ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
HQ Yellowknife

Monday, August 12, 2013

Yellowknife, NWT – Two local leaders have waded into the debate over whether Canada’s residential schools era should be referred to as a genocide.

The latest controversy came last week when Aboriginal chiefs in Manitoba complained after a Winnipeg museum scratched the word genocide from an exhibition about Canada’s treatment of aboriginals.

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington says we need to look into the latest revelations about residential schools.

“What we’re seeing is that there was a lot more going on in the residential schools history than we ever thought. When we see that they were using children for food experiments, when we see that there was other things like that going on by our Canadian government, those are things that have to come out. We have to acknowledge our past. If we don’t acknowledge our past, how can we be a truly strong people?”

Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus says both levels of government need to make sure an investigation is thorough.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

The official bulletin of the Holy See has lifted the secrecy from the meditation dictated to the cardinals at the beginning of the last conclave, with the doors already closed. Here are the essential passages

by Sandro Magister

ROME, August 13, 2013 – The Holy See has an official bulletin entitled “Acta Apostolicae Sedis.” It is written in Latin, while the documents reproduced there are in the original languages. Its issues can be read on the Vatican website beginning with that of 1909:

> Acta Apostolicae Sedis

Since 2003 it has been issued in monthly booklets with the pages numbered starting in January. The latest booklet taken to press is also the first of Francis’s pontificate:

> Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 5 aprilis – 3 Maii 2013

It contains among other things the proceedings of the conclave that on March 13, 2013 elected pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio. With one innovation with respect to what was already known.

The innovation – previously covered by secrecy – is the complete text of the meditation dictated to the grand electors on March 12, behind closed doors, immediately before the start of the voting.

The cardinal charged with the meditation was the Maltese Prosper Grech, an Augustinian, 87 years old and therefore without the right to vote. After his meditation, in fact, he left the Sistine Chapel. …

WHEN THE ACCUSATIONS TELL THE TRUTH

It is another thing when what is said about us is the truth, as has happened in many of the accusations of pedophilia. Then we must humble ourselves before God and men, and seek to uproot the evil at all costs, as did, to his great regret, Benedict XVI. And only in this way can we regain credibility before the world and give an example of sincerity. Today many people do not arrive at believing in Christ because his face is obscured or hidden behind an institution that lacks transparency. But if recently we have wept over many unpleasant events that have befallen clergy and laity, even in the pontifical household, we must consider that these evils, as great as they may be, if compared with certain evils in the history of the Church are nothing but a cold. And just as these have been overcome with God’s help, so also the present crisis will be overcome. Even a cold needs to be taken care of well to keep it from turning into pneumonia.

SMOKE OF SATAN IN THE CHURCH

The evil spirit of the world, the “mysterium iniquitatis” (2 Thes 2:7), constantly strives to infiltrate the Church. Moreover, let us not forget the warning of the prophets of ancient Israel not to seek alliances with Babylon or with Egypt, but to follow a pure policy “ex fide” trusting solely in God (cf. Is 30:1; 31:1-3; Hos 12:2) and in his covenant. Courage! Christ relieves our minds when he exclaims: “Have trust, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). […]

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ILLINOIS/NEW JERSEY
The Record

Illinois diocese to pay $1.35 million in suit that alleges Myers failed to stop pedophile priest while bishop there

MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER

A Catholic diocese in Illinois has agreed to pay $1.35 million to settle a lawsuit that claims John J. Myers, its former bishop and now the archbishop of Newark, failed to keep an alleged pedophile priest away from children.

The Diocese of Peoria received a complaint from a woman in 1995 that she was molested by Monsignor Thomas W. Maloney during her childhood, but church officials did not act, the suit contends. A year later, the suit says, Maloney went on to abuse 8-year-old Andrew Ward, the plaintiff in the case.

The settlement will be announced Tuesday at a press conference outside Myers’ office in Newark. A deposition of Myers, which has been under court seal since 2010, and other documents also will be released.

Ward’s family is expected to attend the news conference, where they will “discuss Myers’ pattern and practice of repeatedly failing to protect children while working as bishop in Peoria and now as the archbishop of Newark,” said Ward’s attorney, Jeff Anderson.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Maureen Fiedler | Aug. 13, 2013 NCR Today

The website of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) offers this headline: “We welcome new members and new ideas for living religious life into the future.” And this year, some of those new ideas might come from the keynote speaker at the annual LCWR assembly in Orlando, Fla.: Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, who directs the Catholic Studies Program at Georgetown University. She is one of the emerging thinkers emphasizing the “new cosmos story” and, in this case, its relevance for contemporary religious life.

But hanging over the entire assembly is the Vatican “mandate” that made headlines last year. LCWR leaders and many others offered stinging critiques of the mandate’s thrust and inaccuracies. Thousands of Catholics took to the streets and cathedral steps to voice their protest.

Now, Sr. Patricia McDermott, president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, a large community in LCWR, said in an interview that “the points of direction for the future, I think are unacceptable — that the bishops would be looking at our materials, our publications, giving direction to the assembly. … That’s not a conference that most leaders want to belong to.” I’m sure she speaks for far more LCWR members than just herself.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, head of the three-bishop committee that is supposed to carry out the mandate, will speak at the assembly and reportedly will take questions from the assembled sisters. It will be interesting to see if he has heard any of those messages and if he understands the thrust of religious life today.

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NEW JERSEY/ILLINOIS
Peoria Journal-Star

The Associated Press
Posted Aug 12, 2013

NEWARK, N.J. —
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria will pay $1.35 million to settle a case of sexual abuse that took place when Newark Archbishop John J. Myers was in charge, a former altar boy’s lawyer said Monday.

The former altar boy accuses the late Monsignor Thomas Maloney of abusing him at Epiphany Catholic Church in Normal in the mid-1990s. His lawsuit accuses Myers, then the bishop of the 26-county diocese, of failing to take action against Maloney, who died in 2009.

The former altar boy says he was 8 years old when the abuse took place. His attorney, Jeff Anderson, accuses Myers of failing to protect children in Peoria, where he was bishop from 1990 to 2001, when he moved to Newark.

Anderson said the case against the diocese was settled Friday. The diocese and its attorney Joseph Feehan did not immediately return messages left after hours Monday. In an emailed statement Monday night, diocese Chancellor and general counsel Patricia M. Gibson said, “It is the standard policy of the Diocese of Peoria not to discuss details of any specific settlement out of respect for the confidentiality of those involved in a legal case. Any funds used for settlements do not come from diocesan or parish assets, but are paid through insurance coverages available to the diocese.”

Anderson said that on Tuesday he will release a 2010 deposition of Myers being questioned about the case. A spokesman for Myers did not immediately return a request for comment.

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CANADA
Chronicle-Herald

August 12, 2013 BY AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU

The Diocese of Antigonish is beginning a review process to decide which of its 62 churches it can afford to operate in Richmond, Inverness, Antigonish, Guysborough and Pictou counties.

After a similar review in Cape Breton and Victoria counties, the diocese decided it will close 16 of 43 churches there.

“There’s a lot of talk and worry about it,” said Ronald (Buddy) MacEachern, chairman of the finance committee for Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Ballantynes Cove, Antigonish County.

Father Donald MacGillivray, spokesman for the diocese, said the review is the inevitable result of a declining population, fewer priests and declining church involvement among those who stay in rural communities, and a frustration among many Catholics with the church over the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the diocese.

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ILLINOIS
Pantagraph

By Edith Brady-Lunny eblunny@pantagraph.com

PEORIA — The family of a former student at Epiphany School in Normal will announce on Tuesday a $1.35 million settlement in an abuse case involving allegations against a deceased parish priest, and release the deposition of Archbishop John Myers, the former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

Andrew Ward, now 25 and living in Michigan, filed a lawsuit in 2008 accusing the late Monsignor Thomas Maloney of sexually abusing him at Epiphany Catholic Church between 1995 and 1996 when Ward was in the second grade.

The settlement was reached several weeks ago, but details will be publicly disclosed Tuesday in Newark, N.J., where Myers serves as archbishop, said Minnesota lawyer Jeff Anderson, who represents Ward.

Diocesan Chancellor Patricia Gibson was not aware of the press conference and had no comment on the settle-ment.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
San Antonio Express-News

[Catholic Whistleblowers]

AUGUST 13, 2013

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A retired Wisconsin priest is speaking out about his work with a whistleblowers group focused on clergy sexual abuse.

Rev. James Connell is the former vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He also served as pastor of Holy Name of Jesus and Saint Clement parishes in Sheboygan.

Connell often joins victims of clergy sexual abuse at news conferences and has called publicly for the Milwaukee archdiocese and other church organizations to be more open about their handling of sexual abuse cases.

He is on the steering committee of Catholic Whistleblowers, a group of current and former priests, nuns and others working to shed light on abuse and church leaders’ response.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Este lunes se inició en la primera sala del Tribunal Oral en lo Penal de Temuco el juicio en contra del ex sacerdote Orlando Rogel Pinuer, quien está en prisión preventiva desde 2012 acusado de abuso sexual de al menos seis menores internos en hogares dependiente de la Iglesia Católica. Entre estos se encuentra el internado San Francisco de Cunco, donde el prelado se desempeñaba como párroco y responsable del hogar.

El propio sacerdote declaró que todo lo que se ha reportado no corresponde y descartó tener contacto directo con los internos porque su rol era de guía espiritual, agregando que quienes sí tenían contacto eran los inspectores del hogar aledaño a la parroquia de Cunco.

Orlando Rogel Pinuer tiene dificultades en su desplazamiento por el deterioro de su salud a causa de la diabetes que lo aqueja.

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NEW JERSEY/ILLINOIS
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on August 12, 2013

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria will pay $1.35 million to settle a lawsuit that contends Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, Peoria’s former bishop, failed to take action against a sexually abusive priest in the mid-1990s, freeing him to molest again.

The settlement, reached late last week, is to be formally announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon outside Myers’ office in Newark.

The alleged victim’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, also will release a transcript of Myers’ deposition in the case. The deposition had been under court seal since 2010.

Anderson represents Andrew Ward, who has accused the Rev. Thomas Maloney, now deceased, of molesting him in Illinois in 1995, when Ward was 8.

A year earlier, a woman told the diocese Maloney sexually abused her as a child, but the priest was permitted to remain in ministry, the suit contends. Myers also failed to notify police of the allegation, Anderson said.

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INDIANA
Pantagraph

By Edith Brady-Lunny eblunny@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON — A former Twin City minister has been sentenced to 12 years in prison following his guilty plea to predatory criminal sexual assault charges.

Rodney D. Applington, 42, a former associate pastor at East White Oak Bible Church in rural Carlock, was charged in January with having illegal physical contact with a minor girl.

A second charge of predatory criminal sexual assault was dismissed in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Ghrist said after Friday’s hearing that “this case reminds us that child sex abuse is real and present in Bloomington-Normal. Acceptance of this as a community will lead to education and help protect our children.”

Applington faced six to 30 years on the Class X felony charges without the plea deal. He must serve 85 percent of the 12 years in prison.

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NEW JERSEY
Jeff Anderson & Associates

[note: This does not link to a Web site.]

Media Advisory

August 12, 2013

Illinois family to speak out on current Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ failure to protect their son from sexual abuse while working as Bishop in Peoria

St. Paul Attorney to announce $1.35 million settlement in the case and release Myers’ deposition

WHAT: At a news conference on Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey, prominent clergy abuse attorney Jeff Anderson will:

· Announce the settlement of a child sexual abuse case for $1.35 million involving the Diocese of Peoria, former Peoria Bishop and current Archbishop of Newark John J. Myers and deceased priest Msgr. Thomas W. Maloney.

· Introduce the family of Andrew Ward, a former altar boy at Epiphany Church in Normal, Illinois, who was sexually abused when he was 8 years-old by Msgr. Maloney while Maloney worked at the family’s parish in the mid-1990s and Myers was the bishop of the Peoria Diocese.

· Reveal the deposition of Archbishop Myers taken May 12, 2010 and discuss Myers’ pattern and practice of repeatedly failing to protect children while working as Bishop in Peoria and now as the Archbishop of Newark.

WHEN: Tuesday August 13th, 2013 at 1:00 PM EDT

WHERE: Outside the Archdiocesan Center
171 Clifton Avenue
Newark, NJ 07104

WHO: Attorney Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based, internationally known trial lawyer widely recognized as a pioneer in sexual abuse litigation. Anderson has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy. Robert Hoatson, a former Archdiocese of Newark priest and founder of the non-profit Road to Recovery, who has called for Myers’ resignation since 2009 for his failure to protect children. The parents of sexual abuse survivor Andrew Ward will share the experiences of Andrew and the family.

Notes:

· Information packets will be available at the press conference.

· Depositions and documents will be available at www.andersonadvocates.com and at www.bishopaccountability.org under the “New and Noteworthy” section.

· More information on Father Collins can be found at www.catholicwhistelblowers.org.

· Road to Recovery, a non-profit organization supporting survivors of clergy sexual abuse can be found at www.road-to-recovery.org.

· Father Patrick Collins, a retired priest formerly of the Diocese of Peoria will be available via telephone to discuss Myers’ pattern of conduct while working as Bishop in Peoria.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Mobile/612.817.8665
Contact Robert Hoatson: (862)368-2800
Contact Fr. Patrick Collins: (616)886-6042

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON AUGUST 12, 2013

Tomorrow in Newark, parents of a child sex abuse victim will
— announce a settlement of a child sexual abuse and cover up case involving a priest,
— release a deposition of Newark Archbishop John Myers and
— release long-hidden church records about a predator priest.

We are very proud of Andrew Ward and his brave and compassionate family. We are especially grateful they had the strength to take legal action, the persistence to overcome the church hierarchy’s seemingly endless delays. And we are glad they insisted that these records be disclosed. In child sex abuse and cover up cases, it’s crucial that the dreadful wrongdoing of both those who commit and those who conceal these heinous crimes are exposed. That’s the best way to prevent future child sex crimes and cover ups.

When clergy sex abuse and cover up cases settle for seven figures, the reason is simple. It’s almost always because Catholic officials ignored, minimized, hid and enabled horrific crimes against children and those officials fear these damaging facts will emerge in court. That’s why bishops are willing to pay large figures – to save themselves and their colleagues from having to answer tough questions, under oath, in open court, where their complicity will be laid bare for all to see.

We are anxious to see these records. We suspect they’ll show Myers acting as selfishly and irresponsibly in Peoria as he is acting in Newark. We also suspect there are other current and former Peoria church employees who played a role in keeping Msgr. Maloney’s crimes secret for years.

The predator, Msgr. Maloney, is deceased, so he can’t be prosecuted. But we hope that those who saw or suspected Maloney’s crimes or Myers’ cover ups and helped hide the truth might be prosecuted.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Australian Royal Commission is specifically charged with, and limited to, institutional responses to child sexual abuse. As has been noted in a previous posting, there may be questions regarding just what constitutes an “institution” in the context of this enquiry.

One of those grey areas may well be the response of the judicial system. There are often cases where the general public feels that judges are out of touch with community expectations, especially concerning sentencing. There is also the issue of “revictimisation” resulting from how victims are treated in the court process, especially for child witnesses (see, for example, the book by S. Caroline Taylor, “Court Licensed Abuse: Patriarchal Lore and the Legal Response to Intrafamilial Sexual Abuse of Children”). Further, there have been concerns about which factors are included in variable sentencing for the same offence.

These are all valid issues for the Royal Commission to consider. Submissions on these topics will undoubtedly be sent in, and there should be no excuse for them to be ruled as being outside the Terms of Reference of the enquiry.

Although the following case originates in the U.K., parallel examples in the Australian judicial system certainly exist, and it is relevant given the similarities of the two systems. Many legal people would beg to differ with the opinions expressed in this posting, but that does not mean that the issue should not be fully debated in the enquiry setting.

A very recent case (in the U.K.) raised the ire of many people, but there was little they could do to change things, because that is how the judicial system currently operates, both here and in the U.K. No similar comment can be made for other systems, such as in the U.S. That would be for them to consider should they ever reach the point of having their own national enquiry.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By UMBERTO BACCHI: August 12, 2013

The Holy See has been embarrassed by claims that Pope Francis’s new PR had accused a senior cleric of corruption and said that Pope Benedict XVI had leukaemia in tweets she made before she got the job.

The Vatican has reportedly launched an inquiry into the hiring of Francesca Chaouqui, 30, who was appointed as PR officer for a new papal committee set up to overhaul the Vatican’s financial administration in July.

Before securing the job, Chaouqui had extensively tweeted about Vatican affairs, often not mincing her words, giving rise to speculation that she had access to some degree of confidential information.

In a tweet in March Chaouqui described the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, as corrupt and claimed that he was involved in dubious business deals with an unnamed company from the Veneto region.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

ROME
Part 1 of this article appeared in the Aug 2-15 issue: A revolution underway with Pope Francis

Amid the clamor over Pope Francis’ comments on gays, women, the Vatican bank and other juicy topics during a July 28 in-flight news conference, one stray but revealing remark largely slipped through the cracks.

Asked if he had run into resistance to change in the Vatican, Francis delivered a mildly rambling response stressing the presence of many helpful and loyal people, along with the blunt judgment that the place’s quality has declined from the era of “old curialists” who simply did their jobs.

Then came the telling line: “It’s true,” the pope said, “that I haven’t done very much.”

In a sense, of course, he was being modest. Francis has done a great deal, mostly to reverse negative impressions of the church and to afford it a new lease on life. Yet in terms of concrete acts of governance, he had a point. …

Sex abuse

Another front where critics believe the church needs more transparency is its response to the child sexual abuse scandals.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who has more than two decades of experience dealing with the scandals, recently placed two ideas on the table. In a July 26 interview with NCR, O’Malley said Francis should:

* Convene the presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world and try to convince those who have not adopted strong anti-abuse guidelines to do so;

* Adopt the same anti-abuse protocols in the Vatican that have become standard practice in dioceses and other Catholic venues around the world, including background checks and screening of all personnel, training in abuse detection and prevention, and instructions in how to handle complaints.

It’s not clear whether Francis will act on those recommendations, although O’Malley is in a unique position to move the ball. He’s the lone American among the eight cardinals tapped in April to assist Francis in “governance of the universal church.”

Francis made an interesting point about the issue during his onboard news conference, distinguishing between “sins” of one’s past that may be forgiven and forgotten, and “crimes,” such as “the abuse of minors,” that require a different response.

It was a small but potentially telling sign that Francis intends to take a firm line. Many observers believe one test will be whether Francis extends the tough accountability the church now has for priests who abuse also to bishops who mismanage abuse complaints. Senior churchmen expressed confidence to NCR that Francis will do so, though to date there’s been no clear move along those lines.

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Predator priest worked in MT
New records about him just released
Catholic officials should do outreach, group says
SNAP to bishops: “Don’t let his victims suffer in shame, isolation and self-blame”

A now deceased Catholic priest, who was credibly accused of sexually abusing kids, worked in Montana according to long-secret church files about him that have just been made public.

And a support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Montana’s two Catholic bishops to “use their vast resources to reach out to anyone else he may have hurt.”

Fr. Robert S. Koerner was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Billings from 1956 to 1963, according to documents posted on Bishop-Accountability.org and the website of Los Angeles attorney Ray Boucher. The records were released on July 31, 2013 as part of a 2007 settlement of some 660 clergy sex abuse victims in southern California.

According to a letter from then-San Diego Bishop Robert Brom in 2003, Fr. Koerner “sexually abused children throughout the years of his pastorate at St. Patrick Parish [in Calipatria, CA], from 1963 to 1990.”

Catholic officials have a duty, a victims group says, to “aggressively seek out and help anyone who may have been hurt by him.”

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

To the Staff at Oratory Preparatory School in Summit NJ,

To the Staff at St. Cecilia’s parish in Englewood NJ,

Newly released church records show that a credibly accused child molesting cleric, Fr. Joseph B. DiPeri, worked at your school/parish. He also worked in Jersey City, Newark, and Garfield (all in the Newark archdiocese.) He may well have also been assigned to or done substitute work in other parishes or Catholic institutions.

We in SNAP suspect you and/or your staff has known these facts – and maybe more facts – for years. If so, shame on you for your years of reckless, self-serving silence.

Regardless, we believe that you and your staff now have a duty to aggressively reach out to

–others who may have suffered DiPeri’s crimes, and

–others who may have seen or suspected or concealed DiPeri’s crimes.

New Jersey men or women may have been sexually assaulted by him. If so, those victims may still be suffering in shame, silence and self-blame. They need – and deserve – to know that they are not alone, the abuse was not their fault, and that recovery is possible. Your outreach may help achieve this.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Para este lunes, desde las 09:00 horas, está programado en el Tribunal Oral en Lo Penal de Temuco el juicio en contra del ex sacerdote Orlando Rogel Pinuer, acusado por seis delitos sexuales.

El pasado 21 de junio, ante la jueza de Garantía, María Teresa Villagrán y en presencia del acusado, se desarrolló la audiencia de preparación del juicio oral. En ella, tanto el Ministerio Público como la defensa presentaron sus respectivas pruebas, las que fueron aceptadas por las partes sin exclusiones, dejando además constancia que el caso no presenta vicios formales.

El caso será conocido por los jueces Cecilia Subiabre Tapia, quien presidirá la Segunda Sala, Luis Torres Sanhueza, quien tendrá a su cargo la redacción del fallo que se dicte en su oportunidad y Luis Sarmiento Luarte.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By KATE BARTLETT Aug. 10, 2013

As chaplain at the University of Newcastle, Kate Bartlett’s role is to nurture the spirituality of students.

Kate’s life is deeply entrenched in her faith.

She has a degree in theology and has spent years in the ministry.

She also attends Sunday morning mass where she gathers with victims of sexual abuse and relatives of those who have abused.

As such the Tenambit woman’s faith has been challenged by recent revelations in the ­special commission of inquiry, but her love for God remains strong.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

GENE KERRIGAN – 11 AUGUST 2013

It’s important to remember that only a very small percentage of Irish Catholic priests raped and abused children. Though estimates vary, there are some that put the figure as low as around 4 per cent. A lot of entirely innocent priests were subjected to unwarranted suspicion.

It’s equally important to note that the Catholic Church as an institution wholly and consistently covered up such crimes. It did so as a matter of policy, in a number of jurisdictions, repeatedly and over many years. Again and again, to sustain the reputation and maintain the political power of the church, the institution protected rapacious priests from the law and moved them to fresh fields, in which they could do further damage to children.

It says a lot for the resilience of the hierarchy that despite this disgusting record, so many of their flock remain stalwartly obedient. So much so that the Irish church retains a tight grip on education and health.

The church was caught repeatedly putting its own interests above the interests of abused children. This, surely, should have resulted in the church being immediately relieved of institutional responsibility for schools. Not out of anger, or revenge – simply as a prudent measure. To do otherwise is to gamble with the welfare of children.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

EILISH O’HANLON – 11 AUGUST 2013

Back in 1992, the country was rocked by the discovery that a Catholic priest had enjoyed a sexual relationship with a consenting adult woman and had fathered a child. Those were the days. The bar on sexual scandal in the church has been raised considerably higher since then.

Nostalgia’s probably misplaced, all the same. There may be a temptation to think that Eamon Casey did nothing wrong in having an affair with American divorcee Annie Murphy when she was staying at his home in the early 70s, at least not in comparison with the paedophile priests who would, in later years, be sharing the same parish with the Bishop of Galway; but it would be hard to sustain that comforting argument after listening to the first interview in 20 years with his son, recorded for the first of a four-part TV3 documentary series on the hidden history of Irish journalism and broadcast last week under the title Print And Be Damned.

Speaking to Donal MacIntyre, Peter Murphy recalled his first meeting with Casey, when he was only 15, in a lawyer’s high-rise office in Boston. How he tried to engage with his father “and him having really no interest in engaging back with me”. How he eventually fled in tears, a “blithering mess”. It wasn’t hard to see the hurt and bewildered young boy behind the articulate and affable 39-year-old that Murphy is today.

The argument that Casey was a hypocrite because, while always known for his progressive tendencies, he nonetheless backed the church’s position on celibacy, doesn’t really stand up. A man can have an affair while still believing that priests should be celibate. There’s no contradiction. But there are sins other than hypocrisy. We’re supposed to disapprove of the damage that can be done by deadbeat dads who wash their hands of responsibility for their offspring, and it’s no better just because the culprit is a bishop rather than a welfare cheat.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today released its third issues paper and is inviting the public to contribute ideas and expertise on the best ways to create child safe institutions.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said a child safe institution is one that actively protects children and young people from sexual abuse in an institution.

“The Royal Commission wants to hear from a wide range of interested people, as well as government and non-government organisations, about what makes a child safe institution,” said Ms Dines.

“The Royal Commission is examining what organisational policies and practices – like codes of conduct, complaint handling procedures, and recruitment and supervision processes for staff and volunteers – are the most effective at reducing risks to children and keeping them safer in institutions.”

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has called for submissions on the discredited “Towards Healing” program for dealing with victims. It has previously called for responses from people who have gone through the “Towards Healing” process.

[The issues paper can be read at the website: www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au]

Any Catholic Church source will assure people it is a wonderful scheme, designed to help victims. As yesterday’s posting revealed, a church insider has claimed its only purpose is to minimize the costs of compensation, and to avoid involvement of the civil authorities. Evidence was also claimed to be routinely destroyed.

The Catholic Church is so pleased with the concept, introduced in Australia in 2000, that it has introduced a “Towards Healing” program in Ireland. An indicator of the Irish church’s approach is given by the contact person for the scheme, Wally Young of Young Communications at:- 087-2471520. The Bishops supporting the scheme claim they will pray for victims, and fast in repentance, on the first Friday of each month.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been calling for submissions on various topics in advance of the public hearings which are due to begin reasonably shortly.

There will be many detailed submissions by the big organisations, such as the churches, which will be written by professionals in public relations and the law. There will also be a few from various activist groups, and the occasional individual victim. Some specialist groups, such as social work agencies, the Australian Medical Association and so on, will make formal submissions which will be professionally produced, too.

It is all too easy for the Commission officials to forget that it is meant to be all about existing, and potential, victims of abuse. Big, official structures like the Royal Commission can all too easily be dominated by the views of the large players, via their professionally-produced submissions.

Those with the largest megaphone will naturally be the most easily heard. The only way to counter this advantage of the big players is to resort to the rusty gate principle. Keeping on making noises about the real issues, if done consistently and frequently, can gain the attention of the final decision-makers, when it comes to the recommendations part of the enquiry process.

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PENNSYLVANIA
GoErie

BY JAMES F. DRANE
Contributing writer

Pope Francis is a reform-minded pope. He started his papacy with a Vatican Bank reform, and this was certainly needed. Italian authorities recently arrested a priest employee of the Vatican Bank who was already under investigation for money laundering; Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was charged with conspiring to move 20 million euros in cash from Switzerland to Italy for his friends. All of this gave credence to long-circulated rumors that some of the Vatican Bank’s clerical accounts were being used for illegal purposes.

The Vatican Bank’s purpose was to finance papal projects and religious charities. In fact, however, it has been a focus of scandal for some time. Recent coverage of the Vatican Bank scandal shocked Americans, but in Italy, the news was a source of entertainment. The Italian government stopped doing business with the Vatican Bank some time ago because of the bank’s lack of financial transparency.

Pope Francis moved fast to fumigate the Vatican Bank. He appointed a trusted bishop to the top post and created a committee of advisers to report directly to him. He continues to introduce more and more transparency and accountability. The question is, could this be the beginning of an even more extensive church reform?

Moneyval, a bank monitoring agency under the Council of Europe, praised Pope Francis’ actions, but it also made clear that the Vatican Bank needed more reforms. Can Pope Francis continue to make the needed reforms?

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Pope Francis has appointed Sliema-born Mgr Antoine Camilleri to the Vatican’s Financial Security Committee. The committee, which brings together various top Vatican officials, aims to prevent and counter money laundering, terrorism financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

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NEBRASKA
Omaha World-Herald

World-Herald News Service

KEARNEY — A Kearney man is free on bond after being charged with sexually assaulting two boys 12 years ago.

Thomas Anthony Jones, 37, is charged in Buffalo County Court with two counts of felony sexual assault of a child on Jan. 1, 2001, in Kearney.

According to court records, the alleged victims, now ages 23 and 15, reported that their former church youth leader, Jones, allegedly exposed himself to them and touched their private parts. The alleged victims – who would have been 11 and 3 at the time of the alleged assault – reported the abuse Tuesday.

Jones was a youth leader at Lighthouse Foursquare Church at 3520 Ave. F.

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OHIO
Mansfield News Journal

Written by
Mark Caudill
News Journal

MANSFIELD — Scott Butner is a notorious name in the history of First Presbyterian Church.

Butner, then 17, pleaded guilty to five counts of rape and five counts of gross sexual imposition in a child molestation case in 1992. He received a concurrent sentence of eight to 25 years in prison for the rape counts and a suspended 10-year sentence for the gross sexual imposition convictions.

Butner was a volunteer baby sitter at First Presbyerian Church, 399 S. Trimble Road, in 1990 and 1991 when the abuse happened. Richland County Prosecutor James Mayer Jr. said there were 18 victims between the ages of 4 and 10.

Butner has a parole hearing next Friday. Last month, Mayer met with a member of the parole board to express his opposition to Butner’s release.

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SCOTLAND
The Observer

Kevin McKenna
The Observer, Saturday 10 August 2013

So the downfall of the Catholic church in Scotland didn’t occur at the hands of the Orangemen or the secular humanists of the church’s vivid imagination. All of the most grievous wounds it has suffered have turned out to be self-inflicted. The catalogue of sexual abuse by hundreds of priests stretching back decades; the sexual bullying of priests by its own cardinal; the cover-ups and intimidation of witnesses and victims – it didn’t need the assistance of any external agency to bring about the moral catastrophe that currently engulfs it.

The single beacon in this, the Scottish church’s darkest period, was provided by the most unlikely source. One of the victims of the sex abuse by priests at Fort Augustus Abbey School broke his anonymity last Sunday night and agreed to be interviewed on television. His words gave us a sense of the anger and humiliation he still felt more than 40 years after his torment. Yet he also possessed a dignity, courage and wisdom that has been entirely missing from the Scottish Catholic church and from Rome since the lid began to be lifted on this cesspit earlier this year.

This man was not impressed by the apology offered by the bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert, pointing out, correctly, that public opinion and widespread revulsion following BBC Scotland’s excellent investigation into abuse at Fort Augustus the previous week had dragged it from the church.

For any confession to be considered sincere and authentic, this brave man also pointed out, it has to be accompanied by “a firm purpose of amendment”. Nothing, though, in any of what has passed for a response from the church, has contained anything remotely like “a firm purpose of amendment”.

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CALIFORNIA
Merced Sun-Star

Published: August 11, 2013

By Cynthia Hubert — chubert@sacbee.com

Just after sunrise on a crisp November morning, the Rev. Timothy Nondorf arrived at the Sacramento Catholic Diocese to tend to administrative duties for Bishop Jaime Soto.

Nondorf, an easygoing young priest with silver hair, celebrated Masses and heard confessions at Holy Spirit Church in Land Park and lived in its rectory. His primary job, though, was with the diocese, where he served as vice chancellor.

As he parked outside the brick building behind an Arco station on Broadway, Nondorf anticipated an ordinary day of answering telephone calls and huddling with the bishop about pastoral issues.

Instead, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, almost instantly turned to crisis for him and the sprawling diocese.

By the end of the day one of the diocese’s most popular priests, accused of molesting a young girl, would be the subject of a criminal investigation. The Catholic Church, long criticized for protecting abusers, would be publicly tested about its declaration of “zero tolerance” for such crimes. Soto would steel himself for intense public scrutiny.

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VATICAN CITY
Eponymous Flower

(Vatican) This information was hardly known, but it is not without significance. The Italian Monsignor Franco Camaldo, 61, from Lagonegro (Potenza), formerly of Papal Ceremonies, whose name often appeared recently in connection with a “gay lobby”, was removed from the Vatican. Monsignor Camaldo was deported as a canon of the Lateran basilica “with right of abode.” That is to say that he has to leave the Vatican.

Monsignor Camaldo appeared, because of his “old and intimate friendship” in the headlines with the Former Gentleman of His Holiness, Angelo Balducci, as investigations were launched against the Balducci-Anemone conspiracy ( see separate report ). It was about forcing the contracts of large firms.

Although he is not from Rome, the whole career Camaldos played out from Rome under the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. In June 1984 he became an Honorary Prelate of His Holiness and Papal Ceremonies. Soon, even the title of Honorary came Conventual Chaplains ad honorem of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the title of Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus were added. More melodious tributes were yet added.

At last Msgr. Camaldo was put into play by Patrizio Poggi. Poggi, a former priest, had been laicized for child abuse. Italian justice sentenced him to several years in prison, which he has since served. Recently he reported to the police and claimed that there is a “ring” of homosexual priests and laymen active in Rome, the young men and children to perform as prostitutes. However, Poggi was deemed not credible. He was arrested for libel. The prosecutor denied the allegations Poggi about a pedophile ring. However, they acknowledged in this context that there are aberrosexual priests in Rome who live out their immoral desires.

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UNITED STATES
SOL Reform

Posted on Aug 8, 2013

Why Survivor Lawsuits Have No Connection To Catholic School Closures

Introduction

In its most recent attempt to deny survivors of childhood sexual abuse the remuneration they deserve, the Catholic Church is attempting to link the newly proposed statute of limitations outlined in SB 131 to a ignificant financial burden on the state of California via the public school system. Essentially, they argue that more lawsuits would force them to divert resources from their private, Catholic schools to survivors, in turn, forcing them to close these Catholic schools. The effect, then, would be an influx of students to the public school system, and ultimately, more costs for the state of California.

While the Church is correct in it’s observation that private, Catholic schools are in decline both in California, and nationally, there is no logical connection between their closures and the lawsuits brought by victims of childhood sexual abuse. Rather, this decline nationally, and in California, can be attributed to a number of factors, including: (1) the economic recession, (2) middle income families’ flight from urban areas, (3) and the rise of charter schools.

The Economic Recession

Between 1970 and 1990, Catholic schools lost 75% of their religious faculty. This has forced Catholic schools to hire secular faculty who demand salaries commensurate with their public school counterparts. This has forced tuition at Catholic schools to rise, triggering enrollment declines and ultimately, school closings.[1]

“For Catholic parents, tuition is a key factor, a 2006 NCEA report suggests. The national study, performed from 2000 to 2005 by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, found that, among a randomized sample of about 1,400 parents with school-age children who attended Catholic services, 44 percent reported that insufficient tuition aid was “somewhat” or “very much” a problem.”[2]

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will be releasing Issues Papers on a range of topics that are relevant to the work of the Royal Commission. The topics of future Issues Papers will shortly be published to this website.

Submissions will be made public unless the person making the submission expressly requests (or the Royal Commission decides) that the particular submission is not made public. The Royal Commission will usually make its decision for reasons associated with fairness.

Submissions should be made, preferably electronically, to solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au, otherwise in writing to GPO Box 5283, Sydney NSW 2001.

Issues papers

The Royal Commission has released its first Issues Paper on the Working with Children Check and is seeking submissions from interested individuals and government and non-government organisations by 12 August 2013.

Issues Paper 1 – Working With Children Check [DOC 1.5MB]
Issues Paper 1 – Working With Children Check [PDF 98KB]

The Royal Commission has released its second Issues Paper, Towards Healing and is seeking submissions from interested individuals, institutions, government and non-government organisations about the content and operation of Towards Healing by 4 September 2013.

Issues Paper 2 – Towards Healing [DOC 1.47MB]
Issues Paper 2 – Towards Healing [PDF 123KB]

The Royal Commission has released its third Issues Paper on Child Safe Organisations and is seeking submissions from interested individuals and government and non-government organisations about the content and effectiveness of strategies aimed at creating ‘child safe organisations’ by Friday 11 October 2013.

Issues Paper 3 – Child Safe Organisations [DOC 58KB]
Issues Paper 3 – Child Safe Organisations [PDF 94KB]

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PIA AKERMAN From: The Australian August 08, 2013

THE Royal Commission examining child sex abuse has called for community input on how organisations can keep children safe.

The commission’s third issues paper, released today, has declared a focus on ‘child safe organisations’ as the inquiry seeks to examine effective policies and procedures to protect children from sexual abuse.

“Conducting employment screening checks is only one aspect of keeping children safe from sexual abuse in institutions,” the paper says.

“Good child safe policies and practices are needed to reduce potential risks and keep children safer in institutions.”

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UNITED STATES
CBS Philly

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It’s a story we know all too well in Philadelphia, but a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist has now put the whole Catholic priest sex scandal in one volume.

Mortal Sins (Sex, Crime and the Era of Catholic Scandal) is not simply a crime blotter but a sweeping tale of an institution seeing its towering moral authority threatening to crumble.

“The shocking thing is that this has gone on for so long,” says author Michael D’Antonio. “This is three decades of horror stories.””

D’Antonio’s focus shifts from Rome to Washington to towns across the US (including Philadelphia) and Europe, from meetings of top church officials to the anguished voices of victims.

In the end, D’Antonio says, this is a story of hope.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

At a meeting of the Catholic Church’s discredited “Towards Healing” protocol for dealing with clerical sexual abuses, a member proudly announced he had personally destroyed over 40 boxes of evidence that morning, according to a church consultant.

Dr. Robert Grant, a U.S. psychologist who has previously advised the Catholic Church in several countries, said that he was “shocked, I was dumbfounded, not only the timing – I realized it was a statement to me how things were going to be run.”

Dr. Grant also revealed that meetings were attended by officials of the Catholic Church Insurance (CCI) company, and its lawyers. CCI officials would object to language used in the Towards Healing document “that would put the church at risk in terms of admitting culpability.” He said that “At first I thought maybe they were there to advise the church about the risk of taking certain pastoral stances, but I began to realize quite quickly that they were dictating policy.”

Clearly, the church was more interested in costs incurred by its insurance arm, which enjoys tax-free status in Australia, than in the welfare of victims. As Dr. Grant noted, “Quite to my amazement, I never heard victims talked about. I never heard victims being – people being concerned about the well-being of victims or how the document would affect victims. I heard more about Church liability and also I heard about priests that were victims. There was talk about priests that were being unjustly accused. I’d hear this every so often, but I hardly ever heard – and I even brought up a couple of times, aren’t we missing sorta the whole population that this document is designed for, which is the victims? But that again was not picked up or developed.”

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UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

Thomas Doyle, J.C.D., C.A.D.C.
July 27, 2013
_____________________________________________________________
This year marks the end of the third decade of the contemporary chapter in the Catholic Church’s age-old reality of sexual violation of clerics. In 1983 Jeff Anderson filed the historic case in Minnesota that would launch him on his life-long vocation of bringing not only civil but human rights to the Church countless victims. That summer, the bizarre saga of Gilbert Gauthe was exposed to the light in Lafayette, Louisiana.

This nightmare did not begin in Boston in January 2002 as many erroneously believe. It did not begin in 1983 either. It has been a toxic virus in the Body of Christ since its very beginning. The Didache, a handbook for the earliest followers of Christ, written before the end of the first century, explicitly condemns men who sexually abuse boys….and the “men”included the leaders or elders of the infant Church. The Louisiana spectacle generally gets the credit for being the beginning of public wareness of the so-called “crisis.” I daresay though that had Jason Berry lived in Minneapolis and not New Orleans, things might have been different. Either way you look at it, Jeff in Minnesota and Ray Mouton in Louisiana opened a new era for the Catholic Church and in doing so, changed the course of its
history.

When I first became involved with the Gauthe case in 1984 I still believed in the Church. I thought the institutional Church and the People of God were one and the same. In spite of already having served three years on the inside at the Vatican Embassy I still had some confidence in bishops and shared the hope with my colleagues at the time, Mike Peterson and Ray Mouton, that once the bishops became aware of how terrible sexual abuse of a child could be and also aware of the potential for a very serious problem in the Church, they would quickly step up to the plate and do the right thing, especially by the victims.

I was dead wrong and by the time I left my position at the Vatican embassy I was quite convinced I was wrong. I had no idea however, of the extent of the problem but more important, and worse, I had no idea just how duplicitous and destructive the bishops could be.

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UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

Dr. Marianne Benkert on Developmental Disruption

INTRODUCTION

It gives me great pleasure to with you here tonight. I would like to thank the leadership of SNAP for inviting me to share part of this evening with you. We are all here because of this organization that has done such incredible work supporting victims and survivors of clerical sexual abuse and has helped to
keep this issue before the public eye.

What I bring to you this evening as a physician and psychiatrist is expertise and experience, a history of treating thousands of people over my long professional career, a majority of them physically and sexually abused, all of them in deep pain. Initially no one comes into my office telling me how good their life is.

Tonight I want to talk with you about the normal psychological development of children and dolescents and the disruption that occurs with abuse, especially sexual abuse. First I would like to put all of us in the role of a basic scientist for just five minutes and share with you some of the amazing neurobiological discoveries that are taking place.

Psychology, psychiatry and the neurosciences are in a state of dynamic discovery. Our understanding of human nature and human development is constantly being refined. Recent studies have shown the anatomy of the brain actually changes in response to abuse and trauma. We call this ability neuroplasticity. We can identify which part of the brain is responsible for different sensations and emotions.

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UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

SIPE ON THE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

PAST: Putting sexual abuse in perspective.

Sexual abuse of minors is not a recent phenomenon; the reality of clergy sexual activity has existed, as long as there have been priests and bishops.

Church documents from the earliest centuries record the ideal of religious celibacy and its violations. (Cf. Doyle, Sipe & Wall 2006) There is an element of basic asceticism in the practice of religious celibacy—the imitation of Jesus in having nothing: not a place “to lay his head”; poverty by choice; and forsaking all-family relationships in order to be like Jesus. Treating others as Jesus did was the object of the discipline.

This ideal was found especially in the earliest monks of the desert.

But the other side of the coin is the corruption of the ideal. In our time, publicity about abuse has refocused our knowledge of the frequency of sexual violations by clergy and the horrendous and long
lasting damage done to victims.

Purity was thought to be the source of clerical power.

Sexual abuse of minors does not stand alone within clerical culture. It is a symptom—and always has been—of a corrupt system of double lives and duplicity that reaches from local parishes to the
Vatican; it destroys the myth of clerical purity.The whole idea that clergy practice celibacy has imploded.

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CONNECTICUT
The Day

[the lawsuit]

New Haven (AP) – Fairfield University and others that supported a charity designed to help feed and educate boys in Haiti are facing another lawsuit by a man alleging he was sexually abused by a school founder.

The federal lawsuit, filed Thursday in Connecticut, seeks $20 million in damages. The man was about 15 at the time of the abuse, according to the suit.

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

The victims’ attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said he’s investigating 31 other claims of sexual abuse by Perlitz and may file additional lawsuits.

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ESPANA
El Pais

REYES LINERA / EFE Madrid 9 AGO 2013

El sacerdote Ángel Luis Saldaña ha vuelto al servicio activo en su diócesis de Tarazona, en Zaragoza, tras cumplir su pena por posesión de pornografía infantil. “Tiene cubierto su proceso penal, civil y canónico, entonces se puede decir que está rehabilitado”, ha explicado el vicario general de la diócesis, Esteban Aranaz.

No obstante, Aranaz ha matizado que, a excepción de “dos sustituciones en pueblecitos porque el párroco estaba enfermo”, Saldaña no desempeña ninguna labor pastoral, sino funciones administrativas en la curia diocesana.

El antiguo párroco de Maluenda fue detenido el 15 de marzo de 2011 por presunta posesión de archivos informáticos de pornografía infantil y pocos meses después fue condenado a menos de dos años de prisión. No llegó a ingresar en la cárcel porque no tenía antecedentes penales.

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ESPANA
EITB

[Summary: Angel Luis Saldana, the priest who was arrested and convicted in 2011 for possession of child pornography, celebrate Mass in place of the regular parish priest in town and people are uncomfortable with this.]

Ángel Luis Saldaña, el sacerdote que fue detenido y condenado en 2011 por posesión de pornografía infantil, celebró misas en sustitución del párroco habitual en el municipio.
Escuchar la página

La población de Saviñán (Zaragoza) se encuentra “incómoda” ante la noticia, que muchos desconocían, de que Ángel Luis Saldaña, el sacerdote que fue detenido y condenado en 2011 por
posesión de pornografía infantil, celebró misas en sustitución del párroco habitual en el municipio.

Así lo ha hecho saber el alcalde de Saviñán, Jose Ignacio Marcuello, quien ha afirmado haberse enterado de esta circunstancia esta misma mañana, a través de los medios de comunicación que se han hecho eco de la información.

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ESPANA
El Periodico

EL PERIÓDICO 10/08/2013

El Obispado de Tarazona considera “rehabilitado” al sacerdote Ángel Luis Saldaña, el expárroco de Maluenda condenado por posesión y difusión de pornografía infantil, según explicó a Efe el vicario general de la diócesis, Esteban Arana, que añadió que el religioso “ha cumplido” su pena.

Arana confirmó que el sacerdote, de 48 años y que fue condenado a una multa y una pena de cárcel inferior a dos años cuyo cumplimiento eludió al carecer de antecedentes, ha efectuado sustituciones puntuales del párroco de Saviñán, que también lleva las iglesias de Paracuellos de la Ribera y Embid de la Ribera.

El vicario precisó que Saldaña “solo” fue acusado de poseer archivos de pornografía infantil, pero “en ningún momento” de cometer abusos “ni otra cosa”. Ahora, aunque no tiene “responsabilidades pastorales”, se encarga de tareas administrativas en la diócesis de Tarazona y en “algún momento” puntual ejerce de cura para “ayudar” o “colaborar”.

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ESPANA
Hoy

[English summary: Priest Angel Luis Saldana, convicted in 2011 for possession of child pornography, has returned to active service in the Tarazona diocese, having served the sentence imposed on him in both civil and canon law. Some residents of Savinas (Zaragoza), the village where he was arrested and convicted, believe the “rehabilitation” of the priest is a disgrace and they want the church to defrock him.]

El sacerdote Ángel Luis Saldaña, condenado en 2011 por posesión de pornografía infantil, ha vuelto al servicio activo en la diócesis de Tarazona, tras haber cumplido la condena que se le impuso, tanto en el orden civil como en el canónico. Pese a ello, algunos vecinos de Saviñán (Zaragoza), el pueblo donde fue detenido y condenado, expresó su malestar por el hecho de que el sacerdote haya oficiado misas sustituyendo al párroco habitual. El alcalde de Saviñán, Jose Ignacio Marcuello, reconoció que el hecho, del que muchos se enteraron por la prensa, ha causado cierta zozobra entre los habitantes, que ayer no daban crédito a lo ocurrido. Para muchos de los vecinos, la «rehabilitación» del cura es «una vergüenza», al tiempo que abogaban por que la Iglesia obligara a Saldaña a dejar los hábitos.

El vicario general, Esteban Arana, corroboró que, en efecto, el sacerdote, de 48 años, sustituyó un fin de semana al párroco titular de algunos municipios de la diócesis, como Saviñán, Paracuellos de la Ribera y Embid de la Ribera.

Saldaña, entonces párroco de Maluenda, fue detenido el 15 de marzo de 2011 por posesión de archivos informáticos de pornografía infantil. Pocos meses después fue condenado a una pena de menos de dos años de prisión, pero no ingresó en la cárcel al carecer de antecedentes penales.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El ex párroco de El Bosque Fernando Karadima negó ser el autor de los abusos sexuales que le imputan sus denunciantes y aseguró que sólo se enteró de estas denuncias a través de la televisión.

El sacerdote respondió este jueves al juez Juan Manuel Muñoz, quien lleva el proceso civil en la causa contra el Arzobispado de Santiago.

“No tengo conocimiento si el Arzobispado de Santiago sabía de los abusos sexuales o de cualquier índole que yo haya cometido, por la razón que yo no cometí ilícitos y así lo señalé en la causa criminal, menos a menores involucrados”, señaló Karadima en su declaración, a la que tuvo acceso Cooperativa.

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CHILE
El Dinamo

“Al perla no sólo haya que ir a atenderlo a su casa, con una justicia diferente a la de todos los chilenos, cuando él está en perfecto estado de salud. Estoy absolutamente asqueado por eso, asqueado por lo que dijo y asqueado por las cartas”.

Hoy se conoció parte de la declaración que dio Fernando Karadima al juez Juan Manuel Muñoz, donde el religioso señaló que “nunca cometió ilícitos contra menores de edad” y que se enteró de las acusaciones por televisión.

Ayer, en tanto, se revelaron las cartas que el círculo íntimo de Karadima, aglutinado en la parroquia de El Bosque, enió a El Vaticano y el Arzobispado para intentar convencerlos de la inocencia del prelado con argumentos tales como que esto se trataba de un montaje de la izquierda y un complot masón.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Karadima en su declaración ante Juez Muñoz: “Supe de las denuncias a través de un programa de televisión”

por Karen Soto Galindo – 09/08/2013

En el convento donde se encuentra cumpliendo penitencia tras ser condenado por el Vaticano por abusos sexuales, el sacerdote Fernando Karadima declaró ante el juez Juan Manuel Muñoz que no cometió los abusos que se le imputan.

En la declaración a la cual tuvo acceso La Tercera, Karadima aseguró que “no tengo conocimiento si el Arzobispado de Santiago sabía de los abusos sexuales o de cualquier índole que yo haya cometido, por la razón que yo no cometí ilícitos y así lo señalé en la causa criminal, manos aún a menores involucrados”.

“Una carta con preguntas que me envió el Arzobispado, referido a los temas que se me consultan, fue la oportunidad en que posiblemente el Arzobispado se enteró de esta situación, pero, en todo caso, no tengo recuerdos ni idea de estas cosas, porque la verdad es que voy a cumplir cuatro años en este convento en el mes de enero, y me encuentro solo y sometido a oración y penitencia”, continúa Karadima.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Primer investigador eclesiástico de caso Karadima entregó detalles de denuncias al Juez Muñoz

por Karen Soto – 09/08/2013

“El Arzobispado es un ente cuyo conocimiento de las cosas es imposible verificarlo”, dijo el investigador eclesiástico Eliseo Escudero Herrero.

El sacerdote prestó declaración ante el juez Juan Manuel Muños, el pasado 31 de julio, como pre prueba judicial para una demanda civil que pretenden interponer las víctimas de Fernando Karadima en contra del Arzobispado de Santiago.

Según indicó Escudero, “a mí se me encargó hacer una indagación formal sobre unas denuncias llegadas al Arzbispado de Santiago. Antes de eso, sobre esta persona en concreto, yo no tenía idea respecto de las conductas que se le atribuyen, ni menos que personas de la jerarquía católica tuvieran antecedentes sobre dichas situaciones”.

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CHILE
Terra

Sacerdote chileno niega abusos sexuales a menores en declaración ante la justicia

El sacerdote chileno Fernando Karadima, declarado por el Vaticano culpable de abusar sexualmente de menores, negó haber cometido el delito durante una declaración ante un juez que investiga su caso.

“No tengo conocimiento si el Arzobispado de Santiago sabía de los abusos sexuales o de cualquier índole que yo haya cometido, por la razón que yo no cometí ilícitos y así lo señalé en la causa criminal, menos a menores involucrados”, dijo en su declaración, difundida por medios locales este viernes.

Karadima, de 82 años, prestó testimonio el jueves ante el juez Juan Manuel Muñoz en la investigación sobre denuncias en su contra por abuso sexual que le formularon en 2010 cinco hombres, quienes de pequeños visitaban una parroquia en un exclusivo barrio del oriente de Santiago en la que era sacerdote.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MACDONALD – 10 AUGUST 2013

A POPULAR priest who is to leave his post as prior of an Augustinian order has denied he is being forced out by the Vatican.

Fr Iggy O’Donovan was responding to claims by the lay reform group ‘We Are Church Ireland’, which suggested he was being forced to take leave of absence by the Vatican’s watchdog on orthodoxy.

However, Fr O’Donovan (56) told the Irish Independent he was not stepping back from the priesthood, he was taking a sabbatical next month as his two terms as prior in Drogheda, Co Louth, were coming to an end.

He also rejected suggestions that he had meetings with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, in whose diocese he serves, over articles appearing in an Augustinian newsletter.

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NEBRASKA
Star Herald

Posted: Friday, August 9, 2013

By KIM SCHMIDT World-Herald News Service

KEARNEY — A Kearney man is free on bond after being charged with sexually assaulting two boys 12 years ago.

Thomas Anthony Jones, 37, is charged in Buffalo County Court with two counts of felony sexual assault of a child on Jan. 1, 2001, in Kearney.

According to court records, the alleged victims, now ages 23 and 15, reported that their former church youth leader, Jones, allegedly exposed himself to them and touched their private parts. The alleged victims — who would have been 11 and 3 at the time of the alleged assault — reported the abuse Tuesday.

Jones was a youth leader at Lighthouse Foursquare Church at 3520 Ave. F.

Benjamin Rosenzweig, the church’s pastor, said Jones hasn’t been a youth leader for several years, and when he was, it was as a volunteer.

A Kearney Police Department report listed Jones as a youth pastor, but he never had that position, Rosenzweig said. The title of pastor requires licensing, he said, which Jones never obtained.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, August 9 – The success of the Vatican’s commitment to greater financial surveillance is demonstrated by the rise in suspicious activities detected, the head of financial intelligence there said Friday. In an interview published in the daily La Repubblica, Rene Bruelhart said the Vatican’s latest measures toward greater financial enforcement are already proving themselves. The rising number of suspicious transaction reports this year – with more reported to date in 2013 than in the previous year – proves the system is effective, said Bruelhart, director of the Vatican’s watchdog Financial Information Authority (AIF). ‘

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
God Discussion

Religious liberty, the resurrection of the dead, and $57 million … an interview with SNAP about Catholic bankruptcy case (Friday, August 9, 2013)

When a federal judge ruled on July 29 that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s free expression of religion and religious liberty would be violated if it was required to tap into its trust for the perpetual care of cemeteries — valued at over $50 million – to pay creditors who are mostly victims of abuse, many observers were shocked. Joining us Friday, August 9 to talk about the case are Peter Isely, Founding Member and Midwest Director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and Judy Jones, Midwest Associate Director of SNAP (bios follow).

This is a very important case that may play a role in future bankruptcy protection filings by religious institutions, particularly since the creditor victims allege that $57 million was moved on purpose to a cemetery trust to avoid compensating them. Here’s a timeline:

* The New York Times reported that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.

* In January 2011, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection. Archbishop Jerome Listecki said, “As a result of the horrific actions of a few, there are financial claims pending against the archdiocese that exceed our means.”

* Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled the archdiocese could not use First Amendment protections to stop the Court from examining the possibly fraudulent creation of a $57 million “cemetery trust” by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is now Cardinal of New York.

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British Medical Journal

Niklas Långström, professor12, Pia Enebrink, clinical psychologist, researcher3, Eva-Marie Laurén, senior forensic psychiatrist4, Jonas Lindblom, researcher56, Sophie Werkö, researcher56, R Karl Hanson, senior research scientist7

Author Affiliations

Correspondence: N Långström niklas.langstrom@ki.se
Accepted 15 July 2013

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of current medical and psychological interventions for individuals at risk of sexually abusing children, both in known abusers and those at risk of abusing.

Design Systematic review of interventions designed to prevent reoffending among known abusers and prevention for individuals at risk of sexually abusing children. Randomised controlled trials and prospective observational studies were eligible. Primary outcomes were arrests, convictions, breaches of conditions, and self reported sexual abuse of children after one year or more.

Results After review of 1447 abstracts, we retrieved 167 full text studies, and finally included eight studies with low to moderate risk of bias. We found weak evidence for interventions aimed at reducing reoffending in identified sexual abusers of children. For adults, evidence from five trials was insufficient regarding both benefits and risks with psychological treatment and pharmacotherapy. For adolescents, limited evidence from one trial suggested that multisystemic therapy prevented reoffence (relative risk 0.18, 95% confidence interval 0.04 to 0.73); lack of adequate research prevented conclusions about effects of other treatments. Evidence was also inadequate regarding effectiveness of treatment for children with sexual behavioural problems in the one trial identified. Finally, we found no eligible research on preventive methods for adults and adolescents who had not sexually abused children but were at higher risk of doing so (such as those with paedophilic sexual preference).

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news@JAMA

BY MIKE MITKA on AUGUST 9, 2013

Men convicted of sexually abusing children or those at risk of performing such abuse may be treated by mental health professionals in an attempt to prevent future episodes. But whether such treatment actually works remains an open question, say researchers whose findings appear today in BMJ.

The researchers, from Sweden and Canada, performed a systematic review of interventions intended to prevent reoffending among known abusers or to prevent those at risk of sexually abusing children from initiating such behavior. Of the 1447 abstracts reviewed, the authors selected 167 full-text studies. Ultimately, only 8 studies, 5 involving adult men and 3 involving adolescents or children, were considered as they had low to moderate risk of bias.

The researchers found that the research on the effectiveness of interventions for preventing sexual offending and reoffending against children remains inconclusive. They concluded that there is insufficient evidence about the benefits and risks of cognitive behavioral treatment for individuals who sexually abuse children or for children with sexual behavior problems (who are considered at risk of engaging in such abuse). No studies with minimal quality standards were found for pharmacological treatments or for interventions directed towards those who had not sexually abused children but were at a higher risk of doing so.

A small study found weak evidence that multisystemic therapy (family and community-based therapy focused on environmental factors affecting offenders) prevents reoffending among adolescent sexual offenders.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 09, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — A court date is set for an appeal hearing for a Roman Catholic church official in Philadelphia who is behind bars for child endangerment.

Monsignor William Lynn was the first U.S. church official convicted of covering up claims against Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children.

A jury last year convicted the longtime secretary for clergy in Philadelphia. He is serving three to six years in prison.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Joseph A. Slobodzian, Inquirer Staff Writer
LAST UPDATED: Friday, August 9, 2013

Pennsylvania’s Superior Court has set Sept. 17 for oral arguments on the appeal by Msgr. William J. Lynn, convicted last year of child endangerment for his role supervising Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse.

A letter setting the appeal date was filed Monday by the state’s intermediate appeals court for criminal and civil appeals. The appeals hearing will be held in Philadelphia before a three-judge panel: Judges John T. Bender, Christine L. Donohue and John L. Musmanno.

Lynn’s conviction by a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury was a landmark: the first church official criminally charged for his role supervising Catholic priests accused of child sexual abuse.

On July 24, 2012, Judge M. Teresa Sarmina sentenced Lynn to three to six years in prison. Lynn is in Waymart state prison in Northeast Pennsylvania. Lynn, 62, was not accused of personally molesting children; his job as Secretary for Clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia required him to investigate allegations against priests and recommend action to the archbishop.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph & Argus

A former vicar, who has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a teenage boy during a three-year period in the 1990s, will be sentenced next month. Peter Hedge, 50, appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday but his case was adjourned until September 17. He was remanded in custody. Hedge was vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Queensbury, and worked as a volunteer on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for many years.

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NEW HAVEN (CT)
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

August 8, 2013

Gervil St. Louis aka St. Louis Gervil v. Perlitz, Carrier, Carter, Haiti Fund, Fairfield University, Jesuits, Order of St. John, and Order of Malta, Complaint, U.S. District Court of Connecticut, Case 3:13-cv-01132-VLB

2. Perlitz, Father Carrier, Fairfield University, the Order of Malta, Carter, and the Haiti Fund established a residential school in the Republic of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. This school, Project Pierre Toussaint, a/k/a Project Venerable Pierre Toussaint (“PPT”), purported to provide services to the poorest children of Haiti, many of whom lacked homes and regular meals. Perlitz, residing in Haiti, was the director of PPT, which provided him with an image of substantial trust and authority.

3. Perlitz used that trust and authority to sexually molest Plaintiff and numerous other minor boys who attended PPT. Perlitz also threatened to withhold food and shelter from the impoverished children in his care if they did not comply with his sexual demands, in effect forcing them to earn their food and shelter by trading sexual favors for those necessities.

4. The other Defendants assisted Perlitz by providing him the means to travel to and stay in Haiti and by providing him the means to operate PPT in this manner. They failed to provide appropriate guidelines and supervision for the operation of PPT. They disregarded warning signs that should have alerted them to the improper nature of Perlitz’s relationship with some of the boys in his care and continued to provide funds to PPT long after it was, or should have been clear, that Perlitz was abusing the trust that had been placed in him. At least one Defendant other than Perlitz actively took steps to prevent enforcement of laws meant to protect minors from the conduct in which Perlitz engaged.

13. Fairfield University hired Perlitz in connection with PPT and retained him during the relevant time period. At all relevant times, Fairfield University had a duty to exercise due care in its hiring and retention, including its hiring and retention of Perlitz. At relevant times, Fairfield University had a duty to supervise and direct Perlitz, to exercise due care in doing so, a duty not to knowingly benefit financially from participating in a venture engaged in activities in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591, and a duty not to facilitate Perlitz’s travel to Haiti knowing that Perlitz was travelling to Haiti to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

99. In or around 2007, when Plaintiff Gervil St. Louis was approximately 15years of age, Defendant Perlitz, while in Haiti, engaged in explicit sexual behavior and lewd and lascivious behavior with Plaintiff, including but not limited to illicit sexual conduct with Plaintiff.

100. Without limiting either the generality of the preceding paragraph or the specific number of instances of illicit conduct, during the time period referenced above, Defendant Perlitz coerced Plaintiff into performing illicit sexual conduct by means of implicit threats to Plaintiff. Among other things, Perlitz fondled Plaintiff and engaged in acts of sodomy with Plaintiff.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[Patrick Parkinson – right of reply]

[Salesians of Don Bosco transcript]

August 10, 2013

Barney Zwartz

The Catholic Salesians of Don Bosco order misled the Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse about its attempts to suppress an independent report that criticised it, according to the report’s author.

Patrick Parkinson, professor of law at Sydney University, told the inquiry in a right of reply published on Friday that Australians could not have any confidence in promises by the church ”if we are unable to believe that the truth will be told even to a parliamentary inquiry”.

Meanwhile, the church has in turn attacked the inquiry for making ”incorrect, unfair and misleading” claims, and savaged witnesses in a right of reply published this week.

Peter O’Callaghan, QC, has also submitted a string of rebuttals of witnesses’ testimony, posting eight replies since July 26.

And a former consultant to Towards Healing, the church’s national abuse protocol, has claimed that the church’s insurance company dominated its policies at the expense of victims, and destroyed 40 boxes of personnel records.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 9

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

Next week, America’s largest group of nuns meets in Orlando. And today, a former top Catholic official publicly admits that child sex crimes by nuns are “invisible.”

[National Catholic Reporter]

But he opposes changing church policy so the same child sex guidelines that govern bishops would govern nuns. We strongly disagree.

The church’s abuse guidelines are weak, vague and rarely enforced. Still, they should apply to nuns as well as priests. Some oversight beats no oversight.

No one knows how many nuns have abused or are abusing kids. Nor does anyone know how many nuns have or are concealing those crimes.

But that’s not our primary concern. Our concern is that current child sex crimes and cover ups by nuns are stopped, future child sex crimes and cover ups by nuns are prevented and that those who’ve already been hurt by nuns are sought out and helped.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

by EWTN NEWS 08/09/2013

PORTLAND, Ore. — After the withdrawal of yet another abuse lawsuit against the Vatican, the Holy See’s lawyer said that such efforts are based on “erroneous ideas about the Catholic Church” that unravel under close scrutiny.

Jeffrey Lena, the U.S. counsel for the Holy See, said the case John V. Doe v. Holy See is “the third case of its kind against the Holy See to disintegrate in the face of legal and factual challenge.”

He said the lawsuit “should never have been filed” and that it was based on “factual misstatements and fallacious syllogisms that misled the public for years.”

He said other cases against the Vatican begin with “very strong complaints” stating apparent facts about Vatican involvement in local Church matters and priestly conduct.

But careful legal analysis and examination of these cases, Lena told Vatican Radio, made it clear they were “not sustainable.”

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NEBRASKA
Kearney Hub

KEARNEY – A Kearney youth pastor has been accused of sexually assaulting two boys 12 years ago.
The alleged victims reported the abuse Tuesday.

Thomas Anthony Jones, 37, is charged in Buffalo County Court with two counts of felony sexual assault of a child on Jan. 1, 2001.

According to court records, the alleged victims, now ages 23 and 15, reported that their former youth pastor, Jones, allegedly exposed himself to them and touched their private parts.

A Kearney Police Department incident report says Jones is a youth pastor at Lighthouse Foursquare Church at 3520 Ave. F. Calls to the church went unanswered.

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NEBRASKA
Fremont Tribune

A Kearney youth pastor has been charged with sexually assaulting boys a dozen years ago.

The Kearney Hub reports ( http://bit.ly/18gs8lj) that 37-year-old Thomas Jones faces two felony counts of sexual assault of a child.

Court records say the two males, now ages 23 and 15, told police that Jones had touched them inappropriately and exposed himself to them in 2001.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Press

By Nadia Jefferson-Brown, nadia.jefferson-brown@thepress.co.uk

AN INQUIRY into the handling of allegations of child abuse by a former senior clergyman is appealing for help to gather information.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu launched the independent inquiry into issues surrounding reports that the late Dean of Manchester, Robert Waddington, groomed and abused a chorister in Manchester in the 1980s.

Chaired by Judge Sally Cahill QC, it is gathering evidence about what complaints were made about alleged abuse by Mr Waddington, what the church’s response was, whether child protection policies were implemented and other issues.

Anyone who may have relevant information is urged to get in touch.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

This is the result of a study published in the latest issue of “Pastoral Psychology”

FABRIZIO MASTROFINI
ROME

The psychological profile Catholic priests in the U.S. comes under the category of “introverted”. They are more interested in the ministry in the strict sense and less involved in the social dimension of the apostolate. They are also less focused on the mission. This is according to the latest study published by a British team, led by Leslie Francis, an Anglican professor at the University of Warwick. The study appears in the current issue of “Pastoral Psychology,” an authoritative magazine on international studies published in the United States. Prof. Francis is a prominent figure in the field of psychology of religion and he has developed a special version of the test that is based on the theory of “Psychological Types” of Carl Gustav Jung and the statistical questionnaire developed by Myers and Briggs in the Sixties.

The inquiry carried out by Francis and his team is based on a fairly small sample- partly because of the complexity of the test to be administered – and it is compared with other similar surveys carried out in the Eighties and Nineties. What is new about this study, is that it looks into the inner center of gravity of the new generation of Catholic priests in the United States.

The first trait that characterises them, is “introversion.” The second is “sensing”, that is, the way in which information is gathered to make judgments. “Sensing” happens via the five senses, as opposed to ‘intuition’ for those who make exclusive use of intuition. “Sensing,” Francis notes, “meant to have priests that relate exclusively to the inherited tradition and do not care to adapt it to the needs of new generations”. Priests are accustomed to preserving rather than promoting changes in their pastoral activities. “They place an emphasis on preserving the existing rather than on the missionary dimension”. And this happens despite Pope Francis’ insistence on the missionary dimension of pastoral activity, on going outside the confines of the parish and welcoming anyone who knocks at the Church’s doors.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Aug. 9, 2013 …

A Jesuit missing in Syria; the Vatican batting 1.000 in American courts

Jeffrey Lena, the lawyer who represents the Vatican in American courts, is still batting a thousand when it comes to sex abuse cases. On Monday, a federal judge in Oregon dismissed the case of John V. Doe v. Holy See, the last standing lawsuit in an American court related to sex abuse that named the Vatican as a defendant.

Two other such cases, one in Kentucky and one in Wisconsin, had already collapsed. In all three instances, the lawsuits were withdrawn at the request of the plaintiff’s lawyers as difficulties mounted of getting around the protections guaranteed the Vatican under the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

So far, the Vatican has fought off these suits without admitting any wrongdoing and without paying a dime in settlements.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the main advocacy group on behalf of victims of abuse, effectively paid Lena a backhanded compliment, asserting in a statement Tuesday that “smart and aggressive lawyering” was to blame for the result.

Such lawyering, SNAP charged, “has protected top Catholic officials from having to answer in court for their repeated and reckless secrecy and complicity in a troubling child sex abuse and cover up case.”

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Two more NJ predators are “outed”
Both are Catholic clerics from elsewhere
One sexually abused a girl in Los Angeles
The other molested in both Texas and Illinois
Neither priest has ever gotten attention in NJ
New records showed a third predator was in Newark
SNAP wants help from a parish, a school & three bishops

WHAT
Holdings signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will disclose the names of two credibly accused child molesting clerics who worked in New Jersey, abused elsewhere and have never been “outed” here. They will also give more specifics about a third predator priest who was “outed” in New Jersey just last week.

The three worked in Perth Amboy, Jersey City, Newark, Garfield, Rumson, Summit and Englewood.

The victims will also announce that they’re writing to a parish, a school and three prelates – Newark’s archbishop, Trenton’s bishop and Metuchen’s bishop – urging all of them to “do aggressive outreach” to find other victims of the clerics

WHEN
Friday, August 9 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the Newark Catholic Archdiocese headquarters, 171 Clifton Ave. in Newark, NJ

WHO
Two-three members of an international support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including the organization’s long time New Jersey director

WHY
SNAP has learned recently about three credibly accused child molesting clerics who were in New Jersey. All molested kids elsewhere. Two have attracted no public attention in New Jersey. One was exposed as having lived and worked in New Jersey just last week.

The two being “outed” today by SNAP are Fr. Eusebio Pantoja and Fr. Rubin V. Abaya. Both worked at parishes in Perth Amboy. The one “outed” last week is Fr. Joseph B. DiPeri, who worked in five New Jersey cities.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Jessica Fleischman | jfleisc2@mlive.com

on August 09, 2013 at 8:08 AM, updated August 09, 2013

SEBEWAING, MI — Blue skies and sunshine welcomed 400 to 500 Catholics who rallied in rural Huron County to resist church reorganization.

Hundreds of lawn chairs lined the grass Thursday, Aug. 8, outside Sebewaing’s Holy Family Catholic Church, slated to move to “occasional use” next year as part of Catholic Diocese of Saginaw restructuring.

The “Save Our Rural Catholic Churches” rally was organized by parishioners who oppose the ongoing restructuring plan by the diocese.

“It is counterproductive to have churches merge and close,” said Mike Eisengruber, the first speaker of the night, who also acted as the emcee is one of six members of an advisory board for Save Our Rural Catholic Churches.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee Biagio Mazza | Aug. 9, 2013

ROME
If U.S. Catholic sisters want to dialogue with the Vatican over a mandate requiring them to place themselves under the authority of a U.S. archbishop, they must understand that the “central point” of dialogue is upholding church doctrine, a key Vatican cardinal said in May.

The doctrinal problems identified with the main group of U.S. sisters, known as the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), are “extremely important,” Cardinal João Braz de Aviz said.

“This is the central point of the dialogue,” Braz de Aviz said. “I have no idea how it will be resolved.”

Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious, made his comments in May in Rome during a talk at the triennial meeting of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), a membership group for approximately 2,000 leaders of Catholic sisters around the world.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Aug. 9, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

Father Helmut Schuller has wrapped up his speaking tour of the United States. The coverage of his talks here at NCR has been somewhat breathless and I am not sure why. Herr Schuller did not, according to the news reports, say anything that has not been said before by others.

When I was a teenager, I came under the happy influence of a priest whom I credit with keeping me in the Church. I played the organ at his church during the summertime and we would engage in conversations about our faith. He was an unreconstructed 60s liberal in both politics and theology. At one of our early conversations, he gave me a copy of Hans Kung’s “On Being a Christian” to read and I devoured it. In short, I shared many of the mundane liberal attitudes that Schuller continues to articulate.

In the intervening years, I have largely come to view the Church differently and have either severely qualified my early views or abandoned them. (Unfortunately, my priest friend was killed in a freak train accident and it is one of the great regrets of my life that he has not been able to accompany me on my subsequent intellectual journey.) I came to see that I had developed a penchant for taking ideas and intellectual constructs from the ambient, secular culture and placing them on the Church. As I came to learn more of the Church’s theology, and especially its history, I realized how often this habit of mind had, in fact, nearly wrecked the Church. Reforms that last and that help the Church to thrive can be deep, the pruning can be severe, but they are reforms that are rooted within the Church’s traditions.

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ISRAEL
Israel Hayom

Rabbi Mordechai Elon’s conviction of indecent acts rattles national-religious community • Forum Takana, which exposed him, says more serious complaints were not revealed in trial • Elon’s supporters insist: There is no one else of his caliber.

Yehuda Shlezinger

At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, merely an hour and a half after the Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court convicted him of two counts of indecent acts against a minor, Rabbi Mordechai Elon spoke by telephone with another prominent national-religious public figure, Rabbi Haim Druckman.

Druckman was taken aback by the judge’s verdict. “Dear God in heaven, that’s ridiculous. It can’t be, it simply can’t be. I’m no lawyer, but maybe you should appeal to the Supreme Court and explain it to the judges,” he told Elon.

Like other rabbis in the national-religious community, Druckman was struggling to come to terms with the new reality. Elon, who for years had been considered the star of the national-religious public, to the point where he was dubbed the “admor,” an honorific title meaning “master, teacher and rebbe,” had been deemed a sex offender. Neither Elon nor the Forum Takana, a group which seeks to fight sexual abuse by authority figures in the national-religious community and which first exposed Elon’s actions, ever envisioned that the outcome would be so conclusive.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

By DANIELLE ZIRI

08/09/2013

Crisis center head: Ruling of “immense importance in breaking silence surrounding… sexual assault in the religious community.”

The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel reported a significant increase Thursday in the number of calls to its hotlines for religious men and women, following the Wednesday conviction of Rabbi Mordechai Elon for indecent assault by force against a minor.

The association also stated this week that it wished to strengthen victims of sexual assault who chose to speak out about the events.

Orit Sulitzeanu, the association’s director-general, said in a statement that the court ruling was of “immense importance in breaking the silence surrounding the phenomenon of sexual assault in the religious community.”

“We know that the sense of guilt and shame that accompanies sexual abuse victims prevents women and men affected [from seeking] help or to complain,” she added. “We hope that all victims feel better thanks to this court decision and that people will understand that justice always ends up coming to light.”

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ISRAEL
Israel Hayom

Rabbi Mordechai Elon said to be exploring legal options after conviction • “The court’s ruling is immensely important for breaking the silence around the phenomenon of sex crimes in the religious community,” says Association of Rape Crisis Centers head.

Yehuda Shlezinger and Yael Branovsky

Friends and associates of Rabbi Mordechai Elon are still struggling to come to terms with his conviction Wednesday on two counts of indecent acts against a minor.

“Naturally, spirits are low, but the rabbi is the king of Migdal,” said one of Elon’s associates. “We are reviewing the legal options the rabbi has before him.”

After Elon’s associates and family read the court’s decision, one said that “the judge has a very clear world view, which stipulates what is legitimate and what is illegitimate. In her view, if a person behind closed doors hugs someone it is illegitimate, and you must prove that if a person comes to you for consultation and that person is in distress, that such a situation is truly called for.”

Those in Elon’s circle understand that his conviction will lead many of his critics and those skeptic of his teachings in the national-religious community to believe the rabbi is guilty.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Aug. 9, 2013

Inclusion of two Catholic sisters in a July release of clergy sex abuse documents in the Los Angeles archdiocese highlights a need for sisters’ orders to investigate abuse allegations, says a former leader of the lay group set up by the U.S. bishops to monitor the church’s sex abuse policies.

“I think what we have learned in the last 10 to 12 years is that this is not a kind of misconduct that is peculiar to Roman Catholic priests,” Judge Michael Merz told NCR Aug. 5.

“All the stones need to be turned over,” said Merz, a federal district judge in Ohio who served as the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board from 2007 to 2009. “We need to get this stuff out in the open and deal with it.”

Merz’s comments were in regard to the July 31 release of personnel and other files of clergy and sisters accused of abuse from five religious orders that have ministered in the Los Angeles archdiocese.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Fri, Aug 9, 2013

A man who was abused as a child in Ferns diocese by the late Fr Seán Fortune has expressed his shock at discovering that the parochial house in Poulfour where children were abused by the priest is in use as a creche.

The man, who does not wish to be named, said he had visited the house on July 23rd last with photographer Kim Haughton, who is working on a project involving such places of abuse, and it was only then he discovered there was a creche on the premises.

It was, he said “a house of horrors”. At the scene that day, he “lost it. I really did. The priest who took over from Fortune in that parish refused to live there and they built a new one for him.”

He added: “Fortune is still there, if you know what I mean. He’s still hanging over the place like that house in the Psycho film, the house on the hill. You can see, you can smell him there. They should’ve knocked it. It’s so wrong. It’s not right.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Looking back, it was one incident that summed up the whole story.

In 1976, Mavis Arnold and I were interviewing a jittery Department of Education civil servant responsible for what had been industrial schools.

Our focus was on the institution run by the Sisters of the Poor Clares in Cavan.

We asked to see examples of the institution’s “dietary” plan and of a notification of punishment, both required by the 1908 Children Act.

Not available, he replied.

What about children sent out to work from the age of 10 in the early 1960s?

“You can’t see individual confidential reports.”

Could we see the accounts?

They didn’t exist.

By what process, we asked, had some Cavan girls been sent to the laundry-reformatory in Gloucester Street, Dublin?

His agitation increased: “We’d better not delve into that terrain.”

The point was that that institution, run by other nuns, was not certificated, thus the girls’ incarceration there was contrary to the rules of the Act governing the schools.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published August 08, 2013, issue of August 16, 2013.

Twelve alumni of Yeshiva University have joined 19 other former students who are suing the Modern Orthodox flagship university for allegedly covering up decades of sexual abuse at its Manhattan high school for boys.

But the 31 students suffered a setback August 6, when United States District Judge John G. Koeltl denied their attorney’s request to gain access to more information through discovery at a court in Manhattan.

“You’re basically having plaintiffs tied one hand behind their back because much of the information is in the hands of the defendants,” Kevin Mulhearn, the students’ attorney, told the court, according to a transcript.

In New York, criminal and civil cases of child sexual abuse must be brought before a victim turns 23; the plaintiffs are older, and claim that they were abused during the 1970s and ’80s. Mulhearn, however, argues in the suit that the statute of limitations does not apply, because Y.U. fraudulently covered up the abuse.

Discovery would have given Mulhearn access to internal Y.U. documents and the ability to interview current and former Y.U. employees about the alleged cover-up. It is a legal maneuver he used in a similar abuse case against Brooklyn’s Poly Prep Country Day School, which the school settled with 12 men represented by Mulhearn.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[Royal Commission calls for submissions on ‘Towards Healing’ – Lateline]

August 9, 2013

Benjamin Millar

The Catholic Church’s insurance company destroyed records relating to sexual abuse and drove the church’s handling of victims of abuse, according to a former adviser to the church.

Psychologist Dr Robert Grant, who advised the Catholic Church committee dealing with sexual abuse, told ABC’s Lateline on Thursday that Catholic Church Insurance dictated how victims should be treated under the Towards Healing protocol, a claim CCI denies.

US-based Dr Grant said meetings he attended in the late 1990s with the National Committee for Professional Standards, which was drafting the Towards Healing document, were attended by senior representatives of church-owned CCI or their lawyers.

Dr Grant, who has worked with the Catholic Church on sexual abuse in seven countries, said discussions devising the Towards Healing protocols centred on church liability and priests “being unjustly accused” rather than the wellbeing of victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Leader

August 08. 2013

Testimony from the trial in Pittsburgh involving alleged child abuse by a former Pittsburgh public schools police officer underscores the need for better safeguards for our children and clearer reporting procedures for school officials if they suspect child abuse.

That is the goal of my legislation that would require school district authorities to report possible child abuse to authorities within 24 hours. My bill would remove the current confusing patchwork of reporting requirements involving school officials when they believe there are instances of child abuse in school. My legislation makes all school officials mandated reporters of suspected child abuse.

Witnesses at the trial testified that they were abused by the former school police officer on school premises as far back as 1998, yet no student came forward with abuse allegations at that time. That changed in 1999 when the former principal at the Arthur J. Rooney Middle School suspected that inappropriate activity occurred and reported his suspicions to the officer’s supervisors.

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CHILE
El Dinamo

Lo más interesante son las explicaciones de los obispos Tomislav Koljatic y Horacio Valenzuela quienes atribuyen las acusaciones no a los abusos sexuales de Karadima, sino a un complot de la izquierda y los masones.

Una veintena de cartas sobre la defensa que encumbrados obispos de la Iglesia Católica hicieron al ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, en un desesperado intento de convencer a El Vaticano y al Arzobispado sobre la inocencia del prelado, fueron dadas a conocer hoy por el portal Ciper.

Entre los escritos a los que tuvo acceso el sitio de investigación, se puede encontrar una varias enviadas por obispos y sacerdotes formados por él, donde se describe a Karadima como un hombre recto y bondadoso; “un hombre que ha centrado su vida en la Eucaristía, celebrada y adorada, con fervor”, según escribió el sacerdote Juan Ignacio Ovalle Barros. O un hombre que “atrae hacia las cosas de Dios”, según afirmó el sacerdote Francisco Javier Manterola Covarrubias.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

BISHOP Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen has said it is ‘bitter, shaming and distressing’ that young boys were abused by monks at the Fort Augustus Abbey school in the 1950s and 1960s.

Bishop Gilbert travelled to St Peter’s and St Benedict’s parish in Fort Augustus last Sunday to celebrate Mass and express his profound sorrow after hearing news of the historic abuse cases.

A Church safeguarding advisor told the SCO this week that the Church now has the ‘robust, rigorous systems’ in place to help ensure such events are not repeated and it was vital that everyone used ‘common sense’ and embraced child protection policy.

The Scottish Church has continued to face the spectre of abuse this week following last week’s BBC Scotland investigation that uncovered a number of cases of child abuse at the Fort Augustus Abbey school, which lies within Aberdeen Diocese, and Carlekemp, its feeder school, in East Lothian. More alleged victims have since come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Friday, August 09, 2013

A man has been charged with grooming and sexually assaulting two teenage girls he met through a church in Sydney.

The 23-year-old man was arrested at his home in Westleigh, in Sydney’s northwest, on Wednesday and charged with 40 sexually-based child assault offences.

It followed investigations by the Child Abuse Squad into the alleged grooming and assault of two girls, aged 13 and 15, between March and July this year.

The girls met the man through their church, police allege.

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UNITED STATES
America

August 12-19, 2013
Bernard V. Nojadera

The reverberations can be heard nationwide. As church employees and volunteers receive notices requiring them to attend safe-environment trainings, their responses have become familiar: “Again?” “Didn’t we just do that?” “I went through this where I teach; do I need to do it in the parish too?” “I barely come in contact with kids; why do I need the program?” “I’ve been doing this work for 40 years; don’t they trust me?”

A decade into dealing with child protection efforts, I have come to expect such complaints. I see eyes roll and hear audiences sigh. On occasion, however, there is a more positive reaction: “Thank you. I was abused as a child. I’m here tonight because I have kids. You are now a part of my healing journey.”

While the safe-environment trainings may strike some volunteers as an imposition or an inconvenience, there is good reason not to take them for granted: Child protection programs work. In 2002 the U.S. bishops established stringent policies for the church in the United States that require staff and volunteers to be educated in child safety awareness and protection and to undergo background checks. The policies also demand that safe-environment instructors educate children on what is acceptable and unacceptable touch and how to report what makes them feel uncomfortable. The result? A decline in the reported number of new victims of sexual abuse and of perpetrators. In addition, with a call for men and women abused decades ago to seek help, the church is now seeing a decline in the number of old cases coming to the light.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Steve Cannane and Sashka Koloff
Updated Fri Aug 9, 2013

A psychologist who advised the Catholic Church committee that deals with sexual abuse says the church’s insurance company dictated how victims should be treated under the Towards Healing protocol.

Dr Robert Grant is a US-based psychologist who specialises in abuse and trauma, has worked with the Catholic Church on sexual abuse issues in seven countries, and has written a number of books on clerical abuse.

In the late 1990s he was living in Sydney and advising the St John of God brothers in relation to the psychiatric facilities they ran.

He was soon asked to help the National Committee for Professional Standards, which was working on the draft of Towards Healing, the church policy for dealing with clerical sexual abuse.

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INDIA
e-Pao

Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, August 08, 2013: All Manipur Christian Organization (AMCO) has condemned the sexual exploitation of minor girls at Grace Home, Jaipur allegedly by its founder Pastor Jacob John.

According to a release of AMCO, the alleged child trafficking, sexual abuse and rape of children at Grace Home and the incarceration of accused Pastor John Jacob has brought shame, anger and challenge to the Christian ministers and members.

AMCO condemned the series of crime allegedly committed by John Jacob towards his maid-servants and innocent children at Grace Home, and urged the authorities for a just and speedy legal verdict against the culprit.

Further, the organization clarified that the accused Jacob John and the institution he runs (Grace Home, Jaipur) has neither link with any Christian organization nor has he taken permission from any Christian Church organization in Manipur.

All Manipur Christian Organization (AMCO) and its constituent Churches have no knowledge about the person and his institution, but only through the public and media.

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INDIA
e-Pao

Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 08, 2013: Stating that the alleged ‘child trafficking,’ ‘sexual abuse’ and ‘rape of children’ at Grace Home, Jaipur, and the incarceration of the principal accused, pastor John Jacob, has brought shame, anger and challenge to the Christian ministers and members, the All Manipur Christian Organisation (AMCO) urged for a just and speedy legal verdict against the accused.

Feeling the need to address the issue of the heinous act, AMCO held emergency sittings on July 22 and 23 to express, clarify and appeal to the Christians in particular and people of Manipur in general regarding child trafficking, sexual abuse and rape, especially of children.

A statement issued by AMCO said that child trafficking, sexual abuse and rape, especially of children, is a heinous crime, a grave sin to be condemned by all while condemning the series of crime, allegedly committed by Jacob John against his maid-servants and innocent children at Grace Home at Jaipur.

Sharing the trauma, shame and pain of the innocent victims of Grace Home, Jaipur, the maidservants and the innocent children, AMCO said the indescribable psychological wound and the spiritual trauma caused to children will take a long time to be healed while expressing deep sympathy and assuring them of prayerful support.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

A restraining order has been issued against the former Des Moines youth pastor who this week was accused of sexually abusing two teenage congregation members.

Ryan Matthew McKelvey, 27, was barred from contacting all minors and was ordered to stay away from all places where minors typically can be found, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The restraining order also said McKelvey, who has a wife and young child, was allowed to see a specific minor, who was not named, only in the presence of the child’s mother.

McKelvey, who had served as a youth pastor at Heritage Assembly of God, 5051 N.E. Fifth St., was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of sexual exploitation by clergy and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse. As of Thursday afternoon, he was being held in the Polk County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC = Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 08/08/2013
Reporter: Steve Cannane

The Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse is taking submissions into the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing protocols which were introduced in 1996 to deal with abuse committed by clergy.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse is taking submissions into the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing protocols, introduced in 1996 to deal with abuse committed by clergy.

The protocols are meant to be driven by pastoral concerns dealing with the pain of victims through a Christian response.

But tonight for the first time a consultant to the committee has spoken out, saying the Church’s insurance company had too much influence on the response and that a senior official from the company boasted of destroying Church personnel records.

Recently at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse, the CEO of Catholic Church insurance, Peter Rush, said CCI officers remained independent of the underlying process.

Steve Cannane has this exclusive report, produced by Sashka Koloff.

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CHILE
Terra

El magistrado detalló que la cita “duró cerca de media hora” donde el religioso se vio “en muy buenas condiciones de salud”.

El ministro de fuero, Juan Muñoz Pardo, aseguró esta tarde que el ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, “respondió todas las preguntas”, tras el interrogatorio que realizó al religioso en el marco de la demanda civil que presentaron tres de sus víctimas de abusos sexuales.

El magistrado detalló que el cuestionario “duró cerca de media hora” donde el sacerdote se vio “en muy buenas condiciones de salud”.

“Yo he cumplido con la diligencia. Ahora son las partes las que tienen que evaluar su importancia y gravitación”, afirmó el juez.

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CHILE
Ciper Chile

CIPER accedió a una veintena de cartas que usó la defensa de Karadima en su último intento por convencer al Vaticano de que el ex párroco de El Bosque era inocente. Vistas desde hoy las cartas resultan demenciales. Particularmente las de los obispos Tomislav Koljatic y Horacio Valenzuela quienes atribuyen las acusaciones no a los abusos sexuales de Karadima, sino a un complot de la izquierda y los masones. Una carta del cardenal Errázuriz a Karadima revela la delicadeza con que lo trataba mientras cerraba la puerta a sus víctimas. Los hechos muestran lo débil que fue la Iglesia ante el cura abusador, exactamente lo que hoy reclaman las victimas en los tribunales.

En estos días el cura Fernando Karadima deberá volver a enfrentar un interrogatorio judicial debido a la demanda que mantienen sus acusadores James Hamilton, José Andrés Murillo y Juan Carlos Cruz. En ella se sostiene que la Iglesia Católica chilena es responsable por no haber investigado las denuncias contra el sacerdote que oportunamente se le hicieron llegar a sus autoridades. Más aún, los denunciantes acusan que los obispos formados por Karadima (Andrés Arteaga, Tomislav Koljatic, Horacio Valenzuela y Juan Barros) supieron por años de los abusos sexuales y sicológicos que cometía su mentor y los encubrieron. Y que el entonces arzobispo de Santiago Francisco Javier Errázuriz actuó indolentemente ante las denuncias y testimonios que recibió.

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CHILE
Terra

En el reportaje, realizado por Ciper Chile, destacan las misivas de los tres -de 19- curas que no se arrepintieron de apoyar al ex párroco de El Bosque tras el fallo condenatorio del Vaticano.

El portal Ciper Chile reveló esta tarde algunas cartas que obispos y sacerdotes enviaron al Vaticano para exculpar al ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, de las denuncias de abusos sexuales.

El medio tuvo acceso a una veintena de misivas de distintos religiosos del país, donde defienden a Karadima de las denuncias hechas por James Hamilton, José Andrés Murillo y Juan Carlos Cruz.

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CHILE
La Tercera

El ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, declaró hoy por cerca de media hora ante el ministro de fuero Juan Muñoz, en el marco de una demanda civil contra el Arzobispado de Santiago interpuesta por el abogado Juan Pablo Hermosilla, representante de tres demandantes del sacerdote por abusos sexuales.

Al terminar la diligencia, que se realizó en el convento de las Siervas de Jesús de la Caridad, donde se encuentra recluido el sacerdote, Muñoz señaló que Karadima se encontraba “en buen estado de salud”.

El ministro de fuero agregó que Karadima “respondió a una minuta de preguntas hechas por la parte demandante para constituir una prueba que va a servir para asegurar la pretensión que persigue que es establecer esa responsabilidad para los efectos patrimoniales”.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Michael P. Mayko
Updated 5:59 pm, Thursday, August 8, 2013

HARTFORD — Just when it appeared the book had been closed on the sordid Haitian sex scandal involving Douglas Perlitz and his three-stage program to clothe, feed and educate street boys there, a new chapter is being written.

That happened Thursday when Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer, filed the first of what he anticipates will be another 32 lawsuits on behalf of boys who claim Perlitz sexually abused them while they were participants in his Project Pierre Toussaint program in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city.

“Douglas Perlitz was a serial pedophile,” said Garabedian, who has won numerous cases on behalf of victims who claim sexual abuse by religious members. “In these types of cases it’s not unusual for victims to come forward over a period of time.”

In one case involving a Roman Catholic priest, Garabedian said 148 victims came forward.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Written by
Joel Aschbrenner

A restraining order has been issued against the former Des Moines youth pastor who this week was accused of sexually abusing two teenage congregation members.

Ryan Matthew McKelvey, 27, is barred from contacting all minors and is ordered to stay away form all places where minors typically can be found, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The restraining order also said McKelvey, who has a wife and young child, is allowed to see a specific minor, who was not named, only in the presence of the child’s mother.

McKelvey, who had served as a youth pastor at Heritage Assembly Church, 5051 N.E. Fifth St., was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of sexual exploitation by clergy and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse. As of Thursday afternoon, he was being held in the Polk County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

Ben Feuerherd | Aug. 8, 2013

NEW YORK
Fr. Helmut Schüller’s “Catholic Tipping Point” tour of the United States ended where it began: in New York. He gave an address Wednesday evening in Manhasset and on Thursday, he visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, where he delivered thousands of red ribbons and signatures he collected in 15 cities across the nation.

The original plan was to give the ribbons, which symbolize Pentecost, to New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, but no one from the archdiocese was there to accept them. Instead, it was agreed the ribbons would be delivered to the front desk of the chancery, wrote St. Joseph Sr. Chris Schenk, executive director of FutureChurch, in an email.

“I discovered many faithful Catholics working hard to change the church they love very much,” Schüller said at St. Patrick’s, according to a statement from FutureChurch, one of the tour’s organizing groups. “I also spoke with many priests who see the need for change but are afraid to raise their voices. There is no place for fear or intimidation in the Catholic church. We all must speak out for our rights as Catholics.”

In the last three weeks, Schüller traveled from the East Coast to the West, spreading a message of “disobedience” and church reform. In each city, Schüller preached the values of the “Call to Disobedience,” a 2011 document published by the Austrian Priests’ Initiative. His message includes opening the priesthood to women and married people. He also advocates for a stronger relationship between the church and Catholic gay couples.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe Marie Rohde | Aug. 8, 2013

MILWAUKEE A federal judge’s decision that creditors cannot access funds in a separate cemetery trust as part of the Milwaukee archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceedings could have a wide range of implications should it outlast a possible appeal regarding the judge’s familial ties to the cemeteries.

On Thursday, Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ordered archdiocesan records related to any interest U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph T. Randa or some of his family members have in cemeteries, crypts, mausoleums or the trust to be turned over to lawyers for the claimants. Archdiocesan lawyers agreed to do so.

The order came in response to an emergency motion filed Aug. 2 by the creditors’ committee following Randa’s decision that $57 million moved to a cemetery trust in 2007 could not be accessed in the bankruptcy proceedings.

Describing the situation as “unusual and unique,” Kelley cautioned that the order should not be construed as a ruling on the “appropriateness or non-appropriateness of a recusal or non-recusal or finding that [Randa] has a financial interest.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Aug. 8, 2013.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee must release to its bankruptcy creditors documents that could show whether a federal judge, who sided with the church on a key issue involving its cemeteries, might have had a conflict of interest that should have been disclosed, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled Thursday.

Kelley issued the ruling after a brief hearing Thursday, stressing that it was not a commentary on U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa’s July 29 ruling or whether he should have recused himself from the case.

“This should not in any way, shape or form be construed as a ruling on the appropriateness of Judge Randa’s recusal or nonrecusal, or whether he has a financial interest or not” in the archdiocese’s cemetery litigation, Kelley said.

Randa ruled last week that forcing the church to use even some of the more than $50 million it set aside in a trust for the perpetual care of cemeteries to pay its bankruptcy debts — primarily sex abuse settlements — would substantially burden its free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and a 1993 law aimed at protecting religious freedom.

Randa’s ruling, which overturned an earlier decision by Kelley, was a key victory for the archdiocese in that it eliminated one of the last major assets available for a settlement with sex abuse victims who filed claims in the bankruptcy.

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CANADA
CBC News

by Jody Porter, CBC News Posted: Aug 8, 2013

A local doctor and a school nurse experimented with 14 different drugs to treat “ear troubles” in children at Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, according to a 1954 report obtained by CBC News.

The report, from the Indian and Northern Health Services archive, said that some of the children being treated became deaf.

School nurse Kathleen Stewart wrote the report, entitled “Record of Ear Treatments and Investigation.”

“The most conspicuous evidence of ear trouble at Cecilia Jeffrey School has been the offensive odour of the children’s breath, discharging ears, lack of sustained attention, poor enunciation when speaking and loud talking,” she wrote.

Students at the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora were the subject of nutritional experiments and exposed to experimental treatments for ear infections. Some became deaf.

So Stewart said the children were taught to irrigate their own ears, or the ears of younger children, with hot water. A doctor visited the school on a weekly basis looking out for ear infections “and the recommended medicine was used when possible,” Stewart wrote.

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