ABUSE TRACKER

SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville Online

Written by
Ron Barnett
Staff writer

Bob Jones University has terminated its contract with an independent ombudsman one month before the firm was expected to issue its findings in a 13-month review into the school’s handling of sexual abuse reports, according to statements released by the fundamentalist Christian school and the company.

The university had contracted with Lynchburg, Va.-based GRACE, or Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, in November 2012, saying, “In light of national media reports of the mishandling of sexual abuse, including on college campuses, (BJU President Stephen) Jones wanted to make absolutely certain BJU’s policies and procedures both fully comply with the law and ensure a loving, scripturally based response.”

GRACE was to “review past instances in which it was alleged that the university may have underserved a student who reported they had been abused at some point in their lives.”

GRACE posted an announcement on its Facebook page Thursday that BJU had terminated its agreement.

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.

MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Jay Olstad, KARE February 12, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Ramsey County judge ordered the depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough Tuesday.

Judge John Van de North said the depositions needed to take place within 30 days.

The ruling is from a current lawsuit about alleged abuse that dates back to the late 1970’s.

“I’m glad finally they’re being held accountable and made to move on this,” said Al Michaud.

Michaud said he too was abused by a priest when he was a teenager, a case he later settled with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

In a KARE 11 investigation Monday night, we reported on confidential church records documenting cases of abuse going back decades. Michaud and another victim said church officials, including McDonough broke promises not to reassign accused priests to parishes with schools.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

It didn’t take long … Emily Gurnon of the PiPress writes, “A judge has cleared the way for attorneys in a sexual abuse case to take the depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt, former Vicar General Kevin McDonough and the Rev. John Brown. Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North also ruled during a hearing Tuesday that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona must disclose the names and other information regarding priests accused of sexual abuse of children since 2004. The information is due to the court by Feb. 18.”

Madeleine Baran of MPR says, “Nienstedt will be questioned on the policies and practices of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in handling abuse allegations, including whether the archdiocese followed its own policies. The judge repeatedly noted that retired Archbishop Harry Flynn led the national committee that drafted the church’s standards for clergy sexual abuse cases. He said he didn’t know why those policies would not therefore be followed by the archdiocese.”

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INDONESIA
Jakarta Post

The Supreme Court sentenced on Tuesday a former Catholic priest from Maumere, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) to death for premeditated murder.

A panel of justices comprising Timur Manurung, Gayus Lumbuun and Dudu Duswara, found Herman Jumat Masan, 45, guilty of the premeditated murder of Yosephine Kerodok Payong, or Mery Grace, and two infants from a relationship with Mery.

A district court in Maumere sentenced Herman to life in prison in August last year.

The panel concluded that the defendant was not only guilty of premeditated murder, but also of violating Article 181 of the Criminal Code for concealing evidence.

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MICHIGAN
WWJ

DETROIT (WWJ) – A Detroit Catholic priest, who ministered at several city parishes, has been charged with defrauding a charity used to benefit the needy.

WWJ’s Sandra McNeill reports that Father Timothy Kane is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a program called the Angel Fund.

One individual donor is responsible for fuding the charity, which has granted more than $17 million to individuals and families in financial need in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck since 2005.

Monsignor Michael Bougarans says that the fund has helped a lot of people with mortgages, medical bills and perscriptions:

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

By Patricia Montemurri and Elisha Anderson
Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

Since 2005, an anonymous benefactor has given $17 million to the little-known Angel Fund to help Catholic priests in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck help people in need in their communities.

The secret angel — a man acting with the support of his family — wanted to eliminate bureaucracy and help inner-city priests deal quickly with the pressing needs of impoverished people. He’ll continue to do so, said Archdiocese of Detroit officials, despite today’s revelation that a parish priest, the Rev. Timothy Kane, is facing charges of defrauding the fund of thousands of dollars.

Kane, 57, who most recently ministered at Madonna and St. Gregory in Detroit and St. Benedict of Highland Park, was charged with six felony counts of defrauding the Angel Fund. Also charged was Dorreca Marvie Brewer, 34, of Jackson.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy alleged that Kane conspired with Brewer from about July 2008 to June 2011 to fill out false applications for grants from the Angel Fund, and that the pair received thousands of dollars in return.

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MINNESOTA
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: February 12, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — A judge has ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to allow attorneys for an alleged clergy abuse victim to depose Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough.

Ramsey County Judge John Van de North issued an order Tuesday requiring the depositions take place within 30 days. Van de North also ordered the archdiocese to create a list by Feb. 18 of all priests accused of sexually abusing minors since 2004.

The judge also said the plaintiff’s attorneys could begin reviewing internal church documents related to clergy abuse, the Star Tribune reported (http://strib.mn/1j0bcVA ).

The ruling is a “giant move forward,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, who is representing the man who filed the lawsuit in May alleging he was sexually abused by priest nearly 40 years ago.

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OHIO
WCPO

CINCINNATI – The Fairfield Catholic priest convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy says he is dying of cancer and is asking a federal judge for a lighter sentence. But the judge has just the opposite idea.

Judge Michael R. Barrett informed Rev. Robert Poandl that he was actually considering a harsher sentence than federal guidelines call for.

Poandl, who turns 73 in May, is likely to die before the end of the year, his attorney, Stephen J. Wenke, said in his plea.

Poandl has Stage IV urothelial cancer, Wenke said.

Barrett said he was considering a sentence of up to 96 months (eight years) based on the pre-sentence report.

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INDONESIA
Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. A two-decade-long tragedy born of shame in East Nusa Tenggara took another step toward finality on Tuesday after the Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on a former Catholic priest for the deaths of his lover, a former nun, and their two newborn children.

“I’m not pro capital punishment, but for things like this we need deterrence so that people will not carry out these murders, which are rampant everywhere now,” Supreme Court justice Gayus Lumbuun said on Tuesday. “This verdict is necessary and must be carried out.”

Herman Jumat Masan, 45, was first found guilty of the murder of his first child with lover Yosephine Kerodok Payong — also known as Mery Grace — at Maumere District Court in August, 2013. The prosecutor appealed the case to the provincial Kupang High Court, which confirmed the life sentence.

The Supreme Court, however, sided with the prosecutor’s second appeal, and said that Herman should face the firing squad for the death of his first child — adding that the man’s callous decision to prevent his hemorrhaging girlfriend from seeking medical care was an aggravating factor in their decision.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

A Ramsey County judge ruled Tuesday that key leaders in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis will have to answer for their alleged actions for the first time ever, according to KSTP reporter Beth McDonough.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and Father Kevin McDonough will have to go on the record and talk with investigators about how the church handled sex abuse allegations made against priests in local parishes.

The transcript of the depositions of Archbishop Nienstedt and Father McDonough will be sealed.

The judge also ruled the diocese must release the list of priests accused of sex crimes that happened after 2004, to the court and victim’s attorneys by Feb. 18.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory
February 11, 2014

Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of New Ulm and Oblates of Mary Immaculate Named in Lawsuit
New Ulm Diocese is the lone Minnesota Diocese refusing torelease its list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse

What: At a news conference Wednesday in Duluth, sexual abuse attorneys Mike Finnegan and Elin Lindstrom will:

· Announce the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of a man, Doe 30, who was sexually abused by Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald. Doe 30 met Father Fitzgerald as a young parishioner at St. Thomas More, a parish in the Diocese of New Ulm, and Fitzgerald brought Doe 30 to St. Catherine’s in Squaw Lake, MN, a parish in the Diocese of Duluth, where he sexually abused Doe 30. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate are also named in the lawsuit which claims that all three defendants should have known that Fitzgerald was a risk to children and failed to protect Doe 30.

· Request the Diocese of New Ulm release their list of 12 priests with credible allegations of child sexual abuse and request that the Diocese of Duluth release documents pertaining to the list of 17 priests they revealed on December 31, 2013.

· Discuss Fitzgerald’s sordid history throughout the Midwest. Fitzgerald allegedly abused children on three reservations in Minnesota and South Dakota including orphaned children on the Lake Traverse Reservation as part of the Sisseton, South Dakota Indian Mission. Fitzgerald was named as a priest with credible allegations of sexual abuse on the lists released by both the Diocese of Crookston and the Diocese of Duluth.

Contact: Mike Finnegan: Office: 651.927.7872 Cell: 612.205.5531
Elin Lindstrom: Office: 651.927.7872 Cell: 651.353.1224

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Wed, Feb 12, 2014

Two sisters who were moved to a Derry residential care institution run by the Sisters of Nazareth have given graphic evidence of their fear and isolation.

The first said they were “brutalised” and “not protected”.

Her sister told the inquiry of an incident when she was forced to eat her own vomit as staff at the home did not believe she was ill.

The two told the inquiry examining alleged abuse in care homes across Northern Ireland of their fear and isolation while at Nazareth House in the city’s Bishop Street in 1960s.

The sisters, who cannot be identified, testified separately.

One spoke of the fear they felt when they were taken from their home and left at Nazareth House.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Feb. 7, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE — U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge David T. Thuma is working to find a remedy regarding a number of tangled bank accounts in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 case.

And as document after document in the case continue to be filed, the number of problematic bank accounts continues to be identified.

Initially, the issue centered on a rather simply stated financial directive written in the Diocese of Gallup’s financial policies: “All parish bank accounts must use the Federal Employer Identification Number of the parish in order to help insure their tax exempt status. The parish must not use the FEIN of the diocese.”

Apparently, that wasn’t stated simply enough for a number of parish officials across the Gallup Diocese. Over the years, they have improperly opened bank accounts using the diocese’s tax identification number.

Unknown accounts

On Nov. 15, 2013, three days after the Gallup Diocese filed its Chapter 11 petition, Susan Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, told Thuma that diocesan officials had recently discovered a dozen Wells Fargo bank accounts that had been opened with the Gallup Diocese’s tax identification number, unbeknown to diocesan officials.

During the hearing, Thuma agreed to allow Wells Fargo to unfreeze the bank accounts so diocesan and federal bankruptcy officials could research the history and ownership of the accounts.

The basic question, of course, was do the bank accounts belong to the parishes or church entities whose officials opened the accounts, or do they belong to the Gallup Diocese because they were opened under the diocese’s tax identification number?

The broader question, which has also yet to be decided, is do the parishes and their assets also belong to the Diocese of Gallup’s estate and fall under the jurisdiction of U.S. Bankruptcy Court?

Unauthorized transfers

However, before bankruptcy officials could even begin to determine the answer to the first question, Boswell delivered more surprising news. On Jan. 27, in a motion requesting an emergency hearing, Boswell said a number of unnamed parish officials had closed some of the recently discovered accounts and moved the money into new accounts with new tax identification numbers, others had simply changed the accounts’ tax identification numbers. She also said a 13th previously unknown account had been discovered.

Of the 13 accounts, Boswell said two did belong to the diocese, one only had a one cent balance and should be closed, and one was an account that was unknown even to the parish. The remaining nine accounts had approximately $260,000 on deposit at the time the diocese filed its Chapter 11 petition.

The account for Our Lady of Fatima Church in Chinle contained the largest sum, listed at $151,467.48 the week before the bankruptcy filing.

In addition to the one account under the name of Our Lady of Fatima Church, the other accounts were listed under St. Isabel Mission in Lukachukai, Ariz. (two accounts), Risen Savior Mission in Bluewater, N.M. (two accounts), St. Mary of the Angels in Pinetop, Ariz. (one account), a Mass Intention Account in Winslow, Ariz., and St. Francis in Lumberton, N.M. (two accounts). Three of the accounts actually listed the Diocese of Gallup also on the account name.

No explanations

Although Boswell provided the names of the individuals who were authorized signers on the accounts, she did not provide the court information as to who specifically transferred the money out of the accounts. How and why the bank accounts were changed after the diocese filed for bankruptcy was also not unexplained.

In her motion, Boswell characterized the unauthorized changing of bank accounts and tax identification numbers as a result of “some miscommunications or misunderstandings” within the diocese.

Attorney James I. Stang had a different take on the situation. Stang, the legal counsel to the Unsecured Creditors Committee which represents clergy abuse victims in the diocese, asserted in a letter to those parish officials that they should be subjected to contempt sanctions for violating Thuma’s court order regarding the accounts.

More accounts

Before the hearing could be held Monday, Boswell filed yet another document stating the diocese had discovered four additional bank accounts opened with the diocese’s tax identification number. One was a Wells Fargo account for Our Lady of the Light in Cubero, N.M.. Two were Pinnacle Bank accounts for the Native American Lay Ministry program, and the last one was a certificate of deposit with Pinnacle Bank for St. Francis of Assisi in Lumberton, N.M.

During the hearing, Thuma did not appear to want to assess blame for the bank account confusion. Rather he solicited suggestions for a remedy how to monitor the normal use of the accounts while protecting the bulk of their assets. In addition to hearing from Boswell, Stang and Assistant U.S. Trustee Ronald E. Andazola, Thuma listened to suggestions from Arizona attorney Rob Charles, who told the court he had recently been hired to represent parishes in the diocese.

Thuma concluded the hearing by announcing he would prepare a draft order for all parties in the case to consider, and he continued the hearing until 11 a.m., Feb. 14.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Tim Sherno

A court order now compels Archbishop John Nienstedt and Rev. Kevin McDonough to give sworn testimony detailing what they know about sex abuse allegations made against priests in the Saint Paul Minneapolis Diocese.

Dr. Charles Reid is a law professor from the University of St. Thomas with experience in both canon law and civil law. Reid says the court ruling is an unexpected development, “I was surprised with the swiftness with which this happened and i think this is a very stunning and important development.”

Nienstedt and McDonough’s testimony will be sealed, but Reid says that isn’t a win for the church, “It does not give the Archbishop or Father McDonough any additional freedom because their testimony is still subject to perjury charges if they dissemble or dissimulate under oath, but what it does do is protect the victim.”

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Cassie Hart

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, on the recent order by a Ramsey County judge.

“We’re grateful that a judge today ordered St. Paul Catholic officials to be deposed and turn over records about clerics who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids.

The need for more disclosure by church figures has been clear for years. Many rightly believe that church officials have not, and are not, being held accountable for irresponsible deeds and crimes that other officials in other organizations would be.

For decades, our justice system has erred on the side of protecting church officials in these cases, sometimes treading lightly for fear of alienating a large institution. The results have been – and continue to be – disastrous.

We must, for the safety of children, err on the side of protecting those who are vulnerable, not those who seem powerful or popular.

St. Paul’s archbishop claimed that he and his disgraced top aide should not be deposed. We are glad these complicit clerics lost.

Their excuse was that they supposedly didn’t handle the case of this notorious predator priest, Fr. Thomas Adamson. Even if this is true, it’s irrelevant.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Feb. 10, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE — One of the Diocese of Gallup’s own mission schools has filed a complaint against it in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

On Jan. 30, Albuquerque attorney Charles R. Hughson, legal counsel for St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School, filed a complaint concerning a dispute over real estate property in Thoreau.

According to the Gallup Diocese, St. Bonaventure is one of its 10 diocesan Catholic schools. St. Michael Indian School is classified as a private Catholic school in the diocese.

In the Complaint to Quiet Title, Hughson argues that property Bishop James S. Wall claimed as belonging to the diocese actually belongs to St. Bonaventure. Hughson also claims a former chief executive of St. Bonaventure Mission transferred property to the diocese without authorization. Included with the complaint are copies of four warranty deeds involving land transactions from 1992 to 2002.

Hughson declined to comment when contacted Friday.

“Because it’s pending litigation, I’m not free to comment on it,” he said.
Warranty deeds

According to the first warranty deed, the Diocese of Gallup transferred eight parcels of land in Thoreau to St. Bonaventure in September 1992. Bishop Donald E. Pelotte signed the warranty deed before Anna J. DiGregorio, one of his longtime chancery staff members and notaries.

The second warranty deed indicates Robert D. O’Connell, then the school’s chief executive, transferred most of those same parcels back to the Gallup Diocese in March 2002. In the complaint, Hughson claims O’Connell wasn’t authorized to transfer the property “since no board resolution to transfer the Deeded Property was made and it was not within the scope of authority conferred on the executive director under St. Bonaventure’s bylaws.”

Hughson claims O’Connell’s warranty deed is invalid and that St. Bonaventure has been paying the taxes and insurance on the property since receiving it from the diocese in 1992. Citing a statute in state law, Hughson argues the Diocese of Gallup “has been barred since at least September, 2002, from challenging St. Bonaventure’s title” to the property.

Two other warranty deeds indicate St. Bonaventure sold two properties to private individuals in the mid-1990s. Barbara Jean Morales, vice-president of the school, signed a warranty deed on Nov. 4, 1994, apparently selling a parcel of land the Gallup Diocese had given the school two years before. Another warranty deed, signed by O’Connell on June 6, 1995, involves a parcel of land that does not appear to be part of the land given by the diocese.

The document signed by Morales possibly violated a provision of the warranty deed signed by Pelotte in 1992 that stated “in the event the above-described property is no longer used as a Catholic Mission and School, said property shall revert to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup.”

Proper protocol

O’Connell, who now lives in Colorado, was contacted for comment Friday. O’Connell disagreed with Hughson’s assertion that he had acted without authorization.

“I wouldn’t have done that unilaterally,” he said.

According to O’Connell, he served as chief executive of St. Bonaventure from 1994 to 2006. During that time, he said, minutes were kept of school board meetings and any decisions regarding property transfers were discussed and approved by the board. O’Connell said the board president was Paul Leche, an attorney from Austin, Texas, who was always concerned with legal correctness.

“Paul Leche was very vigilant about things being done properly,” O’Connell said.

The Rev. Thomas Maikowski, then the director of education for the Gallup Diocese, was very detail oriented and also concerned that proper protocol was followed, O’Connell added.

According to O’Connell, the parcels of land in question had been donated by Phillips Petroleum, and there were a number of discussions between chancery and mission officials about who should own the land and what should be done with the property.

At the time, O’Connell said, there was a “big push” coming down from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for dioceses, not parishes, to own all church property.

“I didn’t push back very hard and neither did the board,” he said.
Uncertain future

O’Connell did remember the 1995 sale of one parcel of land to a private individual and said the land was sold to help pay the taxes on other properties. He also agreed with Hughson’s assertion that it was St. Bonaventure, not the Gallup Diocese, which paid the property taxes on the Thoreau land.

O’Connell also recalled that the future of St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School was very uncertain when he was hired in 1994. The diocese had just removed the Rev. Doug McNeill, the mission’s previous director, after McNeill had been named in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit. According to O’Connell, Pelotte would only allow the mission to erect temporary buildings because if enrollment faltered, the diocese would close the school and sell off the property.

An additional complicating factor, he said, was that St. Bonaventure was not an independent 501(c)(3) organization, but rather used the Diocese of Gallup’s 501(c)(3) status.

“They could take that 501(c)(3) status away from us,” O’Connell said.

The Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy attorneys have not yet responded to the St. Bonaventure complaint.

In October 2012, St. Bonaventure made national news after becoming embroiled in a fundraising fiasco with Quadriga Art, a New York direct-marketing company whose business practices were being investigated by the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. A CNN news investigation claimed St. Bonaventure allegedly owed Quadriga Art $5 million after signing a fundraising contract with the company in 2008. CNN reported that debt was forgiven once the news network began investigating St. Bonaventure’s contract with Quadriga Art.

That contract had apparently been signed in violation of the Diocese of Gallup’s published financial policies. In comments to the media, diocesan attorney James “Jay” Mason said officials with the Gallup Diocese were unaware of St. Bonaventure’s predicament until contacted by CNN.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Written by
Grant Rodgers

A former Des Moines youth pastor charged with sexually abusing two congregation members pleaded guilty today to two charges in the case, said Polk County Attorney John Sarcone.

Ryan McKelvey, 27, was charged in August with two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a clergy after one of the victims, a 16-year-old female, and her parents reported the abuse to police. Through their investigation, police learned about a second alleged victim.

McKelvey served as a youth pastor at the Heritage Assembly Church at 5051 N.E. Fifth Street. The alleged incidents occurred in McKelvey’s home, his vehicle and in one of the victim’s home, according to a police report.

In one instance, McKelvey allegedly pushed a victim against a refrigerator and performed a sex act, according to a police report. McKelvey allegedly sent the victim a text message telling her not to report the incident.

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CONNECTICUT
Stamford Advocate

Five months after he began his leadership of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Bishop Frank Caggiano will do something unprecedented.

He will speak at a chapter meeting of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of concerned Catholics formed in 2002 to call for reform in the church as scandals were breaking over cases in which priests sexually abused children and were shielded by bishops who moved them among the parishes.

Catholics who joined VOTF under the motto, “Keep the Faith, Change the Church,” sought to support victims of abuse and priests of integrity, and to change the church hierarchy that allowed such abuse.

They protested church policies and tried to bypass the hierarchy with financial donations, seeking to give directly to charities instead. They most often were viewed by bishops as rebellious, even disloyal, and were not allowed to meet in Catholic churches in dioceses nationwide.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

By News-Sentinel Staff

Last week, Judge Christopher Klein appointed a Nevada bankruptcy judge to act as a mediator in the Chapter 11 reorganization case of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton.

The judicial mediator is the Hon. Gregg W. Zive. Judge Zive is expected to convene mediation sessions between lawyers for the Diocese of Stockton and those representing its creditors. A status conference in the bankruptcy case is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26 in Sacramento.

“It is our hope that the issues in this case can be settled through mediation and that resolutions can be found that will be in the best interest of all involved,” Bishop Stephen Blaire said in a press release. “In bankruptcy cases, negotiated or mediated settlements result in faster outcomes and significantly lower costs than contested, litigated solutions.”

Attorneys for the diocese filed with the court schedules of assets and liabilities at the end of January.

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MONTANA
Independent Record

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON IR State Bureau

The liabilities of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena total $33.6 million, or more than twice its assets of slightly more than $16 million, a bankruptcy filing said.

However, the diocese did not assign a monetary value under “liabilities” to a series of claims filed by a law firm representing hundreds of people who said certain diocese clergy members had sexually abused them over decades.

On Jan. 31, the Diocese of Helena filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a $15 million settlement intended to go to these victims. It covers Catholic churches in all or part of counties in western Montana.

The separate Great Falls-Billings Diocese covers the rest of the state.

In a filing late Friday, the Diocese of Helena filed documents with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court listing its assets and liabilities.

As assets, the diocese listed real estate worth $7.4 million. That includes Legendary Lodge, a camp on Salmon Lake, worth $3.5 million, and the International Paper site on First Street West in Missoula, worth $2.2 million.

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OHIO
Cincinnati.com

Written by
Jennifer Edwards Baker

A longtime Catholic priest with a history of molesting children will be sentenced today after he was convicted last year of taking a Cincinnati boy to West Virginia and assaulting him in 1991.

The Rev. Robert F. Poandl could serve up to 10 years in prison when he appears before a federal court judge in Downtown Cincinnati at 9:30 a.m.

Federal jurors found him guilty in September of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex.

Poandl belongs to a Fairfield-based Catholic religious order called the Glenmary Home Missioners and is not associated with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

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OHIO
Seattle PI

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio priest convicted of taking a 10-year-old boy to West Virginia for sex more than two decades ago is set to be sentenced.

Federal jurors found Robert Poandl (POHN’-duhl) guilty in September of transporting a minor in interstate commerce with the intent of engaging him in sex. Poandl could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison Wednesday in Cincinnati.

Prosecutors say the priest from the suburban Cincinnati-based Glenmary Home Missioners took the boy to Spencer, W.Va., in 1991 and raped him while visiting a church there.

Poandl’s attorney denied those allegations.

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UNITED STATES
Dallas Morning News

By Rudolph Bush
rbush@dallasnews.com

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a stinging report Wednesday that first and foremost called on the Roman Catholic Church to remove all child abusers from its ranks and to open its archives to the committee for independent review of crimes and concealment.

The report went beyond that though to criticize the Church for its stance on abortion, homosexuality and contraception among other things.

The Vatican responded that certain elements of the report were “an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom. ”

The Catholic Association issued a statement calling the report “a stunning and misguided attackon the Vatican. The responsible committee appears to have overlooked the last decade, in which the Church has taken serious measures to protect children.”

In simple terms, should the committee have limited its comment to the issue of child sexual abuse or was it right to raise broader questions about the church’s teachings on social issues? In a broader sense, what is illuminated by this conflict between a secular institution and a religious one? How should a person of faith respond when someone or something questions their sacred teachings?

WILLIAM LAWRENCE, Dean and Professor of American Church History, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

The assurance in the Constitution that no laws can “prohibit the free exercise” of religion should not be confused with a religious organization’s immunity from criticism. And when the criticism comes from an international body with no capacity to institute penalties or inflict punishment on the religious body, the critique should not be confused with a threat. But it still deserves to be taken seriously.

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IOWA
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: February 11, 2014

DES MOINES, Iowa — A former Des Moines youth pastor accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls has pleaded guilty in the case.

Court records filed Tuesday show 27-year-old Ryan McKelvey has pleaded guilty to charges of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a clergy. He initially pleaded not guilty in September.

McKelvey was a youth pastor at Heritage Assembly Church in Des Moines. Officers began investigating him after a girl and her parents reported an alleged sexual assault by McKelvey. A second girl then reported similar incidents.

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

By: Truth Justice and Healing Council
Wednesday, 12 February 2014

CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, has this morning supported calls by the child sexual abuse support and advocacy organisation, CLAN, for a national child sexual abuse compensation scheme funded by churches and other institutions.

Mr Sullivan said the Council had late last year written to the Attorneys-General of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments calling on them to start work on a national compensation scheme – with no caps – for victims of child sexual abuse.

“So far we have had positive discussions with the offices of the Commonwealth and Northern Territory Government’s with further meetings planned in the months ahead,” Mr Sullivan said.

“We are asking governments around Australia to consider a national scheme with consistent investigative powers and compensation payments which would be funded by the organisations and institutions responsible for the abuse.

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IOWA
KCCI

DES MOINES, Iowa —A former youth pastor charged with sexual abuse and sexual exploitation has changed his plea to guilty, court records filed Tuesday show.

Ryan McKelvey was charged with third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or clergy.

He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in September.

Des Moines police said they were contacted by a girl and her parents last August regarding a sexual assault. The girl reported the suspect in the incident was McKelvey.

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OKLAHOMA
Texomas Homepage

A Lawton jury spends nearly two hours deliberating and finds a pastor not guilty of sexually abusing a 28-year-old. Bobby Glen Burrell, a pastor at One More Soul Outreach Ministries was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in July 2012.

In closing arguments the defense said Burrell did masturbate and watch pornography in the church, however by law that is not a crime. The defense says the 16-year-old boy laughed and giggled when he was interviewed by detectives and called him manipulative.

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OKLAHOMA
KSWO

[with video]

LAWTON, Okla._The Lawton pastor accused of performing lewd acts in front of a teenager at church was found not guilty Tuesday afternoon.

The verdict marks the end of a long wait for Bobby Burrell who has been under investigation since October of 2012 for the accusations. His accuser claimed Burrell took him to his church, showed him porn, and then began to touch himself in front of him.

After the verdict came back it was jubilation for the friends and family members of Burrell, who from the get go, stood by his side saying this isn’t something he would do. Burrell admitted to masturbating in the church, but said it was never in front of his accuser. He said his accuser, instead, walked in on him when he was doing the act in the church’s bathroom. His attorney said morally he made a mistake, but now he is innocent.

“The jury vindicated him, and the jury indicated he did not do anything wrong. He’s innocent, and he is a free man, and that is it,” said his attorney, Jason Lowe.

Lowe said the verdict of not guilty all came down to the law and not what is morally wrong or right. “Masturbation is not a crime. He never masturbated in front of the young man, it’s not a crime. Pornography is not a crime and I think the jury realized and followed the law.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

A TOOWOOMBA Catholic school’s response to allegations of child sex abuse will be the focus of a Royal Commission hearing in Brisbane next week.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will commence at the Brisbane Magistrates Court this Monday.

The hearing will inquire into the response by the Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Toowoomba, to allegations of child sexual abuse at St Saviour’s Primary School.

The public hearing – the sixth since the Royal Commission was established – is scheduled to run for up to two weeks.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines, says the scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

* The response by the principal and other members of staff at St Saviour’s Primary School in Toowoomba to allegations of child sexual abuse made against a teacher at the primary school in September 2007.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Bob Gardinier

Albany

Monsignor Edward Scharfenberger, a 65-year-old Brooklyn-born, Vatican-educated priest and pastor of a parish in Queens, will become the 10th bishop of Albany on April 10. His selection by Pope Francis to succeed Bishop Howard Hubbard was announced Tuesday.

Scharfenberger, who also has been a lawyer for more than two decades, played a significant role in how the Diocese of Brooklyn handled the clergy sex scandal as a member of the Diocesan Review Board for Sexual Abuse of Minors.

“I want to be a healer. I want to be a listener. I want to be a reconciler, but I can’t do it alone,” Scharfenberger said when he was introduced at a morning news conference at the Pastoral Center of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.

“Let’s just get to know each other…walk together,” Scharfenberger said, adding that he wants to bring back those who have been alienated by the church.

And in a reference to the closing of parishes with dwindling congregations, he said: “If we had more people coming into the churches, we wouldn’t have to close any churches.”

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MINNESOTA
Bring Me The News

February 11, 2014 By Aaron Ziemer

A ruling from a Ramsey County District Court judge is ordering the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis allow lawyers for an alleged clergy abuse victim to depose Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough within the next 30 days.

The Star Tribune reports Judge John Van de North also ordered the archdiocese create a list of all priests accused of sexually abusing minors since 2004, in a week.

The newspaper says Van de North called the case “very important” when referring to the demands on the archdiocese to provide information.

The case is centered around John Doe 1, who claimed he was abused by former priest Tom Adamson between 1976 and 1977.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date:Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Source:Jim Accurso

Ramsey County District Court Judge John Van de North today ordered discovery to continue in the Doe 1 case. The Court also ordered the parties to submit proposed orders for the Court’s consideration regarding ongoing disclosure, which are due later this month.

The archdiocese looks forward to working with the Court and all affected parties to promote the protection of children, the healing of victims and the restoration of trust of the faithful and our clergy who are serving our communities nobly and with honor.

At the same time, we strongly assert our pursuit of justice for any who are falsely accused. All of these goals are the basis for every action and decision we are making regarding this ongoing disclosure.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Cassie Hart

A Ramsey County judge ruled Tuesday that key leaders in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis will have to answer for their alleged actions for the first time ever, according to KSTP reporter Beth McDonough.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and Father Kevin McDonough will have to go on the record and talk with investigators about how the church handled sex abuse allegations made against priests in local parishes.

The transcript of the depositions of Archbishop Nienstedt and Father McDonough will be sealed.

The judge also ruled the diocese must release the list of priests accused of sex crimes that happened after 2004, to the court and victim’s attorneys by Feb. 18.

It will be sealed, but can be unsealed by the court.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Feb 11, 2014

A Ramsey County judge has ordered the depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt and former top deputy Rev. Kevin McDonough within 30 days.

The ruling by Judge John Van de North comes in a case brought by a man who says he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in 1976 and 1977.

Nienstedt will be questioned on the policies and practices of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in handling abuse allegations, including whether the archdiocese followed its own policies.

The judge repeatedly noted that retired Archbishop Harry Flynn led the national committee that drafted the church’s standards for clergy sexual abuse cases. He said he didn’t know why those policies would not therefore be followed by the archdiocese.

Although Tuesday’s ruling applies only to this lawsuit, “it’s hard not to see it as a bellwether case,” Van de North said.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

KARE 11 Staff, and Blake McCoy, KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the first time, a Ramsey District Court judge has ordered leaders in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to submit to questioning in a church abuse case.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough will have to talk with investigators about how the church handled abuse allegations made against priests. The depositions are to take place within 30 days.

The order relates to a specific John Doe 1 case involving alleged abuse at the hands of Father Thomas Adamson in 1976 and 1977. The victim sued in 2013 and the case is now being prosecuted.

“We’ll be given the opportunity to put them under oath, make them really answer tough questions,” said the victim’s attorney Jeff Anderson. “From that we hope a light will come to past practices so they won’t be continued in the future.”

Judge Van de North also ordered the Archdiocese to create a list of all priests accused of sexually abusing minors since 2004. The list must be handed over to Anderson by Feb. 18 and will be sealed until a determination is made regarding the validity of each claim.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 02/11/2014

A judge has cleared the way for attorneys in a sexual abuse case to take the depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt, former Vicar General Kevin McDonough and the Rev. John Brown.

Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North also ruled during a hearing Tuesday that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona must disclose the names and other information regarding priests accused of sexual abuse of children since 2004. The information is due to the court by Feb. 18.

Lists of the names of those accused before 2004, compiled as part of a national study, were released in December.

Responding to church attorneys’ concerns that innocent priests would be harmed by the revelations, Van de North ordered the new lists be filed under seal. But they “must be accompanied by a thorough explanation of why public disclosure would be unreasonable,” he said.

A decision will come later as to whether the names should remain secret.

The judge’s pronouncements came in the case of John Doe 1. The Twin Cities man alleged in May that he was sexually abused by Thomas Adamson in 1976 or 1977 when the priest served at St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park. The plaintiff also alleged that the archdiocese and diocese failed to respond adequately.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: February 11, 2014

A Ramsey District Court judge Tuesday ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis to allow lawyers for an alleged clergy abuse victim to depose Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Kevin McDonough. The depositions are to take place within 30 days.

Judge John Van de North also ordered the archdiocese to create a list of all priests accused of sexually abusing minors since 2004. The list must be prepared by Feb. 18.

Van de North also said attorneys for the plaintiff could begin reviewing internal church documents related to clergy abuse.

“This is a very important case … This has become a bellwether case,” said Van de North, referring to the demands on the archdiocese to provide information.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, lawyer for the alleged victim John Doe 1, called the ruling a “giant move forward.”

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UNITED STATES
The Week

By Damon Linker | January 15, 2014

A few months ago, I wrote a cover story for The New Republic about Pope Francis, assessing what reforms, if any, we could expect from the Roman Catholic Church under his leadership. I was impressed with the new pontiff’s gestures of modesty and expressions of loving acceptance for all — for gays (“Who am I to judge?”), for Muslims, for atheists, and especially for the poor. I also took note of early signs that Francis would attempt significant reform of the Vatican bureaucracy (the Curia).

I was far more skeptical that the new pope would attempt to reform or revise church doctrine in a liberal direction — permitting married priests, easing restrictions on abortion or gay marriage, ordaining women. While it was conceivable that Francis might push to strike down the celibacy requirement for priests, it wasn’t likely. And as for the other doctrinal reforms, they just weren’t going to happen. There are simply too many institutional obstacles to that kind of fundamental change in the church.

Liberals would therefore have to settle for a moderation of papal rhetoric, and little else. I concluded by noting that although rhetoric matters in religion, this was far less than most liberal Catholics were hoping for.

But now I’m not so sure. Not about the pope’s focus on reforming the Curia. Not about the importance of his rhetorical shift away from policing sexuality and toward economic injustice. And not about the unlikelihood of him pursuing liberal reform of Catholic doctrine. Nothing in the past few months, including the New York Times’ splashy front page story this week, has led me to change my mind or revise my analysis — except in one respect.

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MISSOURI
KMOV

(KMOV) – A California man is in custody in St. Louis for allegations that he molested multiple victims between 2007 and 2009.

On February 7, The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office issued charges for 26-year-old Brandon Milburn, of Valencia, California, of six counts of first-degree statutory sodomy.

According to authorities, Milburn is accused of molesting two 11-year-old victims between 2007 and 2009 before he moved to California in 2010.

Officials at the St. Louis Christian College in Florissant confirmed that Milburn was a student from 2005 – 2007 and later returned in 2009-2011.

Investigators say no other victims have come forward at this time, the St. Louis County Police are asking if anyone believes that may have victimized by Milburn to call 314-889-2341.

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MISSOURI
KSDK

ST. LOUIS COUNTY – A 26-year-old Valencia, Calif. Man has been charged with statutory sodomy by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Brandon Milburn is charged with six counts of first-degree statutory sodomy. He is accused of molesting multiple victims between 2007 and 2009 before he moved to California in 2010.

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MISSOURI/CALIFORNIA
Fox 2

[with video]

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A California man is behind bars in St. Louis County on charges of statutory sodomy.

St Louis County Police Child Abuse Supervisor, Sgt. Matt Redmond says that Brandon Milburn, 26, was working as a youth minister and youth coordinator at the First Christian Church in Florissant. He also worked with the church’s media unit helping put on its performances and record its services.

He came into contact with many children as the youth minister. He was 21 years old when he allegedly sodomized two 11 year old boys in his church. He is not related to the victims. Police want to know if there are more victims.

Police in California are trying to determine if there are victims there. From the victims account of the crimes, police here believe the crimes took place in 2008 but may have happened in 2007 or 2009.

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FLORIDA
San Francisco Chronicle

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An organization that helps sex abuse victims is asking the Florida Baptist Convention not to appeal a $12.5 million damage award to a young man who was abused by a Baptist minister as a child.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest sent a letter Tuesday to Florida Baptist Convention, stressing that an appeal would hurt the victim in the case and other victims abused by clergy.

After last month’s verdict, attorney Gary Yeldell said the convention is confident an appellate court would overturn the ruling. He maintained that minister Douglas Myers was an independent pastor and not supervised by the convention.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

The UN’s recent examination of the Holy See presented yet more evidence of the Catholic Church’s responsibility for, and cover-up of, child abuse. Yet the Catholic majority remains persistently silent, argues Terry Sanderson.

After the drubbing over child abuse that the Catholic Church (in its guise as the “Holy See”) got at the United Nations in Geneva earlier this month, you would think that Catholics around the world would be horrified and angry.

But they aren’t. There was little evidence of a widespread furious reaction to the arrogance and dissembling that Vatican representatives exhibited when confronted with crimes so enormous in their reach and depravity that they’re almost incomprehensible.

Then a cleric was caught red handed in Rome trying to launder millions of pounds in “false donations” through the Vatican bank.

In the USA, the Archdiocese of Chicago has released thousands of pages of documents that reveal how its hierarchy routinely covered up child sex abuse and shuffled abusing priests from one diocese to another. The scale of it beggars the imagination

But no one seems to want to know about it. Catholics are, reportedly, rushing back to church, pouring money into its coffers again and feeling generally quite good about things now that they’ve got Pope Francis.

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NEW YORK
CBS 6

ALBANY — For the first time in 37 years, a change at the top of Albany Roman Catholic Diocese. A Brooklyn priest has been appointed by Pope Francis to succeed outgoing Bishop Howard Hubbard.

He was the youngest-elected and is now the longest-serving bishop in America. Monsignor Edward Scharfenberger admitted it was a little overwhelming to accept leadership in a new place. But in introducing himself to a new congregation, he sounded just as much like an authority as an equal.

“Sometimes the shepherd needs some of the sheep to lead him to other sheep where he needs to go and I’ll look to you to show me that,” Scharfenberger said. He only thought he’d be up this way passing through to go to Lake George. “I admired bishops, certainly whose example I like to follow,”

Scharfenberger said. “It didn’t occur to me I’d be here in this position.” Scharfenberger’s election by Pope Francis marks one of the biggest changes to the local Church in decades. It is made, coincidentally, one year to the day after the the worldwide history made by Pope Benedict’s resignation.

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CONNECTICUT
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 11, 2014

Speakers will include John L. Allen, Jr., Associate Editor for Catholic news at The Boston Globe and founder of the Vatican beat for National Catholic Reporter, and Fr. Thomas Reese, NCR’s Senior Analyst and author of The Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.

I did an MSNBC interview with Reese last month and he is a great advocate for truth.

The event will be at Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, Connecticut. For more information and to register, click here.

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MICHIGAN
The Detroit News

Mark Hicks and Lauren Abdel-Razzaq
The Detroit News

Detroit — Archdiocese of Detroit officials have scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon to address charges against a former associate pastor accused of defrauding an inner-city charitable program.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced a warrant charging the Rev. Timothy Kane, 57, who had been serving at St. Moses the Black Parish in Detroit, with six felony counts related to money missing from the Angel Fund, which provides aid to the needy in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck.

According to Prosecutor Kym Worthy, Kane worked in connection with Dorreca Marvie Brewer, a 34-year-old from Jackson, to allegedly steal money from the charity fund by filing and approving false applications. Between August 2008 and July 2012, the pair allegedly convinced others who did not need the money to supply their information in exchange for a cut of the profits, Worthy said.

Kane and Brewer received thousands of dollars from the fraudulent transactions, Worthy said.

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MICHIGAN
WXYZ

DETROIT (WXYZ) – A Detroit priest has been charged with stealing money intended to help those in need from the Archdiocese.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced in a press conference Tuesday that Father Timothy Joseph Kane of Detroit and Dorreca Marvie Brewer of Jackson are alleged to have participated in scheme to steal money from the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Angel Fund – created to help people in need.

The two are accused of stealing the funds from August 2008 through July 2012. During this time period the pair of defendants allegedly filled out and approved false applications to the Angel Fund, allowing them to both receive thousands of dollars.

Kane served as Associate Pastor of St. Gregory the Great and the Church of the Madonna, both in Detroit as well as St. Benedict in Highland Park during this time. He also acted as Christian Service Contactor at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Both Kane and Brewer have been charged with:

Criminal Enterprise Conspiracy
Using a A Computer to Commit a Crime
Uttering and Publishing
Conspiracy to Commit Uttering and Publishing
Embezzlement from a Charitable Institution
Conspiracy to Commit Embezzlement from a Charitable Institution

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IOWA
WHO

February 11, 2014, by Kelly Maricle

A former Des Moines youth pastor will go to trial Wednesday on sexual abuse charges.

Twenty-seven-year-old Ryan McKelvey is charged with two counts of third degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. He is a former youth pastor at Heritage Assembly of God Church.

He was charged and arrested in September of 2013 after a teenage girl and her parents went to Des Moines police, claiming the teen had been sexually assaulted by McKelvey. During their investigation, police discovered a second victim in the case.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former Vatican Secretary of State, has revealed that Pope Benedict XVI decided to resign in 2012, several months before he made that decision public.

In an interview with the Italian daily Il Giornale on the anniversary of the resignation, Cardinal Bertone said that Pope Benedict had made up his mind to step down by the middle of 2012, and had originally planned to announce his plans before Christmas that year. Cardinal Bertone said that he tried to persuade the Pontiff to delay his decision, but was successful only in convincing him to wait until February 11, 2103.

The former Secretary of State said that the Pope’s decision to resign was prompted “at least in part” by the report given to him by a commission of three cardinals investigating the “Vatileaks” scandal. The commission made its report to the Pontiff in July 2012. Cardinal Bertone said that he did not think the actual content of the commission’s report was critically important, however— thereby downplaying rumors that the secret contained some shocking information that prompted the Pontiff to resign.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A woman has told the Historical Abuse Inquiry how she was sexually abused by a nun when she was a young child.

The woman, now in her 50s, said she was aged four or five at the time and lived in Nazareth House, Londonderry.

The inquiry is investigating abuse claims against children’s residential institutions in NI from 1922 to 1995.

The woman claimed she had been sexually and physically abused by nuns and older girls, and said she had prayed she would never have children herself.

“I couldn’t bear to see them going through the pain and hurt I suffered,” she said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan in Banbridge, Co Down

Tue, Feb 11, 2014

The Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry has heard claims that a child was forced to perform oral sex on a nun.

A witness, who was a resident at Nazareth House in Derry’s Bishop Street during the 1960s, said she was between the ages of four and five when she was made to lie on her back on the floor by a nun who straddled her, lifting her habit and forcing the child to perform a sex act on her.

She said she was terrified.

She told the inquiry she reported the incident to another nun some time later. The witness, who cannot be identified, said the nun did get back to her, but now denies this ever happened.

“She said to me – she would have remembered if something like this had have been said – but I would swear on the Bible that this conversation took place,” she said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER  , Star Tribune Updated: February 11, 2014

Ramsey County judge considers whether church must turn over internal files on clergy abusers.

A Ramsey District Court judge will hear arguments Tuesday afternoon over whether Catholic church officials should be required to turn over their internal documents related to clergy child sex offenders, and whether top officials from the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis should be required to give depositions on an abuse case.

The hearing is at 3 p.m. before Judge John Van de North.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of an alleged abuse victim seeks both documents and depositions as part of its investigation. The suit, filed in May 2013, asked for permission to take depositions from Archbishop John Nienstedt and the Rev. Kevin McDonough, who was the archdiocese’ point person on sex offenses for years.

The archdiocese has argued that the information was not relevant to the case of John Doe 1, who charged that he was abused by former priest Tom Adamson between 1976 and 1977.

The archdiocese also claimed it was an excuse to get more information from the archdiocese about its handling of abuse complaints.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY THOMAS ORITI
February 11, 2014

A leader of the Salvation Army has cried while apologising to victims of child sexual abuse at boys homes run by the organisation.

Commissioner James Condon is the leader of the Salvation Army’s Eastern Territory, covering New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT.

He has sat through two weeks of disturbing evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which is examining abuse at four boys’ homes in NSW and Queensland.

Former residents of the homes say they were raped by Salvation Army officers and “rented out” for sex between the 1950s and the 1970s.

Commissioner Condon says as the leader of the Salvation Army’s Eastern Territory, he accepts responsibility.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The New York Times

By PAUL VALLELY
FEB. 11, 2014

LONDON — Boys have been raped. Priests have lied. Bishops have been complicit in cover-ups. Evidence has been shredded, whistle-blowers undermined, silence has been bought and victims given false promises. And yet for all that, the blistering critique of the United Nations report on sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church may end up doing more harm than good.

The case against the church is clear. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child refers to tens of thousands of crimes by priestly abusers over several decades. It calls on the church to remove all abusers from active ministry, report them to the police and open its archives on the 4,000 cases which have been referred to the Vatican.

But the report naïvely, or ideologically, also blundered into a wider attack on Catholic teachings on contraception, homosexuality and abortion. That prompted the Vatican to respond with a forceful counterattack claiming the United Nations has gone beyond its proper area of competence — and, indeed, has violated the safeguards on religious freedom in its own Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The focus on child abuse has been lost in the row, with Vatican apologists tweeting about the Holy See being ambushed by a kangaroo court. The United Nations process, some said, had been driven by NGOs with an anti-Catholic agenda on reproductive rights. Dark remarks were made about getting the General Assembly to impose a code of conduct on United Nations human rights committees to make them more accountable.

All this has shifted attention from the key question: Is the church doing enough to deal with the abuse? Yet that is not the only reason that the United Nations committee may have made a tactical blunder by attacking wider Catholic values. For all the unified public pronouncements from church spokesmen, the reality is that behind the scenes the Vatican is deeply divided on the issue.

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director ( 314 566 9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com ), Amy Smith of Houston, SNAP leader ( 281 748 4050, spacecitysnap@gmail.com )

Abuse victims plead with Southern Baptists
They beg church officials: “Don’t appeal jury verdict”
Florida Baptist Convention should “accept justice,” they say
“Appealing will erode Baptist officials’ moral authority,” states SNAP
They call this a “watershed moment” for largest US Protestant denomination

An organization that helps clergy sex abuse victims is asking the Florida Baptist Convention to reconsider its decision to appeal a recent and unprecedented multi-million dollar verdict in a child molestation case.

[Orlando Sentinel]

Last week, a unanimous jury in Lake County, Florida, awarded $12.5 million to a man who was sexually abused as a child by a Southern Baptist minister in a church affiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention.

This is believed to be the first time that a state or national Baptist organization has been held responsible for the crimes of a minister. For years, Baptist denominational officials have successfully maintained that each church is completely autonomous such that Baptist denominational organizations can’t be sued for negligently allowing clergy child molesters to “church-hop.”

Within hours, Baptist officials announced their intention to ask a higher court to overturn the jury’s verdict.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing to Florida Baptist Convention executive director John Sullivan to urge that the statewide denominational office reconsider that decision.

The group maintains that Baptist officials are “at a historic crossroads” and “must choose between the familiar but hurtful, costly, defensive, and fundamentally immoral practice of using legal hard-ball to evade responsibility, or a more kind and smart practice of accepting responsibility, helping victims and taking action to deter future clergy sex crimes and cover-ups.”

“In the long run, this denomination will protect children, save money, prevent embarrassment, and be hailed as doing the right thing, if you act now as compassionate shepherds instead of cold-hearted CEOs,” said Amy Smith, a SNAP leader in Houston who is herself a Southern Baptist.

“This first-ever jury finding – that Baptist denominational offices should bear responsibility for harm inflicted by a clergy child molester — is a real ‘wake-up call’ for the entire denomination,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s Director. “Denominational officials can heed or ignore the call. We hope they’ll make the tougher but smarter and more responsible choice to accept responsibility, not appeal, and to implement denominational safeguards for the protection of kids.”

Clohessy compared the jury’s decision to a lengthy 1985 internal Catholic Church report sent to every US bishop, warning them that soon lawsuits involving pedophile priests would proliferate and radically undermine their reputations.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

News Release

February 11, 2014

(St. Paul, MN) – On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at 3:00PM in Ramsey County District Court, Judge John Van de North may decide whether documents and information and additional names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse will be released in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona. Van de North may also decide whether the depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Father Kevin McDonough can be taken as part of a civil lawsuit.

Doe 1, along with his attorneys and other sexual abuse survivors, sought to force the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, to release this information and has requested the depositions of both Nienstedt and McDonough. The Archdiocese and Diocese of Winona have fought for years to keep the names and information secret and the Archdiocese has objected to the depositions of both top Archdiocesan officials.

· The original Doe 1 complaint can be found on our website at www.andersonadvocates.com.
Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Feb. 11, 2014

PERSPECTIVE Cast your mind back to February 2013. Remember what was happening and how people felt. How you felt. The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on Feb. 11, 2013, caught the world by surprise, but after the initial shock wore off, it didn’t seem all that surprising.

Remember what we, in the U.S. Catholic church, had been through: an “apostolic visitation” of congregations of American women religious; a doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the appointment of overlords to help them “reform.” Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois had been excommunicated because he supported women’s ordination. Long established and trusted scholars, Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley and St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, had been censured. The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board for child protection had warned the bishops that complacency threatened the continuing implementation of their policies and guidelines meant to keep children safe. The U.S. bishops seemed to be doing their best to scuttle health care reform over — of all things — artificial contraception; their campaign for religious freedom seemed petty and partisan. A clunky, ideologically driven translation of the Mass prayers had been thrust upon us.

I remember people feeling dejected and drifting away from the church. Not storming out, just drifting away.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

A former Catholic priest, James Patrick Jennings, 80, is standing trial in the Victorian County Court in February 2014, accused of committing sexual offences against boys at a Catholic boarding school in Bendigo, Victoria, in the 1960s.

Prosecutors allege that Father Jennings indecently assaulted three boarders, aged 12 and 13, at the school while in charge of one of the dormitories there. Jennings has pleaded not guilty to six counts of indecent assault.

Jennings’ defence lawyer told the jury that his client absolutely denies the allegations.

The school was St Vincent’s College, which then situated at Bendigo, 150 kilometres north of Melbourne. Father Jennings was then a member of the Vincentian religious order (this order is also called the Congregation of the Mission). He later left the Vincentian order and stopped working as a priest.

[St Vincent’s College was set up in Bendigo in 1955 and was run then by the Vincentian order. In 1977, it was taken over by the Marist Brothers. In 1983 this school then became part of Catholic College Bendigo.]

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn say the Philadelphia district attorney is resorting to hysteria, emotion and histrionics in his legal appeal to send their client back to jail.

District Attorney Seth Williams has asked the state Supreme Court to overturn a Dec. 26th opinion from a panel of three Superior Court judges that reversed Msgr, Lynn’s prior conviction on one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

In its appeal to the state Supreme Court, the district attorney said the reversal by the Superior Court panel sent a “dismal message” to the survivors of sex abuse. Also, because of the Superior Court’s overly broad language and “misapplication of law,” the district attorney warned that the state may not be able to protect future victims of child abuse.

Lynn’s lawyers saw it differently.

“The Commonwealth willfully the distorts the Superior Court’s decision, which “simply concluded” that the state’s original child endangerment law did not apply to Lynn, as he was “neither a parent, guardian, nor other person supervising the welfare of a child,” Thomas A. Bergstrom and Allison Khaskelis argue in their 27-page response to the D.A.’s petition filed today.

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UNITED STATES
Aljazeera

by Lauren Carasik @ajam February 11, 2014

Urging a sprawling religious institution to take immediate remedial action to redress a scourge of pervasive sexual abuse within its ranks is unlikely to generate global controversy. Unless that organization is the Catholic Church and the edict is issued by a secular watchdog and muddied by the Vatican’s unique status as a hybrid sovereign state ruled by its own religious laws and mores.

On Feb. 5, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a stern rebuke of the Holy See for its failure to comply with its international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The panel’s observations in its second periodic report on the Vatican accused it of systematically protecting pedophile priests and showing greater concern for preserving its own reputation and protecting the perpetrators than for upholding the best interests of the children. It called on the church to remove abusive clergy from official duty, turn abusers and those who shielded them over to state authorities for prosecution and release its voluminous archives of sexual-abuse complaints.

The U.N. report has reignited a lingering debate between defenders of the church and critics who deplore its handling of the sex-abuse crisis. Survivor groups and their supporters hailed the report as a watershed development in their arduous and lengthy battle to seek redress for past and ongoing abuses as well as efforts to prevent future ones. They have long criticized the Vatican for hiding behind a stony and impenetrable wall of secrecy, obstructing justice, protecting abusers and punishing whistle-blowers.

Barbara Dorris, outreach director for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, lauded the report’s long overdue attention to a troubling issue for which the church has never publicly answered.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 10

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

A high ranking cleric from a diocese that’s one of the most secretive with predator priests has been promoted to head the Albany Catholic diocese. Pope Francis has made another poor choice. While the pontiff has made steps forward on Vatican finances and governance, he has still done virtually nothing substantial to help expose predators, deter enablers, heal victims and prevent future clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

For a decade, Scharfenberger has been heavily involved in pedophile priest cases, in two roles (as “promoter of justice” and as a review board member). Yet we’ve seen not a single hopeful move in the Brooklyn diocese regarding this scandal. That diocese, like many, does only the absolute bare minimum in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases, and only then because it’s required to do so by the US church’s vague, weak and rarely enforced abuse policy.

Thirty bishops have posted pedophile priests’ names on their websites. This is, we believe, a bare minimum public safety step. Brooklyn Catholic officials refuse to do so, even though there are at least 53 Brooklyn priests who have been publicly accused of molesting kids. Equally troubling, Brooklyn Catholic officials put a lawyer in charge of responding to abuse reports, a maneuver which we consider a shrewd and unethical way to try to handle these cases quietly and prevent victims from seeking justice in court.

We have been critical of Bishop Howard Hubbard’s recklessness and callousness in chlid sex cases. So we had hoped that his replacement would be someone whose track record in this crisis had been better. But today we are disappointed.

We hope that Bishop Scharfenberger will quickly

– post predators’ names on his diocesan website and in parish bulletins,
– begin personally visiting each parish where a pedophile priest worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police, and
– start supporting, not fighting, efforts to reform New York’s archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations on child sex crimes.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre

RE: Appointment of Bishop-Elect Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski
FROM: Bishop-Elect Zglejszewski

Good Morning. Thank you for being here today.

I think that everyone is very surprised, like I am this morning, by the news coming from Rome, and will understand why my heart and mind turns into both wonder and joy. I am humbled by the Holy Father’s appointment and even though I always wanted to serve God and the Church in the best way I can, I am overwhelmed with the sense of my unworthiness. For that reason, I turn all my emotions and wonders into a song of gratitude.

I want to thank, most of all, our Holy Father, Pope Francis. This appointment not only shows his great concern for the Church on Long Island, but also it is a concrete way of reaching out to all the faithful in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The Holy Father recognizes the depth and enthusiasm of spiritual life coming together with an amazing exchange of the diversities of our cultures. Even though we all have different accents and backgrounds, what really unites us is our faith and love for God and his Church.
I am grateful to our Shepherd, Bishop William Murphy. I would not be where I am in my life without his pastoral vision, giving me an opportunity to serve the people of God here on Long Island, first of all, as parish priest, and then as the diocesan Director of the Office of Worship and then as Co-Chancellor. In all these ministries, I had a great opportunity to meet local people with a variety of needs. I also had the privilege to discover how strong and beautiful our Church is on Long Island. Having the responsibility for liturgy in the diocese was a learning experience for me. It was and is an opportunity for me to serve my brother priests and parish leaders by assisting them in a variety of pastoral and sacramental needs.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre

11 February 2014 – Pope Francis Names Diocesan Co-Chancellor as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Rockville Centre

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – February 11, 2014 – Pope Francis has appointed Reverend Monsignor Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski, 52, to be an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the announcement public earlier today in Washington, DC. Bishop-Elect Zglejszewski is a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and currently serves as co-chancellor and director of the office of worship, Diocese of Rockville Centre.

The Most Rev. William Murphy, bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, will ordain Bishop-Elect Zglejszewski at a Mass of Episcopal Ordination to be celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint Agnes, Rockville Centre, New York on March 25, 2014, the Feast of the Annunciation.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn

STATEMENT OF BISHOP NICHOLAS DIMARZIO ON THE APPOINTMENT OF MSGR. EDWARD SCHARFENBERGER AS TENTH BISHOP OF ALBANY, N.Y.

February 11, 2014 – This morning, the Holy Father appointed the Reverend Monsignor Edward Scharfenberger as the Tenth Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, New York.

Monsignor Scharfenberger was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Brooklyn by Bishop James Hickey (who would go on to become Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, D.C.) on July 2, 1973, at St. Peter’s Basilica. He has served in a number of pastoral and administrative positions. Most recently he served as Episcopal Vicar for Queens. In addition, he recently served as pastor of Saint Matthias Church in the Ridgewood section of Queens and also as Vicar for Strategic Planning.

“First and foremost, Monsignor Scharfenberger is a good priest,” said the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn. “He is primarily concerned about people and is untiring in finding new ways to proclaim the message of redemption which is at the heart of the Gospel.”

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Entorno Inteligente

El Nuevo diario / Santo Domingo, RD.− El nuncio apostólico en República Dominicana, el nigeriano Jude Thaddeus Okolo, aseguró hoy que es necesario “buscar la verdad” en alusión a las acusaciones de supuesta pederastia contra su predecesor en el cargo, el polaco Jozef Wesolowski. Wesolowski está acusado por la Procuraduría General (Fiscalía) dominicana de supuestas acciones de pederastia en perjuicio de adolescentes de extracción humilde. El fiscal general de República Dominicana, Francisco Domínguez Brito, sostuvo este lunes una reunión con Okolo, con quien trató diversos aspectos relativos a las denuncias de pederastia que afrontan el exnuncio Wesolowski y su compatriota y sacerdote Wokcietch Waldemar Gil. Wokcietch Waldemar Gil, conocido como el padre Gil, ejercía el sacerdocio en la comunidad de Juncalito, provincia dominicana de Santiago (norte), y logró escapar el año pasado a Polonia antes de ser procesado, y desde allí ha negado las acusaciones. Durante el encuentro de este lunes, el máximo representante del Ministerio Público y el Nuncio consideraron que en cada caso los tribunales deben hacer todo lo posible para buscar la verdad, “y en caso de encontrar indicios serios respecto a las imputaciones, aplicar las debidas sanciones”.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Justice minister Francisco Domínguez and Vatican envoy Jude Thaddeus Okolo on Monday discussed child abuse cases attributed to his predecessor Jozef Wesolowski and the priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto) in Juncalito, Santiago.

In a statement released after the meeting, the officials said the courts must do everything to seek the truth in each case and punishment if there’s evidence of the allegations.

Dominguez said Dominican investigators found serious criminal responsibility against the prelates, for which they should be punished.

The case files sent to Polish authorities include victims statements and testimony, the alleged victims’ psychological evaluations as well as various types of evidence with which Dominican Republic seeks prosecution.

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TEXAS
Telemundo

[Summary: A group of activists stood outside the Cathedral of Guadlalupe in Dallas to ask the Catholic Church to do a better job exposing clergy who have been accused of sexually abusing minors. According to members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, former preist James Brzyski, who was named by a Philadelphia grand jury as being one of the “most brutal abusers,” lives in the Dallas area.]

Un grupo de activistas estuvo a fuera de la Catedral de Guadalupe en Dallas para exigirle a la iglesia católica que haga un mejor trabajo para exponer a los miembros del clero que han sido acusados de abusar sexualmente de menores de edad.

De acuerdo a miembros del grupo SNAP, el ex sacerdote James Brzyski, fue nombrado por un gran jurado en Filadelfia como uno de los “abusadores más brutales”.

De acuerdo al gran jurado, Brzyski de 62 años, presuntamente abusó de hasta de 17 niños durante los 70’s y 80’s.

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NEW YORK
Saratogian

By staff report
POSTED: 02/11/14

ALBANY >> Rev. Msgr. Edward B Scharfenberger, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York has been appointed by Pope Francis to be the tenth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York. The announcement was made at the Vatican today.

There will be a press conference to introduce Bishop-elect Scharfenberger at 11 a.m. today, Feb. 11, at the Pastoral Center of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany, New York.

Bishop-elect Scharfenberger succeeds Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, who has led the Diocese of Albany for 37 years. Bishop Hubbard reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on Oct. 31, and submitted his letter of retirement to Pope Francis at that time. Hubbard was instructed to stay on until the appointment and installation of a new bishop.

Bishop-elect Scharfenberger was born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn on May 29, 1948. He is the son of Edward and Elaine (Magdal) Scharfenberger of Warwick, New York. His parents are 93 years old.

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NEW YORK
News Times

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Pope Francis has appointed a New York City priest to succeed Bishop Howard Hubbard as the leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Diocese of Brooklyn announced Tuesday morning that the pope appointed the Rev. Monsignor Edward Scharfenberger as the Albany diocese’s 10th bishop.

Hubbard was the longest-tenured bishop of a single diocese in the nation when he submitted his resignation on Oct. 31, when he turned 75, the mandatory retirement age for a bishop. He was appointed bishop of Albany in March 1977.

Scharfenberger was ordained a priest in 1973. He has held a number of parish and administrative positions in New York City, including episcopal vicar for Queens.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A former residential care home in Derry run by the Sisters of Nazareth for more than 100 years is for sale.

Nazareth House, at Bishop Street – which closed last year – is now on the property market with a guide selling price of in the region of £750,000.

The property that’s currently for sale includes the former nursing home, as well as a chapel and a three-bedroom bungalow.

The site extends to some 1.65 acres and because of its elevated location boasts commanding views of the River Foyle and the east bank.

Property experts say it represents an “excellent opportunity” and could, perhaps, be used for “healthcare, educational or institutional use” or, alternatively, could be re-developed.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

A man and woman have told the North’s historical institutional abuse inquiry how their separate experiences in residential homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Derry damaged them as children and adults.

A 58-year-old woman said that nuns in Nazareth House in Derry refused to believe her when she told them she was sexually abused as a young girl.

She told the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down, yesterday the abuse occurred when she spent time on placement from Nazareth House on two farms when she was about 11 or 12 years of age. A man on the first farm abused her a “few” times. She remembered a particular incident when that man got into the bed between her and another girl from Nazareth House but the man’s wife came in and told him to “get out”.

She described the incident on the second farm when the owner tried to abuse her. On that occasion she ran away. “I got to hell out of there,” she said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A public inquiry has heard that a young girl was cruelly treated by nuns and beaten “black and blue” during her time at Nazareth House Children’s Home in Derry.

Yesterday, the inquiry, sitting in Banbridge, Co. Down, heard from a 58-year-old witness who was a resident at the Bishop Street home for girls from 1957 to 1969.

She recalled that, during her time there, some of the nuns were cruel and one nun would often beat her, hitting her with a belt she wore round her neck.

She told the inquiry that she was also beaten black and blue with a stick.

The witness said that, at bath time, 100 girls were forced to queue up with no privacy and the bath water was never changed.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A FORMER Catholic priest on trial for sex crimes against young boys will take the stand in a bid to prove his innocence, a court has heard.

James Jennings, 80, is standing trial in the County Court accused of molesting boys at St Vincent’s College, Bendigo, in the 1960s.

Prosecutors allege he assaulted three boarders, aged 12 and 13, at the college while in charge of one of the dormitories there.

Mr Jennings is facing six counts of indecent assault.

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CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague Daily Monitor

ČTK | 11 FEBRUARY 2014

Havlickuv Brod, East Bohemia, Feb 10 (CTK) – The Czech police arrested a 52-year-old priest and accused him of rape, sexual abuse and other crimes and the man faces up to ten years in prison if his guilt is proved, police spokeswoman Dana Cirtkova said yesterday.

Cirtkova said the case is exceptionally serious not only because of the crimes concerned but also because “the perpetrator took advantage of the helplessness and trust of the victims with whom he was in regular contact as a clergyman.”

The priest was remanded in custody on Thursday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

An Anglican priest from Wannock who was jailed for sexually abusing young children has applied to be released from prison on compassionate grounds.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in May after being found guilty of 36 separate sex offences.

The priest, from Filching Close, committed the offences against 16 children between 1962 and 1973 in Hampshire and Sussex.

One of his victims said she and her family were in ‘a state of disbelief’.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Albany, New York of the Most Reverend Howard J. Hubbard in accordance with can. 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law.

The Holy Father appointed as Bishop of Albany Rev. Msgr. Edward Bernard Scharfenberger of the clergy of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and Episcopal Vicar for the area of Queens.

Also in New York state, the Holy Father has appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Rockville Centre (Long Island) Rev. Msgr. Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski of the clergy of the same diocese, currently Co – Chancellor and Director of the diocesan Office of Worship. The Pope has assigned to him the titular see of Nicives .

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della diocesi di Albany (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. Howard James Hubbard, in conformità al can. 401 §1 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo di Albany (U.S.A.) Mons. Edward Bernard Scharfenberger, del clero della diocesi di Brooklyn, finora Vicario Episcopale per il territorio di Queens. …

NOMINA DI AUSILIARE DI ROCKVILLE CENTRE (U.S.A.)
Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo Ausiliare di Rockville Centre (U.S.A.) Mons. Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski, del clero della medesima sede, finora Co-Cancelliere e Direttore dell’”Office of Worship” diocesano, assegnandogli la sede titolare vescovile di Nicives.

Mons. Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski

Mons. Andrzej Jerzy Zglejszewski è nato il 18 dicembre 1961 in Białystok (Polonia). Ha studiato filosofia e teologia in Białystok. Nel novembre 1987 si è trasferito negli Stati Uniti e ha compiuto i suoi studi teologici, ottenendo il “Master of Arts” in Teologia presso il “Seminary of the Immaculate Conception” a Huntington (1990).

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NEW YORK
Troy Record

ALBANY>>Rev. Msgr. Edward B Scharfenberger, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York has been appointed by Pope Francis to be the tenth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York. The announcement was made at the Vatican today.

There will be a press conference to introduce Bishop-elect Scharfenberger at 11:00 a.m. today, February 11, in meeting rooms 1 and 2, at the Pastoral Center of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, 40 North Main Avenue, Albany, New York.

Bishop-elect Scharfenberger succeeds Bishop Howard J. Hubbard who has led the Diocese of Albany for 37 years. Bishop Hubbard reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on October 31, 2013 and submitted his letter of retirement to Pope Francis at that time. He was instructed to stay on until the appointment and installation of a new bishop.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Bob Gardinier
Updated 6:53 am, Tuesday, February 11, 2014

ALBANY – The diocese will announce later Tuesday morning the appointment Rev. Msgr. Edward B. Scharfenberger, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, as the new spiritual leader for the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.

Scharfenberger, 65, was appointed by Pope Francis early Tuesday to be the tenth bishop of the diocese, Father Kenneth Doyle said.

There will be a press conference to introduce Bishop-elect Scharfenberger at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday in meeting rooms 1 and 2, at the Pastoral Center of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, 40 North Main Avenue, Albany, New York.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[Summary: It is unlikely that Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz van Elst will return to the Limburg diocese. He has been under investigation for alleged overspending on his new house which cost millions of euros.]

Dem Bistum Limburg wie auch der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz liegen keine Erkenntnisse über den Tenor oder über Einzelheiten des Berichts vor, den die Kommission zur Überprüfung des Finanzgebarens bei der Errichtung des „Diözesanen Zentrums St. Nikolaus“ in Limburg in den kommenden Tagen fertig stellen will. Sprecher beider Institutionen sahen sich daher gegenüber der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung nicht in der Lage, Behauptungen zu bestätigen oder zu dementieren, der Limburger Bischofs Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst werde durch die Kommission schwer belastet.

Nach Informationen der F.A.Z. gestaltet sich der Prozess schwierig, einzelne Handlungen anhand von Normen des allgemeinen Kirchenrechts oder des Partikularrechts der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland eindeutig als rechtskonform oder als rechtswidrig zu bewerten. Daher dürfte der Streit über die Bewertungsmaßstäbe mit der Veröffentlichung des Kommissionsberichts nicht beendet sein.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[Summary: Clergy abuse survivor Norbert Denef has written to Pope Francis asking him to help clergy abuse victims.]

VON NORBERT DENEF

Sehr geehrter Heiliger Vater Papst Franziskus,

der Vatikan hat vor dem UN-Kinderrechtsausschuss in Genf erstmals zum Skandal des Missbrauchs Minderjähriger innerhalb der katholischen Kirche ausgesagt. Papst Benedikt XVI. versetzte 384 Priester wegen Missbrauchs in den Laienstand, im Jahr 2012 waren es etwa 100, im Jahr 2011 etwa 300. Danach forderten Sie Ihre Kirche zu mehr Schuldbewusstsein auf. Wir Betroffenen haben mit großer Freude zur Kenntnis genommen, dass Sie die Taten als “Schande der Kirche” geißeln.

Aber genügt das? Jahrzehntelang wurden die Täter von ihren Vorgesetzten geschützt. Anstatt die Verbrechen aufzuklären und den Opfern zu helfen, wurden die Täter stillschweigend in immer neue Gemeinden versetzt. Fast 400 Priester weltweit wurden wegen Missbrauchs in den Laienstand versetzt – aber was passiert mit den Amtsträgern, die die Täter jahrzehntelang schützten?

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by GARETH ROSE
Updated on the 11 February 2014

SPECIALISED teams of police, lawyers and childcare experts should be created to investigate historic abuse, a report has suggested.

The Scottish Government should also review time-bar laws so that alleged victims can launch compensation cases, regardless of when offences are said to have happened.

And a National Survivor Support Fund could be created to help victims, a draft action plan proposes.

The suggestions follow “InterAction” meetings involving survivors of abuse in care, as well government, institutions and others, delivered by the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the Centre for excellence for looked after children in Scotland.

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ESPANA
El Mundo

Un juzgado de guardia de Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona) ha dejado en libertad con cargos al rector de la parroquia de Santa Rosa detenido hoy por los Mossos d’Esquadra por presuntos abusos sexuales a tres hermanos cuando estaba a solas con ellos durante las clases de catequesis.

Según han informado fuentes judiciales, el juez ha dictado una orden de alejamiento de 200 metros para I.M., de 63 años, que está imputado por abusos sexuales a tres hermanos de entre 10 y 15 años.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Minister writes to Magdalene nuns for third time seeking contribution to redress scheme

Patsy McGarry

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has written for a third time to the four religious congregations that ran Magdalene laundries seeking a contribution to the Government compensation scheme for women who worked in the laundries.

In a written reply to a question from Labour TD Anne Ferris, the Minister said: “I discussed this matter with representatives of the four religious congregations in June 2013. Having reflected on the matter, all four declined to make a contribution.

“Following a discussion of the issue at Government in July 2013, I wrote to the congregations expressing disappointment that they had decided not to make a financial contribution . . . The congregations responded reaffirming their position.”

UN committee

He continued: “I wrote to the religious congregations again on this matter two weeks ago following a statement made by the Holy See to the U

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ESPANA
El Pais

[Summary: A monitor at a youth club operated by the Legionaries of Christ for seven years sexually abused a child under age 10.]

REBECA CARRANCO Barcelona 11 FEB 2014

Durante siete años, un monitor de un club juvenil de los Legionarios de Cristo abusó sexualmente de un menor de 10 años, según ha denunciado este. Cada día, hasta que el menor cumplió 18 años y se marchó al extranjero, le sometió a tocamientos, le apartó de sus amigos, y le aisló, controlando su vida, hasta el punto de acaparar la mayor parte de su tiempo libre. Esa es la denuncia que presentó en enero a los Mossos d’Esquadra la víctima, que en la actualidad tiene 24 años. El monitor que presuntamente abusó de él a diario tiene cinco más, 29 años. Ambos se conocieron en 1999, cuando la víctima, que forma parte de los Legionarios de Cristo, se apuntó al Centro Juvenil Puigmal. Se trata de un club de actividades extraescolares, ubicado junto al colegio que esta congregación ultraconservadora posee en Barcelona.

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ESPANA
El Pais

[Summary: Carlos Sandoval, his wife and five children went to church every Sunday. He said he respected the priest, referring to Ignasi Marquis, priest in charge of the Santa Rosa church in the Barcelona town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Police on Wednesday arrested Marquis, 63, who is accused of abusing three of the Sandoval children.]

Cada domingo, Carlos Sandoval, su mujer y sus cinco hijos acudían a misa. “Le teníamos respeto al párroco, como párroco que es”, explicó ayer, en referencia a Ignasi Marqués, el cura responsable de la iglesia de Santa Rosa, en la ciudad barcelonesa de Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Los Mossos d’Esquadra detuvieron el miércoles a Marquès, de 63 años, acusado de abusar de tres hijos de Sandoval, de 12, 14 y 15 años.

El hombre es sospechoso de encerrarlos en su despacho parroquial y tocarles los genitales, según fuentes del caso. A pesar de eso, el juez le dejó ayer en libertad con cargos, con la orden de no acercarse a más de 200 metros de los tres menores, que estaban en catequesis en la parroquia. Cuando la policía le detuvo, Marquès alegó que estaba impartiendo educación sexual a los menores.

El hijo mayor de Sandoval, de 15 años, fue quien dio la voz de alarma. Hace dos semanas, Marquès le llamó a su despacho. “Le preguntó si había tenido relaciones sexuales, y le pidió que le enseñase el miembro”, explicó ayer el padre de los menores. Ante la extrañeza del joven de 15 años, que le preguntó al párroco que qué estaba haciendo, este le dijo: ‘Ten confianza en mí”, relató Sandoval. Pero el menor consideró que aquel comportamiento no era normal y se lo contó a sus padres.

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ESPANA
El Mundo

[Summary: The Legionaries of Christ in 2008 expelled a monitor for alleged abuse of a minor but did not report it because neither the victim or the family wanted it reported..]

La congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo expulsó en 2008 al monitor detenido hoy por los Mossos d’Esquadra por presunto abuso de un menor, pero no lo denunció porque ni la familia ni la víctima quisieron hacerlo.

Los Mossos d’Esquadra han informado hoy de que han detenido a un hombre de 29 años acusado de un delito continuado de abuso sexual a un menor durante 7 años, que cometió cuando era monitor del Club Puigmal.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

By Julie Nelson Steve Eckert February 11, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Ramsey County judge is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on whether top Catholic Church officials should be forced to testify under oath in a civil case brought by an abuse victim.

On the eve of the hearing, KARE 11 News has obtained confidential church records documenting a pattern of abuse that dates back decades.

At the center, two alleged victims. Two accused priests. And one stunning swap.

Before sitting down with KARE 11, Sally Olson had never told her story publicly. She says she was abused when she was just 15 when a priest approached her after confession.

“We had finished confession and he grabbed me and he brought me toward him,” she says. “And held me and said, ‘I am going to kiss you.’ And he did.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic priest accused of fondling teens at a Victorian boarding school decades ago also allegedly abused a boy in NSW, a court has heard.

James Patrick Jennings, 80, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of indecent assault that allegedly occurred at St Vincent’s College in Bendigo in the 1960s.

A witness has told Jennings’ trial the former priest indecently assaulted him twice at a school in NSW before he came to Victoria.

The witness’ allegations are not the subject of charges before the Victorian County Court.
He told the court he had been preparing for bed at his NSW boarding school when the first incident occurred.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

THEY have bravely recalled their darkest and most traumatic moments before strangers.

Now the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is extending its gratitude to the men and women who came forward to tell their stories.

Individuals who took part in the more than 1000 royal commission private sessions will be offered thank-you cards from commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan.

“We are enormously grateful to all those who have come forward, and helped others to come forward, to tell their story to the royal commission in a private session …,” the commission said in a statement.

The inquiry is also working on a book, Message to Australia, which will be made up of contributions from people who attended private sessions.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Jay Kolls

A member of the Catholic Church tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she reported possible abuse of young boys by a priest to Archdiocese officials and nothing was done about.

Mary Tacheny attended the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood and witnessed a Priest who had “crossed boundaries” with young boys. Tacheny says, “I reported the incidents I saw to Father Kevin McDonough and he lied to me about conducting an investigation into it.” Father McDonough, at the time, was the second-in-command at the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Tacheny says Father McDonough told her “there is no smoking gun and there is nothing more to do with this investigation.” Tacheny says she approached the people Father McDonough told her he had spoken to and says “not one of them knew what I was talking about. They told me Father McDonough had never talked to them about possible abuse by a priest at the Church.

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ROM
Badische Zeitung

In der vergangenen Woche hat der UN-Kinderrechtsausschuss die katholische Kirche wegen ihres Umgangs mit den Hunderten von Missbrauchsfällen in ihren Reihen gerügt. Julius Müller-Meiningen sprach darüber mit Hans Zollner von der päpstlichen Gregoriana-Universität in Rom.

BZ: Sind Sie von der Schärfe des UN-Berichts überrascht, der dem Heiligen Stuhl weiterhin schwere Versäumnisse im Hinblick auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern attestiert?
Zollner: Der Heilige Stuhl hat vierzehn Jahre nicht die geforderten Berichte geliefert, insofern wussten alle, dass es unangenehm werden würde. Auch mit Enttäuschungen und berechtigtem Ärger wurde gerechnet. Am Anfang des Berichts ist der Ton: Ihr habt eure Hausaufgaben nicht gemacht, aber ihr gebt euch Mühe. Dann folgen allerdings schwere Vorwürfe.

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DEUTSCHLAND
NWZ

[Summary: A priest who is a native of Cloppenburg has been operating a home for street children in Honduras. It is now revealed that the man has been deprived of authority to act as a priest after being convicted of sexually abusing two 15-year-old youths four years ago. The former priest bought land in 1997 near the town of San Pedro in Honduras and a short time later built a home for abandoned and orphaned street children. He took in boys and girls aged 8-14.]

Anuschka Kramer

CLOPPENBURG Viele Jahre hat ein aus Cloppenburg stammender Priester für ein von ihm initiiertes Hilfsprojekt für Straßenkinder in Honduras geworben und Jahr für Jahr durch zahlreiche Aktionen Spenden im Landkreis Cloppenburg akquiriert. Nun wurde bekannt, dass dem Mann aufgrund einer Verurteilung wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von zwei 15-Jährigen vor vier Jahren nun auch die Berechtigung zu kirchlichen Amtshandlungen entzogen wurde. Das teilte Dr. Ludger Heuer, Pressesprecher und Leiter der Stabsstelle Medien- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit im Bischöflich Münsterschen Offizialat, auf Nachfrage der NWZ  mit.

Auf Initiative des ehemaligen Priesters war 1997 ein Grundstück in der Nähe der Stadt San Pedro in Honduras gekauft und kurze Zeit später ein Heim für verlassene und elternlose Straßenkinder errichtet worden. Das Kinderheim mit Namen Hogar San Rafael nimmt Jungen und Mädchen im Alter von 8 bis 14 Jahren auf, in Ausnahmen bis 15 Jahren, die über Kinder- und Jugendeinrichtungen in San Pedro Sula vermittelt werden. Offiziell ist es ein deutsch-italienisches Projekt der Diözese San Pedro Sula. Die Kleinen erhalten Essen, Unterkunft, Kleidung, medizinische Versorgung und die Möglichkeit, Kindergarten, Grundschule und weiterführende Schulen zu besuchen.

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POLEN
tax

[Summary: For the first time in the history of Poland the powerful Roman Catholic Church is being sued for damages due to clergy child abuse. The perpetrator, a priest of St. Adalbert’s Church in the Diocese of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, has been in jail since 2012. According to the suit, Marcin K., now 26, was sexually abuse several times by the priest when he was age 12.]

WARSCHAU taz | Zum ersten Mal in der Geschichte Polens wurde die mächtige römisch-katholische Kirche auf Schadensersatz wegen Kindesmissbrauchs verklagt. Der Täter, ein Priester der St.-Adalbert-Kirche in der Diözese Koszalin-Kolobrzeg (Köslin-Kolberg), sitzt seit 2012 im Gefängnis und verbüßt eine zweijährige Haftstrafe. Marcin K. (26), der als Zwölfjähriger mehrfach von dem Priester sexuell missbraucht wurde, fordert nun vom Täter und der Kirche jeweils 200.000 Zloty (knapp 50.000 Euro) Entschädigung sowie eine öffentliche Entschuldigung in der Tageszeitung Gazeta Wyborcza und dem Magazin Newsweek Polska.

Die Kirche hatte im Oktober 2013 einen Schlichtungstermin vor Gericht scheitern lassen. Die Polnische Bischofskonferenz lehnt Schadenersatzforderungen der Missbrauchsopfer von katholischen Geistlichen grundsätzlich ab. Die Forderungen seien ausschließlich an die Täter zu richten, nicht aber an die Institution der Kirche. Marcin K., so erklärte der Kirchenanwalt 2013, habe keine Beweise für eine Mitverantwortung der Kirche vorgelegt, so dass es für seine Forderungen keine rechtliche Grundlage gebe.

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CALIFORNIA
The Sun

By Lori Fowler, The Sun
POSTED: 02/10/14

Two of three lawsuits alleging a former Ontario priest sexually abused a child have been settled for $3.8 million, diocese of San Bernardino officials said Monday.

The diocese settled the cases against Alejandro “Alex” Castillo last month in San Bernardino County Superior Court, officials said, adding that Castillo — once a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario — has been defrocked.

“The settlement was made in the interest of healing for the victims, their family and the local church, and for the continued stability of diocesan ministries,” according to a statement released by the diocese. “The diocese acknowledges and deeply regrets the sinful and unlawful actions of Castillo while also noting that it took immediate action to remove him from ministry and notify police as soon as the allegations against him were known, in accordance with diocesan policy.”

Three civil lawsuits have been filed against Castillo and the diocese, said Joelle Casteix, western regional director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Two were in 2011 and one in 2012.

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UNITED STATES
FrontPage Mag

February 11, 2014 by Joseph Klein

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (“Committee”) describes itself as a “body of 18 Independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child [‘Convention’] by its State parties” and “publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions.” Its so-called “independent experts” include representatives from such human rights abuser states as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain. They are described on the Committee’s website as “persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.”

One of these “independent experts,” the Committee’s Chairperson Kirsten Sandberg, charged last week that the Holy See, a non-member state permanent observer at the United Nations and a party to the Convention, “is in breach of the Convention.” She was commenting on the “concluding observations” contained in a scathing report the Committee had issued on January 31, 2014. The report denounced the Vatican’s handling of child abuse cases, criticized the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion and family discipline, urged the Pope to change his views on contraception and homosexuality, and interposed its own secular views on what should be taught in Catholic schools.

The Holy See, responding with a statement and in a Vatican Radio interview by its UN representative Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, promised to seriously study and examine the report’s recommendations. However, the Holy See also challenged the Committee for going beyond its mandate by attempting to “interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom.”

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UNITED STATES
Wall Street Journal

By CLAUDIA ROSETT
Feb. 9, 2014

In the name of protecting children,the United Nations is now preaching to the Vatican. A report on the Holy See—released by a U.N. committee last week to much media fanfare—alleged that tens of thousands of children have been abused by Catholic clerics, and that the Vatican has helped cover it up.

The committee strongly urged the Vatican: “Ensure a transparent sharing of all archives which can be used to hold the abusers accountable as well as those who concealed their crimes and knowingly placed offenders in contact with children.”

That’s rich coming from the U.N., which has still not solved its own festering problems of peacekeeper sex abuse, including the rape of minors. Exposing abusers and holding them to account is a great idea. The Vatican has spent years addressing the scandal of its own past handling of such cases. But the U.N. hardly engages in the transparency it is now promoting.

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NEW YORK
WGRZ

[with video]

Eric Morrow, WGRZ February 10, 2014

ALBION, N.Y.- An Orleans County pastor accused of inappropriate contact with three different children pleaded not guilty after an Orleans County grand jury Monday indicted him on multiple sex abuse charges.

Reverend Roy Harriger, 70, is accused of having sexual misconduct with three different children who were under the age of 11 at the time.

Harriger is also facing three separate counts of incest.

After pleading not guilty, Harriger asked the judge if he could go to church. The judge however denied that request saying that Harriger can not be around any children 18 years old or younger and that doing so would revoke his bail.

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OKLAHOMA
KSWO

LAWTON, Okla._A teenager took the stand in Comanche County Court today and accused a Lawton pastor of sexually abusing him inside a church.

He was the first witness in the trial of Bobby Burrell, who is charged with child sexual abuse. Police started investigating Burrell back in October of 2012 but didn’t arrest him until August of 2013.

Monday, the state said while Burrell was a minister at “One More Soul Outreach Ministries”, he masturbated in front of a 16-year-old and then lied to police and the Department of Human Services once he was confronted about it.

Burrell was not only a pastor but a youth guidance specialist at the Sequoyah Home where the alleged victim was staying. The state said Burrell took the victim to his church to do some tile work in one of the bathrooms but did so without filling out the proper paperwork; which is mandated by the home’s policy.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

[with video]

February 10, 2014
By Jill Perkins

Albion, N.Y. (WKBW-TV) Roy Harriger pleaded not guilty to six charges in Orleans County Court on Monday after being indicted last week.

The charges include three counts of course of sexual conduct against a child and three counts of incest.

The charges stem from incidents in 2000 and 2001.

Harriger is free on $250,000 bail that transferred from another sex abuse case out of the Town of Yates. The judge did rule that Harriger is to have no contact with children and cannot even be in the same room with someone under the age of 18.

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