ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

WHAT more attractive proposition could there be for your retirement years than to spend more than 20 years on a sunshine island?

Sun, sand, relaxation, away from the pressures of daily life – an idyllic way to spend your final years.

The additional attractive for Father Francis Paul Cullen was that he was also away from the pressures of knowing that he was wanted by the authorities here in the East Midlands.

Not for trifling matters, either – serious charges of sexual abuse of children.

Yet the astonishing fact remains that he was able to do a disappearing act in 1991, having been remanded on bail.

He was not the first to do that, of course, and he will not be the last – certainly while our prisons are overcrowded and the courts are reluctant to send people there while they await a trial date.

But what was the most bewildering event in this sorry saga came in 2000.

Cullen had been on the run – if that is the accurate phrase – for nine years.

And then somebody in the judiciary system took the utterly astonishing decision that he was no longer wanted. The warrant that was out for him was withdrawn.

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CANADA
London Community News

SARNIA, Ont. – A Sarnia, Ont., judge has acquitted a former Catholic priest of all but three of 18 sex-related charges he faced.

Justice Joseph Donohue found Gabriele DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges — including threatening death or bodily harm — arising from incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

Donohue says the historical nature of the case made it difficult and he cited reliability of evidence as reasoning for acquitting DelBianco on several charges.

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DELAWARE
The Dialog

By Mike Lang
Staff reporter

Funeral services for Father James E. Richardson are set for Monday and Tuesday at Church of the Holy Child. Father Richardson, a retired priest of the Diocese of Wilmington, who died Feb. 14. He was 81.

A wake will be held Monday at 4:30 p.m., followed by visitation from 5-8 p.m. The funeral Mass will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. The church is located at 2500 Naamans Road, Wilmington. Father Richardson had helped out at the parish for several years.

Ordained in 1965, Father Richardson served as an associate pastor at St. Matthew’s and Immaculate Heart of Mary, both in Wilmington, and at St. Mary of the Assumption, Hockessin. From 1977-82, he was rector of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

In 1982, he became a counselor with Catholic Social Services, and the next year he was appointed director of outpatient care at the Center for Pastoral Care, a post he held for nine years, although he continued as an alcohol and drug counselor. In 1991 he became involved in AIDS ministry, working with a local support group. He also was an HIV and substance abuse trainer for the state of Delaware and, for many years, a chaplain at St. Edmond’s Academy in Wilmington.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune Updated: February 25, 2014

Archdiocese says she knew abused boy’s visits with priest violated rules.

The mother of two boys sexually abused by the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer contends that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is blaming her for not protecting her sons from the priest and has reneged on promises to help her family deal with the trauma.

“The burden this has placed on my family and the devastation … is insurmountable,” the mother said in an interview last week with the Star Tribune. “It really cut deep when they blamed it on me.”

Wehmeyer, the former pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in St. Paul, is serving a five-year prison term for abusing two of her sons, and the family has sued the archdiocese for civil damages.

In a brief response filed Feb. 7, the archdiocese said that the mother was aware of the time one of her boys was spending with Wehmeyer.

“Plaintiff’s mother worked at Blessed Sacrament Parish in St. Paul during the period when plaintiff was abused by Curtis Wehmeyer,” the filing said. “She was aware of the time [he] spent with Mr. Wehmeyer, and she knew that such interaction was contrary to established Archdiocese policy.”

“That’s absurd,” she said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Press Association
theguardian.com, Monday 24 February 2014

An 85-year-old former Catholic priest has admitted sexually assaulting seven children, including altar boys, after spending more than 20 years on the run in Spain.

Francis Paul Cullen was extradited back to the UK last year to face the charges after being traced to Tenerife. The Catholic Church and its safeguarding board helped police to trace Cullen, who was found to have attended mass at a church in Playa de las Americas every Sunday.

On Monday Cullen, looking frail in the dock, pleaded guilty to 21 charges at Derby crown court. The offences, committed between 1957 and 1991 on children aged between six and 16, took place while Cullen was a practising priest in Mackworth, Derbyshire, and later Buxton, Derbyshire, and Hyson Green, Nottinghamshire. Cullen pleaded guilty to 15 counts of indecent assault, five of indecency with a child and one of attempted buggery.

Judge Jonathan Gosling told Cullen, who was born in Dublin, that a “very substantial” custodial sentence was inevitable.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell’s new job at the Vatican is not an honour but an “escape clause”, says a group representing survivors of child sex abuse by priests.

Pope Francis on Monday revealed Cardinal Pell will be in charge of the Vatican budget.

Australia’s leading Catholic said in a statement on Tuesday he was “deeply honoured” to be made head of the new Secretariat for the Economy, which will aim to modernise the church bureaucracy.

Cardinal Pell has come under fire in recent years over his response to cases of historic abuse by priests.

He will take up his new Vatican post in March but has indicated he will still appear before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse when it sits in Sydney next month.

But Nicky Davis of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says she believes Cardinal Pell will continue to evade facing up to the church’s responsibility.

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UNITED STATES
Dallas Morning News

By Rodger Jones/Editorial Writer
rmjones@dallasnews.com
Follow @rodgermjones

My church, the Catholic church, has made enough hash of itself in recent years without its bishops getting caught up in the hypocrisy of amassing the trappings of wealth.

Case in point is Archbishop of Newark, N.J., John J. Myers, who’s putting a 3,500-square-foot addition on his vacation home, which is soon to be his retirement home. Shoot, his house’s addition is twice as big as my ’50s house in Richardson. (That’s a statement of perspective, not envy.)

The New Jersey bishop is not even in the same league as the so-called Bishop of Bling, the German cleric who was suspended by Pope Francis last year for his lavish spending.

You wonder whether these guys read the newspaper or have Internet access. Pope Francis has made more than a little news with his denunciation of clergy who want to live like princes. That’s precisely the point of a professor who studies, of all things, the spending habits of bishops and who was quoted by the Christian Post. Excerpt:

“Archbishop Myers obviously is not paying any attention to the pope,” noted Charles Zech, faculty director of the Center for Church Management and Business Ethics at Villanova University’s business school who has studied bishops’ spending.

“The pope is calling on clergy to live a simpler lifestyle and to be in touch with their people. This is extreme, way beyond what you’d expect to happen. I can’t believe the parishioners of Newark are going to allow this to happen,” said Zech.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Petula Dvorak, Published: February 24

There are no “toga and yoga” keggers. No football team. No lacrosse team. No jello shots, jungle juice, boilermaker binges or beer pong. And certainly no bongs.

The most dangerous substance around evangelical Patrick Henry College is the Sweet Frog frozen yogurt place across the street from the Loudoun County campus in Purcellville.

Yet, the thing that so many experts say is the tragic result of the unbridled, reckless indulgence of parties and booze — sexual assault — still happens on tightly controlled, super-conservative, dry-as-a-bone campuses.

A New Republic year-long investigation into the way the college known as “God’s Harvard” handled its sexual assault cases tells us that you don’t need John Belushi and togas to get “Animal House” behavior from college students.

It’s a perfect test case into the root causes of sexual assault on campus and the way universities handle it, which President Obama addressed with parental ferocity last month.

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IOWA
Quad-City Times

Rod Boshart Times Bureau

DES MOINES — Victims of child sexual abuse would have more time as an adult to bring criminal or civil action against adults who preyed upon them when they were minors under a bill passed by the Iowa Senate on Monday.

Senate File 2109, which was approved by a 49-0 vote, would extend the statute of limitations to bring action to 25 years after an abused child had turned 18 years of age. The current limit is 10 years year after an abused child reaches 18, although some provisions have longer time frame that also would be extended to 25 years under the legislation that now goes to the Iowa House for consideration.

“This gives child sex abuse survivors a fair chance at justice,” said Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, floor manager of a bill that was amended to extend statute of limitations for criminal offenses of lascivious acts with a child, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, indecent contact with a child, lascivious conduct with a minor and sexual misconduct with a juvenile from the current three years to 10 years after the victim’s 18th birthday.

“For years, persons who suffered sexual abuse, often at the hands of trusted family members and friends, have been denied access to justice,” he said, citing “the atrocities of Penn State” and “almost daily” news accounts of horrific crimes against children in advocating for passage of the bill.

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FLORIDA
WPTV

Dan Corcoran

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A Palm Beach County woman who says she is a survivor of child sex abuse is now in the battle of her life for future victims. This, after a statute of limitations ran out, keeping her from prosecuting her alleged abuser – her own cousin.

After six years of silence, Ashley Foster finally found the courage to say this: “I had just turned 13 and my cousin started to molest me.” Sexual abuse – on a weekly basis, she says, at the hands of her cousin – who is ten years older. “It’s out,” she said.” Ok. Now what are we going to do?”

She went to counseling and then to the Boynton Beach Police Department. Ashley and her parents worked with investigators to press charges against her cousin – but it was already too late. “I finally get the courage to say something and nothing at all can be done about it,” she said.

State law says charges against those who molest children aged 12 or older have to be brought within three years of the alleged abuse. For Ashley, the Statue of Limitations had run out just 60 days earlier.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

Por Nydia Bauzá / nydia.bauza@gfrmedia.com

[Summary: Jaime Perella, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Rep. Luisa “Piti” Gandara on Monday said the Catholic Church should turn over all information on abuse committed by priests that is requested by the Department of Justice. They spoke at inauguration of the first training session for staff at government agencies that will participate in the new protocol for handling child sexual abuse cases. The Speaker said any priest who has abused a minor must pay and the church must deliver information on these priests to the proper authorities.]

El presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Jaime Perelló y la representante Luisa “Piti” Gándara se expresaron este lunes a favor de que la Iglesia Católica entregue toda la información que le ha requerido el Departamento de Justicia sobre actos de pederastia cometidos por sacerdotes.

Perelló y Gándara hicieron sus expresiones durante la inauguración este lunes del primer adiestramiento para capacitar al personal de las agencias del Gobierno que intervendrán en el nuevo protocolo de manejo de casos abuso sexual infantil, establecido por la Ley158 de 2013. El estatuto establece Centros de Servicios Integrados para Menores y Víctimas de Abuso Sexual.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

Adam Davies 25th Feb 2014

THE Catholic Church has tried to silence a former Bishop about his intimate dealings with Rome in the wake of a child sexual abuse scandal at a Toowoomba primary school.

Former Toowoomba Bishop William Morris revealed he was given two years grace by Pope Benedict to deal with the fallout of child sexual abuse at a Toowoomba primary school before he was forced into retirement.

Bishop Morris also revealed for the first time there had been two other “historic” child sexual abuse victims he had dealings with during his time overseeing the Toowoomba Diocese.

He told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday he negotiated his retirement date with Pope Benedict during a discussion in 2009.

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CANADA
CTV

Julia Parrish, CTV Edmonton
Published Monday, February 24, 2014

“It was the worst years of my life; I guess you could say it destroyed me.”

That’s how Jerry Wood, a man who spent eleven years as one of 150,000 aboriginal children pulled from his home, and placed in residential schools, looks at his time in the residential school system.

“I was trying to drown my experience in residential schools from the sexual abuse, the physical abuse, mental abuse, spiritual abuse that I went through,” Wood said.

On Monday, Wood, now an elder, was in the room to hear words he had been waiting decades for – when Archbishop Richard Smith of the Archdiocese of Edmonton issued a formal apology for the church’s role in the schools.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has been appointed by Pope Francis as the Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See. Take a look at Cardinal Pell’s career in the Catholic Church.

Pell’s introduction to the church

George Pell was born in 1941 in Ballarat and grew up in the western Victorian city, where he attended the Loreto and St Patrick’s colleges.

He began his studies into priesthood at Corpus Christi College in Werribee and later travelled to Rome to study at the Propaganda Fide College. In 1966 he was ordained as a Catholic priest and began his work in the Ballarat Diocese.

Over the next 20 years he was heavily involved in Catholic Church organisations, including the Catholic education sector.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WYFF

SPARTANBURG, S.C. —The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office has arrested an Upstate pastor for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

A school official notified a Special Victims Unit investigator that a teen told her she’d been sexually abused by Ronald Norris, 27, of Roebuck.

After collecting statements from the girl and her family, the investigator approached Norris and he immediately invoked his right to an attorney. He is charged with criminal sexual conduct, third degree.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Martin Naylor

AN MP has demanded to know how a pervert priest who sexually abused four Derby altar boys was able to evade justice for 22 years.

Francis Paul Cullen was originally charged with offences against youngsters in 1991 by Nottinghamshire police but jumped bail after appearing in court.

In 2000, the arrest warrant against him was discontinued, meaning he was technically no longer a wanted man.

But after a tip-off from a Derby churchgoer, Cullen was arrested by Derbyshire police last year in Tenerife, where he had been using the alias “Raul Martin”.

Chris Williamson said of the news that he had evaded justice for 22 years: “I think it is a shocking revelation.

“Bringing him to justice earlier is an obligation you would have expected the authorities to fulfil.

“I think the victims have been badly let down in this awful case.”

Cullen abused his Derby victims while priest at Christ the King Catholic Church, Mackworth.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

By Peter Blackburn, Rebecca Sherdley and Martin Naylor

PAEDOPHILE priest Francis Cullen is finally behind bars – 23 years after he was first interviewed by Notts Police.

Yesterday, 85-year-old Cullen, who worked at St Mary’s Church, in Hyson Green, for three years, pleaded guilty to 21 counts of sexual abuse, including three offences against one Nottingham victim.

Notts Police first arrested and charged Cullen with sexual offences in 1991.

He appeared at court in October that year but skipped bail and went on the run. But, mysteriously, the warrant for his arrest was withdrawn in 2000.

In August last year, he was detained under a European arrest warrant and extradited to the UK.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

But the case has prompted questions over who withdrew the arrest warrant and how he was allowed to go on the run for so long.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Aly Walsh

PAEDOPHILE priest Francis Cullen almost certainly preyed on more victims than those he has confessed to abusing, police believe.

Cullen, who spent 18 years working at Christ the King Catholic Church, on the Mackworth estate, yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting seven children – four of them in Derby.

Cullen pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

Investigating officer Det Con Matt Goodwin said it was “inconceivable” that Cullen, who is now 85, had not abused more children during his time as a priest.

He said police would investigate any new allegations made if anyone chose to now come forward.

The Nottingham Catholic Diocese, which covers Derbyshire, said there were no records of reports being made to the Diocese at the time of the abuse. Spokesman Father Andrew Cole said: “There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that anybody complained to the Church.”

But at least one victim said he believed his parents did report the abuse to the Church.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
25 Feb 2014

Pope Francis has appointed the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell to a new senior role in the Vatican.

Cardinal Pell will be the Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See and will be based in Rome.

It is the most senior role to which an Australian cardinal has been appointed and people from business, welfare groups, politics as well as church leaders have applauded the appointment.

Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See, Tim Fischer said today it is a wise move by Pope Francis and “long overdue”.

Speaking from Rome Cardinal Pell said he was deeply honoured to have been appointed by the Holy Father as the Prefect of the new Secretariat for the Economy. …

It is expected an Administrator will soon be appointed to the Archdiocese until a new Archbishop is named.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

25 February 2014

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal George Pell to the new role of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a decision announced as part of the Pope’s reforms to the Vatican’s financial administration. Cardinal Pell will leave his position as Archbishop of Sydney to take up the role, in which he will oversee the annual budget and financial planning for the Holy See and Vatican.

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UNITED STATES
Las Vegas Informer

By Victoria Alexander
Las Vegas Informer

Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, made a startling statement regarding the Roman Curia, the Church’s all-powerful civil service. He said: “The court is the leprosy of the papacy.” He has described the Curia as “narcissistic” and “self-referential.” This FRONTLINE program explores the church he is now head of.

Secrets of the Vatican premiers Tuesday, February 25 at 10 p.m. on PBS and online at pbs.org/frontline. It examines the crisis the Catholic Church faces in light of the devastating charges of financial and sexual corruption.

Secrets of the Vatican is a special, 90-minute FRONTLINE presentation that tells the inside story of the collapse of the Benedict Papacy—and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers.

Sex, power and money are all fundamental ingredients of many best-selling novels. In Secrets of the Vatican the factual basis for each is well established. While much has been written about the Vatican’s institutionally sanctioned abuse of power, FRONTLINE has produced one of the most comprehensive television documentaries on the topic ever seen in the United States.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Feb. 24, 2014 NCR Today

Pope Francis continues to move ahead with his reform of the Curia by appointing Cardinal George Pell of Sydney as a financial watchdog in the Vatican. His title will be cardinal prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a new office that will “undertake the economic audit and supervision” of offices of the Roman Curia, the Vatican City State and institutions connected to the Holy See. The secretariat will also establish “policies and procedures regarding procurement and the allocation of human resources” for the Curia and Vatican City State.

What is not specifically mentioned in Fidelis et dispensator prudens, the motu proprio establishing this new office, is the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, although it may be included among “institutions connected to the Holy See.”

Pell will report directly to the pope rather than to the secretary of state, through whom almost everything goes to the pope.

Pope Francis is not the first pope to try to clean up Vatican finances. In 1967, the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was established. According to Pastor Bonus, it is in charge “of supervising and governing the temporal goods of the administrations that are dependent on the Holy See.” It is responsible for publishing annual financial statements for the Holy See and Vatican City and for producing budget estimates and “inspecting books and documents, if need be.” It had no authority over the Vatican bank.

Sounds a lot like the new office, doesn’t it?

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

CONTACT:
Peter Isely: 414.429.7259
Monica Barrett: 414-704-6074

In a unique collaboration between the BBC and PBS a 90 minute FRONTLINE documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican: Inside the Scandals that Rocked Benedict’s Papacy,” by award winning British filmmaker Antony Thomas, will be airing across the US and the United Kingdom tomorrow, Tuesday, February 25 (8:00 p.m. CST time in Milwaukee on MPTV channel 10.)

A year in the making, a section of the film will explore the struggle of clergy sexual abuse survivors in Milwaukee and the financial corruption of the archdiocese. Several Milwaukee survivors were extensively interviewed as well as local priests who are members of the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA), a group founded in Milwaukee.

Thomas’ other current film, which is receiving considerable critical acclaim, “Questioning Darwin”, is now running on HBO.

For a full description of the FRONTLINE film, the trailer, and local PBS broadcast dates go here.
“Secrets of the Vatican” is only one of three films airing worldwide in the upcoming weeks that includes interviews and stories of Milwaukee survivors.

On March 9, Al Jazeera America is airing a film by Italian filmmakers on the worldwide financial corruption of the Catholic Church. And on April 1st French television is airing a documentary on the church that features Milwaukee survivors and clergy. Both films are then scheduled to air across Europe.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY JUDY BERGERON
jbergeron@theadvocate.com
February 24, 2014

New Orleans author and journalist Jason Berry worked in front of and behind the camera for PBS’ “Frontline” special, “Secrets of the Vatican.”

The 90-minute segment airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WLPB, Channel 27 (cable Channel 12 in Baton Rouge and Lafayette) and WYES, Channel 12 (cable Channel 12 in New Orleans).

The program takes an in-depth look at the collapse of Benedict XVI’s papacy, covering the clergy sex abuse crisis; money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank; and Vatileaks, the release of internal documents which included alleged blackmail within the Holy See.

Berry will be seen in an early part of the program focusing on Marcial Maciel, the leader of the powerful Legionaires of Christ order, who, despite allegations of sexually abusing boys and misappropriating money, was supported by the Vatican for years.

Berry talked to the priest’s son in 2011, and part of that interview will be featured.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Allison Jackson
February 24, 2014

Just when you thought Pope Francis couldn’t get any more popular, he goes and announces what has been described as his “boldest” move yet to clean up the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system.

The pope, who was appointed nearly a year ago with a mandate to overhaul the Catholic Church, said Monday he would invite outside experts to scrutinize the Vatican’s often-murky finances.

The yet-to-be-appointed auditor general will “be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope Francis also announced the creation of a new body to oversee the Holy See’s budgets and financial planning, as well as a central bank.

The new agency will be called the “Secretariat of the Economy” and will be headed by Cardinal George Pell, who is currently the Archbishop of Sydney and who was a vocal critic of the Vatican’s poor accounting standards under Pope Benedict XVI.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Monday, February 24, 2014

The former principal of Cardinal O’Hara High School has sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for suddenly firing her last November, just five months after she was asked to be associate superintendent.

The suit maintains that Marie Rogai was a distinguished Catholic school educator who was told she did not smile enough and was too direct in a meeting with her bosses on Nov. 8 in which she was asked to resign.

When Rogai refused to step down, she was fired three days later with no explanation to her or the school community, the lawsuit says.

The sudden mid-year termination of a principal implies there was “misconduct, generally of a sexual, criminal, fraudulent or similar basis,” according to the suit, which was filed Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

EDMONTON – Catholic bishops in Alberta and the Northwest Territories have apologized for abuse that aboriginal children suffered in residential schools.

Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith said Monday the group is the last one in the country representing Catholic bishops to make a public offer of regret.

Others have issued formal apology letters as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission held events in their regions, he said. The commission is to hold its final national event in Edmonton next month.

“We are adding our voice to those of the Catholic bishops and leaders of religious communities across Canada,” Smith told several dozen junior high students at Edmonton’s Ben Calf Robe School.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Feb. 24, 2014

Local victims of clergy sexual abuse and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy are featured in a Frontline documentary that will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Tuesday on local PBS station Channel 10.

“Secrets of the Vatican,” recounts the transition from the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI and “illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers,” according to the Frontline web site.

The film explores a number of issues, including the global sex abuse crisis, Francis’ efforts to reform the Vatican bank and bureaucracy; and the Vatileaks scandal that resulted in the theft conviction of Benedict’s butler.

The film features interviews with Milwaukee-area sex abuse survivors Peter Isely, who was molested by a Capuchin priest at St. Lawrence Seminary in Fond du Lac County and Monica Barrett, who was raped by the late Father William Effinger. Both would be excluded from the archdiocese’s compensation for victims under its proposed reorganization plan.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell is the Vatican’s new ‘budget supremo’, saying he is honoured to take up the role to modernise the church bureaucracy to better help the poor and disadvantaged.

Pope Francis on Monday revealed that Australia’s most senior Catholic would become one of the most powerful men in the church, working in a new body with authority over 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.

Cardinal Pell said in a statement he was ‘deeply honoured’ to have been appointed to the role.

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VATICAN CITY
PRI

When Pope Francis became head of the Roman Catholic Church nearly a year ago, many Catholics around the world were expecting change. Pope Francis was even named Time Magazine’s 2013 Person of the Year.

Last week, Pope Francis announced a major overhaul of the Vatican’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy, including a package of reforms and economic policies to monitor the Vatican Bank, long seen as an institution wrought with corruption and scandal.

A new Frontline documentary exposes just how bad things had gotten in Rome. “Secrets of the Vatican,” which airs Tuesday night, looks in depth at Pope Benedict’s papacy.

The documentary examines the years of scandal over clergy sex abuse, corruption at the Vatican Bank, power struggles, and cronyism within the Holy See. It finds that clergy in Rome were frequenting gay bars.

The director, writer, and producer of the documentary, Antony Thomas, spent a year investigating the secrets of the Vatican. He believes the mounting problems, combined with the ailing health of Pope Benedict, led to Benedict’s dramatic resignation — an action not taken by a pope in 600 years.

“They happened on his watch, and it was very unfortunate,” Thomas explained. “He just couldn’t cope with it anymore.”

According to Thomas, Pope Benedict had considered resigning in early 2012, but was pressured into postponing his resignation by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. That decision, Thomas said, was “before the ‘Vatileaks’ thing got really serious and before these scandals came out.”

Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi received the classified documents now known as Vatileaks. His book, “Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI” was released in mid-2012, and revealed extensive confidential information, including documents from the pope’s personal office.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Dave Battagello

A former Windsor priest accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen early-adolescent girls in the late 1980s and early 1990s was found guilty Monday of three of 18 sex charges he was facing in Sarnia.

Gabriele Del Bianco, 57, will be sentenced in Superior Court May 14 and will remain out of custody until then.

The trial began in October with four of Del Bianco’s alleged victims testifying in court. Del Bianco was represented by Windsor lawyer Andrew Bradie.

The former priest was acquitted of sexual misconduct charges involving two women, but found guilty by Justice Joseph Donohue for his actions involving the other two. He was guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and counts of sexual assault against the other.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 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)

A Chilean archbishop who is accused of hiding evidence of child sex crimes from civil authorities, was promoted to cardinal this past weekend. We are disappointed Pope Francis did this.

[Santiago Times]

Santiago’s Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati allegedly concealed evidence of child sexual abuse by a Salesian priest, Rimsky Rojas.

This weekend Pope Francis urged his newly promoted cardinals to avoid misconduct and “May all of us avoid, and help others to avoid, habits and ways of acting typical of a court: intrigue, gossip, cliques, favoritism and partiality.”

The Pope should take his own advice. Ezzati should have been fired, not promoted. Hiding evidence is not only a crime, but it is a dangerous, callous and selfish move that puts the reputations of predators over the safety of kids.

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CANADA
Chatham Daily News

By Neil Bowen, Sarnia Observer
Monday, February 24, 2014

SARNIA – Former Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco, 57, was convicted Monday on three of 18 charges related to sexual misconduct involving four teenage girls.

Sentencing has been set for May 14. The convictions relate to two of the women, now in their 40s.

Superior Court Justice Jospeh Donohue found DelBianco guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and counts of sexual assault against the other victim.

A pre-sentence report was ordered and DelBianco remains out of custody.

The key issues were possible consent to sexual activity and the reliability of the evidence, Donohue said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Feb. 24, 2014 NCR Today

PBS’ award winning news and documentary program, “Frontline,” is to air tomorrow night (Feb. 25) “Secrets of the Vatican,” from British director Antony Thomas and co-producer Jason Berry, a name that should be well-known to NCR readers.

Most PBS stations will broadcast the show Tuesday, February 25, at 9 p.m. eastern time, but check your local TV listings to get the correct time.

Here’s how a press release I got describes the show:

“Secrets of the Vatican” illuminates the challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the Church.

“The documentary tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy, from a far-reaching clergy sex abuse scandal, to money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank, to power struggles and cronyism within the Holy See, to hypocrisy within the Vatican when it comes to homosexuality.”

Work on the film began more than a year ago. Berry talks about his involvement with the project in an interview with his hometown newspaper, New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune. Here’s Berry’s synopsis of the film:

“The film takes viewers into the Vatican’s baroque internal dynamics”

“The infighting under Pope Benedict that exploded in the Vatican Bank and Vatileaks scandals”

“Viewers will get a clear story of the last pope betrayed by his own bureaucracy.

“Antony’s treatment of the gay priest culture in the Vatican — an explosive topic to be sure — is nuanced and even-handed, certainly not homophobic.”

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CANADA
Blackburn News

By Chelsea Vella on February 24, 2014

A former Catholic priest has been acquitted of all but three of 18 sex-related charges in Sarnia’s Superior Court.

Justice Joseph Donohue found 57-year-old Gabriele DelBianco guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges including threatening death/bodily harm.

The charges relate to incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980′s.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: The Canadian Press
Monday, Feb. 24, 2014

SARNIA, Ont. – A Sarnia, Ont., judge has acquitted a former Catholic priest of all but three of 18 sex-related charges he faced.

Justice Joseph Donohue found Gabriele DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges — including threatening death or bodily harm — arising from incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

Donohue says the historical nature of the case made it difficult and he cited reliability of evidence as reasoning for acquitting DelBianco on several charges.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Two sisters who claim they suffered physical and mental abuse while at St Joseph’s home at Termonbacca in Derry have rejected claims by a nun that the abuse never took place.

The sisters were among five children from a large family who were placed in the home in the late 1960s.
The girls were also placed there as their mother thought they would be together. However two of the girls who gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry said she did not know that they were separated once at the home.

A series of claims by the sisters involving physical abuse, forced work and hunger were all denied by a named nun whose statement was detailed to the witnesses.

The nun said she could not recall the girls and she denies that any child was forced to work in the nursery at the home which would have housed up to 24 babies and infants.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 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 )

As a trial begins against an accused Philly predator priest (Fr. Andrew McCormick), we remind citizens and Catholics that it’s never too late to speak up with information or suspicions about known or alleged child sex crimes.

[Enquirer-Herald]

Sooner beats later. But speaking up always beats staying silent.

It’s our civic and moral duty to help police and prosecutors convict child molesters by sharing what we know and have seen and have heard with them, even if we think it’s small, old or “second hand.”

So we hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. McCormick will find the courage to pick up the phone and call law enforcement officials immediately. That’s the very least we should do if we care at all about kids.

We especially appeal to current and former parish and archdiocesan staff – from bookkeepers to bishops – to find the strength to break your silence if you know or suspect something that might help prosecutors in this case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 25, 2014

THE former head of a Catholic body handling child abuse allegations has criticised the church’s flagship Towards Healing protocol.

Retired Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a new national independent body should be established to deal with all institutional abuse allegations and subsequent out-of-court financial settlements.

“Where (Towards Healing) fell down was where the communication wasn’t there and (the victims) were left hanging, in a vacuum,” Bishop Morris said. “That was my experience.”

Bishop Morris was at the helm of the Toowoomba Catholic diocese when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested and raped 13 girls in his classroom in 2007 and 2008. Bishop Morris sacked a school principal and two Catholic Education officials when it was revealed they failed to report sexual assault allegations against Byrnes to police in September 2007.

Until he was forced into early retirement by the Vatican in 2011, Bishop Morris was also the co-chairman of the National Committee for Professional Standards, which founded Towards Healing as the Catholic Church’s pastoral response to child abuse within its ranks.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Andy Parks 25th Feb 2014

A VICTIM of abuse at the Anglican Church’s North Coast Children’s Home has said the offer of compensation made to him was an insult.

Mr S (to protect his identity) said the offer of $3000 was for years of abuse that had left him “a total wreck”.

“The Church is saying ‘take it or leave it, that’s the offer’… It’s like they’re saying ‘that’s all you’re worth’. That’s what they said to us when we were in the home; that we were worth nothing.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last year heard evidence of brutal physical and sexual abuse at the Lismore home from the 1940s to the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

Adam Davies 25th Feb 2014

FORMER Bishop William Morris said he cannot believe the principal at the centre of the child sexual abuse scandal at a Toowoomba primary school is still teaching in the Catholic education system.

Bishop Morris was highly critical of the school’s then principal Terence Michael Hayes and his handling of the scandal which allowed teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes to sexually abuse 13 girls in his class.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Mr Hayes was first made aware of allegations against Byrnes in September, 2007, some 14 months prior to his eventual arrest.

“I think the Catholic Education Office in Brisbane has to review that,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Raymond A. Schroth | Feb 21 2014

In one sense there are few surprises in Tuesday evening’s broadcast of Frontline’s latest documentary on the scandals that continue to rock the Catholic Church. Few surprises, that is, if you have been following the story for the last ten years: though this is not about birth control, abortion, women’s ordination, liberal nuns or health care’s alleged anti-Catholicism. It is about the corruption of a local culture, where the combination of lust for power, sex and money has undermined the credibility of an institution originally modeled on the body of Christ.

The scandals are familiar—the plague of sex abuse, the victims’ demand for justice, the disgrace of the Legion of Christ and its founder, the Vatican Bank scandal, the charges of homosexual cliques among the priests and hierarchy, the leak of documents by the pope’s butler—as is the scramble of the investigative reporters to make all this public.

Frontline’s documentaries remind me of the old Edward R. Murrow radio and TV dramas, “You Are There,” where the reporters grab Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson after a meeting of the Continental Congress. Except that the Frontline cameras and researchers are really there to show us the young Marcial Maciel Degollado, of a powerful conservative elite Mexican family, as he founds the Legion of Christ in 1941, rises in Vatican influence by raising money and collecting vocations and wins the favor of Pope John Paul II as he enjoys his double life. We see the faces and hear the voices of former seminarian Juan Vaca, abused at 10, from 1949 to 1961, and of Raul Gonzales, one of Maciel’s two sons, both of whom were abused on every visit. As Raul weeps, so do we.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Monday, February 24, 2014

A Philadelphia judge imposed a gag order Monday barring prosecution and defense attorneys from making public comments during the trial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick, charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast church in 1997.

Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright issued the order after a pretrial motions hearing began dealing with some sensitive evidentiary issues and Bright granted a defense motion to take the hearing behind closed doors.

Jury selection is to begin Tuesday in the trial of the 57-year-old priest on five counts involving sexual assault, child endangerment and corruption of minors in an incident that allegedly occurred when McCormick was a priest at the St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.

McCormick, then pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, was one of 26 Roman Catholic priests suspended in March 2011 for possible inappropriate conduct with children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Enquirer-Herald

The Associated Press
February 24, 2014

PHILADELPHIA — A judge has issued a gag order in the latest priest-abuse case going to trial in Philadelphia.

A former altar boy accuses the Rev. Andrew McCormick of sexually assaulting him at a northeast Philadelphia rectory in 1997.

The 57-year-old McCormick is fighting the charges. The trial is expected to take about three days, after jury selection this week.

The accuser says he contacted police in 2012 after seeing news accounts of the Penn State and Philadelphia archdiocese sex-abuse trials.

McCormick is one of about 25 priests suspended in 2011 after a grand jury report found many accused priests still in ministry.

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UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
February 23, 2014

The special “Secrets of the Vatican,” from PBS Frontline/BBC can be seen this week> The story features Milwaukee survivors and the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA).

The Frontline documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican: Inside the Scandals that Rocked Benedict’s Papacy” by award winning British filmmaker Antony Thomas will be airing across the US. A year in the making, a section of the film will explore the struggle of survivors in Milwaukee and the financial dealings of the archdiocese.

Included in the film is Monica Barrett of the Survivors and Clergy Alliance (SCLA). Filmmaker Thomas was in Milwaukee filming for several days last fall, interviewing clergy and survivors from the group, as well as the group itself. Thomas other current film, “Questioning Darwin”, is now running on HBO.

For a full description of the film, the trailer, and local PBS broadcast dates. The film airs Tuesday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

[with video]

February 24, 2014 by Jason M. Breslow

Pope Francis announced a sweeping set of reforms for the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system on Monday, establishing a new central office with broad authority over the Vatican’s economic and administrative affairs.

Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, will head the new office, which is being called the Secretariat for the Economy. Pell will work with a council of eight bishops and seven lay financial experts to prepare an annual budget, conduct financial planning and oversee various support functions, such as human resources and procurement. The pope will also name an auditor general who, according to a Vatican news release, “will be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican city state at any time.”

The changes come as Pope Francis continues to weigh the future of the Vatican bank — otherwise known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) — amid ongoing criticism over its struggles to adhere to international financial transparency standards. Those struggles reached a tipping point in 2010, when Italian investigators froze 23 million euros held by the IOR in two Italian banks on suspicion of possible money laundering violations. Lacking confidence in the IOR, Italy’s central bank shut down electronic payments in and around St. Peter’s Square, effectively turning the Vatican into a cash-only city-state.

In the following scene from tomorrow night’s FRONTLINE investigation, Secrets of the Vatican, award-winning director Antony Thomas traces what happened next: a power struggle within the Vatican administration; resistance to opening the bank’s books; and ultimately the resignation of the man Pope Benedict brought in to clean up the IOR, Italian economist Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

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UNITED STATES
Variety

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Brian Lowry
TV Columnist
@blowryontv

Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented retirement and subsequent enthusiasm surrounding Pope Francis has certainly stoked interest in the Catholic Church, an organization (with apologies to Dan Brown’s readers) that remains shrouded in mystery. Yet PBS’ “Frontline” provides the documentary version of a page-turner with “Secrets of the Vatican,” a look at scandals that may have led to Benedict’s departure and could provide formidable challenges to Francis’ reform attempts. For all the coverage pertaining to pedophile priests, writer-producer-director Antony Thomas unearths fresh material, painting a portrait of an institution that still mightily endeavors to keep its secrets buried.

Because so much has been done about the clergy abuse story – including HBO’s stomach-turning “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” from filmmaker Alex Gibney — one might think there’s relatively little new to say. Yet Thomas’ multi-pronged report covers not just sexual abuse and the manner in which the Vatican protected such predators, but also corruption and hypocrisy that goes well beyond that, including a “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture consisting of illicit liaisons and wild parties.

The documentary also makes a reasonably compelling inference that Benedict’s decision to leave when he did stemmed in part from knowledge of the pending investigation into misdeeds ranging from the abuse scandals to Vatican finances, as well as the impediment an apparatus within the church, the Roman Curia, presents to any attempt to alter how the institution operates.

Given how adept the Vatican’s defenders have been at circling the wagons, there will undoubtedly be an effort to dismiss this as simply more piling on by the religion-hating media hordes. Thomas, however, builds such a persuasive case as to raise questions about how the Vatican, as a sovereign entity, can ever be changed if the onslaught of bad publicity hasn’t led to greater soul-searching already.

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MINNESOTA
kathweb

[Summary: An American priest convicted of abuse will receive a pension from the diocese because his pedophilic inclination for years was due to disability.]

.Washington, 23.02.2014 (KAP) Ein wegen Missbrauchs verurteilter US-Priester soll aufgrund einer Berufsunfähigkeit wegen seiner pädophilen Neigung seit Jahren eine Pension seiner Diözese beziehen. Das berichtete die Zeitung “Star Tribune” am Sonntag unter Berufung auf eigene Recherchen. Demnach wurde der heute 62-jährige Geistliche, der bereits 1983 wegen sexueller Vergehen an Minderjährigen aus dem Dienst entfernt wurde und inzwischen als Berater für Führungskräfte arbeitet, im Juli 2006 von der Erzdiözese St. Paul and Minneapolis als berufsunfähig mit entsprechenden Versorgungsrechten eingestuft. Die Erzdiözese habe dies bestätigt und gerechtfertigt.

Dem Bericht zufolge hatte der Priester zwischen 1977 und 1982 mehrere Jungen missbraucht. Ein Gericht habe ihn neben anderen Sanktionen zu einer Haftstrafe von sechs Monaten verurteilt, von denen er viereinhalb verbüßte. Bis 2002 sei er als Geistlicher in einem Frauenkloster eingesetzt worden. Dann verabschiedeten die US-Bischöfe eine Null-Toleranz-Linie. Der Priester wurde daraufhin laut der Zeitung vom Vatikan dienstenthoben. Die Kirche habe ihn bei einer Therapie und einem beruflichen Neuanfang unterstützt.

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SCHOTTLAND
Religion@ORF

[Summary: Leo Cushley, archbishop of Edinburgh, has filed a complain with the Vatican against Cardinal Keith O’Brien because of alleged sexual assault. Three priests alleged the cardinal used his position as former seminary head to force them into inappropriate sexual relationships.]

Der katholische Erzbischof von Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, hat im Vatikan Anzeige gegen seinen Vorgänger Kardinal Keith O’Brien wegen sexueller Übergriffe eingereicht. O’Brien war 2013 altersbedingt zurückgetreten.

Laut Berichten mehrerer britischer Zeitungen am Montag werfen drei Priester dem heutigen Kardinal vor, seine frühere Position als Leiter eines Priesterseminars in den 1980er Jahren zu „erzwungenen“ und „missbräuchlichen“ sexuellen Beziehungen genutzt zu haben. Der 75-jährige O’Brien lebt nach seinem altersbedingten Rücktritt im Februar 2013 in einem Ordenshaus in der nordwestenglischen Grafschaft Cumbria.

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GROSSBRITANNIEN
stol

Derby dpa Ein 85 Jahre alter Priester der katholischen Kirche hat zugegeben, während seines Pfarrdienstes in Großbritannien über Jahre hinweg Kinder sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

Insgesamt räumte der Mann am Montag vor einem Gericht in Derby 21 Fälle ein, in denen er sich in den Jahren zwischen 1957 und 1991 an sieben Kindern vergangen hat.

Ein Sprecher des Bistums Nottingham zeigte sich zufrieden, dass der Priester „Verantwortung für seine furchtbaren Straftaten übernommen“ habe.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

FEBRUARY 24, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Click here to read: “Phila. archdiocese removes two priests,” by Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 23, 2014

Excerpt: “As has been their practice, church officials offered no further details of the allegations against the men, except to say both involved 17-year-old victims and occurred decades ago. In both cases, local authorities had declined to pursue criminal charges because the statute of limitations had expired.”

Editor’s note: Kathy noticed this was the very first time the archdiocese released the ages of victims. Was this a public relations move? Perhaps archdiocesan officials wanted to “soften” the abuse story. When victims in previous cases were much younger, such as age 10, the archdiocese opted not to list the age. They also like to stress that this abuse took place a long time ago. With that realization, you would think Archbishop Chaput would seek window legislation in the name of social justice and the protection of children. At what age do abusers stop abusing? Do they ever stop? We do know that statistically victims don’t come forward until much later in life. It seems the Church is very comfortable in its hiding place behind the statute of limitations.

Excerpt: “The parish learned in early 2013 that Paul had been accused of abusing minors as a seminary student at St. Charles Borromeo. However, he was allowed to continue preaching while local law enforcement investigated the claims. During that time, he was barred from unsupervised contact with children, said Ken Gavin, an archdiocesan spokesman.

But that decision marked a departure from practice. After a scathing 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, the archdiocese suspended 26 priests while the law enforcement investigations of their individual cases proceeded.”

Editor’s Note: The Archdiocese knew of at least one allegation against Father Paul yet opted to leave him as pastor at Our Lady of Calvary while being investigated. Pastors are ultimately responsible for parish school students, parish children and C.Y.O. activities. They are also the top line for mandatory reporting on the parish level. The archdiocese stated “pertinent” people had been informed of his status. That did not include parents and teachers. Who could be more pertinent when it comes to safety? It was only when Father Paul resigned with a bizarre parting letter that social media and news sites were deluged with commentary on various incidents over the course of his priesthood. This highlights the importance of public assistance in these cases.

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CHILE
Santiago Times

By Joel Keep
Published On: Mon, Feb 24th, 2014

Ricardo Ezzati receives promotion to Vatican, just days after being the subject of a criminal complaint for obstructing the course of a sexual abuse case.

Santiago’s outgoing Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati was among 16 new cardinals sworn in by papal authorities at a ceremony in the Vatican on Saturday despite being implicated in an ongoing inquiry into sexual abuse committed by a member of the Chilean clergy, as another disgraced priest accused of child molestation was spotted breaching canonical restrictions.

Ezzati joins 19 new “princes of the church,” who will be granted the authority to vote on the election of future popes in papal conclaves.

Speaking at a mass held at St. Peter’s basilica at the Vatican, Pope Francis urged the newly elevated clergymen to avoid engaging in cronyism and misconduct, as the Catholic Church attempts to recover from scandals relating to child sex abuse and financial largesse.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 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 )

An Ontario judge says he believes two women may have consented in a sexual misconduct charge against a former priest. The priest has been acquitted.

[Sun News]

Gabriele DelBianco pled guilty to 16 offenses involving teenage girls in the 1980s. He has a long track record of sexual misconduct. We do not believe these women consented. It is inherently problematic – and in some places, illegal – when clergy have any sexual contact with congregants. There can be no true “consent” given the power difference between the individuals.

Even though this ruling came out in favor of the former priest, we hope this case will help others who were hurt by what may have initially seemed like “affairs” but were in fact crimes. We hope those victimized by clergy at any age will find the courage to step forward, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing.

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CANADA
CBC News

A New Brunswick priest who is facing eight sex abuse charges dating back to the 1970s has elected to be tried by judge and jury.

Father Yvon Arsenault, 71, of Aldouane, is charged with four counts of gross indecency, three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.

The four alleged victims were boys under the age of 18 at the time, RCMP have said.

Arsenault, who was removed from service by the Archdiocese of Moncton in July 2012, was not present in Moncton court on Monday.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers have said a forum should be established to acknowledge the alleged mistreatment of young women at Catholic-run Magdalene workhouses.

Victims have been campaigning for an inquiry after investigations in the Republic of Ireland uncovered evidence of harsh conditions and callous treatment.

The laundries were institutions for single mothers detained through the courts or for teenage girls and young women deemed by their family or clergy for being sexually active and were run by Catholic religious orders.

A statement from OFMDFM said: “We recognise that there are women who were over the age of 18 when they entered the Magdalene laundry-type institutions and there is a need to provide them with a forum where their issues can be addressed and their experiences acknowledged.”

The Good Shepherd Sisters ran a laundry and home in Belfast from the late 19th century until 1977 and 1990 respectively.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

Northern Ireland’s Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard a Derry woman allege that as a ten-year-old in the care of the Nazareth Sisters, she had to change and wash the nappies of 20 younger children before she got her breakfast each day.

Patricia Browne, 55, and four of her 13 siblings spent two years in a Nazareth home before she returned to the care of her family.

Patricia and Caroline Browne gave their testimony to the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down this morning.

From a family of 14 in Derry City, they and three of their siblings were taken into care at the Termonbaca Naazareth Home in Derry for a two-year period.

Both women claimed they were regularly physically and emotionally abused by a nun.

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CANADA
Sun News

NEIL BOWEN | QMI AGENCY

SARNIA, Ont. – Former Ontario Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco, 57, was acquitted Monday morning of sexual misconduct charges involving two women, but rulings on charges involving two other women were to be made later in the day.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Donobue said he was concerned about the evidence and believed the women could have consented to the sexual activity.

DelBianco had pleaded not guilty to 16 offences involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

The trial started Oct. 16 , 2013 and testimony from four women, now in their 40s, ended in October. DelBianco chose not to testify.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Many assume or believe that Pope Francis is making significant changes in the church. We’re pretty skeptical of this claim.

Last week, he installed new cardinals. As he did, it was clear that one important part of the Catholic culture is NOT changing, according to the National Catholic Reporter:

“When making the oath, the cardinals also pledge ‘not to make known to anyone matters entrusted to me in confidence, the disclosure of which could bring damage or dishonor to Holy Church.’”

[National Catholic Reporter]

This is, of course, the requirement and mindset that enables bishops to continue to stonewall prosecutors, destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses and hide and transfer predators from city to city and from nation to nation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The Diocese of Nottingham… is pleased that he has taken responsibility for his terrible crimes and pleaded guilty to the 21 offences with which he was charged.

I would like to offer our sympathy to those who have been affected by this tragedy in any way and assure them that we will do whatever we can to support them. I also wish to thank Cullen’s victims for their bravery in coming forward after many years of silence; it is due to them that Cullen has pleaded guilty today.

The Catholic Church takes the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults extremely seriously, and it is our hope and expectation that no child or vulnerable adult should ever suffer at the hands of others.

– FATHER ANDREW COLE, SPOKESMAN FOR THE DIOCESE OF NOTTINGHAM

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

FORMER Derby Catholic priest Francis Paul Cullen – who was on the run for 20 years – has today admitted sexually abusing seven children – four of them in Derby.

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

He said he looked into Cullen’s life following his arrest last year.

Mr Browning said: “Tenerife, especially when this man came to live here 20 years ago, is the sort of place that your 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 he discovered that Cullen used an alias – Raul Martin – and lived, until 2007, in an apartment in Los Cristianos.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Beaumont Enterprise

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jury selection is getting under way in a priest-abuse case prompted by news accounts of the Penn State and Philadelphia archdiocese sex-abuse trials.

The accuser says he contacted authorities in 2012 after seeing those child sex-abuse cases in the news.

He says that the Rev. Andrew McCormick fondled him and performed a sex act when he was an altar boy in northeast Philadelphia in 1997.

A judge had thrown out the most serious felony charges — sexual assault and deviant intercourse — after finding the accuser’s pretrial testimony did not match those crimes.

But prosecutors successfully appealed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Beaumont Enterprise

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press
Updated 10:08 am, Monday, February 24, 2014

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pennsylvania appeals court has upheld an ex-priest’s conviction on a charge that he corrupted a 15-year-old boy by encouraging the teen to disobey his mother, but one judge argues they may have illegally broadened the statute in the process.

Friday’s Superior Court ruling concerns the 2012 conviction of Samuel Slocum, a suspended Bradford priest accused of encouraging the teen to visit him even after his mother forbade that. Slocum wasn’t accused of sexually abusing the boy, though McKean County prosecutors argued some comments by the priest were flirtatious.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Feb 24, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Monday (Feb. 24) launched a sweeping reform of the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system by naming one of his closest advisers on reform, Australian Cardinal George Pell, to head a powerful new department that will oversee the entire management of the Holy See.

The new Secretariat for the Economy, with Pell acting as a unique kind of Vatican comptroller, will have “authority over all economic and administrative activities” in the Vatican, according to a statement summarizing Francis’ decree.

The aim is to streamline a famously byzantine system of governance by eliminating redundant offices, increasing accountability and financial safeguards, and generally bringing the Vatican into line with accepted accounting and procurement practices.

The changes also provide for an official who will be empowered “to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time” — a remarkable degree of authority in a bureaucracy where offices are known for zealously guarding their own turf.

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SCOTLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 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 Scottish cardinal may face a Vatican trail, in which he could lose his cardinal title. We think this is long overdue.

[Edinburgh Evening News]

Cardinal Keith O’Brien should lose his red hat. Simply being asked to step down and retire is not enough when sexual abuse allegations are found credible. At the very least, he should lose his title and ideally, he should be tried in a secular court. After all sexually abusing someone – of any age – is illegal.

Cardinal O’Brien was forced to stand down last year, after several priests and a former priest came forward with allegations that O’Brien sexually abused them. Now, three of the priests have asked the new head of the Scottish Catholic Church, Archbishop Leo Cushley, to pass on their complaints calling O’Brien a ‘sexual predator” to Rome. We applaud these brave priests for seeking justice.

Cushley stated that he will do everything he can “to help bring a just and ­equitable conclusion to the matter for all involved.” We hope that Cushley will stand by his words. Only the Vatican can discipline a cardinal, but Cushley can still reach out to any other victims. He can condemn the actions of O’Brien and all other abusive Catholic officials and those who protect them.

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BRASIL
G1

[Summary: A police investigation was opened on Thursday, Feb. 20, to investigate the complaint of a sexual assault committed in 2008 by a priest in the parish of Pitimbu County on the south coast of Paraiba. The complaint was made by the victim’s mother, now 21. According to testimony giving to police, the victim was 15 at the time of the abuse. The priest offerred gifts, money and travel invitations in exchange for sexual favors.]

Um inquérito policial foi aberto na quinta-feira (20) para apurar a denúncia de um abuso sexual cometido em 2008 por um padre da paróquia de Pitimbu, município do Litoral Sul da Paraíba. De acordo com delegado regional do Litoral Sul e responsável pela investigação, Aneílton Castro, a denúncia foi feita pela mãe da vítima, hoje com 21 anos.

Segundo depoimento prestado à polícia pelo jovem, na época do abuso ele tinha 15 anos e o padre oferecia presentes, dinheiro e convites para viagens em troca de favores sexuais. Ainda segundo a denúncia, os abusos aconteciam em moteis em cidades vizinhas à Pitimbu e na própria paróquia.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Sex abuse case vs. TX priest settles
Pedophile priest worked in Beaumont & Wash. State

A child sex abuse lawsuit against a Catholic priest who worked in Beaumont and may still live in Texas has been settled.

[Beaumont Enterprise]

Last week, the diocese of Yakima, Washington confirmed that it has resolved a molestation case against Fr. Ernest Dale Calhoun. The diocese agreed to pay the victim $75,000.

[KOMO]

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Beaumont’s Catholic bishop to “aggressively reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Calhoun’s crimes.”

Fr. Calhoun was ordained by the Beaumont Diocese and he faced his first child sex abuse lawsuit in 1988.

According to BishopAccountability.org, Fr. Calhoun’s personnel file “shows he should never have been ordained.” In 1969, he raped a 15 year old and was transferred to the Yakima Diocese where he continued to abuse.

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CALIFORNIA
Deep Thoughts

Youth pastor Tyler Bliss of Bethel Church in Oakdale was arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

Ceres police spokeswoman Carissa Higginbotham said that while pornography was located on the computer Bliss uses at the church, no other church employees or parishioners are suspected to be involved.

Higginbotham said detectives are trying to determine where the images originated.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 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 )

Pay close attention to the chronology of Fr. John P. Paul, whose status as a credibly accused child molester was finally disclosed last weekend.

[Philadelphia Daily News]

In October or November of last year (perhaps even earlier), Philly Catholic officials received reports of alleged child sex crimes against Fr. Paul.

They kept quiet. And on November 6, Fr. Paul resigned (“He came to that decision of his own accord during the course of the Archdiocesan investigation regarding this alleged abuse,” Chaput claims.)

Fr. Paul claimed “considering a serious road trip for ‘renewal’ purposes.”

Again, Philly church officials kept silent. They let this lie stand.

Finally, earlier this month, Philly church officials admitted, to one parish, that Fr. Paul was suspended for credible allegations of child sex abuse crimes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

A former Derby Catholic priest Paul Cullen – who was on the run for 20 years – has today admitted sexually abusing seven children – four of them in Derby.

Following Cullen’s appearance at Derby Crown Court today, Father Andrew Cole, spokesman for the Diocese of Nottingham, said: “The Diocese of Nottingham, which covers the areas where Francis Paul Cullen worked as a priest, is pleased that he has taken responsibility for his terrible crimes and pleaded guilty to the 21 offences with which he was charged.

“We have been working closely with the police throughout the preparation of this case, both before and after Cullen’s arrest in Spain and return to the United Kingdom, have encouraged them to bring him to justice and are grateful to them.

“I would like to offer our sympathy to those who have been affected by this tragedy in any way and assure them that we will do whatever we can to support them.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has decided to establish a new structure for the coordination of the economic and administrative matters of the Holy See and Vatican City State, according to a communique issued today by the Holy See Press Office, the full text of which is published below:

“The Holy Father today announced a new coordination structure for economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See and the Vatican State.

Today’s announcement comes after the recommendations of the rigorous review conducted by the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic- Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) were considered and endorsed by both the Council of 8 Cardinals established to advise the Holy Father on governance and the Committee of 15 Cardinals which oversees the financial affairs of the Holy See.

COSEA recommended changes to simplify and consolidate existing management structures and improve coordination and oversight across the Holy See and Vatican City State. COSEA also recommended more formal commitment to adopting accounting standards and generally accepted financial management and reporting practices as well as enhanced internal controls, transparency and governance.

The changes will enable more formal involvement of senior and experienced experts in financial administration, planning and reporting and will ensure better use of resources, improving the support available for various programs, particularly our works with the poor and marginalized.

The changes announced by the Holy Father include:

1. Establishment of a new Secretariat for the Economy which will have authority over all economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and the Vatican City State. The Secretariat will be responsible, among other things, for preparing an annual budget for the Holy See and Vatican City State as well as financial planning and various support functions such as human resources and procurement. The Secretariat will also be required to prepare detailed financial statements of the Holy See and Vatican State.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 February 2014 (VIS) – We publish below the full text of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter issued Motu proprio, “Fidelis et dispensator Prudens”, and dated today, 24 February.

“Like a faithful and prudent manager who has the task of carefully looking after what has been entrusted to him, the Church is aware of her responsibility to protect and manage her assets, in the light of her mission of evangelisation and with particular care for those in need. In a special way, the management of the economic and financial sectors of the Holy See is intimately linked to its specific mission, not only in the service of the universal ministry of the Holy Father, but also in relation to the common good, with a view to the full development of the human person.

After having carefully consulted the results of the work of the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (cf. Chirograph of 18 July 2013), and after consultation with the Council of Cardinals for the reform of the Apostolic Constitution ‘Pastor Bonus’ and with the Council of Cardinals for the study of economic and administrative problems of the Holy See, by this Apostolic Letter issued Motu proprio, I adopt the following measures:

COUNCIL FOR THE ECONOMY

1. The Council for the Economy is hereby instituted, with the task of offering guidance on economic management and supervising the structures and the administrative and financial activities of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, of the Institutions connected to the Holy See, and of Vatican City State.
2. The Council for the Economy is composed of fifteen members, eight of whom are nominated from among the Cardinals and Bishops in order to reflect the universality of the Church, and seven of whom are lay experts of various nationalities, with recognised professional financial competences.
3. The Council for the Economy shall be presided over by a Cardinal coordinator.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Australian Cardinal George Pell has been named head of a new Vatican department that will supervise the Holy See’s economic affairs.

In the new role, the 72-year-old currently archbishop of Sydney will be responsible for preparing the Holy See and Vatican’s annual budget, as well as financial planning and enhanced internal controls.

The new ministry is the first decisive action by Pope Francis in the wake of scandals at the Vatican bank.

“The Holy Father today announced a new coordination structure for economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See and the Vatican State,” it said in a statement.

The Vatican said the move followed recommendations made by cardinals advising the pope including for a “more formal commitment” to international standards.

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VATICAN CITY
Buffalo News

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday announced the first major overhaul of the Vatican’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in a quarter-century, creating an economics secretariat to control all economic, administrative, personnel and procurement functions of the Holy See.

Australian Cardinal George Pell was named prefect of the new economics secretariat. He reports to a new 15-member economy council made up of eight cardinals reflecting various parts of the world and seven lay experts. The aim of the new structure, the Vatican said, is to simplify and consolidate the existing management structures, improve oversight, internal controls and transparency — and provide more support for the Vatican’s works for the poor.

The change, announced in a press release, represents the biggest reshuffling of the Vatican’s organization since Pope John Paul II in 1988 issued the apostolic constitution, Pastor Bonus, the blueprint for the Holy See’s various congregations, pontifical councils and offices.

The change appears to significantly weaken the Vatican’s powerful Secretariat of State, which previously had administrative control over the Holy See while also handling diplomatic relations. That the new entity is called the Secretariat of the Economy would suggest some sort of hierarchical parity with the Secretariat of State.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 25, 2014

POPE Francis has appointed Australia’s Cardinal George Pell to one of the church’s most senior jobs in Rome.

Cardinal Pell’s new position, as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican, ranks on a par with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, an Italian, second behind the Pope in the church’s hierarchy.

Cardinal Pell, who has been spending increasing amounts of time in Rome, will relocate there before the end of next month. All sections of the Vatican curia will be answerable to him for financial and administrative matters, regardless of which other cardinal prefects they report to on other matters.

No Australian cardinal has been appointed to such a senior Vatican role before. Cardinal Pell’s departure will leave a vast gap in Australian public life, to which he has been a major contributor for decades and for which he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia in 2005.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 24, 2014

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has approved a set of sweeping moves to reorganize the financial and administrative structures of the Catholic church’s central bureaucracy, creating a new central office with wide control particularly of economic issues, the Vatican announced Monday.

Sydney Cardinal George Pell will head the new office, known as the Secretariat for the Economy. Announcing the news in a statement, the Vatican said Pell would have “authority of all the economic and administrative activity within the Holy See and the Vatican City State.”

Francis’ decision to reorganize the Vatican’s economic and administrative structures comes after criticism in recent years that its operations, especially in financial matters, occur in secret and with little public accountability.

Last week, Francis and the Council of Cardinals met with three separate groups appointed by Francis to investigate the Vatican’s various financial operations.

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IRELAND
Kildare Nationalist

An 85-year-old former Catholic priest from Dublin today admitted sexually assaulting seven children, including altar boys, after spending more than 20 years on the run in Spain.

Francis Paul Cullen was extradited back to the UK last year to face the charges after being traced to Tenerife.

The Catholic Church and its safeguarding board helped police to trace Cullen who was found to have attended mass at a church in Playa de las Americas every Sunday.

Today Dublin-born Cullen, looking frail in the dock, pleaded guilty to 21 charges at Derby Crown Court committed between 1957 and 1991.

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TENNESSEE
Chattanooga Times Free Press

by Todd South

A former Shelbyville, Tenn., youth minister has admitted in a plea agreement to possessing “violent” and “sadistic” child pornography on his cellphone.

Former North Fork Baptist Church youth minister Joseph Todd Neill, 37, agreed to plead guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography on Feb. 13. The plea agreement was filed Thursday.

Neill faces up to 20 years in prison. There has not yet been a plea hearing scheduled.

The child porn images were discovered when Shelbyville police began investigating charges that Neill had seduced and had sexual contact at least twice with a 17-year-old female church member

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TENNESSEE
Shelbyville Times-Gazette

Sunday, February 23, 2014
By BRIAN MOSELY ~ bmosely@t-g.com

A former Bedford County youth minister has admitted in federal court to possessing child pornography described as “sadistic” and “violent.”

Joseph Todd Neill, 37, made a plea agreement on charges of possession of the images found on his cell phone last year. He could face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

No plea hearing has been set in the federal case. A court date of April 3 is set in Bedford County.

According to the federal plea deal, Neill admitted to initiating a sexual relationship on more than two occasions with a minor who was a member of the church.

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TENNESSEE
Deep Thoughts

Former Baptist youth pastor Joseph Todd Neill, of North Fork Baptist Church in Shelbyville, admitted to possessing violent and sadistic images of child pornography in a plea deal. He faces 20 years in prison. Neil still faces trail for the sexual exploitation of a minor and statuary rape by an authority figure.

Former North Fork Baptist Church youth minister Joseph Todd Neill, 37, agreed to plead guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography on Feb. 13. The plea agreement was filed Thursday.

Neill faces up to 20 years in prison. There has not yet been a plea hearing scheduled.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

24 FEBRUARY 2014

Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers have said a forum should be established to acknowledge alleged mistreatment of young women at Catholic-run Magdalene workhouses.

Victims have been campaigning for an inquiry after investigations in the Republic of Ireland uncovered evidence of harsh conditions and callous treatment.

The laundries – institutions for single mothers detained through the courts or often moved in by their family or clergy for being sexually active – were run by Catholic religious orders.

A statement from OFMDFM said: “We recognise that there are women who were over the age of 18 when they entered the Magdalene laundry-type institutions and there is a need to provide them with a forum where their issues can be addressed and their experiences acknowledged.”

The Good Shepherd Sisters ran a laundry and home in Belfast from the late 19th century until 1977 and 1990 respectively. Thousands of girls and women passed through its doors. The same order of nuns ran two other laundries, one in Newry in Co Down which operated into the 1980s, and another in Derry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Toowoomba child protection officer’s words at sex abuse royal commission speak volumes

KAREN BROOKS THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 25, 2014

OUT of all the evidence so far given to the child sexual abuse royal commission by senior staff at a Toowoomba Catholic primary school, I was struck by the words of the school’s child protection officer.

In giving her evidence to the commission in Brisbane last week, Catherine Long wondered why more of the children didn’t have the courage to come forward.

Let me explain this apparent “lack” by offering a first-hand account of what it’s like to be the target of a pedophile.

It’s my hope this helps shed understanding on why kids don’t come forward or why, when they do, it’s important the immediate default position is to believe them and act – which then takes courage of a different kind.

My abuse began when I was eight years old and continued for three long years.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

Former Bishop William Morris tells child sex abuse inquiry the Catholic church had a culture of denial

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 25, 2014

FORMER Toowoomba bishop William Morris has declared the Catholic Church was plagued by a culture of believing child sex abuse victims were “just making it up”.

Bishop Morris has also told the royal commission into sexual abuse he was personally sacked by Pope Benedict in 2011.

The bishop was the first person to apologise over the sexual abuse of 13 schoolgirls at the hands of former teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes, meeting with the victims and opening the way for them to be paid compensation.

The commission heard after Byrnes was arrested, Bishop Morris sacked a principal and two education officers, who knew about the allegations but did not tell police.

Yesterday he called for the Church to set up a national body to oversee its handling of sex abuse complaints

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The fugitive paedophile priest Paul Cullen evaded capture by the police for more than 20 years living on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

But the 85-year-old was not living under an alias – he was using his own name in the resort of Los Cristianos.

Cullen has admitted dozens of charges of historical sex abuse against seven children in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, dating back to 1957.

He is due to be sentenced at the same court next month.

Cullen’s victims, were all children, some of them only six-years-old.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

By PMBlackburn | Posted: February 24, 2014

A FORMER Catholic priest who was on the run for 20 years has admitted sexually abusing seven children – one of them in Notts.

Francis Paul Cullen, who spent three years working at the Parish Priest of St Mary in Hyson Green from 1988 to 1991, this morning pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court this morning.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

PHILADELPHIA – February 23, 2014 (WPVI) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has removed two priests from ministry after an investigation into allegations that they sexually abused minors over 40 years ago.

Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Sunday that separate investigations found that Reverend James J. Collins and Reverend John P. Paul are unsuitable for ministry.

Reverend Collins last served at Holy Family University and Reverend Paul served at Our Lady of Calvary for 13 years before being placed on administrative leave.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255

POSTED: Monday, February 24, 2014

WHEN THE REV. John P. Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish in November, the 67-year-old priest told his congregation that he was considering a serious road trip for “renewal” purposes.

“If possible, I would like to study spirituality at Bellarmine University, in Louisville, KY . . . make a retreat in Assisi, Italy, and work with Fr. Mike in Malawi, Africa,” Paul wrote in the church bulletin.

He might have more time on his hands than he’d first anticipated.

Yesterday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that Archbishop Charles Chaput has found Paul unsuitable for ministry because of at least one substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year-old more than 40 years ago.

The Rev. James J. Collins also was deemed unsuitable for ministry based on a similar substantiated allegation. Collins, 75, a faculty member at Holy Family University from 1976 until last year, was placed on administrative leave in May.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic Culture

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, has admitted mishandling the case of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera.

In a deposition that was recently unsealed, the prelate admitting directing his vicar of clergy not to give police a list of altar boys who worked with priest following abuse accusations.

The visiting priest returned to Mexico in 1988 after Father Thomas Curry, then vicar for clergy and now an auxiliary bishop, informed him of impending charges. The priest remains at large.

“It was in early 1988– some 26 years ago– that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles became aware of the terrible sexual abuse which the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera had been inflicting upon young people in Los Angeles,” Cardinal Mahony wrote on his blog following the release of the deposition. “This case highlighted errors made by us in the Archdiocese in those early years, and for those errors I apologize once again. But this case also led to several major changes in procedures used by the Archdiocese, and these were improved upon over the years.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

A former Catholic priest has been found guilty of sexually assaulting boys while he was their dorm master at a Victorian boarding school.

A jury on Monday found James Patrick Jennings, 80, guilty of indecently assaulting three boys at St Vincent’s College in Bendigo in the 1960s.

The victims were students in their early teens at the time.

The Victorian County Court jury found Jennings guilty of five counts of indecent assault.

He was cleared of a sixth indecent assault charge.

Jennings had pleaded not guilty to all six charges.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien could face a “trial” by the Vatican after three priests asked the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley to pass on their complaints branding the disgraced churchman as a “sexual predator” who used his authority to compel them into “coercive” and “abusive” sexual relationships.

If the complaints are upheld by the Vatican investigation, he could lose his red hat.

Last year, Pope Francis ordered Cardinal O’Brien to remain in a religious house in England for three months of “prayer and penance”. He is still based at the house, but has returned to Scotland several times to visit friends.

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SCOTLAND
Express

Cardinal O’Brien faces Vatican ‘trial’ over sex claims

By: Rod MillsPublished: Mon, February 24, 2014

The new investigation under canon law could lead to the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh losing his Biretta, the red hat that is the symbol of a cardinal.

Three priests in his former diocese have asked Leo Cushley, the new archbishop, to pass on their written complaints to officials in Rome.

The allegations characterise O’Brien as a “sexual predator” who used his authority to compel them into “coercive” and “abusive” sexual relationships.

The priests, whose accusations led to the cardinal’s enforced retirement and disgrace last February, appear determined to force Pope Francis to make a final judgment.

It is now understood that O’Brien’s sexual relationships continued until at least 2009, six years after he was made a cardinal.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Feb 24, 2014
By Jack Mathieson

THE Catholic Church are probing allegations that O’Brien, who now lives at a retreat in Cumbria, made unwanted sexual advances towards young priests.

DISGRACED cardinal Keith O’Brien may face a trial under internal Catholic Church law which could see him stripped of his red hat.

The church hierarchy are probing allegations O’Brien – now living at a retreat in Cumbria – made unwanted sexual advances towards young priests.

Three priests whose accusations forced O’Brien to stand down from his role a year ago have held talks with Archbishop Leo Cushley, the new head of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

They have asked him to pass on written complaints characterising O’Brien as a “sexual predator” to Rome.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (FIA) has signed a working agreement with its Austrian and Cypriot counterparts, establishing formal procedures for cooperation in efforts to fight money-laundering and the financing of terrorist organizations.

The agreements with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Cyprus’s Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS), cover issues of exchanging information, preserving confidentiality, and reciprocity. It is based on a model agreement drafted by the Egmont Group, an international body for national financial authorities.

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UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By JOHN ZMIRAK • February 24, 2014

The healthy human reaction whenever the United Nations says something is to ignore it, and hope that, like a singing drunk outside your window, it will simply go away. The normal Catholic’s reaction to a UN attack on the Church ought to be to rally ’round, to refute the thing point by point, and to lobby Congress to cut off U.S. funding. But after reading the UN’s recent report on the Church and the protection of children’s rights, I simply can’t do that. Not on this topic.

Yes, it’s true that the UN report on the Holy See is an instance of an unaccountable global bureaucracy trying to impose its own views on the free institutions of civil society, using the coercive power of government(s). Inside the velvet glove of happy talk about human dignity and children’s rights is the steel fist of radical feminism and homosexual activism, whose central tenets reject the traditional family, religious freedom, and other goods that reason tells us are essential for man to flourish. The report demands that the Church reach in and revise its Canon Law, its schools, and even its doctrine, wherever the UN sees those things as conflicting with its goals of “gender equality” and the sexual “freedom” of children. This use of the UN’s “soft power” can lead to the use of “hard power,” providing governments the pretext for penalizing the Church and its institutions, as the Obama administration is already doing through the HHS mandate.

The totalitarian implications of a world-wide body imposing its norms across the planet are precisely what worried those of us who criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s call for an international legislative authority that would supervene all national governments on earth—and from which there could be no escape.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Thirteen young Catholic girls were raped and molested by their teacher because five adults remained silent to protect the Church.

But the bishop they were trying to protect says he finds it “stunning” they didn’t report the claims.

Principal Terry Hayes, assistant principal Megan Wagstaff, student protection officer Catherine Long and senior Catholic Education Office staff Chris Fry and Ian Hunter first heard pedophilia allegations against a Toowoomba primary school teacher Gerry Byrnes in September 2007.

None of them ever told police or parents.

The former bishop of Toowoomba, Bill Morris, who didn’t hear about the abuse until after Byrnes’ 2008 arrest, can’t understand why all five failed to report him.

“It’s stunning, I know. I can’t get my head around it. Like I said to someone – well, we spoke about it recently. It’s not rocket science,” the bishop told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

[with audio]

MARK COLVIN: The former bishop of Toowoomba says he’s still stunned by the failure of senior Catholic Education staff to report allegations that a teacher was sexually abusing his students.

Emeritus Bishop William Morris was the head of the Toowoomba Archdiocese when Gerard Byrnes sexually abused 13 girls at a primary school in 2007 and 2008.

Today he told the child abuse royal commission that a culture of doubting allegations needs to be stamped out and a national approach was needed to make that happen.

Stephanie Smail reports.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: The child abuse royal commission has been investigating how staff and Catholic Church officials dealt with allegations of sexual offences against veteran teacher Gerard Byrnes.

The former bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris, told the inquiry he was unaware of complaints against Byrnes until his arrest in late 2008.

Bishop Morris was asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Gail Furness, about the string of failures that allowed Byrnes to keep teaching.

GAIL FURNESS: Byrnes was not removed as a student protection officer, notwithstanding the allegations made?

WILLIAM MORRIS: Failure.

GAIL FURNESS: Nor was he adequately monitored following the allegations in September 2007?

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

A culture of not believing child sex abuse victims has existed in the Catholic Church, based on suspicions “they were just making it up”, a bishop says.

Bishop Bill Morris, former bishop of Toowoomba, gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Monday.

He said he also considered Catholic education officials’ failure to report abuse to police to be a systemic failure.

Bishop Morris described as “stunning” the dithering over allegations about girls being touched inside their pants and shirts, saying such determination “is not rocket science”.

The hearing is looking into the case of former teacher Gerry Byrnes, who sexually abused school girls in his classroom in 2007 and 2008.

After Byrnes was arrested in 2008, Bishop Morris sacked a principal and two education officers, who knew about the allegations against him in September 2007 but did not tell police.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Former Catholic priest James Jennings, 80, jailed for sustained sex attacks at Bendigo in the 1960s

SHANNON DEERY, PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 24, 2014

A FORMER Catholic priest has been jailed for the sustained sexual abuse of teen boarders at a regional Victorian college.

James Jennings, 80, was today found guilty by a jury of five counts of assault for the attacks on three young boarders in the mid 1960s.

He was found not guilty of one count of assault.

The attacks, on the boys aged 12 and 13, started shortly after Jennings was appointed to teach at St Vincent’s College, Bendigo in 1963.

The students were all in Year 7 or 8 when they were abused in similar ways between 1964 and 1968.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Former Toowoomba Catholic bishop William Morris spoke with Pope Benedict in attempt to keep job

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 24, 2014

THE Catholic Church has tried to silence a Toowoomba bishop who has revealed intimate details of his battle with the Vatican to keep his job after a pedophilia crisis erupted in one of his schools.

Former bishop William Martin Morris, describing himself as Emeritus Bishop of Toowoomba, has revealed details of a meeting with Pope Benedict in 2009 as he tried to hold on to the office he had occupied for nearly two decades.

Bishop Morris has not alleged his sacking was connected with the pedophilia case involving Gerard Vincent Byrnes, who raped and abused 13 girls at a Toowoomba Catholic primary school.

But Brisbane’s Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been told of speculation that Rome wanted to get rid of Bishop Morris because of his response to the Byrnes matter.

That response included admissions of responsibility and a subsequent $3 million payout to some of the victims in the civil courts.

Jane Needham, SC, for the Church, tried to stop Bishop Morris detailed exposure of how the Church went about removing him because of his liberal views on women’s ordination, and allowing confessions without direct contact with priests for sexual abuse victims.

“This is fascinating, but I have to query the relevance that it has to the subject matter that is before the royal commission as to the relevance of the conduct of Mr Byrnes,’’ Ms Needham said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 24, 2014

THE Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba says he was forced into early retirement by Pope Benedict and the Vatican, denying his request for more time to support child sex abuse victims.

Former Toowoomba Bishop Bill Morris has today frankly described to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse his battle with the Vatican between 2006 and 2011.

Bishop Morris was at the helm of the southern Queensland diocese when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes abused and raped 13 eight to ten-year-old girls at a Toowoomba primary school in 2007 and 2008.

The Royal Commission is investigating the “catastrophic” abuse at the school, most of which occurred after principal Terence Hayes failed to report an initial sexual abuse complaint against Byrnes to the police in September 2007.

Bishop Morris said his dispute with the Vatican and the Pope had earlier roots and was unrelated to the child sex abuse scandal. He said he drew ire in November 2006 when he wrote an open letter about priest shortages, discussing the possibility of the ordination of women and married or widowed men — practices that are not allowed under Catholic canon law.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a priest of the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus in 1952, Hatrel taught high school in Louisiana and, for many years, in Tampa, Florida. In 1979 he was transferred to Alaska, where he taught math in a parish grade school in Fairbanks, then pastored a parish in Alakanuk. He died in 1988. In a 2007 lawsuit Hatrel was accused of engaging in abuse during his time in Alakanuk.

Ordained: 1952
Died: May 7, 1988

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