ABUSE TRACKER

DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Ein Priester der saarländischen Pfarreien-Gemeinschaft Lebach verzichtet wegen Missbrauchsvorwürfen auf sein Amt. Damit sei keine Vorverurteilung des Geistlichen verbunden, teilte das Bistum Trier am Montag mit.

Der Mann war vor knapp einem Jahr von Bischof Stephan Ackermann beurlaubt worden, weil er einem Jugendlichen Geld für sexuelle Handlungen angeboten haben soll. Der Pfarrer, der Mitte 60 Jahre alt ist, bestreitet die Vorwürfe. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken ermittelt.

Der Trierer Bischof hatte den Priester gebeten, auf sein Amt als Pfarrer zu verzichten. Der Grund: Ackermann will dessen Stelle neu besetzen, um «eine geordnete Seelsorge gewährleisten zu können», hieß es. In der Zwischenzeit hatte der Dechant des Dekanates Dillingen für eine grundlegende Seelsorge als Pfarrverwalter gesorgt. Der Pfarrer erklärte nun seinen Amtsverzicht zum Ende diesen Monats.

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OSTERREICH
OE1@ORF

Ehemalige Heimkinder, die Opfer schwerer körperlicher oder sexueller Gewalt wurden, bekommen von der Stadt Wien oft 30.000 Euro oder mehr als Anerkennungszahlung. In Kärnten bekommen ehemalige Heimkinder 5.000 Euro oder gar nichts. Nicht einmal der bis vor kurzem zuständige FPK-Landesrat Christian Ragger findet das gerecht. Und jetzt, wo Ö1 zu recherchieren begonnen hat, wollen Ragger und die neue SPÖ-Soziallandesrätin Beate Prettner alles ändern.

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OSTERREICH
Tiroler Tageszeitung

Die Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr legt dem heute 79-Jährigen sexuellen Missbrauch, andere Sexual- und Gewaltdelikte sowie den Besitz einer nicht registrierten Pumpgun zur Last. Dem Mann drohen bis zu 15 Jahre Haft.

Steyr, Kremsmünster – Im kirchlichen Missbrauchsskandal muss sich am kommenden Montag erstmals ein höherrangiger Geistlicher, der ehemalige Konviktsdirektor des oberösterreichischen Stiftes Kremsmünster, vor einem weltlichen Strafgericht verantworten. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr legt dem heute 79-Jährigen sexuellen Missbrauch, andere Sexual- und Gewaltdelikte sowie den Besitz einer nicht registrierten Pumpgun zur Last. Dem Mann drohen bis zu 15 Jahre Haft.

Vom Bekanntwerden der Kremsmünsterer Missbrauchsaffäre in den Medien bis zur Anklage sind mehr als drei Jahre vergangen. Ursprünglich wurde in 39 Fällen ermittelt. Einige Verfahren wurden eingestellt, weil die Vorfälle verjährt oder die Beweise zu dünn waren. Übrig blieben 24 Opfer und ein mutmaßlicher Täter. Der ehemalige Geistliche soll von September 1973 bis Juni 1993 an 15 Zöglingen „sexuelle Handlungen unterschiedlicher Intensität“ vorgenommen haben. Hinzu kommen weitere neun, die laut Staatsanwaltschaft Opfer gewalttätiger Übergriffe waren – dazu zählen gemäß Anklage u.a. Ohrfeigen, Tritte, „Stereowatschen“, Schläge mit einer Ochsenpeitsche oder das „Vogelfrei“-Erklären einzelner Zöglinge.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Irish people “have, to all intents and purposes, become pagan” in the opinion of “a substantial number” of Ireland’s Catholic bishops and some priests, a new report from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has said.

It said “there seems to be a substantial number of bishops, and some priests, who believe that the problems we are facing are not due to any difficulties in the Church or with the priesthood, but are caused by a lack of faith in the people.

“The people, they told us, have bought into the evils of materialism and consumerism, and don’t have time or interest in faith any more. They have, to all intents and purposes, become pagan. And they believe that ‘evangelisation’ is the answer.” But “there didn’t seem to us to be any practical ideas, or indeed energy, around how this evangelisation could be progressed,” it said.

The association’s leadership team has so far met priests’ councils in the Catholic dioceses of Dublin, Waterford, Kerry, Killaloe, Clonfert, Tuam, Elphin, Achonry, Killala, Clogher, Kilmore, Armagh and Ossory and Raphoe.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Stephen McNeice
10:35 Monday 24 June 2013

A report released by the Association of Catholic Priests shows deep division among Church officials

The report claims “there seems to be a substantial number of bishops, and some priests, who believe that the problems we are facing are not due to any difficulties in the Church or with the priesthood, but are caused by a lack of faith in the people.”

Although acknowledging that many priests and bishops strongly disagree with the conclusion, others maintain that abuse allegations and the Church’s policies themselves are no longer fundamental problems. Instead, the major issue facing Catholicism in Ireland is that the Irish people have “to all intents and purposes, become pagan… The people, they told us, have bought into the evils of materialism and consumerism, and don’t have time or interest in faith any more”

However, the short report – available on the ACP website – also states “apart from stating their understanding of the problem, there didn’t seem to us to be any practical ideas, or indeed energy, around how this evangelisation could be progressed… If there are such radically different understandings of the current situation, it is hard to see how we can make headway in working towards a solution”.

The group met with priests and bishops through regional priest councils to gauge their opinion of current clerical issues. They have also reported on responses to issues such as The New Missal, allegations against priests and the Year of the Faith. Although some topics divided opinion, there was consensus that the New Missal was largely unsatisfactory and the Year of the Faith was a “non-event”.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

[Report on ACP meetings with Priests Councils]

Monday, June 24, 2013
Most Irish bishops believe we have become a “nation of pagans” who bought in to the “evils of materialism and consumerism” of the Celtic Tiger era.

By Eoin English
Irish Examiner Reporter

A report from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) also claims there is a strong view among ecclesiastical authorities that falling vocations and Mass attendance figures are a result of people “not having time or interest in faith”, rather than as a result of any of the clerical sex abuse scandals to rock the Church.

It also found the vast majority of priests believe the controversial New Missal is “very unsatisfactory”.

The ACP report, published yesterday after its first series of nationwide meetings with priest councils, said the bishops believe that evangelisation and re-education is needed — but it warned against relying on ageing priests to renew the Church.

“The age, lack of energy, tiredness of priests was very obvious. Expecting these men to bring about any real change was clearly not living in the real world. Keeping the show on the road for another few years is the most that can be expected from most of them.”

ACP founder Fr Tony Flannery has warned that without urgent action, Ireland could be without priests within 20 years.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

June 24, 2013 by J-Wire Staff

Rabbi Baruch Dov Lesches has apologised for remarks reported by Fairfax Media intimating that young sexual assault victims may have been consenting.

In a prepared statement Rabbis Lesches says: ”

I would like to apologize for statements made in a private telephone conversation that caused pain to the greater public. I deeply regret the incident.

I would like to make my position absolutely clear: Without any reservation, I endorse the rabbinical rulings encouraging victims of abuse to report to the police.

I was saddened to see an edited audio clip released by the Australian media regarding a personal phone conversation I had with an alleged victim of child abuse. I am troubled by the unprofessional conduct of the reporter who did not call me to verify the facts. Had he called me, I’m sure the information I would have provided would have produced a dramatically different article.

As I clearly told the caller in a subsequent phone conversation: I had no knowledge of the alleged charges claimed to have occurred some twenty-five years ago and discussed in the news report. In the conversation, I was discussing a separate incident where I was under the impression that both alleged parties were similar in age, twenty-one years old, a fact noted by Fairfax at the end of the audio clip. I was never informed of any allegations regarding minors prior to this call.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Anne Lu | June 24, 2013

Rabbi Baruch Dov Lesches is sorry after saying that some of an alleged paedophile’s victims from a Sydney Jewish school might have consented to the affair. The former senior rabbi was recorded in a phone conversation, saying that it’s best not to report the sexual abuses to the authorities.

Lesches was a senior leader at a Yeshiva centre in Sydney in the 1980s when a man has allegedly sexually abused at least four boys. He was apparently told of the crime, but he opted not to report it to the authorities, even claiming that some victims might have given their consent.

Fairfax Media has obtained a legally recorded telephone conversation between the rabbi and a person familiar with the series of alleged child rapes and molestations. Lesches has been heard in the phone call to counselling the alleged paedophile after learning that he had sexually abused a boy ten years younger than him.

He said in the conversation that he had told the man that he and the boy would be forced out of the Yeshiva community if he could not control his urges.

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AUSTRALIA
Macleay Argus

By Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie June 24, 2013

A prominent Australian rabbi has apologised for extraordinary comments he made about child sexual abuse and reporting paedophiles to police.

Former senior Sydney rabbi Boruch Dov Lesches, who is now one of New York’s leading ultra-Orthodox figures, made his remarks in a recent conversation with a person familiar with a series of alleged child rapes and molestation carried out by one man associated with Sydney’s Yeshiva community in the 1980s.

In a legally recorded telephone conversation obtained by Fairfax Media and provided to NSW police investigating the Yeshiva cases, Rabbi Lesches revealed he knew about the alleged abuse of one boy but did not go to police, instead warning the alleged perpetrator that if he did not stop both he and the boy would be sent away from the community.

Rabbi Lesches also suggested the boy may have consented to sexual relations.

“We are speaking about very young boys … everybody says about the other one that ‘he agreed to this’,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

[with video]

Rabbinical Council of Victoria says comments by former Sydney Chabad leader were appalling.

A former senior Chabad leader in Sydney in Monsey, N.Y, has issued an apology for making comments suggesting that some of the Jewish victims of alleged child sex abuse in Australia may have consented, Australian media reported Monday.

In a legally recorded telephone conversation obtained by Fairfax media and posted on YouTube, Rabbi Boruch Lesches – who now heads the Lubavitch community in Monsey, NY – admitted to knowing about the alleged abuse of a boy but not going to the police with the information. Instead, according to Fairfax Media, the rabbi told the alleged perpetrator that if the abuse did not stop, both he and the boy would be dismissed from the community.

The phone conversations were provided to NSW police investigating child sex allegations against a man associated with Sydney’s Chabad community in the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON June 24, 2013

NEWCASTLE Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy has taken the stand at the Special Commission of Inquiry into how police and senior clergy handled allegations of child sex abuse within the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese.

Ms McCarthy told the inquiry that she was handed information concerning disgraced priest Denis McAlinden by a victim of abuse in late 2009.

Some time later, Ms McCarthy forwarded the information to police, with the consent of the victim known only as AL.

Ms McCarthy said the significance of the information only dawned on her later when she was investigating how the church had handled its own investigation into McAlinden.

She also said she had had no contact with Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox aside from a brief phone call in 2007.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

A DETECTIVE at the centre of a state government inquiry into child abuse within the Catholic church “has ridden to glory on a saddle of lies”, according to one of his colleagues.

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, which resumed this morning, was set up after Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox publicly claimed he was “ordered to stand down” from the investigation of a pedophile priest, Denis McAlinden.

The officer in charge of that investigation, Jeff Little, told the hearing that many of Detective Fox’s claims, including that the police Strike Force was “set up to fail” were untrue.

“I was absolutely mortified by those comments,” Detective Sergeant Little said.

”The mere fact that he’s ridden to glory on a saddle of lies at this point is a concern for me.”

Detective Little, whose investigation into the alleged cover-up of McAlinden’s crimes by senior clergy ultimately ran to almost 3000 pages of evidence, said other of Detective Fox’s claims were misleading.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A police whistleblower’s report that sparked an inquiry into child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the NSW Hunter region was ‘written on a saddle of lies’, the inquiry has heard.

Detective Sergeant Jeffery Little was giving evidence on Monday in the Newcastle Supreme Court at the special commission of inquiry into child abuse allegations in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese.

Since December 2010 Sgt Little has been in charge of Strike Force Lantle, which was established to look into complaints four alleged victims made about Father Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher, who are both now dead.

Sgt Little said the report by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, which suggested the police operation was a sham, included ‘significant’ inaccuracies.

Comments made by Det Insp Fox that the police operation was a sham were ‘a manipulation of the truth’, Sgt Little told Commissioner Margaret Cunneen.

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AUSTRALIA
Christianity Today

Mr Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, has delivered his first wide ranging public speech on the issues and approach the Catholic Church’s independent advisory group will take in the lead up to and throughout the Royal Commission into child abuse.

Mr Sullivan said the 13-member Council, made up of 10 lay people including four who have been victims of clerical sexual abuse or have family members who have been abused, would provide independent advice on reforms to the Church across a range of issues.

Mr Sullivan, speaking to the St Thomas More Forum in Canberra last night, spoke extensively about how the victims of clerical abuse had been treated by the Church in the past and currently.

“We need to put in place better systems, processes, redress and contrition that says, in one way or another – you are damaged, we believe you, we are sorry, we want to help you heal and we are working to try to make sure that what you went through never happens again.

“We have to examine a culture which has allowed secrecy and silence, intimidation, legalism and obfuscation to let sexual abuse happen.”

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

[witness list]

The Special Commission of Inquiry into an alleged child sexual abuse cover up by the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese has resumed in Newcastle this morning.

The special commission is examining allegations made by Detective Chief Inspector Fox that he was ordered by senior police to stop investigating paedophilia within the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese.

Detective Sergeant Jeffrey Little was the first to take the stand this morning.

The detective sergeant, who lead a 2010 investigation into child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, said Detective Chief Inspector Fox was nominated as the possible leak of information to the media.

The special commission, which ran overtime during the May sittings, will hear from the remainder of senior members of the NSW Police Force this week.

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AUSTRALIA
Camden-Narellon Advertiser

June 24, 2013.

NSW police whistleblower Peter Fox had “ridden on a saddle of lies” in his investigation into alleged cover-ups of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, a commission of inquiry in Newcastle has been told.

Detective Sergeant Jeffrey Little, appointed in late 2010 to head Strike Force Lantle to investigate the cover-up allegations, said there were “significant inaccuracies” in material Detective Chief Inspector Fox had passed on from his own investigation.

Detective Sergeant Little roundly rejected Detective Chief Inspector Fox’s earlier evidence to the inquiry, which resumed at Newcastle Supreme Court today after a five-week recess, that Strike Force Lantle was a “sham” and had been “set up to fail”. He said he had been “absolutely mortified by those comments”.

“If it was set up to be a sham, why would I have had the two things Fox didn’t have, that is, the support of my superiors, and a plan”.

The inquiry has heard evidence that Chief Inspector Fox held back evidence from Strike Force Lantle because he did not trust the police. Detective Sergeant Little said that in contrast to Chief Inspector Fox, “I was not operating in secret, I recorded things, I didn’t operate on speculation or manipulation of the truth”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MACDONALD – 24 JUNE 2013

THE Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland has hit out at the lack of financial and legal support for priests falsely accused of child sexual abuse.

A spokesman for the association, which represents more than 1,000 Irish priests, told the Irish Independent that the ACP was aware of at least a dozen priests against whom false allegations had been made in the past few years.

Fr Tony Flannery said there were now sufficient numbers of false allegations to “cause concern” and that the ACP had been directly involved in three recent cases where priests were cleared of wrongdoing.

These relate to Kerry priest Fr Liam O’Brien, Louth priest Fr Oliver Brennan and missionary priest Fr Kevin Reynolds (pictured), who was falsely accused by RTE’s ‘Prime Time Investigates’ in 2011.

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AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Monday, June 24, 2013

A police whistleblower’s report that sparked an inquiry into child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the NSW Hunter region was ‘written on a saddle of lies’, the inquiry has heard.

Detective Sergeant Jeffery Little was giving evidence on Monday in the Newcastle Supreme Court at the special commission of inquiry into child abuse allegations in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese.

Since December 2010 Sgt Little has been in charge of Strike Force Lantle, which was established to look into complaints four alleged victims made about Father Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher, who are both now dead.

Sgt Little said the report by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, which suggested the police operation was a sham, included ‘significant’ inaccuracies.

Comments made by Det Insp Fox that the police operation was a sham were ‘a manipulation of the truth’, Sgt Little told Commissioner Margaret Cunneen.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox, staff

The Fairfax journalist at the centre of a child sexual abuse strike force in the Hunter Valley has told the New South Wales Special Commission a policeman asked her to write an article in a bid to bring more victims forward.

Newcastle Herald reporter Joanne McCarthy has received a national award for her work regarding child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese.

The special commission of inquiry into clergy child sexual abuse in the Hunter Valley is investigating Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s claims he was told to stop investigating two priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

The court has heard Ms McCarthy was considered “the genesis” of strike force Lantle, which was set-up to investigate allegations of a cover-up by the church.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 24, 2013

Paul Maguire

A journalist has told an inquiry that she wrote a series of newspaper articles about child sexual abuse by priests because she wanted to help the victims.

Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy’s articles, over two years from 2010, led to the establishment of the special commission of inquiry into child abuse allegations in the Hunter region and won her a top national award for investigative journalism.

“It was my only objective,” Ms McCarthy told Commissioner Margaret Cunneen in the Newcastle Supreme Court on Monday.

“It was about having the victims and their families looked after.

“I didn’t want to go the police.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

The Vatican is to carry out an inquiry into Cardinal Keith O’Brien after his admission of sexual advances towards young priests.

After weeks of speculation, it was reported that an apostolic visitation will take place. During the process, a “visitator” will have direct authority from the Pope to investigate a complaint to the Vatican last October by a Scottish priest, and further allegations from four former seminarians of inappropriate sexual advances and “drunken fumblings”.

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VIRGINIA
Christian Post

By Jessica Martinez , CP Contributor
June 23, 2013

The Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) is searching for a permanent senior and executive pastor to fill the vacant positions after four of its five pastors resigned earlier this month over allegations of a sex scandal and cover-up.

A church spokesperson, who did not want to be identified, told CP the new senior pastor will have spiritual and administrative oversight of the organization, while the executive pastor will handle the majority of administrative responsibilities. CP has also learned that ROC has enlisted the help of Pastor Jonathan Falwell and other consultants from Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., to conduct their nationwide search, which the board of directors anticipates will take six months to a year.

ROC’s board of directors said they will also conduct a search for an interim preacher to lead Six O’clock ROC, their Saturday night services, until the senior pastor position is filled.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[witness list]

A New South Wales inquiry into child sexual abuse by Hunter Valley Catholic priests resumes in Newcastle this morning.

The first part of the inquiry began last month, looking into claims by policeman Peter Fox that he was told by senior colleagues to stop investigating two Catholic priests.

The Special Commission will this week hear from several senior police officers, as well as local Fairfax journalist Joanne McCarthy.

She has been described by Detective Chief Inspector Fox as his “informant”.

The second part of the inquiry is expected to start next week, and will look at how the church handled the complaints and allegations that church officials did not co-operate with police.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Marie O’Halloran

Mon, Jun 24, 2013

A report advising the Government on a redress scheme to compensate women incarcerated in Magdalen laundries, is expected to go to Cabinet tomorrow and be published on Wednesday.
The report by former High Court judge Mr Justice John Quirke was submitted to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter at the end of last month. Apparent details of the document were leaked to the media in the past two weeks but in the Dáil subsequently, Mr Shatter dismissed the reports.

Reconciliation

These included suggestions the retired judge had recommended a reconciliation forum between former residents and nuns from the four religious orders who ran the institutions. The proposals were dismissed as “utterly pointless” by representatives of the group Magdalene Survivors Together.
Asked about the publication date of the report a Department of Justice spokeswoman said yesterday, “we don’t have any details on this” but it is understood that after the Cabinet considers the report tomorrow, survivors and their representatives will receive the report at a briefing on Wednesday in advance of its publication later that day.

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FORT WAYNE (IN)
Seattle PI

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana bishop says a priest has admitted sexually abusing a child in Africa about 20 years ago.

The Journal Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1899hvB ) Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese told members of a Fort Wayne parish that the Rev. Cornelius Ryan “immediately and freely admitted the allegations” when confronted by church officials on June 10.

Rhoades appointed Ryan the administrator of St. Joseph Catholic Church-Hessen Cassel in December 2011 after its previous pastor was removed over a sexual abuse allegation.

Rhoades went to the parish to celebrate Mass Saturday. He told parishioners that he has not faced a more painful situation as a bishop than what they’re experiencing.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

By JEREMY SHARON
06/23/2013

As the political battles over control of established religion in Israel become ever sharper and more vicious, it may become ever harder to prevent the ongoing decline in legitimacy of the chief rabbinate.

As if the Chief Rabbinate was not under enough scrutiny with the unseemly shenanigans surrounding the upcoming election of new chief rabbis, the dramatic events surrounding the investigation of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger for financial improprieties have served to cast an even darker shadow over the once-respected institution.

The current investigation into Metzger, which is not his first as chief rabbi and not even his second as an ordained rabbi, is just one of several recent indicators of the grave crisis of legitimacy facing Israel’s rabbinate.

Indeed, Metzger’s appointment in 2003 was seen by many as a haredi ploy to weaken the institution of the Chief Rabbinate, given his lack of credentials, especially compared to the other prominent candidates at the time: the much respected national-religious leader Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, chief rabbi of Ramat Gan; and the equally wellconsidered rabbi and rabbinical judge Shlomo Daichovsky, who is currently the director of the state rabbinical courts system.

But the leading haredi rabbi of the time, the late Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, decided to back Metzger, despite his slight credentials, which secured Metzger the election due to the strength of the haredi parties in the electoral committee for the Chief Rabbinate.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on June 23, 2013

A Weehawken woman who says her twin sons were sexually abused by a member of a religious order in two New Jersey counties is calling for the resignation of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers and the Newark Archdiocese’s new vicar general, who the woman says knew about the alleged abuse and did not act on it.

The 61-year-old woman, who asked not to be named so her sons won’t be identified, said she spoke to Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, the archdiocese’s new vicar general, in 2009 about allegations that her sons had been abused by two members of the Vocationist Fathers religious order.

Da Cunha did nothing, the woman said in a Jersey City conference room recently.

“It fell on deaf ears,” said the woman.

Da Cunha was promoted earlier this month to replace Monsignor John E. Doran as vicar general, second in command to the archbishop. Doran was demoted due to his supervision of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who worked with minors in violation of a lifetime ban on ministry to children. Da Cunha is a member of the Vocationist Fathers.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

Former bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Michael Malone and the mother of a boy abused at the hands of a Catholic priest in Maitland will take the stand during the next round of public hearings into child ­sexual abuse allegations across the diocese.

The hearings will continue today in Newcastle Supreme Court, starting with police ­officers, including former Maitland detective, Wayne Humphrey.

From July 1 hearings are expected to include evidence from diocesan head Bishop Bill Wright and police whistleblower Peter Fox.

Patricia Feenan – the mother of Daniel Feenan who was abused by Father James Patrick Fletcher – is expected to take part in the public hearings from July 8.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By Tonette Orejas
Inquirer Central Luzon
5:20 am | Monday, June 24th

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said he had not tolerated erring priests in Pampanga, particularly those who had violated their vows of celibacy and poverty or committed indiscretions.

Aniceto, 76, issued the denial in reaction to a chapter in the book, “Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church,” by Aries Rufo, which put the spotlight on Catholic priests and parishioners in Pampanga.

“Was the Kapampangans’ forgiving attitude the reason behind Aniceto’s lax attitude as well? Regardless, critics said he perpetuated a problem by abusing the reverence that Pampanga Catholics reserved for their priests,” Rufo wrote in the chapter, “Leading double lives,” subtitled “Viral disease.”

The author quoted an unnamed Church official as describing the parishioners to have become “desensitized to the real situation.”

Sought for reaction, Aniceto, who oversees the archdiocese with 120 priests, said “every decision is contextual.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

BY CANDACE SUTTON From: news.com.au June 22, 2013

Teacher Michael Drew, now 57, was sacked from St Agnes’ Catholic Primary School in Matraville in 1982, but his crimes against girls dated back to as early as 1979. Source: Supplied
THE victims of a serial child molester, a Catholic school teacher, say the church and school authorities knew of the abuse – and did nothing to stop it.

A Sydney lawyer has called for charges to be laid against the Catholic Church and some of the former principals of a Catholic primary school after one of its teachers was this week sentenced for molesting girls as young as eight.

Documents obtained by news.com.au show the school’s principal at the time of the offences knew the details of the sexual assaults and actively decided to cover them up rather than go to police.

Jason Parkinson, the solicitor representing the victims, says charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice may be able to be laid against school authorities at the time of the offences and against church officials who knew of the cases.

Mr Parkinson’s call comes after the sentencing judge criticised the school and church authorities for allowing girls at the school to be sexually assaulted by the teacher who “took away their lives”.

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AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah

The Rabbinical Council of Victoria (RCV) is appalled by, and unequivocally distances itself from, comments attributed to Rabbi Boruch Lesches [the former Chabad rosh yeshiva in Sydney] as reported in The Age (23 June 2013). As stated on numerous occasions,the RCV encourages the reporting of all incidents of child sexual abuse to the police.

Among other things, Leches said that poor “goyyim” as young as five have sex with dogs as a matter of course because they’re bored and don’t have much else to do.

He also said that young Jewish boys who were raped by a Chabad pedophile may have wanted the sex and consented.

Leches is now the mora d’asra (senior rabbi and community leader) of Chabad’s main synagogue in Monsey, New York, and is often called on to act as a posek (decisor of halakha, Jewish law) for Chabad followers worldwide.

So far, no official Chabad group has publicly condemned Leches’ remarks or distanced Chabad from them (although many Chabad rabbis do sit on the RCV).

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Houston Chronicle

By The Associated Press, | June 23, 2013

MILWAUKEE (AP) — HOW MANY PRIESTS WERE INVOLVED?

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has verified claims of sexual abuse by 45 priests, including 23 who are still alive. None is allowed to work as a priest, and 15 have been officially defrocked. Most of them are accused of abuse that took place before 1990.

HOW MANY VICTIMS ARE THERE?

It’s hard to say because some victims may not have come forward. But one former priest, Lawrence Murphy, has been accused of sexually abusing some 200 boys at a school for the deaf from 1950 to 1974. Other priests have been accused by only one person thus far. There are more than 570 sexual abuse claims pending in bankruptcy court, but some of those involve lay people or priests assigned to religious orders, not the archdiocese. Attorneys have not said specifically how many of the 570 claims relate to the 45 priests on the archdiocese’s restricted list.

HOW DID CLERGY ABUSE CASES END UP IN BANKRUPTCY COURT?

Abuse victims had long sought to hold the archdiocese accountable, but most didn’t come forward until well into adulthood, when it was too late under Wisconsin law to sue the church for negligence in supervising its priests. A 2007 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision gave them a window, saying the six-year limit in fraud cases didn’t start until the deception was uncovered. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011, once it became clear that it could face a slew of lawsuits. It said it wouldn’t have the money to pay if those cases went against it.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Beaumont Enterprise

By M.L. JOHNSON, Associated Press
Updated 10:34 am, Sunday, June 23, 2013

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee plans to make dozens of priests’ personnel files public in the next week, along with hundreds of pages of other documents that sex abuse victims hope will hold church leaders accountable for transferring abusive priests to other parishes and concealing their crimes for decades.

The documents are being released as part of a deal reached in federal bankruptcy court between the archdiocese and victims suing it for fraud. The archdiocese has said the records will include personnel files for 42 priests with verified claims of abuse against them, along with depositions from top church officials, including New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who previously led the Milwaukee archdiocese. The documents are to be posted on the archdiocese’s website by July 1.

Similar files made public by other Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders have detailed how leaders tried to protect the church by shielding priests and not reporting child sex abuse to authorities. The cover-up extended to the top of the Catholic hierarchy. Correspondence obtained by The Associated Press in 2010 showed the future Pope Benedict XVI had resisted pleas in the 1980s to defrock a California priest with a record of molesting children. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led the Vatican office responsible for disciplining abusive priests before his election as pope.

Archdiocese officials in Milwaukee have long acknowledged that abusive priests were transferred to new churches with no warning to parishioners. Former Archbishop Rembert Weakland publicly apologized to a Sheboygan church for this in 1992, and in a 2008 deposition previously made public, he spoke of multiple cases in which church leaders were aware of priests’ histories but members were not. Still, victims have pushed aggressively for the priests’ files to be released.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

VERITY EDWARDS From: The Australian June 24, 2013

AN Adelaide priest who says he was wrongly named by Nick Xenophon in federal parliament as a perpetrator of sexual abuse wants Senate President John Hogg to discipline his fellow senator and is calling for parliamentary privilege to be reviewed.

Senator Xenophon used parliamentary privilege in September 2011 to name Monsignor Ian Dempsey as one of three priests who allegedly abused former head of the Traditional Anglican Communion, John Hepworth, in a Catholic seminary in the 1960s.

The South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions recommended earlier this month that no abuse charges be laid against Monsignor Dempsey, after a 19-month investigation found there was insufficient evidence for a jury to have a reasonable chance of convicting.

Monsignor Dempsey has written a letter to Senator Hogg, expected to arrive today, asking him to address the use of parliamentary privilege to name a person without accountability.

“As well as reasonably expecting a public apology from Senator Xenophon, it may be time for the Senate to address the unique privilege of naming any Australian citizen without any accountability — and, as in my case, getting it terribly wrong,” Monsignor Dempsey wrote.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Francis Sullivan

Not long after starting with the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, which has been set up to provide the Catholic Church’s response to the royal commission into child sexual abuse, I spent a day in Melbourne meeting a group of victims of clerical sexual abuse.

For more than four hours I sat and listened to their stories, the horror they endured, and the betrayal they felt.

It was harrowing and confronting and it brought home to me how removed I was from their experiences.
After the final person had finished their story I was asked what I had to say.

I look at the group and said I didn’t know what to say – that I had no answers.

All I could eventually say was that I would do my best.

After a long pause, a 50-year-old man looked at me and said: “Don’t you dare let us down again.”

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By BISHOP GEOFFREY ROBINSON June 23, 2013

Sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has been nothing short of an epidemic of catastrophic proportions. The devastation of victims, the ruination of priests and religious, the damage to a major world religion and its faithful are horrendous and incalculable.

I have sat and listened to many stories of horrific sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, stories that made me ashamed to be a priest and a Catholic.

I have listened to people whose lives have been ruined and I have felt a sadness and horror I cannot put into words. I have spent time with people close to suicide and I have watched the moving struggle of others trying to put their lives together again.

As a young teenager I was abused myself and I hope this makes me more sensitive. What’s happened within our Church has been nothing short of a catastrophe. Only the annihilation of the causes of this abuse will do, so that this can never happen again.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By VICTORIA RAIMES
Published on 23/06/2013

THE VATICAN has finally agreed to demands to launch a formal inquiry into Cardinal Keith O’Brien following allegations of sexual misconduct, it has been reported.

The church is set to undergo a high level inspection – known as an apostolic visitation – in response to the claims made against Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, who resigned from the diocese of Edinburgh and St Andrews in February.

Archbishop Antonio Mennini is understood to have revealed the inspection when he met with a former priest, known only as Lenny, who accused the cardinal of making sexual advances towards him when he was a seminarian.

The alleged victim said: “The archbishop told me the holy see had decided there would be an investigation into all the allegations. Anyone affected would be able to give evidence. If it is judged that there is sufficient evidence, then it would go to another, deeper process in Rome.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Proceedings at the New South Wales Government enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse should be rather lively when it resumes public hearings next week. Local Greens upper-house politician, David Shoebridge MLC, has obtained documents under the Freedom of Information laws, which indicate that NSW police were in the habit of routinely shredding documents provided by a Catholic Church committee on clerical abuses. This happened 60 times over a five-year period from 1998 to 2003.

At the risk of posting an overly-long article, full details of this important development are given below.

The top-level group, established by the Catholic Church’s bishops, was known as the Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG). It comes under the auspices of Cardinal George Pell (see previous postings). It was created in 1997 in response to the Wood Royal Commission into the police and paedophilia, and its key function was to advise the church on specific cases involving clergy and others. The police liaison officer who shredded the documents was Sergeant Beth Cullen, of the Sex Crimes Unit. Shortly after her stint with the Catholic Church committee, she became Inspector Beth Cullen, an extraordinarily rapid rise through the ranks. Inspector Cullen now heads the Wagga Wagga Local Area Command.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Report on ACP meetings with Priests Councils

We met with Dublin, Waterford, Kerry, Killaloe, Clonfert, Tuam, Elphin, Achonry, Killala, Clogher, Kilmore, Armagh and Ossory.

In Raphoe Bishop Boyce arranged a meeting and invited any priest who wished to come. The bishop and seven priests attended.

Arranging meetings with Ferns, Galway, Ardagh & Clonmacnoise.
Any diocese that didn’t have a bishop had no council. (Kildare & Leighlin, Cloyne, Limerick, Derry, Dromore.)

We got no reply from Meath, Cashel, Down & Connor.

Cork was only willing to meet with local members of the ACP, and we did not accept that.
These meetings came about when the Conference of Bishops refused to meet us, but instead suggested that we meet with Priests Councils in each diocese.

Overall we regarded this as a valuable exercise. There was great variety in the meeting, but we were welcomed wherever we went, and mostly the discussions were amiable and worthwhile. In all cases, except one, the bishop attended. (In that one case it was simply a matter of timing that meant the bishop could not attend.)

The agenda for the meetings, decided by us, was:
1. Vocations
2. Handling of allegations against priests.
3. The New Missal
4. Appointment of bishops
5. Preaching about the economic situation.
6. The Year of Faith.

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SCOTLAND
Katholisch

Der Vatikan will die Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den schottischen Kardinal Keith O’Brien (75) untersuchen. Das habe der päpstliche Nuntius in Großbritannien, Erzbischof Antonio Mennini, einem angeblichen Missbrauchsopfer persönlich mitgeteilt, berichtet die Zeitung “The Observer” (Sonntag).

Der “Lenny” genannte frühere Priester hatte O’Brien zu Jahresbeginn beschuldigt, ihn in seiner Zeit als Seminarist sexuell belästigt zu haben. Der Kardinal trat kurz darauf als Erzbischof von St. Andrews und Edinburgh zurück und verzichtete auch auf seine Teilnahme an der Papstwahl in Rom.

“Lenny” berichtete der Zeitung, der Nuntius habe volle Aufklärung und eine Anhörung aller Aussagewilligen zugesagt. Sollte es genügend tragfähige Belege für Fehlverhalten geben, solle es einen “weitergehenden Prozess” in Rom geben.

Enttäuscht zeigte sich der frühere Priester darüber, dass die Untersuchung durch O’Briens noch zu ernennenden Nachfolger durchgeführt werden solle. In diesem Punkt sei der Nuntius nicht zum Nachgeben bereit gewesen. Die Ernennung des neuen Erzbischofs wird laut der Zeitung für die kommende Woche erwartet.

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OSTERREICH
Gegen Sexuelle Gewalt

„Nichts kann den Horror auslöschen,“ sagte im Interview US –Star-Aufdecker David Clohessy über sexuellen Missbrauch und dem steinigen Weg der Aufarbeitung von Sexverbrechen von Priestern- Kirchen Sex-Skandalen in den USA!

In Wien trafen sich am Sa. 22.6.2013 Kirchenopfer- Wilhelminenberg Opfer und Anita Ossinger ein Opfer eines Lehrers, also Staatsangestellten und somit ein zweites Mal Opfer des damaligen Präsidenten des Staates Österreichs und der kath. Kirche.

In den Medien fand ich nur einen Bericht im Kurier (Journalist Hönigsberger).

Hier wurde der Opfersprecher der USA hofiert und ihm der Großteil des Berichts gewidmet.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Er saß bei US-Talkstar Oprah Winfrey auf der Couch, war bei Good Morning America zu Gast und auch The New York Times Magazine widmete ihm eine ausführliche Reportage. Der Mann, dem in den vergangenen Jahren in den Vereinigten Staaten so viel mediale Aufmerksamkeit zu Teil wurde, heißt David Clohessy, Sprecher der NGO SNAP (siehe Info), die sich den Kampf für Betroffene sexueller Gewalt in der Kirche auf ihre Fahnen geheftet hat. Er ist der Star unter den Aufdeckern sexuellen Missbrauchs in den USA.

Ein Star ohne Allüren allerdings. Clohessy, 56, kämpft seit Jahren gegen Missbrauch von Kindern durch katholische Geistliche an. Er selbst wurde als Jugendlicher von einem Priester sexuell missbraucht. Sein Bruder soll als Pfarrer ebenfalls Kindern zu nahe gekommen sein. „Clohessys ruhige Art macht ihn zu einem der glaubwürdigsten Sprecher für Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch“, urteilte das Drury University Magazine über ihn.

Freitagnacht war Clohessy in der KURIER-Redaktion zu Gast. Er sprach über seinen Leidensweg, seine Versuche, das Vertuschungs- und Verdrängungssystem zu durchbrechen – und über die Situation in Österreich.

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MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register

June 23, 2013
by Paula Gibbins – Register Staff Writer (pgibbins@faribaultcountyregister.com) , Faribault County Register

The Blue Earth Law Enforcement Center courtroom was filled on Monday, June 17. People wanted to see what would happen to Father Leo Koppala, 47, who was recently charged with criminal sexual conduct.

What happened was not what the defending attorney, Philip Elbert, was hoping for. He requested that the bail be set at a lower amount so it’s more feasible for Koppala to pay it. But, Judge Douglas Richards did not feel he could make a decision on that until he could make a more informed decision relating to other aspects of the case.

The bail was previously set at $75,000 and Elbert’s request was for $20,000.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

SHAMED cardinal Keith O’Brien may be called to give evidence in court over allegations that a priest raped a young boy.

The potentially explosive case will force the former head of the Catholic Church in Scotland back into the public eye despite efforts by the Vatican to secure him a low profile.

Christopher Williams, now 33, claims he was raped and abused by a priest, who has since died, in the 1990s.

Papers detailing his £100,000 civil personal injury case have been lodged in the Court of Session and the case is likely to be heard early next year.

Christopher’s legal team say they cited O’Brien, 75, because he had been told about the allegations.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
06/23/2013 10:17

Metzger, under house arrest for suspicions of bribery, money laundering, says he is stepping away from role as judge at Rabbinical High Court, but maintains innocence; Justice Minister Livni: It is the right thing to do.

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger on Sunday voluntarily suspended himself from a number of major duties, including participating on the Rabbinical High Court, the Chief Rabbinical Council and the Appointments Committee for Rabbinical Judges.

Metzger’s lawyers announced the self-initiated suspensions in a letter to Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.

Metzger’s announcement also indicated that he continues to maintain his innocence regarding recent allegations regarding money-laundering, bribery and fraud, but that until the investigation is concluded, suspending himself from some of his duties was the right thing to do for the State.

As matters currently stand, Metzger is already under house arrest and prohibited from going to his office or interacting with his aids pending completion of the police investigation into the allegations against him.

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ISRAEL
JTA

June 23, 2013
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, has suspended himself from some of his duties following his arrest on corruption charges.

Metzger said he will suspend himself from his position as president of the Chief Rabbinate Council and will not attend its meetings, and from, his position as a Rabbinical High Court judge.

Metzger made the announcement that he would suspend himself from his duties for the duration of the investigation on Sunday morning in a message from his lawyers to Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett.

“The rabbi understands that suspending himself is the right thing to do from a public perspective,” his attorneys said, while also emphasizing that Metzger maintains his innocence.

Investigators from the National Fraud Squad raided Metzger’s home and offices last week as part of a bribery, fraud, money-laundering and breach-of-trust case. Police suspect Metzger pocketed donations, which Metzger denies.

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ISRAEL
ABC News

JERUSALEM June 23, 2013 (AP)

One of Israel’s two chief rabbis has suspended himself amid a police probe into an alleged money laundering scheme.

Yona Metzger’s lawyers said Sunday he decided to refrain from carrying out any official roles while a police investigation continues. Metzger was questioned last week over fraud and bribery allegations. Police raided his home and office following a months-long undercover investigation into his financial dealings. He denies the allegations.

Metzger is mere weeks away from ending his 10-year term as the country’s chief rabbi for Ashkenazi, or European-descended, Jews. Along with a second chief rabbi from the Sephardic, or Middle Eastern lineage, Metzger has led the country’s supreme body for overseeing Jewish services.

In 2005, Metzger was also questioned over fraud allegations. No charges were filed.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

Rabbi Yona Metzger temporarily removes himself from Rabbinical Court, will also sit out meetings of the Rabbinical Council and the Judicial Appointments Committee pending conclusion of investigation.

By Yair Ettinger

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger on Sunday temporarily suspended himself from some of his duties, three days after he was questioned under caution by the police on suspicion of bribery, fraud, embezzlement, breach of trust and money laundering.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Secret police file reveals that parents of four boys made complaints in 1974. He told cops “I touched their ­bottoms… but there is nothing indecent”

The anti-apartheid ­campaigner, who died in 1998 aged 84, met newly free Nelson Mandela on his visit to London in 1990.

Police files shows ­parents of four boys in East London complained in 1974.

Huddleston told ­officers: “I sat them on my lap, touched their ­bottoms and pinched them but there is nothing indecent.”

The Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Norman Skelhorn did not ­prosecute “for the public good”.

Last week Deputy Bishop of London the Rt Rev Pete Broadbent told the Sunday People: “We want to listen to survivors of abuse if they want to come forward.”

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SCOTLAND
The Observer

Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 22 June 2013

The Vatican has finally acceded to demands for a formal inquiry into Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February following allegations of sexual misconduct.

An apostolic visitation, a high-level inspection in which the “visitator” is given authority directly by the pope, will take place in the diocese, which has been accused of having had a “gay mafia” during the cardinal’s tenure.

News of the apostolic visitation came via the papal nuncio, Antonio Mennini, in a meeting with one of the complainants, a former priest known as “Lenny” who accused the cardinal of making sexual advances to him when he was a seminarian. “The archbishop told me the holy see had decided there would be an investigation into all of the allegations. Anyone affected would be able to give evidence. If it is judged that there is sufficient evidence, then it would go to another, deeper process in Rome,” said Lenny.

Lenny expressed relief that the facts would finally be examined.

“I am glad the Catholic church has faced up to the need for a process to determine the truth,” he said. “If this story had not gone public in the Observer in February, if there had not been consistent calls for action, we would not have got to this point. But it’s now important to scrutinise the scope and remit of the visitation.

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FORT WAYNE (IN)
INCnow

[with video]

By Emily Dwire
By Rachel Martin

[assignment record – BishopAccountability.org]

June 22, 2013

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (www.incnow.tv) – Saint Joseph Catholic Church Hessen Cassel continues to try and heal after Father Cornelius Ryan was removed from ministry after being accused of sexual abuse.
Saturday night, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, led mass at the church telling the congregation they’re not alone, and he’s been praying for them every day.

The Bishop was notified on June 10 of a “credible allegation” that Father Ryan had sexually abused a minor 20 years ago while serving in Africa.

When officials with the Congregation of Holy Cross, who is conducting the investigation, confronted Father Ryan with the allegations he immediately and freely admitted the allegations made against him.

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KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

[with video]

Written by
Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal

Ten years ago this month, Shannon Age and 242 other plaintiffs settled their lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville over sexual abuse by priests and other church workers for what was then a near-record amount of $25.7 million.

Even before the settlement, Age had begun a reconciliation with the Catholic Church, despite years of battles with church bureaucracy and traumatic memories over the abusive priest who had exploited her parents’ trust.

But when her husband, Steve, told her he felt a divine call to become a deacon, Age “was very much against it,” she said. “I didn’t want my husband being a member of the clergy.”

Now she regularly joins him at the training program with about 20 other deacon candidates and their wives.

“Healing is possible,” Age, 53, said.

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FORT WAYNE (IN)
The Journal Gazette

[assignment record – BishopAccountability.org]

Archie Ingersoll | The Journal Gazette

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades said he found himself in a dark place after learning that for the second time in two years, a priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church-Hessen Cassel had been accused of sexually abusing a minor.

“I thought: How can this happen again? How can the church do its mission when confronted by these internal problems?” Rhoades told parishioners during a Saturday evening Mass at the church on the south end of Fort Wayne.

Rhoades, bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, came to perform the Mass and show support for the church which has been caught in the swirl of two sexual abuse scandals.

The most recent one involves the Rev. Cornelius Ryan, 76. He was removed as the parish administrator June 10 after an allegation surfaced that he abused a young male 20 years ago in Uganda, where he served as a priest, church officials said. The victim’s age has not been released.

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UNITED STATES
Philadelphia Inquirer

POSTED: Sunday, June 23, 2013

Mortal Sins
Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal
By Michael D’Antonio
Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. 400 pp. $26.99

A year and a day have passed since a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury found Msgr. William J. Lynn guilty of child endangerment in the priest sex-abuse trial involving the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Lynn, 62, for 12 years the archdiocesan official in charge of investigating complaints against priests and recommending action to the archbishop, is serving three to six years in prison.

The prosecution and conviction of Lynn was a landmark for Philadelphia Catholics and Lynn’s church: he was the first church official convicted and sent to prison for the sexual abuse of children by priests he oversaw.

Of course, the Catholic church sex-abuse scandal predated the Philadelphia prosecution by almost 30 years. For those who want to understand what happened and why, Michael D’Antonio’s Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal is a comprehensive examination of the scandal and the role of church culture.

It’s also, finally, a very sad story of opportunities not just missed but cast away by a bureaucracy that refused to admit – or deal with – the depravity it nurtured.

It’s sad because, in the beginning, those warning of the danger and urging action were true believers: ordained priests who saw a mortal threat to the world’s oldest Christian church. They were rebuffed, and in some cases punished, for their warnings.

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FORT WAY (IN)
WISH

[assignment record – BishopAccountability.org]

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Bishop Kevin Rhoades was in Fort Wayne Saturday night. He led a 5:00 p.m. mass at Saint Joseph Catholic Church-Hessen Cassel to discuss the sexual abuse allegations of Father Cornelius Ryan.

Father Ryan was removed from the ministry on June 10 after an allegation of abusing a young man 20 years ago in Africa, our sister station WANE reports.

Ryan was appointed administer of the church by Rhoades in 2011 after its previous priest, Thomas Lombardi, was also removed for sexual abuse allegations.

“This is a time for the congregation to gather as a family, to listen to Bishop Rhoades and to get some facts revolving around this incident. So, that’s why we’re asking for discretion and to make this a parish family meeting, surrounded by the mass,” said Sean McBride, the communications director of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

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UNITED STATES
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

The shortage of Catholic priests is an economic drama playing out across major countries to a yawn by the news media.

In the United States, 20 percent of parishes have no priests. Since 1995, bishops have sold more than 1,700 churches – on average, that’s a church shuttered once a week for 18 years — down-sizing a religious infrastructure that had grown steadily between the end of the Civil War and the 1969 voyage that put Americans on the moon.

The pastor is the fundraiser at every parish. Healthy parishes offer a range of services, from food pantries to therapeutic counseling, in addition to Mass, baptisms, weddings and funerals. Most of the non-sacramental work is done by lay people because of a growing personnel crisis.

The budget that lay staff uses to run offices and social outreach depends on the pastor’s appeal to the flock. Without a pastor, parishes struggle to pay for themselves.

For every 100 priests who retire, only 30 men are ordained, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate.

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INDIA
Times of India

AHMEDABAD: A 50-year-old man has been accused of molesting a five-year-old girl living in the same colony in Vejalpur. The colony members have handed him over to police for further investigation after a complaint by her father.

According to police, Asha (name changed), resident of a society in Jivraj Park, had started behaving strangely for some time that had alerted her mother. She took her into confidence and asked her to narrate what had happened when she told her that she was taken to a room by Anil, priest of a temple in the society, where she was molested.

“Aghast, she told her husband about the incident after which he along with others beat Anil up and took him to the police station. Anil lives with his brother and mother in the same society for the past 15 years. He had separated from wife for that many years and taken up the job of a priest at a local temple for the past five years,” said a Vejalpur police official.

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INDIANA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Holy Cross priest of the Indiana Province ordained in 1966, Ryan lived and worked in Africa until 1999, when he returned to Indiana. In June 2013 Ryan was serving as administrator of a Fort Wayne parish when he was removed due to what his superior deemed a “credible” allegation of the sexual abuse of a boy twenty years earlier in Africa. Ryan had been sent to the Ft. Wayne parish in December 2011, after the parish’s previous pastor was removed due to allegations of child sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1966

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NEDERLAND
KW

[Click here for the story]

woensdag 19 juni 2013

Brugge – De voormalige Brugse bisschop Roger Vangheluwe is erin geslaagd om de procedure in de Operatie Kelk te rekken.

Een anders samengestelde kamer van inbeschuldigingstelling moet zich buigen over de vraag of de kopieën van zoekgeraakte pv’s in de zaak-Kelk al of niet geldig zijn. De KI moet nu wel de mening van de voormalige bisschop vragen omdat hij door de burgerlijke partijen in die zaak als dader betrokken is.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

RKK Nederland wil voor het einde van het jaar alle klachten vereffend hebben, het tempo wordt opgevoerd daar de nieuwe paus orde op zaken wil stellen. Paus Francisco jezuïet, wil absolute gehoorzaamheid en dit navrante conflict van seksueel geweld, de wereld uit. De doofpot is nooit echt open gegaan, archieven zijn vernietigd, de kerk heeft met haar eigen onderzoek de regels bepaald en het geweld wordt niet meegenomen zoals in nieuwe voorstellen van Deetman zou worden uitgewerkt.

We krijgen meer en meer berichten dat de RKK zich niet aan zijn woord houdt, ze plegen hiermee obstructie, parkeren van geweldklachten is niet aan de orde zoals laatst bleek tijdens hoorzitting. De uitspraak van kardinaal Eijk ‘we zijn verder dan jullie denken’, en de toevoeging van dhr. Bakker ‘we staan voor een kruispunt’ moge duidelijk zijn dat ze daar nog steeds staan…voor het kruispunt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankenpost

Regionalbischöfin Dorothea Greiner kündigt an, weiter konsequent gegen Missbrauch zu kämpfen. Für die Kirche könne es eine Verjährung in diesen Fällen nicht geben.

Interview: mit Dr. Dorothea Greiner Regionalbischöfin der evangelischen Landeskirche in Bayreuth

“Wie gehe ich mit Macht, mit Bedürfnissen, mit unerfüllten Sehnsüchten um?” Diese Fragen sind grundlegend für Pfarrer, findet die Regionalbischöfin.
zurückvergrößernweiter

Frau Dr. Greiner, innerhalb kürzester Zeit verhandeln die Kirchengerichte wegen Missbrauchs gegen zwei bekannte und einstmals angesehene Pfarrer aus Hof. Wie kommt es zu dieser Häufung?

Es entsteht ein völlig falsches Bild, wenn im Blick auf unsere evangelische Kirche von einer “Häufung” gesprochen wird. Nur der eine Fall, bei dem der Vorwurf distanzlosen Verhaltens im Raum steht, bezieht sich auf einen Pfarrer im aktiven Dienstverhältnis; der andere, ungleich schwerer gelagerte Fall, betrifft Vorkommnisse, die größtenteils fast 50 Jahre zurück liegen. Damit befasst sich kein staatliches Gericht mehr. Doch unsere Landeskirche geht dem trotzdem nach, weil sexueller Missbrauch in unserem kirchlichen Disziplinarrecht nicht verjährt. Missbräuchliche Handlungen an Menschen sind in keiner Weise mit dem Amt eines Pfarrers vereinbar, egal ob sie 50 Jahre zurückliegen oder fünf. Dass die Vorkommnisse verfolgt werden, sind wir der Glaubwürdigkeit des kirchlichen Auftrags und nicht zuletzt den Opfern schuldig.

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ISRAEL
MWC News

By Gilad Atzmon

Rabbi Metzger is probed for bribery and money laundering.

Israeli National Fraud Squad raided the home and offices of Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger yesterday and questioned him under caution for ten hours, as part of a bribery, fraud, money-laundering and breach-of-trust case.

Metzger was later released. The chief Rabbi is now under house arrest.

Chief Rabbi Metzger is forbidden to enter his offices, leave the country or make contact with any of the other suspects in the case.

Metzger and three other Jewish orthodox men are suspected of being involved in the pilfering of hundreds of thousands of shekels from a number of charities.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

June 23, 2013

Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie

A senior Australian rabbi who failed to stop an alleged paedophile from sexually abusing boys at a Sydney Jewish school said some of the victims may have consented to sexual relations and has warned that involving police now would ”open a can of worms”.

Former senior Sydney Rabbi Boruch Dov Lesches made the extraordinary remarks in a recent conversation with a person familiar with a series of alleged child rapes and molestation by a man associated with Sydney’s Yeshiva community in the 1980s.

We are speaking about very young boys.

Rabbi Lesches’ comments are likely to increase public scrutiny of Australia’s senior rabbinical leaders’ handling of child sexual abuse cases, amid allegations of cover-ups, victim intimidation and the hiding of perpetrators overseas.

In a legally recorded telephone conversation heard by Fairfax Media and provided to NSW detectives investigating the Sydney Yeshiva cases, Rabbi Lesches admitted to counselling the alleged abuser upon learning he had sexually abused a boy a decade his junior.

Rabbi Lesches is now one of New York’s leading ultra-Orthodox figures.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Peter O’Callaghan, the “independent” advisor to the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response program on clerical child sexual abuse (he is employed by them) has made statements lately. These have come after the Victorian Parliamentary enquiry has finished public hearings.

This tactic of “but wait, there’s more” follows on from a similar revelation by Victorian Catholic Church bishops revising upwards the number of abuses cases, and admissions of the number of priests and others who have been convicted of child sexual abuse (see previous posting).

It was an effective way to minimize scrutiny in the popular press. O’Callaghan’s version was to avoid the problem of lying to the enquiry. As a spokesperson for the enquiry noted, after the O’Callaghan statements, “serious penalties awaited anyone who gave false or misleading evidence.” His statements, however, were not given to the enquiry when he gave evidence. As a leading lawyer, he knows the difference.

So, now, the Catholic Church’s “independent” legal advisor says that Victorian police lied to the enquiry, without the need to provide any evidence. Specifically, he accuses the police of purveying “blatant untruths”. With regard to the evidence of police, including the most senior police, he says that a great deal was “misconceived, misleading and damagingly wrong”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry in Northern Ireland is the latest of five child abuse enquiries there. It is particularly relevant to Australia in that it will include Irish children sent here as “child migrants” (see previous posting). It has been estimated that over 100 of them could still be living in West Australia alone.

Many of these Irish children were sent to the notorious Bindoon facility operated by the Christian Brothers (see previous posting). The HIA inquiry will cover the travel expenses of those who need to give evidence in person, although if enough witnesses are found in Australia the inquiry may travel here to hear their testimony. Witnesses can also give evidence privately. The inquiry is scheduled to be completed by 2015 and to submit its report to the Northern Ireland Executive by January 2016.

The HIA inquiry head said: “We have to consider whether they might have been physically abused, whether they might have been sexually abused, but in addition we take a broad view of what is abuse, we include emotional abuse, such as humiliation of children. It may also include simple neglect, not feeding people properly, not clothing them properly,”

There have been concerns expressed from several sources, including the United Nations Committee Against Torture and Amnesty International, that the HIA inquiry will not cover clerical child abuse outside institutions, and would not cover institutions such as the terrible “Magdalene Laundry” (see previous posting). Where it goes further that the Australian Royal Commission, however, is that it covers all forms of child abuse. The Queensland Government’s 1998 Forde Inquiry has been taken as a model for the Irish HIA inquiry.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

With the last of his state appeals exhausted, Toledo priest Gerald Robinson intends to turn to U.S. District Court to try to get his murder conviction overturned.

The Ohio Supreme Court this week declined to review the case of Robinson, who was convicted in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in 2006 of the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl at the former Mercy Hospital.

The high court, with Justices Paul Pfeifer and William O’Neill dissenting, said it would not hear the case.

Rick Kerger, attorney for Robinson, said he now will file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court.

“I never expected to win” at the state level, he said Friday. “I’ve always felt that if we’re going to win I knew it was going to be in federal court in a habeas proceeding.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP

CHURCH groups should be ready to cop heavy criticism in the wake of the royal commission into child sex abuse, Brisbane’s Anglican Archbishop Phillip Aspinall says.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse featured strongly in the archbishop’s address at the Brisbane diocese’s synod on Saturday.

He told hundreds of Anglicans the challenge for them is not that the “truth will come out”.

“It will. And we want it to even though there will be times when we will feel ashamed and sickened at that truth,” he said.

He says the Anglican Church called for a royal inquiry into child sex abuse in 2002.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

June 21, 2013|By Brittany Shammas, Sun Sentinel

Over a six-month period, a teacher’s aide at a Palm Beach County charter school repeatedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl he met at church, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

He threatened to tell her parents and church leaders about her behavior — and send them nude pictures of her — if she refused him, the report states. …

The victim, now 16, called police on Monday after telling her mother that Murray had grabbed and harassed her, according to the report. She met the man, who according to the arrest report is a Jehovah’s Witness, at a church event when he was 27.

After taking the report, deputies told Murray not to contact the girl. He continued trying, the arrest report states. Monday night, he sent her an email telling her to “call ASAP or it will be released to your parents. Everything will come out.”

As investigators listened on the line, he repeated that threat to her during a phone call and said he’d post the nude pictures of her online. Murray told the girl police involvement didn’t concern him.

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MINNESOTA
Bemidji Pioneer

[the lawsuit]

BEMIDJI — Two press conferences will be held Monday to address the lawsuit filed against the Diocese of Crookston.

Jeff Anderson, who filed suit against the diocese in 1992 on behalf of 15 victims who were abused by James Porter, a priest at St. Philip’s for one year, will detail the lawsuit at 11 a.m. at the Polk County Courthouse in Crookston, and the second at 1 p.m. outside St. Philip’s School in Bemidji.

The lawsuit alleges that Porter sexually abused a Bemidji woman now in her 50s, according to a press release from Anderson’s office.

In all, 21 Bemidji men sued Porter for abuse carried out here. In addition to those cases, Porter pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting 28 boys in Massachusetts, and admitted to abusing more than 100 children during his 13-year career.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

[the lawsuit]

[timeline]

June 20, 2013

(St. Paul, MN) – A Minnesota man will get a chance at justice due to the Child Victims Act, recently passed by the legislature allowing survivors of child sexual abuse to hold their abuser and any institution that allowed the abuse to happen, accountable in court. “The Child Victims Act passed into law now gives this survivor a chance for hope, healing, and an opportunity to help protect others” said attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents Plaintiff John Doe 150. Since filing the first civil lawsuit involving Fr. Stitts in the early 1990s, Anderson has represented numerous survivors of sexual abuse by Stitts.

A former St. Leo’s student and altar boy, the Plaintiff was sexually abused by Father Thomas Stitts at the St. Paul school and parish when he was 14 years-old. The Archdiocese fought the original lawsuit on the statute of limitations, using it to prevent John Doe 150 from getting his day in court. The new lawsuit brought under the Child Victims Act, names the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis as the defendant and claims the Archdiocese was negligent in placing Stitts at St. Leo’s, knowing Stitts had a history of child sexual abuse. “Stitts was a serial offender who could not control himself,” said Anderson, “and the only one who could control him were his superiors in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, and they chose not to and protected themselves instead of the children.”

Both the school’s principal and parish priest were notified of the sexual abuse by Stitts yet failed to act and remove Stitts from ministry. The sexual abuse was not reported to civil authorities and Stitts was allowed to continue to work with children and prey on the vulnerable. Stitts worked in several Minnesota communities including St. Paul, Edina, Hastings, Long Lake and New Brighton. Stitts is believed to have abused at least a dozen children during his various assignments. Ordained in 1962, Fr. Thomas Stitts died October 13, 1985 at the age of 50 while assigned to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in New Brighton.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

[the lawsuit]

What: At a news conference on Monday in front of the Polk County courthouse in Crookston, followed by a press conference outside St. Philip’s School in Bemidji, clergy abuse attorneys Steve Anderson of Roseau and Jeff Anderson of St. Paul will:

• Announce the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit on behalf of a Bemidji woman now in her 50s, naming the Diocese of Crookston, the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts and the Servants of the Paraclete, as defendants.
• Release internal church documents on credibly accused perpetrator Father James R. Porter who is suspected of abusing over 100 children in multiple states including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas, and New Mexico.
• Request the release of credibly accused and admitted child molesters from both the Diocese of Crookston and the Diocese of Fall River, along with the list of names of priests who have admitted child sexual abuse to the Servants of the Paraclete.

WHEN: Monday June 24 at 11:00 AM (CDT) in Crookston and 1:00 P.M. in Bemidji

WHERE: Outside the Polk County Courthouse (11:00 A.M.)
612 N. Broadway
Crookston, MN 56716

Outside St. Philips School (1:00 P.M.)
702 Beltrami Ave. NW Bemidji, MN 56601

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.

Attorney Steve Anderson a Board Certified Civil Trial Specialist and has been committed to helping clients in personal injury cases for over 25 years. Steve has prior experience in sexual abuse cases and has teamed up with Jeff Anderson to help survivors of sexual abuse in Minnesota.

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MASSACHUSETTS/MINNESOTA
Fall River Herald News

[the lawsuit]

By Brian Fraga
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Jun 21, 2013

A high-profile attorney who has represented hundreds of sexual abuse victims in litigation involving the Catholic Church will file a lawsuit on Monday that names the Diocese of Fall River as a defendant for the actions of the late Rev. James Porter, a notorious predator-priest.

The lawsuit will be filed in a courthouse in Crookston, Minn., on behalf of a Minnesota woman, now in her 50s, who was abused by Porter, said Jeff Anderson, a civil attorney.

“This is designed to both help the survivor that was so deeply wounded by (Porter) but also to encourage disclosure and full exposure of the history that in some ways is not fully known,” Anderson said.

At the press conference Monday, Anderson will call for the release of internal church documents on all credible abuse accusations against Porter, who authorities have said abused more than 100 children in multiple states, including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas and New Mexico.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Rabbi Boruch Lesches, a former senior leader at Sydney’s Yeshiva centre, talking about sexual abuse in the Jewish community.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Mary Agnes Welch

CANADA’S Truth and Reconciliation Commission has three million documents dealing with the disastrous legacy of Indian residential schools, and five million more are on the way.

What the commission doesn’t have is money to build a promised national residential schools research archive.

In a long ceremony packed with politicians and aboriginal dignitaries Friday, the commission and the University of Manitoba signed an agreement to set up the national research centre, which will see the university take on the massive job of reviewing, organizing and digitizing millions of residential school records. That includes government and church documents, 6,000 oral histories taken from residential school survivors and their families, artifacts and photos.

Most of the records are still held by Library and Archives Canada. Only now, after a court battle, are they being prepared to be given to the commission and the university.

So far, there is no secure source of funding for a startup research centre, expected to be housed in existing space on campus. The U of M has committed space and funding for three positions, but additional funding is needed. Organizers hope it can come from the parties to the residential schools court settlement, including the federal government and Canada’s largest churches. They hope funding can be secured by the time the commission winds up in a year.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Herald

By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer

MERCER — A former local pastor was convicted by a jury of molesting a boy over four years.

Lee A. Moore, 47, of Erie, was found guilty Wednesday of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor and indecent assault, said Assistant Mercer County District Attorney Dan Davis, who prosecuted the case.

“Obviously, the family, especially the victim, are very happy with the verdict, and so are we,” Davis said. “I believe justice was done in this case.”

When Moore is sentenced Sept. 4 by Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas R. Dobson, he will face a mandatory minimum prison term of 5 years on the charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a first-degree felony, Davis said.

The trial ran Tuesday and Wednesday morning with the verdict coming at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, he said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Prison for ex-pastor whose sex abuse of three girls covered up for 30 years by Baptists

BY PAUL HIGGINS AND CHRIS KILPATRICK – 22 JUNE 2013

A former Baptist pastor and gospel singer has been jailed three decades after his abuse against three young girls was covered up by the Church.

Paul Gardiner was sentenced to 11 months and banned from working with children.

Jailing the 52-year-old at Belfast Crown Court, Judge Gordon Kerr QC told him his “historical sexual abuse” offences were aggravated by the fact there were three victims and that he had breached the trust placed in him when he had been a guest in their respective homes.

Judge Kerr also ordered the pervert to spend 10 years on the police sex offenders’ register.

Prosecuting lawyer Rosemary Walsh had told an earlier court how the abuse happened on each occasion when Gardiner, who was in his late teens at the time, was staying overnight at the victims’ houses, whom he knew through associations with Monkstown Baptist Church in Newtownabbey.

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CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

By Andy Furillo — afurillo@sacbee.com

Attorneys have scheduled a crucial pretrial hearing for next week on whether statements the Rev. Uriel Ojeda made to church officials before his arrest on child molestation charges can be used against him at trial.

Ojeda has claimed a “penitent’s privilege” for the statements he made to two employees of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento after they drove up to the Redding parish where he worked to question him about the sexual abuse allegations made by the family of a 14-year-old girl.

Sources said Friday that Sacramento prosecutors have offered Ojeda an eight-year deal if he enters a plea in the case, and Sacramento Superior Court Judge Eugene L. Balonon’s ruling on the issue of the privilege could go a long way toward affecting the priest’s decision whether to accept an agreement.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Bulletin

By Manya A. Brachear / Chicago Tribune (MCT)
Published: June 22. 2013

CHICAGO — They followed their parents to remote regions of the world to preach the Gospel. But in recent years, dozens of adults, known in evangelical Christian circles as “MKs,” or missionary kids, have come forward to report decades-old abuse at the hands of other missionary families or boarding school staff.

These children suffered, advocates say, either in silence out of respect for their parents’ work or because their cries for help were ignored. But years later, as adults, they have coalesced into a national movement that is calling on the more than 200 evangelical mission agencies to address past physical and sexual abuse and help keep the next generation of missionary kids out of harm’s way.

“I don’t know of one case where the person bringing a case was welcomed and listened to and dealt with appropriately,” said the Rev. Rich Darr, a Methodist pastor in Park Ridge, Ill., and founder of the victim-advocacy group MK Safety Net. “All we want is for the church to be church. I see progress, but it is maddeningly slow.”

Evangelical mission agencies have only recently taken action, prompted by victims who started speaking up in greater numbers after Roman Catholic Church leaders began addressing their scandal more than a decade ago.

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SERBIA
in Serbia

SABAC – Branislav Peranovic (55), was found guilty for the First Degree murder of Nebojsa Zarubac (39). Peranovic was sentenced to 20 years in prison, reported Kurir.

The investigating judge Slobodan Velisavljevic stated that Peranovic was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering Nebojsa Zarubac, who was at the center for drug rehabilitation ”Sretenje” at Jadranska Lesnica, which was managed by Peranovic since 2010.

Peranovic was accused of a cruel murder by inflicting serious injuries to Zarubac with a stick, and also by kicking him with legs and fists.

According to Ilija Radulovic, Peranovic’s lawyer, Zarubac was on rehabilitation, but he tried to leave the center. Peranovic also suspected that he was drugged, and tried to ”stop” him by beating him. Lawyer considers this murder as a result of Zarubac’s attempt to escape the camp.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Stephen J. Lee, Grand Forks Herald

BEMIDJI, Minn. — The news that James Porter had died wasn’t a surprise and didn’t mean much to Dan Dow and Jim Grimm, even though the man marked their lives.

When they were sixth-grade altar boys in St. Philip’s Catholic parish here in 1969 and 1970, Porter was a priest who sexually assaulted them and 20 other youths dozens of times.

Porter, 70, died of cancer Friday in Massachusetts, still behind bars. He had admitted to sexually abusing 100 or more children in several parishes in several states, including Minnesota, before leaving the priesthood in 1973.

Grimm, 46, prayed Sunday in St. Philip’s.

“I prayed for all the victims. I prayed it wouldn’t happen again any more. I prayed all the victims could handle it.”

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Tom Sandborn, Special to the Sun June 21, 2013

Will Joseph Ratzinger, (Pope Benedict XVI) who made history earlier this year by becoming the first Roman Catholic pope to resign in nearly six centuries, go on to become the central figure in yet another historic event, a trial of a former pope on charges of aiding and abetting child sexual abuse?

He will if the activists of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have their way. Together with the Centre for Constitutional Rights, SNAP filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the then pope and other key Vatican figures on Sept. 13, 2011.

Some observers, including Gianluigi Nuzzi, in his book Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict and investigative journalists writing in Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper suggest that his unusual decision to resign may have been prompted in part by the ICC complaint and other scandals.

The ICC complaint alleges that the former pope and the other church leaders are responsible for the sexual abuse of as many as hundreds of thousands of children by Catholic priests, responsible both because the child rapes occurred on their watch as church leaders and, more damningly, because the pope emeritus and his clerical accomplices allegedly took active steps to conceal the ongoing crime wave within the priesthood, swearing victims to secrecy and discouraging co-operation with the police.

The ICC complaint is supported by an enormous file of more than 20,000 documents, all available at http://ccrjustice.org/ICCVaticanProsecution. …

The Trial of Pope Benedict will be featured at a launch party on June 25 at Pat’s Pub & Brewhouse, 403 East Hastings St. Doors at 6:30; reading at 7 p.m. Tom Sandborn lives and writes in Vancouver, where if pressed, he will identify his current religious identity as High Church Secular Druid/Humanist. He welcomes your feedback and story tips at tos@infinet.net

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MINNESOTA
WDAZ

A Minnesota woman sued the Catholic Diocese of Crookston this week, as well as a Boston-area diocese and a Catholic entity in New Mexico.

The unidentified woman now in her 50s says she was 9 and 10 in the 1960s when Reverend James Porter sexually assaulted her repeatedly in her home and church. Porter was removed from the priesthood in 1974.

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MINNESOTA
Bemidji Pioneer

CROOKSTON, Minn. — A Minnesota woman filed suit Thursday in state district court in Crookston alleging negligence by the Catholic Diocese of Crookston by allowing the late James Porter to serve as a priest in Bemidji 44 years ago when she says he sexually assaulted her many times in her home and in the church.

The lawsuit, citing damages to “Doe 4”of more than the statutory minimum of $50,000, also claims a Massachusetts diocese and a former New Mexico Catholic treatment center for priests, were negligent in allowing Porter to move to Minnesota.

Porter was removed from the priesthood in 1974 and died in 2005 of cancer after serving a prison term for sexually abusing 28 young people. He admitted to sexually attacking more than 100 young girls and boys from his ordination 1960 to 1973, in five states, including 21 in Bemidji.

Several of his Bemidji victims earlier sued the Crookston diocese, also represented by Doe 4’s attorney, Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, who has sued Catholic leaders and dioceses and parishes for hundreds of millions of dollars in sex abuse claims the past 20 years.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Public Record

Why did the cash-hungry Philadelphia Inquirer turn down $58,000 for an ad that was to contain the message below from the Catholic League for Religious & Civil Rights?

That’s what appears to have happened.

League President Bill Donohue wanted to comment on the sentencing of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Father Charles Engelhardt and lay teacher Bernard Shero for rape of a then-juvenile victim “Billy Doe”.

PHILA. INQUIRER bannered this sensational story on Jun. 13. But it would not print a $58,000 advertisement that rebutted in detail the DA’s case against two men who may have been innocent, but have been sentenced to hard time.

Donohue said, “When we at the Catholic League first heard a boy was allegedly raped by three different persons, two of whom were priests, we were immediately suspicious. After all, how many times in American history has anyone been raped three times by three different persons? The more we learned, the more we were convinced ‘Billy Doe’ was a congenital liar, school dropout, thief, and drug addict, a punk who sought to cash in on the prevailing animus against priests.

“Father Engelhardt, whom no one has ever proved even met ‘Billy Doe,’ was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison; Shero was hit with eight to 16.

“My statement, which was submitted to the Philadelphia Inquirer as an ad, was turned down. It’s not every day a failing metropolitan newspaper rejects $58,000, even when the contents make the paper look bad for not doing its job.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk, Friday 21 June 2013

A teacher convicted of child abduction for escaping to France with a 15-year-old pupil has been jailed for five and a half years after also separately admitting five counts of sexual activity with a child.

Jeremy Forrest, 30, sparked an international police hunt after he and the teenager spent just over a week on the run in France last September when their relationship was discovered. He faced only the single charge of child abduction during his trial at Lewes crown court.

On Friday, the judge, Michael Lawson QC, jailed the married maths teacher for four and a half years for the counts of sexual activity with a child and one year for child abduction, to run consecutively. Forrest has spent nine months on remand.

The judge also imposed a sexual offences prevention order permanently banning Forrest from working or volunteering with children or having unsupervised contact with children.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Dom-Rep

Juncalito.

Offenbar hat die katholische Kirche in der Gemeinde „Juncalito“ verboten über den Missbrauchsfall des polnischen Priesters „Wojciech Gil“ zu sprechen.

Nur unter vorgehaltener Hand und dem Versprechen, dass keine Namen genannt werden, sprachen einige Bewohner des Bergdorfes mit Journalisten, die in dem Fall erneut recherchierten.

Dem Priester (Foto), der aus Polen stammt, wird der sexuelle Missbrauch von mindestens 14 Kindern vorgeworfen (wir berichteten darüber).

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzworkB

Stellungnahme zum „Hilfeportal Sexueller Missbrauch“ (www.hilfeportal-missbrauch.de)

Stand 20.06.2013 (als PDF herunterladen)

Zunächst ist anzumerken, dass der „Unabhängige Beauftragte für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch“ und seine Mitarbeiter auf dem Begriff „Sexueller Missbrauch“ beharren, was sich auch in der Wahl der Domain, die ja wahrscheinlich jahrzehntelang im Netz bleiben soll, zeigt. Der Begriff „Sexueller Missbrauch“ wurde unglücklicherweise in den 1990er-Jahren so geprägt und trägt ein falsches Bild der Problematik in die Welt. In Fachkreisen hat sich längst der Begriff „Sexualisierte Gewalt“ oder „Sexuelle Gewalt“ durchgesetzt, der die Verbrechen besser beschreibt und klarmacht, dass es um Gewalt und nicht um einen falschen Gebrauch geht. Es ist unverständlich, warum nicht zumindest die Option einer Begriffsänderung erhalten wurde mit der Wahl eines neutraleren Domainnamens, der sich einem Begriffswandel nicht verschliesst.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung

Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis. (Wd) Die Aufarbeitung der Geschichte des Missbrauches und der Gewalt in der Johannes-Diakonie in Mosbach ist offenbar ohne Einsicht in Akten geschehen. Die Freiburger Professorin Dr. Cornelia Helfferich übt in einem Schreiben scharfe Kritik darüber, dass sie und ihre Mitarbeiter bei der Erstellung des Abschlussberichtes “keinen Zugang zu Akten bekommen” habe. Weiter heißt es: “Hier sind andere Aufarbeitungen einfach besser ausgestattet und besser unterstützt worden und damit in der Aufarbeitung genauer als wir es sein konnten”. So heißt es in der E-Mail an einen Betroffenen sehr drastisch: “Ich kann und will es Ihnen nicht ausreden, dass die Opfer weiter verarscht werden, denn das ist Realität”.

Dargestellt wird von der Professorin, dass etliche Kinder ohne Behinderung in der damaligen “Johannes-Anstalt” Aufnahme fanden. Prof. Helfferich schreibt dazu: “Das ist jenseits von Gewalt und Missbrauch ein viel zu wenig beachteter Skandal, dass sich nie jemand dafür entschuldigt hat, dass diesen Kindern, die dort einfach nicht hingehörten, durch die Aufnahme in die Einrichtung viele Chancen vorenthalten wurden” (siehe auch Kasten).

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 21/06/2013
Reporter: Emma Alberici

Catholic school teacher, Brother Martin Harmata, who worked at Sydney’s Patrician Brothers Blacktown College has pleaded guilty to eight charges of sexually abusing three children in his care in the 1980s.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: A Catholic school teacher who worked at Sydney’s Patrician Brothers Blacktown college has pleaded guilty to eight charges of sexually abusing three children in his care.

Brother Martin Harmata and the school where he taught, fought unsuccessfully to have their names protected

The abuse took place in the mid and late 1980s.

Brother Martin Harmata taught science and maths at Patrician Brothers college Blacktown for 30 years. He left the school in 2012 after one of his victims confronted him in the playground.

Brother Martin befriended many families in the local area convincing parents to let him take their sons away on school camps. He faced the Parramatta district court today to answer eight charges dating back to the late 80s.

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DEUTCHSLAND
kath.net

Eine toxische Mixtur aus Polemik, Verzerrung und Aggression wird vor allem gegen die katholische Kirche versprüht. Warum? –
Ein kath.net-Gastkommentar von Gernot Facius

Bonn (kath.net) Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch (Freiburg), der Vorsitzende des deutschen Episkopats, har Medienmacher zu mehr Sorgfalt aufgerufen. „Der Wettlauf um Quoten und Auflagen führt, ja verführt nicht selten zu Oberflächlichkeit, Falschinformationen und Fehlinterpretationen“, sagte Zollitsch während einer Begegnung mit Freiburger Professoren. Man mag Zollitschs Einlassung als banal abtun. Aber ist sie, man denke an Vorgänge der vergangenen Monate, nicht doch aktuell und somit angebracht? Die Welt braucht nun mal Anker der Verlässlichkeit: Medien, die sauber recherchieren und Fakten seriös gewichten. Die Orientierung geben. Die Bausteine für eine unabhängige Meinungsbildung liefern. Die einen geistigen Mehrwert schaffen. Kommunikationsmittel dieser Güte können zu sozialen „Lebensmitteln“ bei der Bewältigung des Alltags werden.

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ITALY
ANSA

(ANSAmed) – VATICAN CITY, JUNE 21 – Pope Francis ”doesn’t have much time to set Peter’s boat afloat once more”, for it has been ”somewhat battered by the pedophile priest storm and the Curia divisions which Ratzinger’s pontificate ran aground on”. And if on the one hand it is ”necessary to repair the sails and the rudder” and ”to throw overboard certain foul-smelling excess baggage”, it is also true that ”time presses”: it can play in favor, as in the case of John XXIII whose Council ”opened the Church up to a new era”; or it could on the other hand turn into an insurmountable obstacle. The many challenges of Bergoglio’s pontificate, their roots firmly sunk into the knots left untangled by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI, are the central theme of ”Our Fathers” (Manni publishers, 206 pages, 14 euros), in which Vatican expert Elisa Pinna offers an attentive and in-depth view of the historic passage the Church has recently experienced: the one that began with Ratzinger’s shocking resignation and ended with the election of the pope ”that came from the end of the world”. A pope whose ”Franciscan simplicity”, ”attention to the poor”, and ”personal frugality”’, are ”extraordinarily in tune with the sentiment shared by a majority of the faithful (and not only the faithful) in a Europe crushed by an economic crisis that has now transformed into a social crisis”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Portadown Times

A Markethill gospel singer who admitted abusing three young girls 35 years ago has been jailed for 11 months.

Paul Gardiner (52) was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on Friday.

The court had heard on Tuesday how the former youth pastor was caught leaving one victim’s bedroom “naked, trying to pull his underpants up”.

Last April, the father of four pleaded guilty to a total of 13 counts of indecent assault against the girls who were then aged seven, nine and 14 years, on dates between January 1978 and March 1980.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former pastor has been jailed for sexually abusing three young girls when he was a teenager.

Paul Gardiner, 52, of Cusher Road in Markethill, County Armagh, was sentenced to 11 months at Belfast Crown Court.

The offences against the girls, then aged seven, nine and 14, were committed on dates between January 1978 and March 1980.

The father-of-four had pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault.

He was also banned from working with children and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

By Maayana Miskin
First Publish: 6/21/2013

Supporters of Rabbi Yona Metzger expressed fury at the police on Friday after the anti-fraud unit detained Rabbi Metzger for questioning for ten hours.

According to his supporters, police did their best to smear Rabbi Metzger’s good name.

Police invited camera crews and journalists to their officers before Rabbi Metzger was brought in for a second day of interrogation so that they could get good pictures of the rabbi on his way to questioning, one source told Arutz Sheva.

“The police’s behavior has been disgusting,” he accused. “There are sources in the police who leak every detail connected to the case in order to besmirch the rabbi’s name.”

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ISRAEL
JTA

(JTA) — Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger was questioned on suspicion that he took hundreds of thousands of shekels meant for nongovernmental organizations.

Metzger’s home and office were raided on Thursday, according to Israeli reports, and Israeli Police confiscated documents and property. Metzger was brought to the National Fraud Unit for questioning on accepting bribes, fraud and money laundering, Ynet reported.

Three associates of Metzger — two heads of NGOs and a Chief Rabbinate employee — also were arrested.

An investigation of Metzger reportedly was opened months ago after information implicating him in illicit activity reached police.

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ISRAEL
YNet

The Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court remanded the three suspects that were arrested as part of the fraud investigation launched against Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger. Chaim Eisenshtat, the rabbi’s driver and personal assistant, who is suspected of accepting bribes, was remanded by seven days.

Simcha Krakowsky, director of a charitable organization, suspected of bribery, was remanded by five days. Nissan Ben-Zion Zioni, director of the Atzum organization, who is also suspected of bribery, was remanded by six days. (Eli Senyor)

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ISRAEL
Business Standard

Israeli police said they have questioned the country’s chief rabbi and raided his home and office regarding his alleged involvement in a bribery and money laundering scheme.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says today’s probe of Rabbi Yona Metzger followed a months-long undercover investigation into his financial dealings. Rosenfeld said police confiscated computers and documents from the rabbi’s home and arrested three of his associates.

Metzger is mere weeks away from ending his 10-year term as the country’s chief rabbi for Ashkenazi, or European-descended, Jews.

Along with a separate Chief Rabbi from the Sephardic or Middle Eastern lineage, Metzger has led the country’s supreme body for overseeing Jewish services.

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ISRAEL
euronews

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Police questioned one of Israel’s top religious officials, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, on Thursday on suspicion of bribery, fraud and money laundering, a police spokesman said.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld gave no details about the allegations against Metzger and three other suspects but said the questioning had followed an undercover investigation.

A spokesman for Metzger had no comment on the matter.

Metzger is one of two state-appointed chief rabbis who oversee official religious policy and conduct state ceremonies. He has also been one of the Jewish state’s main interlocutors with the pope.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

Four men claim to have been groped by Rabbi Yona Metzger in cases stretching back to the ’80s, according to a report in Israeli newspaper Maariv.

By Haaretz | Jun.21, 2013

Allegations of sexual abuse against Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger were reported in the Israeli media on Friday, just one day after he was questioned in connection with suspicions of bribery, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, and breach of trust.

Four men of varying ages and from different sectors of society came forward, and told their stories to the newspaper Maariv, alleging that they had been groped by Metzger in incidents dating as far back as the ’80s. According to the report, two of the complainants were examined by polygraph test at the newspaper’s request, and passed the test.

Rabbi Metzger denied the allegations and stated that it was an attempt to sully his reputation.

Maariv received the first account three weeks ago. David, a secular Jew, alleged that in the late 1980s at a wedding where Metzger officiated, the rabbi touched his chest and his arms. David also alleged that Metzger placed his hand under his shirt during a conversation between the two of them. At the beginning of April, a religious Jewish man told the newspaper that in the recent past he met with the rabbi for a halakhic consultation and at the meeting the possibility of his professional advancement was discussed.

The complainant alleged that at the rabbi’s request, he removed his shirt and the rabbi groped his chest and arms. Maariv’s research for the story led to another man who told of a similar event that occurred between him and the rabbi. According to the Maariv report, the incident with the third man was brought to the attention of Israel’s then Sephardi Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron in 1998, when Rabbi Metzger was a candidate for the position of Tel Aviv chief rabbi. Rabbi Bakshi-Doron was the head of a disciplinary committee that was established to discuss allegations of marital contracts (called ketubot in Hebrew) forged by Rabbi Metzger. However, the committee decided not to publicize the complaint.

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