ABUSE TRACKER

NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Clara Garcia/Valencia County News-Bulletin

LOS LUNAS – A former member of the Los Lunas Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses is suing the church, claiming she was molested by a former elder.

Monica Lynn Jaramillo, 35, through her attorneys, Terrence Revo and Irwin Zalkin, filed a complaint for damages Aug. 12 in the 13th Judicial District Court. Also named as defendants in the case is Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, which oversees the church, and a former elder, who has not been charged with a crime.

Attempts to reach the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Los Lunas for comment were unsuccessful before the News-Bulletin deadline.

According to the civil lawsuit, Jaramillo allegedly was sexually abused as a child by the elder, who had served as a ministerial servant and an elder, which are leadership positions in the congregation. Jaramillo said the abuse occurred in 1987 when she was 8 years old at his home.

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SOUTH AMERICA
Adventist News Network

Thousands of Seventh-day Adventists took to the streets as activists against abuse in scores of cities throughout South America last Saturday.

The church’s campaign “Breaking the Silence” brought marches and motorcades along avenues, hosted dramatic performances in plazas, and partnered with school districts and public safety agencies to offer educational talks about preventing domestic violence, sexual abuse and cyber bullying.

The initiative was part of the Adventist world church’s Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day, which is typically held the fourth Saturday of every August. The campaign was established by the denomination’s Executive Committee in 2001.

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OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

By RANDY ELLIS NewsOK.com on Aug 27, 2013

LAWTON — A Lawton church pastor has been charged with child sexual abuse following an investigation that prompted DHS officials to close a local juvenile group home.

Bobby Glen Burrell, pastor of One More Soul Outreach Ministry, is accused of exposing himself and masturbating in front of a 16-year-old boy after taking the boy from the group home to the church.

Burrell is only charged with one felony count of child sexual abuse. But Lawton police reported Burrell took several group home children on unauthorized trips and that “six possible juvenile victims were interviewed.”

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OKLAHOMA
KFOR

[with video]

August 29, 2013, by Sara Celi

LAWTON, OK – 28-year-old Pastor Bobby Burrell faces several charges of sexual abuse of a child.

He’s pastor of the One More Soul Church in Lawton, and police say he used his position to gain the trust of kids at a group home called Sequoyah House. A whole new agency took it over in April, after DHS revoked Sequoyah House’s contract.

Police say the crimes started when Burrell built a relationship with the kids, and then used that to put them in compromising positions. Burrell had a second job at Sequoyah House as a staffer.

“We’ve got this person taking these kids to places they are not supposed to go, at times they are not supposed to go there, and so they have these kids trusting this person, and it’s a repertoire that builds up with the kids,” said Lawton Police Captain Craig Akard.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 30, 2013

By VIRGINIA SHANK Tribune Chronicle (news@tribtoday.com)

YOUNGSTOWN – The advocacy group that challenged the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown this week to disclose information about a former parochial school teacher accused of abusing a student has now demanded that local church officials reveal information about a former local priest as well.

For the second day in a row, members of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) protested in Youngstown.

The group is asking Bishop George Murry to provide information about where former priest John Warner, 69, is living and if he is still undergoing treatment.

In a written response, the diocese stated that in 2011, local church officials received an allegation against Warner of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago.

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MINNESOTA
KIMT

[with video]

By Jeron Rennie

ROCHESTER, Minn. — An area man is coming forward with a lawsuit that claims abuse he says took place half a century ago.

Bill Beardmore and his lawyer made an announcement in Rochester Thursday that they are filing a lawsuit claiming sexual abuse.

“I would like to make it known that I was raped by a priest and that it happened on a number of occasions,” Beardmore said.

He now calls Boone, Iowa home, but he grew up in Caledonia, Minnesota where he says his childhood was spent as an altar boy at St. John’s Parish.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

[Statement from the diocese – via KAAL]
[the lawsuit]
[Adamson timeline]
[Minnesota map of Adamson’s assignments]
[Adamson photo]
[10-26-02 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]
[11-6-02 letter Beardmore to Hoeppner]
[1-30-03 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]
[Photo of client as a 7th grader]

By Nathan Hansen | nathan.hansen@winonadailynews.com

A former altar boy who attended Caledonia’s St. John’s Parish in the 1960s publicly spoke out for the first time Thursday about abuse he said he suffered at the hands of former Diocese of Winona priest Thomas Adamson.

Bill Beardmore’s decision to speak out comes as attorney Jeff Anderson filed a new lawsuit on his behalf against the Diocese this week in Winona County District Court. The suit seeks $50,000 in damages, and, like similar suits Anderson has filed elsewhere, requests that a judge order the public release of a list that contains the names and personal information of “credibly accused child molesting priests.”

Beardmore, a 61-year-old Iowa man, grew up in Caledonia and encountered Adamson as an altar boy at St. John’s during 1963-64. Beardmore, originally listed as John Doe 16 in his lawsuit against the Diocese, spoke Thursday about being sexually abused by Adamson as a young child.

According to Beardmore and court documents, Adamson repeatedly cornered him in private areas of the church and subjected him to oral and anal sex over a two-year period. Beardmore first came forward in 2002, but his claims were dismissed by the Diocese for a lack of corroborating evidence, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

August 30, 2013

Patrick Caruana
AAP

For more than a decade, Catholic priest, teacher and vice principal David Edwin Rapson raped and sexually abused a number of Victorian schoolchildren.

Decades after committing the abuse, 60-year-old Rapson has been found guilty of indecently assaulting eight boys.

Rapson, who was defrocked by Pope John Paul II after his first sexual abuse conviction, abused the boys during his time at Salesian College’s Lysterfield and Rupertswood campuses between the 1970s and 1990.

He denied the allegations but a jury on Friday found him guilty of all five charges of rape and eight counts of indecent assault.

During his nine-day trial in the Victorian County Court, prosecutor David Cordy said Rapson had abused the boys, sometimes with witnesses around, and thought he could not be held accountable.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Sarah Farnsworth

A jury has convicted former Salesian College vice-principal David Rapson over the rape and abuse of eight students.

Rapson, 60, was member of the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order, which operated the Salesian College “Rupertswood”, a boarding school in Sunbury, north-west of Melbourne.

He pleaded not guilty to eight charges of indecent assault and five counts of rape relating to the abuse of eight students, who were between 12 and 17 years of age, between the mid-1970s and 1990.

The court heard he would use computer games, soft drinks, alcohol and cigarettes to lure the young boys into his office, where he would sexually abuse them.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[Statement from the diocese]

[the lawsuit]

[Adamson timeline]

[Minnesota map of Adamson’s assignments]

[Adamson photo]

[10-26-02 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]

[11-6-02 letter Beardmore to Hoeppner]

[1-30-03 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]

[Photo of client as a 7th grader]

(ABC 6 News) – The Diocese of Winona has been named as a defendant in a sex abuse lawsuit involving a former alter boy from Caledonia. The former alter boy, Bill Beardmore, joined his attorney outside the Olmsted County Government Center Thursday afternoon to announce the lawsuit.

They say the Diocese of Winona is named as a defendant because it continued to allow Father Thomas Adamson to have access to children despite reports of inappropriate sexual behavior with young boys. The suit claims Beardmore, who is now 61 and lives in Iowa, attended church at St. John’s Parish in Caledonia. He says he was 12 years old when Father Adamson raped him in the early 1960s.

His attorney, Jeff Anderson, also wants the Diocese to release a list of 13 priests he says were accused of sexually molesting minors. He says the Diocese has yet to release those names to the public.

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MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Kay Fate, kfate@postbulletin.com

Tears came to Bill Beardmore’s eyes as he described a 2002 meeting with officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona.

“It made me feel like I was interrogated,” he said Thursday. “I’d like to make it known that I was raped by a priest on a number of occasions, but I went away from that day feeling really terrible. I felt like I was the bad guy. But I was a little kid. I was an altar boy; I didn’t bring this on.”

Beardmore is one of a number of men to sue the diocese, accusing its top officials of allowing priests continued access to children, despite reports of inappropriate sexual behavior with young boys.

The lawsuit was filed late Wednesday in Winona County District Court by Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul lawyer, on behalf of Beardmore, now 61 and living in Boone, Iowa.

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CALIFORNIA
Capitol Weekly

By Victor Garza, Rose Amador | 08/28/13

Child sex abuse is a terrible crime and one that each and every one of us has a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to expose and prevent. There are many ways that the law can and should deal with the problem, but as local leaders of the La Raza Roundtable de California, we don’t believe SB 131, a bill by state Sen. Jim Beall (D-Campbell) is one of them.

On the surface, SB 131 looks like serious legislation to deal with the rights of victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abuser by reviving claims that have died because the statute of limitations has expired. But scratch the surface, and people should have serious concerns about how it addresses the problem.

Why?

Because SB 131 isn’t about victims. It’s about lawsuits. If it were about victims, it would focus on the perpetrators of abuse and give new rights to all victims of sexual abuse, but it doesn’t.

Instead, SB 131 discriminates against the poor and less well off by reviving legal claims for child sex abuse only against private and non-profit organizations like private schools or groups like Little League or youth soccer, but not against public schools, public agencies or government workers of any kind.

So if someone is abused at Stanford or Santa Clara or some other private school or college, they could sue. But if they were abused by someone associated with a public school, or a city-run day care or a community college like DeAnza, they’re out of luck. The bill makes sure public schools and local governments have complete immunity—i.e. they cannot be sued—for any incidents of child sex abuse that took place before 2009.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 29, 2013
Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

YOUNGSTOWN – The advocacy group that challenged the Diocese of Youngstown this week to disclose information about a former parochial school teacher accused of abusing a student has now demanded that local church officials reveal information about a former local priest as well.

For the second day in a row members of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) protested in Youngstown.

The group is asking Bishop George Murry to provide information about where former priest John Warner, 69, is living and if he is still undergoing treatment.

In a written response, the Diocese stated that in 2011 local church officials received an allegation against Warner of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago.

The allegation was reported to civil authorities and Murry placed Warner on leave of absence, the statement reads.

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VATICAN CITY/ARGENTINA
Think Progress

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER ON AUGUST 29, 2013

When Alejandra Pereyra wrote a letter to Pope Francis earlier this month, she wanted to convey the pain that resulted from her rape and abuse at the hands of Argentinian law enforcement. After her family was repeatedly harassed by the police, an officer raped her at gunpoint. “With all the pain I carry in my heart dear Holy Father, I ask you for your help,” Pereyra wrote.

She didn’t expect the kind of response that she received.

On Sunday, Pereya’s phone rang — and Pope Francis was on the other end of the line. “I started crying… He told me to be calm and that he was calling because he had read my letter and my story struck him,” Pereya recounted later on Argentinian television. “He restored faith and peace in me and gave me strength to carry on fighting.”

Pereya emailed her letter to the Vatican in mid-August. The pope receives hundreds of letters each day, but hers struck a chord with him and he decided to reach out. The crimes committed against Pereyra continue to go unpunished, because the judge who is in charge of the case is worried he’ll face personal repercussions for going after law enforcement.

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OHIO
WKBN

Members of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests held another protest in the area Thursday, this one outside Saint Edward’s Parish on the city’s North Side.

The group is asking Bishop George Murry to explain where former priest John Warner, 69, is now living and if he is still undergoing treatment.

Warner was removed from his duties in the diocese two years ago after being accused of abusing a victim more than 30 years ago.

“He could be living amongst kids and abusing children right now,” said SNAP coordinator Judy Jones. “Child predators need to be kept away from children forever. That is a well-known fact, and the Bishop is still the one who is responsible for him”

In 2011 the Diocese of Youngstown received an allegation of sexual misconduct with Warner and a “minor child” over 30 years ago, according to a news release. Their investigation revealed the allegation was credible and Warner was placed in a facility for treatment. “He is now living in another state in a restricted community and is engaged in ongoing treatment,” the release stated.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kreisblatt

Frankfurter Westen.
Der Offene Brief an Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst zieht weiter Kreise: Nachdem zum Patronatsfest von St. Bartholomäus am Sonntag bereits mehr als 800 Menschen das Schreiben unterzeichneten (wir berichteten), werden nun auch in einigen Gemeinden des Frankfurter Westens Unterschriften von Gläubigen gesammelt, die sich mit dem Frankfurter Stadtdekan Johannes zu Eltz solidarisieren und Kritik am Führungsstil des Limburger Bischofs äußern. In seiner Sitzung am Dienstagabend hat der Pastoralausschuss des Pastoralen Raums Nied-Griesheim über den Brief beraten. „Der Pastoralausschuss hat in Anwesenheit seines Priesterlichen Leiters, Pfarrer Rolf Glaser, ohne Gegenstimme und bei nur einer Enthaltung beschlossen, diesen Offenen Brief vollinhaltlich zu unterstützen sowie ihn in allen Kirchen des Pastoralen Raums bis zum kommenden Wochenende auszulegen und auf die Möglichkeit hinzuweisen, sein Anliegen durch Unterschrift zu unterstützen“, sagt Armin Nagel, der Vorsitzende des Pastoralausschusses. Das Gremium vertritt in Nied und Griesheim rund 15 000 Katholiken sowie die in diesen Gemeinden beheimateten Katholiken anderer Muttersprache aus Frankreich, Italien und Eritrea.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

LIMBURG –
Nach der massiven Kritik am Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst haben sich nun seine Unterstützer zu Wort gemeldet. Das streng konservative „Forum Deutscher Katholiken“ ruft zur Solidarität mit dem Oberhirten auf. Die Unterschriftenaktion der Kritiker gegen die Amtsführung des Limburgers richte sich im Grunde nicht gegen angeblich begangene Fehler, sondern gegen dessen „kirchentreue theologische Einstellung“, heißt es in dem Aufruf. Auch das Forum will Unterschriften sammeln, unter anderem im Internet. Seit Mittwochabend seien etwa 150 zusammengekommen, sagte der Vorsitzende Hubert Gindert am Donnerstag.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

Il caso di don Giorgio Carli, sacerdote bolzanino che nel 2009 si è visto riconoscere la prescrizione in Cassazione (dopo una condanna in secondo grado), potrebbe essere uno dei primi in Italia in cui è l’istituzione Chiesa a pagare. Alla vittima di violenza sessuale 500mila euro e 100mila euro per ogni genitore

Prescrizione nel processo penale, ma maxi risarcimento nella causa civile. Il caso di don Giorgio Carli, sacerdote bolzanino che nel 2009 si è visto riconoscere la prescrizione in Cassazione (dopo una pesante condanna in secondo grado) dell’accusa di abusi sessuali su una parrocchiana minorenne, potrebbe essere uno dei primi in Italia in cui è l’istituzione Chiesa a pagare. La prima sezione civile del tribunale di Bolzano ha ora condannato, in solido fra loro, la diocesi di Bolzano e Bressanone e la parrocchia San Pio X di Bolzano al risarcimento di complessivamente 700.000 euro, oltre agli interessi legali.

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ITALIA
AGI

(AGI) – Bolzano, 27 ago. – La diocesi di Bolzano-Bressanone e la parrocchia San Pio X di Bolzano dovranno risarcire complessivamente 700 mila euro, piu’ gli interessi, per il caso legato a don Giorgio Carli. La condanna al risarcimento dei danni e’ giunta a seguito della sentenza della prima sezione civile del Tribunale del capoluogo altoatesino. Il sacerdote, prosciolto nel 2009 in Cassazione dopo essere stato condannato in secondo grado a sette anni e sei mesi di reclusione, era stato accusato di abusi sessuali nei confronti di una ragazza minorenne che frequentava la parrocchia di San Pio X.

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ITALY
The Local

An Italian court has ordered a priest and his parish to pay €700,000 compensation after he allegedly spent years sexually abusing a girl. The ruling has been hailed as a first of its kind in Italy by the family’s lawyer.

Despite being let off the criminal charges in 2009, a civil court in the northern city of Bolzano has ordered Giorgio Carli to pay out for the alleged abuse.

The civil court was able to make the ruling as it operates separately to the criminal court system.

The Bolzano court relied heavily on the victim’s testimony of abuse, which occured from the age of nine to 14, Il Messaggero said.

Carli has always professed his innocence, but he and the diocese have now been ordered to pay €500,000 to his victim and €100,000 to each of her parents.

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CANADA
Victoria News

By Kyle Slavin – Victoria News
Published: August 29, 2013

Phil Jacobs, the former Saanich priest found guilty earlier this year of touching a young person for a sexual purpose, is expected to be sentenced next week in B.C. Supreme Court.

Jacobs worked as priest at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Saanich from 1997 to 2002. He left his post in Greater Victoria after allegations surfaced of inappropriate behaviour involving boys during his time working in Columbus, Ohio in the 1970s.

He was charged by Saanich police in 2010 for incidents that were alleged to have occurred while he worked in Saanich.

On Wednesday, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests protested in downtown Columbus, attempting to urge B.C. Supreme Court Justice J. Miriam Gropper to hand down a harsh sentence, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

They want to know where two accused predators are
And they urge him to write to his colleagues in two states
An accused Youngstown pedophile priest worked in MD & MI
Another was sent away in 2011 but his whereabouts aren’t clear
SNAP to Murry: “Tell your flock when, why, and who is ousted deacon”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, advocates for clergy sex abuse victims will prod Youngstown’s Catholic bishop to disclose

— disclose why and when he suspended a Cardinal Mooney teacher who faces two allegations of child sex abuse,
— disclose the whereabouts of this accused predator and another one who was sent away in 2011, and
— write to Catholic bishops in Maryland and Michigan about a third accused predator who worked there.

They will also
— prod current and former Catholic employees to speak up about the accused clerics, and
— urge Youngstown’s bishop to make public all allegations of sexual abuse that he has received, those that have been removed, and all accused clerics that have been reported to law enforcement.

WHEN
TODAY, Thursday, August 29, at 11:30 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside St. Edward’s parish (where one accused priest worked) 240 Tod Lane, in Youngstown OH

WHO
Two St. Louis activists including, Judy Jones, who is the associate Midwest director of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
In 2002, US Catholic bishops adopted a supposedly binding national child sex abuse charter mandating “openness and transparency” in child sex abuse cases. SNAP, however, believes that Youngstown Bishop George Murry is violating that policy in two recent cases by his “on-going secrecy.”

[Vindicator]

First, in response to a SNAP news conference, Murry disclosed yesterday that a teacher and deacon no longer works for the diocese “in any capacity” but refused to say why. SNAP suspects it is because that teacher/cleric faces child sex abuse allegations. In fact, SNAP disclosed yesterday that the group has heard from one local man, Jerry Arnal, that he had been molested as a child by a Youngstown Catholic teacher/cleric. Weeks ago, SNAP also received an anonymous letter that said the teacher/cleric was ousted recently from his post at Cardinal Mooney High School.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

August 29, 2013

Dear Bishop Murry:

We are writing about three credibly accused child molesting clerics.

We want you to disclose their whereabouts, to reach out to their victims, to warn citizens and Catholic parishioners about them and reveal to citizens and Catholics in your own diocese the identity of the other credibly accused child molesting clerics.

In 2002, US Catholic bishops adopted a supposedly binding national child sex abuse charter mandating “openness and transparency” in child sex abuse cases. SNAP, however, believes that you as the Youngstown Bishop are violating that policy in two recent cases by your “on-going secrecy.”

[Vindicator]

1) You disclosed yesterday that a teacher and deacon no longer works for the diocese “in any capacity” but refused to say why. We suspect it is because that teacher/cleric faces child sex abuse allegations. In fact, we disclosed yesterday that the group has heard from one local man, Jerry Arnal, that he has been molested as a child by a Youngstown Catholic teacher/cleric. Months ago, we also received an anonymous letter that said the teacher/cleric was ousted recently from his post at Cardinal Mooney High School.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

About a year ago, Fr. Groeschel made his ill-advised comments that amounted to, “A victim of sexual abuse is not always a victim.”

When I pointed out how wrong he was, the furor that erupted on this blog surprised and distressed me. As I explained to a friend on Facebook …

A very large percentage of “conservative” Catholics are adamant that the age of consent is based on positive law only and not on natural law to some degree. I kept claiming that the age of consent, like all legal boundaries, must be somewhat arbitrary, but that it was based on a simple fact: the capacity to consent to sex is not present until fairly late in adolescence. No one wanted to hear that. One of the guys who was most critical of this and who most pushed the agenda of “a 15-year old wants it” had a profile that linked to anime sites. It was really distressing to me.

And let me add the usual caveats. Yes, teenaged girls can be very provocative – and I know personally how easy it is for a “grown ass married dude” (as Matt Walsh calls us) to be tempted in this way.

But read this article – The Myth of the Teenage Temptress: Or Why A Young Girl Can Not Consent to Sex With An Adult Man. Be advised that some graphic language is used and at one point a sexual encounter is described in detail. But the article speaks the truth – the truth many of my readers don’t want to hear.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Community organizations held a press conference in Constanza yesterday to denounce sexual abuse allegedly committed by a local parish priest, Father Juan Manuel de Jesús Mota.

The groups made the complaint via the Cibao Women’s Coordination Group and called on the La Vega prosecution office to open an investigation into the case: despite being informed of the allegations two weeks ago the authorities have not yet taken any action.

A priest identified as Juan Manuel de Mota (Padre Johnny) who has served the church in Constanza for 15 years, is accused of sexually abusing several young girls, some of them members of the parish choir.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

5. At its annual assembly a few weeks ago, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which serves the leadership of more than 17,000 Catholic priests and brothers who belong to religious orders in the U.S., chose Fr. James J. Greenfield of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales as its president-elect. On behalf of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), David Clohessy responds:

A Delaware priest, who claims there’s a “war on the Roman Catholic priesthood” has just been elected head of America’s Catholic religious orders. He also insists that two convicted child molesters are innocent and that prosecutors are “overzealous.” We think he’s an extremist.

David Clohessy notes that Greenfield made his “incendiary remarks” about a purported “war” on priests as abuse cases are investigated and tried in court to Ralph Cipriano of the Big Trial blog in Philadelphia. Clohessy adds,

Fr. Greenfield’s election sends a depressing and chilling message to thousands of clergy sex abuse victims. Decades into the church’s horrific and on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis, Catholic officials are still elevating colleagues who deny and mischaracterize the scandal.

And I agree with David that this decision of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men deserves critical attention. If the goal of the Catholic hierarchy and of religious communities is to get to the bottom of abuse and to be transparent in account for it, electing people who speak about the investigation of the abuse crisis as a “war” on priests is hardly likely to help us achieve that goal.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JOHN MASANAUSKAS HERALD SUN AUGUST 29, 2013

VICTORIAN Jewish religious leaders are being trained in how to deal with disclosures of sexual abuse and family violence.

A US expert recently visited Melbourne to advise rabbis on the subject.

There have been perceptions in the Jewish community that some religious figures were advising against reporting abuse cases to police.

Last month, rabbi David Kramer was jailed for sexually assaulting four students while teaching at Melbourne’s Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1991.

Rabbinical Council of Victoria president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant said the training for rabbis was not directly linked to the sex abuse cases, but was influenced by them.

“There was a misconception that rabbis were saying to people that they mustn’t report to the police,” he said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutsche Bischofskonferenz

Das von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz beschlossene Forschungsprojekt „Sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz“ wird nun als „Interdisziplinäres Forschungsverbundprojekt“ neu ausgeschrieben. Diesen Beschluss hat der Ständige Rat der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz auf seiner jüngsten Sitzung gefasst.

Nachdem das Forschungsprojekt durch die Kündigung der Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen e. V. zu Jahresanfang vorläufig beendet wurde, weil keine gemeinsame Basis gefunden werden konnte, beschlossen die deutschen Bischöfe noch im Januar 2013 einstimmig, an der Realisierung des Forschungsprojektes festzuhalten. Dazu wurde ein Beraterkreis von den deutschen Bischöfen eingesetzt, der bei der Überprüfung des Projektkonzepts und der Auswahl eines neuen Projektpartners Hilfe leistet. Wesentliche Ziele des Forschungsprojektes sind nach wie vor die Erhebung von verlässlichem Zahlenmaterial sowie die Untersuchung von Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionellen Aspekten. Die Erkenntnisse werden in die diözesane Präventionsarbeit einfließen.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Er wollte, dass ich ihn immer zwischen den Oberschenkeln streichle. Ab und zu habe ich auch sein ,Teil’ berühren müssen – das hat ihm getaugt“, beschuldigte Ex-Ministrant Harald F. im Mai 2012 Pfarrer T. in einem TV-Bericht des Senders Puls4.

Der Geistliche soll ihn zwischen 1982 und 1984 vielfach sexuell missbraucht haben. Die Übergriffe sollen in einer kleinen Gemeinde im Bezirk Steyr-Land,OÖ, passiert sein. Doch T., der inzwischen eine Innviertler Pfarre leitet, bestreitet das vehement: „Das stimmt nicht.“

Der Fall landete bei der Unabhängigen Opferschutzanwaltschaft („Klasnic-Kommision“), die F. einem zehnstündigen Clearing-Verfahren unterziehen ließ. Nach eingehender psychologischer Prüfung wurde der 41-Jährige schließlich als Opfer eingestuft und bekam 5000 Euro plus 30 Therapiestunden zugesprochen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Jesus.de

[Summary: The German Catholic Bishops’ Conference has re-advertised the research project regarding sexual abuse of minors.]

Die katholische Deutsche Bischofskonferenz hat das Forschungsprojekt zum sexuellen Missbrauch Minderjähriger neu ausgeschrieben. Das habe der Ständige Rat auf seiner jüngsten Sitzung beschlossen, teilte die Bischofskonferenz am Mittwoch in Bonn mit.

Für das Projekt können sich Wissenschaftler verschiedener Fachrichtungen bewerben. Ziel der Studie sei weiterhin, sexuelle Übergriffe von Priestern und anderen Geistlichen von 1945 bis heute zu erheben und zu analysieren.

Die neue Ausschreibung sieht eine Laufzeit von 2014 bis 2017 vor. Ziel sei es, verlässliches Zahlenmaterial zu erheben und Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionelle Aspekte zu untersuchen. Die Erkenntnisse sollen in die Präventionsarbeit einfließen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die katholische Bischofskonferenz hat einen neuen Anlauf für das Anfang des Jahres vorerst gescheiterte Forschungsprojekt zur Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals gestartet. Das Projekt werde interdisziplinär neu ausgeschrieben, teilte die Bischofskonferenz am Mittwoch in Bonn mit. Wesentliche Ziele seien weiterhin die Erhebung “verlässlichen Zahlenmaterials” sowie die Untersuchung von “Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionellen Aspekten”. Die Projektlaufzeit sei von 2014 bis 2017 vorgesehen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

Ziele des Forschungsprojektes sind nach wie vor die Erhebung von verlässlichem Zahlenmaterial sowie die Untersuchung von Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionellen Aspekten. Erkenntnisse werden in die diözesane Präventionsarbeit einfließen

Bonn (kath.net/dbk) Das von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz beschlossene Forschungsprojekt „Sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz“ wird nun als „Interdisziplinäres Forschungsverbundprojekt“ neu ausgeschrieben. Diesen Beschluss hat der Ständige Rat der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz auf seiner jüngsten Sitzung gefasst.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Jessica Fleischman | jfleisc2@mlive.com
on August 28, 2013

SAGINAW, MI — John Douglas White, convicted of murdering Rebekah Jane Gay last year, has killed himself in prison, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

White was found dead during the morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 28, having hanged himself in his prison cell.

White, 56, was housed in the Michigan Reformatory correctional facility in Ionia at the time of his death, stated written correspondence from MDOC spokesman Russell Marlan.

After accepting a plea deal for second-degree murder as a habitual offender in the death of the 24-year-old Isabella County woman, White was sentenced to 56 years and three months in prison during his April 2013 sentencing.

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MICHIGAN
Oakland Press

IONIA (AP) — A minister convicted of murder for killing his fiancee’s 24-year-old daughter to fulfill a fantasy to have sex with a dead body has died after being found hanged in his prison cell.

MLive reports that officials at the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia found 56-year-old John D. White about 4 a.m. Wednesday suffering from self-inflicted asphyxiation.

White had been a minister of the small Christ Community Fellowship church in Isabella County’s Deerfield Township, about 120 miles northwest of Detroit.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

Aug. 29, 2013

An inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse committed by Maitland and Newcastle Catholic priests will reopen to hear evidence from two of the church’s most senior officials.

The special commission of inquiry will reconvene in Sydney on September 9 when the general-secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Father Brian Lucas, and the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Monsignor John Usher, will give evidence.

Father Lucas gave evidence to the inquiry during its eight weeks of public hearings that wrapped up in Newcastle earlier this month.

He said between 1990 and 1995 he heard of 35 complaints against priests while working on a team established to persuade ­paedophile priests to resign.

Father Lucas was also part of a committee that designed protocol for bishops in dealing with allegations of criminal behaviour in the 1980s and 1990s.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD Aug. 28, 2013

THE Special Commission of Inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse allegations in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese of the Catholic Church has announced further public hearings in Sydney.

The hearings, with Monsignor John Usher and Father Brian Lucas, are scheduled to start at 10am on September 9.

The commission finished its scheduled public hearings in Newcastle on August 1, but commissioner Margaret Cunneen has held a series of in-camera hearings during the intervening weeks.

Father Lucas, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, gave evidence in the public Newcastle hearings and was listed as one of at least 15 witnesses giving evidence behind closed doors.

Monsignor Usher, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, had not appeared previously on witness lists.

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OHIO
WFMJ

[with video]

By Michelle Nicks, Reporter

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – New allegations of child sex abuse emerge related to the Catholic church.

A Youngstown man claims he was molested at age 13 by a teacher at St. Christine’s School in the city.

Jerry Arnal, now 51 years-old, stood outside the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown telling 21 News he felt compelled to publicly reveal his painful past in hopes that he could prevent the crimes from happening to any other young children.

Arnal says he was repeatedly molested by a deacon and Catholic school teacher at St. Christine’s back in 1976.

The Youngstown man also claims the alleged abuser still works in the diocese, a claim the Youngstown Diocese vehemently denies.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El abogado querellante en la denuncia de abusos sexuales contra el sacerdote John O’Reilly, Juan Ignacio Escobar, afirmó en Una Nueva Mañana en Cooperativa que se han producido presiones inaceptables para proteger al ex capellán del Colegio Cumbres en el juicio.

O’Reilly enfrentó este martes la audiencia de formalización por abusos contra ds hermanas de ese establecimiento cuando ellas tenían seis y nueve años, en la que la Fiscalía pidió la prisión preventiva en su contra, lo que fue rechazado por la jueza a cargo del caso, Andrea Díaz-Muñoz.

Este trámite se produjo dos días después de que fuera publicada una carta en los diarios La Tercera y El Mercurio con más de mil firmas en apoyo del sacerdote acusado, lo que el abogado calificó de “presión indebida”.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

Luego que el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago lo dejara en libertad y sin medidas cautelares, el sacerdote John O’Reilly envió un mensaje de apoyo a las familias de las presuntas víctimas de abusos que se le imputaban, afirmando que reza por ellas.

El religioso había sido formalizado este martes acusado de abusos sexuales en contra de dos niñas del colegio Cumbres cuando éstas tenían seis y 10 años, a partir de 2007.

O’Reilly llegó hasta el Centro de Justicia acompañado por apoderados, alumnos y ex estudiantes del colegio Cumbres y salió de la misma forma. Antes de retirarse del lugar declaró que “creo que se han mencionado aquí todos las personas que sufren, evidentemente, tienen una oportunidad para el futuro”.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

BY BERNIE M. FARBER, OTTAWA CITIZEN AUGUST 28, 2013

He was considered one of Canada’s preeminent poets, a writer whose verses sang of Canada’s natural beauty, whose poems painted pictures of Canadian wilderness that brought pride to a nation. He was also a heartless civil servant, the first superintendent of Canadian residential schools and a deputy minister of Indian Affairs in the early part of the 20th century whose policies targeting First Nations, many believe, meet today’s definition of the UN genocide convention.

Duncan Campbell Scott was born in Ottawa in 1862. His desire was to go into medicine, a profession that his family could ill afford. His father, however, Rev. William Scott, did have connections in the nation’s capital and managed to get his son a job within the Indian Affairs sector, then part of the Department of the Interior. Scott spent the rest of his professional career in Indian Affairs, eventually rising to deputy superintendent in 1923. And it is here that he callously enforced laws and regulations that were determined to assimilate Canada’s indigenous population into Canadian society.

Scott believed wholeheartedly in the residential-school plan for young aboriginal children, a policy Canada had adopted even before Confederation. He approached his job with the fervour of a zealot. Scott embraced the idea that removing aboriginal children from the reserve, forcibly if need be, and placing them in residential schools often many hundreds of miles from their homes was the only way, as he ominously stated, to “kill the Indian in the child.”

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IOWA
KCRG

By Katie Wiedemann, Reporter

DUBUQUE, Iowa — The Archdiocese of Dubuque has agreed to pay $5.2 million to 26 people claiming clergy sex abuse.

The settlement was announced Wednesday.

The Dubuque Archdiocese also settled with 18 victims in 2008 for $4.7 million. The Archdiocese paid nine victims $2.6 million in 2007. 20 victims were part of a $5 million settlement in 2006. The church also settled with 10 victims individually.

As director of The Iowa “Survivor’s network of those Abused by Priests”, Steve Theisen says no amount of money can fix the damage abusers cause their victims. “A lot of the folks haven’t been able to reach their potential because of the abuse,” said Theisen.

As a sexual abuse survivor himself, Theisen says what really helps victims recover is therapy. “The nightmares went away. The wrong thinking, some of that is still there. But a lot of the anxiety and depression went away. ”

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IOWA
The Gazette

More than 20 sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Dubuque were resolved earlier this month in the form of a settlement.

According to a press release from Waterloo lawyer Chad Swanson, of Dutton, Braun, Staack & Hellman, P.L.C., 26 sexual abuse claims were resolved with a $5.2 million settlement with the Archdiocese. The money was collectively paid to 22 males and four females survivors.

“The settlement is a significant and the amount of money included in the settlement may appear substantial, but on a per person basis, it will never be sufficient to compensate these claimants for all of the years of living with shame, embarrassment and stigma of the abuse,” Swanson said in the release.

A statement from the Archdiocese of Dubuque, released Wednesday, said the Archdiocese will continue to publish notices in its newspaper inviting people who were sexually abused as minors to come forward with information on how to do so. It will also offer to pay for counseling and therapy for victims for up to 12 sessions.

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IOWA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque

August 2013

Table of priests against whom public accusations of sexual abuse of minors have been made and/or
lawsuits have been filed. They are listed chronologically according to the earliest time the sexual abuse
occurred, according to the accusations. The name of the priest is included, as well as dates of birth, ordination, and death. In the “Comments” section, the time that the accusation became public is Indicated. At the end of the table, there is provided an alphabetical list of the priests, with each priest’s
dates and places of assignments. The current status of the priest is also listed in that summary. Being included in this table does not necessarily mean that the accusation has been proven in a court of law or shown to have occurred through an outside investigation or admitted to by the person accused.

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IOWA
WHO

The Archdiocese of Dubuque is paying millions of dollars to victims of sex abuse by its clergy members.
26 victims of sexual abuse will split a $5.2-million settlement. Of the 26, four are female and 22 are male.

The abuse to the then minors happened between the 1940′s and 1970′s.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque keeps a list on its website of priests publicly accused of abuse. Nine of the 10 priests accused of abuse in this particular settlement were already on that list.

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IOWA
The Globe Gazette

By PAT KINNEY, For The Globe Gazette

WATERLOO — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque has paid $5.2 million to 26 victims of clergy sex abuse — the fourth such settlement in nine years and the first since 2008.

The out-of-court settlement was announced Wednesday by Waterloo attorney Chad Swanson of the Dutton law firm and confirmed by the archdiocese.

It involves 10 priests in incidents alleged to have occurred from the late 1940s through the 1970s, including three who served in North Iowa.

None of the accused clergy currently work as priests, and most are dead. Archdiocesan officials have said the number of new claims has tapered off significantly in recent years.

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IOWA
Houston Chronicle

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque will pay $5.2 million to 26 people who have claimed clergy sex abuse, according to a settlement announced Wednesday.

Archbishop Michael Jackels and Archbishop Emeritus Jerome Hanus apologized in a statement to the victims and their families, and expressed hope that the settlement will be supportive of them.

“They assure all the victims of their prayers for them and their families,” said a statement from Sister Carol Hoverman, the communications director for the archdiocese.

The statement said priests who abused are a “disgrace to the vocation and a scandal to the faithful.”

“The vast majority of priests are good and holy servants of God and God’s people,” said the statement.

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OHIO
Vindicator

By joe gorman
jgorman@vindy.com
youngstown

A man saying he was abused by a deacon and former Diocese of Youngstown employee in 1976 said he came forward to help other people who may have been abused by the same person.

The diocese in 2011, however, told Jerry Arnal, 51, of Youngstown, who is making the claim, that it investigated and found the claims to be unsubstantiated. The diocese also said the employee, who also used to be at Cardinal Mooney High School, has not been employed by the diocese since last year and that he no longer is a deacon.

Judy Jones, Midwest regional director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, and Arnal had a news conference outside St. Columba Cathedral on Wednesday. Jones urged Bishop George Murry, head of the diocese, to release the man’s name so that others can report abuse and seek help. Jones and Arnal refused to identify the person they are accusing, saying that is up to the diocese.

“We believe children are still at risk in this diocese,” Jones said. “We won’t release the name because Bishop Murry knows who it is, and it his responsibility.”

When asked if the name of someone who has not been formally charged should be released, Jones said the diocese has done it before with the case of former priest Thomas Crum. Crum was banished from the priesthood in 2010 after allegations surfaced in 2009 that he abused a student, also at Cardinal Mooney, in 1976. Crum was asked to resign by the diocese in June 2009 after the accuser’s May 2009 claim was investigated and found to be credible, and police departments in several other locations were contacted. Crum ultimately was not charged criminally because the statute of limitations, the time limit for filing charges in a criminal case, had run out.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 29, 2013

YOUNGSTOWN – A city man who said he was abused close to 30 years ago by a teacher / deacon while he was a student at St. Christine’s school joined an advocacy group that confronted Youngstown Diocese officials about the matter on Wednesday.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced plans to hand-deliver a letter to Bishop George Murry asking him to suspend the deacon, who SNAP claimed is still part of the diocese.

SNAP official Judy Jones said Jerry Arnal was abused by a teacher repeatedly during the mid-to-late 1970s. According to SNAP, Arnal reported the alleged abuse to Sister Jane Marie Kudlacsz, the principal, in 1987.

SNAP claims Murry told Arnal in 2011 that he hired a private investigator, who found no evidence of molestation.

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UNITED STATES
Morung Express

Catherine Woodiwiss Sojourners

The Silence and the Shame of Sexual Violence in Church

Several years ago, Amee Paparella was an eager student at a state university in Ohio. A conservative Christian, she quickly signed up to join the campus ministry. What she found in the group surprised her.

“It was so misogynistic,” Paparella recalled. “My leaders perpetuated this hyper-masculinized idea of God as physically a man.”

Over the years, Paparella wrestled to reconcile this image of God with her own faith, often to the discomfort of her peers. But an incident of sexual abuse within the ministry proved the breaking point. When it was discovered that a young man had been abusing his female partner, also in the group, the campus minister and student leaders responded by encouraging the young woman to stand by her man and to pray with the other students for his healing.

Paparella was horrified. “I realized, they don’t want me to think. After that, I just didn’t see how faith and women’s empowerment could be reconciled.” From that point on, she said, “the women’s movement really became my new church.”

Several months ago, a young woman in Steubenville, Ohio, suffered a series of horrific, and horrifically public, violations. After being raped by two classmates, her abuse continued as photos of the incident were spread throughout social networks and ultimately to the national media. Not only did she suffer violations of her body, of her dignity, and of her privacy, she later suffered skepticism and blame from victim-shamers both online and in her community, and had her identity broadcast on cable news.

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IOWA
CBS 2

[with video]

Updated: Wednesday, August 28 2013

DUBUQUE, IA (CBS 2/FOX 28) — Tonight, it’s the church asking for forgiveness.

“I will repeat it as long as I have life’s breath…I am sorry,” said Archbishop Michael Jackels.

With the Archdiocese of Dubuque settling with 26 more victims of sexual abuse for a total of $5.2 million dollars, the total is now up to 83 settlements over the past seven years. Jackels says they don’t want to stop at a cash payment.

“If there’s anything that we can do or say to help with the process of healing and wholeness, we’re ready to do that,” Jackels said.

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ARIZONA
Glendale Star

By DARRELL JACKSON, Staff Writer

A deacon at St. Thomas More Church has resigned from the church and Diocese of Phoenix Diocese after being accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

Ron Gonzalez, 62, assisted at St. Thomas More Parish since 2003 and was officially assigned to the parish in January 2011. He was named parish manager in May 2013.

Gonzalez resigned from the church Aug. 14 and the Diocese of Phoenix stated that, “Gonzalez’s faculties to function in the ministry within the Diocese of Phoenix have been revoked and he is no longer employed by the parish.”

The alleged incidents stem from events in Texas and Pennsylvania, 15 to 20 years ago, prior to Gonzalez moving to Arizona.

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MONTANA
Law360

By Bibeka Shrestha

Law360, New York (August 28, 2013, 4:00 PM ET) — A Catholic diocese urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday not to revive a federal lawsuit in which Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. fought coverage of lawsuits brought by hundreds of alleged victims of sexual abuse, arguing the insurance issues should be decided in a parallel state court action instead.

The Roman Catholic Church of Helena asked the appeals court to uphold a Montana federal judge’s decision to toss a coverage suit brought by Travelers and its affiliates — United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. and St….

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IOWA
Telegraph-Herald

BY MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON TH STAFF WRITER MNPEDERSON@WCINET.COM

UPDATED
Another 26 claims of clergy sexual abuse against priests with the Archdiocese of Dubuque have been settled for cases from the late 1940s through the 1970s.

The archdiocese paid a total of $5.2 million to the abuse survivors: 22 men and four women, according to attorney Chad A. Swanson of the Waterloo, Iowa, firm Dutton, Braun, Staack & Hellman. The firm has resolved 83 clergy sexual abuse claims against the archdiocese since 2006.

The priests named in the latest group of claims served in schools, hospitals, colleges, convents and parishes big and small. A group representing clergy sex abuse victims said there are likely many more victims who have not reported their abuse.

“This is, we suspect, fewer than half of all such victims,” said Steve Theisen, director of the Iowa chapter ofSurvivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a press release. “We urge Iowa’s bishops to ‘come clean’ and disclose all the settlements — those in which victims were represented by lawyers and those in which victims were not represented.”

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CHILE
Santiago Times

John O’Reilly is accused of sexually abusing two young girls while he served as the chaplain and spiritual advisor at their school.

A Santiago court formalized Tuesday the charges against an Irish-born Catholic priest accused of molesting two young girls.

John O’Reilly now faces two charges of sexual assault for his alleged abuse of two girls who at the time were 6 and 10 years old, respectively. O’Reilly’s accusers say the abuse took place in 2007, while the priest was still serving as the chaplain and spiritual director of Colegio Cumbres — a private school in the affluent Santiago borough of Las Condes.

During the hearing, prosecutors presented a psychiatric evaluation performed on O’Reilly that said he suffered from a “social adaptation deficit” and recommended that, regardless of the case’s outcome, he not be allowed to continue to work with children.

Though prosecutors managed to formalize charges against O’Reilly, they failed in their bid to have him taken into custody leading up to the trial.

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OHIO
WKBN

[with video]

A Boardman man said Wednesday he was abused in 1976 by a teacher and deacon while he was an 8th-grade student at St. Christine School in Youngstown.

Jerry Arnal, 51, said he reported the abuse in 1987 and 2008 to school and diocese officials and to the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office, but no action has been taken.

Arnal, who was with the advocate group the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said prosecutors told him the statute of limitations has run out so they are unable to file charges.

Arnal and SNAP officials refused to name the deacon they claim abused Arnal. SNAP also claimed they received an anonymous letter claiming the same deacon had sex with a girl student at Cardinal Mooney.

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TEXAS
KHOU

by KHOU.com staff
khou.com
Posted on August 9, 2013

HOUSTON — A mother has come forward saying a man sexually abused her son 30 years ago.

The woman reported it to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

Officials there said they’ve relieved the priest of his duties while police investigate.

The priest also worked as a chaplain in a local hospital.

We did not release his name because charges were not filed.

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IOWA
Radio Iowa

August 28, 2013 By Dar Danielson

Details were released Wednesday of a settlement with the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 26 sexual abuse claims against Catholic priests. The settlement says the abuse happened between the late 1940s and the 1970s and 22 males and four females will be paid $5.2-million.

Archbishop Michael Jackels took over three months ago when Jerome Hanus retired. “I am sorry, so sorry that this has ever happened, and also how it has affected their trust that somebody in the church, or the leadership in the church could be trusted to help,” Jackels told Radio Iowa.

“Second, that we offer what is within our means to contribute to the whole process of healing and wholeness.” Jackels says the Catholic church as a whole, and the Dubuque Diocese in particular are intent ending any abuse by priests.

“I suppose somebody could dispute on this matter, but I am, we are, committed to do all that is humanly possible to make sure that this doesn’t happen in the future,” Jackels says. He says the effort to educate priests and others within the church now is much more rigorous than when he applied to be a priest in the 1970s.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 28, 2013

YOUNGSTOWN – A city man who said he was abused close to 30 years ago by a teacher and deacon while he was a student at St. Christine’s school joined an advocacy group that confronted Youngstown Diocese officials about the matter on Wednesday.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced plans to hand deliver a letter to Bishop George Murry asking him to suspend the deacon, who SNAP claimed is still part of the diocese.

SNAP official Judy Jones said Jerry Arnal was abused by a teacher at Cardinal Mooney repeatedly during the mid-to-late 1970s. According to SNAP, Arnal reported the alleged abuse to Sister Jane Marie Kudlacsz, the Mooney principal, in 1987.

SNAP claims Murry told Arnal in 2011 that he hired a private investigator, who found no evidence of molestation.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Dear Bishop Campbell:

We are members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Our mission is to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. We are begging you to do this as well, by giving information to Canadian authorities about a proven predator priest who worked in your diocese.

On September 4, Fr. Phil J. Jacobs will be sentenced for sexually abusing a Canadian child. Last year, he admitted abuse incidents involving boys in Ohio, claiming he wanted “to teach (them) to masturbate.” (At least ten children have said he molested them.)

As you no doubt know, Fr. Jacobs spent time at four central Ohio Catholic facilities. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Fr. Jacobs worked “at St. Joseph the Worker School in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In central Ohio, he was at St. Anthony Parish on the North Side from 1975 to 1979, St. Philip the Apostle Parish on the East Side from 1979 to 1981, and St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Westerville from 1986 to 1989. He also taught philosophy at the Pontifical College Josephinum on the Far North Side from 1986 to 1993.”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Previous posts have covered Australia Cardinal George Pell’s penchant for the finer things of life, such as his palatial $30 million Roman holiday home, “Domus Australia”. This appears to be in conflict with the new guy in the Vatican who promotes a more humble existence. Now, we have the explanation from the horse’s mouth.

Pell told Gerard O’Connell of the “Vatican Insider” earlier in the year that “The Holy Father is an old style Jesuit, he’s taken a vow of poverty and he takes it seriously. Most of the rest of us haven’t taken a vow of poverty.” When things got a bit boring at “Domus Australia”, George took some time off to fly half-way around the world to accompany about 40 “pilgrims” (no, we’re not tourists!) to Rio. On the way, he stopped off in Lima to catch up with an old mate, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne (pictured below).

George may feel hardly done by in being accused back in Australia of being complicit in a cover-up of priestly child sexual abuse, but poor old Capriani has even more problems. He was accused of having been complicit in a massacre of schoolteachers that took place during an anti-terrorism operation.

Since Pell has not taken a vow of poverty, he chose to stay at the Retreat House run by the Sisters of San Jose of Cluny (pictured below), which was not quite up to “Domus Australia” standard, but what can you expect in a country as poor as Peru?

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BRASIL
em

A última das três missas do domingo celebradas pelo padre Gerônimo Moreira, de 32 anos, na Igreja Matriz de Gavião (BA), cidade 245 quilômetros a noroeste de Salvador, surpreendeu os fiéis. Ao fim da cerimônia, Moreira começou a ler uma carta na qual se despedia da igreja para “assumir a paternidade e a vida familiar”. Pouco depois, o padre publicou a carta em sua página no Facebook.

A decisão veio depois de a namorada do padre, funcionária pública no município de Conceição do Coité, vizinho de Gavião, Emília Carneiro, de 23 anos, contar ao religioso que estava grávida. A descoberta foi feita em maio e, segundo o padre, desde lá os dois entraram em crise. “Assumi (a paternidade), mas tinha muito medo da reação das pessoas da comunidade e da família dela”, conta.

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BRAZIL
AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO — A priest in northeastern Brazil stunned his parishioners by announcing during mass that he would soon become the father of a little girl and leave the priesthood.

Father Geronimo Moreira, from the small town of Gaviao in Bahia state, said he fell in love with a local girl and got her pregnant.

“With time we noticed that our friendship had something more: love, but we always sought to leave it at the level of friendship,” the 32-year-old priest said in a letter he read to the faithful during mass last Sunday.

“I said that if I could not keep my vow of celibacy, I would first leave the priesthood so as not to create a scandal in the community,” he said.

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IOWA
Dyersville Commercial

By Will Cushman
Staff Writer • will.cushman@wcinet.com

A law firm representing sexual abuse victims of priests in the Archdiocese of Dubuque revealed today that the Archdiocese paid $5.2 million to 26 victims in a recent settlement.

Chad Swanson, of Dutton, Braun, Staack and Hellman law firm in Waterloo, said in a press release that the claims came from 22 men and four women who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of 10 Archdiocese priests from the 1940-70s. In addition to the monetary payments, Swanson said the Archdiocese agreed to pay for up to 12 counseling sessions for each of the victims.

“The settlement is significant and the amount of money included in the settlement may appear substantial, but on a per person basis, it will never be sufficient to compensate these claimants for all of the years of living with the shame, embarrassment and stigma of the abuse,” Swanson said in a press release. “The injuries to this group of survivors cannot be overstated. The settlement does offer the opportunity for each survivor to continue or start their personal healing process.”

Steve Theisen, Iowa director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), applauded the survivors in a statement Wednesday.

“Like all who have suffered clergy sex crimes and cover-ups, they endured and continue to endure the life-long consequences from trusting someone in a collar or a habit,” Theisen said. “They have found the strength to come forward, expose predators and seek justice.”

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CHILE
New Tang Dynasty

An Irish-born priest was released by a judge in Chile on Tuesday after a hearing into alleged sexual abuse charges.

Prosecutors allege that John Joseph O’Reilly, 66, abused two children at Colegio Cumbres, a school in Santiago where he worked as the spiritual advisor.

An investigation into abuse allegations began last July, and the priest and his defence team have maintained his innocence.

After a nearly eight-hour hearing in a Santiago court room, Judge Andrea Diaz-Munoz refused to imprison the priest while the investigation continues, citing insufficient evidence.

O’Reilly is a member of the Legionaries of Christ, a once influential religious order that has been at the centre of several sexual abuse controversies in recent years.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

To Bishop Murry,

As victims of child sex abuse, and advocates for those victims, we urge you to act responsibly regarding the credible accusations against a deacon and teacher at a Youngstown Catholic school.

You claim that an investigation was conducted – in secrecy – and there was no evidence found. Yet another person has come forward to us – anonymously – reporting misdeeds about this individual who remains around children.

The accused cleric should have been suspended and his name publicly released. Additionally, the names and whereabouts of all proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics who have worked or lived in the diocese should be publicly disclosed and posted on your diocesan website. (Some 30 of your colleagues have done this. Why won’t you?)

We urge that you reflect on your actions carefully. We urge you to keep the words of Pope Benedict in mind, when he encouraged all bishops to “do everything possible” to help victims and prevent crimes.

Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, snapjudy@gmail.com
David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director, Snapclohessy@aol.com

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NEW JERSEY
TheMediaReport

Recent reporting from the New Jersey Star-Ledger about Newark Archbishop John J. Myers and his handling of a now-deceased priest in the Diocese of Peoria back in the 1990s would have you believe that area Catholics are rabidly up in arms to the point that they are fervently seeking Myers’ removal.

However, the meager gathering for an August 20, 2013, “rally” outside Newark’s archdiocesan headquarters, apparently organized by local gadfly/ex-priest/”Catholic Whistleblower” Robert Hoatson, suggests that anger against Archbishop Myers has barely extended beyond the editorial room of the Star-Ledger and the basements of the usual Church cranks, such as Hoatson.

A whopping three people showed up for the rally last week seeking the prelate’s resignation.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
WKBN

[with video]

A Youngstown man said Wednesday he was abused in 1976 by a teacher and deacon while he was a student at St. Christine’s school.

Jerry Arnal said he reported the abuse in 1987 and 2008 to school and diocese officials and to the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office but no action has been taken.

Arnal, who was with the advocate group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said prosecutors told him the statute of limitations has run out so they are unable to file charges.

Arnal and SNAP officials refused to name the deacon they claim abused Arnal. SNAP also claimed they received an anonymous letter claiming the same deacon had sex with a girl student at Cardinal Mooney.

They asked for the people who sent the letter to come forward.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

[with video]

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday August 28, 2013

An advocacy group is asking the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus to urge a Canadian judge to hand a harsh sentence to a former central Ohio priest who has been convicted of sexually touching a teen in British Columbia.

The Rev. Philip Jacobs was found guilty in February of sexually touching a person between the ages of 14 and 18. He could be sent to prison for five years when he is sentenced next Wednesday.

Carol Zamonski of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests was Downtown today outside St. Joseph Cathedral, the seat of the Columbus diocese. She delivered a letter to the adjacent offices of Bishop Frederick Campbell asking him to use his pulpit and parish bulletins to encourage victims of Jacobs to speak out.

“We urge victims to come forward quickly, report this to the Canadian judge who will be sentencing Father Jacobs next week,” Zamonski said. “It seems that the maximum sentence might be merely five months, with no accountability that we can see for his future access to people that he might prey on.”

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IOWA
CBS 2

[with video]

Updated: Wednesday, August 28 2013

DUBUQUE, IA (CBS 2/FOX 28) — Leaders of the Archdiocese of Dubuque say they have reached a settlement agreement with more than two dozen people claiming sexual abuse by priests more than 35 years ago. 26 people claim they were abused by priests in the 1950’s and 1960’s in Dubuque.

Those accused of sexually abusing minors are Rev. John T. Reed (died in 1996), Joseph Patnode (died in 1977), Patrick McElliott (died in 1987), William Schwartz (removed from priesthood in 2005), Louis Wunder (died in 1990), Louis Wendling (died in 1969), Peter Graff (died in 1976), Robert Reiss (removed from priesthood in 1997 & died in 2005), Allen Schmitt (removed from ministry in 2002), and Robert Swift (died in 1980).

The Archdiocese has agreed to pay $5.2 million dollars to the law firm representing the plaintiffs. In a statement Wednesday Morning, the Archdiocese outlined a number of measures it’s taking to identify victims of sexual abuse.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Von Matthias Drobinski
Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst sieht aus wie ein großer Junge, mit dem schmalen Gesicht, den großen Augen, der schlaksigen Gestalt. Und wenn der Bischof von Limburg, der immerhin 53 Jahre alt ist, die Mitra aufsetzt, seinen Bischofshut, fragt man sich unwillkürlich: Darf der das schon?

Man kann mit ihm kontrovers, aber nicht unfreundlich über Ehe und Familie diskutieren, in der deutschen Bischofskonferenz ist er für das Thema zuständig. Dann verteidigt er zum Beispiel das Betreuungsgeld oder kritisiert, dass schwule und lesbische Lebenspartnerschaften rechtlich immer mehr der Ehe angeglichen würden. Man kann das alles anders sehen, doch das wäre kein Anlass, in Tebartz-van Elst den derzeit größten Schadensfall innerhalb des katholischen Deutschlands zu sehen, wie das nun viele Katholiken inner- und außerhalb des Bistums Limburg tun.

Am Sonntag erst haben mehr als 500 Kirchgänger nach dem Hochamt im Frankfurter Dom einen offenen Brief an den Bischof unterschrieben: Die Zukunft des Bistums sei “in hohem Maß gefährdet”, heißt es da; die Leitung müsse “umgehend einen anderen Weg einschlagen”, wenn sie die katholische Kirche “glaubhaft und glaubwürdig vertreten” wolle.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Presse

Berlin. Schwaden von Weihrauch und salbungsvollen Worten, Messdiener in weißen Handschuhen und Feuerzauber mit Chrisamöl: Der Bischof von Limburg liebt liturgischen Pomp. Einmal schlugen bei der Einweihung einer Krankenhauskapelle die Flammen am Altar so hoch, dass die Besucher in die Notaufnahme nebenan flüchten mussten. Wenn es nur das wäre: Die Herde würde über ihren exzentrischen Hirten wohl mit christlicher Nachsicht lächeln.

Aber nein: Es brennt lichterloh in dem mitteldeutschen Bistum. Die Katholiken begehren offen auf gegen Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, dessen private Verschwendungssucht sie nicht länger hinnehmen. Eskaliert ist der seit Jahren schwelende Konflikt am vorigen Sonntag. Eine Revolte wie zu Zeiten der Reformation: Pfarrer predigten gegen ihren Vorgesetzten und ernteten begeisterten Applaus. Nach einer Messe in Frankfurt standen über 500 Gläubige Schlange, um einen Protestbrief zu unterschreiben. Und das Beispiel macht Schule, auch am Land.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Berliner Zeitung

Der Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst ist am Mittwoch nach Rom gereist. Dort traf er mit dem Präfekten der Bischofskongregation, Kardinal Marc Ouellet, zusammen. Tebartz-van Elst hatte nach Angaben des Bistums von sich aus kurzfristig um einen Termin bei Ouellet gebeten. Der Bischof habe bei dem Gespräch „größte Unterstützung und Solidarität in der aktuellen Situation erfahren“, hieß es. Der Limburger Bischof steht seit längerem wegen seines Führungsstils in der öffentlichen Kritik. Für Diskussionen sorgte auch der aufwendig restaurierte neue Wohn- und Amtssitz des Bischofs. (KNA)

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DEUTSCHLAND
The Local

German Catholics have rebelled against a bishop, attacking his leadership style and reading out a letter in a cathedral calling for change.

In a letter delivered on Sunday to church authorities, the Frankfurt Catholic Association questioned Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst and the leadership of the diocese.

The letter said: “The diocese must immediately change tack.” The protesters said that they were “greatly concerned” about the growing crisis of confidence in the diocese, newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine reported.

The letter was read out in Frankfurt Cathedral after a service on Sunday and has also been sent to other towns in the diocese.

According to a report on the website of the Frankfurt Catholic Church, 500 people have signed the letter which is seen as a show of support for Frankfurt’s deacon, Johannes zu Eltz, who is a critic of the bishop.

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IOWA
WCF Courier

WATERLOO. Iowa — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque has paid $5.2 million to 26 victims of clergy sex abuse — the fourth such settlement in nine years and the first since 2008.

The out-of-court settlement was announced today by Waterloo attorney Chad Swanson of the Dutton law firm and confirmed by the archdiocese. It involves 10 priests in incidents alleged to have occurred from the late 1940s through the 1970s

None of the accused clergy currently work as priests, and most are dead. Archdiocesan officials have said the number of new claims has tapered off significantly in recent years.

Swanson worked through the archdiocese over several years to settle the claims without having to file lawsuits for 22 males and four females — unlike previous settlements which did involve litigation.

“We’ve been working on this project for nearly 10 years, and we’ve been able to foster a lot of healing for a lot of folks,” Swanson said. “I think it’s been a long time coming, particularly with this latest group.”

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ALABAMA
AL.com

By Kelsey Stein | kstein@al.com
on August 28, 2013

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Calvin Payne, the Ensley man charged in a 2011 attack on a Catholic priest who was involved with Payne’s wife, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Jefferson County circuit court this morning.

Payne, 57, was charged with attempted murder in an Aug. 17, 2011, attack on the Rev. Emmanuel Isi, who at the time was associate pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Payne’s trial had been scheduled for Sept. 9 but he instead entered a plea agreement with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office during an appearance this morning before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Alfred Bahakel.

Payne pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree assault. According to his plea agreement, Payne will serve 15 years in prison, but a probation hearing is set for Oct. 28 at 9 a.m.

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IOWA
KWWL

Posted: Aug 28, 2013

Written by Becca Habegger, Multimedia Journalist

DUBUQUE (KWWL) –
In a release Wednesday morning, the Archdiocese of Dubuque announced it is paying a total of $5.2 million to a group of 26 people who claim they were abused as minors by priests in the archdiocese.

The alleged abuses took place more than 35 years ago, most of which occurred in the 1950s and 60s.

Victims named a combined total of 10 priests.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque keeps a list on its website of priests publicly accused of abuse. Nine of the 10 priests accused of abuse in this particular settlement were already on that list, which can be found here.

According to the archdiocese, “priests accused of sexual abuse of minors and named in this mediation are the following: the Reverends John T. Reed (deceased 1996), Joseph Patnode (deceased 1977), Patrick McElliott (deceased 1987), William Schwartz (removed from the priesthood in 2005), Louis Wunder (deceased 1990), Louis Wendling (deceased 1969), Peter Graff (deceased 1976), Robert Reiss (removed from the priesthood in 1997, deceased 2005), Allen Schmitt (removed from ministry 2002), and Robert Swift (deceased 1980). More than one victim made claims against McElliott, Patnode, Schwartz, Reed, Reiss, Wunder, and Wendling.”

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

He says he was abused by teacher
Alleged perpetrator is still on the job
Man reported abuse to prosecutor & bishop
Bishop says he investigated but did so secretly
But Catholic prelate claims “No evidence” was found
SNAP: “A second person also reported misdeeds” against deacon to us
Group wants alleged wrongdoer suspended from his teaching post

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, a Youngstown man will disclose that he

— was allegedly molested as a child by a Cardinal Mooney teacher who is now a deacon and who is still working in the diocese,
— has repeatedly reported the offenses to Youngstown’s bishop, and
— has also tried to contact law enforcement about the cleric/teacher

Two SNAP leaders will

— read aloud and provide copies of an anonymous letter from another person reporting similar crimes by the teacher/deacon, and
— prod current and former Catholic employees to speak up about the accused cleric

Both individuals will urge Youngstown Catholic bishop to make public all allegations of sexual abuse that he has received, those that have been removed, and all accused clerics that have been reported to law enforcement.

Afterwards, the three will

— hand out fliers to Catholics arriving for the 12:10 mass at the Cathedral, and
— hand deliver a letter to the bishop urging him to suspend the cleric/teacher and aggressively seek out anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes.

WHEN:
Wednesday, August 28, at 11:30 a.m.

WHERE:
On the sidewalk outside St. Columba Cathedral and chancery office 144 West Wood St. (corner of Elm St ) in Youngstown (330.744.5233)

WHO:
The Youngstown victim, Jerry Arnal, and a St. Louis woman, Judy Jones, who is the associate Midwest director of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHY:
In the mid-to-late 1970s, when he was roughly 13 years old, Jerry Arnal says he was repeatedly molested by a teacher at Cardinal Mooney high school.

In 1987, Arnal reported the alleged abuse to Sister Jane Marie Kudlacz who was principal of Mooney at that time.

Now, Arnal is speaking out, in detail, for the first time, about not only the purported crimes but also about what he says is the “secretive and hurtful way” Youngstown Catholic officials are responding to him.

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.

IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: August 28, 2013

Statement by Steve Theisen of Hudson IA, Iowa director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 319 2311663, Ltreggiefan@cs.com )

Twenty six clergy sex abuse victims have settled child sex abuse and cover up cases against the Dubuque Catholic archdiocese.

I applaud each of these brave survivors. Like all who have suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups, they endure and continue to endure the life-long consequences from trusting someone in a collar or a habit.

Like a small minority of those who have suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups, they have found the strength to come forward, expose predators and seek justice. All Iowa citizens and Catholics owe them a debt of gratitude.

At least 83 clergy sex abuse victims, represented by one law firm, have settled cases against the Dubuque Archdiocese, just one of four dioceses in Iowa. This is, we suspect, fewer than half of all such victims. We urge Iowa’s bishops to “come clean” and disclose ALL the settlements, those in which victims were represented by lawyers and those in which victims were not represented.

Before this settlement, there were 88 proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting Iowa Catholic clerics. Now, there are 90. Three of the newest settlements were against predators who the Archdiocese has seem to have slid under the radar and onto their Table of Accused (Fr. Graff, Fr. Wunder, and Fr. Wendling) or at least the Archdiocese did not well-publicize these cases.

Catholic officials will claim that they have put measures in place to prevent this from happening again. We in SNAP remain very skeptical of this claim. At best, it’s too early to tell whether any of the policies bishops hastily adopted a few short years ago area having any impact. Frankly, we doubt that they are. The crux of this crisis has always been that bishops have nearly unlimited power. And their power remains intact. So they continue to ignore and conceal child sex crimes for the same reason they always have: because they can.

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IOWA
Telegraph Herald

Posted: Wednesday, August 28, 2013
BY MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON TH STAFF WRITER MNPEDERSON@WCINET.COM

Another 26 claims of clergy sexual abuse against priests with the Archdiocese of Dubuque have been settled for cases from the late 1940s through the 1970s.

The Archdiocese paid a total of $5.2 million to the abuse survivors: 22 men and four women, according to attorney Chad A. Swanson of the Waterloo, Iowa, firm Dutton, Braun, Staack & Hellman. The firm has resolved 83 clergy sexual abuse claims against the archdiocese since 2006.

The priests named in the latest group of claims are John Reed, Joseph Patnode, Patrick McElliot, Robert Swift, William Schwartz, Robert Reiss, Allen Schmitt, Louis Wunder, Louis Wendlin and Peter Graff. All the priests are dead except for Schwartz, who was dismissed from the priesthood by Pope Benedict in 2005, and Schmitt. Schmitt has had his priestly duties curtailed, but he is still a priest and works at the archdiocesan administration center in Dubuque under supervision.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian August 29, 2013

CONFIDENTIAL files held by the Archdiocese of Sydney detail dozens of meetings in which two of the country’s most senior serving Catholic clerics convinced pedophile priests to quietly resign, an inquiry has heard.

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry will reopen its public hearings next month to hear evidence from Brian Lucas, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and John Usher, the chancellor of the archdiocese.

Father Lucas has previously told the inquiry the two men met about 35 alleged pedophile priests, convincing them to resign in a “secret and discreet” process.

In accordance with the alleged victims’ wishes, Father Lucas said, the two senior clerics did not report any of these priests to police, despite 10 of the men privately admitting they had committed child abuse.

At least one of these priests is before the courts, charged with child abuse. The resignation of another priest failed to prevent that priest continuing to work for the church, and having access to children, the inquiry heard.

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ARGENTINA
lt10Digital

La sala penal del máximo tribunal entrerriano deberá determinar si sigue o no adelante la causa contra el sacerdote ahora radicado en Tucumán. Para la Cámara del Crimen los delitos que se le imputan al religioso ya están prescriptos.

Autor: lt10digital.com.ar

La Sala Primera de la Cámara del Crimen concedió el recurso de casación presentado por el fiscal Rafael Martín Cotorruelo en la causa que investiga abusos de menores ocurridos en el Seminario de Paraná, y que tiene como principal acusado al cura Justo José Ilarraz, hoy radicado en Tucumán. El 4 de agosto, la Cámara dio vuelta un fallo de primera instancia del juez de Instrucción Alejandro Grippo, y dijo que los delitos que se le imputan a Ilarraz están prescriptos, y por lo tanto no hay posibilidades de continuar con la investigación, tal como lo había pedido la defensa del cura, representada por los abogados Jorge Muñoz y Juan Ángel Fornerón.

Ahora, el caso llegará a la Sala Penal del Superior Tribunal de Justicia (STJ), que integran los vocales Claudia Mizawak, Carlos Chiara Díaz y Daniel Carubia, ya que la Cámara sólo concedió el recurso, pero no lo resuelve. En esa instancia superior, habrá una audiencia pública donde se debatirá la apelación, y de la que ya anunció que tomará parte el procurador general de la provincia, Jorge Amílcar García. La denominada causa Ilarraz involucra el testimonio de siete víctimas, que contaron en la Justicia de qué modo, siendo adolescentes, fueron abusados por Ilarraz mientras permanecían como pupilos en el Seminario, cursando la escuela secundaria.

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

Fecha: 28/08/2013

– Resta ahora que el máximo tribunal fije la fecha de la audiencia en la que cada parte exponga sus argumentos; El expediente, que se abrió en septiembre de 2012, incluye el testimonio de siete víctimas; El cura está suspendido y, por ahora, radicado en Tucumán, luego de que en 1996 fuera enviado al exilio por el entonces arzobispo Estanislao Karlic; Aunque la Justicia le reprochó a la Iglesia su actitud por cuanto a pesar de conocer “estos aberrantes hechos”, echó “un manto de silencio”

La Sala Primera de la Cámara del Crimen concedió el recurso de casación presentado por el fiscal Rafael Martín Cotorruelo en la causa que investiga abusos de menores ocurridos en el Seminario de Paraná, y que tiene como principal acusado al cura Justo José Ilarraz, hoy radicado en Tucumán.

El 4 del actual, la Cámara dio vuelta un fallo de primera instancia del juez de Instrucción Alejandro Grippo, y dijo que los delitos que se le imputan a Ilarraz están prescriptos, y por lo tanto no hay posibilidades de continuar con la investigación, tal como lo había pedido la defensa del cura, representada por los abogados Jorge Muñoz y Juan Ángel Fornerón.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Priest will be sentenced next week
He was found guilty on child sex charges
Cleric faces only five years behind bars
He worked at six places in Columbus area
SNAP to bishop: “Help keep predator locked up”
Group wants Catholic officials & public to write to judge & prosecutor

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse survivors and their supporters will disclose that a Columbus priest will be sentenced soon for child sex crimes. They will urge Columbus Catholic officials to

–give his personnel file to the prosecutor in the case,
— contact the judge, begging her to lock up the predator for “as long as possible,” and
–use their vast resources to urge their flock to do likewise.

The victims will also ask anyone “who many have seen, suspected or suffered” the cleric’s crimes or church cover ups – to call law enforcement officials immediately, so he might face new charges and be jailed longer.

When:
Wednesday, August 28, 11:00 a.m.

Where:
On the sidewalk outside St. Joseph Cathedral, 212 East Broad Street (corner of N 5th St.) in downtown Columbus

Who:
Two-three members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including a Columbus woman who is the organization’s local director

Why:
On Sept. 4, Fr. Phil J. Jacobs will be sentenced for sexually abusing a Canadian child. Last year, he admitted abuse incidents involving boys in Ohio, claiming he wanted “to teach the boys to masturbate.” (At least ten children have said he molested them.)

Fr. Jacobs spent time at four central Ohio Catholic facilities. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Fr. Jacobs worked “at St. Joseph the Worker School in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In central Ohio, he was at St. Anthony Parish on the North Side from 1975 to 1979, St. Philip the Apostle Parish on the East Side from 1979 to 1981, and St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Westerville from 1986 to 1989. He also taught philosophy at the Pontifical College Josephinum on the Far North Side from 1986 to 1993.”

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published August 28, 2013, issue of September 06, 2013.

The Modern Orthodox community has broadly welcomed a long-awaited report into allegations that Yeshiva University staff physically and sexually abused numerous students over several decades. But the report, which withheld most of the findings uncovered by investigators, was not enough to mollify some current and former Y.U. students and victims of abuse.

“More will need to be said” in the future, said Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, honorary president of the Rabbinical Council of America, the main clergy association for Modern Orthodox rabbis. But Goldin hailed the report, released August 26, as a “critical milestone” in Y.U.’s handling of the abuse allegations.

Y.U. cited a pending lawsuit as its reason for not releasing the specific findings by the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which conducted the investigation. The 21-page report instead offered a three-paragraph summary of the investigation, stating that “multiple incidents of varying types of sexual and physical abuse took place” between the mid-1970s through the 1990’s at Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan, “in certain instances, after members of the administration had been made aware of such conduct.”

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DEUTCHLAND
Focus

Opfer sexueller Gewalt outen sich oft erst Jahrzehnte nach der Tat. Kinder und Jugendliche können die Schweigemauer aus Scham und Loyalität zum Täter kaum überwinden. Sie halten sich ohnehin für die eigentlich Schuldigen.

Und wieder war es ein katholischer Priester: Der frühere Pfarrer der bayerischen Gemeinde Reichertshofen wurde verhaftet, weil der dringende Verdacht besteht, dass er ein Kind sexuell missbraucht hat. Mindestens siebenmal soll er sich zwischen 1998 und 2001 an einem Jungen vergangen haben, der damals noch keine 14 Jahre alt war. Das Opfer hat all die Jahre geschwiegen, und erst als Erwachsener den Mut gefunden, seinen Peiniger preiszugeben. Ähnlich sieht es in einer Reihe von Missbrauchsfällen aus, die derzeit quer durch die Republik vor Gericht verhandelt werden: Zwischen der Tat und ihrer Entdeckung liegen Jahre oder Jahrzehnte des Schweigens. Warum ist das heute immer noch so wie vor 30, 40 Jahren? Damals hatten Kinder keine Stimme gegenüber Erwachsenen, Autoritätspersonen gar, wie dem fürsorglichen Lehrer oder dem gütigen Pfarrer. Aber heute, im 21. Jahrhundert?

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ITALY
Two Circles

By IANS

Rome: A court in Italy has ordered the Catholic Church to pay 700,000 euros to the family of a woman who was reportedly sexually abused by a priest when she was a child.

Parish priest Giorgio Carli was arrested in 2003, accused of raping the woman when she was nine until she was 14.

He was convicted of the abuse but in 2009 was acquitted by Italy’s supreme court under the statute of limitations. Carli, 48, has always professed his innocence.

The court in Bolzano said the dioceses of Bolzano and Brixen and a local parish must pay 500,000 euros to the woman and 100,000 euros each to her parents.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Vindicator

By joe gorman
jgorman@vindy.com
youngstown

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — or SNAP — will have a private, local meeting today.

Judy Jones, Midwest associate director for SNAP, and Barb Dorris, SNAP outreach coordinator, both said the location and time of the meeting is being kept from the media. The session is to be a closed counseling session for those who have been abused by clergy, regardless of denomination.

Anyone who was a victim of abuse who wants to attend the meeting can call Dorris at 314-862-7688.

Jones said the biggest problem when dealing with abuse cases in the Catholic church is that the bishops in the individual dioceses do not all follow the zero-tolerance policy set down by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops when dealing with sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a Jesuit in 1959, Corrigal spent the bulk of his career as a member of the Oregon Province, working in the diocese of Fairbanks, AK. It was revealed in the diocese’s bankruptcy reorganization documents in 2010 that there was an accusation of abuse against Corrigal. He died in May 1988.

Ordained: 1959

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest ordained in 1958, Cullen’s ministry took him to the dioceses of Albany, Dallas, Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, Wheeling-Charleston, Charlotte, and Allentown. He was a high school guidance counselor and teacher of religion, English, and psychology. In testimony before the Maryland legislature in 2007, a woman stated that Cullen sexually abused her for years in the 1960s, when she was in elementary school. She said her mother reported the abuse to the Jesuits repeatedly, beginning in the late 1960s, but that no action was taken. The woman testified, too, that she was “not the only one” abused by Cullen. Cullen died in February 2005.

Ordained: 1958
Died: Feb. 5, 2005

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Week

08/27/13
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher

Two prominent Orthodox rabbis — one a former president of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) — spoke out forcefully this past week on the need for transparency and justice on sexual abuse in the community, and criticized the Orthodox Union (OU) and the RCA for not taking a stronger stand against a well-known rabbinic authority on kashrut who defended a confessed pedophile.

Rabbi Heshie Billet, spiritual leader of the Young Israel of Woodmere and a former president of the RCA, wrote an Opinion column on The Jewish Week website. The piece, “Not Enough Progress By Rabbis, Leaders On Dealing With Sexual Abuse,” described the role Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, a major kashrut expert and halachic consultant to the OU, played in publicly defending a confessed sexual abuser, Rabbi Yosef Kolko, who taught youngsters at a Lakewood, N.J., yeshiva.

Further, Rabbi Belsky accused the parents of the victim of going to the police, and wrote that one who does so is guilty of being a moser, the rabbinic term for a Jew who informs on another Jew, and, wrote Rabbi Belsky, “has no share in the world to come.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

A “penniless” schoolteacher priest, who was cleared by his school board of allegations of sexually abusing a student, has been granted leave by the High Court to challenge a decision by the Minister for Education not to pay him his salary.

Fr Tommy Conroy, of Clonamona, Craanford, Gorey, Co Wexford, is also challenging a decision of Gorey Community School not to re-engage him following administrative leave with pay pending school board inquiries into the allegations made against him.

Virtually penniless

Barrister Oliver Costello told the High Court yesterday Fr Conroy had not been paid since the end of May last and was now virtually penniless. Mr Justice Daniel Herbert granted him leave to judicially review both decisions.

Fr Conroy stated in an affidavit that, following a full investigation by the school’s board in October 2012, the board decided he had not engaged in sexual impropriety with the student and no disciplinary action was taken or proposed against him.

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CHILE
El Mostrador

Fue una jornada extensa. Más de siete horas duró la formalización del sacerdote, quien es miembro de la congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo. Hasta el Centro de Justicia llegó un grupo de simpatizantes para dar su apoyo al religioso, cuyas redes se extienden entre algunos de los empresarios más influyentes del país. Buena parte de estos ya había firmado una carta de defensa del sacerdote, que se publicó en la prensa dominical y que se ha entendido como un intento de presión sobre los jueces.

por BASTIÁN FERNÁNDEZENVIAR RECTIFICAR IMPRIMIR

-¿Y te vas a tomar un phsycosour a la noche gaia?
-No, hoy no. Hoy voy a estar con los niños.

El diálogo entre dos mujeres no se ajustaba al contexto y parecía forzado, buscando evadir el nerviosismo que había en la mayoría de los asistentes, en las afueras de la sala 903 del Centro de Justicia en pleno barrio Rondizzoni.

El grupo de más de cincuenta simpatizantes del sacerdote, esperaba el comienzo de la formalización por el delito de abuso sexual a menores, del padre John O’Reilly, emblema de los Legionarios de Cristo en Chile.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Sacerdote O’Reilly estará en libertad y sin cautelares mientras se investigan denuncias de abuso sexual

por Karen Soto – 27/08/2013

Luego de una extendida jornada de formalización- casi ocho horas- la jueza del Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago, Andrea Díaz-Muñoz, rechazó la petición de la Fiscalía Oriente de prisión preventiva contra el padre John O’Reilly por presuntos abusos sexuales contra menores de edad, quedando sin medidas cautelares.

Según argumentó la jueza Díaz-Muñoz, no se justifica existencia de delitos investigados, ya que “el relato de una de las menores no ha sido espontáneo”, y no manifiesta resentimiento por el imputado.

Esto en contradicción a lo expresado por la fiscal Lorena Parra, quien pidió la máxima de las cautelares por considerar que O’Reilly representa un peligro para seguridad de la sociedad y de las víctimas, por peligro de reiteración del delito y por “inminente peligro de fuga” considerando, según la fiscal, que por la reiteración del delito -de ser condenado- la pena deberá ser cumplida de manera efectiva.

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CHILE
Que!

La justicia chilena procesó hoy al sacerdote de los Legionarios de Cristo John O’Reilly por el presunto abuso sexual reiterado a dos niñas del colegio Cumbre de Las Condes pero decretó su libertad mientras se investigan las denuncias.

Según fuentes judiciales y tras una jornada de casi ocho horas, la jueza del Cuarto juzgado de garantía de Santiago, Andrea Díaz Muñoz, rechazó la petición de la Fiscalía Oriente que pedía la prisión preventiva contra O’Reilly, aunque dictó una medida cautelar de arraigo nacional, lo que significa que no puede abandonar el país.

Díaz estimó que las pruebas presentadas por el Ministerio Público y la parte querellante no fueron suficientes para acreditar la responsabilidad del sacerdote en los delitos imputados por la Fiscalía Oriente.

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CHILE
Puranoticia

SANTIAGO, Chile, ago. 27 (UPI) — El Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago rechazó dejar en prisión preventiva al sacerdote John O’Reilly, quien fue formalizado este martes por abuso sexual en carácter de reiterado a dos presuntas víctimas menores de edad, hermanas y ex alumnas del Colegio Cumbres.

La jueza Andrea Díaz-Muñoz consideró que las pruebas presentadas por la Fiscalía Metropolitana Oriente y la parte querellante no fueron suficientes para acreditar el supuesto delito y la responsabilidad del sacerdote, y además cuestionó la objetividad del Ministerio Público al omitir piezas de los informes periciales sobre las menores de edad.

Para la magistrada a su vez tampoco se acreditaron los relatos de las presuntas víctimas por considerar que estos no fueron espontáneos e incluso no se evidencia temor ante el imputado, sino más bien la existencia de cierta estimación por parte la presunta víctima hacia el supuesto victimario.

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CHILE
Radio UChile

El líder de los Legionarios de Cristo recalcó en su “absoluta inocencia” al ser formalizado, en el Centro de Justicia de Santiago, por las denuncias de abusos sexuales realizadas por menores del Colegio Cumbres. Fiscalía pidió prisión preventiva para el sacerdote.

“Creo absolutamente en mi inocencia”, y “que sea lo que Dios quiera, lo que Dios quiera”, fueron algunas de las escuetas declaraciones del sacerdote John O’Reilly, líder de los Legionarios de Cristo, al ingresar hoy al Centro de Justicia de Santiago, donde fue formalizado por las denuncias de presunto abuso sexual contra dos menores de ocho y once años.

En julio, la fiscal de la zona oriente, Lorena Parra, solicitó esta formalización, luego de recibir la denuncia de dos menores, mujeres, que serían presuntamente abusadas por el sacerdote.

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FLORIDA
El Nuevo Herald

JAY WEAVER
JWEAVER@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Ahora entre los 20 y los 30 años, los tres hombres de Miami-Dade tienen un lazo en común: los tres se criaron en la fe católica, practicaron deportes competitivos y se graduaron de la secundaria Monsignor Edward Pace High.

Y fue en el recinto de Miami Gardens, según ellos, que el decano estudiantil, el hermano marista Ken Ward, los asaltó sexualmente una y otra vez.

Uno de ellos afirma además que el director de supervisión de la escuela, el padre Gustavo Miyares, había abusado sexualmente de él a finales de la década de 1990 cuando él estaba matriculado en la Escuela Católica Immaculate Conception.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian August 28, 2013

A NSW inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child abuse within the Catholic church will reopen its public hearings to consider evidence from two of the most senior Catholics officials in the country.

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, which held the last of its eight weeks of public hearings earlier this month, will reconvene for an additional hearing in Sydney in September.

The two witnesses who have been called to give evidence are Brian Lucas, the general-secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and John Usher, the chancellor of the archdiocese of Sydney.

Father Lucas has previously given evidence before the inquiry, saying he and Monsignor Usher personally met about 35 alleged pedophile priests during the early 1990s, most of whom were subsequently convinced to resign.

This “secret and discreet”‘ process meant potential scandal could be contained within the church, Father Lucas told the inquiry.

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FLORIDA
TCPalm

Posted August 27, 2013

STUART — Learn how to help prevent child sexual abuse (CSA) and understand the impact it has on our society by registering today for an upcoming “Stewards of Children” workshop.

There are two opportunities coming up for you to learn more. Workshops are scheduled Thursday, Sept. 19, from 6-8:30 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 28, from 9-11:30 a.m. Both classes are generously hosted by Covenant Fellowship Church in Stuart. The workshop was created by Darkness to Light, a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse, is being facilitated by Sheila Hoadley and Helena Beers.

The training is open to the public and is a grass roots push at the community level with specific interest among parents, youth sports organizations / coaches / camp counselors, teachers / school personnel and faith centers. The two-and-a-half hour workshop is designed to educate adults on how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse. The cost of the workshop is $20 for each participant, which includes DVD presentation, interactive workbook and most importantly discussion. Please register online at httip://www.letstalkaboutcsa.com or call 772-359-7707 for details.

Charlestown, S.C., resident Ann Lee, a child sexual abuse survivor, founded Darkness to Light in 2000 and serves as the organization’s president and CEO. She says public education is an essential tool to provide real impact to prevent sexual abuse of children. She points to leading research that shows educating 5 percent of a community’s adult population can create a “tipping point” toward societal behavior change. This tipping point carries momentum throughout the community to further spread awareness and make preventing sexual abuse the norm.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Stephen Crittenden
theguardian.com, Tuesday 27 August 2013

A body set up by the Catholic church in Australia to oversee its dealings with the royal commission into child sexual abuse is not the predominantly lay-run organisation it has been represented as, according to documents obtained by Guardian Australia.

The Truth, Justice and Healing Council was established last January by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia to prepare documents and legal submissions for the royal commission and review the church’s existing abuse protocols. It is chaired by retired NSW supreme court judge Barry O’Keefe, with former general secretary of the Australian Medical Association Francis Sullivan as its chief executive and media face.

Although two of its 13 members are bishops – Mark Coleridge, the archbishop of Brisbane; and William Wright, the bishop of Maitland-Newcastle – the TJH Council has been promoted from the outset as a lay-dominated organisation operating at arm’s length from the hierarchy, and its own press releases describe it as an “independent advisory group”.

In fact, the council is tightly controlled by a separate 11-member “supervisory group” made up of bishops and heads of religious orders. The existence of this second body is referred to in the TJH Council’s terms of reference, but its size and membership have never been made public.

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