ABUSE TRACKER

RUSSIA
Interfax

St. Petersburg, November 8, Interfax – Gleb Grozovsky, former senior priest of a church in the Leningrad region, who is accused of molesting two children and has been put on an international wanted list, will be detained when he crosses the Russian border, the press service for the Investigations Committee’s Department for St. Petersburg reported.

“A decision on his extradition will be made through diplomatic channels in accordance with the law. He has a temporary visa until a certain date. His period of stay there will expire some time. He will be detained when he crosses the border,” the press service for the Investigations Committee’s Department for St. Petersburg reported.

It was reported earlier that a criminal case has been opened against Grozovsky based on the article of the Russian Criminal Code dealing with the molestation of a child under the age of 14.

According to information possessed by the investigators, Grozovsky, 34, molested two girls, aged nine and 12, in a hotel located on the territory of a children’s camp belonging to the Orthodox travelers club, Philadelphia, on Kos Island in Greece in June 2013.

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
NJToday
j
MIDDLESEX COUNTY – The Catholic Church has indefinitely barred the pastor of a Jamesburg church from the ministry following an accusation that he sexually abused a developmentally disabled man in the 1990s, according to a Star-Ledger report.

In a letter to the parishioners of St. James Parish, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski asked for prayers for Father Kevin P. Dugan, 59, who has also been struggling with alcoholism.

Dugan denies the sexual abuse allegations, which date back to a time when the priest was serving at St. James Parish in Woodbridge. The allegations came to light when the alleged victim, who suffers from a neurological impairment, told a nurse about the alleged abuse when he was hospitalized for emotional problems in April, according to the report.

The alleged victim has accepted the diocese’s offer to pay for counseling, according to the report.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, 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)

Catholic officials in Baltimore and Springfield MA are disclosing credible child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Michael Kolodziej who belongs to a religious order called the Franciscans and who worked at St. Philip Benizi Parish in Jonesboro, GA from 2010 until his recent suspension.

[iobserve]

We urge Archbishop Wilton Gregory to post notices about Fr. Michael Kolodziej read at all Atlanta archdiocesan parishes.

While he may have been assigned to one church, we strongly suspect that Fr. Kolodziej spent at least some time at three or four other Atlanta area parishes. We believe notices should be read at churches throughout the archdiocese and posted in their bulletins.

We also urge Gregory will personally go to each parish where Fr. Kolodziej worked and beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A group representing Ballarat survivors of clergy sexual abuse is meeting a Federal Government minister today to discuss improving support services.

Abuse survivor Andrew Collins represents a group of more than 80 survivors and is meeting the Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews, in Melbourne today.

Mr Collins is calling for an increased pension for abuse survivors, similar to a disability pension for people suffering from post-traumatic stress and depression as a result of their abuse.

He says being granted a meeting with Minister is a significant step in lobbying for survivors’ rights.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

PETER LLOYD: In Victoria, a group of people who have been sexually abused are asking to be put on the same disability pension as returned soldiers.

The idea is coming from Ballarat, a city with a dark past of child sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy.

Kate Stowell reports from the central Victorian city.

KATE STOWELL: Abuse survivor Andrew Collins represents a group of more than 80 people from the Ballarat area.

During the course of the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse and the Royal Commission, he’s become a spokesman for the local community of abuse survivors.

He says a lot of people aren’t coping.

ANDREW COLLINS: There was one survivor that we knew of who would struggle every month, did he get his medication? Did he have his mobile phone? He was suicidal so he needed his mobile phone to talk to people and you know keep in touch with the world but he also needed his medication.

He’d exhausted his so many ‘free sessions’ under the mental health plan very quickly and was just living in limbo.

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OHIO
Cleveland.com

By Patrick Cooley, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on November 08, 2013

CLEVELAND, Ohio — More than 30 people were charged on suspicion of soliciting for sex in Cleveland in October, but only one made the news. That one was James McGonegal, pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a West Side Catholic church, and he is accused of soliciting sex from an off-duty ranger at Edgewater Park on Oct. 11.

McGonegal’s arrest made headlines in every major northeast Ohio media outlet. Reporters attended mass the weekend of his arrest, and camera crews from television stations camped out near the venerable stone church on Lorain Avenue, hoping to convince parishioners to speak on the record.

“It’s important to remember that many people are arrested for soliciting, and most of them are not priests,” said Candice Risen, a therapist for Levine, Risen and Associates, a Beachwood practice which deals with marital and sexual issues.

Priests however, tend to receive more scrutiny after such an arrest.

“Some would say it’s because of the anti-Catholic bias in the media,” said the Rev. Donald Cozzens, a writer in residence at John Carroll University.

But he said it’s more likely that their status as a moral authority makes their arrests more noticeable. Catholics tend to have a lofty notion of priesthood, Cozzens said, which can be difficult to live up to, and can make a public failure or embarrassment all the more biting.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

There is no attempt in this space or by this writer to negate or lessen in any way the impact upon the world of Pope Francis’ embrace of a severely physically disfigured man on Wednesday at the General Audience nor to negate or lessen the immensely heavy burden that this physically disfigured man carries day in and day out.

If you are not aware of this event, here is a link to a news story:

[CNN]

What we have to say is simply this:

Holy Father, this is what the survivors of sexual abuse by priests and nuns look like on the inside.

Embrace their suffering.

Listen to them.

Hear them.

Know them.

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ITALY
The Australian

THE head of the 431-year-old Catholic religious order that first used the Red Cross as a symbol for helping the sick was under arrest yesterday after allegedly kidnapping two priests so that they could not vote against his re-election.

Father Renato Salvatore, 58, was re-elected Superior General of the Order of Clerics Regular, Ministers of the Sick on May 13 in an alleged plot worthy of a Dan Brown novel.

The Camillians, founded by St Camillus de Lellis in 1582, became known for the large Red Cross its members wore on their black cassocks as they tended to those afflicted by the plague.

The group, which counts more than 1000 clergy and 20,000 lay staff, runs hospitals, convalescent homes and AIDS clinics in 35 countries.

Prosecutors allege that Father Salvatore only won re-election, beating the Irish priest Frank Monks, because two “grand electors” were illegally detained during the vote. Father Rosario Messina and Father Antonio Puca, who backed Father Monks, were allegedly told to get into a car because they had been summoned for questioning by police in Rome. They were taken to a police station where two officers, who were alleged accomplices in the scheme, interrogated them for hours.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Examining the “Towards Healing” process: a submission to Australia’s national Royal Commission in 2013, prepared by WAYNE CHAMLEY, of Broken Rites Australia (updated 8 November 2013)

The Broken Rites executive team has gained first-hand experience and insights into the “response” processes that are followed by the various church and religious organisations. In regards to the Catholic Church’s process “Towards Healing”, our executive team has worked directly with many individual victims over the years. These victims have sought to have their claims heard by the Catholic Church and some have been less than satisfied by their experience of the process and the behaviour of church representatives.

We have also been contacted by many other victims who chose not to seek any advice or support at an early stage. Instead, these people made contact with us after they had gone to “Towards Healing”.

Towards Healing – principles, provisions and procedures

Since 1996, in Australia, a person who experienced sexual or extreme physical abuse while in a catholic-run institution, school, parish etc, has been able to seek to have a complaint considered by entering the church’s process or by resorting to civil litigation. In 1996 the Catholic bishops and the Heads of Religious Orders in Australia released the document “Towards Healing” and since that time many complaints have been brought to the attention of church officials, by persons entering this internal process, in good faith.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Broken Rites is pleased that Australia’s national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the Catholic Church’s so-called “Towards Healing” process, which claims to “help” the church’s abuse-victims. Broken Rites has been researching “Towards Healing” since 1996, and this article sums up some of our main findings so far. This Broken Rites article demonstrates how “Towards Healing” is really a business strategy, designed to protect the church’s assets and its corporate image.

The Royal Commission’s hearings about “Towards Healing” are scheduled to begin on Monday 9 December 2013 and will continue for two weeks.

The Catholic Church in Australia operates its “Towards Healing” scheme to receive (and respond to) complaints from the church’s sex-abuse victims. Broken Rites found that Towards Healing was designed in conjunction with the church’s lawyers, its accountants and its insurance company. The name “Towards Healing” is the kind of brand-name that could be inspired by any public-relations consultant or advertising firm.

In some cases, Towards Healing might give help a victim to “heal” but this help is incidental to the primary object – the church’s business strategy.

The Towards Healing scheme is conducted in association with the Catholic Church’s own insurance company, Catholic Church Insurances Limited (CCI). CCI has stated that this company “carries the burden of salary and support staff” for Towards Healing and, furthermore, that CCI will “provide practical support” for any future fine-tuning of the Towards Healing system.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Sylvia

A number of people have been asking questions regarding the pending sex abuse trial of Oblate priest Father Eric Dejaeger.

Here then is a brief update. I have spoken to persons close to the case. This is far from an exhaustive account of what to anticipate, but is to give a general idea and to answer questions which have been posed to me. Remember that time lines can change due an unexpected change in circumstances, and the setting of dates for verdict and sentencing depend on both the time the judge feels he/she needs or wants, and the common availability on any given date of a courtroom, judge, defence and the Crown.

(1) The Edmonton charges will be prosecuted in Edmonton, Alberta. There will have to be a change in dates there: his preliminary hearing in Edmonton is scheduled for 2-3 December 2013. Since he will be at trial in Iqaluit that if course is impossible. As soon as a new date is set I will pass it on

(2) Douglas Curliss, a prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada Regional Office in Saskatoon, is the lead prosecutor for the case. He will be assisted by Scott Hughes of Iqaluit, and Barry Nordine, formerly of Iqaluit and now of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

(3) The trial is scheduled to start 18 November 2013 and will run until 20 December 2013. That’s five weeks vs the ten weeks originally scheduled some time back. The ten weeks were based on estimates at the time;.

(4) The witnesses will travel to Iqaluit, Nunavut. Most witnesses live in Igloolik. Those who travel to Iqualuit will be in the city for a short time, long enough to get settled prior to taking the stand, and then back home after testifying.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Allan “Kitch” Kitchingman will be the object of the third “case study” in the present set by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The first one was on Steven Larkins (see previous posting) and the second was on Jonathan Lord (see previous posting).

The first two covered associations with Scouts Australia and the YMCA (New South Wales state branch). This one will relate to the Anglican Church of Australia, known elsewhere as the Church of England or the Episcopalian Church. However, it will be restricted to the Grafton and Newcastle dioceses in New South Wales, so people like Anglican Primate, Phillip Aspinall (see previous postings), are off the hook.

But Back to Allan Kitchingman. He was an Anglican pastor who, as the “chaplain” to the North Coast Children’s Home, abused an inmate in 1975. For this he pleaded guilty, and was imprisoned for 21/2 years, in 2002, with parole in February 2004. His victim described the sentence as a “joke”. This victim claims the priest assaulted him “several times a week for a year” and that church officials put him on a bus to Kings Cross, in Sydney, after complaints were made. Hence, the enquiry must investigate the church’s response to the Kitchingman allegations.

Kitchingman went on to become parish pastor at the St. Cuthbert’s church at Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales – Queensland state border. His name was entered on the church’s national professional standards register according to the terms of a church canon in 2007.

Nevertheless, his name still appears on the Honour Roll of the church for his time as pastor from 1981-1988. The church’s website refers to his time there as having “seen growth in the work with children and youth.” Apparently, to the church officials, paedophilia means “working” with children.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

[letter from the school]

KANSAS CITY – A brother at O’Hara High School has been fired after a student allegedly found a “suspicious photo” on his computer. Investigators said a student last week borrowed Geimer’s computer to print a paper.

When she was finished, she closed the file and the photo allegedly popped up.

In a letter sent home to parents yesterday, school leaders said Brother Richard Geimer was fired on Monday, but there was no reason to believe the photo involved O’Hara students.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

By: 41 Action News Staff
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An O’Hara High School teacher has been fired after a “suspicious” picture was found on his school computer Monday.

Brother Richard Geimer taught at O’Hara but just three days after a tip to school officials, he was out of a job and cut off from the Diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph.

41 Action News asked the church’s internal investigator, if Monday’s report was the first time anyone had complained about inappropriate behavior by brother Geimer and but said they couldn’t comment on that.

Church officials said a parent came forward to say her child had seen a “disturbing” photo while using Geimer’s computer.

According to a release from the school’s principal, John O’Connor said Wednesday that the school does not believe the picture involves an O’Hara student and so far, no charges have been filed.
“We think its really important to be, to take swift, decisive action when it involves the safety of children and we also think its very important to be open and transparent in that action,” Jenifer Valenti, Ombudsman for the Diocese of Kansas City- St, Joseph said.

The church moved quickly to suspend Geimer and called the police who seized his computer the next day.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

[with video]

By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer
By Heather Staggers, Reporter

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
Police are investigating an alleged porn report at a local Catholic high school.

Kansas City police said they have opened an investigation after a report of porn found on a computer at Archbishop O’Hara High School. The school is located near James A Reed Road and East 90th Terrace.

A note was sent to parents explaining that the school’s principal, John O’Connor, was told on Monday about a photo that is suspicious and sexual in nature on Brother Richard Geimer’s computer.

School officials said a female student used the staff member’s computer to print something and she noticed a lewd picture on it. She told her mother who then contacted the school.

Police went to the school, retrieved the computer belonging to Geimer and are investigating.

O’Connor said he initially placed Geimer on administrative leave and notified police. Officials with the school and the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph then decided to fire Geimer.

Below is the letter sent home to parents:

“Dear Archbishop O’Hara Parents,

“On Monday, November 4th, I became aware of a suspicious photographic file on Brother Richard Geimer’s computer. That day he was placed on administrative leave, he left the property, and the police were notified. On November 5th, the police were on site; his computer was reviewed and taken by authorities.

“Based upon information we know ourselves and what was provided by the police, there is no reason to believe the suspicious file involved O’Hara students. At this point, the investigation is in the hands of civil authorities. With the investigation pending, I will not be able to disclose further information regarding particulars of the allegation at this point.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

November 7, 2013, by Michelle Pekarsky, Charly Arnolt and Macradee Aegerter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A letter sent home to parents of Archbishop O’Hara High School students on Wednesday indicated a school staff member has been fired after a suspicious photographic file was found on his computer. It has been described as suspicious, disturbing and it involves a youth.

Brother Richard Geimer was first placed on administrative leave on Monday and left the property, located at 9001 James A. Reed Road. John O’Connor, O’Hara High School principal said that at that time, he called to notify police.

Jack Smith, the Director of Communications with the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said that a senior student alerted school administrators to the file. She discovered it after receiving permission to use Brother Geimer’s computer during school hours to print a document.

Based on information provided to them by police, O’Connor said he, Bishop Robert Finn and Superintendent Dan Peters, determined there was sufficient cause to permanently terminate Brother Geimer. A determination to fire him was made before an FBI cyber-crimes task force had completed its investigation because O’Connor found the pictures inappropriate enough to warrant termination.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 8, 2013

ANGLICANS across Australia will be ‘‘disappointed’’ with the church as the royal commission exposes child sexual abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home, Newcastle Anglican Bishop Administrator Peter Stuart says.

‘‘They will wonder why we [the church] made these decisions and quite rightly they’ll be listening to the way the royal commission investigates these practices,’’ he said yesterday, almost a year since the royal commission was announced by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard on November 12, 2012.

It was ‘‘an important royal commission, making it clear to the wider community that child sexual abuse is not acceptable in the community’’.

It occurred ‘‘in places we thought we could trust, including the church’’.

He encouraged victims to speak to the royal commission, or make contact with the diocese’s professional standards unit on 1800 774945.

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RUSSIA
Interfax

Moscow, November 8, Interfax – Svetlana Nekrasova, who visited summer camp in Konevets with her daughter in Priest Gleb Grozovsky’s shift, believes a possible reason for accusing the priest in seduction of two schoolgirls could be the priest’s conflict with the girl’s father.

“The man should have taken Father Gleb to the airport in his car as the priest had to go on a trip before the shift was over. However, at the last moment the man refused and rowed with the priest. He called me personally and said he had enough money “to close” Father Gleb for a long time,” Nekrasova was quoted as saying by the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.

According to her, such a reaction of the parent was a result of the rumors which several girls, including Nekrasova’s daughter, spread in the camp. Finally, father of one of the priest’s wards believed that the priest tried to seduce them and started threatening him. Eyewitnesses believe that the girls could slander Father Gleb out of childish jealousy as, according to the priest’s sister, “he has often become an object of girls’ love.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 8, 2013

THE late Newcastle Anglican Bishop James Housden kept a ‘‘very careful watch’’ on Allan Kitchingman when the former ‘‘nightclub entertainer’’ and major record company public relations officer studied to be a priest at St John’s College, Morpeth, from 1960.

That was because of Kitchingman’s ‘‘earlier background and associations’’, the bishop said in a letter in 1968.

But when Kitchingman was charged with a ‘‘child sex matter’’ in 1968, the bishop offered his immediate support and pledged to keep him in the ministry ‘‘under a bishop who would be fully informed of the circumstances’’.

Two weeks later, in late December 1968, Kitchingman was interviewed by a Grafton Bishop and appointed to Lismore parish, which included the church-run North Coast Children’s Home.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

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

The pastor of a Middlesex County church has been barred from ministry indefinitely following an accusation that he sexually abused a developmentally disabled man in the 1990s.

In a letter read aloud at St. James the Less Church in Jamesburg last weekend, Metuchen Bishop Paul Bootkoski alerted parishioners to the allegation against the Rev. Kevin P. Duggan, 59.

Duggan, who has served at six parishes in the diocese, “adamantly denies these charges,” Bootkoski wrote.

The claim was brought to the diocese in April by the accuser’s caretaker. In July, the alleged victim spoke with the Diocesan Review Board, a panel of lay people and clergy members who examine allegations of sex abuse.

That same month, Duggan took a leave of absence from the church for treatment of alcoholism, Bootkoski wrote. Duggan spent the next four months at Guest House, a Minnesota treatment center for Catholic clergy members with substance abuse problems.

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ALASKA
KTVA

ANCHORAGE – A deacon convicted earlier this year for possession of child pornography was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday.

Donald T. Johnson, 62, had no criminal record when he was arrested in early January. Alaska State Troopers said Johnson possessed thousands of videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as 8. Detectives with the Anchorage Police Department worked with troopers to investigate the case: They determined Johnson had not physically harmed any children in Alaska, although his wife worked as a daycare provider.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified some of the children depicted in the material Johnson shared and saved as victims in previous abuse cases.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Tim Wyatt

Posted: 08 Nov 2013

A MARRIED priest who had an affair with an 18-year-old woman from his youth group has been suspended from ministry for eight years.

The priest, the Revd Paul Meier, aged 47, admitted misconduct before a disciplinary tribunal of the diocese of Chichester on 24 October. He was suspended from his post at St Margaret’s in Horsmonden, Kent, last year.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Joanne Hunt

Thu, Nov 7, 2013

Some of the survivors of the Magdalene laundries will receive their first compensation payments from the State before Christmas, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said.

Accepting in June this year the recommendation of Judge John Quirke that a cash lump sum payment based on the duration of stay in the laundries be paid to the women, the Government tasked an inter-departmental group with considering how to implement other recommendations made by the judge.

The group’s report was reviewed by Government this week and details of the scheme were finalised.

In the next four to six weeks, the Department of Justice will pay eligible women a tax-free sum of between €11,500 and €100,000, depending on the duration of their stay in the laundries. Amounts of more than €50,000 will be paid in weekly instalments, as recommended by Judge Quirke.

Women who have registered an expression of interest with the department or submitted an application but who have passed away before payment will receive a lump sum of €50,000, paid to their estate.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Entorno Inteligente

[Summary: Judge Yanet Bernabel on Thursday began hearing objection to admissibility of the complaint against priest Juan Manuel Mota de Jesus, also known as Padre Johnny. He is accused to sexually abusing several women in his pastoral work. The priests lawyers have asked that the complaint be dismissed.]

El Caribe / El Constanza.− La jueza Yanet Bernabel inició este jueves la audiencia de objeción a la admisibilidad de la querella contra el sacerdote Juan Manuel Mota de Jesús (padre Johnny), quien está acusado de abusar sexualmente de varias mujeres durane su labor pastoral.

Los abogados del cura nueva vez pidieron que sea sobreseído el caso hasta tanto el procurador general de la República, Francisco Javier García, se pronuncie con relación al pedido del abogado de las alegadas víctimas, que en su momento pidió la inhibición del procurador de la Corte de Apelación de La Vega, Víctor González, y el fiscal del distrito judicial de Constanza, Fernando Quezada.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

[The Foundation of Abuse – Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command]

by Tim Wyatt

Posted: 08 Nov 2013

CHILDREN within hierarchical institutions – including churches – are particularly at risk of being sexually abused, a new report has warned.

The report, The Foundations of Abuse, was compiled by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command, part of the new National Crime Agency. It analyses institutional sexual abuse of children in the UK. The Church of England was among the organisations consulted.

The authors of the report state that “There is something about institutions, as environments for child sexual abuse, which appears to aggravate the vulnerability of potential victims, and amplifies the power over them that abusers can exercise.”

Rigid, hierarchical, often male-dominated and closed organisations can subsume people into a structure where they feel unable to challenge abuse, the report says. “There is a complete submission to authority, leaving individuals powerless and blind to their rights.

“In pursuance of the institution’s goals, staff are unable to see signs of abuse, or, if they do, are fearful for their careers if they report it.”

Institutional sexual abuse of children is a product of a “malign climate” within organisations which leaves an offender’s propensity to abuse unchecked, the report suggests.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Paul Handley

Posted: 08 Nov 2013

THE horrors of child sexual abuse were laid out once more in Panorama this week. The programme featured two victims: one of the several boys abused at Downside, the Roman Catholic school, and a woman who, at the age of 12, had been raped by a porter at Stoke Mandeville Hospital who turned out to be Jimmy Savile. The now familiar tale was told of ignored reports and cover-ups, prompting the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, to argue that the reporting of child abuse to the police should be made mandatory for those working in certain institutions. No list was given, but schools and churches are obvious candidates.

On the face of it, mandatory reporting makes sense. It would help to prevent the persistent offending by abusers who escape exposure because their employers wish to avoid scandal. It would help to convince victims that their witness will be taken seriously. It is, however, an awkward precedent to criminalise a specific type of non-disclosure, especially when existing laws cover the most egregious examples. There is also a danger that it would take a degree of control away from victims. Increasing numbers go directly to the police; those who choose to tell somebody else might well be nervous of the police’s involvement. The shadow of compulsion hanging over any sort of disclosure could act as an inhibitor. In any case, a change in the law is possibly unnecessary. Recent moves made by the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, among others, mean that the police are now brought in as a matter of course.

Another instance when a mandatory element would cut across existing practices is the confessional. The code of conduct for clergy, drawn up in 2003, restates: “There can be no disclosure of what is confessed to a priest.” This principle is respected in civil courts, though this might not remain the case for all time. The code refers specifically to abuse: “Where abuse of children or vulnerable adults is admitted in the context of confession, the priest should urge the person to report his or her behaviour to the police or social services, and should also make this a condition of absolution, or withhold absolution until this evidence of repentance has been demonstrated.” Confession would lose its efficacy if a penitent withheld information out of fear that the confessor might be forced to reveal it.

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MINNESOTA/ARIZONA
Duluth News Tribune

By: Tom Olsen, Duluth News Tribune

A former Duluth high school teacher convicted of sexually abusing two students now is working as the choir director at an Arizona church, and that has drawn the ire of an abuse victims’ advocacy group.

Eric Holtan, 42, who taught music classes at Duluth East High School, admitted in 2000 that he had repeated sexual contact with 15-year-old and 16-year-old students. He since has relocated to Tucson, Ariz., where he now serves as the choir director for Dove of Peace Lutheran Church.

“It’s inherently reckless to put a convicted child molester in any position of authority over kids,” David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told the News Tribune.

“Either church officials and others in Tucson were irresponsible and did little or no background check, or even worse, they knew about his crimes and put him around unsuspecting families and vulnerable kids regardless,” Clohessy said.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

JAMES CAMPBELL HERALD SUN NOVEMBER 08, 2013

CLERGY who fail to report child abuse by their colleagues should face jail, a landmark state parliamentary inquiry is set to recommend.

After more than 160 hearings over nine months, Australia’s first parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations will table its findings next week.

The findings of the committee, which considered more than 400 submissions, are scathing of the Catholic Church’s actions over several decades, sources have told the Herald Sun.

The committee will recommend a new criminal offence be created for ministers of religion who fail to report physical or sexual abuse of children by other clergy.

The inquiry was set up following 2011’s inquiry into the child protection system by retired Supreme Court judge Philip Cummins.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 8, 2013

NEWCASTLE man Steven Smith has a simple message for victims of child sexual abuse almost a year to the day since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse was announced.

‘‘It’s time to speak,’’ he said, as the Anglican Church braces itself for the next round of royal commission public hearings starting on November 18, and the ugly truth about a Hunter priest and the church that protected him.

The royal commission will hear evidence about former ‘‘nightclub entertainer’’/Anglican priest Allan Kitchingman, who was convicted of a ‘‘child sex matter’’ in Newcastle in 1968 and immediately transferred to Grafton diocese where he sexually assaulted a child in 1975 at the church-run North Coast Children’s Home.

The evidence will include the role of the late Newcastle Anglican Bishop James Housden, who organised the Grafton transfer because he was ‘‘anxious to help him [Kitchingman] in every way possible whatever the result of the trial’’.

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COLORADO
Daily Camera

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

The woman who alleges she was sexually abused by a youth pastor at VineLife Church while she was a minor reported it to Boulder police because she feared the church would not take the matter seriously after attending a meeting with church leaders, according to police reports released Thursday.

Jason Allen Roberson, 35, the son of VineLife’s senior pastor, Walt Roberson, is facing six felony charges in relation to the alleged abuse.

Four other church officials — Executive Pastor Robert Phillip Young, 65, Pastor Luke Michael Humbrecht, 30, and church elders Edward Charles Bennell, 65, and Warren Lloyd Williams, 66 — have been ticketed for failing to report child abuse, with an unnamed fifth person still due to be ticketed.

The victim, Danielle DesGeorges, also is suing Roberson and VineLife Church in Boulder District Court. The Daily Camera generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse, but does have a policy of naming them in cases in which they initiate civil litigation.

DesGeorges, who lives in Boulder and is now 24, went to police in April and told investigators that she and Roberson had an inappropriate relationship that began when she was 15 and continued for seven years.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Colin Campbell, The Baltimore Sun

10:01 p.m. EST, November 7, 2013

A former Archbishop Curley High School student is accusing a Catholic priest and former teacher at the school with sexually abusing him on several occasions, according to a news release from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The priest, Fr. Michael Kolodziej, 69, has been suspended from the priesthood. He taught at Curley from 1975-79, during which time the former student says he “wrestled him” and abused him.

Kolodziej was ordained in Buffalo, N.Y., and has spent more than 30 years as a priest and teacher across several states.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER and TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune staff writers
Updated: November 7, 2013

A Catholic priest known by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for sexual misconduct was sued Thursday — the first of what attorneys say will be multiple lawsuits against him and the archdiocese.

The Rev. Jerome C. Kern was accused in a lawsuit of “sexual battery” involving an Edina boy from 1972 to 1976. Kern had been transferred to our Our Lady of Grace Church in Edina in 1969, after parents at his St. Paul church informed the archdiocese that he had sexually fondled their two school-age sons, attorneys said.

The lawsuit, in Ramsey County District Court, also names the archdiocese on civil charges related to its transfer of Kern to that church without addressing his alleged problems and without notifying families.

The plaintiff, now a man in his 50s, is one of at least 10 people abused by Kern that the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates is aware of, attorney Mike Finnegan said. The firm is preparing three more suits against Kern, he said.

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KENTUCKY
WDRB

By Courtney Godfrey

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A former Louisville priest accused of sexual abuse will stand trial.

After hearing from witnesses on both sides, Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry decided that James Schook is competent enough to stand trial.

Schook is charged with sexually abusing teenage boys in the 1970s. He currently faces seven charges of sodomy.

During a competency hearing Thursday, the defense attorney called Schook’s brothers to the stand. They both described him as forgetful, paranoid, and lethargic.

“He should be dead. According to the statistics with what he has, he should be dead,” said Jesse Schook.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

By: Leslie Dyste

A lawsuit was filed Thursday on behalf of a man who said he was abused by the Rev. Jerome Kern while he was at Our Lady of Grace in Edina.

Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan announced the lawsuit at a press conference Thursday in St. Paul, which names Kern and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as defendants.

The victim, who is now in his 50s, alleges he was abused when he was between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. The suit says the Archdiocese let Kern continue working with kids even after there were reports of misconduct. The earliest reports were received in 1969, and Kern remained in the ministry until 2002, according to the attorneys.

The victim was not named, but another man who claims he was also sexually abused by Kern spoke out about abuse Thursday.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

[lawsuit and documents]

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/07/2013 12:01:00 AM CST | UPDATED: 109 MIN. AGO

A priest who worked in St. Paul and Forest Lake parishes was sued Thursday by a man who alleges the priest sexually abused him after archdiocese officials covered up earlier reports of abuse.

The Rev. Jerome Kern, now 72, was serving as a priest at Our Lady of Grace in Edina when he “engaged in unpermitted sexual contact” for several years in the 1970s with the plaintiff, identified as Doe 26, the suit claims. The man, now in his 50s, was 12 to 16 years old at the time, he said.

Kern had come from an assignment at the Church of St. Mark in St. Paul — where reports of at least two abused children came to the archdiocese, said the suit, filed in Ramsey County District Court.

“Upon receiving complaints about Kern’s involvement with the two children, the archdiocese transferred Kern to Our Lady of Grace” in Edina, the lawsuit says.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Nic Rigby
BBC News

Former residents of a Catholic orphanage who claim they suffered physical and sexual abuse have expressed anger at a police decision to end an inquiry into the allegations.

In May Bedfordshire Police said it had started an investigation into abuse at the St Francis Boys Home in Shefford in the 1950s and 1960s.

Police said they had ended the inquiry as there was no-one alive to prosecute.

Ex-resident Tony Walsh said he was “disgusted” at the development.

The BBC has talked to former residents of the home who allege they were physically and/or sexually abused at the orphanage, run by the Catholic diocese of Northampton.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

06 NOVEMBER 2013

THE high-ups in the Catholic Church must wonder betimes if the fairies tiptoed into Enda’s room on the night he was crowned Taoiseach and left a changeling in his place.

For instead of getting a head of government who set his face firmly towards a conservative agenda while paying unquestioning obeisance to the church, they were landed with a leader who delivered a landmark eloquent denouncement of the Vatican’s response to child sex abuse scandals – in his excoriating address to the Dail on the Cloyne Report in 2011 – and who oversaw the passage of abortion legislation through the Oireachtas this summer.

And if this wasn’t enough for the religious hierarchy, Enda Kenny’s Government has now announced that a referendum on same-sex marriage will take place sometime in 2015.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Posted by: Baird Helgeson Updated: November 7, 2013

A group of Catholics plan to hold a rally outside the Cathedral of St. Paul on Saturday to ask Archbishop John Nienstedt to step aside.

The Catholic Coalition for Church Reform is holding the event in the wake of mounting criticism of the way the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has handled a new wave of clergy sexual misconduct allegations.

“We can’t heal until the divisive figure is gone, and Archbishop Nienstedt is the divisive figure himself,” Paula Ruddy, party of Catholic Coalition for Church Reform. “Until then, we have no hope.”

The archbishop told the Star Tribune on Wednesday night he has no intention of stepping down and is taking numerous concrete steps to root out bad priests and restore faith and confidence in church leadership.

The Catholic group has rallied outside the Cathedral before, concerned about Nienstedt’s public statements and deep spending to block same-sex marriage. But members have never before called for him to step down.

Ruddy said the group tried to reach out to Nienstedt since 2009, believing that an open dialog would relieve their concerns. They have not been successful getting time with Nienstedt.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — James Schook, a Louisville Catholic Priest accused of sexually abusing two teenage boys in the ‘70s, was found competent to stand trial, on Nov. 7 and will go to trial on March 31 at 1 p.m.

Schook entered the courtroom using a walker, and kept his eyes closed for most of Thursday’s hearing.
A former member of Schook’s congregation, Helen Deines, testified she saw him without a walker at a Panera Bread on Sept. 27 of this year and was acting fine.

Deines teaches social work at Spalding on how to observe and diagnose patients.

Schook’s brothers testified that James Schook cannot take care of himself and he can’t make decisions. His brothers also say he needs constant care.

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KENTUCKY
Daily News

Posted: Thursday, November 7, 2013

Associated Press

A judge has ruled that a terminally ill Catholic priest accused of abusing two boys at a Louisville church in the 1970s is not too sick to stand trial on sodomy charges.

A state doctor called by prosecutors testified Thursday that she examined the Rev. James Schook in July and concluded that he can “rationally participate in his defense.”

Schook is suffering from skin cancer and other ailments and doctors have said the disease is terminal. He appeared in court Thursday but did not speak during the two-hour hearing.

Schook’s attorney, David Lambertus, said the priest’s health has steadily degraded since he was examined over the summer and relatives testified that Schook requires round-the-clock care.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Brian Bowling

Published: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

A former pastor in Charleroi admitted in federal court Thursday that he viewed child pornography and traveled to Thailand to meet teen boys.

David Dzermejko, 65, of Braddock pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh released a statement saying it had no knowledge of the criminal activity, and noted that Bishop David Zubik told priests and deacons in January that “viewing child pornography is a criminal act for which society will hear no excuse, accept no extenuating circumstances, or grant any mercy.”

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer scheduled Dzermejko’s sentencing for March 20.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bloch said Microsoft Corp. notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a SkyDrive user by the name of Lord Winchester Cuthbert Thurston VII uploaded a nude image of a prepubescent child on Dec. 21.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Lawsuit alleges church officials knew priest abused children as early as 1969; kept him in ministry

[lawsuit and documents – Jeff Anderson and Associates]

by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
November 7, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A new lawsuit alleges that top officials in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis allowed a priest to continue working with children despite reports that he sexually abused children as early as 1969.

The Rev. Jerome Kern was a “serial offender” who abused victims at three parishes over his 35 years in ministry, according to the lawsuit, filed by St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday morning against Kern and the archdiocese, Anderson’s client — a man in his 50s named in court records as “Doe 26” — alleges Kern sexually abused him in the 1970s when the alleged victim was 12 to 16 years old. Despite numerous reports to archdiocesan officials over the years, the Catholic church moved Kern from parish to parish rather than barring him from ministry, Anderson said.

“Promises were made to the moms and to the kids that something would be done and he would be removed,” Anderson said. “Instead, those promises were broken.”

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MASSACHUSETTS/MARYLAND
WGGB

BALTIMORE, Md. (WGGB) — A priest, who spent ten years serving at a Chicopee church, has been accused of sexual abuse in Maryland.

Archdiocese of Baltimore spokesperson Sean Caine says in a statement that a former student of Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore alleges that 69-year-old Father Michael Kolodziej abused him on several occasions “while Fr. Kolodziej wrestled him” from 1975 to 1979.

Caine adds that Kolodziej has held several positions at churches and Catholic schools along the east coast since his ordination in 1970, including serving at St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee from 1991 to 2001.

Upon learning of the allegation, officials at Archbishop Curley High alerted authorities, Caine says, who adds that police have also been notified.

The school, The Order of Friars Minor Conventual, of which Kolodziej is a member, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore are cooperating in the investigation.

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MARYLAND
ABC 2

By: WMAR Staff

BALTIMORE – A priest and former Catholic school teacher has been suspended following allegations of abuse against a minor, the Archdiocese of Baltimore released Thursday.

Father Michael Kolodziej was accused of abusing a former student at Archbishop Curley High School. The 69-year-old priest taught at the high school between 1975 and 1979.

“A former student from this time period has alleged that he was abused on several occasions while Fr. Kolodziej wrestled him,” the release from the Archdiocese states. “Archbishop Curley High School reported the allegation immediately to authorities, and the police were promptly informed; the School, the Order, and the Archdiocese, which owns Archbishop Curley High School, are cooperating fully with authorities.”

Kolodziej was suspended from all public ministry. Officials in the Catholic community are unaware of any further allegations against Kolodziej.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

Thursday, November 07, 2013

Robert Lang and Associated Press

Police are investigating an allegation that a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused a student while he was teaching at Baltimore’s Archbishop Curley High School in the 1970s.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore says it’s cooperating with the investigation of the Rev. Michael Kolodziej , a Franciscan Friar who taught at Curley from 1975 to 1979. Kolodziej is 69 years old and most recently served as vicar of a parish in Jonesboro, Ga. He has been suspended from public ministry.

The archdiocese said in a statement Thursday that a former student has alleged that Kolodziej abused him on several occasions while they were wrestling.

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UNITED STATES
Nonprofit Quarterly

WRITTEN BY RICK COHEN
CREATED ON THURSDAY, 07 NOVEMBER 2013

A commentary by Christa Brown, a self-identified survivor of Baptist clergy sexual abuse, addresses how churches should deal with sex abuse allegations, but the lessons that extend much beyond both the issue of sexual abuse and the institution of churches.

Brown’s commentary is in response to a statement by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Paige Patterson, who has been teaching Baptist seminaries that churches should solve their own issues internally and not turn to or open up to “the world of unbelief.” It’s clear in Brown’s quotes that Patterson is suggesting that persons who have been “offended…misused and abused” within the Baptist church should be keeping the information within the church and not talking to the courts, the press, or the government.

“This insular sort of anti-outsider stance is dreadfully dangerous,” Brown writes. “Yet, for decades, it has been a common Baptist teaching, and tragically, it is now being inculcated into still another generation of Baptist pastors.” She argues that “outsiders are essential to any organizational system of accountability. They bring objectivity and detachment, and these ingredients are critical for the effectiveness and credibility of an accountability system. Without outsiders, you get cover-ups and cronyism.”

Because of the likelihood that churches typically accept an accused pastor’s word in allegations of clergy sexual abuse, Christa argues, “not only should they go to outsiders, but they must go to outsiders.” Beyond turning to the law, which actually requires the reporting of sexual abuse, she points out that most other religions have clergy accountability systems, but the Southern Baptists apparently don’t. “If a Southern Baptist pastor isn’t literally sitting in prison,” Christa charges, “he can probably find a pulpit to stand in. The denomination has no alternative system for stopping him.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Nov. 7, 2013 NCR Today

Fall bishops’ meeting 2013

When the U.S. bishops meet Nov. 11-14 in Baltimore, people expect them to discuss the pastoral priorities facing the church in the United States. Instead, they are dealing with minor liturgical translations, a statement on pornography, and political conflicts over contraception and gay marriage. It is as if they have not heard anything Pope Francis said in the last eight months.

If Pope Francis dropped in on their meeting, what would he say to them? I doubt he would waste much time talking about their agenda. Instead, he would challenge them, as he did the Latin American bishops when he talked to them in Brazil.

In his July 27 address to the Brazilian bishops and his address the next day to the episcopal council of CELAM, Pope Francis set forth his ecclesiology, his pastoral priorities for the church. In his address to the Brazilian bishops, he spoke of the church as a reconciler that restores what was broken and unites what was divided. He also spoke of a church of the heart that presents the beauty of God in a way that attracts and entices. He also called for the church to use simple language and avoid “an intellectualism foreign to our people.”

Francis then presented practical challenges for the Brazilian (and U.S.) bishops that follow from this ecclesiology:

• “Unless we train ministers capable of warming people’s hearts, of walking with them in the night, of dialoguing with their hopes and disappointments, of mending their brokenness, what hope can we have for our present and future journey?”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Sometimes, I find hope in odd places, like the “international” of yesterday’s New York Times.

On page one, there was a story about the hundreds of paintings that were stolen by Nazis and finally recovered decades later.

Inside, there was a story about records relating to Argentina’s “Dirty War.” Government officials have found a “trove of secret documents” that “provide rare insight” into “human rights abuses” that took place under Argentina’s dictatorship from 1976 – 1983.

Given the extent of the harm and wrongdoing in both cases, it would be easy to read them and feel depressed about how often and how severely authority figures abuse their authority.

But somehow, my “take away” is more hopeful. Both stories reminded me of Martin Luther King quotes:

“No lie lives forever.”

“The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.”

Both stories remind me that while evil often wins in the short term, good often prevails in the long term.

Church officials continue to win skirmishes. They get child sex abuse cases tossed out on technicalities. They deceive citizens and congregants, calling heinous child sex crimes “boundary issues” and “suspected misdeeds.” They persuade themselves and their hand-picked lay panels that abuse isn’t really abuse. They “explain away” their deliberate complicity, calling it “missteps” and “errors.” They keep sex offenders on the job, claiming that the “restrictions” they allegedly put on cunning criminals can somehow stop them from acting on their deeply-rooted and overwhelming compulsion to sexually violate others.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, 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 )

We are grateful that Springfield Catholic officials are disclosing credible child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Michael Kolodziej who belongs to a religious order called the Franciscans and who worked in Chicopee.

Far too often, bishops let religious order clerics into their dioceses but suddenly pretend they have no responsibility for them when they assault kids.

We are disappointed, however, that Bishop Timothy McDonnell is apparently having a notice about Fr. Kolodziej read at only one parish. Child molesting clerics don’t spend 100% of their time at their parish assignment. And they don’t just molest kids at the church where they happen to be working.

We strongly suspect that Fr. Kolodziej spent at least some time at three or four Springfield area parishes. We believe the notice should be read at churches throughout the diocese and posted in their bulletins.

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POLAND
The News

Poland’s attorney general has received investigation files concerning two Polish clerics accused of child abuse in the Dominican Republic.

“A cursory look at them has confirmed that they will be of value in the case, as we had hoped,” said Maciej Kujawski, spokesman for the attorney general.

The 650 documents have been passed on to the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw, but the office has declined to reveal whether any extradition request has been made.

“All the documents are in Spanish, and we cannot refer to their contents until the translation has been carried out,” said Przemyslaw Nowak, spokesman for the office.

At present, Poland has no extradition agreement with the Caribbean republic.

Father Wojciech Gil, who in recent months has been staying with family in a village near Krakow, stands accused of sexually abusing at least seven boys while he headed a parish in the highland town of Juncalito.

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former Vatican nuncio in the Dominican Republic, faces similar accusations, although his current whereabouts are unknown.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 7, 2013

By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After 10 years of downloading Internet pornography and periodic trips to Thailand to meet teenage boys, retired priest David F. Dzermejko faces a potential three to four years in prison following his guilty plea today.

Mr. Dzermejko, 65, now of Braddock, was formerly the pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church in Charleroi. He pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

In January 2013, he was living in an apartment provided by the Diocese of Pittsburgh near Bishop Canevin High School. A detective with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office got a tip from Microsoft Corp. that someone at that address, who used the online moniker “Lord Winchester Cuthberg Thurston VII” and an email address that included “DAWizard2” had uploaded an image of a naked, pre-pubescent child, according to assistant U.S. attorney Carolyn Bloch.

Agents assigned to the Crimes Against Children Task Force searched the apartment and Mr. Dzermejko admitted to looking at child pornography on the Internet for a decade, Ms. Bloch said. He also told agents that he had traveled “to Thailand on numerous occasions during which he would meet with teenage boys,” said the prosecutor, adding that he kept in touch with some of them through email.

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CONNECTICUT
Washington Post

Conn. college, others face more sex abuse lawsuits involving founder of Haiti school

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, November 7

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Fairfield University in Connecticut and others that supported a charity designed to help feed and educate boys in Haiti are facing additional lawsuits alleging children were sexually abused by a school founder.

The 21 new federal lawsuits, filed Thursday in Connecticut, allege the defendants, who also include the Society of Jesus of New England and others, were negligent in their hiring and supervision of Douglas Perlitz. The suits seek $20 million in damages for each victim.

The university and others reached a $12 million settlement in July with children sexually abused by Perlitz. He was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for sexually abusing boys who attended Project Pierre Toussaint School in Cap-Haitien.

Stanley Twardy Jr., an attorney for Fairfield University, declined to comment. A message left with a Jesuit spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

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NEW YORK
Daily Voice

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Amanda Iles, a former teacher at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, has been charged with rape of a 14-year-old boy while she was an employee at the school.

Between June 11 and July 14, 2013, Iles allegedly engaged in sexual encounters with the boy in Eastchester, according to a Westchester District Attorney release.

Iles reportedly knew the boy was a student at the school. The boy’s parents became aware of the encounters and contacted Yonkers police.

“As a teacher, this defendant was in a position of trust and authority,” District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in the statement. “In becoming involved with a student incapable of consent, she abused that privilege.”

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NEW YORK
Daily Voice

by Eric Gendron

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains said in a statement on Wednesday that the alleged improper relationship between Amanda Iles and a 14-year-old student happened after Iles resigned her position.

“We are deeply concerned with matters involving the well-being of our students who are our top priority,” spokesman Geoff Thompson said in the statement. “Stepinac has and will continue to fully cooperate with any investigation into this matter.”

Thompson reiterated that the investigation of the relationship is looking into dates after the last day of school at Stepinac.

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NEW YORK
PIX 11

A former teacher at a Westchester Catholic high school is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.

Amanda Iles, 27, was a teacher at Archbishop Stepinac High School, an all-boys school in White Plains.

According to authorities, the boy’s parents discovered he was having an inappropriate relationship with Illes and contacted Yonkers police. Illes and the boy allegedly had several sexual encounters between June 11 and July 14 of 2013.

Illes moved back to California recently but returned to New York to surrender to Eastchester police Wednesday morning.

“As a teacher, this defendant was in a position of trust and authority. In becoming involved with a student incapable of consent, she abused that privilege. Multi-jurisdictional detective work by police quickly led to the identification and arrest of the defendant,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore in a statement.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

WESTCHESTER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – A former teacher at a Catholic school in White Plains is under arrest for allegedly having sex with a teenage student, prosecutors said.

Between June 11 and July 14, prosecutors said Amanda Iles, 27, engaged in sexual encounters with a boy who was then 14. The boy was a student at Archbishop Stepinac High School where Iles taught religion, prosecutors said.

The victim’s parents became aware of the alleged encounters and contacted police.

Iles has been living in California, but returned and surrendered to authorities in Eastchester, 1010 WINS reported.

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NEW YORK
WABC

WHITE PLAINS (WABC) — A former high school religious teacher in Westchester County is accused of raping a teenage boy.

Amanda Iles is charged with two counts of rape.

Police say she had sex with a 14-year-old student over the summer.

At the time, she was a teacher in the religion department at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains.

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NEW YORK
Digital Journal

By Brett Wilkins
Nov 7, 2013

White Plains – A former teacher at a private Catholic boys’ high school in suburban New York accused of raping a 14-year-old student has turned herself in to authorities.

NBC New York reports 27-year-old Amanda Iles, formerly a teacher in the religion department at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, surrendered to police on Wednesday morning after returning to New York from California.

Lohud.com reports Iles was arraigned on two counts of second-degree rape for incidents investigators say occurred at her Eastchester home following the end of the last school year in June. The boy’s parents notified police after learning of the alleged illicit sexual relationship.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Luis said investigators have photo and video evidence of the illicit affair. Police said the evidence shows the couple engaged in sexual activity.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

A woman who taught at an all-boys Catholic high school in Yonkers surrendered to the police yesterday after allegedly raping a teen student. Amanda Iles, 27, had moved to California but returned to New York to face rape charges.

Iles is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student between June 11 and July 14 of this year. She resigned from her job in the religious studies department at Archbishop Stepinac High School before the alleged rape occurred. According to the Ossining Daily Voice, “Iles reportedly knew the boy was a student at the school. The boy’s parents became aware of the encounters and contacted Yonkers police.” The encounters allegedly took place in Eastchester.

Westchester DA Janet DiFiore said, “As a teacher, this defendant was in a position of trust and authority. In becoming involved with a student incapable of consent, she abused that privilege.”

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NEW YORK
News 12

[with video]

WHITE PLAINS – A former religion teacher at an all-boys Catholic school in White Plains has been accused of raping a 14-year-old boy.

Amanda Iles, who once taught at Stepinac High School, allegedly had sex with the Yonkers boy between June and July of this year. Investigators say she and the teen had several encounters at her home in Eastchester.

The boy’s parents allegedly learned of the incidents through cellphone video of their son’s visits. Iles tutored him twice a week after school.

Iles was employed by the school for only a year before resigning and moving to California. News 12 has learned that the student is no longer enrolled at the school.

School officials released a statement, saying they “are deeply concerned with matters involving the well-being of our students, who are our top priority.”

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

Alan Michaud, another Kern survivor, will speak publicly about reporting Kern to Fr. Kevin McDonough and Archdiocesan Officials in the early 1990s

Summons and Complaint
Father Jerome Kern Timeline
Heutmakers to Your Excellency
Memo from O’Connell 6-15-1987
O’Connell to Jemez Springs 6-17-1987
Memo from Kenney to O’Connell 11-17-1987
O’Connell to Gary Schoener 11-30-1987
Kern to Families 3-28-1988
Memo from Roach to Carlson, Ham, O’Connell, McDonough 2-23-1989

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MINNESITA
Star Tribune

[the lawsuit]

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER and TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune staff writers
Updated: November 7, 2013

A Catholic priest who was sued more than a decade ago for alleged sexual abuse of a child was sued again Thursday on behalf of another victim for abuse that allegedly took place after the priest was moved to an Edina parish in the mid-1970s.

The lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court against the Rev. Jerome C. Kern also names the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on civil charges related to placing Kern around children in parish settings. The suit alleges that the archdiocese moved the priest to Our Lady of Grace Church in Edina in the early 1970s after parents of two young teenage boys at St. Mark’s Church in St. Paul complained to archdiocese officials that Kern molested the boys during a swimming outing at Lake Nokomis in the summer of 1969.

The lawsuit said that Kern later sexually abused a boy at Our Lady of Grace from 1972 through 1976, when the child was 12 to 16 years old, according to the lawsuit. Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, the St. Paul attorneys who filed Thursday’s lawsuit, said the victim, now in his 50s, approached them recently about his experience in the wake of media coverage of priest sexual misconduct and reported coverups by the archdiocese.

The Kern lawsuit is at least the 19th filed against Minnesota Catholic clergy and leaders since a new state law took effect in late May. The law lifted the statute of limitations for lawsuits claiming clergy sexual abuse of children and it provides a three-year window for litigation of previously barred claims.

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ITALY
The Guardian (UK)

Tom Kington in Rome

The Guardian, Thursday 7 November 2013
The holy reputation of an Italian religious order that has nursed the sick since 1582 has taken a body blow after its leader was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and corruption.

Father Renato Salvatore, head of the Camillians, which offers medical care in 30 countries, is accused of hiring corrupt policemen to take two rival priests into custody on trumped-up accusations to stop them voting against his re-election.

Bearing red crosses on their cassocks, Camillians have tended to victims of plagues and wars through the centuries, inspired by their founder, Saint Camillus, an Italian soldier turned priest who described a hospital as “a house of God, a garden where the voices of the sick were music from heaven”.

The order also manages hospitals, and investigators believe Salvatore’s desire to control lucrative construction contracts, including at one hospital in Casoria, near Naples, pushed him to try to fix his re-election in May.

Working with an accountant, Paolo Oliviero, it is alleged, Salvatore convinced two tax police officers to haul in two priests, Rosario Messina and Antonio Puca, for questioning about property deals on the day of ballot, seizing their mobile phones to prevent them from alerting the order.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A Catholic priest who was jailed for sexually abusing three young girls more than 40 years ago is to continue his fight to clear his name at the UK’s highest court.

In 2010, Father Eugene Lewis was handed a four-year jail sentence following his abuse convictions.

He was freed last year, however, after partially winning his appeal and having the jail term reduced to two years and nine months.

The 78-year-old has already successfully appealed three of the 11 indecent assault charges he was convicted of.

On Thursday, senior judges in Belfast refused to endorse his application to challenge the remaining convictions at the Supreme Court.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Catholic priest jailed for sexually abusing young girls more than 40 years ago is to take his fight to clear his name to the UK’s highest court.

Fr Eugene Lewis has already successfully appealed three of 11 indecent assault charges he was found guilty of committing.

Senior judges in Belfast have denied his application to go before the Supreme Court on the remaining counts.

But his lawyers confirmed he will now make a direct petition for a hearing.

They argue a point of law of general public importance has been established.

In 2010 the 78-year-old priest was sentenced to four years in prison for molesting three girls.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Fox 45

Updated: Thursday, November 7 2013

A priest at the Archdiocese of Baltimore and former High School teacher has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor. Father Kolodziej, 69, has been suspended from all public ministry and the Archbishop has withdrawn Fr. Kolodziej’s faculties to function as a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Kolodziej was a teacher at Archbishop Curley High School from 1975-79.

A former student from this time period has alleged that he was abused on several occasions while Kolodziej wrestled him. The allegations were reported to authorities by Archbishop Curley High School.

“The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Order, and Archbishop Curley High School are unaware of any other allegations of misconduct against Fr. Kolodziej during his time at Archbishop Curley High School,” The Archdiocese of Baltimore said in a statement released on Thursday.

“Anyone who has any knowledge of child sexual abuse is urged to come forward, and to report it immediately to the police. If clergy or other Church personnel are suspected of committing the abuse, please also call the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5348.”

After serving at Archbishop Curley High School, Kolodziej served as teacher and assistant principal at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, NY (1979-82), principal at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Tonawanda, NY (1982-88), pastor at Holy Trinity Parish in Lawrence, MA (1988-91), rector at St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee, MA (1991-2001), Minister Provincial of the Order in Ellicott City, MD (2001-2010), and parochial vicar at St. Philip Benizi Parish in Jonesboro, GA from 2010 until his recent suspension.

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MASSACHUSETTS
iBerkshires

12:33PM / Thursday, November 07, 2013

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has released the following statement regarding allegations of sexual abuse by the Rev. Michael Kolodziej, who was assigned to St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee between 1991 and 2001. The diocese is urging anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse of a minor by any member of the clergy or other church personnel to contact Patricia McManamy, LSW, victim assistance coordinator for the Diocese of Springfield at 1-800-842-9055.

Statement Regarding Father Michael Kolodziej

The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and Archbishop Curley High School have received an allegation of the sexual abuse of a minor by Father Michael Kolodziej (kuh-low-jay), OFM Conv. Kolodziej is a member and former Minister Provincial of the Order, which has staffed Archbishop Curley High School since its founding.

Kolodziej, age 69, was a teacher at Archbishop Curley High School from 1975-79. A former student from this time period has alleged that he was abused on several occasions while Kolodziej wrestled him. Archbishop Curley High School reported the allegation immediately to authorities, and the police were promptly informed; the School, the Order, and the Archdiocese, which owns Archbishop Curley High School, are cooperating fully with authorities. The Order has suspended Kolodziej from all public ministry and the Archbishop has withdrawn Kolodziej’s faculties to function as a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Order, and Archbishop Curley High School are unaware of any other allegations of misconduct against Kolodziej during his time at Archbishop Curley High School.

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MARYLAND
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore

November 07, 2013

The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and Archbishop Curley High School have received an allegation of the sexual abuse of a minor by Fr. Michael Kolodziej (kuh-low-jay), OFM Conv. Father Kolodziej is a member and former Minister Provincial of the Order, which has staffed Archbishop Curley High School since its founding.

Father Kolodziej, age 69, was a teacher at Archbishop Curley High School from 1975-79. A former student from this time period has alleged that he was abused on several occasions while Fr. Kolodziej wrestled him. Archbishop Curley High School reported the allegation immediately to authorities, and the police were promptly informed; the School, the Order, and the Archdiocese, which owns Archbishop Curley High School, are cooperating fully with authorities. The Order has suspended Fr. Kolodziej from all public ministry and the Archbishop has withdrawn Fr. Kolodziej’s faculties to function as a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Order, and Archbishop Curley High School are unaware of any other allegations of misconduct against Fr. Kolodziej during his time at Archbishop Curley High School.

Fr. Kolodziej was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Buffalo in 1970 and served in Buffalo as a hospital chaplain (1970), associate pastor and school director at St. Mary of Sorrows Church (1970-71), and teacher at Bishop Turner High School and Villa Maria College (1971-74) until he entered the Franciscan Order in 1974. After serving at Archbishop Curley High School, Fr. Kolodziej served as teacher and assistant principal at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, NY (1979-82), principal at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Tonawanda, NY (1982-88), pastor at Holy Trinity Parish in Lawrence, MA (1988-91), rector at St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee, MA (1991-2001), Minister Provincial of the Order in Ellicott City, MD (2001-2010), and parochial vicar at St. Philip Benizi Parish in Jonesboro, GA from 2010 until his recent suspension.

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MASSACHUSETTS
iobserve

Staff report

SPRINGFIELD – The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced today that Conventual Franciscan Father Michael Kolodziej, who served as rector of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Basilica in Chicopee from 1991 to 2001, has been accused of sexually abusing a student at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore in the 1970s.

Because Father Kolodziej was assigned to a local parish, the Diocese of Springfield also is publishing the notice below and urging anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse of a minor by any member of the clergy or other church personnel to contact Patricia McManamy, victim assistance coordinator for the Springfield Diocese, at 1-800-842-9055.

A copy of the notification also will be distributed at all Masses this weekend at St. Stanislaus Basilica.

The full text of the official announcement follows:

“The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and Archbishop Curley High School have received an allegation of the sexual abuse of a minor by Fr. Michael Kolodziej (kuh-low-jay), OFM Conv. Father Kolodziej is a member and former Minister Provincial of the Order, which has staffed Archbishop Curley High School since its founding.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Republican

By Anne-Gerard Flynn, The Republican
on November 07, 2013

The following information has been released by Mark Dupont, communications director of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, about a sexual abuse allegation against the Rev. Michael Kolodziej, who spent 10 years at St. Stanislaus Parish in Chicopee. Kolodziej spent a year at St. Stanislaus as pastor, and principal of its kndergarten-to-eighth-grade school, prior to his appointment as provincial of the St. Anthony of Padua Province, in 2001

Before being stationed at St. Stanislaus, Kolodziej spent three years as a pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Lawrence. He also served as a teacher and principal in eastern New York state.

He was ordained in Buffalo, N.Y.

“Because Fr. Michael Kolodziej was assigned to St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee between 1991 and 2001, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, is also publishing the notice below, and urging anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse of a minor by any member of the clergy or other Church personnel to contact Patricia McManamy, license social worker and victim assistance coordinator for the Diocese of Springfield at (1-800) 842-9055.

A copy of this notification will also be distributed at all Masses this weekend at St. Stanislaus Basilica.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

By Anthony Fay
Updated: Thursday, November 7, 2013

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – The Diocese of Springfield is alerting parishioners of a Chicopee church that a priest once stationed there has been accused of sexually abusing a minor back in the 1970’s.

Mark Dupont, spokesperson for the Diocese of Springfield notified 22News that an accusation of abuse has been made in Maryland against Franciscan Fr. Michael Kolodziej. The priest had been stationed at St. Stanislaus Basilica in Chicopee from 1991 to 2001.

According to a news release from the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Kolodziej is accused of abusing a student while he was a teacher at Archbishop Curley High School, an all-boys Franciscan school in Baltimore. The student says that the abuse happened on several occasions between 1975 and 1979 when Kolodziej would wrestle with him.

In response to the allegation, the Franciscan Order has suspended Kolodziej from all public duties as a priest.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Republic

By JOE MANDAK Associated Press
November 07, 2013 – 12:35 pm EST

PITTSBURGH — A Roman Catholic priest removed from public ministry in 2009 after an allegation of past child sex abuse pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of possessing child pornography, and a diocesan official said the clergyman could be removed from the priesthood entirely or be assigned to a life of “prayer and penance” by the Vatican.

The Rev. David Dzermejko, 65, of Braddock, faces a likely term of more than three years in federal prison when he is sentenced March 20, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bloch. The priest and his attorney declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing.

Dzermejko was the longtime pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church parish in Charleroi when he was removed from active ministry. He never was criminally charged in the alleged abuse, which dated to the 1980s and involved another parish. The allegations surfaced in 2009 when a couple accused Dzermejko of molesting their son, who had since died. Another man came forward to accuse the priest after seeing news reports about the couple’s claims.

Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik determined the allegations were sufficient to remove Dzermejko from priestly duties after a diocesan review board deemed them “credible.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

PITTSBURGH —A Pittsburgh-area Roman Catholic priest removed from public ministry in 2009 after an allegation of past child sex abuse later deemed “credible” by his bishop has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography.

The Rev. David Dzermejko once posted “shame” signs on a church building after it was vandalized. Now, he faces federal charges for what the bishop calls “heinous” allegations.

Prosecutors say The Rev. David Dzermejko faces a likely term of more than three years in federal prison when he is sentenced March 20. He and his attorney declined comment Thursday.

The 64-year-old priest now lives in Braddock but was pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church parish in Charleroi when he was removed four years ago.

Dzermejko was never criminally charged in the alleged abuse, which dated to the 1980s and involved another parish.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

07 NOVEMBER 2013

Some survivors of the Magdalene laundries will be paid tax free compensation before Christmas, it has been revealed.

Lump sums will be paid over the next four to six weeks to some of the 205 women who have agreed to a payment ranging from 11,500 euro to 100,000 euro.

The maximum one-off payment will be 50,000 euro with any remaining money to be paid in weekly instalments over a year.

But the Magdalene Survivors Together group, which includes about 100 women, claimed their concerns over the low level of some lump sums and weekly instalments are not being taken on board.

“The women aren’t being listened to, the Government have let them down,” he said.

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ARIZONA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Child sex offender is music minister
Man pled guilty in 2000 to molesting girls
He did prison time and is still on probation
Now, musician heads group that performs in churches
SNAP fears he may have hurt or may be hurting AZ kids

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will pass out leaflets at a Tucson church where a convicted sex offender now works. The leaflets will warn church members about the music minister, who pled guilty in 2000 to two counts of child molestation, and urge them to

–demand his immediate removal, and
–talk to their kids about the sex offender.

When:
Sunday, November 10 at 11:15 a.m.

Where:
Outside of Dove of Peace Lutheran Church, 665 W. Roller Coaster Rd (at Oracle) in Tucson

Who:
Members and supporters of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, (SNAPNetwork.org) the nation’s largest support network for men and women abused in religious and institutional settings, including a California woman who is the group’s volunteer Western Regional Director

Why:
This week, members of SNAP learned that Eric Holtan, a music minister at Dove of Peace Lutheran Church in Tucson church http://www.doveofpeacetucson.org/ plead guilty in 2000 to two counts of child sexual abuse involving two girls in Duluth, Minnesota. Holtan served two years in prison and is still on probation. As a part of his probation, he is supposed to have no unsupervised contact with underage females.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Government has agreed details for the implementation of the Magdalene redress scheme.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said 250 applications had already been processed and around 600 applications have been received to date.

Mr Shatter said he would hope that provisional offers of payments would be made in the next four to six weeks.

Eligible women are entitled to a lump-sum payment of between €11,500 and €100,000, with amounts over €50,000 to be paid by weekly instalments.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Lindsay Toler Thu., Nov. 7 2013

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson asked a judge to immediately dismiss a lawsuit from the family of a teenage girl who claims he failed to prevent her molestation by Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang.

Circuit Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer did not immediately dismiss the case, which accuses Carlson of tampering with witnesses by asking the victim’s family to return hush money paid by Jiang.

The archdiocese put Jiang on administrative leave last summer after he was charged with first-degree child endangerment for allegedly fondling a teenage girl on four occasions.

See also: Father Joseph Jiang: Supporters of St. Louis Priest Accused of Molestation Launch Website

Court filings say Jiang, who was a close friend of the victim’s family, offered to pay “any amount of money” to ignore the abuse, eventually leaving a $20,000 check for them on their van.

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POLSKA
Super Express

[Summary: The Dominican Republic prosecutor has completed an investigation of alleged pedophilia by Archbishop Jozeph Wesolowski and has sent all materials to the Vatican. The Vatican when it began investigation in August did not have enough material yet to charge the suspect. Vatican authorities have said there is no chance the archbishop will be transferred to Polish authorities.]

Według informacji podanych przez rzeczniczkę dominikańskiej prokuratury Tessie Sanchez, Prokuratura Generalna na Dominikanie zakończyła śledztwo ws. podejrzewanego o pedofilię abp. Józefa Wesołowskiego. Wszystkie materiały zostały przesłane do Watykanu.

Sprawa abp. Wesołowskiego badana jest od sierpnia przez Kongregację Nauki i Wiary. Według informacji TVN24 Watykan nie dysponował dotychczas materiałami wystarczającymi do postawienia zarzutów podejrzanemu.

Czytaj też: Ksiądz pedofil rozgrzeszał seksem! Sąd dał mu drugą szansę…

Sprawę polskiego duchownego bada również polska prokuratura, która wysłała do Watykanu wniosek o pomoc prawną w sprawie abp. Wesołowskiego. W rozmowie z “tvn24.pl” watykańscy duchowni powtarzali, że nie ma szans na to, by arcybiskup Józef Wesołowski został przekazany polskim władzom. Nikt w Watykanie nie wyda zgody na ekstradycję tutejszego obywatela i dyplomaty.

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COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

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

We are deeply grateful to Boulder authorities for charging two church staff and two church officials with “duty to report child abuse.”

[9 News]

[Daily Camera]

All too often, church employees and members selfishly try to handle known or suspected child sex crimes privately. All too often, they foolishly put the reputation of their institution above the well-being of the innocent.

And all too often, prosecutors go after the “low hanging fruit” – the child molester himself or herself, and they turn a blind eye to the “enablers” – the church colleagues who ignored or hid suspicions or knowledge of the horror.

If kids are to be protected from predators, we must aggressively report and pursue every single adult who refused to call 911 at the first hint of possible child sex crimes.

We can deter cover ups. We can prevent abuse. We can stop a child molester after his or her third victim, instead of after his or her 33rd victim.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Harold Brubaker, Inquirer Staff Writer
POSTED: November 06, 2013

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to freeze the traditional pension for about 8,500 parochial school teachers, church office workers, and other lay employees, church officials said Tuesday.

The change, designed to keep the plan’s estimated $150 million deficit from increasing and whittling it down over time, will take effect June 30, after which current employees will no longer accrue benefits under the plan.

The pension plan, known as a defined benefit plan because it guarantees a certain benefit to participants, had $478 million in assets June 30, 2012, about 76 percent of what it needed to meet its projected long-term obligations of $630 million.

“This action isn’t being taken to resolve a short-term concern,” Timothy O’Shaughnessy, chief financial officer for the archdiocese, said in an interview. The plan has enough money to continue paying retiree benefits for years.

“The shortfall of $150 million is an issue that needs to be dealt with for the long term, both for the plan and for the archdiocese,” O’Shaughnessy said.

Rita C. Schwartz, president of the labor union that represents 650 teachers in archdiocesan high schools, said the move was not surprising, given the financial restructuring underway at the archdiocese in the last year.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Cultural differences allow paedophiles to escape the law, says child sex abuse investigator Chris O’Connor

PAEDOPHILES from some ethnic groups in Australia are avoiding capture because of a cultural reluctance to report the abuse.

“I can’t recall the last person of black nationality who was charged with serial sexual assaults on kids,” Det-Sen-Sgt Chris O’Connor said yesterday.

Sen-Sgt O’Connor, one of Australia’s leading child sexual abuse experts, said common sense suggested paedophilia was just as common in ethnic groups as it was among white Anglo-Saxons,

He is calling for urgent research to be carried out into the problem.

Sen-Sgt O’Connor said the ethnic groups who should be targeted would probably claim it was racist to single them out.

But he urged authorities to ignore the complaints and not bow to political correctness by refusing to probe the paedophilia problem just because of the cultures and races involved.

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MINNESOTA
St. Paul Area Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

[Archdiocese led lobby to stop abuse law change – Star Tribune]

November 5, 2013

Dear Partners in Ministry:

Today’s Star Tribune carried an article about the Minnesota Religious Council and the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, in which it identified the six ELCA synods in Minnesota as members of the Minnesota Religious Council (MRC). The article described the MRC’s lobbying effort against recent legislation that changed the statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse. Tony Kennedy, the reporter, spoke with me last week, and I sought to provide accurate information about our involvement.

I think it could be helpful for me to provide you with some perspective so that you are better able to interpret these matters to parishioners and others and to remind you of how we in the ELCA view and respond to matters of misconduct.

I will focus on three arenas: the Minnesota Religious Council; the concerns we had about the proposed legislation; and how the ELCA responds to misconduct and abuse issues.

The Minnesota Religious Council

While records are sketchy and the origin of the MRC pre-dates me and the current ELCA bishops, it is my understanding that the MRC was originally formed when leadership of several church bodies came together in the early 1990s to discuss the concern of sexual abuse and clergy misconduct and how church bodies can properly respond to and seek to prevent such misconduct. The initial group included Roman Catholics, Lutherans (both ELCA and LC-MS), Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and maybe others. Later, faced with lobbying by attorneys and others hoping to change state laws, the MRC became a forum for discussing and responding to proposed legislation aimed at the statutes of limitations for bringing suit against perpetrators and institutions. (See next section.)

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[with copy of the memo]

Internal memo shows church dispute
Lutherans say they were “unaware” of costs
And they’re refusing to pay for expensive lobbying
Dispute stems from Catholic-led effort against child sex victims

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

A Protestant church official claims, in an internal memo written this week, that he and his colleagues were kept in the dark about an expensive but unsuccessful Catholic-led lobbying against a Minnesota child safety law.

The memo, sent by Lutheran Bishop Peter Rogness on November 5 to the Saint Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was written as a response to a Star Tribune headlined “Archdiocese led lobby to stop abuse law change.”

[Star Tribune]

In the memo, Rogness claims that “records are sketchy” but “the cost of the lobbying” against the Child Victims Act “was an expenditure of which we Lutherans were unaware.”

(A copy of the memo, obtained by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is below.)

And Rogness says “In recent months, we were surprised by a request that we help pay for costs which we had neither authorized nor budgeted, and therefore have not paid.”

Leaders of SNAP, say they’re “not surprised” that Catholic officials didn’t disclose lobbying costs to the Lutherans.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Union

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press
Updated 8:12 am, Thursday, November 7, 2013

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh-area Roman Catholic priest who was removed from public ministry in 2009 after an allegation of past child sex abuse later deemed “credible” by his bishop is set to change his not guilty plea to a federal charge of possessing child pornography.

The Rev. David Dzermejko’s (jer-MAY’-kohs) defense attorney didn’t immediately respond to calls about whether the priest will plead guilty or no contest when he appears before a federal judge Thursday morning.

The 64-year-old priest now lives in Braddock but was pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church parish in Charleroi when he was removed four years ago.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Victor D. Infante, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Rome is a long way from Uxbridge, but for local filmmaker and Uxbridge native Skip Shea, the journey proved worthwhile. Not only did his short horror film, “Ave Maria,” walk away from the 2013 Interiora Horror Film Festival with the Premio Del Pubblico, or audience award, at the film festival, he got to make a deeply personal artistic statement while doing so.

Shea, an open and vocal survivor of clergy abuse, was able to screen the film —which is to a great degree fueled by the rage and pain of his experiences — on the Vatican’s doorstep.

” There was a satisfaction in showing this in Rome,” says Shea. “I know people who are dead because of clergy sexual abuse, who killed themselves. In a lot of ways, I carry their ghosts with me. I wanted to make a stand there, to say that I’m alive and that they can’t do anything to me. To tell other survivors that they don’t have any control or power over you. There’s just none.”

“Ave Maria” is the sequel to Shea’s first short horror film, “Microcinema,” both featuring a character named Missy, who exacts a harsh brand of justice on men who prey on women.

“I wanted to change the formula of the rape revenge movie,” says Shea. “I wanted to make the woman not be a victim at all when she gets justice. An ‘avenging angel’ kind of character.”

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

[Assignment Record – Rev. Jerome C. Kern via BishopAccountability.org]

Alan Michaud, another Kern survivor, will speak publicly about reporting Kern to Fr. Kevin McDonough and Archdiocesan Officials in the early 1990s

WHAT: At a news conference Thursday in St. Paul, clergy sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will:

• Announce the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit on behalf of a man in his 50s, Doe 26, naming Father Jerome C. Kern and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as defendants. Doe 26 was sexually abused from 12-16 years old while a parishioner at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, Minnesota. The lawsuit was filed in Ramsey County District Court and alleges the Archdiocese was negligent in allowing Kern to continue working with children despite receiving reports of misconduct as early as 1969. Kern remained in ministry until 2002.

• Introduce Alan Michaud, a survivor who was sexually abused by Father Kern and met with then-Vicar General Kevin McDonough in the early 1990s. Michaud will share and detail his experience and the broken promises made by Archdiocesan Officials to remove Kern from ministry.

• Again demand the release of a list that contains 33 names of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse.

WHEN: Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 11:00 AM CST

WHERE: Law Office of Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street
Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

WHO: Sexual Abuse Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will release internal documents and memos exchanged by top Archdiocesan officials pertaining to Father Jerome C. Kern as well as discuss Doe 26’s recent lawsuit filed in Ramsey County. Alan Michaud, a courageous sexual abuse survivor, will recount his meetings and the actions taken by church officials after he reported Father Kern’s abuse.

Notes:
• Information packets and copies of the complaint will be available at the press conference.
• Father Jerome Kern worked in parishes in St. Paul, Edina, Minnetonka and Forest Lake, Minnesota from 1966-2002. Kern’s last two jobs included assignments at churches where there was a school and religious education program for children.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.237.5143 Mobile/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.237.5143 Mobile/612.205.5531

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated on 7 November 2013)

A former Catholic priest (aged 60 in 2013), who is charged with sexual offences against children in towns (including Moree and Armidale) in northern New South Wales, appeared in Armidale Local Court again on 6 November 2013 for an administrative procedure. The prosecutors and the defence have reached “substantial agreement” in relation to the facts regarding nine of the eleven alleged victims and the defence team is expected to submit a written plea-offer in relation to these nine, the court was told. There might need to be a trial regarding the tenth and eleventh victims.

The ex-priest is charged with a total of 138 sexual offences against boys and girls.

These charges relate only to those alleged victims who have spoken to a special team of detectives (named Strike Force Glenroe) in the NSW Police. The investigation is continuing and detectives are prepared to hear from any more persons who have information about this matter.

The court decided to continue (until further notice) a non-publication order regarding the ex-priest’s name and residential details. This non-publication order can be reviewed at an approprite stage in the prosecution process.

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ROME
Zenit

Rome, November 07, 2013 (Zenit.org)

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, Pontifical Delegate of the Legionaries of Christ, has accepted the resignation of Fr. Deomar De Guedes LC, a general counselor of the order.

Fr. De Guedes said he resigned from the Council because he did not have the necessary energy to confront the challenges of the position.

Fr. De Guedes had asked the Pontifical Delegate to be exclaustrated from the Legion, but Cardinal De Paolis granted him permission to resign “extra domum,” meaning Fr. De Guedes may reside outside of the religious community for one year. The Cardinal asked Fr. De Guedes to re-evaluate his situation during that year in light of the new superiors who will be elected in the next General Chapter.

The General Chapter will begin on January 8, 2014, and is an important step in the Legion’s renewal and purification process called for by Pope Benedict XVI and confirmed by Pope Francis.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

The Minnesota Supreme Court overturned an Appeals Court decision granting a new trial for a former Catholic priest convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 2011.

Former Catholic Priest, Christopher Wenthe, admitted in court he had sex with a 21-year-old woman who attended his St. Paul Parish.

But, his attorneys argued the relationship was consensual and was not in the context of his role a religious counselor. The Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial saying there was an entanglement of law and religious doctrine protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

But, the state appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court and Wednesday the state’s highest court struck down the Appeals Court ruling and upheld Wenthe’s conviction.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 7, 2013

FORMER Anglican Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence and another priest must pay a diocese legal bill of more than $450,000 after failing to overturn sexual misconduct findings against them.

Mr Lawrence declined to say how the bill to the diocese’s insurer would be paid, other than: ‘‘That’s to be worked out’’.

But he ruled out bankruptcy, saying it was ‘‘not an option’’.

Mr Lawrence and former Cardiff priest Graeme Sturt must pay the bulk of a legal bill of about $550,000 to the diocese’s insurer after a cost assessor’s recent decision.

This was in addition to their own legal costs of more than $200,000 after an unsuccessful appeal to the NSW Supreme Court to quash sexual misconduct findings against them.

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NEDERLAND
knr

– Vandaag boden de Katholieke Kerk en slachtofferkoepel KLOKK aan minister Opstelten een rapport aan over de stand van zaken rond de aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de Katholieke Kerk.

Het rapport werd gezamenlijk aangeboden door de voorzitters van de Bisschoppenconferentie, de KNR en KLOKK: kardinaal Eijk, broeder Van Dam, de heer Klabbers. Op 15 mei 2013 kwamen zij als voorzitters van de Bisschoppenconferentie, KNR en KLOKK overeen een gezamenlijk Voorzittersoverleg in het leven te roepen naast de al bestaande contactgroep onder voorzitterschap van Mgr. Van den Hende. Terwijl de contactgroep oplossingen zoekt voor concrete probleemdossiers waarin stagnatie is opgetreden, richt het voorzittersoverleg zich op de regelingen als zodanig die met betrekking tot het seksueel misbruik zijn getroffen.

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

November 7, 2013

Washington D.C., Nov 7, 2013 / 02:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When bishops from across the country gather in Baltimore next week, they will consider issuing a formal statement on pornography and discuss a Spanish translation of Mass prayers, among other issues.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will hold its annual fall General Assembly Nov. 11-14.

The nation’s bishops will elect a new conference president, as Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York concludes his current presidency. They will also hear an address from Cardinal Dolan, as well as from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

In addition, the bishops will hear a presentation for a proposal to create a formal statement on pornography, as studies continue to confirm concerns about its devastating social and spiritual effects.

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MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald

BY HOWARD COHEN
HCOHEN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami is on the shortlist for nomination to the presidency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The position would make Wenski the face and the voice of the Catholic Church in the United States.

But first, Wenski has to get the nod over nine other religious leaders during an election process to be held at the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly Nov. 11-14 in Baltimore.

The position currently is held by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: BAIRD HELGESON , Star Tribune Updated: November 6, 2013

They want a change in leadership. Nienstedt says he’ll continue to work to restore trust.

Several significant donors to the Catholic Church and Catholic causes say they no longer support Archbishop John Nienstedt and will stop giving money to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis until it has a new leader.

“His leadership has lost a lot of effectiveness,” said Jim Graves, a prominent Twin Cities hotelier and devoted Catholic. “I have nothing personally against the archbishop, but I think a change is appropriate.”

The archdiocese and Nienstedt have drawn intense criticism over the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by priests and the archbishop said last month he is refocusing plans for a $160 million capital campaign. A feasibility study had been done to gauge support for fundraising the archdiocese described as essential.

In written responses to questions from the Star Tribune Wednesday, Nienstedt acknowledged the difficulties facing the archdiocese.

“I am sorry that many have lost confidence in me,” Nienstedt wrote. “I completely understand the sadness and frustration that is being expressed. It is my most sincere hope that the commitments and actions my leadership team and I are taking and will continue to take will restore trust with our communities.”

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ALASKA
Alaska Dispatch

Yereth Rosen
November 6, 2013

A former Anchorage church deacon was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison, with 33 months suspended, for possessing child pornography.

Donald Johnson was arrested in January after state troopers and Anchorage police traced videos of sexual assaults to his home. He could serve as little as 18 months if he qualifies for good-behavior release, officials said.

Johnson’s sentence was the result of a plea agreement struck shortly before a new Department of Law policy was put into effect to limit the scope of such agreements in serious felonies, including sexual offenses. Under the new policy, announced in July, prosecutors and defendants may not negotiate sentence terms in cases involving serious violent crimes, sexual assault, sexual abuse or domestic violence. Prosecutors and defendants may continue to negotiate over charges in such cases under the new policy, but sentences are to be determined by judges.

Johnson, a former deacon at Anchorage’s Shiloh Baptist Church, pleaded guilty to a single consolidated offense. He was originally charged with several felony counts of possession and distribution.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By AMANDA WILLIAMS

Officers working on Operation Yewtree – the police probe sparked by disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile – have earned almost half a million pounds overtime.

The cost is in addition to the £2.2million basic bill for the operation, which has led to the arrests of a string of high profile stars.

Campaign group, the Taxpayers’ Alliance, has labeled the overtime costs – racked up in just ten months – ‘scandalously large’.

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COLORADO
9 News

[with video]

LONGMONT – Boulder Police served summonses to two pastors and two elders associated with VineLife Church in Longmont after a police investigation revealed the officials failed to report a youth pastor allegedly sexually assaulted a child – who was a member of the church.

A fifth church official, who is currently out of the country, will be served a summons when he returns to Colorado.

Three tickets were served on Tuesday and one ticket was served Wednesday morning.

The victim in the case is now 23 years old. She told police the relationship with her pastor began when she was 15 years old and continued for seven years.

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COLORADO
KDVR

[with video]

November 6, 2013, by Brooke Way and Web Staff, updated on: 10:05pm, November 6, 2013

BOULDER, Colo. — Police plan to serve summonses to five church officials associated with Longmont’s VineLife Church, after investigators say a youth pastor sexually assaulted a child who was a member there.

Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said detectives served summonses to two pastors and two elders associated with the church located at 7845 Lookout Rd. A fifth church official, who is currently out of the country, will be served when they return to Colorado, according to Kobel.

Officials said 35-year-old Jason Allen Roberson, a youth pastor at VineLife, was arrested on Sept. 4 after turning himself in to the Boulder County Jail. He was charged with sex assault on a child by one in a position of trust, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact and stalking.

The victim in the case, now a 23-year-old woman, told police her “inappropriate” relationship with Roberson started when she was 15 years old, and continued for seven years. She said she trusted Roberson as an authority figure and spiritual guide, and felt uncomfortable disclosing the relationship to others, according to police records.

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NEW YORK
Democrat and Chronicle

Written by
Sean Dobbin
Staff writer

Saying that his first priority in Rochester would be to bring people back to Mass, Bishop Salvatore Matano implored disenfranchised Catholics to return to the church.

“Come home. We miss you. Come home. The Lord is awaiting. Come home. Because again, his arms will be open,” he said.

Matano, 67, who currently serves as the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, Vt., has been selected by Pope Francis to become the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. He will be officially installed on Jan. 3.

The move appears to be a promotion of sorts — the Diocese of Rochester has about 350,000 people who identify themselves as Catholic, or about three times as many as those in the Diocese of Burlington. But for Matano, it’s also a fresh start, as his new home will provide some distance from the sexual abuse litigation that plagued the Diocese of Burlington during his tenure. …

Early in his remarks Matano addressed the sexual abuse scandal, which was more damaging to the church’s finances and reputation in the Diocese of Burlington than elsewhere.

“Much of my administration was dealing with these situations,” he said. “It has been a very, very painful time, a very painful time for the victims and all affected by this crisis. I want to take this opportunity again to apologize (to) the victims of sexual abuse for what they’ve endured at the hands of those who they trusted. I pray I handled those circumstances as best I could.”

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COLORADO
Huffington Post

Five church officials in Longmont, Colo. are accused of failing to report a youth pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted a minor over the course of seven years.

VineLife youth pastor Jason Allen Roberson, 35, was arrested by Boulder police on Sept. 4, but it wasn’t until this week that detectives began issuing summonses to two other pastors and two elders associated with the church following an investigation. Failing to report child abuse in Colorado is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

The identities of all but the fifth man were revealed by police on Wednesday: VineLife Church’s executive pastor Robert Phillip (“Bob”) Young, 66; pastor Luke Michael Humbrecht, 30; Edward Charles Bennell, 65; and Warren Lloyd Williams, 66. A press release by the Boulder Police says that the fifth church official is currently out of the country, but that he will also be served a summons once he returns to Colorado.

The victim, who lives in Boulder and is now 23 years old, told police the inappropriate relationship with her pastor began when she was 15 years old. According to an affidavit obtained by 7News, she said she had trusted Roberson “as an authority figure and spiritual guide, and felt uncomfortable disclosing the relationship to others.”

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