ABUSE TRACKER

SCOTLAND
Motherwell Times

Published on 12/06/2013

A PRIEST got a standing ovation in church when he threatened legal action against a fellow cleric over claims of homosexuality and theft.

Fr Robert Kane, parish priest at St Teresa’s in Newarthill, is angry at allegations made in a controversial book which has caused uproar in the Roman Catholic community.

Its author, Fr Matthew Despard, claimed in ‘Priesthood in Crisis’ there is a culture of sexual bullying in the church in Scotland.

He made allegations about a number of individuals and, although people have not been named, some believe it’s clear whom Fr Despard is referring to and are planning to sue for defamation.

Fr Kane told parishioners from his pulpit that he denies the claims which he believes relate to him and is considering legal action.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

12 JUNE 2013

Disgraced paedophile priest James Donaghy has admitted sexually molesting a fourth young victim.

Donaghy is already serving a ten-year jail sentence in Magilligan for sex crimes against three victims.

He had been due to go on trial at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday, but instead defence QC Eugene Grant asked for the charges to be put to the sexual predator again.

Speaking in a calm, clear voice Donaghy, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and blue striped tie, entered guilty pleas to four charges of indecently assaulting a male child and a further charge of committing common assault against the same boy on dates between January and May 1989.

As he entered his guilty pleas, his victim’s mother wept quietly in the public gallery before fleeing the court in tears.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former priest who is already serving a ten year jail sentence for sex crimes against three teenagers has admitted sexually abusing a fourth young victim.

James Martin Donaghy had been due to go on trial at Belfast Crown Court but instead, a defence lawyer asked for the charges to be put to his client again.

Donaghy then pleaded guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting a boy and a further charge of common assault against the same child 24 years ago.

He is due to be sentenced next month.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Daily Times

The Associated Press
Updated: 06/12/2013

PHILADELPHIA—A judge has sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to six to 12 years in prison and a former teacher to eight to 16 years in a sex-abuse case that brought down a Philadelphia church official.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt of Wynnewood and Bernard Shero of Levittown maintained their innocence at sentencing Wednesday.

Shero says he believes he was targeted because his visual impairments make him an easy target. He says he never had any problems with his accuser in class in the 1990s.

Engelhardt says he doesn’t remember the accuser, who has long struggled with heroin addiction and related legal problems.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

INQUIRER STAFF
POSTED: Wednesday, June 12, 2013

UPDATE: Rev. Charles Engelhardt sentenced 6-12 years in prison; Bernard Shero sentenced 8-16 years in prison

Earlier Story:

Sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday for a priest and former Catholic schoolteacher in the sexual assault of a 10-year-old altar boy in the late 1990s.

In a case that has already put a Philadelphia Catholic Church official behind bars for covering up child sexual abuse, a jury in January convicted the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero for the serial sexual assault of a St. Jerome’s pupil in 1998 and 1999.

Prosecutors say Shero faces up to 57 years in prison and Engelhardt up to 37 years at their sentencing.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

One of the key lessons we were taught as priests is that bishops are the Episkopos, or, the Overseer of their Dioceses. As the Episkopos, a bishop oversees all Roman Catholic Priests to whom he has granted faculties.

A bishop’s ability to oversee or supervise the clergy is reaching a new low. The criminal conduct by priests in 2013 has not abated. Rather, priest arrests are increasing. See the most recent arrests of Fathers Koppala, Guarin-Sosa, Medina-Cruz and Wehmeyer.

Worse yet, even though the Dallas 2002 Charter prohibited Episcokopos from having criminally convicted priests in ministry, Archbishops have chosen to continue placing such priests like Father Michael Fugee in control over children.

Two recent priest suicides are another sign the Bishops are not supervising the Priests. Father David Anderson in Los Angeles and Father Jamie Medina-Cruz chose to end their lives. I do not fault them—we must hear their cries of deep desperation.

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HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on June 12, 2013

From today’s Honolulu Star Advertiser:

Victims of church sexual abuse need criminal lawyers, not therapy

By Marilyn Wong

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hawaii, via a newspaper ad that ran Monday, is offering therapy treatment and reconciliation for the victims of sex abuse.

Directing victims to go to the diocese for help is like sending the sheep back to the wolves. The diocese had the chance years ago to help victims, but did not act because, at the time, the statute of limitations protected the church. Instead, people claiming abuse were vilified, accused of seeking money, and told that the limitations had expired on their cases. Now that the two-year window has been opened, the church is scurrying to connect with the victims.

The problem is that the diocese makes it seem like the abused have an illness in need of therapy when in actuality they are victims of a crime in need of justice. What these people really need is an attorney who will take their case to court and fight the good fight all the way to a conviction where the abusers will be listed as sex-offenders for life and prevented from ever being around children again. This is what the victims really want.

And they also want the hierarchy cleaned up of its cover-ups. Be it pedophilia (sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children) or efebophelia (sexual attraction to adolescents aged 13-19), the fact that priests and religious could get away with this for so many years, and that ordinary people would scramble to protect and hide or cover-up the facts so as not to bring “scandal” on the church is mind-boggling. In the end, not only do the victims suffer more, oftentimes for life, but the laity end up seeing their donations used to pay for the abuser’s crimes rather than used to do God’s work.

A word of caution about these so-called therapeutic services: One Oahu man who brought a priest up on charges of abuse (who later admitted guilt), was sent by the diocese to a Franciscan sister (who had a private practice) for therapy. She questioned his memory of the event. He turned around and sued for a monetary sum and won.

Do not be naive. In the 1960s, Pope Paul VI, coming out of a spiritual ecstasy while praying stated, “The smoke of Satan has entered the sanctuary.”

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VATICANO
Vatican Insider

Según la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe las acciones de Roberto González Nieves no contradicen la ortodoxia católica

ANDRÉS BELTRAMO ÁLVAREZ
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO

Exonerado de toda culpa. El Vaticano confirmó que el arzobispo de San Juan de Puerto Rico, Roberto González Nieves, no es rebelde y que las denuncias en su contra nunca tuvieron fundamento. Lo confirmó él mismo, hace unos días durante una conferencia de prensa en su país. Ahora sus seguidores piden que se limpie su nombre.

Más de 19 meses duró la visita apostólica ordenada por dos dicasterios de la Santa Sede. El 25 de octubre de 2011 dos congregaciones vaticanas, la de Obispos y la del Clero, comisionaron al arzobispo ecuatoriano de Guayaquil, Antonio Arregui Yarza, una exhaustiva auditoría a la gestión episcopal de su par puertorriqueño.

Arregui envió sus resultados a Roma y confirmó lo anticipado por el Vatican Insider días atrás. González Nieves no encubrió sacerdotes pedófilos, no se extralimitó en sus funciones, no robó dinero y ni vendió colegios católicos sin permiso. Sin importar las denuncias internas promovidas por Josef Wesolowski, embajador vaticano en República Dominicana y delegado apostólico en territorio puertorriqueño.

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PUERTO RICO
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Jun. 12, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

Vatican Insider has the story — alas, not in English — about the complete exoneration of Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is very good news for the people of San Juan and for those of us lucky enough to consider Gonzalez a friend. Because of that friendship, I have not written about this issue previously, nor will I do so now, except to express relief that the Holy See finally figured out what was going on and reached the correct conclusions.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A prominent Catholic canon lawyer who once headed the American Catholic bishops’ top sex abuse panel is harshly criticizing, in a rare and stunningly candid manner, Newark Archbishop John Myers.

[Commonweal]

Nicholas Cafardi is a civil and canon lawyer and Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at Duquesne University School of Law. He is the former chair of the National Review Board, a lay panel created by America’s bishops in 2002 to oversee how the prelates deal with clergy sex crimes.

In a new, 2400 word article in the Catholic magazine Commonweal, Cafardi writes that Myers, in the Fr. Michael Fugee case,

— “was less than forthcoming.”

–“has yet to take any personal responsibility for the failures of his own archdiocese.”

“If Myers failed to ask” for “updates (about Fr. Fugee), he is grossly negligent,” Cafardi says. “If he did and knew about Fugee’s violations of the agreement, then he is complicit.”

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HAWAII
Star-Advertiser

By Marilyn Wong

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 12, 2013

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hawaii, via a newspaper ad that ran Monday, is offering therapy treatment and reconciliation for the victims of sex abuse.

Directing victims to go to the diocese for help is like sending the sheep back to the wolves. The diocese had the chance years ago to help victims, but did not act because, at the time, the statute of limitations protected the church. Instead, people claiming abuse were vilified, accused of seeking money, and told that the limitations had expired on their cases. Now that the two-year window has been opened, the church is scurrying to connect with the victims.

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

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Janet Tavakoli

Before Pope Benedict XVI resigned and before Pope Francis I became the first Jesuit pope in the history of the Catholic Church, I published a fiction thriller, Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits. The Jesuits reject the church’s financial and sexual corruption, blackmail the pope with secret documents, and take control of the Vatican to reform the church. It’s a fiction murder mystery, but it is also includes history and well-researched facts.

In my novel, the Jesuits insist that all priests in the Catholic Church–whether they are homosexual or heterosexual–must reaffirm their vows of celibacy. A very small part of the plot references an affair between consenting adult priests. Both ceased the affair and renewed their vows.

One reviewer of Catholic books read an advance copy and wrote me: “…I got to the part where [a priest] explains his affair with [another priest]…I cannot possubly [sic] do a review of a book that includes a homosexual affair between two priests….” Murder and embezzlement — including true crimes — apparently didn’t bother this reviewer, but the mention (in passing) of the adult affair did.

Heterosexuals, Homosexuals, and (a Separate Issue) Predatory Pedophiles

Catholics acknowledge that priests have had mistresses. The Borgias is Showtime’s historical fiction series about the conspiracies and love affairs of the famous family led by Pope Alexander VI. It’s part of documented church history that even popes have had mistresses.

Many Catholics refuse to acknowledge that homosexual men that are not pedophiles are a part of the priesthood, and some of them have affairs with each other. In the early 11th century, Pope Urban II knew Archbishop Ralph of Tours pulled strings so that his lover would be made the Bishop of Orléans. This means they broke their vows of celibacy, just as Pope Alexander VI did. Today, gay priests are part of the top leadership in the Vatican.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

JEFFREY R. ANDERSON

This week yet another Minnesota priest was arrested for sexually abusing a child. Father Leo Charles Koppala, of Blue Earth, Minnesota, has been charged with the sexual abuse of an 11-year old girl. Father Koppala is a priest at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. His arrest is a stark reminder of the continued vulnerability of our youth to child predators, including clergy.

American Catholic Bishops are fond of categorizing the sexual abuse of children by clergy as a historic problem. The much-criticized 2011 John Jay Report commissioned by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops takes this position. But the crimes of Fr. Koppala and St. Paul priest, Father Curtis Wehmeyer believe this stance.

At the moment, according to the Bishop of Winona, Fr. Koppala is on administrative leave. The priest is not allowed to live on parish property or conduct ministry. The Bishop represented that there were no previous abuse allegations regarding Fr. Koppala.

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HAWAII
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims to leaflet Kailua neighborhood where accused priest lived, worked
A least six kids have charged cleric with abuse
Neighbors may know witnesses, other victims
It is safe and right to talk about abuse, leaflet says
New law gives victims rights to expose abuse, get justice

What: Victims of sexual abuse and their supporters will leaflet a Kailua neighborhood where a six-time accused priest worked and lived. The leaflets will:

– Alert neighbors about accusations and lawsuits against the Diocese of Honolulu and Fr. J. Michael Henry,
– Let people know that it is safe and right to talk about abuse,
– Ask people to come forward if they have information or are witnesses to abuse, and
– Urge victims to report abuse to law enforcement and get help and healing.

Where: The neighborhood surrounding St. Anthony’s Parish in Kailua.
148 Makawao St in Kailua

Leafleting will start at the SW corner of Kalaheo and Makawao

For exact location, call (949) 322-7434

When: Wednesday, June 12, 11 am to 1 pm

Who: Two to three men and women who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), including a California woman who the group’s Western Regional Director.

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

GERMANY
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

June 12th, 2013

The European has a long interview (in German) by reporter Sebastian Pfeffer with the psychotherapist Jürgen Lemke. He brings to light a very recent era which has disappeared down the memory hole. In the generation of the revolutionaries of 1968 and among the Greens pedophilia was almost “fashionable.”

Lemke: These groups maintained that “Children also have the right to sex with adults and desire it.”

The pedophiles saw themselves as doing children a favor. The revolutionaries who were not themselves pedophiles wanted to get rid of all taboos and restrictions, and did not want to impose any on pedophiles. Children were the victims of the sexual revolution.

Lemke: Eine Mutter, deren Sohn lange bei mir in Therapie war, war in den Siebzigern darauf stolz, dass ein Lehrer sich in ihren Sohn „verliebte“ und Sexualität einforderte. „Mein Unwohlsein darüber“, das sagt sie heute, „habe ich damals verdrängt, weil ich keine rückständige Mutter sein wollte.“ Im Grunde opferte sie den eigenen Sohn für eine Ideologie, die im Namen des Fortschritts das Zusammenleben neu regeln wollte.

“A mother, whose son was in therapy with me a long time, in the 1970s was proud that a teacher ‘loved’ her son and called for sex. She now says ‘At that time I suppressed my discomfort about that because I didn’t want to be an old-fashioned mother.’ Basically she sacrificed her own son for an ideology that in the name of progress desired to order anew the ways of living together.”

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VATICAN
Reflexion y Liberacion (Chile)

En un gesto sin precedentes, el Papa Francisco recibió y dialogó durante una hora con la directiva de la Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosas y Religiosos (CLAR). Conversaron ubicados en círculo, entre iguales, como era en las primeras Comunidades fundadas por Jesús…

En un ambiente de confianza y sencillez, Francisco instó a los líderes de la CLAR a que no tengan miedo de continuar llevando su misión a los límites y las fronteras… “¡Coraje! ¡Avanzad para nuevos horizontes! No tengan miedo de correr riesgos yendo a los pobres y los nuevos sujetos emergentes en el continente”, señaló el Papa Bergoglio, quien al final del encuentro agradeció enfáticamente a la vida religiosa ser “señal y testimonio del Evangelio” en muchos lugares de América Latina y Caribe.

Ofrecemos a nuestros lectores -en exclusiva- esta breve síntesis de este histórico encuentro celebrado en la Santa Sede.

Audiencia con el Papa Francisco

CLAR, 06.06.13

· Abran puertas… ¡abran puertas!

Se van a equivocar, van a meter la pata, ¡eso pasa! Quizá hasta les va a llegar una carta de la Congregación para la Doctrina (de la Fe) diciendo que dijeron tal o cual cosa… Pero no se preocupen. Expliquen lo que tengan que explicar, pero sigan adelante… Abran puertas, hagan algo ahí donde la vida clama. Prefiero una Iglesia que se equivoca por hacer algo que una que se enferma por quedarse encerrada …

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VATICAN CITY
NPR

by EYDER PERALTA
June 12, 2013

In an audience with The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious, Pope Francis is said to have revealed the existence of a gay lobby.

The organization of priests and nuns posted notes of their private meeting with the pope on its website.

“Truthfully, there are saintly people in the curia, but there is also a current of corruption, it’s true,” he said according to the Confederation. “There’s talk of the ‘gay lobby’ and it’s true it’s there. We have to see what we can do about it.”

As The New York Times reports, this is apparent confirmation of reports in Italian media that the Vatican denied in February.

The Times explains:

“In the days leading up to Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation in February, the Italian news media were rife with reports of a ‘gay lobby’ influencing papal decision-making and Vatican policy through blackmail, and suggestions that the scandal had contributed to his decision to resign.

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News Latino

VATICAN CITY – In a stunning acknowledgment that appears to confirm earlier reports about corruption and dysfunction in the Holy See, Pope Francis lamented that a “gay lobby” was at work inside the Vatican in private remarks to the leadership of a key Latin American church group.

The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious — the regional organization for priests and nuns of religious orders — confirmed Tuesday that its leaders had written a synthesis of Francis’ remarks after their June 6 audience.

The group, known by its Spanish acronym CLAR, said it was greatly distressed that the document had been published and apologized to the pope.

In the document, Francis is quoted as saying that while there were many holy people in the Vatican, there was also corruption: “The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true, it is there … We need to see what we can do …” the synthesis reads.

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UNITED STATES
O’Donnell Clark and Crew

Kelly Clark

I am a spiritual man. Now, don’t misunderstand me: I did not say I am a virtuous man, or a good man, or—God knows this and so do all my friends—a Far from it on all counts. I am a deeply flawed and broken guy. But, in spite of all that—or, more precisely, because of all that—I am a spiritual person, by which I mean that I see and understand the world and my life primarily in spiritual terms, brokenness and healing, death and resurrection, darkness and light. Both my religious faith and my program of recovery from addiction teach me how to do this, and there is a lot to be said for it as a way of life. Trying to live according to spiritual principles gives me hope and joy in the everyday, in family and friends, in sunsets and snowstorms. But there is a downside as well, which is that my spiritual program requires that I regularly check myself and my motives: in personal relationships, in lifestyle, in professional endeavors. My life and my faith teach me that there is some darkness in the best of us, some light in the worst of us, and that I am not fit to be a judge of anyone but me, and often not even that.

All of which can be really inconvenient when I go to work. For I fight child sexual abuse for a living. For nearly two decades now, most of my law practice has been dedicated to pursuing justice on behalf of men and women who as children were sexually abused by trusted adults: teachers, priests, pastors, Scout leaders, coaches, relatives. We file lawsuits against child abusers and the institutions that enabled it; we often work with law enforcement to try to prosecute the offenders; we work with educators, regulators and legislators to try to improve policies and laws in institutions of trust where we expect our children to be safe. This is what I do, 50 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. It is meaningful work and I believe in it and I hope that it makes a difference in keeping kids safer than they otherwise would be.

But this work can be difficult at times, with tragic stories of pain and suffering, cowardice and cover-up, dishonesty and disingenuity. The survivors I work with are often in a lot of pain—depression and disorientation, drugs and or alcohol abuse, relationship or vocational struggles. We have lost three men to suicide in the last decade and had another dozen scares. Some days I get so sad, other days so angry, and yet other days I get to a place of despair—which, for me, is a kind of numbness that can paralyze me into inaction. When that happens I find that I have gradually taken on too much of the pain of others, I have forgotten to take care of myself, and so I slowly sink beneath the quicksand. When these times approach, I have to be especially conscious and aware, and check myself and my motives often. I have to tap into the spiritual resources inside me.

For the truth of the challenge is that my soul does not want long to endure such emotions as overwhelming sadness or despair, loss or futility, and so, almost inevitably after a few minutes or hours of such feelings, anger comes rushing in, deep anger. Soon after the deep anger comes the emotions that are, at least for me, truly toxic, poisonous, self-defeating. Emotions like rage—which is different from anger in both degree and purpose, and revenge—which is wholly different from justice, and, worst of all, righteousness and self-righteousness—which says that I am, we are, qualitatively different, nay, even better than those on the other side of our work.

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ZAMBIA
The Post

By Staff Reporter
Wed 12 June 2013

SIX Catholic priests from Mpika Catholic Diocese have been suspended indefinitely for teaching Religious Education and other subjects in secondary schools.

Some priests only received the suspension letters dated June 7, 2013 and signed by Kasama Archbishop Ignatius Chama last Sunday after conducting Mass, while others have not yet received them because they are still in the pigeonhole at Saint Andrew’s Catholic Church in Mpika awaiting delivery.
The suspended priests are Fr Benjamin Chisulo of Chilonga Parish, Fr Lawrence Chibwe of Chalabesa Parish, Fr Mark Chitamaluka of Mulanga, Fr Teddy Chilufya of Kopa, Fr Morgan Chikwale of Isoka and Fr Vito Milandile of Nabwalya.

The suspension of the six priests has been received with mixed feelings among members of the clergy and Christians in the diocese.

The source disclosed that the suspension of the priests had not been well received by most Christians who have accused Archbishop Chama of taking a firm stand on insignificant matters, while remaining ambivalent on serious matters such as sex scandals involving priests, some of whom have children.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

A disgraced paedophile priest, already serving a 10-year jail sentence for sex crimes against three victims has admitted sexually molesting a fourth young victim.

James Martin Donaghy had been due to go on trial at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday but instead, defence QC Eugene Grant asked for the charges to be put to the sexual predator again.

Speaking in a calm, clear voice Donaghy, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and blue striped tie, entered guilty pleas to four charges of indecently assaulting a male child and a further charge of committing common assault against the same boy on dates between January and May 1989.

As he entered his guilty pleas, his victim’s mother wept quietly in the public gallery before fleeing the court in tears.

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VATICAN CITY
Perth Now

AAP JUNE 12, 2013

POPE Francis has railed against the “deplorable” exploitation of children in domestic work, saying cases of child labour were on the rise in poor countries and affect young girls in particular.

“There are millions of minors, mostly young girls, who are victims of this form of hidden exploitation which often includes sexual abuse, poor treatment and discrimination,” he said in a message to mark World Day Against Child Labour.

Francis called on the international community “to take ever more effective measures to fight this plague,” which he said was “a deplorable phenomenon constantly on the increase.”

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ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

(see related) Rome, June 12 – A leading group supporting victims of priest sex abuse responded Wednesday to reports of Pope Francis complaining of a gay lobby in the Vatican and a “stream of corruption” in the Roman Curia. “Sexual orientation isn’t the real problem. Sexually active and thus compromised clerics are the real problem,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “Allegedly celibate men (gay or straight) can, and often do, take advantage of their status and power. “It’s highly unlikely there will be a thorough ‘clean sweep’ of Curia personnel. But if that were to happen, it still won’t make much of a difference. “Structure, not sexuality, is the real issue. The church is a monarchy. Monarchs are unaccountable. So many monarchs are corrupt”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Unheilige Macht

Lieber Christian,

du hast mich gefragt, ob ich für den Blog etwas über meine Geschichte mit dem Aloisiuskolleg schreiben kann. Ich will das gerne versuchen – ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit. Ich versuche mich kurz zu fassen, damit es lesbar bleibt. Und mir ist zunächst einmal wichtig, dass ich hier als ehemaliger Schüler spreche. Ich kann mich, was das Ako betrifft, nicht so einfach der „Täterseite“ zuordnen, wie ich es am Canisius-Kolleg konnte, das ich ja erst 1994 kennenlernte.

Als ich im Januar 2010 meinen Brief an die ehemaligen Schüler des Canisius-Kollegs in Berlin schrieb, hatte ich das Ako gar nicht im Blick. Darüber nachher mehr. Aber ich war – zu meiner nachträglichen Überraschung – nicht überrascht, als ich schon bald Post von ehemaligen Schülern und von Eltern ehemaliger Schüler aus dem Ako mit Opferberichten bekam. In meinen Antworten bestätigte ich spontan die Glaubwürdigkeit der Berichte vor dem Hintergrund meiner eigenen Erinnerungen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
The European

Jürgen Lemke therapiert seit Jahren Pädophile und Missbrauchsopfer. Mit Sebastian Pfeffer spricht er darüber, wie der Zeitgeist unter 68ern und Grünen die Pädophilie fast salonfähig machte. Der Psychotherapeut gibt Einblick in eine verstörende Welt, deren Existenz von der Gesellschaft auch heute noch mehrheitlich ignoriert wird.

The European: Herr Lemke, wie kann man heute verstehen, dass in den 70er- und 80er-Jahren verschiedene Gruppen für den legalen Kindesmissbrauch eintreten konnten und es keinen Aufschrei gab?

Lemke: Diese Gruppen propagierten ja nicht dezidiert „Kindesmissbrauch“, sie verkehrten die Sache ins Gegenteil und behaupteten: „Auch Kinder haben ein Recht auf Sexualität mit Erwachsenen und wollen das.“ Selbstbewusst erklärten sie sich zu Befreiern der unterdrückten Kinder, und ernannten sich zu „wahren Kinderfreunden“.

The European: Und im Zeitgeist der 68er-Bewegung hat das verfangen?
Lemke: Viele sexuelle Tabus wurden gekippt, und die Pädophilie gleich mit. So einen radikalen Bruch mit dem Althergebrachten gab es davor noch nicht. So dass die Pädophilen sich als „Revolutionäre“ erlebten und dementsprechend auftraten. Nicht nur in der Bundesrepublik, auch in anderen Ländern wurde das Kind mit dem Bade ausgeschüttet. Außer in ominösen Geschichten über die alten Griechen, bei denen Pädophilie angeblich gang und gäbe war, wurde Sex mit Kindern in allen Epochen der Menschheit mit Strafen belegt. Den Umbruch 1968 nutzten die Pädophilen und sprangen im Windschatten der sexuellen Revolution auf den fahrenden Zug. Trittbrettfahrer – wenn man so will.

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VATIKAN
Spiegel

Gemunkelt wird über die Existenz eines schwulen Netzwerkes im Vatikan seit langem. Benedikt XVI. soll gar wegen der mächtigen Strippenzieher aus dem Amt geschieden sein. Jetzt bestätigte Papst Franziskus dies unerwartet: “Wir müssen sehen, was wir tun können.”

Rom – Die Versammlung sollte eigentlich hinter geschlossenen Türen stattfinden, über das Gesagte Stillschweigen bewahrt werden. Am 6. Juni empfing Papst Franziskus Vorstandsmitglieder der Lateinamerikanischen und Karibischen Konferenz der Ordensleute (Clar). Man sprach über dies und das, offenbar auch über brisante Inhalte.

Irgendjemand aus der Gruppe erstellte eine Zusammenfassung der Anmerkungen des Papstes. Und eben die gelangte an die Öffentlichkeit. Die chilenische Internetseite “Reflexión y Liberación” publizierte den Wortlaut der Mitschrift.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter

THE priest behind a book alleging a culture of sexual bullying within the Catholic Church in Scotland is being threatened with legal action from another serving cleric.

Father Robert Kane, a priest in the Diocese of Motherwell, announced to his congregation his intention to pursue Father Matthew Despard through the courts.

It is understood he was given a standing ovation by parishioners.

Father Despard’s book claims sexual misconduct has been rife for decades in junior seminaries where teenagers train for the priesthood.

The self-published Priesthood In Crisis, which came in the wake of the sex scandal and allegations facing shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien, was recently withdrawn by Amazon.

While he is not named in the book, it is understood Father Kane, who serves St Teresa of Lisieux in Newarthill, believes he is referred to several times. It is understood he denies any wrongdoing.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Catholic priest has said the death of a colleague at the weekend has highlighted the growing pressures they face.

Father Matt Wallace, from the parish of the Holy Trinity in west Belfast, took his own life.

The funeral of the County Wexford-born priest was held in Belfast on Tuesday.

It was told that the growing demand on a diminishing number of priests is physically and mentally challenging and for some it is become intolerable

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

A Roman Catholic priest and former teacher face long prison terms when they are sentenced in a priest-abuse case that brought down a Philadelphia church official.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt of Wynnewood, Pa. and Bernard Shero of Levittown, Pa. are due in court Wednesday to learn their fates.

A troubled policeman’s son accused Engelhardt, Shero and now-defrocked priest Edward Avery of raping him as a child in the 1990s.

All three men deny the allegations, even though Avery took a plea offer and the others were convicted of most charges at trial.

The 49-year-old Shero is being sentenced on rape, indecent assault and other charges.

The 66-year-old Engelhardt faces sentencing on indecent assault, corruption of a minor and conspiracy.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Tyrone Times

Published on 12/06/2013

CONTROVERSIAL priest Father Sean McEvoy is headed back to his home parish in Newry by mutual agreement with the Church authorities.

Fr McEvoy, who was suspended from his duties three years ago, had been residing in Aughnacloy’s parochial house, but in a statement read out at last Sunday’s Masses, it was revealed that he is moving to Killeavy Parish, in Co Armagh.

The statement added that the move carried no implication of guilt on the part of Fr McEvoy.

However, a parishioner revealed to the Tyrone Times that the priest had been ‘forced out’.

“People in Aughnacloy are disappointed that it has come to this”, she said.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

(CNN) – Pope Francis said a “gay lobby” exists inside the Vatican, a surprising disclosure from a pope who has already delivered his share of stunners, and a resurrection of church conflicts that had bedeviled his predecessor’s papacy.

“In the Curia,” Francis said, referring to Catholicism’s central bureaucracy, “there are holy people. But there is also a stream of corruption.”

“The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true, it is there,” Francis continued. “We need to see what we can do.”

Hints that the Holy See contained a network of gay clergy surfaced last year in reports about a series of embarrassing leaks to Italian journalists.

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CANADA
Fr. Ted’s Blog

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Fr. Ted

Winnipeg news outlets are reporting that the sexual abuse trial of the OCA’s former Archbishop of Canada, Seraphim (Storheim) has begun. The Winnipeg Sun reports, “Sex abuse trial for former Orthodox archbishop Seraphim Storheim begins.” The Winnipeg Free Press said, “Ex-altar boy tells archbishop’s Winnipeg sex assault trial he felt ‘disgusted’”.

It is only with the trial’s beginning that some details about the allegation are coming forth. A court ordered publication ban prevents certain details from being released since those making the allegations were minors at the time the events were claimed to have occurred. Archbishop Seraphim was still a parish priest when the alleged abuse occurred between 1984-1987. He became a bishop in 1987.

We will soon learn what the Crown is able to prove regarding the case and how Archbishop Seraphim will be judged by the court. Whatever is proven in court, the Orthodox Church in America will still and also have to render a judgment on Archbishop Seraphim and whether anything he did violated church canons and requires a church court or church discipline. The OCA has chosen to let the Crown make its case and judgment first before dealing with the case in the church. This was partly necessary perhaps because the OCA did not have all of the details of the case which are only now being revealed. Still the OCA needs to review its own inner culture that allowed the events to be ignored for so long without opening an investigation into the allegations.

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UNITED STATES
Pokrov

Date Published: 6/11/2013
Publication: Pokrov.org

Today is the first anniversary of Scott Nevin’s tragic death. We here at Pokrov.org ask what has been done in the past year by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Metropolis of San Francisco and the other dioceses to ensure that this tragedy will not be repeated?

The answer?

NOTHING.

Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis, Metropolitan Gerasimos Michaleas and all the other Greek hierarchs are accountable for what happens at the monasteries founded by Archimandrite Ephraim Moraitis. Scott’s blood is on their hands. What more will it take for these leaders to take decisive ACTION against what appears to be a sect within their church that acts like a destructive cult?

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Posted: Wednesday, June 12, 2013

BY LOUIS LLOVIO Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Richmond Outreach Center will continue to pay its former senior pastor his $115,000 annual salary and will allow him to live in the church’s parsonage for the next six months.

The church’s board of directors agreed on the severance package for Geronimo Aguilar, who faces child sexual abuse charges in Texas, “after much discussion and taking his family into consideration.”
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Stephen C. Lewis, the South Richmond megachurch’s attorney, said the board felt that Aguilar’s years of service as the founder and head of the ROC merited the severance package.

“He was under an employment agreement, but I don’t think that was the reason for the severance. The reason was (because) people appreciate what he’s done and with what he’s got going on, people want to make sure his family was taken care of,” Lewis said.

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COLOMBIA
Confederacion Latinoamericana y Caribena de Religiosos y Religiosas

Bogotá, Colombia, 11 de junio de 2013

DECLARACIÓN DE LA PRESIDENCIA DE LA CLAR

La Presidencia de la CLAR lamenta profundamente la publicación de un texto que se refiere a la conversación tenida con el Santo Padre Francisco durante el encuentro del pasado 6 de junio. Conversación que se desarrolló a partir de las preguntas hechas al Papa por los presentes.

En tal ocasión no se hizo grabación alguna de la conversación pero poco después se elaboró una síntesis de la misma con base en los recuerdos de los participantes. Esta síntesis, que no contiene las preguntas hechas al Santo Padre, estaba destinada a la memoria personal de los mismos participantes y de ninguna manera a la publicación para la cual, de hecho, no se había pedido autorización alguna.

Es claro que sobre esta base no se pueden atribuir al Santo Padre, con seguridad, las expresiones singulares contenidas en el texto, sino solo su sentido general.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By The Record
June 12, 2013

STOCKTON – The Diocese of Stockton’s Bishop Stephen Blaire wrote a letter that was read to congregations over the weekend addressing speculation on the diocese filing for bankruptcy and settlements on sexual abuse lawsuits.

A recent settlement brought the total the diocese has paid in judgments, legal costs and settlements to $15 million over the past 20 years, Blaire said in the letter. And of that, $6 million has been paid in the past three years.

The latest settlement is with a victim of defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady. The victim was 10 or 11 years old in the 1980s when he was molested by O’Grady, according to the letter.

“It is my hope that this settlement helps him continue to heal,” Blaire said. “He, and all victims of sexual abuse, must be in our prayers always.”

Blaire said that since his arrival to the diocese 14 years ago, he has tried to settle the cases and heal the “wounds” caused to the Church “by the evil of sexual abuse.”

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VATICAAN
Holebi

Paus Franciscus erkent het bestaan van een ‘homolobby’ bestaat binnen het bestuur van de kerk en van een stroom van corruptie, hierdoor is het volgens de kerkvader niet eenvoudig op de Romeinse curie (het bestuur van de Kerk), te hervormen.

De hervorming die bijna alle kardinalen willen is moeilijk volgens de Paus. “Er zijn veel goede mensen, maar er is ook een stroom van corruptie. En men spreekt ook over een ‘homolobby’, en het is zo dat die echt bestaat. Ik kan de hervormingen niet leiden omdat hij heel ongeorganiseerd is”, aldus nog paus Franciscus. De hervorming in gang zetten is de taak van de Commissie van acht kardinalen die hij heeft benoemd en die in oktober voor de eerste keer een officiële bijeenkomst heeft in Rome.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Post

A PRIEST under investigation over allegations he had a sexual relationship with a patient while working as a nurse is being allowed to continue his ministry.

Reverend Stephen Anthony Sheridan, a curate with the diocese of St Asaph, is alleged to have behaved in an “inappropriate manner” towards patients while working for the NHS in Worthing, West Sussex between 2002 and 2010.

One allegation relates to claims he had a “sexual relationship” with a “vulnerable” patient (known as Patient X), and the other relates to claims he asked another patient to shave his back.

The misconduct allegations, being investigated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), do not relate to North Wales.

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AUSTRALIA
Lawyers Weekly

11 June, 2013 Stephanie Quine

The Australian Lawyers Alliance is calling on the Catholic Church to reveal the accurate number of victims known to it in the Victorian child sexual abuse inquiry.

The Catholic Church in Victoria confirmed on Friday (June 7) that it accepted the authenticity of 849 child abuse complaints, made since the 1950s, against 269 male and female clergy and lay persons.

Those the Church said have been found guilty include 114 brothers, 98 priests, nine nuns, two seminarians, 42 lay people and two listed as ‘unknown’.

ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison SC (pictured) said these figures are far from the complete story because two-thirds of the Victorian diocese was not included in those figures and the Church is aware of at least another 90 cases.

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CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Los Angeles, Calif., Jun 12, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Critics say a proposed Calif. bill lifting the statute of limitations on some child sex abuse lawsuits threatens the Catholic Church and its schools, failing to allow suits for similar abuse in public schools.

“The bill itself is just unfair on its face,” Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the California Catholic Conference, told CNA June 11.

“Legislation is supposed to protect victims. The only thing (this bill) does is eliminate the statute of limitations for a year and revive a lot of old claims, but it only does so against private organizations.”

Eckery said private schools, organizations like the YMCA, and Catholic dioceses and schools are “concerned about the fact that they’re being singled out.”

The legislation, S.B. 131, passed in the state Senate May 29 by a vote of 21-10. It now heads to the California House of Representatives.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

Russell Romano is listed on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s website as a priest with “substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.”

Posted by Melissa Sersland (Editor), June 11, 2013

Members of SNAP—Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests– called for the firing of Bolingbrook ex-priest Russell L. Romano May 9.

Romano has worked as a counselor for Advocate Health Care in the Illinois Professional Heath Program in Des Plaines for 12 years, according to SNAP. He is listed on the Archdiocese of Chicago website as a priest with “substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.”

SNAP learned Tuesday that Romano was retire from his position at Advocate Health Care by the end of the month.

“Romano should be fired. And those who hired him – Advocate Health and the Chicago archdiocese – should aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP in a release. “Letting him retire implies that he’s innocent and that’s wrong.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – This is sentencing day for a priest and former lay teacher convicted of sexually assaulting the same 5th and 6th grade boy at St. Jerome’s in Philadelphia in 1999 and 2000.

The prosecution is expected to argue for lengthy prison terms for Father Charles Engelhardt and former lay teacher Bernard Shero. They were convicted of sexually assaulting the same boy assaulted by another now defrocked priest, Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty last year.

Even with conviction, defense attorney Michael McGovern has maintained Father Engelhardt is not guilty and he’s said he will fight this injustice.

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PENNSYLVANIA
A.I.R. Network

By Greg Banks on June 11th, 2013

Following a statement from the Bishop McCort High School Board of Trustees in the aftermath of the allegations against the now deceased priest Brothetr Stephen Baker, who abused Bishop McCort students in the 90s many questions go unanswered and victims continue to hang in limbo. The Steve Austin Show asked Judy Block Jones of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to come back on the show after an appearance in March to discuss the Board’s public comments of “moving on”. In the highly charged environment presently in Johnstown; Jones spoke with Steve Austin about the issue on Monday’s show.

Hear the highlights here: Judy Block Jones on Bishop McCort

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter
June 12, 2013

Advocate Health Care has disclosed that a former Roman Catholic priest removed from ministry 20 years ago for a substantiated allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor will retire at the end of the month.

Russell Romano of Bolingbrook, who was a priest in the Chicago Archdiocese from 1973 to 1991, has worked for Advocate for 12 years, hospital officials said. According to the system’s website, he works for a publicly funded treatment program for Illinois health care professionals.

In May, victims advocates expressed concern that Romano worked as a counselor at an Advocate health clinic in Des Plaines.

This week, leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests received a letter addressing those concerns. In the letter to Barbara Blaine and David Clohessy, Kevin Brady, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Advocate Health Care, said the organization “completed a full investigation” and found that “Mr. Romano has had no contact with children.”

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

Written by Scott Dolan, Staff Writer

BANGOR – Attorneys in the case of an Augusta man who accused a priest of sexually abusing him as a child argued before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday whether the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland was obligated to disclose that the same priest was later accused of abusing other children.

William Picher of Augusta accused Raymond Melville of sexually abusing him when he was a student at St. Mary’s School from September 1986 to June 1988, while Melville was serving his initial assignment as assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Parish in Augusta.

Picher, now 39, filed his complaint in 2007. He also accused the diocese of covering up knowledge about previous sex abuse complaints against Melville that came to light after Picher was abused.

In 1990, a Maryland man wrote to then-Portland Bishop Joseph Gerry, saying he had been “emotionally, sexually and physically abused” as a teenager by Melville between 1980 and 1985, when Melville was a seminarian studying to be a priest in Baltimore.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted June 11, 2013

BANGOR, Maine — An Augusta man who claims he was abused in the 1980s by a Catholic priest has asked the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to consider what the bishop knew and when he knew it about the conduct of the Rev. Raymond Melville.

Justices heard oral arguments in the case Tuesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center. It was the second time the court has considered the case, originally filed in February 2007 in Kennebec County Superior Court.

The state’s high court four years ago affirmed 5-2 that under Maine law charitable groups such as churches, museums and sports organizations are immune from claims for negligent actions, but it said they are not immune from intentional actions.

William Picher, 39, claims that Raymond Melville, 70, of North Carolina, who left the ministry in 1997, sexually assaulted him between 1986 and 1988 when Picher was a student at St. Mary Catholic School in Augusta. Picher also alleges that Melville’s supervisors at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland knew the priest had sexually abused children previously but hid allegations from parishioners.

Gerald Petruccelli, the Portland attorney representing the diocese, told the justices Tuesday that the bishop’s office did not receive its first complaint about Melville until 1990, after the alleged abuse of Picher ended. It could not conceal what it did not know, he said.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By The Record
June 11, 2013

STOCKTON – The Diocese of Stockton’s Bishop Stephen Blaire wrote a letter that was read to congregations over the weekend addressing speculation on the diocese filing for bankruptcy and settlements on sexual abuse lawsuits.

A recent settlement brought the total the Catholic diocese has paid in judgments, legal costs and settlements to $15 million over the past 20 years, Blaire said in the letter. And of that, $6 million has been paid in the last three years.

The latest settlement is with a victim of defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady. The victim was 10 or 11 years old when he was molested by O’Grady in the 1980s, according to the letter.

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CANADA
CTV

By Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, June 11, 2013

WINNIPEG — A second man testified Tuesday that he was sexually abused as an altar boy three decades ago by a priest who would become the top Canadian cleric in the Orthodox Church in America.

“I listened to everything he said,” the 39-year-old man testified at Seraphim Storheim’s trial.
“My mother clearly mentioned ‘Listen to everything he says.”‘

Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the man and the man’s brother. Neither complainant can be identified under a publication ban.

Both men have told the trial they were sent by their single mother at different times in 1985 to live and work with Storheim at a church in Winnipeg. They were both pre-teens at the time.

The man who testified Tuesday said Storheim would routinely walk naked around the small house attached to the church and would sometimes lie on the floor naked and touch himself.

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CANADA
Sun News

DEAN PRITCHARD | QMI AGENCY

WINNIPEG — A former altar boy who says he was sexually abused by Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim told court Tuesday the future archbishop inspected his pyjamas for semen stains.

“He really wanted to look at my pyjamas,” the now 39-year-old man testified. “It was like a sexual education briefing, he was talking about pre-ejaculation … ‘because this is what happens at your age.'”

The man said Storheim was naked as he held the pyjamas up to the light.The man said he was 10- or 11-years-old when he spent two weeks living and working with Storheim at a Winnipeg church.

Upon arriving at the church’s attached residence, Storheim asked the boy if he would object to Storheim walking around naked, court was told.

“I told him I didn’t mind,” the man said. “I didn’t know any better … He was a role model (to our family).

Whatever he said, we didn’t think twice about it.”

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HOUSTON (TX)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 11, 201

We are here today to protect kids. For far too long, SBC church officials have remained silent on what we believe to be a systemic problem of inappropriate and dangerous responses within Southern Baptist churches when Baptist clergy are credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

Church staff and members often immediately and even publicly rally around an accused child molester instead of keeping an open mind and urging anyone with information to come forward. Then, victims, witnesses and whistleblowers are intimidated or frightened and stay silent, many times, for decades. As a result, all too often, those who commit and conceal child sex crimes walk free, remain hidden and hurt others.

This ought not to be. All children and their parents in our churches and communities deserve our utmost transparency and truthfulness. It’s the light of truth and knowledge that is our greatest tool to protect kids.

We urge the SBC to wait no longer and today decide to leave behind the status quo of silence and worn-out, weak and cowardly excuse of Baptist polity and autonomous church structure that keeps officials from cooperatively addressing the issue of child sexual abuse within SBC churches and subsequent cover-ups of that abuse by the failure to immediately report any knowledge or suspicion of abuse to law enforcement authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Why Aren’t Bishops Following Sexual-abuse Reforms?

Nicholas P. Cafardi June 3, 2013

Last month the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops published its report on the latest round of diocesan audits conducted by the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People. The results are encouraging.

Accusations of sexual abuse by clergy have fallen dramatically over the past decade. While it goes without saying that a single instance of child sexual abuse is one too many, just thirty-four minors made allegations of abuse in 2012. Of those thirty-four allegations, six were considered credible, twelve not, and the rest are still being investigated. These are the fewest allegations we’ve seen since the audits began in 2004—audits made possible by reforms the bishops conference adopted in Dallas in 2002. While it’s true that most dioceses self-report their data, and that many refuse to allow auditors into parishes and schools, no one can deny that the Catholic Church made significant progress on this issue. Yet some bishops still act as if the sexual-abuse scandal never happened.

I was at the National Press Club in February 2004, when Archbishop Wilton Gregory, then president of the USCCB, announced that the sexual-abuse crisis was “history.” He was roundly criticized for that comment, but I’m sure he was being sincere. At that point, two years after the bishops adopted the Dallas Charter and Essential Norms governing their response to abuse accusations, the new rules seemed to be working. Predominantly lay review boards in every diocese were assessing abuse allegations in order to advise bishops whether accused priests should be removed from ministry. And, according to the new rules, no priest with a credible allegation of child sexual abuse against him would be allowed to remain in ministry.

When the spotlight of the national press was on them, it appeared that the bishops had acted responsibly. But, as an inaugural member of the bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth, I had a different perspective. When the board went looking for national data about the phenomenon of sexual abuse by clergy, the California bishops, led by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles (now retired), strongly resisted the audits.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The leaders of the Conference of Latin American Religious (CLAR) refer to an audience in which Francis spoke of the existence of a “gay lobby” in the Roman Curia. Lombardi issued no statement on the matter, saying the meeting was of a private nature

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

In the Curia…there are holy people,” but there is also “a current of corruption”, Pope Francis allegedly told the leadership of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) in a private audience in the Apostolic Palace library on 6 June. A Chilean website published a partial account of the conversation.

According to the Latin American religious, the Pope also talked about a “gay lobby” existing in the Vatican: “The “gay lobby” is mentioned, and it is true, it is there… We need to see what we can do…,” the Pope was quoted saying. The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi said he had “no statement to make on the proceedings or on the content of the conversation” the content of which was not therefore recorded or transcribed.

According to CLAR’s leaders, Francis apparently encouraged the Conference’s members to “keep moving forward” and not be afraid to take risks by approaching the poor and new emerging figures across the continent. “Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine (of the Faith) will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing… But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward… Open the doors, do something there where life calls for it. I would rather have a Church that makes mistakes for doing something than one that gets sick for being closed up…,” the Pope was quoted saying.

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CANADA
Macleans

by Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press on Tuesday, June 11, 2013

WINNIPEG – A second man testified Tuesday that he was sexually abused as an altar boy three decades ago by a priest who would become the top Canadian cleric in the Orthodox Church in America.

“I listened to everything he said,” the 39-year-old man testified at Seraphim Storheim’s trial.

“My mother clearly mentioned ‘Listen to everything he says.’”

Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the man and the man’s brother. Neither complainant can be identified under a publication ban.

Both men have told the trial they were sent by their single mother at different times in 1985 to live and work with Storheim at a church in Winnipeg. They were both pre-teens at the time.

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

VATICAN CITY
Rorate Caeli

[First post: traditional groups; second post: “gay lobby” in the Curia]

On June 6, 2013, the Pope received the presiding board of the CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women – Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosos y Religiosas). A transcript of the pope’s words was made by those present, and given to the Chilean ultra-progressive page Reflexión y Liberación (Reflection and Liberation) for exclusive publication.

Whoever knows the Pope and who knew the words and demeanor of former Cardinal Bergoglio can have no doubts about the accuracy of the words below – in which different groups within the Church and the Curia are specifically mentioned. Words in (parentheses) are part of the original transcript to provide the context. Words in [square brackets] were added by us to clarify language difficulties and explain a few points. All ellipses are part of the original Spanish transcript. We hold no public opinion on any part of the text: we report, you decide.
_____________________

In an unprecedented gesture, Pope Francis received and held a dialogue of one hour with the board of the Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosas y Religiosos (CLAR). They spoke in a circle, among equals, as it happened in the first communities founded by Jesus…

In an environment of trust and simplicity, Francis prompted the leaders of the CLAR to not be afraid of continuing to carrying on their mission to the boundaries and to the borders…. “Courage! Advance towards new horizons! Do not be afraid to run risks going to the poor, and to new emerging subjects in the continent,” said Pope Bergoglio, who at the end of the meeting emphatically thanked religious life for being “sign and witness of the Gospel” in many places in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Jun. 11, 2013 NCR Today

Pope Francis met last week with the presiding board of CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women). Reportedly, they had a cordial and informal meeting, with Francis, as he is prone to do, speaking off the cuff.

A reported transcript of the conversation covers a lot of ground. Reportedly at one point, he encouraged the religious leaders to continue to take risks on behalf of their mission and not worry too much about some of the consequences of their commitments.

Reading the transcript in light of longtime tensions between U.S. women religious and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith should offer solace to the women, especially the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Rev. James J. Greenfield, Provincial of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, is publicly coming to the defense of his fellow priest, Fr. Charles Engelhardt, one of three men recently convicted in the high-profile Philadelphia clergy abuse trials.

“We cannot just roll over in the face of being falsely accused,” Fr. Greenfield says. “That is wrong. We need to stand up for what’s right.”

Greenfield made his remarks in the latest blog post of journalist Ralph Cipriano, who has bravely exposed the massive fraud and corruption in the prosecution of Catholic clergy in Philadelphia.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

January 20, 1947 – May 21, 2013
James Zorigian, 66 years old, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. He is survived by his son Garrett and three wonderful grandchildren, Sienna, Colin and Zoe. Jim also leaves his twin brother, John and his sister in law, Ronnie, his nephews, Jason and Christopher, his niece, Jamie and her husband, Ignacio and their children, Isabela and Nicolas. Jim was born in 1947, attended 54th Street Elementary School, Audubon Jr. High School, Dorsey High School and on to UCLA where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He then went on to pursue a law degree at U.S.C. where he was elected to president in his second year. He began a very successful law career and spent 41 years helping people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Jim lived for many years in Playa del Rey where he spent his time gardening, playing sports and fishing. What Jim loved most was spending time with his family and friends, doing for them in every way possible. Jim was also a 50 year member of the Armenian Triple X Fraternity whose many members included some of his best of friends. He was also a member of Brentwood Presbyterian Church where he held many positions and contributed much to the church and its community.

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, June 7, 2013

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — A memorial service will be held in California Saturday for an attorney who claimed to represent many alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse from the Diocese of Gallup.

James Zorigian, 66, died May 21. A memorial service will be held Saturday in Los Angeles.

Zorigian, who practiced law in California for more than 40 years, was drawn into the Diocese of Gallup’s legal morass of sex abuse allegations a decade ago. In 2003, former Winslow resident Joseph Baca sought Zorigian’s assistance in pursuing a clergy sex abuse claim against the Gallup Diocese. Zorigian, who had experience in railroad and transportation law, had previously represented Baca in a railroad claim.

Without ever filing a lawsuit against the diocese, Zorigian negotiated a financial settlement on behalf of Baca. Zorigian, Baca and Gallup diocesan officials have never disclosed the amount of that settlement. However, as news of Baca’s settlement spread through Winslow, Zorigian began acquiring a number of other alleged clergy abuse survivors as clients.

In an interview in 2011, Zorigian claimed he had obtained out-of-court settlements for more than a dozen alleged victims in the Gallup Diocese and had another dozen clients preparing to file claims. Most, if not all, were reportedly from Winslow.

Because Zorigian did not file lawsuits, the public and the media were never able to review his clients’ allegations through public court documents, court hearings or media coverage. Zorigian and the Diocese of Gallup have never provided information as to what allegations have been made against what clergy members, and neither have provided information about settlement amounts paid to alleged victims.

Baca is the only Zorigian client to discuss his allegations publicly.

In 2011, Zorigian said the settlement agreements he negotiated were not confidential, just the specific amounts of the settlements were confidential. He claimed officials with the Diocese of Gallup didn’t want abuse survivors comparing settlement amounts. However, Deacon Timoteo Lujan, the former Gallup diocesan chancellor, previously stated in an email that Zorigian had been the one to request confidentiality of the settlement amount.

In contrast, Lujan and former Bishop Donald E. Pelotte had not been hesitant to publicly acknowledge that a $134,000 settlement had been paid by St. Bonaventure Mission to a victim of Douglas A. McNeill. That settlement, inked in 1995, arose out of a very publicly reported lawsuit filed by the late attorney Bruce E. Pasternack.

Unlike attorneys who file lawsuits and prepare for possible trials, Zorigian did not request records or information on the alleged abusers. According to Zorigian, he simply notified the Gallup Diocese that he had another claim, he submitted a statement by his client about the alleged abuse, diocesan attorneys conducted an interview with his client, and the two parties then negotiated a settlement.

Although advocates for survivors of clergy sex abuse encourage victims to file reports with law enforcement agencies, Zorigian said he didn’t think any of his clients wanted to file police reports so he never encouraged them to do so. Therefore, his clients who claimed they had been abused by James M. Burns never went to the police while Burns was still alive, and those who claimed abuse by John Boland never went to the police while Boland was still living in the United States.

As a result, Arizona law enforcement officials never had the opportunity to investigate allegations made by Zorigian’s clients, and prosecutors never could evaluate the allegations for possible criminal prosecution.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Alessandro Speciale Religion News Service | Jun. 11, 2013

VATICAN CITY Weeks after authorizing a continued investigation of American nuns, Pope Francis told a group of nuns and priests from Latin America not to worry if they found themselves under similar scrutiny.

The pope’s purported remarks came during a meeting with top officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) on June 6.

During the meeting, Francis seemed to refer to the Vatican investigation of an American nuns’ group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, while telling the Latin American delegates not to worry should they find themselves the target of a similar investigation.

“They will make mistakes, they will make a blunder, this will pass! Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine [of the Faith] will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing. … But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward.”

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PHIIPPINES
UCAN Philippines

A book launched on Friday is set to send shockwaves through the Philippines Church, with serious allegations about the behavior of bishops and clergy.

“Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church,” describes an institution cloaked in secrecy.

It claims that Church leaders have been concealing wrongdoings committed by bishops and clergy, including sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and corruption, for many years.

Author Aries Rufo, who researched the book over 20 years of covering the institutional church as a journalist, said he does not intend to destroy the reputation of the country’s bishops and priests.

“Are we out to destroy the Church? Of course the answer is no. How can one book destroy a Church that has been in existence for more than two thousand years?” Rufo said.

He said he has dedicated the book to “those who remain steadfast in their faith yet ache for reforms within the Holy Mother Church.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

BLUE EARTH, Minn. (AP) – The Diocese of Winona says a Blue Earth priest has been placed on administrative leave after he was charged with sexually assaulting a young girl.

Bishop John Quinn said in a statement that Rev. Leo Koppala is not allowed to minister in the Winona diocese while the investigation continues.

A criminal complaint filed in Faribault County accuses Koppala of fondling an 11-year-old girl last week at the home of her grandmother where he had been invited to dinner. The 47-year-old priest serves the Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Blue Earth.

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CANADA
CNW

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Notes 5th Anniversary of Parliament Apology for Residential Schools: “Actions Must Match Words”

OTTAWA, June 11, 2013 /CNW/ – On the fifth anniversary of Parliament’s Apology for Indian Residential Schools, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo called attention to the outstanding requirement for all governments and all Canadians to commit to reconciliation.

“There is a growing frustration among First Nations across the country with lack of action and lack of commitment on the part of the Government of Canada to work in real partnership with our peoples and governments,” said AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo. “Five years ago, the Prime Minister stated: ‘There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian Residential Schools system to ever prevail again.’ Those attitudes include the colonial notion that other governments know best for First Nations and have the right to make decisions for us, yet we have not seen change in the continued pattern of unilateral approaches and imposed legislation. This is incongruent with the apology and other commitments. We must break the pattern once and for all. Actions must match words. Our people are calling for a true and collective commitment to reconciliation that respects First Nations peoples and rights as the way forward to a stronger Canada.”

The historic apology offered to residential school survivors took place in the House of Commons June 11, 2008. It included a commitment by Parliament and all of Canada to join First Nations on a shared journey toward healing and reconciliation, including ensuring continuity with healing efforts initiated through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

“All those affected by the Residential Schools must be supported in their healing journey,” said AFN Regional Chief Bill Erasmus who leads the national advocacy work in this area “The work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission remains fundamentally important and the Government of Canada must cooperate fully in achieving their mandate, including programming and supports for all survivors and their descendants.”

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CANADA
Market Watch

Minister Valcourt Marks Fifth Anniversary of the Prime Minister’s Historic Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Jun 11, 2013 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — The Honourable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, issued the following statement today on the fifth anniversary of the Prime Minister’s 2008 historic Statement of Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools and their families:

“Five years ago today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in the House of Commons with all Parliamentarians, Inuit, Metis and First Nation leaders and offered a historic Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools on behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians. He apologized not only to former students, but also their families and communities, whose lives were impacted by this dark chapter in our history. The Apology acknowledged that the policy of assimilation was wrong, had caused great harm, and has no place in our country.

On June 11 2008, our Prime Minister recognized the extraordinary courage of former students of Indian Residential Schools and asked for their forgiveness.

The legacy of Indian Residential Schools is still felt today by Aboriginal people across Canada. Our Government recognizes this and that is why we have placed such importance on reconciliation and the restoration of Canada’s relationship with Aboriginal people. We acknowledge that we must forge a new relationship, one that is based on an appreciation of our shared history, a respect for each other’s cultures and traditions, and an honest desire to move forward together with a renewed understanding that Canada’s future will be stronger if we build it together.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

MICHAEL O’REGAN and MARIE O’HALLORAN

The report prepared by a retired High Court judge on a redress scheme for women and girls held in the Magdalene laundries is expected to become before the Cabinet in the next two weeks, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Mr Kenny told the Dail this afternoon that the Government would consider the report’s recommendations, as well as the views of Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, and make a decision on it.

“Hopefully, it can be dealt with speedily and conclusively,’’ he added.

The Taoiseach was replying to Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, who referred to weekend media reports suggesting that Mr Justice Quirke had recommended the setting up of a reconciliation forum between the women and their former abusers.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Huffington Post

Jonathan Wolfman

My hometown, Philadelphia, became known over the past decade for its criminally accused and criminally liable priests, 37 of them. One of them, Monsignor William Lynn, the first member of the U.S. Catholic Church hierarchy to suffer a conviction in the scandal, is serving a serious prison term not for rape but for helping to bury the pedophilia scandal by shredding internal Church documents. Copies were subsequently found (by, my guess, some heroic female office lay worker in the Archdiocese).

The Archdiocese is also now known for the fact that, in Philadelphia, the Church has not lived up to its no-tolerance pledge. Like many mammoth institutions, the Church has found advancing molesters onward and, at times, upward, far simpler than confrontation. In some cases, the Church simply removed these men from the priesthood.

I am not in favor of the Church simply ridding itself of these priests. If that’s zero tolerance, it’s flawed. The Church should be held accountable to its faithful and to the rest of us — including those who have taught distraught teens after their horrified parents have pulled them from diocesan schools — by taking full responsibility for these men. The Church recruited, groomed, educated, trained and ordained them and provided them, worldwide and for generations, extraordinary access to tens of millions of children.

Cashiering these men would force secular society to wholly assume a responsibility that is not wholly ours. There’s no reason to think that pedophilic priests, defrocked and loosed onto the streets, would be less dangerous than they were, say, at Saint Paul’s or Saint Bart’s. In fact, defrocked and on the loose, they would be harder to identify within the thousands of communities their presence would make vulnerable.

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MINNESOTA
The Mankato Free Press

A Blue Earth priest charged with sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl has been put on leave.

The Rev. Leo Charles Koppala will not be permitted to exercise his public ministry or live on the property of the Diocese of Winona pending the outcome of the legal process, according to the diocese.

The diocese also said in its news release that it has received no other allegations of this nature involving Koppala, a priest of the Nellore Diocese in South India. He is on loan from the Indian diocese and has been in the Winona diocese for fewer than five years.

Koppala, 47, had previously worked at a different church in the diocese, though a diocese spokesman was out of the office and said he wasn’t sure where it was.

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CANADA
Medicine Hat News

By The Canadian Press on June 11, 2013.

WINNIPEG – Another former altar boy has testified about alleged sexual abuse by an Orthodox priest in Winnipeg.

The man, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, says he lived with Seraphim Storheim for two weeks in the summer of 1985.

The man, who was 11 at the time, says Storheim would frequently walk around naked, and sometimes lie naked on the floor and touch himself.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

Victims support groups are outraged that senior members of the Catholic Church will be able to give evidence in private to the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into sexual abuse investigations in the Hunter Valley. But the Commissioner Margaret Cunneen has ruled that private hearings are appropriate, because of the potential for criminal charges to be laid in the future.

Transcript

ASHLEY HALL: Victim support groups are outraged that senior members of the Catholic Church will be able to give evidence in private to the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into sexual abuse investigations in the Hunter Valley.

That privilege is normally only extended to victims of abuse.

But the Commissioner, Margaret Cunneen, has ruled that private hearings are appropriate because of the potential for criminal charges to be laid in the future.

Here’s Eliza Harvey.

ELIZA HARVEY: Catholic priests Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher were notorious paedophiles.

Both abused scores of children across Australia.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON JUNE 11, 2013

A Winona Diocese priest has been arrested for allegedly molesting a girl.

[CBS Minnesota]

We applaud this very brave girl and her grandmother. The child was smart and strong enough to promptly report and the grandmother was smart and strong enough to call police. All too often, even now, Catholics who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes call church officials, instead of secular officials.

Many times, predator priests have fled overseas after being accused or arrested. If Fr. Koppala is released on bail, we hope secular or church authorities take his passport.

It’s now up to the Winona Catholic bishop to use his vast resources to urge others with information or suspicions about this cleric to step forward. The bishop should use his diocesan website and newspaper and parish bulletins and pulpit announcements to beg anyone with potentially helpful details to call p police and prosecutors. In a criminal investigation, no tidbit – no matter how small, old or seemingly insignificant – should be withheld from law enforcement.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 11, 2013

Accused child molester to retire
Clergy sex abuse victims protested him last month
Former priest now works for Advocate Health Care
For 2nd time, he is allowed to quietly resign without any consequences

A former Chicago Catholic priest who now works for Advocate Health Care and was the subject of controversy last month will retire soon, his employer said.

In a letter received yesterday by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Kevin Brady, Advocate’s Chief Human Rights officer and senior vice president, says that Russell L. Romano will leave the firm at the end of this month.

In 2006, as part of a settlement of clergy sex abuse lawsuits, the Chicago archdiocese admitted that Romano had been credibly accused of molesting at least one child. In 2009, a civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit against Romano and the archdiocese was settled.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

LYNDSEY TELFORD – 11 JUNE 2013

A planned compensation scheme for survivors of the Magdalene laundries will be published in the next two weeks, the Taoiseach has confirmed.

Enda Kenny said he expects Justice Minister Alan Shatter to bring the report to Cabinet this month when the Government will consider recommendations for a redress process.

“Once the process is decided upon, there will be no delay on the Government’s behalf in following through on this,” Mr Kenny said.

“I do hope it will be possible, together with the women involved, to deal with that process and deal with it in their interests.”

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | June 12, 2013

Pope Francis confirmed the existence of a gay lobby in the Roman Curia, which administers the Roman Catholic Church. He promised on Thursday during an audience with the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women to reform the Curia.

“In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption,” Huffington Post quoted the pontiff.

He also acknowledged that he could not carry out the reforms himself and tasked the commission he formed to help govern the church, made of eight cardinals, to initiate the reforms.

The powerful gay lobby is speculated to be one of the reasons why then Pope Benedict XVI retired on Feb 28, 2013, which caught the Catholic world by surprise. The pope then said he could no longer perform his function well as shepherd of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics throughout the world.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Pope Francis has acknowledged the existence of a ‘gay lobby’ inside the Vatican’s secretive administration for the first time.

Speaking during an audience with Latin American Catholics, the Argentine Pontiff said that there was a ‘current of corruption’ in the Roman Curia – the central governing body of the Catholic Church.

He also admitted the existence of a long-rumoured ‘gay lobby’ in the Curia, and hinted that he might take action over the issue.

Speaking in his native Spanish last Thursday, the 76-year-old told the CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women): ‘In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption.

‘There is talk of a ‘gay lobby’ and it’s true, it exists,’ he said, in a report on Chilean website Reflexion y Liberacion. ‘We will have to see what we can do.’

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of a ‘gay lobby’ in the Roman Curia for the first time last week and suggested that he was considering taking action on it.

The Pontiff made the statement on a ‘gay lobby’ in the Vatican during an audience granted to CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women – Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosos y Religiosas) on June 6, 2013, the Catholic blog Rorate Caeli reported.

Excerpts of that meeting were reported in Spanish on the Chilean Catholic website Reflexion y Liberation:

“Y, sí… es difícil. En la curia hay gente santa, de verdad, hay gente santa. Pero también hay una corriente de corrupción, también la hay, es verdad… Se habla del “lobby gay”, y es verdad, está ahí… hay que ver qué podemos hacer…”

(translation)

“Yes, it is difficult. In the curia there are holy people, truly holy people. But there is also a current of corruption, also there is, it is true… they speak of a ‘Gay Lobby’ and that is true, it is there.. we will have to see what we can do…”

He did not specify what kind of action he might take.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

Missbrauch | 11.06.2013 – Bonn

Dreieinhalb Jahre ist es her, dass der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes den sexuellen Missbrauch am Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin publik machte und einen der größten Skandale der katholischen Kirche ans Licht brachte. In seinem neuen Buch “Verlorenes Vertrauen” zieht Mertes Bilanz. Er kritisert das Versagen kirchlicher Vertreter gegenüber den Opfern und diagnostiziert eine Vertrauenskrise, die für ihn vor allem mit einem falschen Verständnis von Macht in der katholischen Kirche zusammenhängt. Im Interview mit katholisch.de erklärt Mertes auch, warum die Krise ihn in seinem Glauben bestärkt hat.

Frage: Pater Mertes, wie bewerten Sie die bisher erfolgte Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals?

Mertes: Wir sind zwar noch nicht am Ende, aber es ist bereits viel an Aufarbeitungsarbeit geleistet worden. Die Jesuitenschulen, das Koster Ettal, die Erzdiözese München und manche andere kirchlichen Institutionen haben Berichte vorgelegt. Die Kirche ist bei den Anerkennungszahlungen und auch bei Entschädigungsleistungen vorangeschritten. Auch bei der Prävention haben wir wichtige Schritte getan: Unabhängige Ombudsstellen, besseres Beschwerdemanagement, regelmäßig Fortbildungsmaßnahmen, neue Sprache und Offenheit für das Thema Gewalt, und vieles andere mehr.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Will Wright do the right thing?

Probably not.

Seriously, though, Bishop William Wright (pictured above on left, with Cardinal Pell) has been called before the New South Wales enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse. Previously, he had said he might not be called. He has also gone on record as saying that he had been “surprised” at the extent of claims in his diocese, and also states it passes all claims on to the police.

Wright, who was born in the US, where his father worked for the IMF, is a member of the Catholic Church’s PR unit, which was set up to deal with the fall-out from the Royal Commission. This will be a practice session for him.

Appearing along with Wright will be the secretary of the Australian Bishop’s Conference, Fr. Brian Lucas. (The head of the conference is Melbourne bishop Denis Hart – see previous posting). Lucas worked in the Newcastle diocese in the past.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

SENIOR members of the Catholic clergy will give evidence behind closed doors when an inquiry into the handling of allegations of child sex abuse by Hunter Valley priests resumes next month.

The list of more than 20 witnesses released during a short hearing in Sydney on Tuesday included Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle William Wright, who will be called to give evidence publicly at the start of the inquiry’s next phase on July 1 and at its conclusion.

His predecessor Bishop Michael Malone will also appear as well as Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, and a number of police, clergy and abuse victims of Father James Fletcher and Father Denis McAlinden.

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will be among at least half a dozen witnesses to give evidence in closed hearings. Another will be Peter Gogarty, a victim of Fletcher, who had sought to give evidence publicly.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

Written by Scott Dolan, Staff Writer

ALFRED — A pastor who ran a Christian ministry catering to Biddeford’s homeless and poor has been indicted by a York County grand jury on 31 counts of possession of child pornography.

James Napier, 61, of 75 Middle Branch Drive, Alfred, had been arrested after Maine State Police received a tip about him and confronted him at his home on Aug. 31, 2012. Napier gave them permission to search his home and his computer, where officers found more than 100 images of child pornography, police said.

Napier was initially charged with a single count of felony possession of explicit material of a child younger than 12 years old, and released on $500 cash bail. The images were of children outside of Maine.

A grand jury indicted Napier on 29 counts of that same felony charge, each punishable by up to five years in prison, and two additional misdemeanor counts of possession of explicit material of a child younger than 16 years old, according to the York County District Attorney’s Office, which released of list of grand jury returns on Monday.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Tuesday, June 11, 2013
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

The Catholic diocese serving parishes from Lodi to Turlock has spent about $15 million in judgments, settlements and legal costs regarding clergy abuse cases by priests and former priests, according to Bishop Stephen Blaire.

Blaire, bishop of the Stockton Diocese, issued a message to parishioners throughout the diocese. The message was read aloud during Masses on Saturday and Sunday.

“It was a sad comment, kind of scary,” Lodi resident Patty Ibarra said after Sunday’s 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Anne’s Catholic Church.

Diocese officials agreed last week to a $1.75 million settlement with a former parishioner who says he was sexually abused by defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady. …

Statement by Bishop Stephen Blaire

The following message by Stockton Diocese Bishop Stephen Blaire was read aloud during all Masses from Lodi to Turlock on Saturday and Sunday:

Dear Friends,
By now, most of you will have seen (last) week’s newspaper and television news stories about our diocese and the difficult financial situation we face. I want, however, to address this topic with you directly and bring you up to date on where things stand and what lies ahead.

(Last) week, our diocese reached a negotiated settlement that brings an end to a lawsuit arising from sexual abuse by Oliver O’Grady in the 1980s. The man who brought the suit was a boy of 10 or 11 when this abuse occurred, and he suffered greatly as a result of it. It is my hope that this settlement helps him continue to heal. He, and all victims of sexual abuse, must be in our prayers always.

This most recent agreement brings the total our diocese has paid in judgments, settlements and legal costs to more than $15 million over the past 20 years. Of this amount, more than $6 million has been paid in the last three years alone.

Since my arrival as your bishop 14 years ago, I have tried to settle these cases when possible and to heal the deep wounds caused to our church and our diocese by the evil of sexual abuse. I hope that we will be seen to have treated victims fairly.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By The Auditor/The Star-Ledger

The New Jersey Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state’s bishops, is getting a little help from one of Trenton’s higher powers.

The bishops, who have been battling bills that would extend the statute of limitations on lawsuits for child sex-abuse cases and a measure that would establish a system for physician-assisted suicide, have hired the prominent State Street firm Princeton Public Affairs Group.

Dale Florio, the firm’s founder, is the consummate Trenton insider to whom, for example, the Orthodox rabbis in Lakewood turned when they wanted to get their yeshiva a chunk of the state’s higher education grants.

Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the Catholic Conference who is a registered lobbyist, said it was the first time the organization had hired an outside lobbyist in his seven years there, although he wasn’t sure if it had done so earlier.

Brannigan said the firm would be dedicated to all the group’s causes, not just opposing those two bills.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 47

[with video]

BLUE EARTH, Minn. (FOX 47) — A Blue Earth priest accused of having sexual contact with a young girl made his first court appearance Monday afternoon.

Fr. Leo Koppala, 47, a priest at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Koppala was arrested at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

According to the criminal complaint, Koppala is accused of touching the victim on her lower back and breasts on Friday evening while he was at the family’s home for dinner. The victim also told investigators he kissed her on the cheeks and mouth. He told her he loved her and wanted to be together after she was done with school.

The county attorney says the female victim is under the age of 13 and the crime was committed at the girl’s grandmother’s house.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

A priest who served on a temporary basis in Lodi is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing June 27 on charges including false imprisonment and molesting a minor.

Father Julio Cesar Guarin-Sosa, 43, was arrested on March 10 after a 16-year-old girl in Yuba City told authorities that Guarin-Sosa sexually abused her while he visited her family at their residence.

Guarin-Sosa is charged with a felony count of false imprisonment and misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a minor and sexual battery involving the 16-year-old girl.

A preliminary-pretrial conference is set for 1:30 p.m. June 19 and the preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. June 27 at Sutter County Superior Court in Yuba City, court records show.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona

A Statement from Most Rev. John M. Quinn, Bishop of Winona

WINONA, MN – June 10, 2013 – Bishop John Quinn placed Rev. Leo Charles Koppala, a priest of the Nellore Diocese in South India, on administrative leave in accordance with the diocesan policy for the protection of minors. Rev. Koppala has been charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Second Degree involving a minor.

While on administrative leave, he is not permitted to exercise his public ministry or live on any parish property in the Diocese of Winona pending the outcome of the investigation.

A representative of the Diocese of Winona indicated that no other allegation of this nature involving Rev. Koppala has been received by the Diocese.

The Diocese of Winona is committed to the protection of children and the safe environment of our parishes and schools. The Diocese of Winona has fully adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (“the Charter”), as promulgated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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AUSTRALIA
News Mail

APN Newsdesk 11th Jun 2013

VICTIMS of child sexual abuse have started sharing their stories during face-to-face private sessions in Brisbane.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse expects to conduct the private sessions for at least the next month.

Private sessions, which are conducted in an informal setting in the presence of one or two commissioners, have been running in Sydney for the past four weeks.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said a large number of people were talking about their experiences for the first time and had different reasons for coming forward.

“Many people have said that after years of keeping silent, they feel safe to speak out,” Ms Dines said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Federal Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is considering holding sessions in Canberra.

Commissioners are holding private sessions around Australia with people who experienced child sexual abuse while in institutional care.

Sessions will be set up in Canberra if there is demand.

Liberal Senator Gary Humphries says the abuse may not have happened in Canberra but people who experienced it now live here.

“Their stories are best heard where they are now, rather than where they originally were,” he said.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted June 10, 2013

BANGOR, Maine — Justices with the state’s highest court will consider whether a Portland man convicted of manslaughter was tricked into waiving his Miranda rights and whether a Kennebec County man’s lawsuit against the Catholic Church over alleged clergy abuse may go forward.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear appeals in those cases and 10 others Tuesday and Wednesday when it convenes at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor. …

On Tuesday, justices will consider for a second time an Augusta man’s lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

William Picher, 39, claims that the Rev. Raymond Melville, who left the ministry in 1997, sexually assaulted him between 1986 and 1988 when Picher was a student St. Mary Catholic School in Augusta. Picher (pronounced pee-SHAY) also alleges that Melville’s supervisors at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland knew the priest had sexually abused children previously but hid allegations from parishioners.

The state’s high court four years ago affirmed 5-2 that under Maine law charitable groups such as churches, museums and sports organizations are immune from claims for negligent actions, but it said they are not immune from intentional ones.

Picher’s Augusta attorneys Sumner Lipman and Benjamin Tucker claim the diocese knew Melville had a history of sexually abusing minors when in 1985 he was assigned to St. Mary’s Church and School in Augusta. The diocese has denied the claim, arguing that it did not receive its first complaint about Melville until 1990.

In the latest appeal, Picher’s attorneys argued that Superior Court Justice Donald Marden erred in granting summary judgment to the diocese and abused his discretion by refusing to permit Picher and his lawyers access to Diocese records containing the names of clergy accused of sexual misconduct and the names of their accusers.

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CANADA
Updated News

Mon, Jun 10th, 2013

The trial of Canada’s highest-ranking Orthodox Church cleric, accused of sexually abusing boys over two decades ago, is set to begin today in Winnipeg.

Archbishop Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim is accused of assaulting two pre-teen boys who were both members of the church more than 25 years ago, when he worked at a parish in Winnipeg’s North End. …

The Orthodox Church of America has launched an internal investigation into the matter.

“It’s been a sad and stressful time for everyone. The church has been praying for everybody involved just that God’s will would be done,” said Matthew Estabrooks, the lawyer representing the church’s Archdiocese of Canada.

Melanie Sakoda of a Chicago-based victims’ organization called SNAP — Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests — said the group pushed for years for an investigation into complaints involving Storheim.

“It’s certainly been a long time coming, but I’m really grateful that those men will have the opportunity to tell their truth. In the U.S., a lot of people don’t have that opportunity because of the statute of limitations we have down here,” Sakoda said.

“I hope justice will be done in the trial. But I think no matter the outcome of the trial, those two men are winners for speaking up and coming forward.”

Sakoda said she hopes the case will encourage more sexual-abuse survivors to come forward.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MICHELLE HARRIS June 11, 2013

COMMISSIONER Margaret Cunneen SC has decided not to refer a tweet from detective chief inspector Peter Fox for possible contempt of the Special Commission of inquiry into child sex abuse cover-ups in the Hunter Valley.

Ms Cunneen said on Tuesday morning she had the power to refer such matters to the registrar of the Supreme Court, to consider pursuing possible contempt proceedings.

It followed a tweet Mr Fox made in relation to the evidence of a police officer given during a previous hearing of the inquiry in May.

Legal representatives of some police officers who are involved in the inquiry said the tweet was inconsistent with earlier evidence given to the inquiry.

However, in a brief directions hearing in Sydney Tuesday morning, Ms Cunneen said she was not persuaded such a referral for contempt action was warranted over the tweet.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Sophie Tarr, AAP
Updated June 11, 2013

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will be among witnesses grilled behind closed doors as an inquiry into the handling of allegations of child sex abuse by Hunter Valley priests enters its second phase.

The special commission of inquiry began in Newcastle last month and is focusing on how police and church officials handled sex abuse allegations, particularly those involving serial sex offender Father Denis McAlinden and convicted pedophile Father James Fletcher, who are both dead.

The first stage of the inquiry, which examined whether local Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had been asked to stop investigating abuse, is expected to wrap up with a final week of public hearings later this month.

Witnesses for the second phase of the inquiry, examining whether Catholic Church officials helped or hindered police investigations, were unveiled on Tuesday.

Public hearings into this second term of reference are slated to begin on July 1.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Jamelle Wells

A New South Wales detective who triggered an inquiry into the handling of allegations of church child sex abuse will not face a contempt charge for tweeting from the hearing room.

The inquiry is focusing on the handling of allegations involving priests in the Catholic diocese of Maitland and Newcastle and allegations Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox was stopped from investigating the matters.

In May, Patrick Saidi, a barrister for several high-ranking police officers, told Special Commissioner Margaret Cunneen that Inspector Fox had tweeted a message from the hearing room that was inconsistent with evidence.

Mr Saidi asked Ms Cunneen to ban tweeting while sessions were sitting and to refer the matter to the Crown Solicitor’s office to consider a contempt charge against Inspector Fox.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A detective won’t face a contempt charge over a tweet he sent during a court hearing into claims the Catholic Church covered up child sex abuse.

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will be among witnesses grilled behind closed doors as an inquiry into the handling of allegations of child sex abuse by Hunter Valley priests enters its second phase.

The special commission of inquiry began in Newcastle last month and is focusing on how police and church officials handled sex abuse allegations, particularly those involving serial sex offender Father Denis McAlinden and convicted pedophile Father James Fletcher, who are both dead.

The first stage of the inquiry, which examined whether local Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had been asked to stop investigating abuse, is expected to wrap up with a final week of public hearings later this month.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz

A judge has ruled that a former Catholic brother wanted in Australia on 252 charges of child sexual abuse can be extradited from New Zealand.

The extradition order was made in the Christchurch District Court for 66-year-old Bernard Kevin McGrath.

He has 15 days in which to appeal or voluntarily return to Australia, otherwise he will be arrested and extradited.

New South Wales police say the alleged offending involved 35 boys from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

Former Catholic brother Bernard McGrath will be extradited to Australia from New Zealand to face child sex charges barring a successful appeal.

Judge Jane Farish ruled in Christchurch District Court that it would not be unjust or oppressive to McGrath, 65, for him to face charges that he repeatedly raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at institutions in NSW during the late 1970s and 1980s.

He faces 252 charges, which follow allegations by 35 complainants.

McGrath now has 15 days to appeal the decision, or he can voluntarily return to Australia.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Kurt Bayer @KurtBayerAPNZ
5:18 PM Tuesday Jun 11, 2013

A former Catholic brother will be extradited to Australia to face 252 sexual abuse charges alleged to have been made against 35 complainants, a judge ruled today.

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 65, has 15 days to appeal against the decision, made at the Christchurch District Court, or he’ll be extradited to stand trial.

The Commonwealth of Australia want him extradited from New Zealand to face allegations he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions in New South Wales over several decades.

A hearing to discuss whether he should be extradited was heard before Judge Farish at Christchurch District Court earlier this year.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

A judge has granted the extradition of former Catholic brother Bernard McGrath to Australia to face hundreds of sex-abuse charges.

The Australian Government’s application for extradition was granted by Judge Jane Farish in the Christchurch District Court today.

In Australia, charges have been laid against McGrath, 65, alleging that he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions over several decades.

A total of 252 charges have been laid.

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CANADA
Digital Journal

By Marcus Hondro
Jun 11, 2013

The sex trial of Archbishop Kenneth William (Seraphim) Storheim, highest-ranking cleric in the Canadian diocese of the Orthodox Church in America, began in Winnipeg Monday. The archbishop is accused of sexual assault on two brothers in the mid-eighties.

The first of the brothers, pre-teens when the alleged abuses occurred, took the stand on the first day of the trial and spoke of being an altar boy at the parish Storheim then administered to in the north end of Winnipeg in 1985.

Former altar boy: “I was disgusted”

The man, now 39, had a room in the same house as Storheim and testified he was hugged at night and subjected to a nude Storheim wandering about the house, inviting him to look at and to touch his penis. He said that he saw Storheim take boys that the church was feeding into his room.

The man, who now experiences problems with his mental health, said he would call his mother back in Ontario crying and asking to go home. His mother didn’t believe there was anything untoward going on, he said, telling the court that his mother thought he was “lying because I just want to come home and see my friends.”

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Aldo Santin

A man says a priest in the Orthodox Church of America offered him money to sleep with him when he was a young boy during the summer of 1985.

The man was testifying on the opening day of the trial of Seraphim Storheim, a priest in Winnipeg in 1985 and now an archbishop of his church.

Storheim is charged with two counts of sexual assault. The alleged victims are brothers. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.

A publication ban prohibits the disclosure of any information that could identify the victims.
Storheim was suspended as archbishop in November 2011 after Winnipeg police charged him after a lengthy investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

June 11, 2013

Peter Jean
Chief Assembly Reporter for The Canberra Times.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is being urged to hold hearings in Canberra to encourage local victims to tell their stories.

ACT Liberal Senator Gary Humphries said many child abuse victims had shown the courage to speak up publicly and in the courts in recent years and they deserved to be heard.

“I know there’s been at least 150 cases that have been raised in the ACT – it could be closer to 200 cases,” Senator Humphries said.

“And in those circumstances I think there’s ample basis for the commission to come to Canberra.”

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CANADA
The B.C. Catholic

‘Protecting God’s Children’ screening process keeps offenders out of Church ministries

By Agnieszka Krawczynski
The B.C. Catholic

The Catholic Church in Canada is ahead of its neighbours to the south when it comes to addressing sexual abuse by clergy, according to Father George Mulligan, CSC.

The New York priest spoke at a workshop for clergy at St. Patrick’s Church in Vancouver May 2.

“I say this with humility and embarrassment: the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) did more than U.S. bishops did prior to the crisis,” Father Mulligan began.

He praised the Church in Canada for treating the issue with appropriate seriousness and transparency.

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AUSTRALIA
Peninsula Weekly

Victims of child sexual abuse in government and church institutions have finally been given the chance to tell their stories at two major inquiries. LEE OPITZ looks at two men’s experiences at a Mt Eliza boys’ home in the 1960s.

MORE than 5000 victims of child sexual abuse in institutions, or those who bore witness or knew of cover-ups of abuse in institutions, are expected to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse over the next year.

While an interim report is expected in June next year, it will be years before the inquiry is complete. But no matter how long it takes, victims say it is time that those who abused them, and through their silence those who abandoned them, are brought to justice.

“There is a quote that I heard somewhere: ‘Go forth, speak the truth, and fear nobody’. And that’s what I have to do,” says Len, a victim of institutional abuse in the 1960s and ’70s.

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