Documenting the Catholic Sexual Abuse and Financial Crisis – Data on bishops, priests, brothers, nuns, Pope Francis, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Sunday, June 15, 2025
ABUSE TRACKER
A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
Papst Franziskus hat erstmals öffentlich um Vergebung für den sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern durch katholische Geistliche gebeten. Er kündigte an, die Kirche werde künftig entschiedener in solchen Fällen vorgehen.
“Ich fühle mich berufen, mich der Sache anzunehmen, des Bösen, das einige Priester getan haben (…), und um Vergebung zu bitten, für den Schaden, den sie angerichtet haben, für den sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern”, sagte Papst Franziskus nach Angaben von Radio Vatikan bei einem Treffen mit Kinderschützern im Vatikan.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
[Summary: A priest who allegedly abused a 16-year-old in the Saarlouis district in 1985 is stating publicly that he did nothing wrong.]
Trier. Ein Priester, der 1985 im Kreis Saarlouis einen damals 16-Jährigen missbraucht haben soll, geht mit einem Schreiben an die Öffentlichkeit: Er habe sich nichts zuschulden kommen lassen und fordert vom Bistum Trier endlich Aufklärung. Auch das mutmaßliche Opfer fühlt sich vom Bistum im Stich gelassen.
Damit hatten die Gottesdienstbesucher nicht gerechnet: Am dritten Adventssonntag verteilte der Priester nach einer Messe im Dekanat Koblenz „Flugblätter“ an die Gläubigen. Es waren die Kopien eines Schreibens, das der Geistliche ursprünglich wohl nur an den Generalvikar des Bistums Trier, Georg Bätzing, gerichtet hatte. In dem Brief schreibt der Priester, dass er des sexuellen Vorwurfs beschuldigt wird. Weiter heißt es, dass es im Januar 2013 ein „längeres Gespräch“ mit dem Offizial gegeben habe und er sich zwei forensischen Gutachten unterzogen habe. „Der Vorwurf des Missbrauchs wiegt schwer.Aus meiner Sicht habe ich mir gegenüber Herrn (…) nichts zuschulden kommen lassen. Selbst wenn dies zuträfe, glaube ich als unmittelbar Betroffener und Mitglied des Presbyteriums eine zügige Aufklärung und einen baldigen Bescheid meines Bischofs erwarten zu dürfen“, heißt es in dem Schreiben. Der Geistliche bemängelt „das zögerliche Verhalten der Verantwortlichen“.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, April 11, 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 )
Pope Francis says he felt “called to take upon himself” the subject of clergy sex crimes and cover ups. He should. He is the world’s only global monarch and he continues to let this decades-old crisis fester and build by refusing to take even a single step that protects a single child or exposes a single wrongdoer.
Reuters says he is “using some of his strongest words yet” and Religion News Service says “in his strongest personal remarks yet. . .”
But if a husband keeps beating his wife, the tone, tenor or length of his words are irrelevant.
Words – whether few or many, vague or clear, weak or strong – do absolutely nothing for the boy who is being sodomized today or the girl who is being raped today. They do nothing to divulge even one carefully-hidden church record about a complicit bishop. They do nothing to help fix archaic, predator-friendly secular laws. They do nothing of substance, especially now, especially in this context: a scandal-ridden, secretive, self-serving church hierarchy that wants to pretend real change is happening.
Nice words are especially meaningless and disingenuous when uttered by a powerful man who could instead make practical reforms.
We agree with Pope Francis that Catholic officials understand, to some extent, the damage that has been done. Sadly, that understanding has lead to little real change.
And the damage is still being done. It’s disingenuous to pretend, by using the past tense, that kids are not being sexually violated and predators are not being transferred and cover ups are not being perpetuated right now.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
A while back, I spoke at Liberty University convocation. While there, I had the privilege to sit down with my friend, Boz Tchividjian.
Boz is a prosecutor by background, specifically dealing with child sexual abuse cases. He has recently been engaged in advocacy for the protection of victims—first and foremost that there might not be victims. Second, he advocates that those who are victims might be heard and that the perpetrators might ultimately be prosecuted.
Sadly, this is an ongoing challenge in the life of the church. We are certainly all aware of the scandals within the Catholic Church. But increasingly people are asking questions about the Protestant and the Evangelical world. I’ve blogged on such abuse situations on several occasions—see here, here, and here.
For this reason, I felt that an interview with Boz would be worth our time. Here are the other parts of our interview run previously:
I recognize that I have written frequently on the subject of child protection, and this will just add more, but I think the protection of children is worth dwelling on since this blog is read mostly by pastors and church leaders.
Let me encourage you to check out Boz’ brand new Religion News Service blog. Also, be sure to check out this article from CBN, and this article on how churches can endanger children.
This week, Part Four of our interview only deals with one of the questions I asked him because his response is lengthy and helpful.
ED: You said we need to have protocols for dealing with reporting abuse at the local church level. I think most people know what a “required reporter” is now—they have to report certain things. But it’s more than that. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
BOZ: I think the number one priority is to be familiar with the law in your particular jurisdiction regarding mandated reporting. Every jurisdiction is different. Every jurisdiction has a mandated reporting law. For example, I believe everyone in Rhode Island is a mandated reporter. So if anybody suspects child abuse and doesn’t report it, they can be prosecuted. In other jurisdictions, only certain types of persons are mandated reporters.
The best advice I can give on this subject is when in doubt, report, regardless of whether or not you are a mandated reporter. Those reporting laws only identify individuals “mandated” to report. They certainly don’t prevent non-mandated reporters from reporting suspected abuse. I believe anyone and everyone should report any suspected abuse of a child.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Pope Francis has given his strongest statement yet on the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.
Speaking to members of BICE (International Catholic Child Bureau) in the Vatican today, the Pontiff spoke of his deep sorrow and anger at the actions of clergy who have been implicated in the allegations.
According to Vatican Radio, he said: “I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done.
“The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Today, in an address to members of the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE)–an NGO that works to protect the rights and dignity of children–Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the “damage [abusive] priests have done for sexually abusing children.” Noting that the total number of abusive priests is high, “obviously not compared to the number of all the priests,” Francis reassured the audience that “the church is aware of this damage; it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the church.” He promised that “we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed–on the contrary, we have to be even stronger.”
Is this earth-shaking? Not really. But given that the last time he spoke on the subject it didn’t exactly go over too well, this is a marked improvement. And–significantly–these remarks were not part of the prepared text. Francis could have read through the speech as written and avoided the uncomfortable subject altogether, bringing headlines like, “Pope Speaks to Child-Protection Group, Ignores Sexual Abuse.” But he didn’t. And what he said carries some force.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness for priests who molested children in some of his strongest words ever on the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.
The Argentine-born pontiff said the Church, which last month named a high-level group on the scandal including an abuse victim, had to take an even stronger stand than before against the scandal that has haunted it for over two decades.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil that some priests – quite a few in number, [although] obviously not compared to the number of all priests – to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he told members of the International Catholic Child Bureau on Friday in Vatican City, according to the Reuters news agency.
“The Church is aware of this … personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and to the sanctions that must be imposed.
“On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children,” Francis said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Vatican City, April 11 – Pope Francis on Friday issued his strongest apology yet for the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests. “I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” said the pontiff. Some have accused the reform-minded Argentinian pontiff of not being as vocal on the nagging paedophilia issue as he has in his much-publicised campaigns to help the poor and marginalised. Francis promised members of the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) that there would be no “step backwards” on punishing sex-abuse culprits and fighting the abuses which are one of his priorities amid a sweeping reform drive.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ROME — Pope Francis on Friday made his first public plea for forgiveness on behalf of priests who have abused children.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests — quite a few in number, [although] obviously not compared to the number of all priests — to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” the pope said in a strongly worded, unscripted speech.
The apology marked a change of tone by the pope, who has been criticized for paying scant attention to the clerical sex-abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church. Only last month Francis angered many victims groups by lashing back at a United Nations panel that accused senior prelates of covering up for abusive priests.
But in his meeting Friday at the Vatican with members of the International Catholic Child Bureau, a French coalition of child-protection organizations, the pontiff made his strongest sign of contrition for the scandal, which has undermined the church’s moral authority in North America and Europe.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
When it comes to its record of dealing with sex abuse, “the Church deserves to be raked over the coals,” according to Catholic journalist Thomas Reese. A 2004 John Jay report found that thousands of minors were sexually abused by Catholic clergy between 1950 and 2002. More shocking is the fact that some high-ranking officials knew of the abuse but did not remedy the situation, either by stripping the abusers of their priesthood or by turning them over to the proper civil authorities.
When Francis took office, many people looked to him to correct the Church’s handling of sex abuse. In a 2012 interview, before he was Pope, he made it clear that Church leadership should “never turn a blind eye” to sex abuse, even when coming forward with such information risks “damaging the image of an institution.” He said it’s a “stupid idea” to quietly relocate an abusive priest to a different parish, since “the priest just takes the problem with him wherever he goes.” He also said pedophilia is not a result of, nor is it linked to, celibacy: “If a priest is a pedophile, he is so before he is a priest.”
In December 2013, Francis announced the creation of a Vatican committee aimed at fighting sex abuse in the Church, and working with victims and their families. On March 22, 2014, Francis named 8 people to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Of the members, four are women, and one — Marie Collins — is an abuse survivor. The group also includes Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, the city in which the US sex abuse crisis story originally broke in 2002.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Vatican City, 11 April 2014 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis received in audience a delegation from the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE), instituted following Pope Pius XII’s appeal for the defence of children following the Second World War. Since then, this organisation, “born of the maternity of the Church”, as Pope Francis remarked, has been committed to promoting the defence of the rights of children, also contributing to the 1989 United Nations Convention and working in constant collaboration with the Holy See in New York, Strasbourg and above all in Geneva.
Francis, after stating that in a well-constructed society, privileges should only be for children and the elderly because the future of the people is in their hands”, went on to comment on the theme of abuse of minors. “I feel that I must take responsibility for all the harm that some priests – quite a number, but not in proportion to the total – I must take responsibility and ask forgiveness for the damage they have caused through sexual abuse of children. The Church is aware of this damage. It is their own personal and moral damage, but they are men of the Church. And we will not take one step backwards in dealing with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, I believe that we must be even stronger. You do not interfere with children.
“In our times, it is important to implement projects against forced labour, against the recruitment of child soldiers, and against every type of violence against minors. On a more positive note, it is necessary to emphasise the right of children to grow up within a family, with a father and a mother able to create a suitable environment for their development and emotional maturity. Continuing to mature in the relationship, in the complementarity of the masculinity and femininity of a father and a mother, and thus preparing the way for emotional maturity”.
“This means, at the same time, supporting parents’ right to moral and religious education for their children. In this regard, I would like to express my refusal of any type of educational experimentation on children. One does not experiment on children and young people. They are not guinea pigs! The horrors of the manipulation of education that we have experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the twentieth century have not disappeared; they have retained current relevance in various guises and in proposals that, under the pretext of modernity, compel children and the young to take the dictatorial path of ‘unitary thought’”. A great educator said to me, little more than a week ago, “At times, we don’t know if these projects – referring to real education projects – are sending a child to school or to a re-education camp”.
“Working for human rights presupposes keeping anthropological formation alive, being well prepared regarding the reality of the human person, and knowing how to respond to the problems and challenges posed by contemporary cultures and mentalities that are spread by the mass media. Obviously this does not mean seeking refuge in protected environments, which these days are incapable of giving life, which are linked to cultures that have already moved on. …. No, this isn’t right. It means facing with the positive values of the human person the new challenges that the new culture presents. For you, this means offering to your managers and workers a permanent formation regarding the anthropology of the child, as it is there that rights and duties are based. This decides the approach to educational projects, that obviously must continue to progress, mature and adapt to the signs of the times, always respecting human identity and freedom of conscience.
“Thank you again, and I wish you well in your work. I am reminded of the logo of the Commission for the protection of childhood and adolescence in Buenos Aires. It was an image of the Holy Family seated on a donkey, fleeing to Egypt to defend the Child. At times it is necessary to flee; at times it is necessary to stop to protect oneself; and at times one must fight. But always with tenderness”.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release Friday, April 11, 2014
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
We beg the world’s Catholics: be impressed by deeds, not words. Until the Pope takes decisive action that protects kids be skeptical and vigilant.
This may be the first time a Pope has talked of sanctions against complicit bishops. But that is all it is: talk. (and if this ever happens, many, many tangible steps to safeguard children in the church must be taken)
On church governess, church finances, and simple living, he acts. On the rape of children he talks.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
[Summary: The Archbishop of Mendoza must pay 30,000 pesos to a young man who was abused by a priest. The victims filed a lawsuit in 2010 for damages]
El Arzobispado de Mendoza deberá resarcir con 30 mil pesos a un joven que sufrió un abuso por parte de un sacerdote, tras una demanda que inició en 2010 por daños y perjuicios, según indicaron fuentes judiciales.
Iván González realizó una denuncia ante el Arzobispado mendocino, en el año 2001, contra un sacerdote que lo había abusado sexualmente.
Sin embargo, cuando el joven intentó interiorizarse de cómo iba el proceso en contra del sacerdote, a través del Arzobispado, las autoridades eclesiásticas no le daban respuesta.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO — El papa Francisco pidió perdón el viernes a las personas que fueron víctimas de abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes, y prometió que no habrá marcha atrás en la lucha de la Iglesia para proteger a los niños.
Francisco hizo sus declaraciones después de ser objeto de las críticas de los grupos de defensa de las víctimas por una supuesta falta de atención sobre el problema y las exigencias de que sancione a los obispos que encubrieron a los pedófilos.
En su discurso ante los miembros de la Oficina Internacional Católica de la Infancia, una red católica francesa de organizaciones que protegen los derechos de los niños, Francisco dijo que se sentía obligado a “pedir perdón” por el mal que algunos sacerdotes han hecho a los niños.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
An Alabama pastor has been arrested on sex abuse charges for allegedly raping and sodomizing a young family member.
Sheriff Harris Huffman said William Best Jr. was charged with rape, sodomy and incest and was being held in the county jail, with his bond raised to $2million Thursday by a Selma judge.
Best, 47, server as a pastor of Living Waters Church in Valley Grande.
District Attorney Michael Jackson says the minister is accused of beginning a sexual relationship with a minor who was 14 and continuing it for three years.
He said the cleric is accused of abusing the minor at his home and at the church.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
All charges were dropped against supposed hasidic extortionist Sam Kellner after those charges were proved to be based on evidence best characterized as complete BS. A Jewish newspaper apparently helped smear Kellner despite widespread knowledge and much proof that the evidence against him was not credible. Will Sam Kellner sue the Forward?
Last year, the Forward published two extremely brief excerpts totaling only 106 seconds out of what it characterized as 80 minutes of tape recordings of Sam Kellner, who then still stood accused of extorting an accused pedophile, Baruch Lebovits and Lebovits’ family.
All charges were dropped against Kellner last month because they were, as Hella Winston in the Jewish Week and Michael Powell in the New York Times both reported long before they were dropped, (and I paraphrase) complete BS.
Pretty much all of the evidence against Kellner came from the Lebovits family and Baruch Lebovits’ attorneys, Arthur Aidala and Alan and Nathan Dershowitz, and pretty much all of that evidence turned out to be not credible or corrupted.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Apr. 11, 2014
VATICAN CITY “I feel called to take responsibility for all the evil some priests — large in number, but not in proportion to the total — have committed and to ask forgiveness for the damage they’ve done with the sexual abuse of children,” Pope Francis said.
“The church is aware of this damage” and is committed to strengthening child protection programs and punishing offenders, he told members of the International Catholic Child Bureau during a meeting Friday at the Vatican.
The remarks appeared to be the pope’s first apology for the sex abuse scandal, following earlier statements affirming the Vatican’s work investigating and punishing perpetrators, and encouraging bishops to support abuse victims. The pope also has said the church deserves to be forced to make monetary settlements to victims.
In December, Pope Francis established a Vatican commission to promote improved child protections policies throughout the church.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness for the priests found guilty of sex abuse in a strong address on an issue that has haunted the Roman Catholic Church for two decades.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he said on Vatican Radio.
He added: “The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children.”
Francis spoke to members of the International Catholic Child Bureau, a French Catholic network of organisations that aim to protect children’s rights.
In December, Pope Francis set up a Vatican taskforce to help tackle sex abuse and paedophilia in the Catholic Church.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
(Reuters) – Pope Francis made his first public plea for forgiveness on Friday for the “evil” committed by priests who molested children, using some of his strongest words yet on the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.
The Argentine-born pontiff said the Church, which last month named a high-level group on the scandal including an abuse victim, had to take an even stronger stand than before against the scandal that has haunted it for over two decades.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil that some priests – quite a few in number, (although) obviously not compared to the number of all priests – to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he told members of members of the International Catholic Child Bureau.
“The Church is aware of this … personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and to the sanctions that must be imposed.
“On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children,” Francis said.
Victims’ groups have criticized Francis in recent months for not taking a bold enough stand on the issue and for not meeting with sexual abuse victims in Italy and in a July trip to Brazil.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
The statement has been described as some of his strongest words ever on the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis
Pope Francis today asked for forgiveness for priests who molested children in some of his strongest words ever on the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he told members of a children’s’ rights group according to Vatican Radio.
He added: “The Church is aware of this damage.
“It is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
By Josephine Mckenna | Religion News Service, Published: April 10
VATICAN CITY — Four women who were forced into sex slavery and later freed met Thursday (April 10) with Pope Francis at an international conference on human trafficking held at the Vatican to combat what the pontiff called a “crime against humanity.”
After a private meeting with the victims, the pope joined church officials and police chiefs from 20 countries, including the U.S., England, Thailand and Nigeria, in an effort to build global cooperation to fight the problem.
“Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, “ the pope told the conference. “I exhort the international community to adopt an even more unanimous and effective strategy against human trafficking, so that in every part of the world, men and women may no longer be used as a means to an end.”
The Catholic Church, citing International Labour Organization estimates, calculates that 2.4 million people are trafficked at any given time, with traffickers receiving more than $32 billion a year.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
National Survivors Advocates Coalition
EDITORIAL
We don’t think anyone should be trafficked as a sex slave. We don’t think anyone should be trafficked as a slave for any purpose.
We do think those who are trafficked deserve and should receive the support of the moral leaders on the planet.
We believe these moral leaders should do everything within their considerable powers to end human trafficking including calling a spade a spade.
Pope Francis met with victims of human trafficking and went to the human trafficking conference to deliver remarks to those attending the two day international conference of religious and law enforcement leaders held at the Vatican.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Pope Francis asked for forgiveness Friday from people who were sexually abused by priests, and vowed that there will be no going back in the church’s fight to protect children.
Francis made the off-the-cuff remarks after coming under criticism from victims’ advocacy groups for a perceived lack of attention to the problem and ongoing demands that he sanction bishops who covered up for pedophiles.
In his remarks to members of the International Catholic Child Bureau, a French Catholic network of organizations that protects children’s rights, Francis said he felt “called to take it upon myself” and “ask forgiveness” for the evil that some priests had committed against children.
“The church is aware of this damage,” he was quoted as saying by Vatican Radio. “We don’t want to take a step back in dealing with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, I think we must be even stronger! You don’t play around with the lives of children.”
Last month, Francis named the initial members of a commission to advise him on best practices to combat sexual abuse in the church. Half of them are women and one was assaulted by a priest as a child.
The Vatican has said the members will draft the statutes of the commission and would look into the legal “duties and responsibilities” of church personnel, a suggestion that they might take up the critical question of disciplining complicit bishops. Church law provides for sanctions if a bishop is negligent in carrying out his duties, but to date no bishop has been disciplined for protecting an abuser.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the “evil” of clerical sexual abuse on Friday, addressing head-on an issue that has dogged the church for two decades.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he said on Vatican Radio.
He added: “The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
French police have arrested a fundamentalist priest who allegedly raped and tortured three women during exorcism rituals.
The 40-year-old allegedly abused the women in 2010, when he was head of the private religious school Notre-Dame-de-la Sablonniere in Goussonville, a village of 600 people 50km west of Paris.
His victims were teachers at the institute run by the Society of St. Pius X, a Catholic order blackballed by the Vatican.
The priest, who has not been named, used the spiritual influence he had on the women to abuse them, Le Parisien newspaper reported.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
(CNN) — Pope Francis said Friday he feels compelled to “personally ask for forgiveness” for priests who sexually abused children.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests — quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests — to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” the leader of the Roman Catholic Church said in an interview with Vatican Radio.
The pope’s comments come two months after a United Nations panel slammed the Vatican’s handling of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and accused the church of protecting itself rather than the victims. The Vatican said in February that it would study the report, which claimed clerics were involved in the sexual abuse of “tens of thousands” of children.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness for the “evil” damage to children caused by sexual abusers in the clergy.
In quotes carried by Vatican Radio, he described the abuse as a “moral damage carried out by men of the Church”, and said “sanctions” would be imposed.
It is being described as his strongest statement on the issue so far.
Last month, Pope Francis strongly defended the Roman Catholic Church’s record on tackling sexual abuse by priests, following UN criticism.
The Pope set up a committee last year to organise help for victims of clerical sexual abuse but has been accused by some Catholics of dragging his feet in acknowledging the extent of the moral and mental damage caused by paedophile priests, the BBC’s David Willey reports from Rome.
‘Sanctions’
Pope Francis made the statement on Friday, during a meeting with a Catholic children’s non-governmental organisation, the Vatican Radio website reports.
He said he had felt compelled to “personally ask for forgiveness for the damage [some priests] have done for having sexually abused children”.
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April 11, 2014 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Francis Cardinal George will discuss Friday his health and the recent decision to skip an important Vatican event – the canonization of two popes.
The cardinal said he hopes to rearrange his treatment schedule, but he said last week that would be a very difficult thing to do, so he has made the choice not to go to Rome. Cardinal George will hold a special news conference about his decision not to travel for and his cancer treatments.
The 77-year-old spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of Chicago was supposed to go to Rome later this month to attend the canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, who appointed Cardinal George. The trip was on his schedule, but the cardinal last week indicated it was tentative.
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(Vatican Radio) “I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children.
The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children”.This was Pope Francis’ clear message to members of BICE [International Catholic Child Bureau] whom he received Friday in audience at the Vatican. Emer McCarthy reports
BICE is a Catholic NGO that works to protect the rights and dignity of the child worldwide. Speaking to them, Pope Francis also spoke about the need to reaffirm the rights of parents to decide “the moral and religious education of their children” and reject all forms of “educational experimentation with children and young people”.
He said that it is every child’s right to grow up in a family “with a father and a mother” capable of creating “a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity”. The Pope also called for an end to what he termed as “educational experiments” with children and young people, pushing a “dictatorship of one form of thinking” on them in the name of a pretended “modernity”.
The Pope noted that the “horrors of the manipulation of education that we experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the twentieth century have not disappeared; they have retained a current relevance under various guises and proposals”.
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(Reuters) – Pope Francis on Friday asked for forgiveness for priests who molested children in some of his strongest words ever on the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he told members of a children’s’ rights group according to Vatican Radio.
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Pope Francis asked for forgiveness on behalf of priests who sexually abused children and said the Catholic Church must do more to rectify the damage and punish the offenders.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” Francis said today in a statement posted to the website of Vatican Radio. “We will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger.”
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness from people who were sexually abused by priests, and has vowed that there will be no going back in the fight to protect children.
Francis spoke off the cuff Friday to members of the International Catholic Child Bureau, a French Catholic network of organizations that aim to protect children’s rights.
In his remarks, reported by Vatican Radio, Francis said he felt “called to take it upon myself” and ask forgiveness for all the evil that some priests had committed against children.
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THE STRUCTURE of a Daily News article on Archbishop Charles J. Chaput may have inadvertently given readers the impression that I said that Archbishop Chaput admired Pope Francis due to what the article termed the pope’s “rising popularity.”
Instead, I said that while some U.S. bishops may not have known much about the former Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, even those initially unfamiliar with him have been delighted and inspired by the new pope’s words and deeds.
For the record, I would never presume to speak for someone else, particularly for a bishop or archbishop. Also for the record, I was delighted by Archbishop Chaput’s recent trip to the Vatican, in company with Mayor Nutter, to invite the Pope to Philadelphia in 2015.
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Commissions set up by church officials to advise church officials on clergy sexual abuse have a checkered history. No one knows this better than Catholics who answered their bishops’ call to serve, but found themselves and their advice rejected or ignored.
The U.S. bishops named a 12-member blue-ribbon panel of lay advisers amid the firestorm of media coverage in 2002.
“A lot of American bishops would not want to see any of us of the original review board named to this [pontifical] commission,” said Nicholas Cafardi, who served on the National Review Board from 2002 to 2004.
“The report we wrote in 2004 was pretty rough on the bishops,” said Cafardi, a Duquesne University law professor, dean emeritus and canon lawyer. “If [the pope and the Vatican] want a credible board, they should have at least one American who has dealt with the realities. This is hardly something to claim credit for, but we had the largest crisis in terms of victims and perpetrators — more than Ireland, Belgium and Australia — because our country has the biggest church.”
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, who also served on the original U.S. National Review Board, said the bishops resisted the board on many points, such as whether there would be audits of priest personnel files and who would do the audits. “I don’t think they realized that this was a time bomb and the magnitude of what was left to come.”
She also noted, “The bishops didn’t honestly deal with each other.”
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A United Synagogue rabbi advised a child sex abuse victim not to go to the police, despite an “extremely clear” policy on the issue, it has been alleged.
Yehudis Goldsobel (pictured), who was raised in an ultra-Orthodox family from Stamford Hill, suffered sexual abuse at the hands of family friend, Menachem Mendel Levy, between the ages of 13 and 20.
Last July, Levy, 41, who is a father-of-six from Golders Green, was convicted of two counts of child sexual assault and is currently serving a three-year jail term. He recently launched a bid against his conviction and sentence in the hope of early release to attend his son’s barmitzvah, but this was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
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By Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
6:49 p.m. EDT, April 10, 2014
Seven men accused Jeffery London of sexually molesting them while they were teenagers in his care. Text messages from his phone contained lewd propositions. His wife said she walked in on him in bed with a 16-year-old boy.
But the evidence presented in Broward court last week and this week was not enough to convince the jury.
Four men and two women found London, 50, not guilty of 27 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual battery of a minor. The jury deliberated for six hours over two days before announcing their decision.
“Thank you. Praise the Lord,” London said after Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan read the verdicts.
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Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on April 10, 2014.
As the reign of his Eminence Francis Cardinal George enters its final stages we (LGBT Community) must wonder is the Church ready to finally begin a conversation about reconciliation and healing. The Cardinal has been responsible for dividing the Catholic Community of Chicago on so many levels, that his apologists have become recognized as either spin doctors, or as downright bigots/hypocrites. Clearly the 900 lb. elephant in the room is the trifecta of homophobia, sexism, and racism.
His handling of the Clergy Sexual Abuse scandal is another gaping wound on the soul of the Archdiocese which has caused so much pain and alienation for the victims and families of those abused sexually by members of the clergy of the Archdiocese.
Whoever the Cardinal George’s replacement is I think we should be open to dialogue, as long as dialogue is based on the understanding that members of the Church have used homophobia, sexism, and racism to advance what can only be described as unchristian values within the Church and society.
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By Erin Edgemon | eedgemon@al.com
on April 10, 2014
SELMA, Alabama — The Alabama pastor accused of raping a young family member is now being held in the Dallas County Jail on $2 million bond.
Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said he asked Judge Robert Armstrong III to increase William Best’s bond from $250,000 during today’s arraignment after “more details came out about the horrific nature of the crime.”
Best, 47, was arrested Tuesday and charged with incest, second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy of an underage family member.
Best served as pastor of Living Waters Worship Center in Valley Grande for three years. The church’s board of directors unanimously voted to fire Best following his arrest Tuesday, WSFA reported.
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Former Sunday School teacher sentenced to 35 years for sexually assaulting female relative
By VANESA BRASHIER
A former Sunday School teacher and resident of Tarkington and Conroe will spend the next 35 years of his life in prison after being convicted of Indecency With a Child for the continuous sexual abuse of a female relative. The sentence was announced on Wednesday in the Liberty County courtroom of 253rd State District Judge Chap B. Cain.
Barring a successful appeal, Bruce Harp, 59, will be 94 years old before he is eligible for release. Prior to his conviction, Harp was offered a seven-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, but that offer was declined.
The seven-year sentence would have meant just three and a half years in prison for Harp since he already has served an equal amount of time in the Liberty County jail while awaiting trial.
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Un prêtre de 40 ans, ancien directeur d’une école privée de Goussonville dans les Yvelines, a été mis en examen et écroué mercredi pour viols, tortures et actes de barbarie sur trois enseignantes.
L’horrible secret que portait un prêtre est resté longtemps confiné dans l’enceinte de l’école privée Notre-Dame de la Sablonnière, à Goussonville (Yvelines). Mercredi, l’abbé a finalement été mis en examen et écroué pour viols, tortures et actes de barbarie par un juge d’instruction de Versailles, rapporte «Le Parisien.» Entre septembre et octobre 2010, l’homme de 40 ans aurait violé à plusieurs reprises trois enseignantes de l’établissement de la Fraternité Saint Pie X, dont il était le directeur.
L’homme aurait profité de son influence spirituelle pour abuser des trois femmes. Il aurait choisi comme première cible une femme de famille fragile et déjà abusée sexuellement. «Il lui a fait subir un exorcisme avant de mimer des actes sexuels pour tenter de soigner “le mal par le mal”», explique le site du quotidien. La victime était tellement secouée par cette séance d’exorcisme qu’elle n’a pas pu raconter les sévices subis. Après elle, deux autres femmes seront les victimes présumées du religieux. En 2013, deux d’entre elles ont porté plainte. Lorsque la vérité éclate, la fraternité Saint Pie X sanctionne son membre lors d’un procès canonique et l’éloigne pendant deux ans dans un monastère.
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By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Courant
The Hartford Courant
4:07 p.m. EDT, April 10, 2014
HARTFORD — If he had been asked two years ago what the Roman Catholic Church needed, Voice of The Faithful President Mark Mullaney would have replied, a pope in the mold of reformer John XXIII.
“John opened the windows, opened the doors, opened discussions,” he said of the pontiff who reigned from 1958 to 1963. “There’s a great need for that type of person.”
Mullaney and many others attending the group’s biannual assembly April 6 at the Hartford Convention Center clearly believed he had gotten his wish. Pope Francis’ explosion onto the world stage, his impact on Catholics and how he might reform the church dominated discussion among the more than 200 people from around the nation.
“What he is saying resonates with what we have been saying since our inception,” said Jayne O’Donnell of West Hartford, the group’s development coordinator. “Our hope is to meet Francis in the middle. We don’t expect to get everything that we want. Let’s work together in the sense of our community.” …
O’Connell said the new pope has shown far greater willingness to confront and crack down on priest sexual abuse. She cited Francis’ recent decision to send a seasoned Vatican investigator to look into allegations against a Scottish cardinal.
The pope has also moved to clean up the church’s finances and hold leaders accountable for financial misdeeds, another major focus of Voice of the Faithful, O’Connell said. Francis, for example, moved against the so-called “Bling Bishop,” a German prelate who spent $43 million of church funds building a luxury residence, she said.
“He’s made it clear that he’s not going to allow financial [misdeeds],” O’Connell said.
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A former pastor who waged a lengthy battle with the province in the 1980s over the licensing of his privately run school is back before the courts, this time to face charges in connection with the historical sex assault of two students.
Thomas Larry Jones, 69, who now lives in Carstairs, has been charged with indecent assault of a female, three counts of gross indecency, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference and two counts of sexual exploitation.
Calgary police allege the abuse of one of the victims began in 1979, when the girl was five, and continued until she was 15. The abuse of a second girl began in 1986 when she was nine, and continued until she was 18, police said.
At the time, Jones was the pastor of the Western Baptist Church in the northwest community of Montgomery and also ran his own school, the Western Baptist Academy, out of the church basement.
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CALGARY – Police have charged a Carstairs man with allegedly sexually assaulting two girls during his time as a pastor at a northwest Calgary Baptist church.
The charges date back to 1970, when Thomas Larry Jones was working as a religious leader and teacher.
Jones allegedly began abusing one victim in 1979 when she was five-years-old, and continued until she was 15.
It’s alleged he also abused another victim starting in 1986 when she was nine-years-old, and continued until she was 18.
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The Calgary Police Service Child Abuse Unit has charged a man with two historical sex assaults dating back to the 1970s.
The charges relate to two female victims who knew the accused as a pastor at a northwest Calgary Baptist church. The allegations came to the attention of police after a similar case in 2012, where another leader at the same church was charged with sexually assaulting three male victims in the 1980s and 1990s.
The most recent investigation revealed the alleged sexual abuse against one of the females began in 1979 when the victim was five years old and continued until she was 15. The other victim was nine years old when the alleged abuse began in 1986, and it continued until she was 18.
In both cases, the victims were parishioners at the Baptist church where the accused was a religious leader and teacher. The assaults allegedly occurred in the church and at the accused’s then neighbouring home.
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CALGARY – A Calgary pastor has been charged with sexually assaulting two children in the 1970s.
Police say the charges involve two female complainants who knew the accused as a pastor at a Baptist church.
Investigators say the alleged abuse against one woman began in 1979 when she was five and continued until she was 15.
They say the other woman was nine when the alleged assaults began in 1986 and continued until she was 18.
Police say they learned of the allegations after a similar case in 2012, when another leader at the same church was charged with sexually assaulting three boys in the 80s and 90s.
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A former Calgary church pastor now living in Carstairs has been charged in connection with two sexual assaults that date back to the 1970s.
It’s alleged some of the assaults took place at Western Baptist Church in northwest Calgary, which was the site of another investigation against a former deacon there.
Former church deacon gets prison for child sex assaults
The first victim alleges the abuse started in 1979 when she was five years old and continued for 10 years.
The other victim says she was nine years old when she was first assaulted in 1986 and that the abuse continued until she was 18.
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By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com
on April 10, 2014
The Pennsylvania General Assembly executed the last big deal in an effort to strengthen child protection systems Wednesday.
The state House and Senate both voted without opposition to send two bills changing the state’s mandated reporting requirements to Gov. Tom Corbett, closing a deal that had been months in the making.
The signature changes in the new bills are:
* Expanding the field of people who are required to make reports to state authorities if they reasonably suspect a case of child abuse. The new requirements fold in regular volunteers in children’s programs, most employees at schools and colleges, and attorneys serving schools or agencies that serve a youth population.
* Requires the first report to be to the state’s ChildLine hotline service, or local police or child welfare agencies. This change is intended to reduce the chances of internal cover-ups of suspected abusers, as has led to criminal charges in recent years both in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and and at Penn State.
* Upgrading the severity of the failure to report criminal charges, as an extra incentive for all mandated reporters to take their duties seriously.
With the passage of the mandated reporter changes, “there is a clear path on what they (reporters) are to do with suspected child abuse,” said Sen. Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County.
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BY GLENN BLAIN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, April 10, 2014
ALBANY — A fuming Timothy Cardinal Dolan has had it with state lawmakers.
In a letter sent to more than 70,000 families in the Archdiocese of New York this week, Dolan vented his anger at Albany for not approving tax credits that he and other Catholic bishops argued would have boosted funds for parochial school scholarships.
“Well, with some chagrin, I have to admit that a ‘done deal’ in Albany apparently does not mean what you and I think it means – that something will actually get done,” Dolan wrote in the letter sent home with Catholic school children Tuesday.
“I am frustrated, disappointed and angry,” Dolan continued. “As of today, I still have not heard why the promised credit did not go through.”
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Some law school students send the Justice Department résumés and references. At the University of Virginia School of Law, one class is sending document requests and lawsuits.
The students, along with professors and a university librarian, are tackling the contentious world of white-collar crime, challenging federal prosecutors to unseal settlements with big banks and corporations. In a matter of months, the classroom litigators at the law school’s First Amendment clinic filed their first lawsuit against the Justice Department and won the release of a secret settlement deal.
Building on the test case, the clinic ramped up its effort this week, filing a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain 30 other settlement deals that remain under wraps, a preliminary move that could foreshadow another lawsuit. The deals — mostly nonprosecution agreements with the British bank HSBC, the casino Las Vegas Sands Corporation and a smattering of other corporate giants — spared the companies indictment in exchange for cash penalties and other concessions. …
The experience emboldened the students to request the 30 remaining deals, which spanned the last two decades and a number of industries. Edward D. Jones struck a deal in 2004, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston settled a sex abuse scandal in 2005, and the medical devices company C. R. Bard reached an agreement last year — all of which remain private.
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Law students at the First Amendment clinic at the University of Virginia filed freedom of information requests this week in an effort to unseal 30 secret settlement deals between federal prosecutors and banks and corporations. …
The FOIA requests seek information about government deals with the British bank HSBC, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and several other large companies.
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We commend everyone who helped with this prosecution. And we beg everyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Rev. London to find courage, speak up, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.
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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A Ft. Lauderdale jury found a former youth pastor accused of molesting children not guilty on all counts.
When the jury resumed their deliberations Thursday morning in the trial of Jeffrey London they had a question for the judge concerning the definition of “reasonable doubt.” The judge told the jury to go back and read up on the definition.
Just after 2 p.m. a decision was reached and London was acquitted of 27 counts of abuse.
Prosecutors claim London, 50, sexually assaulted four boys who are now adults.
On Tuesday, London took the stand and said he’s been falsely accused. London said the young men who brought the charges were upset at being evicted from the home he provided for them.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. –
A jury found a former youth pastor who ran a boys home that was not registered with the foster system not guilty of sexually abusing four boys Thursday.
The four boys, who are now ages 16 to 26, said Jeffrey London abused them for years when they were teenagers.
Jeffrey London stands accused of turning boys into sex boys in Broward.
London, who faces 27 counts of child abuse, said he allowed the boys to stay in his home, because they were in need of a paternal figure.
“I had a need to help,” London, 50, said Tuesday in front of Judge Michael Usan in Broward County court in Fort Lauderdale.
He met the neglected kids when he was a counselor at the Boys and Girls Club of Fort Lauderdale, a youth pastor at the Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale, and when he was a dean at Eagle Academy, a Lauderdale Lakes charter school.
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UPDATE: A Broward jury has acquitted Jeffery London of all 27 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual battery on a minor.
The allegations against London, 50, were brought by seven men who were teenagers when London took them in temporarily at various times between 2000 and 2011.
London wept and thanked God after the verdicts were read.
There are still related charges pending against London involving other victims.
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AN ARMIDALE magistrate has sharply rebuked the defence of a former priest facing historic child sexual abuse for not filing documents to the court.
An order relating to the cross-examination of witnesses was meant to be determined on Wednesday.
However, Magistrate Karen Stafford said the documents had not been provided to the court.
The defrocked priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, first appeared in Armidale Local Court on October 18, 2012.
Wednesday was the 13th time his case has been before the court.
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CHARGES of indecently assaulting children against a former Catholic priest, who worked in the Shoalhaven in the 1970s, will be heard in a Sydney court on June 23.
Robert Flaherty, 70, who now lives at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday before Magistrate Miszalski, facing five counts of indecent assault against children.
Magistrate Miszalski adjourned the matters until June for hearing.
The offences were alleged to have taken place in the Shoalhaven and Sydney up to 40 years ago, with the alleged victims aged between 11 and 15.
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A French fundamentalist priest raped and tortured three teachers at a private religious school he ran during so-called exorcisms, leaving one the victims so disturbed she couldn’t describe events to investigators.
Police say the priest raped three women in the autumn of 2010 after he met them at the private religious school Ecole Notre-Dame-de-la Sablonniere in Goussonville, west of Paris, which he was running at the time, according to French media reports.
For years the women did not come forward to the police and one of them was so traumatized that she couldn’t even describe what had happened to her. The 40-year old priest was charged on Wednesday on charges of cruelty, torture and rape. He is now being held without bail
The cleric had allegedly raped one teacher to purge her of the “evil” of a previous sexual assault and used his “spiritual influence” to convince two other female teachers to experience similar exorcisms.
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Kansas City, MO – infoZine – Gene Porter, Deputy United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, presented the Crystal Kipper & Ali Kemp Memorial Award today to Kansas City Police Detective Maggie McGuire for her work on behalf of protecting children, most notably her investigation of convicted Roman Catholic priest Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn.
The award ceremony was part of an annual event hosted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and VictimNet, a coalition of victim service providers and others committed to meeting the needs of crime victims in Jackson County, in conjunction with the observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. This year’s theme, “30 Years: Restoring the Balance of Justice,” honors the extraordinary achievements we have made on behalf of crime victims since the passage of the Victims of Crime Act in 1984.
McGuire is a long-time detective with the Kansas City, MO, Police Department and a former task force officer on the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force.
Porter praised McGuire’s “untiring and relentless work” in the investigation of Ratigan and Finn.
Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography over a period of nearly six years. Each of those five counts involved the sexual exploitation of a separate child victim, ranging in age from two years old to 12 years old at the time of the offenses.
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A South Florida youth pastor facing molestation charges was found not guilty on all counts Thursday.
Jeffery London, 50, had been charged with several counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and sexual battery on minors. He pleaded not guilty.
The jury made its decision Thursday, after deliberations began Wednesday.
London worked with youth at the Bible Church of God and was Dean of Students at Eagle Charter Elementary in Broward.
Since London was arrested in 2012, at least 10 men have accused him of molestation while the men were pre-teens through their teenage years
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A priest in an ultra-conservative Catholic sect has been charged with rape and torture for acts allegedly committed during exorcisms involving three schoolteachers.
Versailles prosecutor Vincent Lesclous said the 40-year old priest with the Society of Saint Pius X, whose identity has not been released to protect the victims, was charged on 9 April and is being held without bail.
He is facing charges of aggravated rape, torture and “committing barbarous acts” for the alleged assaults on three teachers at a private religious school in the western suburbs of Paris.
The prosecutor refused to provide further details, but newspaper Le Parisien reported today that the assaults took place in the autumn of 2010 at the Notre-Dame de la Sablonniere school run by the sect.
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By AMY ANTHONY
aanthony@capecodonline.com
April 10, 2014
The state Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by a former Falmouth priest against two other priests, agreeing the suit was filed beyond the statute of limitations.
In November 2010, the Rev. John P. Harrington, formerly a priest at St. Patrick’s Church on Main Street in Falmouth, filed suit in Norfolk Superior Court against the Rev. John H. Perry – the former pastor of St. Patrick’s – and the Rev. William M. Costello, the former pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth.
The suit stems from an incident beginning in January 2005, when Costello told Perry that a parishioner of St. Patrick’s had accused Harrington of stalking her minor son, according to the court decision. In response, Perry told the two directors of religious education at St. Patrick’s about the accusation against Harrington, according to the decision.
Perry then informed Harrington of the accusation, which was false, the decision says.
In response Harrington spoke with Costello, who told Harrington the accusation had not been made by a parishioner but by the parishioner’s co-worker, according to the decision. Costello refused to give Harrington the name of the co-worker.
In November 2007, Harrington learned the identity of the co-worker but after speaking with the co-worker discovered the co-worker had never made any accusation and that Costello had fabricated it, according to the decision.
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Today marks the official change of leadership for the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.
On February 11th, Reverend Monsignor Edward Scharfenberger of the Diocese of Brooklyn was announced as the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Albany. Scharfenberger was hand-selected to replace the retiring Howard Hubbard by Pope Francis: in his initial meeting with Albany media, Bishop-designate Scharfenberger’s personal outlook seemed to echo that of Francis when he talked about community.
“Politics is obviously a big part of being in Albany. But I have to get to know people first – I’m very passionate about life and all it’s stake, and concerned about treating people differently because they’re in different classes, and I’ll say the words. Whether black or white, male or female, gay or straight, putting people in classes, stereotyping, I have something inside me that goes against that. People have to be treated as people first.”
Scharfenberger studied for the priesthood in Rome, earning a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical North American College in Rome and a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Lateran University’s Accademia Alfonsiana, also in Rome.
He also holds a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington and a law degree from Fordham University. He was named a monsignor in 1995.
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Excerpts from Bishop-elect Edward Scharfenberger’s comments on hot-button Catholic issues:
On abortion: “Our position on the sanctity of life at every stage of human development from conception to natural death is firm, fundamental and unchangeable. When we get into politics, it gets sticky. I am strong pro-life, but I’m not in-your-face. I don’t tell people what to do. This is America.”
On women priests: “This is not an issue open to doctrinal development, but I’m open to listening to anything.”
On gays in the church: “I have friends who are gay and some who are celibate and live together in the same house. It’s up to them. I agree with what Pope Francis said. ‘Who am I to judge?’ Despite whatever term you use to describe your attractions, are you trying to follow Jesus and to live the Gospel? That’s what’s important.”
On the priest sexual abuse scandal: “This is going to be with us forever. It has to be cleaned up. We must cooperate fully with civil and criminal authorities with complete transparency. No more cloak-and-dagger stuff. There must be zero tolerance and justice for the victims. Every structural and bureaucratic process has to be put in place to protect children and adults. And we must inspire people to lead moral lives. As bishop, it’s up to me to set the tone.”
— Paul Grondahl
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FRANCE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, April 10, 2014
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
A French priest was indicted for raping and torturing multiple women at a private religious school. We are saddened by this revelation, but glad victims are speaking up and action is being taken.
The priest, who is part of the fundamentalist society of St. Pius X, had been tried in a religious hearing and sentenced to two year in a monastery for his sexual attacks several years ago. We are disappointed that it has taken several years for this dangerous predator to be indicted.
(NOTE: A former member of the St. Pius X Society, Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, is now second-in-command of a diocese in Paraguay, despite several credible allegations of child sex crimes against kids in Scranton Pennsylvania.
We hope that anyone who saw, suspects or suffered abuse will call police and that Catholic officials will be proactive and aggressively seek out victims and witnesses.
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ALBANY (NY)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, April 10, 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)
We are not optimistic about Albany’s new Catholic bishop, Edward B. Scharfenberger, who is being installed today.
He’s a lawyer twice over: in both the civil and canonical realms. The church’s central crisis continues to be clergy sex crimes and cover ups. And it’s become clear over the past 30 years that far too many alleged religious figures deal with this on-going scandal with a lawyerly approach instead of a pastoral one.
And he hails from the Brooklyn Diocese, which has had and still has a very troubling track record on this crisis. (According to independent researchers at BishopAccountability.org, there are 53 publicly accused abusive Brooklyn priests, nuns, and brothers. Albany diocese has 45.)
Because of New York’s archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations, very few men, women and teens who were sexually assaulted by clerics can ever use the courts to expose their perpetrators. So we believe the true number of child molesting clerics, in both Brooklyn and Albany, is substantially higher.
Usually, when a new bishop takes office, Catholics naively assume that he’ll be better than his predecessor when it comes to protecting the vulnerable. We think this is a reckless attitude. Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects kids.
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William Best Jr. was the pastor at Living Waters Worship Center on Deepwoods Drive. He was a trusted member of the community and we are glad law enforcement immediately responded when the victim’s mother brought the girl to the station to make a report. When victims report their crimes future crimes can be prevented. We applaud this victim and her family for cooperating with law enforcement so that others will be spared the awful trauma of childhood sexual assault.
We want Living Waters Worship Center officials to publicly explain how this dangerous man was able to work at the center. They should immediately create better child protection policy and reach out to anyone else who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes and report to police.
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A social worker closely involved with Termonbacca children’s home run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Derry has said some nuns were “amazing in the ability to care and love”.
The witness, who cannot be named, spoke of his particular high regard for one named senior nun in the 1970s. He said he had “ a lot of time” for this particular nun who has also been praised by other social work professionals in their evidence to the inquiry which is investigating alleged abuses at care homes after 1922.
This nun was particularly keen to have professional, trained social workers included in the care plan for the home, the witness told the inquiry. She had great compassion and ability to recognise need when she saw it and to respond, he said.
Questioned by the inquiry’s senior counsel Christine Smith QC, the witness said this nun “wasn’t afraid to rock the boat” in providing for the children in her care.
She had a sense of direction and probably wanted to be a social worker herself, he told the inquiry.
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A French fundamentalist priest repeatedly raped three teachers at the school he ran in the suburbs of Paris during so-called exorcisms, according to French media reports. But for years the victims didn’t come forward to police.
The 40-year-old priest was indicted this week on charges of rape, cruelty and torture for the acts that allegedly left one of the victims in the Paris suburbs so disturbed that she couldn’t even describe them to investigators.
Police said the priest raped the three women in the autumn of 2010 after coming into contact with them at the private religious school Ecole Notre-Dame-de-la-Sablonnière in Goussonville, which he was running at the time, French newsite Toute Les Nouvelles reported. It alleged he had first raped one teacher during an exorcism to purge her of the “evil” from a previous sexual assault.
The priest used his “spiritual influence” to convince two other female teachers to undergo similar exorcisms, French daily Le Parisien reported. It said the victims had claimed that acts of torture had been committed using a broom, a toothbrush and scissors during the ceremonies.
Police became involved only last year when two of the women reported the rapes to authorities. After learning of the crimes several years ago the priest’s fundamentalist society of St. Pius X tried him in a religious hearing and sentenced him to two years in a monastery.
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EDITORIAL
This issue brings together two strains of church life that NCR has been tracking for some 30 years: the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and the finances of dioceses. It is in these two areas that church leaders are at their most vulnerable.
The sexual abuse of minors by clergy and the subsequent cover-up by those in the church leadership structure have sapped the hierarchy of much of its moral authority. Many times, the church has seemed to be moving on from the immediacy of that crisis, and then something happens — a priest in Newark, N.J., who is supposed to be on restricted ministry is found on youth retreats, or leaders in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese ignore their own guidelines and the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People — and we are plunged headlong back into that morass.
The unprecedented appointment of the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors should have been greeted with jubilation — a commission of experts with direct access to the pope is something that could not have been imagined even three years ago. Instead, the announcement comes with many unanswered questions: Who will lead the commission? Where will it fit in the Vatican bureaucracy? What is its exact mandate? Sources have been telling NCR since December that this commission would be decisive in answering concerns of victim advocates, particularly in producing procedures to censure bishops who violate church law on clergy sex abuse. What could have been a watershed moment has done little to assuage critics. It is more than an opportunity wasted. It is the surest sign yet of the tremendous resistance that Pope Francis and his Council of Cardinals are meeting inside the church bureaucracy.
The sexual abuse of minors by clergy cost the U.S. church $109 million in 2013 and a total of $2.74 billion since 2004. But don’t look to the bishops’ annual report on compliance with the Dallas Charter to learn how much your diocese paid into that lump sum; the report doesn’t break down any data that way. Such fundamental information, which Catholics who support their church have a right to know, isn’t available because the bishops don’t want to share it. No national norms require financial disclosure and no mechanism holds bishops accountable.
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Selon les informations du “Parisien”, la justice reproche à cet ancien directeur de l’école Notre-Dame de la Sablonnière à Goussonville (Yvelines), membre de la Fraternité Pie Saint-Pie X, d’avoir violé à l’automne 2010 trois enseignantes et de leur avoir fait subir des sévices.
Selon le quotidien, “le prêtre aurait usé de son influence spirituelle” sur une mère de famille victime d’abus sexuels, lui faisant “subir un exorcisme avant de mimer des actes sexuels pour tenter de soigner ‘le mal par le mal'”.
Placé en garde à vue chez les gendarmes de la section de recherches de Versailles, l’écclésiastique de 40 ans a été écroué ce mercredi soir. Le procureur de la République de Versailles, Vincent Lesclous, n’a pas donné plus de détails sur l’affaire, invoquant le “respect des victimes”.
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Un prêtre intégriste a été inculpé et placé en détention par la justice française qui le soupçonne d’actes de barbarie, viol et torture, sur trois enseignantes d’une école catholique privée de la banlieue parisienne.
Membre d’une communauté proche des milieux d’extrême droite, la Fraternité Saint-Pie X, et ancien directeur d’une école de Goussonville, près de Paris, le prêtre est soupçonné d’avoir violé en 2010 trois enseignantes et de leur avoir fait subir des sévices. Agé de 40 ans, le prêtre a été écroué mercredi soir, selon le procureur de la République de Versailles Vincent Lesclous.
Selon le quotidien Le Parisien, “le prêtre aurait usé de son influence spirituelle” sur une mère de famille victime d’abus sexuels, lui faisant “subir un exorcisme avant de mimer des actes sexuels pour tenter de soigner ‘le mal par le mal'”.
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VERSAILLES, France, April 10, 2014 (AFP) –
A priest in an ultra-conservative Catholic sect has been charged with rape and torture for acts allegedly committed during exorcisms involving three schoolteachers.
Versailles prosecutor Vincent Lesclous told AFP the 40-year-old priest with the Society of Saint Pius X, whose identity has not been released to protect the victims, was charged on Wednesday and is being held without bail.
He is facing charges of aggravated rape, torture and “committing barbarous acts” for the alleged assaults on three teachers at a private religious school in the western suburbs of Paris.
The prosecutor refused to provide further details, but newspaper Le Parisien reported Thursday that the assaults took place in the autumn of 2010 at the Notre-Dame de la Sablonniere school run by the sect.
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A new civil abuse and cover up lawsuit was filed today against Chaminade. The alleged victim, Chris Boisaubin, says he was sexually assaulted by Brother John Woulfe at the west county school. Meanwhile, Barbara Dorris of SNAP says, “There has likely been more child sexual abuse at Chaminade than at any school we know of across Missouri,” citing such accused clerics as Fr. William Christensen, Br. William Mueller, Br. Louis Meinhardt, Fr. Robert R. Osborne, Fr. Daniel A. Triulzi, Br. Tony Pistone, all of whom worked there. “And these are just the ones we know about,” she adds.
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[Summary: Former priest Alberto Athie said this morning they are following up on two recent cases of priests who are accused of child sexual abuse. He referred to the cases of Father Eduardo Cordova Bautista and another priests who is said to have abused 45 minors in Oaxaca.]
Ciudad de Méxcio.- El ex sacerdote Alberto Athié reveló esta mañana que están dando seguimiento a dos recientes casos de sacerdotes acusados de abusos sexuales a menores. Fuente: AristeguiNoticias
En entrevista para Noticias MVS, primera emisión, refirió los casos del padre Eduardo Córdova Bautista, en San Luis Potosí, a quien le adjudican hasta cien abusos, y el de un padre oaxaqueño quien habría abusado de 45 indígenas; aunque no indicó el nombre, se trataría de Gerardo Silvestre Hernández.
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Leaked complaint letter about alleged cover-up of sexual abuse shocks Melbourne’s Orthodox Jewish community
SHANNON DEERY NEWS LIMITED APRIL 10, 2014
THE man behind a leaked complaint about an alleged sexual abuse cover-up at one of Melbourne’s most prestigious schools says he has been left shocked by its widespread release.
Police have launched an investigation into how the confidential complaint was leaked after it was photocopied and distributed widely.
The author of the complaint sparked a police investigation after he complained about the handling of allegations of sexual abuse at Yeshivah College in a November 2012 letter.
The college has been rocked by a worsening sexual abuse crisis that has seen numerous former employees jailed for the abuse of dozens of students over several decades.
But critics of the college’s handling of abuse cases say there were active attempts to cover-up the evil acts.
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Cicero police are searching for more victims of sexual assault after a church employee allegedly engaged in sexual acts and sexual conduct with several juveniles.
Juan David Ferreras, who was employed at Sonido De Alabanza Church in Cicero, is accused of engaging in sexual acts with at least six juvenile victims between 9 and 17 years old while he worked as a youth minister, photographer and teacher at the church, police said.
Police believe the sexual acts took place over the last six years at numerous locations including the church, Ferreras’ apartment and at two camps where he ran youth retreats for Sonido De Alabanza Church, according to Deputy Supt. Jose Gonzalez.
“He had a role of authority within the church,” Gonzalez said. “He gained the trust of young boys, at the time between the ages of 9 to 17 years old, and again then used this position of authority to then perform these acts on these boys.”
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By Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
7:40 p.m. EDT, April 9, 2014
They trusted him. They loved him. They looked to him as a father figure. And Jeffery London betrayed that trust by sexually molesting the boys in his care, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A Broward jury began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon over whether London was a serial pedophile or, as his defense lawyer argued, a kind man whose good deeds are being punished by opportunistic fortune seekers.
London, 50, of Lauderdale Lakes, faces life in prison if convicted of 27 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual battery on a child. He was a youth mentor at Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale and the dean of students at Eagle Academy Charter School.
The allegations first surfaced in 2011, with more than a dozen teenagers eventually coming forward.
Prosecutor Justin Griffis reminded jurors of the testimony of seven men, all of whom told similar stories of how their difficult family lives led them to stay with London temporarily at his home in Coral Springs and, later, Lauderdale Lakes. The men said London traded money, clothing and video games for sexual favors.
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David Francis is not bitter, nor angry. He is simply sad for those who suffered abuse, and are still too scared to talk about it.
“It’s a pretty hard thing to deal with,” he said.
“When you start going back and talking about things, you’re going to bring up your past again, so what happens is it can affect your mental stability. It’s a hard thing to talk about.”
At the age of seven, Mr Francis was made a ward of the state and sent to the Beagle Bay mission, north of Broome.
There he says he was abused.
“Sexual abuse happened on the mission pretty common. Especially in the dormitories, there was sexual abuse going on there,” he said.
The 51-year-old plans to tell his story to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.
But he is one of only a handful of people from the Kimberley who have expressed interest in doing so. …
Catholic church influence still strong
He says adding to the wall of silence is the huge influence the Catholic Church still exerts over Aboriginal communities in the north, with many retaining a genuine affection and loyalty to the nuns that cared for them.
In other cases, he says it is something more akin to Stockholm Syndrome, where people have a blind loyalty to the Church they grew up with no matter what.
“The people that have spoken out about abuse in the past, sometimes their own family would turn on them, ‘you can’t say that about the Church, be quiet’,” he said.
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FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) — The jury has finished deliberating for the day in the case of a former youth pastor accused of sexually abusing four young boys.
Deliberations began Wednesday afternoon after closing arguments wrapped up and will continue Thursday at 9:30 am.
On Tuesday, the accused pastor, Jeffrey London, 50, took the stand and said he’s been falsely accused. London said the young men who brought the charges, were upset at being evicted from the home he provided for them.
London faces 27 counts of child abuse.
Prosecutors said he molested the boys who are now young men. The four were ‘at risk’ children whom prosecutors said viewed London as a ‘father figure.’
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VALLEY GRANDE — A Valley Grande pastor is in jail after allegedly having sex with a minor multiple times.
William R. Best Jr., 47, 327 Centenary St., Valley Grande, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with second-degree sodomy, second degree rape and incest. He is being held on a $250,000 bond in the Dallas County Jail. He was a pastor at Living Waters Worship Center on Deepwoods Drive in Valley Grande.
Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman said the incident was reported Monday, when the child’s mother brought the girl into the sheriff’s department. Huffman said incidents of sexual abuse date back three years, when the girl was 14. Best allegedly had sex with the girl at his home and in the church’s office “dozens of times.”
“Pastors, of all people, should be above stuff like this,” he said. “By committing these acts, he let so many people down, who would come to him with their problems.”
Huffman said the department has “solid DNA evidence” directly linking Best to the crimes. The child is currently in the care of a family member.
Sheriff’s deputies obtained a warrant after conducting interviews and seized a computer from the church office. Huffman said he believes the computer contains pornographic images of the girl and additional charges could be coming.
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By Erin Edgemon | eedgemon@al.com
on April 09, 2014
A Dallas County pastor is behind bars after being charged with raping an underage family member.
William Best, 47, is charged with second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy and incest, Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman Jr. told WSFA.
Best served as the pastor of Living Waters Worship Center in Valley Grande for three years until the church’s board of directors fired him after the arrest.
The Selma Times-Journal reported the alleged sexual abuse started three years ago when the victim was 14 years old.
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A Kansas City police detective was honored Wednesday for her work to protect children, most notably in the case of a Kansas City priest now serving a prison sentence for child pornography.
As a Kansas City detective is honored in the Shawn Ratigan case, diocese is castigated
Read more News
Detective Maggie McGuire received the Crystal Kipper & Ali Kemp Memorial Award, which recognizes the outstanding work of an individual or organization in protecting children from exploitation.
In presenting the award, an assistant federal prosecutor made a series of blistering remarks about Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese’s handling of the case.
“When it becomes clear at the outset of the investigation that the entire hierarchy of a centuries-old religious denomination does not seem willing to recognize that the children depicted in the images are, in fact, victims of child exploitation, nor seem very willing to help establish the identity of the children depicted, and instead are spending millions of dollars on legal counsel in an ill-advised effort to avoid having the priest and bishop accept legal responsibility for their crimes, then you know, as an investigator, that your work is cut out for you,” said Deputy U.S. Attorney Gene Porter.
The diocese declined to comment on Porter’s remarks. Since the case came to light, the diocese has taken several steps to strengthen its efforts to protect children, including the appointment of a former assistant Jackson County prosecutor to investigate all reports of sexual misconduct or suspicious behavior by clergy and others in the diocese.
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FUGITIVE Israeli priest, Eliezer Berland (77), who was Tuesday convicted for violating the Zimbabwe’s immigration laws, has been slapped with a three month prison sentence by Bulawayo senior magistrate Sibongile Msipa.
But the embattled but wealthy Rabbi was likely not to go to prison as the sentence had the option of a $200 fine.
In her ruling, the magistrate also ordered his immediate deportation, either soon after the completion of his jail sentence or after paying the fine.
Berland, who back home is facing several allegations of rape and sexual harassment, was arrested while holed up at a Bulawayo hotel and was charged with contravening a section of the country’s immigration Act.
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By Stephen Briggs
stephen.briggs@peterboroughtoday.co.uk
Published on the 10 April 2014
A teacher and former priest has been jailed for 17 years for sexually abusing girls over a number of years.
David Goodstatd (45) showed no emotion as he was locked up by Judge Sean Enright at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday.
Goodstadt, who taught religious education at Thomas Deacon Academy was found guilty of the rape of one girl and a number of indecent assault charges against the other victims at a trial last month.
One of the girls was abused when she was under the age of 10.
Judge Sean Enright said: “I have read the victim impact statements. It is very clear you have done a great deal of damage over the years.
“You continue to deny the offences. I don’t think you will ever admit them.”
Christopher Gillespie, defending said: “He is a 45-year-old man who will spend a substantial part of the rest of his life in custody in difficult circumstances, which he has bought on himself.”
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A former teacher and priest has been jailed for 17 years for the sexual abuse of three young girls over a decade.
45-year-old David Goodstadt of Broad Street in Whittlesey was convicted of rape, attempted rape, indecency with a child and five counts of indecent assault following a trial at Peterborough Crown Court.
He was cleared of three other charges and the jury failed to reach a verdict on two other offences.
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So devout Catholics in Milwaukee went to attend the Mass of Atonement and listened to the homily of Archbishop Listecki prepared script by the Vatican Opus Dei PR Deceits Team . Obviously they felt holy and it was “business as usual” as they ate the cloned flesh-and-blood of Christ and as they listened to Archbishop Listecki who wore a magical vestment and parroted out Biblical interpretations from dead John Paul II’s past homilies. Then, as content robot Catholics, they simply said, Amen. Most of them were stupid robot women Catholics. They went home and slept in peace feeling their prayers has automatically forgiven-and-forgotten the crimes of pedophile priests. The Mass of Atonement is like Merlin’s magic wand. SNAP and victims were outside the church, did these Catholics even stop to talk to them why they re outside and not inside eating the flesh of Christ with them? Did Archbishop Listecki explain and clarify his 5 plans – as pointed out by SNAP – see below – which prove the Mass of Atonement is only a hypocritical ploy to divert Catholics’ attention away from the harsh truth of his deceits?
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El ex sacerdote Alberto Athié denunció esta mañana dos nuevos casos de sacerdotes que habrían abusado de menores en San Luis Potosí y Oaxaca.
El ex sacerdote Alberto Athié reveló esta mañana que están dando seguimiento a dos recientes casos de sacerdotes acusados de abusos sexuales a menores.
En entrevista para Noticias MVS, primera emisión, refirió los casos del padre Eduardo Córdova Bautista, en San Luis Potosí, a quien le adjudican hasta cien abusos, y el de un padre oaxaqueño quien habría abusado de 45 indígenas; aunque no indicó el nombre, se trataría de Gerardo Silvestre Hernández.
Sobre las acusaciones contra Córdova, Athié aseguró que ya existen denuncias en el Ministerio Público pero “están detenidas”; “el caso se llevó en secreto a la Santa Sede, se le retiró del cargo, pero no del ministerio, sigue celebrando”, comentó.
Recordó que Eduardo Córdova Bautista hasta hace poco fue el apoderado de la Diócesis y representante de las relaciones Iglesia-Estado en la Arquidiócesis de San Luis Potosí.
“Es un pederasta al que se le adjudican cerca de 100 casos, es reciente, y quiero comentar que existen denuncias en ministerios públicos que están detenidas”, dijo.
Athié hizo un llamado a las familias que sus hijos fueron abusados por este sacerdote para que se comuniquen con él y puedan apoyarlos para integrar una averiguación contra el sacerdote.
Medios en San Luis Potosí, como El Heraldo, indican que el representante jurídico de la arquidiócesis Eduardo Córdova Bautista ha sido señalado insistentemente en las redes sociales como presunto pederasta.
El mes pasado, el arzobispo Jesús Carlos Cabrero Romero consideró que “en muchas ocasiones, en el anonimato de las redes sociales, suelen filtrarse imputaciones de esta naturaleza, en un afán de dañar la buena fama de las personas y la credibilidad de la iglesia”. No obstante dijo que de documentarse, la Iglesia procederá en consecuencia.
“En estos casos el obispo debe ser el primero en ser informado. Y esto no ha ocurrido… Las redes sociales, a veces, perjudican la fama de las personas y dañan mucho a la vida y la convivencia… Me parece que todo es una cuestión inescrupulosa que busca afectar a la persona y dañar a la Iglesia”, comentó el arzobispo.
—¿Seguirá, entonces, (Eduardo Córdova) en funciones de apoderado legal? –se le preguntó en la conferencia de prensa.
—Sí, sigue siéndolo –respondió el mes pasado—, y sigue siendo sacerdote, sigue estando en la oficina como apoderado legal, sigue también desempeñando sus encomiendas, de tiempo completo.
“Este miércoles, el vocero de la Arquidiócesis de San Luis Potosí, Juan José Priego Riveraconsideró que las acusaciones hechas por Alberto Athié en contra del padre Eduardo Córdova Bautista, por supuestos casos de pederastia, se deben a un resentimiento hacia la iglesia.
El vocero religioso dijo que las acusaciones de esta índole deben estar justificadas, y no estar basadas en declaraciones con resentimiento.
“Es un activista…se ve que hay mucho resentimiento del Alberto Athié contra la iglesia”, calificó.
Pederasta en Oaxaca
En tanto, en Oaxaca, al menos 45 niños y jóvenes de regiones indígenas sufrieron abuso sexual por parte del sacerdote Gerardo Silvestre Hernández, según diversos testimonios de feligreses y curas oaxaqueños, presentados en 2009, de acuerdo con La Jornada.
En un reporte del periodista Julio Hernández, publicado a mediados de 2012, se detalla que fue hasta mayo de ese año al sacerdote lo suspendieron, tras la denuncia que hizo el mecánico Pedro Mendoza, cuyo hijo de nueve años fue enviado en 2006 como acólito a la parroquia donde oficiaba Silvestre Hernández. Después se conocieron otras dos denuncias de jóvenes que en su niñez también pasaron por la parroquia de San Pablo Huitzo, a cargo de Gerardo Silvestre.
En mayo 2012, el arzobispado de Antequera-Oaxaca emitió un comunicado de prensa en el que precisó: No es el proceder de la arquidiócesis ser notificados a través de denuncias públicas. Desconocíamos la acusación (…) Se nos hace injusto ser acusados de inacción cuando no habíamos sido previamente advertidos y, mucho menos, se nos ha probado lo que se afirma.
En una carta formal enviada por religiosos oaxqueños al cardenal William Joseph Levada, directivo de la Sagrada Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, aseguraron que desde el 16 de junio de 2009 “advertimos a nuestro arzobispo (Chávez Botello) y a su obispo auxiliar, Óscar Campos Contreras –hoy obispo de Tehuantepec–, en una reunión que le pedimos para tratar este caso, que el malestar del pueblo y la noticia de la pederastia del padre Gerardo Silvestre estaba desbordando los límites de las parroquias de Santiago Camotitlán –su parroquia inmediatamente anterior– y Villa Alta, su parroquia actual en este momento”.
Una carta al Vaticano, enviada por religiosos el 4 de agosto de 2010, exponía: “Estamos muy preocupados por esta situación que, consideramos, puede llevar a nuestra iglesia diocesana –y por ella a la Iglesia universal– a una crisis de credibilidad y de pérdida de respeto peor que la que el papa Benedicto XVI advierte en su Carta Pastoral a los católicos de Irlanda”, pues el delito de pederastia que denunciamos, pudiendo resolverse a tiempo, se ha dejado que avance encubierto por nuestro arzobispo, con gran sufrimiento de niños y adolescentes indígenas, de sus padres y de pueblos completos.
Esto es lo que dijo Alberto Athié sobre los dos presuntos sacerdotes pederastas:
(Con información de Pulso de SLP, El Heraldo de San Luis, La Jornada y MVS)
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As Pope Francis continues apparently to try to fool Catholics with his “bait and switch” strategy, it is helpful to consider Cardinal Pell, Francis’ new choice to maximize the Vatican’s considerable wealth. Pell’s recently revealed and ruthless treatment of victims of Australian priests’ child abuse makes some Wall Street investment bankers’ approach to making money seem beneficent, it appears.
Pell’s significance has been captured well recently by Fr. Thomas Doyle, O.P., the leading worldwide advocate for over a quarter century of justice for priest abuse survivors.
Fr. Doyle in the 1980′s had futilely advised Pope John Paul II’s US representative, Cardinal Pio Laghi, on priest child abuse curtailment policy. Laghi had just finished overseeing the Argentina Catholic Church’s self serving cooperation with a brutal military in the “Dirty War”, while Pope Francis assisted him, as the local Jesuit provincial, by trying to suppress prophetic local Jesuits who challenged the military.
Doyle in his below article uses his unique hierarchical insights, canon law expertise and long advocacy experience to zero in on Cardinal Pell’s “save the money first” approach that seemingly Francis and his cardinal clique now want Pell to apply to maximize the Vatican’s assets mainly, it appears, to benefit the hierarchy. So much for the “preferential option for the poor”, including abuse survivors, it appears.
It is hardly surprising Pope Francis has not appointed Fr. Doyle to Francis’ long delayed and still illusory advisory committee on child abuse, the latest Vatican public relations façade for covering-up the priest child abuse scandal.
Fr. Doyle’s remarks make amply clear why President Obama must set up now a US national commission, like Australia has, to investigate US child sexual abuse in institutions, including in the various churches. If Obama fails to do this, and if Catholics and others fail to demand that he do so, they are also failing in their Gospel mandated duty to protect children by reasonable and readily available means.
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Maine high court to decide if lawsuit claiming abuse by ex-priest living out of state may go forward
By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted April 09, 2014
PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday considered whether the statute of limitations bars a woman’s lawsuit against an ex-priest she claims sexually abused her as a child, or, if it may go forward since the man lived out of state and she did not locate him until 2009.
Christine S. Angell, 52, of Portland sued Renald C. Hallee, 69, of Billerica, Mass., and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland in March 2010 in Cumberland County Superior Court. She alleged that between 1970 and 1973, when he was assigned to St. John Catholic Church in Bangor, Hallee abused her.
The claims against the diocese have been settled, according to court documents.
Hallee, who left the priesthood and Maine in 1977, has denied the allegations. He worked as a teacher in Lexington, Mass., from 1978 until his retirement in January 2007, according to court documents. He married in 1983 and has lived in the same home since 1985.
Under Maine law in effect when the abuse allegedly took place, Angell had two years from the time she turned 18 in November 1981 to file the lawsuit, unless Hallee had moved out of state and was not available to be served with the complaint.
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By Lilly Fowler lfowler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8221
A new lawsuit against a member of the Marianist Catholic order and school alleging sexual abuse of a minor was filed on Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court, names the Marianist Province of the United States as a defendant, as well as the Rev. Martin Solma. Solma is head of the Roman Catholic order, which is based here in St. Louis.
Chaminade College Preparatory, a Marianist boarding school in Creve Coeur serving boys in grades 6 through 12, is also named as a defendant.
The lawsuit alleges that Chaminade’s John Woulfe, a member of the Marianist order who is now deceased, sexually abused plaintiff Chris Boisaubin, 59, when he was a minor.
Woulfe, a school counselor, met Boisaubin in about 1970 when he first became a boarding student at the school, according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that the sexual abuse occurred when Woulfe welcomed Boisaubin into his office. Locking the door behind him, Woulfe asked Boisaubin to sit in his recliner. Woulfe then reclined the chair and fondled Boisaubin, the lawsuit claims.
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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
There has likely been more child sexual abuse at Chaminade than at any school we know of across Missouri.
Let’s look at who the Marianists have let teach at Chaminade:
There’s Fr. William Christensen, who’s accused of molesting at least 30 kids in Bangladesh (and may still be there now).
There’s Br. Louis Meinhardt, who’s accused of molesting at least 15 kids at Chaminade and who was only “outed” for the first time in 2011.
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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
A Cicero youth pastor has been charged with multiple counts of child sexual abuse in a case involving multiple children. We are deeply saddened that there are likely more victims suffering in silence and self-blame.
Juan David Ferreras was the youth pastor at Sonido De Alabanza Church, he also organized two youth retreats for the church. It is extremely upsetting when a man entrusted by the community to work with their children uses his position to sexually assault them. The church should publically explain how this abuse was allowed to occur and create better child protection policies.
We are grateful for Cicero police for searching for more victims and encouraging church members to speak with their children about the case. We urge Sonido De Alabanza Church officials to reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered sexual abuse. They should also reach out to the two camps that ran youth retreats for the church.
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. . .Another out-of-state Catholic priest living at the Vianney Renewal Center in Dittmer is in the news. Lawyers for Fr. Richard McCormick, who is accused of raping two Massachusettes minors, were in court this week arguing that the charges against him should be tossed out because they violate the cleric’s freedom of religion. A ruling is pending. The center is described as a “retreat” for accused and convicted pedophile priests.
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Join Kathy and myself at this wonderful second annual event organized by Justice4PAKids, a non-profit that raises awareness and provides education on protecting children from sexual abuse. It’s a choice of 5K or a 1 mile walk managed by Chester County Running Store. It’s a great way to meet each other. Ask for a blue ribbon on race day to signify your affiliation with Catholics4Change. For information and registration, please visit:
Register Today @ www.justice4pakids.com
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SUGGESTIONS that former Ballarat Catholic bishop Ronald Mulkearns could be sued over the ongoing sexual abuse saga gained strength yesterday from a specialist lawyer.
Dr Vivian Waller said former Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale’s conviction this week on more sex child offences was the trigger for victims to take the issue further.
She is preparing a landmark case against the Catholic Church in what will be the first test of Cardinal George Pell’s recent commitment to make the church less hostile to litigation from sex abuse victims.
At least 20 victims, including some from the south-west, have instructed her to launch a class action against the Diocese of Ballarat and argue that the church’s negligence or cover-ups allowed Ridsdale to remain as a priest after it was known he was a sexual predator.
It is understood the church could be forced to pay out millions in compensation if the cases succeed.
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Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest of the Oregon Province ordained in 1961, Morse’s ministry took him to the dioceses of Yakima, Spokane, Portland in Oregon and Boise. In 2006 Morse was removed from public ministry after accusations surfaced that he had sexually abused children – mostly, but not all, girls – at St. Mary’s Mission on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington state. His victims were said to have been as young as 5 and 6 years-old. Morse denied the allegations. In 2007 his name was on the Spokane diocese’s list of “Admitted, Proven or Credibly Accused Perpetrators of Sexual Abuse.” By 2011 there were than 66 individual claims against him. In February 2014 Morse was known to be residing at the Jesuit Retirement community in Spokane to which he was sent after his 2006 removal.
Ordained: 1961
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CHICAGO – La Policía de Cicero le presentó múltiples cargos de asalto sexual criminal a Juan David Ferreras por supuestamente abusar de unas seis jóvenes entre las edades de 9 a 17 años.
La Policía indicó que Ferreras, de 47 años, cometió los supuestos abusos mientras fue ministro de juventudes, fotógrafo y maestro de la Iglesia Sonido de Alabanza del 5510 W. 25th St., en Cicero.
Ferreras comparece el 9 de abril en una corte del Condado de Cook.
Para ver fotos de fichados en el área de Chicago, visite este enlace.
Los abusos ocurrieron, no sólo en su domicilio y el templo, sino en otros lugares y en dos retiros para jóvenes organizados por la iglesia, según la Policía de Cicero.
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CICERO (CBS) – Police in west suburban Cicero have charged a youth minister with multiple felonies in a sexual assault case involving at least six boys, and authorities believe more victims might be out there.
Juan David Ferreras, 43, has been charged with one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, two counts of criminal sexual assault, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of indecent solicitation of a child, four counts of distribution of harmful material, and one count of battery.
He was due in bond court on Wednesday.
Police said Ferreras – the son of the pastor at Sonido De Alabanza Church in Cicero – had sex with at least six children ranging in age from 9 to 17.
Ferreras allegedly used his position as a youth pastor, teacher, photographer, and camp retreat organizer to prey on at least six boys. Police fear there might be more victims.
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April 8, 2014 (CICERO, Ill.) (WLS) — Juan David Ferreras, 43, is charged with multiple felonies after an ongoing criminal sexual abuse investigation. Cicero police say there may be more victims.
Cicero Police Supt. Bernard Harrison is asking alleged victims of Ferreras to call Deputy Superintendent Jose Gonzalez at 708-652-2130 ext. 348.
Ferreras worked at Sonido De Alabanza Church, 5510 W. 25th Street, as a youth minister, photographer and teacher there. Police said he engaged in sexual acts and sexual conduct with at least six juvenile victims between the ages of 9 and 17.
Some of the alleged assaults took place at the church, Ferreras’ apartment and two youth camp retreats in Tsikilwa and Ingleside, both of which are in Illinois, police said.
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By Rosemary Regina Sobol
Tribune reporter
April 9, 2014
A youth minister has been charged with sexually assaulting six minors at his Cicero church and at two camps, and police say they believe there may be more victims.
Juan David Ferreras, 43, worked at Sonido De Alabanza Church as a youth minister, photographer and teacher when he had sexual contact with at least six minors ranging in age from 9 to 17, according to town spokesman Ray Hanania.
The attacks occurred in his apartment, in the church at 5510 W. 25th St. in Cicero and at two camps where he ran youth retreats, one of them in Tsikilwa and the other in Ingleside, Hanania said.
Ferreras, of the 5700 block of West 35th Street in Cicero, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault, sexual exploitation of a child, indecent solicitation of a child, distribution of harmful material and battery. He is scheduled to appear in bond court today.
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