in accordance with its policy. That process has not yet concluded.

The safety and well-being of our children and young people is of the utmost concern to the Archdiocese. Father Paul was allowed to remain at the parish during this time only after careful consideration of all available facts by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the Vicar for Clergy, the Director of Investigations, the Director of the Office for Child and Youth Protection and the Archbishop. Throughout this time, and as a matter of precaution, Father Paul’s ministry had been restricted in that he had no unsupervised contact with minors. Appropriate notification of his restrictions was made to pertinent parties and a monitoring and support plan was implemented and followed.

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.

LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Written by
Jodi Belgard
Louisiana Gannett

ALEXANDRIA — Decades after charges of sexual misconduct hit retired Alexandria priest Frederick James Lyons, the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith in Rome has stripped him of the title of monsignor and imposed “a life of prayer and penance” on him.

Lyons, now in his late 80s, was accused of sexual abuse of minors during a period in his early life as a priest.

The Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, suspended Lyons from all priestly functions in 2006. Lyons’ case was sent to Rome at that time for examination.

Herzog announced the decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in a news release issued Thursday. The diocese was closed Friday.

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
The Progressive Catholic Voice

By Bob Beutel

Note: On November 9, 2013 approximately 200 Catholics gathered outside the chancery of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to call on Archbishop John C. Nienstedt to resign. One of the speakers at this event was Bob Beutel (right), co-chair of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR). Following is the transcript of Bob’s speech.

We are here today to express the faithful’s loss of confidence in the administration of Archbishop John Nienstedt and to ask for his resignation.

We won’t recite the litany of our issues with him, but they can be summarized as follows.:

He sows division among Catholics and among the public at large by excluding members of the GLBT community, women, abuse victims,and critics.

He intimidates his priests, his staffers, his critics, and the victims and survivors of clergy sex abuse.

He wastes our money on partisan political campaigns and holds himself unaccountable despite a pledge to be transparent.

He has embarrassed and shamed our holy 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
The Australian

[Unholy vows– The Weekend Australian Magazine]

HARRY EDWARDS THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 11, 2013

A FORMER NSW priest who kept a marriage secret for over a year and blew the whistle on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is among the thousands killed by Typhoon Haiyan in The Philippines.

Kevin Lee, 49, was a parish priest at the Padre Pio Church in Glenmore Park in western Sydney and one-time police chaplain. He is reported to have been killed while swimming as part of a religious ritual.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed a 49-year-old man from NSW had died in the storm but declined to confirm the name.

Mr Lee spoke out on abuse in the Catholic Church, including in his book Unholy Silence.

Last year he provided NSW police with information about at least one Catholic school teacher who he believed had sexually abused boys at a religious school in western Sydney in the 1990s.

After 20 years as a priest, Mr Lee was defrocked in 2012 when he revealed he had married.

He had been living on the island of Samar in The Philippines with his wife Josefina, whom he had secretly married in 2011 in Manila, and their baby daughter Michelle, born in September.

Mr Lee told The Weekend Australian last year that when an alleged victim of sexual abuse had come to him seeking help, he had “taken it to police this time because I’m tired of keeping secrets for 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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Our Lady of Calvary

MEMO from Sister Mildred & Mrs. Costello:

What you should know about the resignation of Father John Paul as Pastor of Our Lady of Calvary parish:

1- This weekend Father Dunleavy, Regional Dean, will inform the parish that Father John Paul has resigned as Pastor and no longer resides at OLC.
2- Earlier this year, the Archdiocese was notified of allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Father Paul dating back 45 years.
3- Consistent with its policies concerning such allegations, the Archdiocese immediately provided this information to law enforcement authorities.
4- After investigating the matter, law enforcement authorities
DECLINED TO PRESS CHARGES AGAINST FATHER PAUL.
5- These allegations involved no member of OLC either 45 years ago or since.
6- As a result of the extreme emotional duress experienced by Father Paul while the allegations were being investigated, and out of heartfelt concern for the families of OLC, Father Paul voluntarily resigned as Pastor so that the best interest of the parish could be served.
7- DURING THE THIRTEEN YEARS IN WHICH FATHER PAUL WAS PASTOR, OLC WAS, AND CONTINUES TO BE A SAFE AND WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT.
8- The Archdiocese has appointed Father John Babowitch as our new Pastor and he will be arriving on December 2nd.
9- As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at any time.

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
Asbury Park Press

Documents via The Star-Ledger

• Read the consent order
• Read the prosecutor’s press release
• Read the archdiocese’s response
• Read Michael Fugee’s confession to police.]

NEWARK — In a rare agreement with prosecutors, an ex-priest who worked in Colts Neck agreed to leave the priesthood after admitting to violating a court order barring him from unsupervised contact with minors.

Michael Fugee has agreed to seek laicization from the Roman Catholic Church as part of settling charges with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Fugee, who served adults and children at St. Mary’s Church in Colts Neck, resigned from the Archdiocese of Newark in May. Prosecutors charged him with flouting a 2007 agreement that allowed him to return to ministry after being convicted on charges that he fondled a boy.

On Friday, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli slammed the archdiocese for not properly monitoring Fugee after he returned to the priesthood.

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
KTSP

[with video]

By: Josh Rosenthal

They’re protestors, but they’re also Catholics, and marching in front of the St. Paul Cathedral isn’t easy.

“It’s not an easy thing for any Catholic to do,” said Virginia Meuers.

Added Bob Beutel, “it’s hard, it’s painful, it’s something wrong in our family.”

As Paula Ruddy put it, “this is very difficult. There’s nothing joyful about this experience.”

The group of a few dozen people who protested Saturday afternoon wants Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign after the way the church handled accusations of sexual misconduct.
“We are the church, this is our church,” Beutel said, “and we not only have a right to speak up, we’ve got a duty to speak up.”

KSTP reached out to the Minneapolis-St.Paul Archdiocese for comment, and they gave us a statement from Archbishop Nienstedt. It reads in part, “it is my most sincere hope that the commitments and actions that my leadership team and I are taking, and will continue to take, will restore trust with our communities.”

For some Catholics, that trust is already there.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Central

Tom Deignan

Much attention was paid this week when rumor spread that an Irish academic named Linda Hogan may well become the first female cardinal in Rome.

“She’s married and a feminist to boot, but Irish theologian Linda Hogan is being touted as a candidate to become the first female ‘prince’ of the Catholic Church,” is how the New York Daily News breathlessly reported the rumor.

While canon law says only men can become cardinals, the pope is free to ignore such rules. A papal spokesperson said, “No nomination of women cardinals are due.”

Nevertheless, the rumor seemed to confirm the feeling that Pope Francis may indeed support radical change within the Vatican.

What did not receive much attention this week was an actual appointment Pope Francis made. Leonard P. Blair, the bishop of Toledo, was named archbishop of Hartford.

What’s the connection?

Just over a year ago, a group of nuns led by Irish American Pat Farrell were causing some trouble by speaking out on women’s issues and the 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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Sunday, November 10, 2013

A pastor of a Northeast Philadelphia Catholic church who was accused of sexually abusing children 45 years ago has resigned and moved out of the parish’s residential premises, according to a memo to parishioners.

The Rev. John P. Paul, pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish since June 2000, voluntarily resigned “so that the best interest of the parish could be served,” according to the memo by Sister Mildred Chesnavage and Jeanne Costello, administrators of Our Lady of Calvary School. It is posted on the school’s website. Father Paul’s resignation also was expected to be announced at each Mass at the Knights Road church over the weekend.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia was made aware of the accusations against Father Paul earlier this year and immediately alerted law-enforcement officials, the school communication says. Authorities declined to press charges, the memo says.

Father Paul served as the parish’s pastor for 13 years.

“These allegations involved no member of OLC either 45 years ago or since,” says the memo on the school’s website, further asserting that the parish was and “continues to be a safe and welcoming environment.”

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.

INDIANA
News-Sentinel

From The Associated Press
Sunday, November 10, 2013

GARY — The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Gary has submitted his resignation to the pope, as required under church law at age 75.

Bishop Dale Melczek tells The Times of Munster he doesn’t expect Pope Francis to act immediately on his letter.

“He will begin a process that will lead to the eventual appointment of a successor. It could take a few months or it could even take a year,” Melczek said. “I mentioned to the Holy Father my gratitude to God for the gift of life, the gift of faith in baptism, an essential in my life, and then the call to minister to God’s people as a priest and bishop.”

Melczek will become the fifth bishop in Indiana to retire in recent years, all of them serving at least two decades.

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 Democrats

November 10, 2013
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Steve Krueger
617-817-8617
media@catholicdemocrats.org

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Christopher Jolly Hale
615-424-6003
christopherjollyhale@gmail.com

Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good Prayerfully Urge U.S. Bishops to Embrace the Leadership of Pope Francis in Creating “a Church for the Poor”

Will Offer Help to, and Make Recommendations for, All U.S. Bishops and Candidates for their Leadership

WHAT:
Two religious advocacy organizations, Catholic Democrats (CD) and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), will urge the U.S. bishops to do more for the poor and to become-in the words of Pope Francis-“a Church for the poor.” The organizations will be making specific recommendations that capture the focus and new hope that Pope Francis has brought to both the Catholic Church and the global community. They will also offer their help to the U.S. bishops in solidarity with them and with those living in poverty.

A nationally known expert on Catholic Social Justice ministry, Fr. Ray Kemp of Georgetown University, will discuss one of the recommendations related to social justice ministry in Catholic parishes. He will look at how Catholic social justice can rejuvenate the prophetic role of the Church as a strong and unambiguous advocate for the poor.

CD and CACG will also be releasing a joint public letter to the ten candidates for president and vice-president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The letter will highlight some specific challenges and opportunities the candidates will face and will prayerfully urge the elected candidates to take some additional specific actions on the day of their election.

Despite the passage of six years since the beginning of the Great Recession, the U.S. bishops have yet to collectively issue any statement on poverty. Representatives from Catholic Democrats and Catholics in Alliance will examine how the USCCB’s collective advocacy for the poor has been diminished since the 1980s and 1990s. The two groups will detail the pressing need for the Church to recall its prophetic voice in advocating for the poor at this critical juncture for the United States, the global community, and for the Church, at a time of sustained record poverty and unabated “glaring inequalities.”

Additionally, Catholic Democrats will be available for comment on a new study that looks at a partisan ideological index of the ten U.S. Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals who have been nominated to become the next USCCB president and vice-president.

WHO:
Rev. Raymond Kemp, Guest Speaker, Georgetown University
Steve Krueger, President, Catholic Democrats
Fred Rotondaro, Chair of the Board, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

WHERE:
Hilton Garden Inn
Chesapeake Room
625 S. President Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
Phone: (410) 234-0999

Note: The Hilton Garden Inn is across the street from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel where the USCCB will be holding its conference.

WHEN:
Monday, November 11th
8:15 AM
Please note time change.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

[Former priest alleges ‘system of abuse cover-ups’ – ABC Latline]

November 11, 2013

Dan Harrison

An Australian man removed from the priesthood for secretly marrying has been killed by typhoon Haiyan just weeks after becoming a father.

Kevin Lee, who made headlines worldwide in May last year when he was defrocked after revealing he had been married for more than a year, drowned after disappearing in rough surf off Samar Island in the Philippines.

Police found his body on Sunday morning, Australian time.

Mr Lee had been living with his Filipino wife Josefina in her home village, and recently celebrated the birth of a baby girl, Michelle.

The 49-year-old, a whistleblower on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, recently reflected on his blog that had he not broken his vow of celibacy, his daughter would not be alive.

”I have always believed that nothing happens without God’s divine permission,” he wrote.

The couple met in a Manila karaoke bar in 2011, when Mr Lee, then the priest at Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park in Sydney’s west, was on a pilgrimage with other members of the 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.

OHIO
Cleveland.com

on November 10, 2013

In response to a story examining the media coverage surrounding the arrest of a local priest for solicitation, cleveland.com users speak out about the need for priests and public officials to be held to a different standard.
Mark Crawford posts:

It would be absolutely irresponsible for the media if they DID NOT cover this story. As a priest this man has unfettered access to children and vulnerable adults. Would you care to know if this man was working in youth ministry with your child. Are you willing to take the chance he becomes sexual with anyone else and NOT inform them of his HIV status. This is NOT picking on the church, you can bet other priests knew or suspected he was sexually active, these things don’t remain secret from other clergy for very long.

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
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

U.S. Bishops General Assembly — November 11-14
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) 2013 November General Assembly in Baltimore will be held on November 11-14. You will be able to view the bishops’ actions at the meeting by viewing the live stream or reviewing video-on-demand of the public sessions and reading through the tweets below. You will also find links to related USCCB news releases and coverage from Catholic News Service on this page. Links to the agenda, speeches, votes and other material are posted in the right hand column of this page.

WASHINGTON—The annual fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be November 11-14, at the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott Hotel. During the meeting, the bishops will hear addresses by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of USCCB, and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The bishops will also hear a report from the National Advisory Council and a report on the status of their strategic/pastoral plan, The New Evangelization: Faith, Worship, Witness. They will elect the next president and vice president of USCCB, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, the chairmen-elect of five other USCCB committees, and members of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Incorporated (CLINIC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) boards.

Other agenda items include:
• Discussions and votes on the 2014 Conference budget and 2015 diocesan assessment
• Consultation on the sainthood cause of Mary Teresa Tallon, Servant of God
• Discussions and votes on the Misal Romano, the Spanish translation of the book of prayers at Mass, and adaptations to it for use in the United States
• Discussions and votes on the draft translations of the Order of Celebrating Marriage and the Order of Confirmation, as well as proposed adaptations for the Order of Celebrating Marriage
• An update by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage
• Presentation for a proposal to develop a formal statement on pornography
• Presentation by Bishop Gerald R. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, chairman of CRS, and Carolyn Woo, CRS president, on the work and strategic priorities of CRS
• An update and discussion on the Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage and Religious Liberty
• Discussions and votes on proposed revisions to the USCCB handbook and regulations

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 11 November 2013)

Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations will table its findings in mid-November 2013. This inquiry, established by the Victorian State Parliament, paved the way for a national Royal Commission which was later established by the Australian Federal Government.

Observers expect that the Victorian inquiry’s report will criticise the Catholic Church’s covering up of child-sex abuse. That is, the church authorities have been failing to make sure that criminal offences are reported to the Victoria Police.

The Victorian inquiry held more than 160 hearings over nine months in late 2012 and early 2013.

The inquiry heard evidence from victims, their families, experts, and other professionals. Almost half of its hearings were held in secret.

The inquiry considered more than 400 written submissions, including two written submissions from Broken Rites.

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
Star Tribune

[photos]

More than 100 protesters asked for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt as they protested across the street from the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Saturday

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

A FORMER Australian priest and sex abuse whistleblower is believed to be among the thousands feared killed by a super typhoon in the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the death of a 50-year-old NSW man in Typhoon Haiyan, but declined to confirm his identity.

However he is believed to be former Australian priest Kevin Lee.

A whistleblower about child sex abuse in the Catholic church, he was living in the Philippines with his wife.

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

PATRICK LION THE DAILY TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 10, 2013

A FORMER NSW priest who blew the whistle on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church is among more than 10,000 people feared killed by the devastating Philippines typhoon.

Kevin Lee, formerly of Penrith, was believed to be living in the Philippines with his wife when Typhoon Haiyan hit, the ABC has reported.

Mr Lee, 50, blew the whistle on the abuse last year as he was also removed from his parish responsibility after admitting to marrying a woman in secret.

Philippine Community Council of NSW president Arturo Sayas, who returned from a family trip to Manila the day before the typhoon hit, said the group did not know the identity of the NSW man killed.

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
Telegraph

A FORMER Sydney priest who secretly married a woman he met in the Philippines is among the hundreds killed in the typhoon that has devastated the archipelago nation.

Kevin Lee, a whistleblower on child sex abuse in the Catholic church, was defrocked last year after he went public about his 2011 marriage and admitted to having had girlfriends during his 20 years as a priest.

Mr Lee founded the Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park, in western Sydney, but moved to the Philippines after leaving the ministry.

It’s been reported he went swimming as part of a religious ritual, as Super Typhoon Haiyan lashed the Philippines with winds of around 315km/h.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Melinda Miller | News Staff Reporter
on November 9, 2013

A Franciscan friar who was vice principal at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs and later principal at Cardinal O’Hara in the Town of Tonawanda is accused of molesting a student while he was a teacher at a high school in Baltimore in the 1970s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has revealed.

The Rev. Michael Kolodziej, 69, has been suspended from the priesthood following allegations that he abused a boy at Archbishop Curley High School during his tenure there in 1975-79. The former student says the priest sexually abused him while “wrestling.”

Following these accusations from Baltimore, the mother of two former students at O’Hara said that Kolodziej also made a habit of wrestling with students there as “punishment” in the 1980s.

Both Curley High School and St. Francis High School, where Kolodziej was assigned from 1979 to 1982 as a teacher and assistant principal, are run by the Franciscan Order.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Brian Cahill, Special to CNN
updated 8:34 PM EST, Fri November 8, 2013

Editor’s note: Brian Cahill is the retired executive director of San Francisco Catholic Charities. He is a volunteer suicide prevention trainer with the San Francisco Police Department. He writes occasionally for the San Francisco Chronicle and the National Catholic Reporter.

(CNN) — It is impossible to ignore the impact of Pope Francis, a modern-day pope who operates with humility and directness, who lives simply, who prefers to spend his time with the poor and the marginalized, and who sees his role as pastor, compassionate friend and fellow sinner on the Christian journey.

The photos of Pope Francis embracing a man disfigured by neurofibromatosis and the scene of the little boy on the stage in Vatican Square as Francis addressed pilgrims tell us all we need to know about the humanity and accessibility of our new Pope.

Some bishops are desperately trying to reassure their followers that nothing is changing. But that’s a tough sell when the head of the Roman Catholic Church tells his bishops that they are obsessed with abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage and when he says he doesn’t judge gays and lesbians. Something is changing. But is this change simply one of tone?

Francis’ comments on the appointment of bishops suggest that his criteria has less to do with loyalty and orthodoxy and more to do with pastoral experience and compassion. But in his first American appointment, one that was not in the pipeline before his papal election, he named Bishop Leonard Blair as the new archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
KEYC

[with video]

By Joel Runck, Weekend News Anchor

Catholics gathered in front of the Saint Paul Cathedral on Saturday, urging Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

The issue stems from allegations of clergy sexual misconduct.

Nienstedt previously acknowledged that serious mistakes have been made in regard to how he himself handled the allegations. Now some are calling for Nienstedt to resign after allegations of a cover-up.

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SLOVENIA
STA

Maribor, 9 November (STA) – The Maribor Higher Court has upheld a first instance ruling that ordered the Maribor Archdiocese to pay EUR 80,000 to a victim of a paedophile priest, the dailies Delo and Dnevnik report on Saturday. Dnevnik comments that this is a precedence that establishes objective responsibility of the Catholic Church for sexual abuse committed by priests.

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
WCCO

[with video]

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Dozens of members of the Catholic Church are calling for a change in local leadership.

Nearly 100 people gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday, calling for Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation.

They’re angry about past accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members that became public within the last few weeks.

Eric Fought of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform says he’s looking for renewed faith in church leadership.

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

Sydney priest Kevin Lee the first confirmed Australian death in Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines

PATRICK LION THE DAILY TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 10, 2013

JUST six weeks ago former western Sydney priest Kevin Lee was celebrating the birth of his daughter Michelle, joking about buying her a Sydney Roosters jersey and enjoying the family life he would never have experienced in his former life as a celibate priest.

But yesterday the priest, who helped blow the whistle on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and was removed from the Glenmore Park parish last year after admitting to secretly marrying his wife, became the first confirmed Australian death in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

A Melbourne family yesterday also pleaded for details of their traveller daughter last heard from in the Philippines as a regional police commissioner upgraded the disaster death toll estimates from 1000 to at least 10,000 people, mainly in the Leyte province, following Haiyan’s sustained winds of up to 315km/h and 3m-high storm surges.

It is understood Mr Lee, who helped bring about the royal commission into child sexual abuse, drowned after going out into the typhoon during his daily swims.

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]

Renee Tessman

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Protesters marched in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday demanding change from the top.

The public call on was for the resignation of the Twin Cities Archbishop. The push comes in the wake of the ongoing priest sex abuse scandal.

Protestors claim Archbishop John Nienstedt is not the right man to lead the church as it deals with multiple allegations of clergy sex abuse.

This is the first time the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform has actually asked for Nienstedt’s resignation.

While they still have their faith in God, they said they have lost faith in church leadership.

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. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press

By Will Ashenmacher
washenmacher@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/09/2013

On Saturday, strong gusts of wind couldn’t whip away the message of the signs at a protest in front of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s personal residence: “Morally bankrupt.” “Again?” “Resign.”

About 150 people gathered on Cathedral Hill in St. Paul to ask that Nienstedt step down. The demonstration followed a tumultuous period for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in which it has been alleged that officials there concealed the sexual misconduct of priests.

“We should not have to stand here,” said Eric Fought, a first-year seminarian at St. John’s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minn. “Over the course of the past 10 years, we’ve been told that these mistakes have been corrected. They haven’t.

Many of those at the protest said they still consider themselves Catholic. They said they respect the religion itself but are angry with the archdiocese’s leadership for what they perceive as its impropriety.

“Why should we not just pray for healing and be nice to one another?” said Bob Beutel of St. Paul, co-chair of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform. “The answer is simple — wounds cannot heal until the knife is pulled out.”

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
November 9, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — About 100 people gathered outside the Cathedral of St. Paul Saturday to urge Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

The group, which was made up of victims of clergy sex abuse and others calling for greater transparency in the Catholic Church, marched outside of Nienstedt’s office. Some held signs calling for Nienstedt to step down.

Demonstrators criticized Nienstedt’s handling of alleged sexual misconduct by priests, his support for a failed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and the decision by church leaders to make extra payments to priests who have sexually abused children.

Shawn Plocher of Minneapolis said he was sexually abused by a priest in 1986.

“Who can you trust when you were abused by a person of God in the House of God?” said Plocher. “Something needs to change.”

The protest comes after a series of MPR News reports found Nienstedt and others disregarded warnings of a priest’s sexual conduct and debated internally whether another priest’s computer contained child pornography. The investigation also found that several priests accused of sexually abusing minors were given extra payments after they were removed from ministr

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Thursday, November 7, 2013

Source:Jim Accurso

Today’s press conference concerns a matter that is alleged to have occurred more than three decades ago. Jerome Kern was removed from ministry in 2002 and has been compliant with a monitoring program.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis will investigate and respond to the claims raised today.

We are completely committed to ensuring the safety of children and young people who have been entrusted to our care. Since 2002 we have implemented policy and procedural reforms to clarify guidelines and strengthen enforcement. Some of the actions we have taken include completing more than 3,000 adult safe environment training sessions for approximately 70,000 adults; conducting 105,000 background checks on clergy, staff and volunteers; and providing over 100,000 children with age-appropriate lessons to help keep them safe.

As a further demonstration of our commitment to handling these matters aggressively and consistently, an independent, lay task force has been formed and is conducting a full review of our policies and practices. This objective and independent body brings specific and relevant expertise, experience, and a fresh perspective to ensure we are following best practices. Its findings will be made public when final.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Thursday, November 7, 2013

Source:Jim Accurso

The Minneapolis StarTribune recently published an article regarding the Minnesota Religious Council (MRC), which is a coalition of Minnesota churches from several denominations that has worked together for common causes since the early 1990s.

While the Archdiocese funded much of the costs of the MRC, there were many churches that supported the cause as members and leaders. More importantly, all of the churches that are part of the MRC have a deep heartfelt commitment to creating and maintaining safe environments and protecting minors.

The MRC, along with dozens of organizations that provide programming and care for minors, had serious concerns about the appropriateness of lifting the statute of limitations for organizations that serve children in Minnesota. One of the just purposes of having a statute of limitations is that after significant time has passed, the ability to reconstruct the situation that is alleged is very difficult, if not impossible in many cases. In addition, lifting a statute of limitations does nothing to protect children going forward. This is why the MRC, and many others, lobbied to protect the rights of youth-serving organizations to defend themselves and to support measures that would genuinely protect young people.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

Analysis: In a new book, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz absolves John Paul of blame for praising a priest accused of pedophilia, claiming that the pope was unaware of the accusations at the time.
Facebook

In a new book, John Paul II’s longtime secretary claims that the former pope is not to blame for his support and praise of a disgraced power broker accused of pedophilia and bribery, according to a Catholic News Service report.

The book, written in Italian by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and titled Ho Vissuto con un Santo (I Lived with a Saint), has apparently changed certain memories of factual inconvenience — creating a sort of performance piece that sings truths people never knew.

Pope Francis has ordered the canonization of John Paul II despite his failure to act on 1998 pedophilia charges lodged by nine ex-seminarians at the Vatican against Legion of Christ founder Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, a native of Mexico.

During a 1993 speech in St. Peter’s Square, John Paul said, “You are all sons and daughters of Father Maciel!” In 1994, he called Maciel “an efficacious guide to youth.” John Paul continued to praise him after the allegations were filed against Maciel at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — where they gathered dust for six years.

“When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing,” Catholic News Service quotes Dziwisz. “For him, [Maciel] was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around.”

These allegations certainly weren’t ‘rumors.’ In 1997, nine victims gave sworn statements for an investigation Gerald Renner and this writer led for the Hartford Courant. Maciel claimed innocence. The Vatican would not comment. Jose Barba, a Mexico City college professor, led the victims’ 1998 canon law request to ex-communicate Maciel in Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s tribunal.

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GREECE
Greek Reporter

By Ioanna Zikakou on November 9, 2013

Two priests were arrested in Trikala and then convicted by Larissa’s Court of Assize to 18 years and 6 years imprisonment on charges of embezzling a total of 930,000 Euros that were destined for the payroll of clergymen in Farsala.

According to the indictment, the two priests from Farsala, who were responsible for collecting and paying salaries of clergymen in the Metropolis of Thessalia, submitted false documents to the Tax Office by exploiting the fact that the salaries of priests are outside the budget. Having paid their priests the amounts that they were entitled, they kept the extra money reaching a total of 710,000 Euros for one and 220,000 Euros for the other!

The first priest, who was responsible for the payroll in Farsala was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for fraud, forgery and use of forged documents. The second one who was responsible for collecting-cashing money from the Tax Office of Farsala and the NBG in Farsala was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for complicity in fraud.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 9, 2013

I don’t know the answer to this myself, but it has been bothering me since learning about Tucson conductor/convicted child sex offender Eric Holtan.

Holtan was convicted in 2000 of first- and third-degree sexual assault against two of his former students while he was a teacher in Duluth, MN.

According to the Duluth News Tribune:

“Holtan, who was convicted of first-degree and third-degree criminal sexual conduct, was ordered at his 2000 sentencing to serve two years at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, register as a sex offender and meet the conditions of his probation for 15 years. Any violation of that probation could result in him being sent back to prison for more than 16 years.”

He is currently the music minister at a Lutheran Church, an obvious problem. But there is another issue:

Holtan is the conductor and the executive director of the Tucson Chamber Artists, a classical music group that performs throughout the area. The TCA is comprised of all adults, although they do perform in churches and their audiences do not know that he is a sex offender.
TCA receives grant money from the Tucson Pima Arts Council and the Arizona Commission of the Arts, among others.

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ALABAMA
Daily Mountain Eagle

by Rachel Davis

Walker County Circuit Judge Doug Farris declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a Carbon Hill man accused of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

The motion for mistrial was made by defense lawyer Herbie Brewer and granted by Farris after hearing arguments from both sides.

Ricky Robinson, a former Carbon Hill pastor, had been on trial all week facing four charges of sex abuse of a child under the age of 12.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Warren said his understanding was that the case would be slated for retrial on the next trial docket in February.

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POLSKA
Money

[Summary: The Vatican is silent on former apostolic nuncio Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. He was dismissed in August by Pope Francis in connection with allegations of pedophilia in the Dominican Republic. Vatican representatives have refused to comment and answer questions on steps to be taken in the Wesolowski case. He is the first such high-ranking prelates to be accused to abusing minors. This is why the situation faced by the Holy See is unique. It also shows the position that the Vatican has taken since the beginning of the scandal.]

Przedstawiciele Watykanu odmawiają wszelkich komentarzy i odpowiedzi na pytania, dotyczące kroków, jakie zostaną podjęte w sprawie abpa Wesołowskiego – pierwszego tak wysokiego rangą dostojnika kościelnego, któremu zarzucono czyny pedofilskie.

Właśnie z tego powodu sytuacja, w jakiej znalazła się Stolica Apostolska, jest wyjątkowa. Świadczy również o tym stanowisko, jakie Watykan zajmuje w tej sprawie od początku skandalu. Wybuchł on latem, gdy dominikańska telewizja pokazała dostojnika, odwiedzającego w stolicy kraju miejsca, znane z prostytucji nieletnich, a następnie zebrała relacje bezpośrednich świadków.

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MINNESOTA
WCCO

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A group of Catholics are planning to gather in front of the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday to urge Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign.

Catholic Coalition for Church Reform said the archbishop is not showing leadership for a healthy Christian church.

They’re upset about several cases that have been filed in recent weeks alleging sexual abuse by Twin Cities Catholic clergy members, and the potential cover-up by the church.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Joe Kimball | 11/08/13

A group of Catholics plan to protest Saturday at the Cathedral of St. Paul to “respectfully” call for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt.

The Catholic Coalition for Church Reform is urging people “to bring banners and signs respectfully conveying your call for Archbishop Nienstedt’s resignation.”

Recent press reports of allegations of the cover-up of sexual misconduct by priests have led to increased calls for new leadership in the local church.

Bob Beutel, chair of the group, said:

“We need healing, but healing cannot begin with the knife still in the wound. The archbishop himself is fomenting divisiveness, not showing leadership for a healthy Christian church.”

There also have been complaints about Nienstedt’s use of church funds for an expensive campaign against gay marriage.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Minnesota SNAP

Saturday, November 9
1:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Cathedral of St. Paul
239 Shelby Ave., Saint Paul, MN

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Cassie Hart

Minnesota Catholics are still calling for one of their own to step down Saturday.

The Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) wants Archbishop John Nienstedt to resign from the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese after the way the church handled accusations of sexual misconduct.

“We need healing, but healing cannot begin with the knife still in the wound,” said Bob Beutel, St. Paul, co-chair of the CCCR. “The archbishop himself is fomenting divisiveness, not showing leadership for a healthy Christian church.”

Since 2002 the Catholic Church has said it has and is following protocols for protecting children. Nienstedt took over the leadership of the Archdiocese in 2008, succeeding former Archbishop Harry Flynn.

In his October 24 statement in the Catholic Spirit, Nienstedt admits that “There is reason to question whether or not the policies and procedures were uniformly followed. There is also a question as to the prudence of the judgments that have been made.”

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NEW YORK
WIVB

By Rich Newberg
Updated: Friday, November 8, 2013

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A priest who used to be an assistant high school principal in Hamburg has been accused of sexually abusing one of his former students.

Fr. Michael Kolodziej has now been banned from public ministry. The Buffalo Diocese and other dioceses where he once worked are asking if anyone else may have been abused by the priest.

Kolodziej was ordained in Buffalo in 1970 and first served as a hospital chaplain. Later he was a teacher and assistant principal at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, Associate Pastor at St. Mary of Sorrows Church, and teacher at Bishop Turner High School and Villa Maria College.

During his time as a teacher Baltimore’s Archbishop Curly High School, from 1975 to 1979, one of his former students now has come forward saying he was sexually abused by Kolodziej.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY NOVEMBER 9, 2013, 9:08 AM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Click here to read the court order

In a sweeping agreement that legal experts said is unprecedented in its scope, the Bergen County prosecutor announced Friday that he has taken over the job of monitoring a former Wyckoff associate pastor who confessed to fondling a 13-year-old boy because he does not trust church officials to watch him.

The prosecutor, John L. Molinelli, said law enforcement authorities “no longer have confidence” in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark to abide by a 2007 agreement that barred the Rev. Michael Fugee from working with children. He also pointed to recent statements by Archbishop John J. Myers, who said the church is not equipped to monitor priests and never should have signed the agreement.

He also agreed to be defrocked, a process known as laicization that removes him from the supervision of church officials and permanently strips him of priestly authority. And he acknowledged that he was telling the truth when he confessed to fondling a 13-year-old parishioner of the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary years ago. He previously alleged that his confession was coerced.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

RELATED DOCUMENTS

• Read the consent order
• Read the prosecutor’s press release
• Read the archdiocese’s response
• Read Michael Fugee’s confession to police.

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on November 09, 2013

The New Jersey priest charged earlier this year with violating a lifetime ban on ministry to children will not face criminal prosecution, but his freedom comes at the expense of his occupation.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, will petition the Vatican for his permanent removal from the priesthood, one of dozens of conditions he must abide by for life under a court-approved agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Among the restrictions, Fugee is forever barred from unsupervised contact with minors.

In announcing the consent order Friday, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli sharply rebuked Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, saying it was clear neither Myers nor his deputies made any significant effort to monitor Fugee as required under a previous memorandum of understanding.

Fugee signed the 2007 agreement to avoid retrial on charges he groped a teenage boy on multiple occasions.

The prosecutor said he no longer had confidence in Myers and felt compelled to shift the supervision of Fugee from the archdiocese to the prosecutor’s office.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Berlin Daily Sun

Judge denies motion to dismiss in LaFerriere’s harassment case

Published Date Friday, 08 November 2013

There are three complaints of harassment (by phone) against LaFerriere. The complaints allege that he called the cell phone of William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, in New York City in January and February of this year leaving, in Donohue’ words, “abusive, annoying and threatening” messages.

At hearing on the charges October 1, tapes of some of the messages left on Donohue’s cell phone were played. At the end of the state’s case, LaFerriere’s attorney, Jay Duguay, filed a motion to dismiss. He argued that although Laferriere’s language on the tapes was offensive, his messages all did have a “legitimate communicative purpose”, something he said the U.S. Supreme Court has held up as freedom of speech.

Berlin Police Prosecutor Dan Buteau argued that LaFerriere’s purpose was solely to alarm, which, Buteau said he does not have an unlimited right to do.

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NEW YORK
WGRZ

[with video]

Dave McKinley

BUFFALO, NY – Police in Baltimore, Maryland are investigating an allegation that a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused a student while he was teaching at a High School nearly 40 years ago.

However, because that priest also spent considerable time in Western New York, the catholic diocese here is also reaching out to its parishioners, and urging them to come forward with any information they might have.

Father Michael Kolodziej, 69, is a Franciscan Friar who has been suspended from public ministry following the allegations. He most recently served as Vicar of a parish in Jonesboro, Ga.

Kolodziej was ordained as a Priest here in 1970 and was first assigned as a hospital chaplain, while also serving associate pastor and school director at St. Mary of Sorrows Church on Genesee Street.

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LOUISIANA
Alexandria Town Talk

Written by
Jodi Belgard

Decades after charges of sexual misconduct hit retired Alexandria priest Frederick James Lyons, the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith in Rome has stripped him of the title of monsignor and imposed “a life of prayer and penance” on him.

Lyons, now in his late 80s, was accused of sexual abuse of minors during a period in his early life as a priest.

The Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, suspended Lyons from all priestly functions in 2006. Lyons’ case was sent to Rome at that time for examination.

Herzog announced the decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in a news release issued Thursday. The diocese was closed Friday.

Lyons is prohibited from publicly celebrating or concelebrating Mass or publicly or privately administering the other sacraments, except for confession in danger of death. He may not preach or participate in or attend any public liturgical celebration. He may not wear clerical dress, in public, Herzog said in the release.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

[with video]

November 8, 2013

Father Michael Kolodziej, 69 is accused of sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at a catholic school in Baltimore, MD.

The victim claims Kolodziej abused him several times all while the father wrestled him. The alleged incidents happened between 1975 to 1979.

Kolodziej was ordained into the priesthood through the Diocese of Buffalo in 1970 and over the next 18 years he served in many roles in Western New York including hospital chaplain, associate pastor and school director at St. Mary of Sorrows church in Buffalo. He was a teacher at Bishop Turner High School and Villa Maria College in Buffalo until he entered the franciscan order in 1974.

Kolodziej was also a teacher and assistant principal at St. Francis High School and principal at Cardinal O’hara High School.

The allegations from Baltimore have prompted the Buffalo Diocese to take action and release this statement,

“We are now following our Diocesan policies to determine whether there are any issues arising from his tenure as a priest of our diocese. We have posted the information on our website and requested anyone with knowledge about father Kolodziej to contact us.”

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NEW YORK
KABC

NEW YORK (KABC) — A rabbi with ties to Beverly Hills accused of child sex abuse in New York pleaded not guilty on Friday.

Rabbi Mendel Tevel, 30, was arrested in October on a charge of committing a sexual criminal act. According to a grand jury indictment out of Brooklyn, the rabbi is accused of performing an oral sex act on one victim several times in the past. The alleged incidents occurred about eight years ago when Tevel was 22 and the victim was 14.

Although only one victim is mentioned in the indictment, authorities are investigating other possible allegations as well.

Community members say Tevel has worked at JEM, a Jewish youth center in Beverly Hills, for the past two years. His father-in-law, Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, is the center’s director.

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NEW JERSEY
ABC News

[press release – Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office]

NEWARK, N.J. November 8, 2013 (AP)
By KATIE ZEZIMA Associated Press

In a rare agreement with prosecutors, a priest who admitted to violating a court order barring him from unsupervised contact with minors has agreed to ask to be laicized.

Michael Fugee has agreed to seek laicization from the Roman Catholic Church as part of settling charges with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Fugee resigned from the Archdiocese of Newark in May. Prosecutors charged him with flouting a 2007 agreement that allowed him to return to ministry after being convicted on charges that he fondled a boy.

Friday, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli slammed the archdiocese for not properly monitoring Fugee after he returned to the priesthood.

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ARKANSAS
Arkansas Matters

BENTONVILLE, AR — As many as 98 percent of sexual abusers are not caught, according to the Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault. While thousands of kids head to local schools and churches regularly, not all places have training to recognize abuse or policies to report it.

So the Children’s Advocacy Center is calling all adults to make children’s safety a top priority.

“We had a child here one time, he was an 8-year-old boy,” remembers Andrew Lentz, Children’s Advocacy Center(CAC) director of education. “He was asked to describe what physical abuse was and he said, ‘That’s when they scream at you and they hit you, they tell you that they don’t deserve to live, and you bleed and you cry.’ Those are the words of a child who grew up in our community.”

The CAC in Benton County opened 772 cases of child abuse in 2012, but say thousands more go unreported each year.

“People don’t understand that while child abuse is complicated and reporting child abuse can be difficult, as a teacher, as an adult, it’s your responsibility to protect kids, explains Lentz.

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TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Weekly

POSTED BY MARI HERRERAS ON FRI, NOV 8, 2013

A national group that advocates on behalf of victims of sexual abuse plans to protest outside a Tucson church this Sunday at 11:15 a.m to demand the resignation of music minister Eric Holtan.

The group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is a national support network for men and women abused in religious and institutional settings. Joelle Casteix, the organization’s volunteer western regional director, told the Range recently that SNAP did try to contact the pastor of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church to talk about the protest.

“We sent an email to the church, but we never received a response,” Casteix said.

Casteix said that this week SNAP learned that Holtan, who plead guilty in 2000 to two counts of child sexual abuse involving two former choir students in Duluth, Minnesota, was working at Dove of Peace. Holtan also works as director of Tucson Chamber Artists.

“He’s still on probation,” she said, adding that part of that requires that he have no unsupervised contact with underage women.

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NEW JERSEY
Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office

Friday, November 8, 2013, 04:16 PM
TO: ALL NEWS MEDIA
FROM: PROSECUTOR JOHN L. MOLINELLI

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announces that a resolution has been reached in the matter of State of New Jersey v. Michael Fugee. An investigation began in April of this year arising out of allegations that Michael Fugee had violated certain terms of a Judicial Order and Memorandum of Understanding which restricted his ministry to children. This investigation resulted in the issuance of five (5) Criminal Warrants dated May 17, 2013 charging Michael Fugee with several counts of criminal contempt by having attended multiple youth retreats and having heard confessions of children under the age of eighteen in violation of the judicial order. All charges were of the 4th degree, punishable by fine and a term of imprisonment from 0 to 18 months. As Fugee had no prior convictions, probation was likely upon conviction.

On November 1, 2013, by way of a binding agreement and court order issued by the Honorable Bonnie Mizdol, P.J.S.C. Acting Assignment Judge, Bergen County, Michael Fugee has admitted to committing acts of civil contempt of a judicial order. Specifically, Michael Fugee admitted that he violated the restriction placed upon him in the 2007 Judicial Order and its accompanying Memorandum of Understanding by having attended youth retreats and having heard confessions of children under the age of eighteen on multiple occasions from April 2010 through December of 2012.

As a penalty for his violations, Michael Fugee has agreed that he will seek and obtain laicization from the Roman Catholic Church. In non-Canon terms, he will be terminated from the priesthood which will be accomplished on his request through the Vatican. So that the public is aware, this is a requirement that could never have been achieved even if Michael Fugee was convicted of 4th degree criminal contempt, as 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. This is a requirement that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark (RCAN), did not nor would ever obtain. 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.

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NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

[press release – Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office]

Brian Roewe | Nov. 8, 2013

In an agreement with county prosecutors, the priest at the center of a clergy sex abuse scandal in the Newark, N.J., archdiocese has agreed to leave the priesthood to avoid criminal prosecution related to his violation of a court order forbidding contact with children.

In a press release, first reported by the New Jersey Star Ledger, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced Friday that Fr. Michael Fugee had admitted to violating restrictions placed upon him in 2007 that barred him from contact with minors. From April 2010 through December 2012, Fugee attended several youth retreats and heard, on at least seven different occasions, confessions from children.

Rather than pursue the five, fourth-degree criminal contempt charges it brought against the priest, the prosecutor’s office and Fugee agreed that he would “seek and obtain” laicization from the priesthood. The fourth-degree charges carried a punishment of a fine and maximum 18 months in prison. Molinelli indicated that had his office sought Fugee’s conviction, the soon-to-be former priest likely would have received a probation sentence, since he had no prior convictions.

Molinelli said the agreement prohibits Fugee from presenting himself as a spiritual advisor or “working with children in any capacity.

“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,” he said in the release.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON NOVEMBER 08, 2013

Prosecutor blasts Newark archbishop; SNAP responds

For immediate release: Friday, Nov. 8

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

Prosecutors have reached a highly unusual deal with a Fr. Michael Fugee, a Newark predator priest who was to be kept away from kids by Archbishop John Myers and his staff but was not.

[The Record]

[The Star-Ledger]

This is an unprecedented agreement. But the crisis in Newark’s Catholic archdiocese is not a Fugee or even a Myers crisis. It’s a deeply-rooted crisis that involves dozens of current and former Catholic clerics who have committed and are concealing heinous child sex crimes. Only a grand jury will uncover the full truth and truly protect kids and deter future cover ups and recklessness.

Fr. Fugee has repeatedly broken secular laws and religious vows. We are not confident he’ll obey this order. And it’s not clear how or if this deal will in any way hold Archbishop Myers or his top aides responsible for their inexcusable, deceitful and self-serving role in Fr. Fugee’s crimes. That must happen if Newark kids are to be safer and more cover ups of child molesting clerics are to be prevented.

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.

NEWARK (NJ)
Superior Court of New Jersey

November 1, 2013

[PDF also includes prior Indictment, Order, Memorandum of Understanding, and Complaint-Warrants.]

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Michael Fugee will commence, without delay, the appropriate proceedings to become laicized through the Archdiocese of Newark on truthful grounds as set forth herein, and that he will fully participate and take all necessary action to ensure that the Roman Catholic Church completes his laicization; and

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Michael Fugee, through counsel, will communicate the status of the laicization process in writing every sixty (60) days from the entry of this Consent Order to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office until such process is complete and together provide copies of all written documents submitted and/or received in furtherance of his laicization proceeding.

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
Cliffview Pilot

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli today accused the Archdiocese of Newark of not keeping its agreement to monitor a former Wykoff associate pastor who was allowed to continue working as a priest after admitting that he groped a 13-year-old boy.

The prosecutor’s comments come amid the announcement of an agreement between his office and Michael Fugee that spares him prison time in exchange for his permanent removal from the priesthood and the condition that he never work in a job that puts him in contact with minors.

Fugee, who could have gone to prison for up to 18 months, admitted that he repeatedly violated a court order to stay away from children.

Also going back on its word, Molinelli said, was the archiocese, which agreed six years ago to supervise Fugee in order to help spare him a trial.

“[I]t has not appeared that the Archdiocese made any significant effort to adhere to the terms of the MOU such that, at this juncture, we no longer have confidence in its ability as a signatory to honor the clear intent of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding,” Mollinelli said in a statement.

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.

OHIO
Cleveland Scene

Experts Discuss Media Coverage of Catholic Priests’ ‘Struggles,’ Odd Bouts of Navel-Gazing Ensue

Posted by Eric Sandy on Fri, Nov 8, 2013

For some reason, The Plain Dealer posted a story titled “Experts discuss why the struggles of priests are so well publicized.” The occasion for this little discussion comes about following the Rev. James McGonegal’s three-count indictment, which includes a felony count for failing to disclose his HIV-positive status when he propositioned a Metroparks ranger.

…It’s unclear why the preceding was classified among the “struggles” of priests on Cleveland.com.

Anyway, the newsworthiness of the McGonegal incident should be clear to any reader or writer – Catholic or otherwise. McGonegal, a man who bears some semblance of moral authority in his community and certainly qualifies as a public figure, solicited sex in a public parking lot and hid the fact that he was harboring a life-threatening virus. Potentially dangerous stuff, hence the news coverage (which, to be sure, The Plain Dealer heaped online en masse).

And that reportage is important for numerous public safety, criminal justice and religious dialogue reasons, but today’s bout of navel-gazing and apologia surely isn’t.

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
MyCentralJersey

Written by
Susan Loyer
@SusanLoyerMyCJ

MIDDLESEX COUNTY — The pastor of a Jamesburg-based parish will remain out of ministry until an alleged claim of sexual misconduct is resolved, according to the Diocese of Metuchen.

The Rev. Kevin Duggan, who served at St. James the Less since August 2009, has been accused of sexually abusing a developmentally challenged adult at St. James Parish in Woodbridge more than 20 years ago, according to the diocese.

Parishioners of the St. James the Less parish were told of the allegation last week when a letter from Bishop Paul Bootkoski was read at Masses. Duggan, who took himself out of ministry for treatment of alcoholism, was due to return to the parish soon, when the alleged claim of abuse was announced.

In the letter, the bishop said Duggan, 59, “adamantly denies these charges.”

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
Berger’s Beat

. . .Kansas City Bishop (and St. Louis native) Robert Finn is apparently letting a priest who did 90 days in jail for theft work at a parish. Back in 2000, Fr. Glen Gardner, was convicted for stealing “thousands of dollars worth of antiques” from two Catholic churches, including “linen, candles, a pair of 3-foot-high altar candlesticks, and incense burner, two candelabra, a ciborium that holds communion wafers and a $9,000 monstrance that displays eucharistic bread.” Fr. Gardner is at St. Patrick’s Oratory and is part of the Institute of Christ the King – an ultra-conservative outfit with a church in our town. The institute was first welcomed to the U.S. by then-Bishop Raymond Burke of LaCrosse (who went on to head the St. Louis archdiocese and is now the highest-ranking U.S. prelate in the Vatican. . .

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.

LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Friday, November 8, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

An Alexandria predator priest has been ordered to live a “life of prayer and penance.”

[Diocese of Alexandria]

Shame on Alexandria Bishop Ronald P. Herzog for issuing perhaps the most vague and unhelpful notice about a child molesting cleric we have seen in years.

Bishop Herzog refuses to tell parents, parishioners or the public what crimes Fr. Lyons committed against how many kids during what years at what locations. Worse, Herzog refuses to say where Fr. Lyons is now. And worst yet, Herzog makes no appeal to victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers to call police and prosecutors so that Fr. Lyons might be charged, convicted and kept away from kids.

This notice is yet another effort by Catholic officials to do the absolute bare minimum about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

“A life of prayer and penance” is a silly claim. Time and time again church officials try to imply that this is some sort of penalty. What it means, in reality, is that the priest gets all the benefits – financial and otherwise – of being a priest but doesn’t have to go to work. That of course just frees up more of his time to groom kids, intimidate victims threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence and fabricate alibis.

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
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on November 08, 2013

A Roman Catholic priest who was criminally charged with violating a court order to stay away from children earlier this year has agreed to his permanent removal from the priesthood and to never work in a position that places him in contact with minors.

The agreement between the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the the Rev. Michael
Fugee resolves the criminal case against him without jail time. Fugee had been facing up to 18 months for multiple counts of violating a judicial order.

In its announcement, the prosecutor’s office also strongly criticized the Archdiocese of Newark, which had been required to supervise Fugee under a 2007 memorandum of understanding with the law enforcement agency. The memorandum was one condition of a deal that spared Fugee from retrial on charges of molesting a teenage boy.

“It has appeared, based on many public comments by Archbishop Myers, that the Church had no intention of monitoring Fugee any further and … it has not appeared that the Archdiocese made any significant effort to adhere to the terms of the MOU such that, at this juncture, we no longer have confidence in its ability as a signatory to honor the clear intent of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding,” Prosecutor John Mollinelli said in a statement.

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
The Record

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF AND KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

A former Wykoff associate pastor who was allowed to continue working as a priest despite confessing to groping a 13-year-old boy has agreed to be defrocked after admitting he violated a legal agreement that barred him from working with children, authorities said Friday.

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said in a statement Friday that Rev. Michael Fugee has agreed to be laicized and never work again as a priest. The agreement announced on Friday was unusual because of its requirement for Fugee to undergo a formal process of being defrocked.

Had Fugee been found guilty of violating the agreement with law enforcement, a fourth-degree crime, the judicial system would not have had the authority to require him to be laicized, Molinelli said.

Molinelli also delivered a scathing assessment of the way the Newark Archdiocese monitored Fugee, who attended youth retreats and heard the confessions of children at churches in Rochelle Park and Paramus after he and church officials signed an agreement with law enforcement in 2007.

“It has not appeared that the Archdiocese made any significant effort to adhere” to the memorandum of understanding with law enforcement, Molinelli said.

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Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Catholic officials apparently ignore request
UN panel seeks info about crimes & cover ups
Hierarchy was supposed to reply by Nov. 1
Victims blast top church staff for “stonewalling”
“Again, prelates thumb their noses at secular authorities,” SNAP says

For immediate release: Friday, November 8, 2013

For more information: Barbara Blaine ( +1-312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com )

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is blasting top Catholic officials for apparently missing a deadline to answer questions from a United Nations panel about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Last July, a 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.

[SNAP]

But it seems clear that Catholic figures are ignoring the committee’s request. Responses from three other countries that were given the same deadline as the Vatican have been posted on the UN committee’s website. No response from the Vatican has been posted.

[Committee on the Rights of the Child]

“Once again, top Catholic officials thumb their noses at secular authorities and hide information about on-going crimes and cover ups,” said SNAP spokesperson Miguel Hurtado of London. “Some hoped the church hierarchy might be more open about clergy sex crimes and cover ups under Pope Francis. But that’s obviously not happening.

“We believe that the high-ranking Catholic staff is violating the Rights of the Child treaty,” said Mary Caplan of New York, SNAP representative to the UN. “They do this because they can. They get by with it because few secular authorities have the courage and strength to hold the Catholic hierarchy accountable for repeatedly reckless, callous, deceitful and self-serving actions regarding vulnerable kids, powerful prelates, and child molesting clerics.”

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Friday, November 8, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

We are alarmed that Chicago Catholic officials never contacted police, prosecutors or the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services about alleged “sexually explicit photographs” of a girl at a parochial school.

[Chicago Tribune]

It is stunning that Hales Franciscan High School principal Jeffrey Gray told the Chicago Tribune that “We did not think it was a criminal act because it [was] dealing with minors.” At best, that’s alarmingly wrong-headed. At worst, it’s a lie.

The photos apparently circulated a month ago.

Coincidently, this troubling report arises at the same time a similarly troubling case is unfolding in the Kansas City Missouri.

[SNAP]

To anyone who reads or follows the news at all, it’s as clear as it can possibly be: even now, despite decades of heinous sex crimes against kids and cover ups by Catholic officials, Catholic officials STILL try very hard to handle reports of such crimes quietly and internally, telling the fewest people possible and NOT telling law enforcement.

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.

LOUISIANA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria

The Most Reverend Ronald P. Herzog, Bishop of Alexandria, has now been informed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome of its decision regarding Reverend Frederick James Lyons. He was accused of sexual abuse of minors during a period in his early life as a priest. In its decision, the Congregation imposed on Father Lyons a life of prayer and penance.

Father Lyons is specifically prohibited from the following: he may not publicly celebrate or concelebrate Mass or publicly or privately administer the other sacraments (except confession in danger of death); he may not preach; he may not participate in or attend at any public liturgical celebration; he may not wear clerical dress, vesture or vestments in public; and he has been deprived of the honor Protonotary Apostolic Supernumerary along with the customary use of the title monsignor.

“The Diocese of Alexandria has established policies and procedures that are in accord with The Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth and The Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons,” said Bishop Herzog. He added, “It is my duty as the Bishop of Alexandria to implement this decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I ask for your prayers for all who are affected by these accusations: victims, their families, our Church and the accused. I urge any victim of clerical sexual misconduct to allow us the opportunity to help heal the wounds inflicted through such actions, and I invite any victims to come forward in order that healing may begin and justice can be served.”

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
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the suspension of Father Michael Kolodziej:

Father Michael Kolodziej, a former Minister Provincial of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, has been suspended from all public ministry by the Franciscans. Furthermore, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has withdrawn his faculties so that he can no longer serve as a priest.

Sounds as if the priest must have been convicted of something serious. In fact, Father Kolodziej has not been found guilty of anything. His accuser says he was abused by the priest while they were wrestling at Baltimore’s Archbishop Curley High School in the mid-to-late 1970s. That’s it.

This is insanity. Priests evidently have no rights. To top things off, the Order has posted an 800 number asking anyone else who was abused by the priest to come forward. No other organization, religious or secular, acts this way. By the way, Father Kolodziej, who is 69, has never had an accusation made against him until now.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Adam Sege
Tribune reporter
9:53 a.m. CST, November 8, 2013

The head of a South Side Catholic school said he doesn’t think there is anything criminal about sexually explicit photographs that were passed among students, even though a staff member has told police “a more serious crime may have been committed.”

Hales Franciscan High School president Jeffrey Gray refused to release details of the photos and would not say whether the female in them is a student at the school, which just went co-ed this year. “I can’t confirm that right now,” he said.

Gray said the photos surfaced about a month ago and the school disciplined the students involved after talking to their parents. Asked what they did, he would only say, “There’s a couple of incidents that we have been looking into.” The students have since returned to school, he said.

“The proper discipline actions were meted out and we thought this was done and over with,” Gray said.

But then the matter somehow came to the attention of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and Gray said it was decided to contact the police last weekend, “a little less than 30 days” after the school administration learned of the photos.

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
The News-Gazette

Written by Roberta Anderson

Buena Vista pastor the Rev. Larry Clark, of 263 41st St., was taken into custody Thursday night by the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office on charges related to sex offenses committed against at least one male juvenile.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said a press release will be issued Friday afternoon detailing the exact charges. Clark remains in the Rockbridge Regional Jail awaiting a bond hearing.

Deputies seized a computer and VHS and camcorder tapes during a search of Clark’s home yesterday. Information conveyed to sheriff’s office investigator Miles Kelly during interviews with two alleged victims provided the probable cause for the search.

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VIRGINIA
WHSV

By: Todd Densmore
Updated: Fri 12:04 PM, Nov 08, 2013

VERONA — A pastor with the Cornerstone Pentecostal Outreach Church in Verona was arrested Thursday on three charges of child sexual abuse.

Larry Clark, 61, of Buena Vista, was charged by the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office after an investigation into incidents that took place in 2011. An investigator with the Sheriff’s Office tells us that the victim was a male and 15 years old at the time. He also tells us that the incidents took place in Rockbridge County.

Larry Clark is the temporary pastor at the Pentecostal Outreach Church in Verona and the pastor of the POC in Buena Vista.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Nov. 8, 2013

Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

EDITORIAL

Anyone looking at the published agenda of the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (see story) would say that an efficient, business-like organization could deal with that in half a day. The published agenda is beyond prosaic: approval of some liturgical translations, an election of officers, some committee reports, and a “presentation for a proposal to develop a formal statement on pornography.” (Spoiler alert: They are against porn.)

There is, it seems, very little action in the bishops’ action items.

The bishops should quickly deal with this old agenda, and then address the central question facing them: What kind of conference do they want to be?

Pope Francis has been clear about what he expects of bishops: He has condemned in no uncertain terms clericalism and careerism. One of his earliest statements was that priests — and by extension bishops — should “be shepherds with the smell of sheep” on them. In late October, ordaining two archbishops, Francis told them: “Keep in mind that you were selected to serve, not to dominate.”

Francis has been even more explicit about what he expects from bishops and their national conferences. In his July 27 address to the Brazilian bishops and his address the next day to the leadership of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, he laid out his vision and agenda. We would highlight these points:

* “Central bureaucracy is not sufficient; there is also a need for increased collegiality and solidarity.” What is needed is “not unanimity, but true unity in the richness of diversity.”

* “Let us not reduce the involvement of women in the church, but instead promote their active role in the ecclesial community. By losing women, the church risks becoming sterile.”

* Do diocesan and parish councils, “whether pastoral or financial, provide real opportunities for laypeople to participate in pastoral consultation, organization and planning?”

* Do we give the laity “the freedom to continue discerning, in a way befitting their growth as disciples, the mission which the Lord has entrusted to them? Do we support them and accompany them, overcoming the temptation to manipulate them or infantilize them?”

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 8, 2013

Eric Holtan is slowly getting exposed. From The Duluth News:

Holtan, who was convicted of first-degree and third-degree criminal sexual conduct, was ordered at his 2000 sentencing to serve two years at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, register as a sex offender and meet the conditions of his probation for 15 years. Any violation of that probation could result in him being sent back to prison for more than 16 years.

Hmmm … well, we already know he is NOT registered as a sex offender.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Tom Ferrier, who coached St. Elizabeth High School to the DIAA state championship in girls basketball last spring, was fired by the Wilmington school Thursday.

St. Elizabeth sent a letter to parents stating that Ferrier had been terminated, effective immediately. The letter said Ferrier violated the technology policies of the Diocesan protocol “For the Sake of God’s Children.” The letter said the protocol focuses on the ethical and behavioral standards for diocesan personnel, including coaches and volunteers.

Ferrier could not be reached for comment Thursday night. St. Elizabeth Athletic Director Joe Hemphill declined to comment and referred questions to St. Elizabeth Principal Shirley Bounds. Late Thursday, Bounds said in an email that the letter to parents states the action was taken as a result of violation of technology policies that all teachers, staff, coaches and volunteers agree to follow.

“At this point, St. Elizabeth has no basis or information to support any criminal issue that would require any report at this point,” Bounds said. “We are still investigating and will always cooperate fully with the authorities although none are involved at this time.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Nov. 7, 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 )

A cleric at a Kansas City Catholic school has been fired allegedly because of one ‘suspicious’ and sexual picture on a school computer, church officials say. We are troubled and skeptical.

[Fox4kc]

Again, Bishop Robert Finn and his staff delayed in telling police and the public about the disturbing photo.

Again, Bishop Robert Finn and his staff told the smallest number of people possible about the report of suspected sexual crimes – only the current parents of the school.

Again, Bishop Robert Finn and his staff are withholding key information. They refuse to say whether there have been other reports of sexual misdeeds or crimes by Brother Richard Geimer, a Christian brother who spent 28 years as a teacher and principal at Archbishop O’Hara High School.

It’s also troubling that Fox 4 TV reports that the photo was found on Oct. 25 – two weeks ago.

[Fox4kc]

And it appears that Catholic church and school officials did not voluntarily disclose this allegation to the public. It seems that journalists obtained a copy of a letter sent by the school to parents of current students.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

Statement by Steve Theisen of Hudson IA, board chair of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 319 231 1663, Ltreggiefan@cs.com)

A Westchester Catholic school teacher is accused of raping a 14 year old boy.

[News 12]

While any child sex abuse is horrific, it’s even harder when women sexually violate boys. I know. I was sexually abused as a youngster by a Catholic nun.

Virtually every abused child feels alone and believes no one will understand if they find out. Boys molested by women feel this even more acutely. I’ve spoken with hundreds of them.

And while my heart goes out to every single person – adult or child – who was sexually assaulted by anyone, I especially feel sorry for this boy. At the same time, however, I admire his courage.

No Catholic official in America seeks out the media limelight like Cardinal Tim Dolan. We urge him to use his vast resources and public relations team to aggressively seek out others who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Amanda Iles, either at __ school or elsewhere.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 7, 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 relieved and grateful that Fr. Shook will be brought to justice. For far too long in far too many cases, Catholic officials who commit and conceal child sex crimes succeed in “running out the clock” and escaping responsibility for their reckless, callous and deceitful crimes.

[Daily News]

We hope every single person who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Shook’s crimes – or his church supervisors’ cover ups – will come forward, get help, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing. It’s the duty of every adult – especially current and former Catholic Church members and staff – to help ensure that the truth about Fr. Shook’s crimes surfaces.

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.