ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Age

January 1, 2014

Goya Dmytryshchak

One of Australia’s most notorious paedophile priests has died in a Victorian prison.

Michael Glennon, 69, is believed to have died of natural causes in an Ararat jail, where he was serving a minimum 10 and a half year sentence for child sex offences.

Corrections Victoria spokesman Mario Xuereb confirmed that a 69-year-old man died overnight at Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat, 200 kilometres west of Melbourne.

In 2003 Glennon was sentenced to at least 15 years’ jail, reduced on appeal, for 23 child sex charges against three victims. It was the fifth time since 1978 that the Catholic priest had been convicted for

Dr Bernard Barrett, a researcher for the Broken Rites victim support group, said the Glennon case was of Australia-wide significance.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MARK BUTTLER HERALD SUN JANUARY 01, 2014

NOTORIOUS paedophile Catholic priest Michael Charles Glennon has died in jail.

Glennon, who was convicted of sex charges against children as young as seven, died today in the Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat.

By 2003 he had been convicted of abusing 15 children, but police believe there were many more victims.

He first went to jail in 1978, for molesting a 10-year-old girl in his car.

It was the only time he admitted guilt, forcing his many victims to endure long and traumatic criminal trials.

Glennon was still a priest after his release from jail for that crime, practising in a freelance capacity mainly to immigrant and Aboriginal communities.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Fox 2

[with video]

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A judge has ordered St. Louis catholic officials to turn over the names of all priests accused of sexual abuse over a 20-year span to a victim and her attorney.

Members of SNAP and other victims’ support groups hailed Tuesday’s ruling as they demonstrated in front of the Cathedral Basilica.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker gave the St. Louis Archdiocese until Friday to release the names, which will be kept from the public. Father Joseph Ross is accused of sexually abusing the girl at St. Cronin’s parish.

David Clohessy, director of SNAP, stated, “We are so grateful and proud of this brave young woman who is not only seeking justice for herself and warning people about a proven predator, but she’s also forcing this Archdiocese to ever so slowly to begin to peel back the layers upon layers of secrecy that have for so long protected predators and endangered kids.”

The Archdiocese released a response saying:

“The Archdiocese of St. Louis will review with its attorneys today’s court order for the release of identities of victims and accused clergy dating back many years that involve any substantiated allegation of sexual abuse.”

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

The list of 17 credibly accused priests includes:

Kirby Blanchard

Date of birth: Nov. 16, 1928
Date of ordination: May 30, 1953
Prior assignments in diocese:
Assistant pastor: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, Duluth (July 22, 1953-Jan. 7, 1965)
Pastor: Our Lady of Fatima Church, Garrison (Jan. 7, 1965-Aug. 24, 1966); St. Joseph’s Church, Deerwood (Jan. 7, 1965-Aug. 24, 1966); St. Augustine’s Church, Cohasset (Aug. 24, 1966-Feb. 27, 1969); St. Mary’s Church, Deer River (Aug. 24, 1966-Feb. 27, 1969); St. Christopher Church, Nisswa (Feb. 27, 1969-March 17, 1971); St. Alice Church, Pequot Lakes (Feb. 27, 1969-March 17, 1971); Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Pine River (Feb. 27, 1969-March 17, 1971); St. Anthony’s Church, Duluth (March 17, 1971-June 1, 1976)
Chaplain: St. Joseph’s Hospital, Brainerd (Sept. 1, 1976-Dec. 5, 1993)
Retired: Dec. 5, 1993
Diocese or religious order: Diocesan priest
Date removed from ministry: Dec. 27, 1995
Died: Aug. 11, 2006

Louis Brouillard, 92

Date of birth: July 27, 1921
Date of ordination: Dec. 17, 1948
Prior assignments in diocese:
Temporary administrator: St. Joseph, Beroun (July 27, 1981-July 11, 1984)
Pastor: St. Mary, Keewatin (July 11, 1984-Nov. 12, 1985); St. Anne, Kelly Lake (July 11, 1984-Nov. 12, 1985)
Diocese or religious order: Priest of the Diocese of Agana, Guam
Removed from ministry: Nov. 12, 1985
Current location: Pine City
Current status: Not in ministry, faculties revoked

Victor Chateauvert

Date of birth: May 25, 1919
Date of ordination: Aug. 25, 1973
Prior assignments in diocese:
Pastor: Holy Family, Hillman (June 1, 1982-Dec. 28, 1992)
Diocese or religious order: Priest of the Holy Family Missionaries
Removed from ministry: Dec. 28, 1992 (returned to order)
Died: March 3, 1999

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

List of accused priests from the Diocese of Duluth

By: Tom Olsen, Duluth News Tribune

Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba told members of the media Tuesday that the history of sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church is a “sad truth that must be acknowledged,” and that the church wants to help victims heal and encourage others to come forward with their stories.

That’s why the Diocese of Duluth on Tuesday released a list of 17 priests it has determined to be “credibly accused” of wrongdoing, Sirba said.

“We’re committed to doing what we can to support children,” the bishop said at a news conference at the diocese’s headquarters. “We want to support the healing among victims, and this is an important step.”

Sirba said the release was due, at least in part, to pressure from victims and advocates who have long sought full disclosure from the church in sex abuse cases.

Of the 17 priests, only three are still alive, according to the diocese. Sirba said the list is complete to the best of his knowledge, and promised that the diocese would, in the future, reveal any additional priests who are credibly accused.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

A Prediction for 2014: Increasing Attempts to Undercut Pope Francis’s Socioeconomic Teaching by Dividing His Supporters Over Gay and Women’s Issues

The mainstream media love to play the centrist (which is to say, right-wing-in-disguise) game of pretending that Catholic teaching about doctrinal or moral issues cannot be revised and never has been changed. History notwithstanding: history and all it demonstrates to us about how, in fact, Catholic teaching has been changed in the past, and repeatedly so, notwithstanding . . . .

And so a constant theme in the mainstream media since Pope Francis came on the scene has been the theme, “He can’t possibly change Catholic teaching about xyz (usually, this conversation is about homosexuality, women’s ordination, sexual ethics including contraception, and abortion). He’s a loyal son of the church.”

I like how James Carroll pulls the rug out from under that mainstream media meme (which, I’ll repeat, serves right-wing interests) in his recent New Yorker reflection on “a radical pope’s first year”:

Francis describes himself as a loyal “son of the Church,” and has a record as a doctrinal conservative. Many observers insist that in a Church understood as semper idem—always the same—the most that even an apparently innovative figure like Francis can effect is “pastoral” adjustments in discipline or practice: a merciful easing up on rules without repealing them. Even if he wanted to, Pope Francis could not alter the basic beliefs of the Church.

But in fact the Church has made profound doctrinal changes in living memory. In 1964, the council repudiated a millennium-long tradition of “No Salvation Outside the Church.” That formulation dates at least to the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215, and was reiterated by councils and Popes through my youth. Vatican II overturned the doctrine by affirming the primacy of conscience—a teaching Francis has reiterated, applying it to atheists as well.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 1 January 2014)

Notorious Australian paedophile priest Michael Charles Glennon has died in jail after Broken Rites referred more Glennon victims to the police.

For twenty years, Broken Rites has been researching Glennon’s life of crime. We have also interviewed some of his victims, who helped to bring him to justice in his various court appearances.

In recent years, more Glennon victims have contacted Broken Rites and in 2013 we arranged for these to have a chat with detectives in the Sano Taskforce in the Victoria Police sex-crimes squad.

Originally, when the Catholic Church ordained Father Michael Glennon as a priest for the Melbourne Archdiocese, it gave him easy access to children.

By the year 2003, Fr Michael Glennon had been convicted five times (and was serving a long jail sentence) for child-sex offences, involving a long list of children, mostly boys. However, these were not his only victims — they were merely those who eventually spoke to the police. The world will never know exactly how many children Father Glennon abused. Even Glennon himself would have lost count of the real number.

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MINNESOTA
WDIO

[with video]

The Duluth Diocese has released a list of names of priests who they say have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

The men worked all over the Northland, and the years for the allegations spanned from 1950 to the present. Most of the clergymen are deceased.

The list has been in the works for several weeks. The goal of releasing it, according to Bishop Paul Sirba, is to encourage hope and healing for victims.

Sirba said most of the information came from the 2004 John Jay study, which was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, to look at the causes and context of abuse.

Sirba did acknowledge that a recently filed lawsuit asking the diocese to release the names did play a role.

Anyone who believes they have more information about these priests is encouraged to call the Diocese and law enforcement.

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TEXAS
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

By Jim McBride
AMARILLO GLOBE-NEWS

A former Tulia priest has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a young male parishioner who attended the Church of the Holy Spirit.

John Salazar, 58, pleaded guilty Monday in a Tulia court to a second-degree felony charge of indecency with a child — sexual contact. Judge Robert W. Kincaid ordered him to pay a $1,500 fine and $734 in court costs, court records show.

The case stemmed from an incident that occurred Dec. 23, 2001.

In Los Angeles, Salazar pleaded guilty in 1987 to one count of oral copulation and one count of lewd or lascivious acts with a child for molesting two altar boys, ages 13 and 14. Salazar, who was required to register as a sex offender and was banned from serving as a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles, served three years of a six-year prison term before being sent in 1990 to a New Mexico treatment program for pedophile priests.

The Amarillo Diocese hired Salazar in 1991 and assigned him — while he was still on parole — to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tulia, but diocesan officials said later they had received no complaints during his service with the tiny parish.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOV

[with video]

by Matt Sczesny / News 4 | @KMOVMatt
KMOV.com

Posted on December 31, 2013

(KMOV) – A judge has ordered the Archdiocese of St Louis to turn over records of priests accused of sexual abuse from 1983 to 2003.

The order from Judge Robert Dierker sets a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for the Archdiocese to release the records to attorney Ken Chackes.

Chackes represents a woman who is suing the Archdiocese over allegations she was abused by a priest and he told News 4, the 230 reports will show the Archdiocese repeatedly kept abusive priests.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

A. James Rudin Religion News Service | Dec. 30, 2013

COMMENTARY Here are my picks for the top 10 religion stories of 2013:

1. A pair of popes: Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation and the election of the Argentina-born Pope Francis (hello, Third World!) was easily the biggest story of the year. The new pope’s modest personal style and his extraordinary commitment to social and economic justice has upset some conservatives and given hope to progressives within the Catholic Church.

2. Sunni-Shiite schism: The brutal Syrian civil war and the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi shattered hopes for a “kinder, gentler” Islamic world. The ballyhooed Arab Spring spilled over into a series of bitter internal and external conflicts with Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite-led Iran as major adversaries.

3. Falls from grace: The once glowing reputations of retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony and Yeshiva University President Rabbi Norman Lamm are no more as both were accused of inadequately responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, with consequences including Mahony being stripped of public duties (but not his vote in the papal conclave) and Yeshiva facing a $380 million lawsuit. The sordid revelations and the cover-ups and indifference of many religious leaders have devastated the lives of the victims and damaged the integrity of religious institutions.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

As we now approach our tenth year, we would like to thank everyone for making 2013 the best year ever for TheMediaReport.com! Our readership continues to grow dramatically, thanks to you. 2013 was even better than the last, and we look forward to an even better 2014!

There were a lot of important stories in the past year. Between Church-suing lawyer Jeff Anderson’s silly “stuntsuit” against the Vatican finally being dropped and Cardinal Timothy Dolan being vindicated against bogus charges of “shielding” money from abuse victims, it was an eventful 12 months. So we figured we would close out the year with a look at our most compelling posts of 2013.

#5 ‘We’ll Say You Touched Us’: Robbers Attempt to Extort Priest With Threat of Abuse Claim
It is open season on Catholic priests today. Any accusation, threat, or mere hint of abuse from 50 years ago is enough to destroy a priest’s reputation and vault him out of the priesthood forever.

No story more exemplified this than a shocking story out of Chicago, where two men walked into a sacristy and demanded cash from an elderly priest. They accompanied their demand for money with an ominous threat:

“We’ll say you touched us, read the paper, they’ll believe us.”

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