ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

[with video]

PAUL HEGERTY THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 27, 2014

IN MY business there is a saying: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” The tragic stories uncovered by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse suggest a change to the saying. Culture devours child protection policy for breakfast, lunch and tea.

Culture is what a group accepts as normal. If a group doesn’t talk about child safety then in its culture it is normal to ignore child safety. If an organisation values other things above child safety then, culturally, it will minimise its seriousness. Policies and procedures, especially if they are from head office, will have minimal impact.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge spoke forcefully in The Courier-Mail yesterday about failures within the Catholic Church and a new path forward. He is concerned that assumptions the Church has learned in the past 20 years are rendered false by recent failings, especially in Catholic Education, which is meant to lead the way.

But an archbishop cannot change things by himself. Bishops already have policies and procedures but the strategy-devouring culture can chew and spit them out.

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CHICAGO (IL)
DNA Info

By Adeshina Emmanuel on February 26, 2014

UPTOWN — A documentary scheduled for release Friday — and a lawsuit filed recently in Cook County Circuit Court — accuse Uptown Christian commune Jesus People USA of hiding “rampant” sexual abuse of children at the commune decades ago.

“No Place To Call Home” is a documentary by former Jesus People member Jaime Prater that alleges he and dozens of former members were abused as children while living in the commune between 1974 and 1998.

The movie was initially scheduled for a July release. Prater said he prolonged the process to gather more interviews with alleged victims of abuse.

“This baby of mine has been gestating for five years, and so I’m nervous and anxious and excited,” said Prater, 37, who now lives in Indiana. The film project, which began in 2009, received donations through Kickstarter and will be released online, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

OPINION: On the Catholic Church Insurance web page about how to make a claim is the advice, “Report theft (or attempted theft), malicious damage, and loss of personal valuables to the police.”

The Catholic Church also has procedures to report child sexual abuse allegations to police. My experience is that church officers comply with the insurance advice for material things.

But in Toowoomba we have seen the tragic results of failure to comply with the church’s procedures for child abuse. This highlights the cultural issues that Bishop Bill Morris and others raise.

It is one thing to identify cultural issues but people often wonder what to do about them. In my line of work we find experienced and intelligent people struggle to overcome culture.

So what is the culture we are talking about here? Culture is simply what people think is normal. People conform to what is normal. People don’t turn up to the workshop in their swimmers or to the beach in their boots and overalls.

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

Thursday 27 February 2014

The sexual abuse scandal has so far cost the Dutch Catholic church over €8m in research costs and compensation payments to victims.

Most of the money has gone on the massive research project led by Wim Deetman into the scale of the problem.

The report, published in 2011, concluded at least 800 Roman Catholic priests and monks were involved in abusing children in their care between 1945 and 1985.

In total, €3m has been paid in compensation to victims, according to the Church’s annual accounts and quoted by news agency ANP. It is the first time the church has published its annual accounts and the figures cover 2012, ANP says.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Feb. 27, 2014

A HUNTER man who was raped by paedophile priest John Denham was not in court yesterday for the process that will confirm Denham dies in jail.

‘‘I don’t want to see him ever again,’’ the man, 49, said.

‘‘The police asked me to write a victim’s impact statement, but even that’s beyond me. I hope the next time I hear about him will be when they let me know he’s passed away.’’

A pre-sentence hearing in Sydney yesterday was adjourned to May on an application from Denham’s lawyer. The former priest, who was defrocked by the Catholic Church in 2011 – 11 years after he was first convicted of sexually abusing a boy – pleaded guilty in August last year to 25 child sex charges involving 18 boys at Singleton, Wingham and St Pius X School, Adamstown, in the 1970s, and accepted another 23 indecent assault charges had occurred.

The 25 offences, including buggery, forced oral sex and indecent assault, were committed against boys aged 11, 12 and 13.

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MINNESOTA
dotCommonweal

February 26, 2014

Grant Gallicho

In early December a judge ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to release its list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse. Plaintiffs’ attorneys received the names in a 2009 lawsuit, but the court sealed the list. The archdiocese long fought its release, but reversed course after Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported that for years bishops had failed to inform police about a priest who had admitted to molesting boys. Archbishop John Nienstedt made the list public on December 5. It included the names of thirty-three men. But last week MPR reported that the actual number of accused priests was seventy. “Some of the…men remain in ministry,” according to MPR. “Others are long dead.” They worked in nearly every parish in the archdiocese.

(The same judge also ordered the archdiocese to release the names of all priests accused of abuse–not just those “credibly accused”–by February 18. The archdiocese appealed the order on that date, and has until February 26 to provide answers to a judge’s questions.)

The archdiocese disputes MPR’s account. In a statement released the day after MPR published its report online, the archdiocese claimed that “the twenty-eight clergy members identified by MPR have not been publicly disclosed by the archdiocese because they do not, to date, constitute substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor.” The statement continued: “At least sixteen of the twenty-eight clergy members identified by MPR were the subject of false, meritless or unsubstantiated accusations against them.”

What about the other twelve? “Over ten” of them, the archdiocese claims, “are not from our archdiocese and the allegations against them concern alleged conduct that occurred outside of this archdiocese.” Still, they worked in the Twin Cities. According to the statement, such priests “are subject to the authority of other orders and dioceses and…the archdiocese does not have sufficient information or even jurisdiction to determine whether those foreign claims are credible or have been substantiated.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Montgomery Media

Published: Wednesday, February 26, 2014

By Eric Devlin
edevlin@montgomerynews.com

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has found a former priest, who previously served in Maple Glen, unsuitable for ministry, following allegations of sexual misconduct.

In an official Feb. 23 statement released by the Archdiocese, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has found the Rev. John P. Paul, a former priest at St. Alphonsus Church in Maple Glen, unsuitable for ministry, following a substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year-old minor over 40 years ago.

Paul was placed on administrative leave, according to a Dec. 15 statement, following allegations that he had sexually abused minors more than 30 years ago. Originally, the allegations stated that Paul abused minors during his time in the seminary more than 40 years ago.

Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish, Philadelphia, Nov. 6, where he had been serving since 2000, according to the Archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
The Freethinker (UK)

Priest’s paedophilia classified as a ‘disability’ and he now gets generous church and state hand-outs

BY BARRY DUKE – FEBRUARY 26, 2014

AFTER the Rev Gil Gustafson was convicted of child sex abuse 30 years ago, the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis decided to ensure his financial security for decades to come.

The priest was fined $40 and sentenced to 10 years probation and six months in jail. He served four-and-a-half months. The abuse destroyed the life of his victim, Brian Gerrity, who died of drug abuse and AIDS at the age of 28.

According to this report, the church continued Gustafson’s priestly salary and health insurance, covered his living expenses and psychological treatment and paid for his education and training. It also gave him jobs in the chancery, helped him establish his own consulting business and steered clients his way.

In July 2006, Gustafson was declared “disabled” based on his paedophilia, the church said. This allowed him to collect disability payments on top of his earnings as a leadership consultant.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[Summary: In a dramatic twist the Dioceses of San Juan and Arecibo have recently reported cases of sexual abuse by priests contrary to what their procedure has been in the past. ]

Por Limarys Suárez Torres / lsuarez1@elnuevodia.com

En un giro drástico, la Iglesia Católica, específicamente las Diócesis de San Juan y Arecibo, denunciaron recientemente a las autoridades casos de abuso sexual perpetrados por sacerdotes, contrario a lo que había sido su postura de mantener estos escándalos dentro del cerrado ámbito eclesiástico.

Ayer el arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, reveló que existen otros cinco casos de abuso sexual de menores cometidos por curas en la zona metropolitana por lo cual decidió entregar al Departamento de Justicia toda la información relacionada a estos casos.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Tmes

Dan Keenan

Wed, Feb 26, 2014

A witness to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry has broken down as she recalled a conversation she had with another person who had been in care the day before he took his own life.

The witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, was taken into care at various times in the 1970s at St Joseph’s home at Termonbacca in Derry, run by the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.

She cried openly as she told Senior Counsel to the inquiry Christine Smith QC that the man whom she knew from her time at the home told her he had been raped after he had been transferred to another care home in Kircubben, Co Down.

“He came to see me the day before he hung himself,” she told the inquiry.

Recovering her composure she went on: “[HE] told me the day before he committed suicide that he had been anally raped in Rubane House.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

February 26, 2014 9:57 am | Author: berger

A PBS “Frontline” segment last night focused on the forces that led to Pope Benedict’s shocking resignation last year and the challenges facing his successor, Pope Francis, including the abuse crisis. It featured attorney Jeff Anderson and Wisconsin SNAP leaders questioning why then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan suddenly moved $57 million into a cemetery fund, effectively reducing to $4 million the church funds available to compensate clergy sex abuse victims. The show can be viewed at http:/www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secrets-of-the-vatican/.

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ROME
National Catholic Register

by EDWARD PENTIN 02/26/2014

ROME — The papal delegate to the Legion of Christ ended a three-year period of reform Tuesday, declaring the congregation “reconciled with themselves, with their history, with the world and the Church.”

Closing the Legion’s Extraordinary General Chapter, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis said the congregation had “looked inside themselves with a new and purified glance” and examined their current situation “in order to single out potential traces of pollution left by the founder of the Legion in their identity and action, in their legislation and way of working.”

He added that in “renewing their vocations, their self-giving to Christ and to one another, they have been freed of the burden that weighed on their backs. They have gone out of themselves and have found their place within the whole Regnum Christi movement.”

In 2010, Benedict XVI appointed the Italian cardinal to help oversee reform of the congregation, after a Vatican investigation revealed widespread corruption and abuse by its founder, Father Marcial Maciel.

On Feb. 6, the Legionaries of Christ released a statement that condemned the actions of their founder, apologized to his victims and set a new course for the congregation’s future.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a letter to an Italian journalist, retired Pope Benedict XVI said questions about the validity of his resignation are “absurd.”

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my renunciation of the Petrine ministry,” the retired pope wrote in a letter to Andrea Tornielli, a Vatican correspondent for the newspaper La Stampa and the website Vatican Insider.

Tornielli said he wrote to the retired pope Feb. 14 after reading articles questioning the canonical validity of his announcement Feb. 11, 2013, that he was stepping down.

In the letter, Pope Benedict described as “simply absurd” doubts about how he had formulated his announcement to cardinals gathered for a meeting about canonization causes.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

[Secrets of the Vatican]

By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) — The historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the headline-grabbing start of his successor’s ministry are certainly events worthy of close and careful analysis.

Unfortunately, “Secrets of the Vatican,” a PBS documentary purporting to provide just such an examination, turns out to be, in large part, both sloppy and one-sided.

A “Frontline” presentation, Antony Thomas’ film premieres Tuesday, Feb. 25, 10-11:30 p.m. EST (check local listings).

Thomas identifies three primary causes for Pope Benedict’s retirement, all of them scandalous: the plague of clergy sexual abuse, financial shenanigans at the Institute for the Works of Religion, aka the Vatican Bank, and the damaging release of secret documents that has come to be known as “Vatileaks.” It’s Thomas’ treatment of clergy sexual abuse that suffers the most from factual lapses — and that also displays the most bias.

An early indication that scrupulous attention to detail is not on the agenda here — and that an appealing Pope Francis is to be implicitly contrasted with his unacceptable predecessor — comes with the statement that the current pontiff was elected after “one of the shortest conclaves ever.” Yet the 2005 gathering of cardinals that selected Pope Benedict was just as brief; in fact, it ended about an hour sooner.

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OREGON
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Feb. 26, 2014

Editor’s note: This is Part 3 of a five-part series on the dispute between a pastor and his bishop in St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Ore. Removed from his post last October, Fr. James Radloff filed an appeal, but his request was denied by the Vatican, as the Congregation for Clergy sided with Baker, Ore., Bishop Liam Cary. The Jan. 31 decision allows Cary to keep secret the reason for the ouster and permits a continued bar on Radloff’s public ministry. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Baker, Ore. Bishop Liam Cary’s emphasis on the vow of obedience in his May 7, 2013 open letter to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Ore. is viewed by many as a key to Fr. James Radloff’s removal as pastor.

Petitions were circulated asking the bishop to back down on plans to transfer popular Spanish-speaking priest Fr. Juan Carlos Chiarinoti, a native Argentinian. In the letter, Cary admonished parishioners and Radloff for the petition effort. He called it “out of place” and said it “thrust into public view matters that must be dealt with in private and whetted the appetite for an explanation that could not be forthcoming.”

Cary also directly rebuked Radloff: “In launching this movement to pressure me to do what he wanted, your pastor made a very serious error of judgment. He actively recruited you to stand with him against your bishop. … On the day of his ordination, a priest places his hands between those of the bishop and publicly promises ‘respect and obedience’ to him and his successors. … To build up the unity of the Church, priests must be willing to walk the way of obedience; and a bishop must be able to count on his priests to be true to their promise.”

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A newly released police file shows a Minnesota priest remained in ministry even after church leaders learned he had searched online for sexual images of children.

St. Paul police released documents Tuesday in the case of the Rev. Jonathan Shelley, who was investigated for possible child porn possession. The case was closed last month without charges after prosecutors said they found no evidence of a crime.

The file includes a 2004 report on Shelley’s hard drive by a private forensic examiner. The examiner’s report to an investigator hired by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said he found search terms including “free naked boys” and “blond boys sucking pics.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Der Westen

Alkoholsucht, berufliches Aus, Scheidungen: Drei Männer erzählen, wie Pädophile ihr Leben zerstörten. Mit den Taten abfinden können sie sich nicht. Nun hoffen sie, dass die Verjährungsfrist für sexuellen Missbrauch fällt – damit sie ihre Täter auch noch nach 30 Jahren juristisch belangen können.

Ein Bundestagsabgeordneter, der bei einem internationalen Kinderpornoring Nacktfilme von Knaben bestellt haben soll: Als Markus Elstner von der Affäre Sebastian Edathy hörte, kam sofort seine eigene Geschichte wieder hoch. Die des zwölfjährigen Messdieners, der auserwählt war, beim charismatischen Kaplan an den Wochenenden zu übernachten. Was wie eine Auszeichnung wirkte, fügte dem heute 47-jährigen Bottroper schweren Schaden zu.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON FEBRUARY 26, 2014

Our first SNAP member who played in the NFL and to publicly speak out about his childhood trauma, Roy Simmons, has passed away, and our hearts go out to his family during this difficult and painful time.

Over the past decade, Roy joined us several times in several states (Massachusetts, Ohio and elsewhere) pushing to eliminate and extend the biggest legal roadblock to protecting kids – the archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statutes of limitations. He also bravely spoke at several SNAP events. (In fact, if you look at the photo accompanying Roy’s obituary in the New York Times, you can see photos of other SNAP members in the background.)

Roy found it both embarrassing and painful to speak publicly about his childhood abuse, even after so many years have passed since it happened. But he spoke up anyway. He said “it isn’t easy, but I can endure this if it will help another child. It hurts so much and I don’t want anyone else to endure this. Kids should not have to suffer like I did.”

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NEDERLAND
NRC

[Summary: The dioceses of the Netherlands are in the red. In 2012 they sustained a 4.3 million euro loss on total revenues of 30.1 million euros.]

door Joep Dohmen

De bisdommen in Nederland zitten in de rode cijfers. In 2012 hebben ze samen 4,3 miljoen euro verlies geleden, op een totaal aan inkomsten van 30,1 miljoen. Parochies dragen minder af, terwijl de kosten – onder meer door herstelbetalingen aan misbruikslachtoffers – stijgen.

Dat blijkt uit de jaarverslagen die de zeven bisdommen hebben vrijgegeven. Het KRO-programma Brandpunt Reporter bericht er morgen over. Het is voor het eerst dat de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in Nederland inzage geeft in haar financiën. De openheid past in de door paus Franciscus ingezette koers naar meer transparantie.

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BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

[Summary: A total of 403 victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church filed as application for compensation from the King Baudouin Foundation.]

Al 403 slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk dienden een verzoek tot schadevergoeding in bij de Koning Boudewijnstichting. Slachtoffers hebben daarvoor nog tot 31 oktober de tijd. Dat deelde Kamerlid Renaat Landuyt (sp.a) zopas mee. Landuyt is niet alleen lid van de parlementaire opvolgingscommissie over seksueel misbruik, maar ook advocaat van één van de slachtoffers van Operatie Kelk.

Twee op de drie verzoekers is Nederlandstalig en 80% zijn mannen, aldus Landuyt. Het Kamerlid zegde dat de opvolgingscommissie in het parlement zich ook gebogen heeft over de tekst die slachtoffers voorgelegd krijgen in geval van verzoening (bij akkoord over de schadevergoeding). Volgens Landuyt wil de Kamercommissie dat slachtoffers nog altijd mogen blijven praten over de feiten waarvan zij het slachtoffer waren, ook als ze een schadevergoeding hebben gekregen. En zo’n schadevergoeding sluit rechtszaken over andere feiten dan die waarvoor er een schadevergoeding was, niet uit.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

[Summary: The arbitration center on sexual abuse in the last 18 months has already paid 1.4 million euros to victims of pedophila offenses. The center was created in the aftermath of the case involving former Belgian Bishop Roger Vangheluwe.]

Het Centrum voor Arbitrage inzake seksueel misbruik heeft in anderhalf jaar tijd al 1,4 miljoen euro uitgekeerd aan slachtoffers van verjaarde pedofiliefeiten binnen de Kerk. Dat blijkt uit het jaarverslag dat vandaag werd voorgesteld in de Opvolgingscommissie seksueel misbruik van de Kamer.

Het Arbitragecentrum werd opgericht in de nasleep van de zaak rond ex-bisschop Roger Vangheluwe, die toegaf zijn minderjarige neefje te hebben misbruikt. Dat leidde tot een stroom aan getuigenissen van andere slachtoffers, vaak over zaken die al lang waren verjaard. Daarom werd een Arbitragecommissie opgericht die toch schadevergoedingen kan toekennen in dergelijke zaken. Aanvragen moesten binnen zijn voor 31 oktober 2012.

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

by Nathan Tobey

Secrets of the Vatican reveals the culture of a Vatican few outsiders have seen, plagued by corruption, cover-ups and ruthless power struggles.

Using undercover footage and interviews with Vatican insiders, as well as abuse victims, whistleblowers, and journalists, Secrets of the Vatican also shows the deep sexual hypocrisy within the Catholic Church and the long legacy of clergy sexual abuse of children.

“Unless you spend some time inside this kind of culture, it’s very hard to believe that it could be like this,” journalist Robert Mickens tells FRONTLINE.

How did the Vatican get to this point? Just how far does the corruption extend? Is there hope for meaningful reform? Can Pope Francis take on the entrenched interests in the Vatican bureaucracy? Is he really going to try?

We’ve asked Secrets of the Vatican filmmaker Antony Thomas and co-producer Jason Berry and to join us for a live chat to answer those questions and take yours.

They’ll be joined by guest questioner Elizabeth Dias from TIME magazine. Elizabeth recently co-wrote TIME’s Person of the Year portrait of Pope Francis.

You can leave a question in the chat window below, and come by at 2:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 26 to join the live discussion.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com ), Barbara Dorris ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Victims blast justices for not taking abuse case
Missouri’s highest court refuses to hear appeal
Employers of child molesters “get off the hook,” SNAP says
Lower court rulings are “a horrific injustice,” group maintains
SNAP: “When priests abuse ‘off premises,’ Catholic officials exploit technicality”

For now, Missouri’s highest court will not consider overturning a lower court ruling that tossed out a clergy sex abuse case against Catholic officials because a priest’s alleged crimes did not happen on church property.

Yesterday, Missouri’s Supreme Court declined an appeal from attorneys for a Kansas City man who says he was molested by Fr. Michael Tierney, a priest who has faced several civil child sex abuse lawsuits. Last November, a western Missouri appeals court ruled that since Fr. Tierney’s purported sexual assaults happened on private property, his employer, the Kansas City Catholic diocese, can’t be held responsible for them.

“We are very sad the justices are choosing to not look at this horrific injustice,” said David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “We’re also sad that KC Bishop Robert Finn has used this technicality to protect a serial predator priest and we fear other employers will be emboldened now to do likewise.”

[BishopAccountability.org]

[The Kansas City Star]

“For years, at least two Missouri prelates have successfully exploited this legal loophole to conceal clergy sex crimes and cover ups,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “Now, it’s likely they’ll continue and other defendants will follow suit, which means that fewer child sex abuse lawsuits will be filed, fewer child molesters will be exposed and fewer children will be protected.”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Two snapshots this morning that speak volumes about why the abuse scandal has proven so intractable in the Catholic church–and why we remain so far still from addressing it effectively:

In the PBS “Frontline” series “Secrets of the Vatican” (the show itself aired last night; PBS now has a series of articles connected to the show online), Robert Mickens notes that not one of recent popes–not John Paul II, Benedict, or Francis–has gotten in front of the issue. They’ve all had to be dragged to deal with it.

And then there’s this about Benedict, in particular:

One of the things that always struck me as odd was the first reaction that Benedict XVI had toward child abuse, at least the first public reaction, and this happened with the case of the Irish bishops when that big scandal hit, the statement came out, and the pope’s first reaction was he was horrified that a priest could do something like this.
That’s interesting. He wasn’t horrified that a kid was abused. … Why is it horrifying that a priest could do something like that? A priest can do all kinds of things, but it gives a light into the man’s mind that … that was the most horrifying thing for him. …

And at Raw Story, Travis Gettys reports on the attempt of officials of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese to blame a mother for . . . well, I suppose, for allowing? . . . the molestation of her sons by Father Curtis Wehmeyer, who’s now in prison for his crimes. Gettys notes that Archbishop John Nienstedt has never met with this mother or her family, but he did discuss the situation with a group of priests last December, noting that his vicar general Father Peter Laird had had to resign after Wehmeyer’s abuse of the boys became public knowledge.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Phyllis Zagano | Feb. 26, 2014 Just Catholic

Will Pope Francis’ new money lord make any difference? Australian Cardinal George Pell, 72, who moves to Rome next month to head a new Vatican office, is not known as a financial expert.

Australian sex-abuse critics call his appointment a golden parachute, one that may touch down in a palatial suite in the AUS$30 million “Domus Australia” guesthouse Pell dedicated in 2011.

Of course Francis is trying to do the right thing. Religion and money are never a good mix, and a long history of scandals only complicates the task of getting the Vatican bureaucracy in order. As Cardinal Prefect of the new dicastery, the Secretariat for the Economy, Pell reports directly to the pope. He also reports to the new Council for the Economy, eight cardinals and seven lay experts projected to analyze internal controls, transparency, and governance. In addition, there will be an Auditor-General empowered to check the books of any Holy See component.

Pell’s mandate appears to be oversight of any money the Vatican touches, particularly that in the Administration of the Patrimony for the Holy See (APSA), which manages Vatican-owned money and property, and the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), also known as the Vatican Bank, which manages between $6 billion to $7 billion dollars in cash and securities owned by various clergy, religious orders, dioceses and church-affiliated persons and institutions.

Both are ripe fields for fraud, waste and abuse. The lack of transparency at the Vatican Bank, which has 19,000 clients worldwide and does a quarter of its business in cash, has long been cause for scandal. No one knows where it invests its funds. In 1982, the head of the collapsed Banco Amrosiano, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged in London. The Vatican Bank owned controlling shares of Banco Ambrosiano. More recently, Italian police arrested Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, former head of accounting at APSA, on suspicion of using the Vatican Bank to move money for “others.” He was also accused of trying to smuggle $20 million Euro by private plane from Switzerland.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Martin_Naylor | Posted: February 26, 2014

A SEARCH warrant for on-the-run paedophile priest Francis Cullen was withdrawn because it was believed he could not realistically be found.

The Ministry of Justice say “a judge or a magistrate” would have signed a document calling off the warrant nine years after he skipped bail in 1991.

But the department said the warrant would have been reissued if, during further investigations, circumstances changed and Cullen could have been found.

On Monday, the 85-year-old, who was parish priest at Christ the King, in Mackworth from 1960 to 1978, pleaded guilty to 21 sexual abuse offences.

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Huffington Post

Dragana Brown

I met up with Geoffrey Robertson QC, a human rights lawyer, author of numerous books, and one in particular that caught my attention a few years back – The Case of The Pope.

I was curious as to what had inspired him to write it – perhaps a particular story that touched him deeply amongst the myriad of cases of child sexual abuse within Catholic Church?

In fact, the spark came from his friend, Christopher Hitchens, who enquired during the time all the abuse cases were going ballistic, particularly in the US, if Robertson thought there was enough material to amount to a crime against humanity.

Robertson promised to have a look and started to read everything that was happening around the world. He observed how nobody had brought the whole thing together and judged it by legal standards – no one had gotten to the bottom of it. And so one Saturday night spark turned into a roaring fire resulting in the most enlightening book on the modern Catholic Church ever written – EVER.

Robertson’s publisher wanted to call it: ‘The Case Against The Pope’, but he felt that was loaded. This simple statement confirmed an inspiring quality he holds – a total absence of any vendetta or any pre existing animus towards the Catholic Church or any religion indeed. He was matter of fact, simply looking at the evidence about Ratzinger, and the fact that he had not taken ANY action against paedophile priests who have been a public profile nightmare for the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Written by Peter Smith on Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Roman Catholic laypeople should have a role in choosing their bishop, according to Nicholas Cafardi, dean emeritus and professor of law at Duquesne University.

The whole process should be handled with more transparency, said Mr. Cafardi, who formerly chaired the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Review Board, which advised bishops on their response to sexual abuse. In fact, he said the abuse crisis itself can partly be traced to an opaque, insider process of picking bishops.

Mr. Cafardi writes in a recent article in U.S. Catholic:

‘Pope Francis says that he wants a special kind of bishop for our church—he wants “shepherds who smell of their sheep.” Let us take our Holy Father at his word: Who knows how the sheep smell better than the sheep themselves? No one. So then why not let the sheep … have a significant say in the choice of our bishops.’

The current process is based on insider recommendations from bishops, up the chain of command to the papal nuncio (diplomatic representative) to the United States and to the pope himself. Priests and some influential and wealthy lay people have an advisory role, but not the lay people as a whole, he writes.

When a candidate is named, he added, the Vatican circulates questions to a select group of those who know him, asking his stances on such issues as same-sex marriage, women priests and abortion — an agenda that “has given us so many culture warrior bishops,” Mr. Cafardi writes. He wonders if, under Francis, such questions as whether the man has a concern for the poor or drives a fancy car will also be asked.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI has lamented what he calls “absurd speculations” about his resignation in a letter to Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli, of the newspaper La Stampa. The Pope-emeritus was responding to a question about recent newspaper theories surrounding the validity of his resignation one year ago.

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry,” Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI wrote. He said the only condition for the validity of his resignation was the complete freedom of his decision. He called speculation regarding its validity “simply absurd.”

He also clarified he continued to wear the white cassock and kept the name Benedict for “purely practical reasons,” noting that at the moment of his resignation there were no other clothes available.

In any case, he added that he wears the white cassock in a visibly different way to how the reigning Pope wears it. He called questions about his attire another case of “completely unfounded speculation”.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Feb 26, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) On the eve of the first anniversary of his shocking resignation, Pope Benedict XVI has rejected as “simply absurd” the speculation that he was forced to step down, and he explained that he continues to wear the distinctive papal white cassock for “purely practical reasons.”

“At the moment of my resignation there were no other clothes available,” Benedict wrote in a brief letter to an Italian journalist that was published on Wednesday.

The emeritus pope also said that he kept the name Benedict, rather than reverting to his birth name of Joseph Ratzinger, because it was a simple solution, and said rumors that this signaled that he remained something of a “shadow pope” to his successor, Pope Francis, “another case of completely unfounded speculations being made.”

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry,” Benedict wrote to Andrea Tornielli, a veteran Vatican reporter with La Stampa newspaper.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

Vatican City — Pope emeritus Benedict XVI on Wednesday rejected as “simply absurd” the notions that his resignation might not be valid and that the Vatican hierarchy was now divided between loyalty to him and to Pope Francis.

“There is no doubt at all on the validity of my renunciation,” Benedict said in an unprecedented letter published in the La Stampa daily, after it had written to him with questions about when he stepped down in 2013.

“The only condition for validity is that the decision be taken in full freedom. Speculation over an invalid renunciation is simply absurd,” said Benedict XVI, whose Latin title is now “pontifex emeritus”.

Benedict became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign in February last year, when he said he could no longer carry on because of his declining health.

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VATICAN CITY
Headlines from the Catholic World

Vatican City, Feb 26, 2014 / 03:47 am (CNA).- Today the Italian newspaper La Stampa has published excerpts of a letter from Benedict XVI, who wrote to affirm the existence of only one Pope, Francis.

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry,” wrote Benedict XVI in a letter published on Feb. 26.

His letter was a response to La Stampa’s inquiries regarding “various interpretations that have been circulating in the press and on the web regarding his gesture,” the article noted. Some have questioned whether or not Benedict XVI’s resignation was valid, a speculation the retired Pontiff roundly rejected.

“The only condition for the validity of my resignation is the complete freedom of my decision.

Speculations regarding its validity are simply absurd,” he wrote.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider (La Stampa)

Benedict XVI responds to a letter sent to him by the Vatican correspondent Andrea Tornielli. The journalist sent him some questions regarding the alleged pressures and conspiracies which some claim led to his resignation

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry” and the “speculations” surrounding it are “simply absurd”. Joseph Ratzinger was not forced to resign, he was not pressured into it and he did not fall victim to a conspiracy: his resignation was genuine and valid and there is no “diarchy” (dual government) in the Church today. There is a reigning Pope, Francis, who leads the Catholic Church and an Emeritus Pope whose “only purpose” is to pray for his successor.

The Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has put pen to paper to set the record straight on the historic decision he took one year ago, in response to the various interpretations that have been circulating in the press and on the web regarding his gesture. Writing from the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican, he replied in person to a letter with some questions which we sent him a few days ago, after certain comments made in the Italian and international press about his resignation. Ratzinger was brief and to the point; he denied speculations about any secret reasons behind his resignation and urged people not to give undue importance to certain choices he has made, such as his decision to carry on wearing the white cassock after stepping down as Bishop of Rome.

Readers will recall the shock announcement Benedict XVI made on 11 February 2013, informing cardinals at the Consistory of his free decision to resign ingravescente aetate (because of old age): “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.” He also announced that the Apostolic See was going to be vacant as of the evening of 28 February when the cardinals would meet to begin the process of electing his successor. In the days that followed, Ratzinger informed he would be keeping his papal name Benedict XVI (the name with which he signed the letter he sent us), that he would from that moment on be referred to as Pope Emeritus (this title also appears in print on the letter) and that he planned to carry on wearing a white cassock, albeit a simpler version than the papal one: Ratzinger does not wear the short shoulder cape, known as the “pellegrina” and without the fascia.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
La Stampa (Vatican Insider)

ANDREA TORNIELLI (VATICAN INSIDER)

«Non c’è il minimo dubbio circa la validità della mia rinuncia al ministero petrino» e le «speculazioni» in proposito sono «semplicemente assurde». Joseph Ratzinger non è stato costretto a dimettersi, non l’ha fatto a seguito di pressioni o complotti: la sua rinuncia è valida e oggi nella Chiesa non esiste alcuna «diarchia», nessun doppio governo. C’è un Papa regnante nel pieno delle sue funzioni, Francesco, e un emerito che ha come «unico e ultimo scopo» delle sue giornate quello di pregare per il suo successore.

Dal monastero «Mater Ecclesiae» dentro le mura vaticane, il Papa emerito Benedetto XVI ha preso carta e penna per stroncare le interpretazioni sul suo storico gesto di un anno fa, rilanciate da diversi media e sul web in occasione del primo anniversario della rinuncia. Lo ha fatto rispondendo personalmente a una lettera con alcune domande che gli avevamo inviato nei giorni scorsi, dopo aver letto alcuni commenti sulla stampa italiana e internazionale riguardanti le sue dimissioni. In modo sintetico ma precisissimo, Ratzinger ha risposto, smentendo i presunti retroscena segreti della rinuncia e invitando a non caricare di significati impropri alcune scelte da lui compiute, come quella di mantenere l’abito bianco anche dopo aver lasciato il ministero di vescovo di Roma.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

[Ratzinger: la mia rinuncia è valida, assurdo fare speculazioni – La Stampa]

Retired Pope Benedict denies speculation that he was FORCED to publicly stand down and is secretly active as a ‘shadow’ pope

By CHRIS PLEASANCE

In a letter to La Stampa newspaper Benedict called speculation he had been forced from his post ‘absurd’ ahead of the first anniversary of the resignation on Friday.

The Pope Emeritus has also fended off allegations that he is still active within the church, leading a faction of the Curia who are unhappy with Pope Francis’s sweeping new reforms.

Benedict announced his decision to resign on Feb. 11, 2013 and formally stepped down on Feb. 28, becoming the first pope in 600 years to do so.

Two weeks later, Francis was elected the first non-European pope in 1,300 years.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By TOM COWIE Feb. 26, 2014

CLERGY sex abuse survivors have welcomed the visit to Ballarat by officers from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The officers were in Ballarat yesterday for informal meetings with community groups and service providers to share information about the work of the Royal Commission.

The initial meetings will be followed by a visit to the region by Royal Commissioners, including the chairman, next month.

Clergy sex abuse survivor Andrew Collins said for him the consultation was about finding out what the plans were for the Royal Commission in Ballarat.

“I’m really glad it’s something that is being taken very seriously. There’s a lot of planning going into it,” he said. “They did make it obvious that they realise that Ballarat is one of the hotspots for abuse in Australia. “

So far, the Royal Commission has not said if it will hold public hearings in Ballarat.

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NEW YORK
UCA News

Catholic News Agency
United States
February 26, 2014

In an attempt to both anticipate and deflect “potentially negative publicity,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has written a defense of his time as an auxiliary bishop of the St. Louis archdiocese.

“You know how I always try to alert you to any potentially negative publicity about the Church, or about me. Well, there could be some,” the cardinal wrote in a Feb. 18 blog post.

He noted that the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where he was ordained a priest and served as auxiliary bishop from 2001 to 2002, has “just complied with a court order to release the documents regarding cases there of sexual abuse of minors.”

“I would anticipate that my name will again be highlighted in the press,” he wrote. “I sure have nothing to hide, and am very much at peace with law enforcements officials reviewing the files. In fact, we already released all the documentation to them a dozen years ago!”

Last July, Cardinal Dolan criticized the repetition of “old and discredited attacks,” including the claim that he paid abusive priests to apply for laicization while he was Archbishop of Milwaukee. These payments, the cardinal said, were part of his duty to provide basic support for priests until they leave the priesthood.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

By Martin Naylor and Peter Blackburn

PAEDOPHILE Nottingham priest Francis Cullen was “an arrogant man who thought he was better than others” says a former colleague.

Les Barr worked with the now 85-year-old former Hyson Green Catholic at a newspaper in Tenerife.

He said Cullen was employed to sell advertising for the fortnightly Island Connections newspaper that was sold to English speaking ex-pats and tourists on the holiday island.

But unbeknown to him his colleague was on the run from the police and the courts and had a perverted past that has now been thrust into the spotlight.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

Wed, Feb 26, 2014

A witness has told the North’s historical institutional abuse inquiry she was sexually abused on several occasions by a young priest she thought wanted to help her. The priest has denied the allegation.

The 44-year-old witness, who was aged 10 at the time, recounted how she spent four days in the Sisters of Nazareth Termonbacca care home in Derry in 1980, after she had been discovered sleeping rough in a church in Co Tyrone.

The caretaker brought her to the parochial house, where a young priest was kind to her and expressed concern about injuries she had sustained as a result of physical abuse by her father, she told the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down, yesterday.

However, when he took her into a room, ostensibly to check on her injuries, she said the priest sexually assaulted her. Later in Termonbacca, where she was in temporary care from her parents, both of whom were alcoholics, she said she was sexually abused on two occasions by the same priest.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

22News I-Team Investigation
By Laura HutchinsonUpdated: Tuesday, February 25, 2014

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Dozens of Western Massachusetts clergy sex abuse victims are now receiving counseling in an effort to move on.

However, not everyone is happy with the Diocese handling of financial implications. One man asked the 22News I-Team help with what he calls “a slow reimbursement process.”

“The Diocese and the victims advocate has just never been helpful,” said Easthampton’s Ray Drewnowski.

Drewnowski has harsh words for the Springfield Diocese. Not surprising. He’s one of dozens of western Massachusetts clergy sex abuse victims. The Diocese validated his claims and like most victims he required therapy. Therapy the church would pay for, or so he thought.

“What I realized was, they only really want to reimburse you for your co-payment with the insurance company. That your employer has you on,” Drewnowski said. “It was a moment for me to stand up and say no, that’s wrong. That’s not what you’re telling people.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Arthur Beesley

Wed, Feb 26, 2014

The Government will intensify efforts to secure a further €230 million from religious orders to cover the cost of institutional abuse after the official redress body indicated its work would be largely complete by the end of April.

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn briefed the Cabinet yesterday on the remaining work of the Residential Institutions Redress Board, which had 468 remaining applications to process and a further 17 late submissions to consider at the end of 2013.

The board was established in 2002. With the overwhelming majority of cases to be finalised in the next two months, at an estimated cost of some €1.46 billion, attention is turning once again to the 18 religious orders concerned.

The Minister wrote to the orders in October seeking a big increase in their contribution but he was unhappy with the reply. “The response has been disappointing,” Mr Quinn’s spokeswoman said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[Summary: Pope Francis wants to bring peace to the Catholic Church and wants to remove the controversial Limburg bishop. Bishop Franz-Peter van Elst Tebartz is apparently unaware of the plans, according to some of his supporters and said he intends to return to Limburg. The bishop is currently in Rome and a few days ago he attended Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with new German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller.]

Papst Franziskus will Ruhe in die Katholische Kirche bringen – und deshalb den umstrittenen Limburger Bischof loswerden. Aus dem Umkreis von Franziskus ist zu hören, der Papst beabsichtige, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst abzusetzen. Das berichtet die ZEIT in ihrer neuen Ausgabe.

Tebartz-van Elst selbst ahnt offenbar nichts von den Plänen des Papstes. Einige seiner Unterstützer sagten der ZEIT zufolge, der Bischof plane nach Limburg zurückzukehren. Tebartz-van Elst ist derzeit in Rom. Vor wenigen Tagen nahm er an einer Messe im Petersdom teil, mit der der neue deutsche Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller seine Einsetzung feierte. Teilnehmer berichten, der Bischof habe einen entspannten und gelösten Eindruck gemacht.

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GERMANY
YouTube

German language video regarding sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

[Secrets of the Vatican]

February 25, 2014 by Sarah Childress

The first report that church officials received about Father Shawn Ratigan, compiled by a Kansas City Catholic school principal in May 2010, was troubling.

Ratigan had taken hundreds of photographs of children, Julie Hess, the principal, wrote to church officials. He had tried to interact with kids on Facebook, and sometimes had physical contact with children in ways that appeared to other adults to be “boundary violations.”A pair of girl’s underwear was found in a planter in his backyard.

Parents and staff, Hess said, were “discussing whether he is a child molester.”

Bishop Robert Finn, who had authority over Ratigan, didn’t alert the police then, according to court documents. (Finn would later say he had only received a verbal summary of the letter from a deputy at the time.) He also didn’t call the police several months later, when a computer technician found hundreds of lewd photos of children on Ratigan’s laptop, most of which appeared to have been taken by a personal camera.

Instead, the laptop was turned over to the diocesan lawyer, and Finn called a psychiatrist, who said he thought he could help with Ratigan’s “severe loneliness that has caused this problem.”

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El Pais

INÉS SANTAEULALIA / WALTER OPPENHEIMER / MARÍA R. SAHUQUILLO / EVA SAIZ Mexico City / London / Madrid / Washington 26 FEB 2014

On January 16, a United Nations’ panel of human rights experts questioned Vatican representatives on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the main international treaty ensuring minors’ rights. During the day-long interrogation, the committee’s members — all independent experts — accused the Holy See of adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over several decades, charges to which the Vatican’s representatives avoided responding directly. The panel subsequently released a report urging Pope Francis to open Vatican files on the pederasts and the churchmen who concealed their crimes, and hand them over to the courts.

Victims’ organizations around the world have welcomed the UN’s initiative, but most point out that individual pain cannot be cured with a report. Men and women who have been sexually abused by people in positions of trust have often spent their lives living with a terrible secret, as well as feelings of guilt. Those who dared to speak out have largely been ignored, as well as being put under pressure to remain silent by the Roman Catholic Church.

The victims are fighting not just for the sex offenders to be brought to justice, but also those who systematically protected these criminals. The blanket of silence thrown over the issue has added to their suffering. As early as 1962, the Vatican ordered all Catholic Church members to say nothing about sexual abuse, under threat of ex-communication. Over the years, the Holy See has pressured Catholics who knew about abuse to say nothing.

Complaints were often dealt with by transferring priests to other dioceses, or even abroad. In the United States, churches paid out millions of dollars in hush money. In many other cases, pressure from the Church, or fear of the resulting publicity, were sufficient to prevent victims of sexual abuse from speaking out. There are no exact figures on the number of such cases around the world. The Vatican, which has accepted and expressed its sorrow over the child abuse that has taken place among its ranks, has nevertheless refused to provide any information that would help to assess the scale of the problem.

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

[link to the full program: Secrets of the Vatican]

February 25, 2014, 8:31 pm ET by Jason M. Breslow

The list of problems facing the Catholic Church is long. Among the scandals Pope Francis inherited nearly one year ago are the clergy sex abuse crisis, allegations of money laundering at the Vatican bank and the fallout from VatiLeaks, to name just a few. Given the challenges, where should reform even begin? Moreover, how much change can truly be expected? FRONTLINE put these questions to five experts.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 02/25/2014

Reports released Tuesday by St. Paul police who investigated a priest for possible child pornography possession do not show that computer disks turned over by a Hugo man were examined.

Police investigated Rev. Jonathan Shelley, 52, of Minneapolis last year after a former employee of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis made a report to the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

In late September, police who reviewed three disks they had obtained from the archdiocese closed the case, saying there was no evidence of child porn.

On Oct. 5, they got a call from Joe Ternus of Hugo that led them to reopen the investigation.

Nine years earlier, Ternus had come into possession of Shelley’s computer because it was left at a Mahtomedi house that Ternus’ family used to own and where Shelley had lived.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

February 25
The Kansas City Star

Suffering from lung cancer, retired Kansas City Bishop Raymond James Boland has returned to Ireland, the land of his birth, to enter hospice care in Cork.

Boland was born in Tipperary this month in 1932 but grew up in Cork before moving to Dublin for his higher learning. Years ago, he had determined to be buried in his homeland. He left Saturday, according to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

He served as bishop of the diocese from June 22, 1993, until May 24, 2005, when he retired and took the role of bishop emeritus here. Before that, he was the bishop in Birmingham, Ala., since early 1988.

In Kansas City, he was succeeded by Bishop Robert Finn, who released a statement last weekend noting: “In accord with his wishes I have shared this message with you after his departure. He humbly requested not a farewell, but only your prayers.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

Wed, Feb 26, 2014

A witness has told the North’s historical institutional abuse inquiry she was sexually abused on several occasions by a young priest she thought wanted to help her. The priest has denied the allegation.

The 44-year-old witness, who was aged 10 at the time, recounted how she spent four days in the Sisters of Nazareth Termonbacca care home in Derry in 1980, after she had been discovered sleeping rough in a church in Co Tyrone.

The caretaker brought her to the parochial house, where a young priest was kind to her and expressed concern about injuries she had sustained as a result of physical abuse by her father, she told the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down, yesterday.

However, when he took her into a room, ostensibly to check on her injuries, she said the priest sexually assaulted her. Later in Termonbacca, where she was in temporary care from her parents, both of whom were alcoholics, she said she was sexually abused on two occasions by the same priest.

Subsequently she ended up at the Fort James care home in Derry. By chance the young priest saw her outside the home. He later called regularly to see her at the home and over a two- to three-month period in that home he sexually assaulted her “two or three times” a week, she said.

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CANADA
Edmonton Journal

BY OTIENA ELLWAND, EDMONTON JOURNAL FEBRUARY 25, 2014

EDMONTON – Jerry Wood describes the 11 years he spent in two Alberta residential schools as the worst of his life.

He left angry and lacking self-confidence.

“I spent probably half my life with alcohol,” he said Monday after the Archbishop of Edmonton, Most Reverend Richard Smith, apologized to residential school survivors on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories at a ceremony at Ben Calf Robe School.

“I realized that I was trying to drown my experiences in the residential schools from the sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, spiritual abuse that I went through,” said Wood, a member of the Council of Elders with Edmonton Catholic Schools, who was on hand to hear the apology.

He is still dealing with the trauma he experienced.

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PUERTO RICO
WPEC

February 25, 2014

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The archbishop of Puerto Rico’s capital has revealed that government prosecutors are investigating five additional cases of alleged sex abuse within the San Juan Archdiocese.

Roberto Gonzalez Nieves told reporters Tuesday that the priests accused in those cases have been suspended. He noted the statute of limitation had expired in all five cases.

He provided no further information but said he was cooperating with prosecutors. He recently announced that one other case was being investigated.

The announcement comes as Puerto Rico’s justice department investigates four cases of alleged sex abuse at the Mayaguez diocese and several other cases at the Arecibo diocese, which has defrocked six priests as a result.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Tuesday, February 25

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

We are grateful that Bob Jones university officials have reversed themselves and will let GRACE complete its report about campus sex crimes.

Still, we’re troubled by the school’s recent, sudden and unilateral move to cancel the report. We can’t help but be worried about university officials’ motives and whether they are trying – or may still try – to influence the report itself.

Regardless, it’s crucial that those who saw, suspected or suffered campus sex crimes or cover ups take two steps. First, they should report to law enforcement, no matter who the perpetrator is, what school officials have done or promised, and when or where the crimes happened. And second, they should realize that the GRACE report is just one step in a long process of slowly beginning to reverse an unhealthy climate of self-serving secrecy at this university.

Victims should stay in therapy, keep attending self-help groups, and continue working hard to recover from the trauma they experienced at Bob Jones. No one event magically erases a horrific betrayal or “cures” a victim of the nightmares, depression, addictions, insomnia, eating disorders and other devastating effects or rape and the sometimes almost equally devastating effects of institutional denial and insensitivity.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE FINAL COST of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund is expected to hit €1.46 billion with some €903.8 million already paid out and religious orders still hundreds of millions of euro short of the contribution expected of them.

Figures presented to Cabinet today show that the scheme, set up to compensate thousands of victims of abuse in residential institutions, has received 15,396 applications since it was set up over a decade ago.

At the end of 2012, 14,378 awards were made of on average €62,860, while 1,018 applications were either withdrawn, refused or no award was made. In addition, some €166.1 million in legal costs have been paid out by the Residential Institutions Redress Board, which administrates the fund.

There have been 2,766 late submissions received since applications formally closed in 2005 while the number of applications that still need to be processed stood at 468 at the end of last year, down from 685 at the end of 2012.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clinton News

Clinton Police Chief Michael Warren said a Central Hinds Academy and Raymond Road Baptist Church employee was arrested Tuesday on one count of gratification of lust while in a position of trust or authority.

In a release on Wednesday, Warren said Adam Epperson, 34, of Clinton, was arrested on the charges and bonded out on $25,000 bond the same day.

According to officials, the arrest was subsequent to a complaint received from an underage victim associated with Epperson through the Raymond Road Baptist Church.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at the suspect’s home in Clinton. Epperson surrendered to the Clinton police on Tuesday where he was booked and bonded out.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clarion-Ledger

A Central Hinds Academy and Raymond Road Baptist Church employee was arrested Tuesday on one count of gratification of lust while in a position of trust or authority.

In a release on Wednesday, Clinton Police Chief Mike Warren said Adam Epperson, 34, of Clinton, was arrested on the charges and bonded out on $25,000 bond the same day.

Officials said the arrest was subsequent to a complaint received from an underaged male victim who came to police with a parent. According to Clinton Detective Josh Frazier, the victim associated with Epperson through both the church and the school.

The incident occurred about two years ago, when the victim was 14 years old, Frazier said.

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MISSISSIPPI
WAPT

CLINTON, Miss. —Clinton police have arrested a 34-year-old church worker who is accused of having sexual contact with a teenage boy.

Adam Epperson, who until recently was an employee at Central Hinds Academy and a minister of students at Raymond Road Baptist Church, surrendered to police Tuesday.

Mug shots: February arrests

Police said the boy, who was 14-years-old at the time, knew Epperson through the church.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Herald

The Associated Press
February 25, 2014

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A Spartanburg County pastor has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Twenty-seven-year-old Robert Thomas Norris of Roebuck was charged Monday night with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The warrant said the girl said she was abused between August 2012 and January. She said she was 16 when the abuse started.

Lt. Kevin Bobo said a school official in Woodruff reported that the girl said she had been touched and kissed inappropriately.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WBTW

Spartanburg –
A Spartanburg County pastor has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Robert Thomas Norris,27, of Roebuck was charged Monday night with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The warrant said the girl said she was abused between August 2012 and January. She said she was 16 when the abuse started.

Lt. Kevin Bobo said a school official in Woodruff reported that the girl said she had been touched and kissed inappropriately by a relative. They then talked to the girls’ mother and boyfriend.

It was not clear if Norris has a lawyer.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
World Magazine

By LEIGH JONES
Posted Feb. 25, 2014

Bob Jones University administrators announced today they will reinstate the review into the school’s response to sexual abuse, apologizing for any anxiety the temporary suspension might have caused.

On Jan. 27, school officials terminated their agreement with the Christian group GRACE (an acronym for Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), hired in November 2012 to conduct an independent review of how the Christian university has responded to victims of sexual abuse. Although administrators didn’t give details about why they chose to suspend their relationship with GRACE, which was in the final stages of its review, they said they had concerns about how GRACE was conducting its work.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Fox Carolina

By Casey Vaughn

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –
A few weeks after announcing the school had suspended its work with the ombudsman, Bob Jones University announced it was working again with the independent review group.

The university hired the organization, known as Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or GRACE, to evaluate the university’s procedures after revelations about sexual abuse on college campuses nationwide in 2011.

Then on Jan. 27, BJU suspended the review. The university said Tuesday that they met with GRACE on Feb. 18 and 19 to discuss any potential issues that may hinder their review.

According to the university, they believe the independent review can be completed.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Christianity Today

Jeremy Weber POSTED 2/25/2014

Bob Jones University has resolved its differences with GRACE and will allow the Christian abuse investigator to complete an independent review of BJU’s past response to abuse incidents and how the school can improve.

CT reported how BJU fired GRACE late last month as the review neared completion. Last week, the two groups met to “discuss any issues that might stand in the way of GRACE’s completion of thorough, transparent and objective review,” BJU announced today.

“GRACE satisfactorily addressed the University’s concerns and Bob Jones University is confident the review can be completed in a timely and professional manner,” said BJU. “To be clear, GRACE and BJU are united in their commitment to a review that is thorough, transparent and objective.”

GRACE announced the news on its Facebook page, noting the review will be “under the terms of the original agreement. No changes.” “Looking forward to completing this process with excellence,” said GRACE.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Religion News Service

Sarah Pulliam Bailey | Feb 25, 2014

(RNS) After firing an independent watchdog group to investigate allegations of sexual abuse on campus, Bob Jones University has rehired the same group, one month before the findings from a 13-month review were scheduled to be released.

The university had contracted with Lynchburg, Va.-based GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) in November 2012 but suspended the contract on Jan. 27. The university met with GRACE officials Feb. 18-19 to discuss the review.

“GRACE satisfactorily addressed the University’s concerns and Bob Jones University is confident the review can be completed in a timely and professional manner,” the university said in a press release.

“To be clear, GRACE and BJU are united in their commitment to a review that is thorough, transparent and objective.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Bob Jones University announced Feb. 25 that an independent investigation into the school’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse can be completed.

The university abruptly terminated its 2012 agreement with Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), a group founded by Basyle “Boz” Tchividjian, a law professor at Liberty University and grandson of Billy Graham, citing unspecified concerns about the directions the investigation team was heading.

After meetings Feb. 18-19, Bob Jones officials said, “GRACE satisfactorily addressed the university’s concerns and Bob Jones University is confident the review can be completed in a timely and professional manner.”
.
Bob Jones, a fundamentalist Christian college in Greenville, S.C., founded in 1927 by evangelist Bob Jones Sr., consulted with GRACE after nine cases of sexual assault occurred on campus in 2011.

Another controversy involved a student allegedly expelled in retaliation for organizing the school’s first-ever student protest about a former member of the school’s board of trustees accused of covering up the rape of a 15-year-old girl in his congregation.

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CANADA
The Telegram

A woman was in provincial court in St. John’s today to face charges of fraud, theft and forgery related to the Roman Catholic St. Patrick’s Parish in St. John’s.

The woman’s case was set over.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s says the RNC charged the accused after a forensic audit of the finances of St. Patrick’s Parish in St. John’s.

A news release notes that in August 2012, the parish priest of St. Patrick’s reported to the Archdiocesan Business Office suspicions of fraudulent activity surrounding the parish finances.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus February 25, 2014

Do you remember the Roman Inquisition? Unfortunately, when people today think of “the Inquisition”, they think of the Spanish Inquisition, which was unduly influenced by the Spanish crown. Even so, its weaknesses were horrendously exaggerated by hostile English historians in what has come to be known as the Black Legend. It is this which gives the term “inquisition” such a bad sound.

But do you remember the Roman Inquisition? Back in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Roman Inquisition operated throughout significant portions of Europe, firmly under the control of the Papacy, with the purpose of protecting the faithful against priests, religious and bishops who did not fulfill their obligations under Church law. It was an ecclesiastical judicial system and, as such, it was primarily used for cases involving ecclesiastical persons, who in those days were universally accorded the right to be tried by the Church instead of by the Crown. This was called “benefit of clergy.” Indeed, it was a significant benefit, because the ecclesiastical justice system protected the rights of the accused substantially better than the secular systems of the day.

Along the path to modernity, however, the Church’s judicial system withered. Canon Law is still in place, and some cases are still brought before diocesan courts and then appealed to Rome (especially marriage cases). But the prosecutorial role in the ecclesiastical justice system has largely disappeared. All you need to do is consider the widespread abuse of the rights of the faithful in the areas of the liturgy and Catholic education over the past fifty years to realize that internal prosecution of ecclesiastical persons has been virtually non-existent in modern times. This lack has been apparent in all kinds of abuse including, as all the world now knows, sexual abuse. Ecclesiastical trials seem to have become a thing of the past.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[Summary: Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan agreed today that he has information on five more priests accused of sexual abuse and he said he would give the details to the justice department. In a press conference, the archbishop said he will cooperate fully with civil authorities who are investigating sexual abuse by clergy.]

El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, aceptó hoy que tiene información sobre cinco sacerdotes adicionales imputados por abuso sexual de menores y sostuvo que le entregará a Justicia todos los detalles.

En una conferencia de prensa sobre los Servicios Funerarios Católicos, en donde se puntualizó que operan bajo la ley y con todos los permisos del gobierno, González Nieves indicó que tendrá plena cooperación con las autoridades civiles para la pesquisa que realizan sobre los casos de abuso sexual dentro del clero.

Usted indicó a El Nuevo Día que iba a cooperar con las autoridades, ¿le entregó ya a la Fiscalía de San Juan todos los documentos de las pesquisas eclesiásticas sobre abuso sexual dentro de su clero?

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

Post by PATRICIA MILLER

One of the more striking accomplishments of tonight’s Frontline documentary “Secrets of the Vatican” (Tuesday, 10 p.m., PBS) is that it almost makes you feel sorry for Pope Benedict, which is no small feat. The man known as “God’s Rottweiler” was a heavy-handed enforcer of doctrinal discipline as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where numerous nuns, priests and theologians saw their careers crippled or destroyed for daring to question supposedly immutable Catholic teaching.

He was also one of many in the curia who turned a blind eye to increasing urgent reports of widespread sexual abuse on the part of priests and influential Vatican allies like Marcial Maciel of the Legionnaires of Christ, and “Inside the Vatican” effectively portrays the devastation that this abuse and subsequent cover-ups wrought on the lives of young Catholics.

It documents how a cascading series of scandals involving clerical sex abuse and Vatican corruption eventually overwhelmed the aging pope and resulted in his resignation one year ago. Confirmed are reports that the infamous “red dossier” presented to the pope—the results of an investigation into the curia that he ordered—contained accounts not only of rampant careerism and outright corruption but of the existence of a clique of gay senior clerics.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The clergy abuse survivors of Australia and the rule of law have scored a major victory. Cardinal Pell has been induced to take a Vatican desk job apparently to avoid the unrelenting and escalating pressure from the Australian Royal Commission’s investigation into institutional child sexual abuse. The pressure was increased by the testimony of a sacked Aussie bishop who described the Vatican’s interference in local abuse scandals as reported here

[My Daily News]

The Royal Commission can likely still reach Pell in due course, if and when it wants to.

The Vatican’s apologists, of course, have tried to spin this as a “promotion”, but this fantasy fools few. Australia’s top Catholic leader has reluctantly had to flee his beloved homeland to seek Vatican protection, as the USA’s Cardinal Law did a decade before.

Meanwhile, a Polish Archbishop, a protege of Pope John Paul II and former Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is already crowding the Vatican’s refuge for hierarchs seeking to avoid the child abuse scandal fallout.

Who will be next as the Vatican circles its wagons to protect cardinals and bishops ? What ever happened to the Pope’s abuse commission? Can the Pope continue avoiding the abuse scandal as discussed here

[Christian Catholicism]

Pell has been made head of Vatican finances, which led a knowledgeable Jesuit insider, Thomas Reese, to ask ” … why did this job not go to a layperson? Do we really need cardinals to handle finances in the Vatican? The answer is that Rome is still a papal court where princes of the church still matter, despite all Francis’ protestations.” A fuller answer is that it gave Francis a face-saving way to yank Pell from Down Under as the heat from the Royal Commission intensifies.

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UNITED STATES
Krapt Poetry

In his twenty-sixth book, Catholic Boy Blues: A Poet’s Journal of Healing, to appear April 1, 2014 from Greystone Publishing of Nashville, TN, Norbert Krapf, at the age of seventy, speaks about his abuse as a child at the hands of a priest and the lifelong effects it has had on him, his family, and his loved ones. He speaks in four voices, the boy, the man, the priest, and Mr. Blues.

Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, Norbert has for almost fifty years had an ongoing love of the blues. In his last several collections, completed or published while he held a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis to combine poetry and music, with an emphasis on the blues, he often pays tribute to blues artists. In Catholic Boy Blues, “Mr. Blues” plays an important role in several ways, not the least of which is as an agent of healing. He speaks in the blues idiom, in dramatic lyrics delivered in the voice of a friend, advisor, counselor, and mentor.

Catholic Boy Blues is a brutally honest narrative filled with words of biting truth, painting explicit images of the effects of abuse. These words detail Norbert’s lifelong journey and show how abuse affected the various stages of his growth. This verse journal is both timely and newsworthy. It is a compassionate anthem directed to those struggling with their own abuse. It provides clarity to those who have never had to experience the indignity of abuse and affirms that healing and success can be achieved despite adversity. The book will appeal to survivors of abuse and their families and friends; the church and its members, clergy, and hierarchy who have an ongoing interest in the emotional, spiritual, and religious effects of child abuse and its prevention; and caregivers and others interested in knowing how to detect early signs of abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A top Southern Baptist official, Richard Land, says that gay couples who use surrogates to have children are essentially committing child abuse.

That’s horribly wrong and dreadfully insensitive to hundreds of thousands of people who have, in fact, suffered from devastating child abuse (and, of course, to gay people as well).

[Huffington Post]

People upset with Obama shouldn’t call him “subhuman.” People who are discriminated against shouldn’t call their opponents “Nazis.” And people who oppose gay couples shouldn’t compare them to child abusers.

Adults who were kicked and raped and tortured and sodomized as kids don’t deserve to have their pain trivialized. Land should apologize and other Baptist officials should denounce him for his hurtful remarks.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 8627688, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Yesterday the Iowa senate unanimously approved an extension to the statute of limitations. We applaud this action.

[Quad-City Times]

The Iowa Senate bill will extend the statue of limitations to 25 years past the age of 18, giving deeply wounded victims a longer window to come forward. Now it needs to pass the house, and be signed into law as quickly as possible, to encourage those victims that have remained silent to come forward and receive some justice under the law that they have always deserved.

However, we disagree with the term used by one legislator that this bill now “cures” the injustice that has existed for so many years. This bill would address the need for a larger window for action by victims, except for those that may be now over the age of 43. We strongly believe that many victims are in their 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond, and although they may have wanted, or presently want, to come forward, this has always been denied them, and this bill continues to perpetuate this wrong by still denying them due process. Having a longer window is key to prevention. If predators know they can be prosecuted they may not attack children.

We call on the legislature to pass a bill offering perhaps a onetime window of opportunity for these victims, so that they may truly have an opportunity to seek justice under the law and to prevent future abuse. We of SNAP know of many, many victims that have been abused as young people, and this bill will offer them no relief. We continue to call out on behalf of all victims, that this is one crime where a statue of limitations does not enhance the law, but provides a hiding place for those that prey on others.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

FEBRUARY 25, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Words are not enough. This fact is highlighted by the following excerpt from an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer on September 25, 2005. It relays Father John P. Paul’s words to his congregation after the release of the 2005 Grand Jury Report. The archdiocese removed Paul from ministry this past weekend.

Excerpt:

Just before Mass, the current Calvary pastor, the Rev. John P. Paul, addressed the packed church and struck a conciliatory tone. “I would ask you to pray – especially for those who have suffered the hurt and the pain, those who are the victims,” Paul said. Highlighting a part of the report that mentioned the victims’ souls had been murdered by the abuse, Paul said the description was apt. “It does destroy the soul many times,” he said in an apparent reference to the abuse. He asked the congregation to “pray for those who need forgiveness,” and then adding: “Pray for us. We are the church. But we do not lose our faith in Jesus, and we do not lose our faith in the Catholic Church.”

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

by Jason M. Breslow

One year ago this week, Pope Benedict XVI did something that no other pope had done in nearly 600 years — he resigned the papacy.

It was a decision that sent shockwaves through the Vatican. Just eight years earlier, Benedict had promised a new beginning for the church at a time when it was reeling from the clergy sexual abuse crisis. But rather than stem the scandal, the crisis only grew.

Troubles spread to a second front in 2010 with allegations of money laundering at the Vatican bank. Then came VatiLeaks, a scandal that exposed a Vatican hierarchy plagued by cronyism, power struggles and bureaucratic corruption. For Benedict, it was a crippling blow to his authority.

Five weeks after Benedict’s resignation, white smoke from the Sistine Chapel signaled that the College of Cardinals had chosen his successor: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, known today as Pope Francis.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on tonight’s PBS “Frontline” 90 minute presentation, “Secrets of the Vatican”:

“Secrets of the Vatican” marks the 48th time PBS has addressed sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Though this problem is practically non-existent in the Catholic community these days, and is rampant in the public schools, as well as in the Orthodox Jewish community, PBS has devoted a combined total of ZERO episodes on both.

All the contrived melodrama is there: ominous dark images; dramatic music; a deep voice-over; bleak hallways; shadowy figures locking doors as a boy enters the room; the words “Power,” “Money,” and “Sex” flashing about, etc. The predictable villain: Pope Benedict XVI. Ironically, he did more than anyone to check this problem, but facts don’t matter when Jason Berry is involved.

A dissident Catholic, Berry is a co-producer of this show; he was also featured in Alex Gibney’s film, “Mea Maxima Culpa.” Indeed, tonight’s hit job is nothing more than a retread of Gibney’s propaganda: a New Orleans reporter who previewed it says, “this film reminded me of ‘Mea Maxima Culpa.’” These guys can’t go to the sewer too often.

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MINNESOTA
The Raw Story

By Travis Gettys
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

A Minnesota mother says Catholic Church officials are blaming her for not protecting her two sons from the priest who abused them.

The Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, the former pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in St. Paul, pleaded guilty in 2012 to abusing the boys, ages 12 and 14, and possessing child pornography.

Wehmeyer is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.

The family has sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which claimed in a Feb. 7 court filing that the mother – who worked at the church — knew that one of her sons was spending time with the priest.

“She was aware of the time [he] spent with Mr. Wehmeyer, and she knew that such interaction was contrary to established Archdiocese policy,” the filing said.

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ROME
Reporter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: February 25, 2014

ROME — The pope’s envoy running the troubled Legion of Christ has ended his three-year reform effort, declaring the order “cured and cleaned” but acknowledging it bears the guilt of its pedophile founder and those who delayed admitting his crimes.

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis celebrated his final Mass as papal delegate on Tuesday and was sent off with a round of applause from a congregation eager to take back the autonomy that was wrested away from it by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

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VATIKANSTADT
Mittelbayerische

[Summary: Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the new Cardinal, celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving with his family and several hundred guests Monday at the Vatican basilica. In his sermon he emphasized the importances of cardinals in the church.]

VATIKANSTADT. Der neue Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller hat am Montagvormittag im Petersdom eine Dankmesse mit seinen Angehörigen und mehreren hundert Gästen gefeiert. Mit ihm am Kathedra-Altar der Vatikan-Basilika zelebrierten unter anderen der Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, der Regensburger Bischof Gerhard Voderholzer und der frühere Augsburger Bischof Walter Mixa.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen / Globe Staff / February 24, 2014

For an 80-year-old, Philomena Lee gets around.

Last month, she spoke at the Golden Globes before a television audience of millions. A few weeks ago, she met the pope in Rome. He was very nice, she said. And that was after she met in Washington with a bunch of politicians, including US Representative Joe Kennedy.

On Sunday night, Philomena Lee will be sitting in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood with her BFF, Dame Judi Dench, who plays her in the film named after her. Dench is up for an Oscar as best actress.

Philomena Lee is thrilled that the film based on her life has done so well and garnered so much attention, mainly because it has given her a platform to advocate for something close to her heart: opening records so adopted children can learn about their biological parents.

For those who haven’t seen the movie: When Philomena was a teenager, she got pregnant by a young man who wasn’t her husband, which in the Ireland of her youth was considered so scandalous that her family disowned her. She was delivered to a convent, where the nuns delivered her baby boy and treated her as a sinner, forcing her to work. When her son Anthony was 3, the nuns gave him away to an American family behind Philomena’s back. Then they sent her back to work in the laundry and told her nothing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: In the wash-up of the child abuse royal commission’s inquiry in Brisbane, there are calls for a set of nationally consistent rules on how and when child sexual abuse allegations should be referred to police.

Yesterday the former bishop of Toowoomba told the child abuse inquiry that he was still stunned by the failure of senior Catholic Education staff to report allegations that a teacher was sexually abusing 13 students just a few years ago.

One of Australia’s leading child abuse prevention organisations, Child Wise, says there are still ambiguities around the legal obligations to report child sexual abuse, and the existing laws are not well understood.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Gerard Byrnes is in jail for sexually assaulting 13 girls while he was a teacher and child protection officer at a Catholic primary school in Toowoomba.

The latest inquiry by the child abuse royal commission heard that a breakdown in policies and a string of individual failures contributed to Byrnes being able to access and abuse more girls despite allegations being voiced in 2007.

Crucially, the inquiry heard that the school principal and officials from the Catholic Education Office failed to report the matter to police, even though mandatory reporting laws were in place.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Herald

Pope Francis has appointed Antrim native Dr Donal McKeown as the new Catholic Bishop of Derry.

Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Down and Connor since 2001, the 63-year-old was confirmed in the role following a ceremony in St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry City this morning.

The position has been left vacant for more than two years following the retirement of Séamus Hegarty in November 2011.

Monsignor Eamon was initially elected as Diocesan Administrator of Derry before he was ordained Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh last April. Since then, Rouskey priest Fr Francis Bradley has taken up the helm.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014

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

St. Paul Catholic officials are basically defending their wrongdoing by blaming the mother of a child sex abuse victim. Shame on them.

Bishop Piché and Bishop Cozzens should fire the lawyer who made this attack and the church official who approved it.

[Star Tribune]

There has long been an enormous gap between what Catholic officials say in public and what Catholic officials do in court. The only silver lining here is that, because this mom is bravely speaking out, the continuing callousness of Twin Cities Catholic officials has been exposed.

The Star Tribune reports that, in a Feb. 7 court filing, church officials said that the mother “was aware of the time one of her boys was spending with (now convicted predator Fr. Curtis) Wehmeyer” and that “she knew that such interaction was contrary to established Archdiocese policy.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former resident at St Joseph’s Catholic children’s home, Termonbacca, has told the Historical Abuse Inquiry that he is partially deaf because of the beatings he received there.

He said one nun targeted him for 10 years, hitting him about the head with a brush, a mop or a tree branch.

The 53-year-old told the inquiry sitting in Banbridge that one nun lost her temper and he was her scapegoat.

In a statement, the nun said she had not beaten him with a stick or a strap.

She said she was surprised that he had made such allegations.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Tue, Feb 25, 2014

A nun who has been mentioned a number of times during the course of the Northern Ireland historical institutional abuse inquiry has rejected a claim that she severely physically beat boys when they were residents of Termonbacca home in Derry.

Details of her denial emerged today during evidence given to the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down by a 54-year-old man who was in care in the Sisters of Nazareth Termonbacca home from 1961 to 1972.

Asked what was his chief memory of Termonbacca, he replied, “Getting bate (beaten), that’s one of the main things I remember.”

The witness said one particular nun, who has anonymity, used to say he was her “pet” but then she would beat him, losing “her temper for no reason”. She would strike him with a brush pole or electric cable of a kettle with the result that he ended up with about 20 scars on his head, which he still has. The scars were confirmed through medical examination.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 26, 2014

HIS appointment as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican signed and sealed on Monday, George Pell and a couple of close friends sat down at a restaurant near Domus Australia to celebrate with cotoletta milanese and a good drop of vino.

The appointment was a rare achievement. Pell, who is now on the same level as Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, now ranks second in the Vatican behind Pope Francis. No Australian churchman has risen to such authority before. Retired cardinal Edward Cassidy, 89, served as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the 1980s and 90s. And James Knox, a former archbishop of Melbourne, headed the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments in the 70s and 80s.

Pell has loved Rome since he first arrived there in September 1963 to complete his training for the priesthood at the Pontifical Urban University, where the most promising students from their local seminaries were drawn from all nations.

Almost 50 years after his ordination in St Peter’s Basilica in 1966, and after a career spanning parish work, university and seminary leadership and 18 years at the helm of Australia’s two largest archdioceses, Pell had no trouble on Monday nominating his proudest achievements: “The young priests and the new RE (religious education) program” he told The Australian, without a moment’s hesitation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 26, 2014

AUSTRALIA’S ambassador to the Holy See last night hailed the appointment of George Pell as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican with the words: “Here comes the global south.”

John McCarthy QC said the alliance between the Argentinian Pope and the Australian would form “the baseline on which the Catholic Church will be reformed”.

“Pope Francis has chosen Cardinal Pell for a difficult role which he knows will be a complete success,” Mr McCarthy said. The appointment and the creation of a new Vatican office was “one of the Holy See’s most significant reforms for a long time”.

Tim Fischer, Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See, also endorsed the move. “This is long overdue,” he said. …

A group representing survivors of child-sex abuse by priests called the cardinal’s new job a “golden parachute”. Nicky Davis of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said she believed Cardinal Pell would continue to evade facing up to the church’s responsibility.

“It’s absolutely no surprise that Cardinal Pell has been given a golden parachute by the Vatican to leave the jurisdiction just when things are getting hot at the royal commission,” she said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Catholic Church says it will carry out an investigation into how one of its priests carried out child abuse for more than 30 years.

Francis Paul Cullen, 85, admitted 21 counts of child sex abuse in Derbyshire and Nottingham from 1957 to 1991.

The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers has questioned why the priest, who evaded arrest for 21 years in Tenerife, was not investigated sooner.

The church said it received no complaints of abuse at the time.

‘Absolutely confident’

Cullen, who pleaded guilty to the charges on Monday, will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on 24 March.

Father Andrew Cole, of the Diocese of Nottingham, said an internal disciplinary procedure would start after Cullen’s court case was over.

The matter will ultimately be reported to The Vatican, he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 25 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

– appointed Bishop Donal McKeown, auxiliary of the diocese of Down and Connor, as bishop of Derry (area 2,500, population 327,000, Catholics 245,700, priests 116, religious 107), Ireland.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

JENNY TABAKOFF
February 25, 2014

Cardinal George Pell has the right background for his new role as Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See, one of the Vatican’s most senior roles.

He has the intellect to manage and reform the Vatican’s administration and finances, which have been riven with scandal in recent years. And his orthodox and intellectual stance is in line with Pope Francis, to whom he will report directly.

But he’s a divisive personality and has been caught up in the child abuse scandal plaguing the church worldwide.

His last public appearance as Archbishop of Sydney is likely to be in the witness box next month at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

His appearance has been long anticipated by survivors and their families after he was criticised for his evidence to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse last year in which he attempted to separate the actions of individuals from the wider church.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

When it was announced in 2001 that Melbourne Archbishop George Pell was to be made Archbishop of Sydney, the incumbent, Cardinal Edward Clancy, said Pell was ‘a controversial figure, and controversial figures generally create a few enemies as well as friends along the way’.

Pell’s latest promotion, to head an important new office in Rome with authority over all financial matters within the Vatican, is proof of the powerful friends he has made. Pell’s appointment as Cardinal Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy was approved by Pope Francis — the third pontiff to have demonstrated extraordinary confidence in Pell’s abilities since he was made Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne at the comparatively young age of 46 years in 1987.

As for enemies, it is not hard to compile a list of those who will be glad to see Pell go. It would include most liberal Catholics, many priests who have served under him (one of whom once described him as ‘a memory of all those silly stereotypes of authority that used to haunt us as children’), and many of his fellow bishops, who saw him as too eager to please Rome and too prone to do his own thing without acting in concert with them.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 February 2014

The bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, is firming as the favourite to replace Cardinal George Pell as the new archbishop of Sydney.

The vacancy has arisen after Pell’s elevation to “budget supremo” at the Vatican from March.

Brisbane archbishop Mark Coleridge was rated a strong contender but said he wouldn’t be putting his name forward and that he wanted to continue in his current role until retirement.

To find Pell’s successor, local consultations will be undertaken before three dossiers with information on candidates are presented to the congregation for bishops in the Vatican.

Fisher was born in Sydney in 1960 and joined the Dominican order in 1985.

In 2003 Fisher was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Sydney. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the third bshop of Parramatta in January 2010.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rick Feneley

Three names will be proffered to Rome as candidates to replace George Pell as the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney after consultation with Australian bishops, trusted priests and laity.

While speculation has focused on Parramatta’s bishop, the Dominican friar Anthony Fisher, as a front-runner, senior church figures caution against jumping to conclusions.

When pressed to name likely candidates, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Father Brian Lucas, replied: “I have a saying when it comes to the appointments of bishops. ‘Those who talk, don’t know; those who know, don’t talk.’ ”

The few who are talking, privately, also suggest the Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, and the bishop of Newcastle and Maitland, Bill Wright, as contenders.

A local selection process will be led by Australia’s Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, to find the best candidates. Archbishop Gallagher notes that Cardinal Pell is still Sydney’s Archbishop and the position has not yet been declared vacant, but if the Pope makes that move – likely in the coming days or weeks – the Nuncio will start consulting senior church figures.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (updated 25 February 2014)

A Catholic priest (James Patrick Jennings) allegedly committed indecent assaults against boys at two Catholic boarding schools – one in New South Wales and one in Victoria. A Victorian jury in 2014 found him guilty of the Victorian charges but a NSW jury in 2010 had found him “not guilty” of the NSW charges. Same priest, different State. This Broken Rites article is about the NSW trial.

In the Sydney District Court in 2010, a jury heard evidence from four men (now aged in their sixties) alleging that they were indecently touched by Father James Jennings when they were pupils at a boarding school fifty years earlier — in 1960-61. The school was St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, in central-west New South Wales. This school was conducted by Catholic priests and brothers in the Vincentian order (also called the Congregation of the Mission).

The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

Charged in 2009

James Patrick Jennings, who left the Catholic priesthood in the late-1970s, appeared before a magistrate in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 26 May 2009, for preliminary proceedings, charged with indecent assault on boys at St Stanislaus College during 1960-1961.

When charged, Jennings was aged 76 and was living in the Wattle Grove district, south of Hobart, Tasmania.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 25 February 2015)

In 1959-1962, Father James Patrick Jennings began his priestly career, ministering at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, New South Wales, followed by a church school in northern Victoria in 1963-68. Half a century later, on 24 February 2014, a Victorian jury convicted Jennings of committing child-sex crimes at the Victorian school.

The Victorian school was St Vincent’s College, which was then situated at Bendigo, 150 kilometres north of Melbourne. Both the Bathurst school and the Bendigo one were boarding schools, for boys only, and were owned by the Catholic order of Vincentian Fathers (this order is officially known as the Congregation of the Mission).

The Vincentians are an Australia-wide religious order, which has schools and parishes in several states. That is, the Vincentians are not confined to a particular diocese. Father Jim Jennings worked in Queensland as well as in New South Wales and Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Financial Review

JULIAN DRAPE AND PETA MCCARTNEY

Cardinal George Pell, who has been criticised by people testifying to the Royal Commission on sexual abuse, has been appointed to a job at the Vatican in charge of the Roman Catholic church’s budget.

Pope Francis said Pell would be in charge of a new body having authority over all economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and Vatican.

The shake-up – following a wave of scandals at the Vatican bank – is the first major overhaul of the church’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in 25 years.

The Vatican said in a statement that Cardinal Pell “has been asked to start work as soon as possible” as head of the Secretariat for the Economy.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell has been promoted to a newly-created position in the Vatican, to be taken up once he has given evidence to the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse.

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Pell to the new role of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, one of the Vatican’s most senior positions.

The announcement by the Vatican is as part of the Pope’s drive for reform to the way the Holy See administers its finances.

CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan said Cardinal Pell will leave his current role after giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney next month.

“The Cardinal has advised me he remains fully committed to cooperating with the Royal Commission and making himself available as it sees fit,” Sullivan said.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY BRAD RYAN
February 25, 2014

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says a child abuse scandal in a Toowoomba Catholic school has prompted positive change in the church.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday concluded a Brisbane hearing into a teacher’s abuse of 13 students at the school in 2007 and 2008.

Archbishop Coleridge says the Catholic church now understands the phenomenon of sexual abuse and how to support victims much better than in the past.

“But the more you learn in this incredibly complex area, the more you see you have to learn,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Feb. 25, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell’s appointment to a top Vatican post is ‘‘unsettling’’, ‘‘disappointing’’ and ‘‘a deadset shocker’’, say victims of the Catholic Church’s child sexual abuse crisis and their families.

The cardinal’s move to Rome at the end of March after he gives evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse shocked people who campaigned for the historic inquiry.

Pope Francis named Cardinal Pell as head of a new group to reform the Vatican’s administration and finances in a surprise announcement on Monday.

Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer said it was a wise move.

But, Hunter abuse spokesman Peter Gogarty, and royal commission campaigners Chrissie and Anthony Foster, of Victoria, condemned the appointment.

‘‘This is a brand new job that gives George Pell an opportunity to leave this country in five weeks and there will be nothing compelling him to return to Australia to answer questions about anything raised at the royal commission in future,’’ Mr Gogarty said. ‘‘It’s a deadset shocker.’’

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

FRANCIS Paul Cullen came to Derby as the first priest of the newly-formed Catholic parish of Christ the King, Mackworth estate

He was originally ordained in May 1953 and was an assistant priest in Leicester before moving into the same role at the Church of Christ the King in Alfreton.

Cullen arrived in Mackworth in 1960 and conducted services at Kingsway Drill Hall before the church was built in Prince Charles Avenue.

In May 1978, he celebrated his silver jubilee as a priest and the then Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt Rev James McGuinness, held Mass at the Mackworth church to commemorate the occasion.

Later the same year, Cullen was transferred to St Anne’s, Buxton, where he remained until 1987. He then moved to work in Radford, Nottingham.

The cases with which he was charged involved:

1955 to 1963: Victim one, a boy aged eight to 13 – Mackworth
1963 to 1964: Victim two, boy aged 11 – Mackworth
1963 to 1970: Victim three, a boy aged eight to 14 – Mackworth
1967 to 1974: Victim four, a boy aged six to 12 – Mackworth
1980 to 1985: Victim five, a girl aged six to 11 – Buxton
1983: Victim six, a girl aged 13 – Buxton
1989 to 1991: Victim seven, a boy aged 10 to 12 – Nottingham

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Martin Naylor

IT would have been easy for disgraced priest Father Francis Paul Cullen to remain anonymous in Tenerife, according to a leading journalist on the island.

Cullen lived in Tenerife under an assumed name, it was revealed yesterday.

Ross Browning is the editor of Canarian Weekly, an English-language newspaper in Tenerife, where Cullen lived until his extradition last year.

Mr Browning said that he looked into Cullen’s life following his arrest last year.

He said: “Tenerife, especially when this man came to live here 20 years ago, is the sort of place that you can keep your head down and remain pretty much anonymous if you want to.

“People have told me he was the sort of man who very much kept himself to himself, who you might see having an occasional drink or going for a walk. But people did not get to know him.”

Mr Browning said that he discovered that Cullen used an alias – Raul Martin – and lived, until 2007, in an apartment in the Los Alisios complex in Los Cristianos.

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ZIMBABWE
Nehanda Radio

By Arron Nyamayaro

An Anglican priest stationed at St Annes Goto Mission High School is under fire after he was allegedly caught by his wife pants down with a married senior woman advisor from the church.

Reverend T N Mavhezha, who has spent less than six months at the school, was alleged to have decided to quench his sexual appetite with a History teacher’s wife identified only as Mai Motsi.

However, Rev Mavhezha vehemently denies the allegations and accuses detractors of defaming him.

According to the version of events being denied by Rev Mavhezha, he elevated Mai Motsi to a Youth and Mother advisor.

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