ABUSE TRACKER

ISRAEL/RUSSIA
JTA

April 9, 2014

(JTA) — An Israel-based priest who is facing extradition to his native Russia on child molestation charges said he would leave soon to prove his innocence.

Prosecutors in St. Petersburg asked Israel to extradite Gleb Grozovsky, 34, earlier this week in connection with allegations that he molested two girls in Greece last year, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.

On Tuesday, Grozovsky, who is working in Israel in a program that helps drug addicts, wrote on the Vkontakte social network that he would fight the allegations in court.

“I will return to Russia soon, where I will defend my innocence and the honor of Archpriest Viktor Grozovsky’s family because the Russian law enforcement authorities are already making an attempt to hold members of our big family criminally liable, and illegally, by inflicting psychological pressure,” Grozovsky wrote.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office requested the extradition based on what one unnamed source said were ”materials obtained from the Investigations Committee’s Investigations Department for St. Petersburg in connection with a case involving the molestation of two minors.”

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Catherine Clifford

A 60-year-old former Catholic priest, facing multiple historic child sex abuse charges, has re-appeared at Armidale Local Court.

The former priest appeared before Her Honour Magistrate Karen Stafford.

It’s alleged the accused committed the assaults against three girls and six boys at unspecified locations in Armidale, Moree, Narrabri and Inverell.

The Crown alleges the assaults took place during the 1970s and 1980s.

On Wednesday, at Armidale Local Court, the accused was represented by Mr Hament Dhanji, SC.

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ISRAEL
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi Eliezar Berland, the head of the Shuvu Banim Breslov hasidic faction, was arrested in Zimbabwe today and then released, Arutz Sheva reported.

Berland fled Israel last year after he was accused of sexually abusing female followers, some of whom were allegedly minors at the time the abuse allegedly took place, and is still wanted for questioning by Israeli police.

Because of that, Berland has been forced to stay in countries, like Morocco and Zimbabwe, which do not have extradition treaties with Israel.

Berland’s son, grandson and several other close followers were arrested last year in Israel for alleged fraud, embezzlement and money laundering, leading some to wonder if Berland may be wanted for questioning involving those alleged crimes, as well.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

Fugitive Israeli Rabbi Eliezar Berland, head of the Shuvu Banim Hassidic sect, was arrested in Zimbabwe on Monday, according to reports in the local media.

The rabbi was later released but faces deportation from the African country due to an expired visa, according to the reports.

Berland fled Israel some 18 months ago after being accused of committing indecent acts against several female followers, some of whom were minors at the time of the alleged abuse. He spent time in the United States, Italy, Switzerland and Morocco before arriving in Zimbabwe two months ago.

Shortly after he fled Israel, his son, grandson and several other followers were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering involving the sect’s finances.

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BERMUDA
Bermuda Sun

Danny McDonald
Wednesday, April 09, 2014

More than a dozen members of the Anglican Church of Bermuda have been certified to prevent, recognize and respond to child sex abuse on the island.

The advocacy group Saving Children and Revealing Secrets (SCARS) provided the training to Bishop Nicholas Dill, along with current and retired clergy of the Diocese.

It became the island’s first church to ensure that a representative in each parish — 15 in total — had such training.

“Child sexual abuse is so often kept secret that statistics vary widely but what we do know is that it exists in Bermuda and is quite prevalent,” said Debi Ray-Rivers, SCARS executive director.

“Some research in the U.S. has shown that as many as one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually molested before their 18th birthday, which means that no organization is untouched by this personally and socially-devastating issue.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

A cardinal and nine bishops walk into the state Capitol — and the very bad joke was on them.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn and Bishop William Murphy of Long Island were among the Catholic prelates who traveled to Albany to seek tax credits for private school donations.

It was their top priority, a crucial step toward rescuing financially troubled parochial schools. In a year when lawmakers were focusing on education , the cardinal and bishops had reason to believe their timing was right.

They met with Gov. Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate co-leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein. The elected officials smiled and nodded and gave assurances.

And the bishops came away feeling suckered. The politicians led them to believe one thing, then did another.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Summary: The Catholic bishops in Germany have started an intensive study to clarify the extent of sexual violence against children and young people in the church. The plan is to raise case numbers from all dioceses and analyze influence of the church on perpetrators and victims. Can this be done? Many people want to bring light to the darkness.]

Pro und Contra

Die katholischen Bischöfe in Deutschland haben eine umfangreiche Studie in Auftrag gegeben: Sie soll das Ausmaß sexueller Gewalt gegen Kinder und Jugendliche in der Kirche klären. Geplant ist, Fallzahlen aus allen Bistümern zu erheben und den Einfluss der Kirche auf Täter und Opfer zu analysieren. Kann das gelingen?

Ja! Viele Menschen wollen Licht ins Dunkel bringen

Die Kirche muss sich einer kritischen Durchleuchtung ihres Verhaltens stellen. Meint sie es ernst mit ihrer Ankündigung, aus den Missbrauchsfällen der vergangenen Jahrzehnte zu lernen? Viele Verantwortliche in der Kirche wollen das inzwischen, weil sie wissen: Nur so können verloren gegangenes Vertrauen und die so sehr in Mitleidenschaft gezogene Glaubwürdigkeit der Kirche zurück gewonnen werden. Sie wollen Licht ins Dunkel bringen, um besser verstehen zu können, wie es dazu kommen konnte, dass in einem so erschreckend hohen Ausmaß sexueller Missbrauch im kirchlichen Kontext möglich war.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[Stellungnahme zur Hotline des Sankt Vincenzstiftes – statement]

[Kaspars Entschuldigung reicht Opfern nicht – Victims say the apology from Franz Kasper is not enough]

[Summary: After the explosion of costs for the bishop’s house in Limburg, former Vicard General Franz Kaspar has expressed deep regret over sexual abuse assault that happened after 1970 at St. Vincent home when he was director.]

Nach der Kostenexplosion für den Bischofssitz in Limburg zeigt der ehemalige Generalvikar Franz Kaspar Mitgefühl. „Ich möchte mein tiefes Bedauern darüber zum Ausdruck bringen, dass das Bauprojekt auf dem Domberg in Limburg das Bistum in eine solche Krise gestürzt hat, und ich hoffe, mit vielen anderen, dass es nun mit Weihbischof (Manfred) Grothe zu einem guten und erfolgreichen Neuanfang kommen wird“, heißt es in einer am Dienstag verbreiteten Stellungnahme Kaspars.

In den vier Zeilen, die sich auf Limburg beziehen, geht er aber nicht ein auf den von Papst Franziskus zum Amtsverzicht gedrängten früheren Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst. Dieser hatte Kaspar einen wesentlichen Teil der Verantwortung für die Kostenexplosion zugeschoben. Dafür war Tebartz-van Elst wiederum vom Mainzer Bischof Kardinal Karl Lehmann kritisiert worden. Die Kosten für den Umbau des Bischofssitzes waren von ehedem veranschlagten rnd fünf Millionen Euro auf mehr als 30 Millionen Euro geklettert.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

[Summary: Father Marco Rasia, former pastor of Castelletto Ticino, has been sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of sexual abuse of children. He was arrested on April 12 last year and accused to abusing at least six children under age 16.]

E’ stato condannato a sei anni di carcere don Marco Rasia, ex parroco di Castelletto Ticino (Novara), accusato di aver compiuto atti sessuali su minori. Il prete era stato arrestato il 12 aprile dello scorso anno con l’accusa di aver avuto rapporti sessuali con almeno sei ragazzini di 16 anni. I fatti si riferiscono al 2000, quando don Rasia era alla parrocchia di Castelletto Ticino. Sarebbero proseguiti anche dopo il suo trasferimento a Omegna (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola).

Don Marco ha sempre respinto ogni accusa, sostenendo che i rapporti erano consenzienti e che in un caso ci sarebbe stata una vera e propria relazione. Il giudice dell’udienza preliminare di Novara, Gianfranco Pezone, lo ha ritenuto responsabile di violenza sessuale, pur riconoscendo la lieve entità di alcuni episodi, e l’ha condannato a 6 anni. I pm Giovanni Caspani e Irina Grossi avevano chiesto 6 anni e 8 mesi.

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ZIMBABWE
allAfrica

New Zimbabwe

A FUGITIVE rabbi, who fled Israel after he was accused of abusing underage girls and sleeping with numerous married women, has finally been arrested in Bulawayo.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 72, who is head of Shuvu Banim, one of the largest Jewish educational institutions in Jerusalem, has for a number of weeks been living in various upmarket lodges in Bulawayo.

But luck ran out for him Monday evening when police raided his hideout – Room 301 Holiday Inn in Bulawayo – to arrest him.

Berland was caught with a handful of faithfuls from Israel after cops got a tip off about his whereabouts.

He is being charged with remaining in Zimbabwe without a permit following the expiry of his visitor’s visa.

Berland pleaded guilty to the crime before magistrate Sibongile Msipa and was remanded in custody to this Wednesday.

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.

SIRAEL/ZIMBABWE
Jerusalem Post

By JEREMY SHARON
LAST UPDATED: 04/09/2014

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, a leader of the Breslov Hassidic community wanted in Israel on suspicion of sexual molestation, was questioned on Tuesday by police in Zimbabwe where he currently resides.

Berland, who heads the Shuvu Banim Breslov community in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim neighborhood, fled Israel some 18 months ago after being accused of sexual abuse.

After several stops, he took up residence in Morocco but was expelled after a seven month stay by King Mohammed VI in light of the accusations against him, after which he sought refuge in Zimbabwe with a group of his followers.

The Hebrew daily Ma’ariv reported that Berland was brought in for questioning by Zimbabwe’s immigration authorities on Tuesday morning and was released a short time after.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Mark Russell April 9, 2014

At least 20 victims of former Ballarat paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale have instructed a lawyer to prepare a class action against the Ballarat Catholic diocese.

The landmark class action against the Catholic Church will be the first test of Cardinal George Pell’s recent commitment to make the church less hostile to litigation from sex abuse victims.

Lawyer Vivian Waller said the victims had instructed her to launch claims 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.

On Tuesday, Ridsdale, who admitted to abusing at least 53 children between 1961 and 1982, was sentenced to eight more years’ jail, after he pleaded guilty to 39 new charges involving sex offences against 11 boys and three girls, he having already been jailed in previous court cases.

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.

FLORIDA
NBC Miami

[with video]

A South Florida youth pastor testified Tuesday in the sex abuse trial against him.

Jeffery London, charged with several counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and sexual battery on minors, said on the stand that helping people was a part of his Christian upbringing.

“It was like I was a beacon,” London said. “If a child was in trouble, send him to Mr. London. I didn’t go out looking for anyone’s children, they came to me.”

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, the Sun Sentinel reported. London faces life in prison if convicted, according to the newspaper.

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FLORIDA
Local 10

Author: Andrea Torres, Local10.com Reporter/Producer, atorres@local10.com

FORT LAUDERDALE –
Former youth pastor Jeffrey London cried while he was on the stand Tuesday, as he defended himself against accusations that he sexually assaulted four boys.

The four boys, who are now ages 16 to 26, said the pastor abused them for years when they were teenagers. London, who was charged with 27 counts of child abuse, said he allowed the boys to stay in his home, because they were in need of a paternal figure.

As defense attorney Lourdes Gonzalez questioned him, he stared at jurors when he said he was helping boys in need.

“I had a need to help,” London, 50, said 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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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

By Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
5:30 a.m. EDT, April 9, 2014

Jeffery London, the former youth pastor accused of molesting more than a dozen teenage boys at his homes in Coral Springs and Lauderdale Lakes, took the stand Tuesday to tell a Broward jury that he is innocent.

London, 50, is on trial for 27 counts of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious conduct, all involving teenagers entrusted to his care between 2000 and 2011. The trial involves four alleged victims, with three others having testified to similar behavior in the same time period.

The names of the victims are being withheld by the Sun Sentinel because of the nature of the allegations.

But the defendant, under questioning from defense lawyer Lourdes Gonzalez, denied it all.

“Have you ever had a sexual encounter of any kind with any of these boys?” Gonzalez asked.

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.

WISCONSIN
WISN

[with video]

MEQUON, Wis. —Some victims of sex abuse at the hands of religious clergy attended the Mass of Atonement at Lumen Christi Parish in Mequon on Tuesday. Some joined church leaders in prayer while others protested.

Those who protested outside were invited to participated in the Mass, but said they wanted no part of it.

About 100 people attended the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Jerome Listecki.

At one point during the service, Listecki laid down on the floor. It was meant as a symbolic gesture to ask forgiveness for the sins of the clergy involved in sexual abuse cases.

“What can help us to go forward is our reliance on faith and to understand that there is a God and that God can heal and God can forgive,” Listecki said.

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HAWAII
KHVH

The Catholic Church in Hawaii is facing another lawsuit, claiming that a former Bishop sexually abused a boy who went to him to report he had been abused by another priest. Attorneys for the 59-year-old Honolulu man filed the suit last week claiming that now-deceased Reverend Joseph Ferrario sexually abused him in the 1960s. The same attorneys filed a lawsuit last year on behalf of a Los Angeles man who claimed Ferrario did the same to him in the 1970s. The lawsuits are filed under a Hawaii law providing a two-year window for claims of sexual abuse against minors to be made, even if the statute of limitations has lapsed. That window closes April 24.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Lawyers are preparing to launch a class action against the Catholic Church on behalf of the victims of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

Ridsdale was sentenced to eight years in jail on Tuesday for abusing 14 children over three decades.

The 80-year-old pleaded guilty to the charges, which included raping and abusing children as young as four.

The sentence adds three years to the jail term he is already serving for offences committed against dozens of girls and boys in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Lawyer Vivian Waller will represent at least 20 people in a claim against the Diocese of Ballarat.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | April 9, 2014

Victims of convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale are set to sue the Ballarat Catholic diocese in Australia.

On Tuesday, Judge Michael Rozenes sentenced Mr Ridsdale to an 8-year jail term with a minimum non-parole period of five years for the sexual abuse of 14 children during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The 80-year-old former priest is expected to die in prison serving his jail term.

Vivian Waller, counsel of the 20 people whom Mr Ridsdale victimised, said she has been instructed to file a lawsuit against the Diocese of Ballarat on the note that Mr Ridsdale remained a priest even after it was already known he was a sexual predator because of the church’s deliberate negligence and cover-ups.

“(We’ll be) noting indeed that the Archdiocese of Melbourne knew since 1975 that Ridsdale was a sexual offender and failed to report these matters to the police or even to take Ridsdale out of circulation and contact with children,” she said.

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UNITED STATES
Globe-Gazette

John Crisp
McClatchy-Tribune columnist

I like Pope Francis, though I won’t be thoroughly smitten by him until he changes his mind on celibacy, contraception and equality for women in the church.

Still, he seems like a good man, and his humility and modesty appear to be having a healthy influence on his flock.

Recently, Francis rid the church of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the so-called “Bishop of Bling,” for billing the Vatican and German taxpayers for $42 million to renovate his Limburg residence, including $620,000 for artwork and $1.1 million for landscaping. The Los Angeles Times reports that when the bishop went to India to minister to the poor, he flew, of course, first class.

Others took notice of the bishop’s dismissal. Last week Archbishop William Gregory of Atlanta decided that spending $2.2 million for a 6,400-square-foot Tudor-style mansion to serve as his residence wasn’t such a good idea. And Archbishop John Myers of Newark, N.J., is facing considerable criticism for planning a $500,000 renovation to his luxurious retirement home, including another elevator, an indoor therapy pool and an office library.

The Catholic Church is renowned for its opulence and pomp, but it has no monopoly on failure to consider the lilies. Western protestants often forget that it’s the meek who will inherit the earth and that the rich will have an easier time getting through the eye of a needle than into the kingdom.

In fact, for world-class misplaced, materialistic religious values, consider the “prosperity gospel,” the dubious notion that God means for us to be wealthy — or at least comfortable — and that righteousness is rewarded with money.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Termonbacca children’s home was a “warm and loving place” a former senior social worker in Derry has told the inquiry investigating institutional abuse at care homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

He was the second witness, formerly involved in social work in the city, to praise the level of care provided by the nuns at two residential homes in the city.

The witness, who cannot be named, told the inquiry he first visited Termonbacca in 1975 as there were children there under supervision of the social work team he led.

Questioned by the inquiry’s junior counsel Joseph Aiken, the witness said he found the environment there to be warm and caring and the staff, including some of the sisters to be “very caring”.

He said he saw them in a positive way. It was very large home, he continued, and admitted that children might well have found it intimidating because of its size but he found it welcoming. He admitted that some children could become institutionalised in such a large setting.

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CALIFORNIA
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

Below is a quote from an article, The Roots of Pastoral Response by Paul Fericano, published in the Santa Barbara Independent from February 5, 2014. This quote tells about one of the important things we accomplished at Ascension Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon — for seven years we have published in the parish weekly bulletin sources of support for survivors that included the names and contact information for two independent organizations with clergy abuse survivors as founders — SafeNet and Compassionate Gathering. (Please note that the co-founder of Compassionate Gathering is Elizabeth Goeke, who is a clinical counselor and former nun. She left her order after being assaulted by a priest. Elizabeth suffered a detached retina and had some grandchildren who needed full time care so she is now retired.)

Only one (Ascension Parish in Portland) has printed a weekly notice continuously (for both the OPO and SafeNet) since 2007. (During this period, and as a result of this one parish’s pastoral response, SafeNet has received nearly two dozen inquiries from survivors and family members living in the Pacific Northwest.)

I don’t have Paul’s permission to link the article so I can’t link it but I can tell you where to find it:

[Santa Barbara Independent]

You can cut and paste in your browser or go to the website of The Santa Barbara Independent and look up Paul Fericano and the article.

What we have been doing at Ascension since the Fall of 2005, not merely since 2007, is what needs to take place at every Catholic Church.

Paul Fericano helped us get started on the work although I can’t really say anything more about him as I don’t have his permission, but I don’t feel OK if I don’t give credit where credit is due. Paul deserves lots of credit as my work would have been impossible without his help. I could not have done what I did without his help or the help of others — namely Fr. Armando Lopez. Still Fr. Armando Lopez would not have done what he did in terms of ordering announcements in the parish bulletin that included the names and contact information of two clergy abuse survivors — Paul and Elizabeth Goeke — every week for 7 years without me and other parishioners (Jim, Helen, Mary Lou and Fran) requesting that he do so. Fr. Armando also placed the name of an abusive predecessor — Gus Krumm — and invited survivors to come forward and advertised my Compassionate Gatherings to bring together survivors with other Catholics for listening, healing and reconciliation. Once again he did this at my request as well as Helen’s and Jim’s and with the tacit support of Mary Lou and Fran. No, we did not bring together abusers and victims together, just survivors and other Catholics. I have been involved with citizen diplomacy since the 1980s and thought that the best way to help Catholics understand the issue of clergy abuse was to have them hear the stories of survivors in person. It is much harder to dismiss a person to their face than it is to dismiss a newspaper article. And it works to produce lots of understanding and healing.

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.

IRELAND
The Guardian (UK)

Catherine Shoard
The Guardian, Tuesday 8 April 2014

There’s apocalypse in the air the day I go to Dublin. In the driving wind and rain, traffic seizes up, umbrellas crumble, and my map turns to pulp. Later, planes won’t land and lights won’t work. Thank heavens, then, for Brendan Gleeson, holed up in the basement of a hotel near parliament. He grips my hand and grins, massive and unflappable, as the courtyard outside the window seems to explode.

For all his smiling, though, it seems Gleeson isn’t in the most reassuring mood: the apocalypse, it seems, isn’t just swirling around Dublin. “The whole world is in cataclysmic disillusionment,” he says, pouring his fizzy water. “There’s a sense of grieving going on for the loss of clarity over what’s acceptable and what’s not. People don’t trust in the concept of goodness, or in the authorities defining it for us. Religion in general has been dismantled in western Europe. All systems – socialist or capitalist – are crashing.”

The time is right, in other words, for Calvary, Gleeson’s new film, premiered the night before for the home crowd. “There seemed to be a pleasant sense of shock in the room,” he says. “A pleasant whiff of trauma. The reaction tends to be muted – you don’t get standing ovations. But you know it’s working.”

Calvary is the first film to face up to the sexual-abuse scandals that have so tainted the Catholic church lately. Its genius lies in doing this upside down – by querying the anger as much as channelling it. Gleeson plays Father James, a good priest in a west-coast town riven with sin and spite. In the first scene, he takes confession from a man who’s known to him but anonymous to the audience. The man tells him he was repeatedly raped as a boy by a priest, who’s since died. So next Sunday, he’s going to murder blameless Father James as an enforced act of penance. “I’m going to kill you, Father,” says the man, “because you’ve done nothing wrong.”

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 9, 2014

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Mark Russell

Victims of one of Australia’s most notorious paedophile priests, Gerald Ridsdale, are preparing a landmark class action 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.

Lawyer Vivian Waller said at least 20 victims had instructed her to launch claims 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.

On Tuesday, Ridsdale, who admitted to abusing at least 53 children between 1961 and 1982, was sentenced to eight more years’ jail, after he pleaded guilty to 39 new charges involving sex offences against 11 boys and three girls, he having already been jailed in previous court cases.

County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes said Ridsdale’s ”unfettered sexual deviance” had been a blatant breach of trust.

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.

NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

The April 10 webinar, featuring Ms. Foundation Senior Strategist Julie F. Kay, and others, plus Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, sponsor of the Child Victims Act of New York, will present national experts on childhood sexual abuse and the movement to reform the statute of limitations on these offenses in New York State.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MS. FOUNDATION AND DOWNSTATE CRIME VICTIMS COALITON
PRESENT APRIL 10 EDUCATIONAL WEBINAR ON NEED TO REFORM
NY’S ANTIQUATED CHILD SEX ABUSE STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS

Female survivors are focus of on-line event featuring Assemblywoman Markey, whose Child Victims Act bill seeks to remove criminal and civil SOLs for childhood sex abuse

The Ms. Foundation for Women, in partnership with the Downstate Crime Victims Coalition, is putting technology to work to reach a statewide audience of victim services and other professionals who provide support and counseling for female survivors of childhood sexual abuse,

The April 10 webinar, featuring Ms. Foundation Senior Strategist Julie F. Kay, and others, plus Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, sponsor of the Child Victims Act of New York, will present national experts on childhood sexual abuse and the movement to reform the statute of limitations on these offenses in New York State.

The program, “Female Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Access to Justice,” seeks to educate professionals and advocates about the urgent need to reform antiquated criminal and civil statute of limitations codes in New York State, which currently require victims to report these offenses within five years after the victim turns 18. The Markey legislation (Assembly bill A1771A), would completely eliminate these statutes of limitations and also provide a one-year civil suspension to permit older victims of abuse to get justice.

Assemblywoman Markey, explaining why current statute of limitations codes in New York are inadequate, said: “Research consistently shows that survivors of childhood sexual abuse do not come to terms with what happened to them until later in life, often not until middle age. Providing more time for them to come forward not only provides justice for those who have been victimized, but will also expose pedophiles who remain hidden because of current law.”

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.

FLORIDA
CBS Miami

Joan Murray
CBS4 Reporter

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) — A former youth pastor accused of sexually assaulting young children took the stand on Tuesday.

Jeffrey London, 50, is accused of molesting four boys who are now grown men. He is charged with 27 counts of child abuse.

London took the stand saying helping people is a calling in his life. He went on to talk about the first child he helped save from the streets.

On Monday, defense gave their opening arguments. Two witnesses later took the stand.

The first witness who took the stand worked at the church and said it was impossible for the sexual abuse to happen. The witness argued the alleged victim’s time frames don’t make sense because there would be have been no time to commit the sexual abuse.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 9, 2014

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

The Christian Brothers have agreed to pay for the cremation of child sexual abuse victim Barry Wilson, who is dying of liver cancer, a victims advocate says.

Mr Wilson was sexually abused when he was about eight years old at the Christian Brothers’ St Augustine’s Orphanage in Geelong.

He gave evidence on Tuesday to the royal commission into child sexual abuse from his hospital bed in Kerang. Mr Wilson was filmed reading aloud his police statement so the evidence could be used in a police investigation into the abuse after his death.

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OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 8, 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 Guthrie pastor has pleaded guilty and has been convicted of lewd acts with a child. We are glad this dangerous predator is finally going to prison and we are grateful for the brave victim for speaking out.

[News 9]

David Moore, the pastor at True Life Ministries, was convicted in 2002 of lewd acts with a child, making yesterday’s conviction his second. This goes to show that predators rarely attack once. We are extremely disappointed that True Life Ministries hired Moore. At best they did not do their due diligence and background checking him. At worst they allowed a convicted child molester to work in their church giving him the opportunity to abuse again.

We urge True Life Ministries officials to seek out anyone else who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes at the hands of Moore and to take immediate action against any employee who helped endanger kids by ignoring or concealing Moore’s crimes. We hope the victims will gain peace and courage from his prison sentence and start healing.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A boys’ home being examined for claims of abuse provided a “warm and caring” environment, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard.

The comments were made by a retired director of the former Western Health and Social Services Trust.

The inquiry is examining claims of abuse at 13 homes and training centres in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.

The witness said he visited Termonbacca Catholic Boys Home in Londonderry as a social worker in the 1970s.

Evidence

Two months into the inquiry, two homes are still being examined, St Joseph’s, Termonbacca and Nazareth House, both in Derry.

Since the inquiry opened, most of the evidence has been from former residents, with stories of sexual, mental and physical abuse.

The retired health board official, who is giving evidence under an anonymity agreement, said Termonbacca was a very large home with up to 60 children.

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HAWAII
SF Gate

HONOLULU (AP) — Another lawsuit against the Catholic Church in Hawaii claims that a former Bishop sexually abused a boy who went to him to report he had been abused by another priest.

Attorneys for the 59-year-old Honolulu man filed the suit last week claiming that now-deceased Rev. Joseph Ferrario sexually abused him in the 1960s. The same attorneys filed a lawsuit last year on behalf of a Los Angeles man who claimed Ferrario did the same to him in the 1970s.

The lawsuits are filed under a Hawaii law providing a two-year window for claims of sexual abuse against minors to be made, even if the statute of limitations has lapsed. The window closes April 24.

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PUERTO RICO
Metro

[Summary: Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda expressed satisfaction with the verdict issued by Judge Angel Pagan Ocasio which directs the Arecibo diocese to deliver within 15 days all information related to cases of sexual abuse by priests in the diocese. The judge’s decision is not only correct from the point of law but is also compatible with the public outcry that supports safety of children in Puerto Rico.]

El secretario de Justicia, César Miranda, expresó su satisfacción con el veredicto emitido por el juez Ángel Pagán Ocasio del Tribunal de San Juan, en el cual ordena a la Diócesis de Arecibo de la Iglesia Católica la entrega en un plazo de 15 días de todas la información relacionada con los casos de abuso sexual en los que hayan estado involucrados sacerdotes de la mencionada región eclesiástica del país.

“Esta decisión del juez Pagán Ocasio no sólo es correcta desde el punto de vista de derecho, sino que también resulta compatible con el clamor público de que todos unemos esfuerzos para salvaguardar la seguridad de los niños y niñas de Puerto Rico, esto sobre cualquier otra consideración. En este caso, prevaleció el interés del Estado de proteger a nuestros menores de edad de posibles ataques sexuales por parte de pederastas”, indicó Miranda en comunicado de prensa.

El titular del DJ destacó que, en su sentencia, el referido magistrado hizo un “enérgico llamado a la cooperación a las partes para erradicar el terrible mal del abuso sexual contra menores que tan devastador daño ha hecho a la Iglesia y al Estado”. A tono con la orden judicial, los líderes diocesanos arecibeños, tienen que cumplir con los requisitos de información hechos por el Departamento de Justicia (DJ), mediante subpoenas, sobre los abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes, sin importar la fecha en que éstos hayan sido cometidos.

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PUERTO RICO
Metro

La Diócesis de Arecibo deberá entregar a la Justicia en un plazo de 15 días los documentos confidenciales que tratan sobre los casos de abuso sexual perpetrados por sacerdotes en contra de menores de edad. Así lo determinó esta tarde el juez Ángel Pagán Ocasio, quien falló en contra de la solicitud de ese distrito eclesiástico.

En su fallo, el magistrado señala que son constitucionalmente válidos los requerimientos del Departamento de Justicia, luego de que la Diócesis en cuestión solicitase el “cese y desista” contra Justicia que impediría la entrega de los citados documentos.

En una sentencia de 70 páginas, Pagán Ocasio concluye que “procede la entrega de los documentos allí solicitados, exceptuando lo que se obtuvo mediante el sacramento de la confesión, al estar protegidos. Por lo que se ordena a la parte demandante la entrega a los demandados de lo solicitado en los subpoenas (medios de prueba tangibles), en el término de 15 días a partir de la notificación de la sentencia”.

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PUERTO RICO
Boston.com

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A judge in Puerto Rico has ordered a diocese to provide state prosecutors with all confidential documents related to an ongoing sexual abuse probe.

The ruling issued Monday resolves a lawsuit that the Diocese of Arecibo recently filed against the island’s justice secretary arguing that it should not have to release additional information to prosecutors. The diocese had said it sought to protect the identity of those who made the allegations and that it had already provided sufficient information.

The diocese has defrocked six priests accused of sex abuse, and prosecutors are investigating at least 11 other priests in the U.S. territory facing similar accusations. At least four dioceses are being investigated.

The ruling gives the diocese two weeks to turn over the information.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN APRIL 08, 2014

A PRIEST who allegedly witnessed predatory pedophile Gerald Ridsdale raping a young girl 40 years ago has been slammed by a judge, but the clergyman’s identity has been withheld from the public.

The Chief Judge of the County Court criticised the alleged witness priest — whose identity is known by the victim, court, Office of Police Prosecutions and Ridsdale’s lawyers.

But the judge refused a Herald Sun application for access to documents in which he is believed to be named.

In sentencing one of Australia’s most notorious pedophile priests to eight years in jail, Judge Michael Rozenes said: “Although it does not directly involve you, Mr Ridsdale, there is a further disturbing aspect to this incident, namely that this complainant believes another priest was present for a short time while you were sexually assaulting her and must have been aware of the assault but did not intervene.

“I raise this merely to make an observation: namely that this behaviour appears to be demonstrative of the church’s approach to sexual abuse at the time which ultimately — and unfortunately, for your victims — allowed your criminal behaviour to go unchecked for so long.’’

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ITALY
New York Daily News

BY LEE MORAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, April 8, 2014

An Italian priest stole cash from a group of nuns to pay a young Moroccan man for sex, police said.

The holy man, who has not been named, allegedly swiped money entrusted to him by the local convent in Feltre, Belluno.

He then reportedly used it to pay his lover — with whom it is believed he had a “long-standing relationship.”

The amount of money he is accused of stealing has not yet been revealed, but some sources suggest it was into the thousands of euros.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 8, 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 blogger reports that a “hero’s welcome” is being given to a Hassidic man who was convicted of attempting to buy the silence of a victim of sexual abuse.

[Jerusalem Post]

If this is true, it is utterly heart-breaking. And it will lead to, we sadly predict, even more child sex crimes and cover ups in religious communities. When wrongdoing is rewarded, wrongdoing will be repeated. And innocent children will suffer.

According to the Jerusalem Post, “Abraham Rubin, 50, a member of the Satmar hassidic (ultra-Orthodox) sect in Brooklyn, offered over half-a-million dollars to buy the silence of the unnamed victim. The minor’s testimony regarding repeated instances of sexual abuse helped secure the conviction of unlicensed therapist Nehemia Weberman.”

The blogger wrote that “Not only was (Rubin) welcomed with singing, dancing and a festive meal, he was also an honored guest in the home of his rebbe.”

Rubin clearly broke a secular law designed to help our justice system operate with integrity. Worse, he deliberately took steps to protect a child molester.

He should be shunned, not praised. Those who honor and welcome him are dishonoring child sex abuse victims and helping to ensure that there will be more child sex abuse victims. They should be ashamed of themselves.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 8, 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)

New Jersey’s attorney general is honoring the work of a wonderful, tireless volunteer who heads the state’s chapter of our organization. We are grateful for Mark Crawford’s ceaseless compassion and courage. His efforts over the past decade have helped expose dangerous clergy predators and corrupt church officials. And his work has deterred cover ups of child sex crimes while also consoling those who have been sexually assaulted.

[The Star-Ledger]

Mark has also spent countless hours helping to bring legislative reform to sometimes archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly state laws so that kids can better be protected.

Many victims of heinous child sex crimes struggle mightily to recover. Relatively few, however, are able to turn their pain into a positive source of healing and prevention for others. Mark is one of these few. We are thrilled that he’s a part of our movement.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 8, 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 )

In the wake of yesterday’s decision in the Fr. Christopher Wenthe case, we call on Minnesota lawmakers to clarify the state law criminalizing the sexual exploitation of adult congregants by clergy.

[Pioneer Press]

Something is dreadfully wrong when a powerful, persuasive cleric who allegedly is Christ’s representative on earth gets “off the hook” because (according to the Pioneer Press) “jurors must agree on which particular meeting between priest and victim was the one in which she sought or received spiritual advice or aid” and because “the state must prove (a cleric) knew the woman sought or received spiritual advice during the sexually infused meeting.”

These laws – making it illegal for religious figures to have sexual contact with congregants who seek their help – are relatively new. So it’s not surprising that there may be loopholes. But those loopholes should be fixed quickly. Clerics are often among the most charismatic, clever and well-educated sexual predators. We must do all we can to prevent them from abusing their power, prestige and positions. And tightening up these laws would be a good start.

We are grateful that Fr. Wenthe failed in his bid to completely overturn this crucial law that helps prevent adults from being sexually abused and exploited. But we hope this setback will give lawmakers the clarity and incentive to improve this crucial law.

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OKLAHOMA
9 News

Posted: Apr 07, 2014

Lisa Monahan, News 9

A Logan County pastor pleads guilty to lewd acts with a child, and it’s not his first time.

True Life Ministries Pastor, David Moore was convicted of the sex crime early Monday morning.
As a convicted sex offender, Moore was restricted from interacting with children, but court papers indicated he dismissed those regulations and went even further.

A 12-year-old girl told investigators Moore rubbed her feet and legs, made her and another girl watch pornography and stay at his Guthrie home last month.

He was also accused of getting the girls drunk. The child said it made her feel uncomfortable.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

MELISSA IARIA
April 8, 2014

A Catholic priest who sexually abused 15 schoolboys has become a sorry and shameful pariah, known wherever he goes as “the pedophile priest”, a court has heard.

Frank Gerard Klep, 70, abused the boys at Salesian College Rupertswood from 1973 to 1984.

In the aftermath, he endured a spectacular fall from grace, the Victorian County Court heard on Tuesday.

Defence barrister Julie Sutherland says Klep’s remorse was heartfelt and real, having told a friend he was “profoundly sorry and ashamed”.

After his crimes surfaced, he was demoted, forbidden to work with children and stripped of his priesthood duties.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Libido-suppressing drug Zoladex should be on PBS to treat sex offenders, psychiatrist Danny Sullivan says

BY LOUISE MILLIGAN
April 8, 2014

One of Australia’s leading forensic psychiatrists is pushing for a libido-suppressing drug to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat serial sex offenders.

Dr Danny Sullivan of Forensicare has worked with some of the most notorious rapists, paedophiles and killers in the Victorian criminal justice system.

Dr Sullivan says the drug, clinically known as an LHRH agonist and marketed as Zoladex, has been successful in reducing recidivism rates of sex offenders overseas, particularly in the US state of Oregon.

“In Oregon, the Government passed legislation in the early 1990s that all sexual offenders leaving prison would be assessed for medication to reduce their sexual drive,” Dr Sullivan has told the ABC’s 7.30 program.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Chris McGreal
theguardian.com, Tuesday 8 April 2014

There is a Roman Catholic priest at a medieval church an hour’s drive from Paris who has been indicted by a United Nations court for genocide, extermination, murder and rape in Rwanda.

Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka was notorious during the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis for wearing a gun on his hip and colluding with the Hutu militia that murdered hundreds of people sheltering in his church. A Rwandan court convicted the priest of genocide and sentenced him in absentia to life in prison. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda spent years trying to bring him to trial.

But the Catholic church in France does not see any of this as a bar to serving as a priest and has gone out of its way to defend Munyeshyaka.

It’s not an isolated case. After the genocide, a network of clergy and church organisations brought priests and nuns with blood on their hands in Rwanda to Europe and sheltered them. They included Father Athanase Seromba who ordered the bulldozing of his church with 2,000 Tutsis inside and had the survivors shot. Catholic monks helped him get to Italy, change his name and become a parish priest in Florence.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

JOEL CRESSWELL
April 8, 2014

To serial pedophile Gerald Francis Ridsdale, violating children was “the Lord’s work”.

That’s what he told one of his 53 victims as he assaulted the nine-year-old altar boy.

Ridsdale began befriending, isolating and preying on vulnerable children almost as soon as he was ordained as a priest in 1961.

It was not until 1993 that his atrocities caught up with him, with his first jail stint.

He has remained in jail since 1994 and the 79-year-old is almost certain to die in prison after Victorian County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes sentenced him for another eight years on the latest charges on Tuesday.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY GEORGE JACKSON

A retired priest has pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court in Derry to stealing almost £1,800 of church funds.

John Irwin (72) from Garvagh Road in Dungiven, admitted stealing £1,440 of collection money from St Patrick’s Church in Pennyburn between May 2011 and October 2012. He also pleaded guilty to stealing £300 belonging to the Derry Diocesan Fund between December 2009 and May 2011.

Defence solicitor Michael McGee told District Judge Barney McElholm that Irwin has repaid the £300 in relation to the second charge as well as compensation of £700 to the diocesan authorities.

He said it was Irwin’s intention to repay in full the £1,440 of collection money he stole and he also intended to pay compensation to the diocesan authorities in relation to that amount.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Clergy sexual assault survivors to hold memorial vigil outside of Archbishop Listecki’s “Mass of Atonement”

Clergy sexual assault survivors to hold memorial vigil outside of Archbishop Listecki’s “Mass of Atonement”
Survivors say that Listecki’s bankruptcy reorganization plan is “profoundly unrepentant” for criminal acts and cover ups and “no act of atonement”

WHAT
Victim/survivors of childhood rape, sexual assault, and abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will hold a memorial vigil for suicide victims of predator priests outside of Lumen Christi Catholic Church where Archbishop Jerome Listecki will be conducting a “Mass of Atonement” for clergy sexual abuse. After displaying childhood photos and candles in the makeshift memorial, survivors will discuss how Listecki’s recent plan filed in federal bankruptcy court is a clear sign that he and the archdiocese is “unrepentant” for its decades long history of criminal acts against children and cover-ups. Listecki’s plan calls for paying a handful of church and creditors lawyers in excess of $12.5 million dollars, compensate all survivors as a group with only $4 million dollars, while excluding 80 percent of the 575 victims who filed cases. The plan also would keep secret over 100 yet to be identified clergy and ministers who are alleged to have assaulted children in the archdiocese over the past 50 years.

WHERE
Outside of Lumen Christi Catholic Church, 2700 W. Mequon Road, Mequon

WHEN
Tuesday, April 8, 6:30 p.m. Remarks by victims will be at 6:45 p.m. Mass of Atonement will begin at 7:00 p.m.

CONTACT
Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director, 414.429.7259
John Pilmaier, 414.336.8575
Mike Sneesby, SNAP Milwaukee Director, 414.915.4374

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UNITED KINGDOM/IRELAND
Legal Futures

Leading civil liberties practice Hodge Jones & Allen (HJA) has received a full apology and damages from The Times newspaper over an article which accused the firm of misleading victims of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

The settlement came nearly a year since the original article was printed and with the London firm on the point of issuing a claim for libel.

The article – published under the headline “Law firms accused of misleading Magdalene victims” – reported an Irish government statement which suggested that HJA had falsely claimed in an advert to have drafted government proposals for a compensation scheme which was about to go live.

The advert aimed to inform the victims of the laundries of the scheme. The laundries, the last of which only closed in 1996, were run by religious orders; workers were held against their will and worked without pay to literally wash away their sins – usually the ‘sin’ of having a child outside wedlock.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A Vatican submission last December to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) made three significant statements of fact that are inaccurate.

One such statement, as reported in this newspaper last week, was its claim the four religious congregations which ran Magdalene laundries in Ireland were willing to pay part of a compensation scheme developed by the State for women who had been in the laundries.

Compensation scheme

This was untrue, but prompted Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to write to Rome seeking clarification. Since then, two of the congregations, the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity, have repeated their refusal to contribute. All four, including the Good Shepherd Sisters and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge, said last summer they would not be doing so.

However, it has emerged it was inaccurate of the Vatican to say it didn’t use the term “illegitimate” when referring to children and didn’t promote the corporal punishment of children. The 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Catholic Church states (Canon 1137) “children conceived or born of a valid or putative marriage are legitimate”. Canon 1138.2 states “children born at least 180 days after the day when the marriage was celebrated or within 300 days from the day of the dissolution of conjugal life are presumed to be legitimate”.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

The Salvation Army lied about their mistakes to two women raped by a paedophile royal commission told

THE Salvation Army was lying about their mistakes up to five years ago to two women raped and sexually abused by a paedophile at a Sunday school, the child sex abuse royal commission has been told.

The evidence emerged as the Salvos eastern territorial commander, James Condon, clashed with counsel assisting the commission in a heated exchange.

The women had wanted to know why nothing was done when they first reported John Lane, who taught at the Fortitude Valley corps in Brisbane, in 1992 to Colonel Stan Everitt, then the Salvos commander for that region.

The women, one of whom was only four when she was abused by Lane, went to police in 1996 and Lane was convicted and jailed. He has since died.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, March 31, 2014

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

GALLUP — When Bishop James S. Wall announced the Diocese of Gallup was filing for Chapter 11, he promised to be “open and transparent” during the reorganization process.

“In the coming weeks, the process of Chapter 11 will open our Diocese to unprecedented public scrutiny,” Wall stated in his announcement released over the Labor Day Weekend. “I believe that is a good thing. We will be open and transparent in this process, and I will do my best to keep you informed as the process continues. I invite you to e-mail and write me to share your reactions to this decision and the process all along the way.”

Since then, Wall has posted a small number of legal documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on the Diocese of Gallup’s website, but members of the public are left to their own devices to wade through the documents’ legalese to try to understand their content.

Wall and his bankruptcy attorneys have not been answering questions from the media, however.

In late January, an extensive list of questions was submitted to Wall. The bishop then transferred the questions to Susan G. Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, to answer.

“While I appreciate you raising these matters, I want you to know that it is our policy that we do not comment in the press on the matters that are before the Court or that may come before the Court,” Boswell replied in a letter.

Although she didn’t provide answers, Boswell instructed all future media questions about the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 case be directed to her rather than to Wall and the diocese.

Deacon Hoy’s house

A variety of subjects were raised, including questions about the accuracy of the list of confidential claimants compiled by the Gallup Diocese, the possible legal liability of other Catholic dioceses and religious orders, the reported underfunding of the Priests’ Retirement Fund/Pension Plan, and property reportedly owned by the late Bishop Donald E. Pelotte. A number of other questions pertained to real estate transactions involving the Gallup Diocese.

Several questions concerned a house recently owned by Deacon James P. Hoy, the diocese’s former chief financial officer who resigned two months before Wall’s Chapter 11 announcement. In the diocese’s first Monthly Operating Report to U.S. Bankruptcy Court, submitted for the period of Nov. 13-30, 2013, two documents indicated the Gallup Diocese might have been paying the insurance on Hoy’s personal home, listed with his address as “clergy housing.”

A subsequent records search of the property at the McKinley County Courthouse indicated real estate transactions involving that particular property, Hoy and the Gallup Diocese. A more in-depth title search and report offered information. According to the report:

-Hoy and his wife obtained the house, which had been offered for sale by another couple. The transaction is documented in a joint tenancy warranty deed dated Nov. 18, 1999. However, there is no record of the Hoys obtaining a mortgage to finance the purchase of the house.

-Less than four months later, on March 2, 2000, the Hoys transferred the property over to the “Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Gallup” with a quitclaim deed. The quitclaim deed was notarized by longtime Gallup chancery staffer Anna DiGregorio.

-The following year, on Nov. 30, 2001, the Gallup Diocese transferred the property back to the Hoys with a joint tenancy special warranty deed, signed by Bishop Pelotte. For this real estate deal, the Hoys did obtain a 30-year mortgage for $133,200.

-The Hoys sold the property to another couple in July 2013, after Hoy resigned from the diocese. However, in the Nov. 13-30, 2013, Monthly Operating Report filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the property is included as “clergy housing” in what appears to be a list of diocesan property insured with the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America.

The Gallup Diocese was asked a number of questions about these unusual real estate and insurance transactions involving its former chief financial officer. Boswell declined to answer any of the questions, citing the policy not to comment in the press on matters that may come before bankruptcy court.

Bishop’s private residence

Other questions concerned the Gallup property where the bishop’s private residence, his private chapel and the diocese’s “House of Discernment” are located.

In documents submitted to U.S. Bankruptcy Court, those pieces of property were not included in a list of property owned by the Diocese of Gallup. In December 2013, in testimony given at the Creditors Committee meeting, Wall stated his private residence is owned by the Catholic Peoples Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising organization of the diocese, and Wall stated the diocese owes back rent to the Foundation for his residence’s rent.

Again, a records search of the property at the McKinley County Courthouse indicated more real estate transactions. According to courthouse records:

-The property used to be owned by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrow of Oregon.

-The Southwest Indian Foundation gave the Franciscan Missionary Sisters a grant of $250,000 in 1984 to improve a girls’ group home on the property. The Sisters agreed “the residence, real estate and proposed improvements” would revert to the Gallup Diocese if the Sisters ever abandoned their girls’ group home, which they later did.

-On Jan. 23, 2009, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, then the temporary apostolic administrator for the diocese, transferred the property over to the Catholic Peoples Foundation with a quitclaim deed.

-On April 15, 2009, the Franciscan Missionary Sisters signed an identical quitclaim deed

-On Oct. 7, 2009, the Sisters transferred additional neighboring property to the Catholic Peoples Foundation with a quitclaim deed, rather than allow the property to revert to the Gallup Diocese.

Because part of the Chapter 11 process involves identifying assets of the Diocese of Gallup, the diocese was asked why property that was supposed to revert to diocesan ownership was transferred to the Catholic Peoples Foundation, and why the diocese signed a lease to rent property for the bishop’s residence that it once had a legal right to own.

Boswell declined to answer questions for this story.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Leader

April 07. 2014

By Mark Guydish – mguydish@civitasmedia.com

WILKES-BARRE — The Rev. Phillip Altavilla, a graduate of Bishop Hoban High School, now Holy Redeemer, is the fourth diocesan priest to face a judge on sexual misconduct charges in the last decade.

Altavilla’s hearing on three charges related to an alleged incident with a 13-year-old girl in 1998 is set for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday before Lackawanna County District Judge Laura Turlip.

While the number may be disheartening to members of the faith, it may also demonstrate the difference in how the Catholic Church has handled such cases since the national scandals at the turn of the millennium that prompted sweeping changes.

Police charged Altavilla last week with one count each of indecent assault, corruption of minors and criminal attempt of indecent assault, all allegedly occurring Christmas morning with a 13-year-old girl who had served midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Scranton, where Altavilla was pastor at the time.

Altavilla was immediately suspended from priestly duties, including his position as pastor of St. Peter’s Cathedral. According to police, the girl called him while they listened in and Altavilla admitted he plied the girl with alcohol, fondled her feet and moved his hands up her legs.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN APRIL 08, 2014

A PREDATOR priest who abused 15 boys across two decades should not die in jail because he has “so much to give” the community, his lawyer says.

Frank Klep’s crimes were so sick he was banned from working with children, stripped of his priestly duties and ultimately laicised by the Catholic Church.

But seeking mercy on his behalf today, Julie Sutherland, SC, told County Court judge Frank Gucciardo her 70-year-old client was a valuable member of the community.

“He clearly has so much to give. There are people in the community who could benefit by the help (and) comfort of this man,” she said.

Ms Sutherland said he had worked tirelessly for the community, fundraising for charity, and supporting drug addicts and victims of sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

More than half a century after he started sexually abusing the sons and daughters of his parishioners, Australia’s worst pedophile priest has learnt he is likely to die in jail.

Gerald Francis Ridsdale, 79, was given an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to 30 new charges against 14 boys and girls between 1961 and 1980, conduct described by the judge as “evil hypocrisy.”

But the notorious pedophile, already serving time for a campaign of abuse dating back to 1961 when he was ordained, will not be eligible for parole until April 2019.

The protection of the Catholic church, which moved him from parish to parish throughout his career, meant his offending spanned three decades.

He abused 53 children in that time.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

[Summary: During the ’50s and ’60s some pedophile priests found shelter in the psychiatric hospital in Heiloo, North Holland. One priest was on the run from the Belgian courts.]

In de jaren vijftig en zestig vonden minstens enkele pedofiele priesters onderdak in de psychiatrische inrichting in Heiloo, Noord-Holland. Een van hen was op de vlucht voor de Belgische justitie. Die beschouwde Heiloo als een ‘schuiloord’. De psychiaters konden zijn uitlevering tegenhouden.

Op de loop voor de Belgische justitie vond de pedofiele priester André B. in de jaren zestig onderdak in Nederland. Hij was in ons land twee keer veroordeeld voor zedenfeiten met minderjarige jongens en moest daarvoor nog een deel van zijn straf uitzitten, maar toen het tweede vonnis werd geveld, was hij al uit België vertrokken. Met hulp van de bisschop van Brugge kon hij zich als patiënt in de Sint-Willibrordusstichting in Heiloo inschrijven. Daar werd hij anderhalf jaar behandeld.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

[A priest in the Trier diocese has commented on allegations against him. He said he has made no admission of guilt.]

“Meine Damen und Herren, liebe Freunde,

die Ereignisse der letzten Tage zwingen mich zur folgenden Stellungnahme: Bis heute, Freitag, dem 28.03.2014, 21.00h, habe ich kein Schreiben in der Hand, in dem von einer Geldauflage, noch von der Höhe derselben, die Rede ist.

Ich habe es diese Woche in der Zeitung und im Videotext gelesen. Normalerweise schickt die Staatsanwaltschaft zu dem Rechtsanwalt des Verdächtigen, um die Richtigkeit der Erklärung zu überprüfen und seinen Mandanten auf die öffentliche Bekanntmachung vorzubereiten.

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ROM
Tabula Rasa

[Summary: The Catholic Church has learned quit a bit with the abuse scandal but not everywhere. The Vatican is completely overloaded with processing the offenses by clerics who have abused children and adolescents, according to Jesuit priest Hans Zollner.]

Nach den Missbrauchsskandalen der vergangenen Jahre hat die katholische Kirche einiges dazugelernt. Aber nicht überall. Und der Vatikan ist mit der Bearbeitung der Vergehen von Klerikern an Kindern und Jugendlichen völlig überlastet.

von Guido Horst

In seiner Ansprache vor der Vollversammlung der Glaubenskongregation am 31. Januar hat Papst Franziskus von einer besonderen Kinderschutzkommission des Vatikans gesprochen, die er sich unter dem Dach dieser Kongregation vorstellen kann. Und eine Woche später musste das Presseamt des Vatikans einen Bericht des Kinderschutzkomitees der Vereinten Nationen teilweise zurückweisen, der einige richtige Aussagen zum Kinderschutz durch die katholische Kirche und die römische Kurie mit unhaltbaren Anklagen und Aufforderungen verbunden hatte. Es gibt in Rom einen deutschen Experten für Kinderschutz, den Jesuiten Hans Zollner, der das Institut für Psychologie der Päpstlichen Hochschule Gregoriana leitet und in München bereits ein Kinderschutzzentrum gegründet hat. Wir fragten ihn, wie es in Rom und in der Weltkirche beim Thema Kinderschutz weitergegangen ist, nachdem die Missbrauchsskandale die Öffentlichkeit nicht nur in Deutschland oder Irland beziehungsweise in den Vereinigten Staaten erschüttert haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Markische Allgemeine

[Summary: Abuse victims are disappointed in the church. Stefan Luttke of Potsdam was abused in 1997 as a 15-year-old by the then chaplain of Sts. Peter and Paul church. The priest was later a pastor in Berlin. He acknowledged the abuse but has not been officially charged because he signed no confession.]

Der Potsdamer Stefan Lüttke wurde 1997 als 15-Jähriger vom damaligen Kaplan von St. Peter und Paul, Stefan M., missbraucht. Obwohl M. – später Pfarrer in einer Berliner Gemeinde – die Tat bei der Befragung einräumte, wurde er offiziell nicht belastet. Der Grund: Er habe kein Geständnis unterschrieben.

Potsdam. MAZ: Eigentlich arbeiten Sie ja als Psychologe an der Universität in Tübingen, sind jetzt aber für einen Abstecher nach Potsdam gekommen. Nur unweit von unserem Treffpunkt ist die Gemeinde St. Peter und Paul, deren damaliger Kaplan Sie missbraucht hat. Was empfinden Sie so in direkter Nähe der Kirchengemeinde?

Stefan Lüttke: Menschen machen Fehler, dafür sollten wir sie nicht verurteilen. Sollte der Missbrauch durch eine psychische Störung bedingt worden sein, würde ich mich freuen, wenn der Betreffende professionelle Unterstützung erhalten würde, auch vom Bistum. Das muss aber ein psychiatrisches Gutachten feststellen, von außen kann man dies nicht bewerten. Ich kann den Missbrauch mittlerweile mit professionellem Abstand sehen. Vom Erzbistum bin ich jeddoch enttäuscht und wütend über seinen Umgang mit dem Fall.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

In order to never forget the suffering, the dying and seeking for recognition and resurrection, the victims and survivors of sexual abuse and abuse of power by the Roman Catholic Church commemorate this year on Silent Saturday at 3 p.m.

They light a candle at home or wherever they are, not for themselves, but for fellow sufferers, locally and around the world.

This year, Silent Saturday falls on April 19.

Individuals or groups wishing to join this action put a burning candle in a symbolic place, or in their church next to the 13th station of the Way of the Cross, with the text “Esse est percipi, to be is being perceived, survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.”

For more information or to inform us that you want to participate in this action, as a group or as a church congregation, please contact us at:

International initiative, Memory Day for survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church: mensenrechtenindekerk@gmail.com

Rik Devillé
Belgium

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CANADA
Niagara Falls Review

By Rob Gowan, Sun Times, Owen Sound
Monday, April 7, 2014

Criminal charges have been laid against the leader of a church in the Township of Chatsworth, but his whereabouts are unknown.

Grey County OPP announced Monday that a total of 31 charges – some dating back about 35 years – have been laid against the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ Restored, Frederick Madison King, 55, and his brother, Judson William King, 59.

Frederick King hasn’t been seen since allegations of physical and sexual assault against him came forward and police began investigating in late 2012, according to an OPP news release. A warrent has been issued for his arrest.

“We can’t speculate on where he would be. We don’t know,” said OPP Sgt. Dave Rektor. “If we did we would certainly have him in custody.”

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CANADA
Toronto Sun

ROB GOWAN, QMI AGENCY

FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, APRIL 07, 2014

OWEN SOUND, Ont. — Two brothers whose cloistered Ontario church has been accused of being a polygamist cult by former members, have been charged with 31 sex and assault charges.

The charges come as a result of a 16-month police investigation.

The charges come from the claims of seven alleged victims — all members of the Church of Jesus Christ Restored at the time — and some allegations date back to 1978.

Judson William King has been arrested in Oakville, Ont. He faces charges of assault with a weapon, uttering death threats and four counts of assault, and is to appear in court in Owen Sound, Ont., on May 15.

The whereabouts of Frederick Madison King is unknown. He hasn’t been seen since 2012.

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CANADA
CTV

Katherine Ward, CTV Barrie
Published Monday, April 7, 2014

Allegations of physical and sexual abuse by leaders of a religious sect have led the OPP to lay multiple charges against two men. And the allegation first came to light in a documentary done by CTV’s investigative program, W5.

The charges come after a sixteen month police investigation. The church the two men belong to is called the Church of Jesus Christ Restored and it is located near Chatsworth.

Police say there are seven victims and all were member of the church when the alleged offences happened. Some go back as far as the late 1970’s.

Fifty-nine year old Judson William King has been arrested and charged with assault, assault with a weapon and uttering a death threat.

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ROME
Catholic News Agency

By Jean Boudet

When it concluded on February 25, the Extraordinary General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ, meeting in Rome to complete the drafting of new Constitutions and elect new leadership, issued eleven documents that represent the Congregation’s future. The Legionaries, once again autonomous, have emerged from a period of “examination and renewal” that began five years ago in 2009 with their public acknowledgment of their Founder’s scandalous double life and continued with an Apostolic Visitation (2009-10) and three and a half years of supervision under a Pontifical Delegate, Cardinal Velasio de Paolis (2010-14). The Constitutions, now awaiting Vatican approval, was the principal work of the Chapter, but these eleven communiqués and decrees, innovative in several respects, address generally a series of topics that widely concerned Legionaries during their self-examination and express the goals the Constitutions will legislate. The Chapter documents both apologize for past deficiencies and convey optimism for a productive future.

(The eleven documents, including a presentation letter and two attachments, comprising some 120 pages, have recently all been made available in English translation of their original Spanish here)

In its May 2010 report, the Visitation saw the “need to redefine the charism… preserving its true nucleus.” So most pressing on the Legionaries was to reformulate and to insist on the validity of their charism. The charism of a religious community, to use John Paul II’s words in Vita Consecrata (1996), expresses a “specific spirituality, that is, a concrete program of relations with God and one’s surroundings, marked by specific spiritual emphases and choices of apostolate, which accentuate and re-present one or another aspect of the one mystery of Christ.” But, first, could a valid charism have been conveyed by a criminal Founder?

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans | Apr. 7, 2014

PHILADELPHIA After a course correction impelled by decades of often secretive financial management decisions and an embezzlement crisis, the Philadelphia archdiocese is making progress toward tackling a chronic operating deficit and meeting its financial obligations.
In one sign of contrast with prior administrations, the archdiocese has begun to provide public, audited financial statements that reveal the magnitude of the task facing its chief financial officer.

“I think we’re in the process of turning the corner, but it’s a big corner,” said CFO Tim O’Shaughnessy, who came on board in April 2012. Archbishop Charles Chaput, who arrived in 2011, has charged O’Shaughnessy with getting the archdiocese’s financial house in order after former CFO Anita Guzzardi was charged with embezzling more than $900,000. In August 2012, she was sentenced to serve two to seven years in state prison for the theft.

In the fiscal year 2013, the Office of Financial Services, which provides administrative and program support for parishes, schools and other archdiocesan-related groups, incurred a $4.9 million recurring loss. That’s a substantial reduction from the previous year, when the “core deficit” (a number that doesn’t take into account one-time income and expenses) was $17.6 million.

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UNITED STATES
West

by Michela Maisti – 04.08.2014

Almost $3 billion is what allegations of child sex abuse has cost the American church, between 2004 and 2013. The data was released in the 11th annual report from the US episcopal conference on progress in the implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People. The costs include the settlements, therapy and psychological care for victims and legal fees. The analysis conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners particularly looked at 127 diocese for the period from July 2012 to 30 June 2013.

During this time, there were 857 victims of sexual abuse and more than 900 complaints against the church. However, not all the cases of abuse had sufficient evidence to launch a lawsuit against the members of the clergy accused of paedophilia. In fact, 472 cases couldn’t be proved, 78 had insufficient evidence, while 136 cases were verified for legal action. Another 223 cases were still being assessed.

However, it’s not just these legal issues that are pushing up costs for the American dioceses but also assistance programmes through which the church offers more support to victims. The projects are mainly preventative and include the establishment of clear rules within the context of the church. They also have removal procedures for those who commit abuses and those who are suspected of criminal practices against children. The risky behaviour as defined by the American church includes the “acquisition, possession or distribution by a cleric of child pornography”. The rules are therefore becoming increasingly strict, so as to prevent the recurrence of child abuse.

These measures are a necessity supported by data that lays bare a situation with serious connotations. The report states that, between 2012 and 2013, 730 clergy were accused of paedophilia, including priests and deacons. But often the complaints involve ‘unknown’ people because the victims, due to the trauma and their age, aren’t able to identify or name the offender. In other cases, the accused is deceased. However, the number of cases in which the guilty party is removed from the church ministry shows that things are moving in the right direction.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By MARK RUSSELL, The Age April 8, 2014

GERALD Ridsdale, one of Australia’s most notorious paedophile priests who admitted abusing at least 53 children between 1961 to 1982, has been sentenced to eight years in jail.

County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes said Ridsdale’s “unfettered sexual deviance” had been a blatant breach of the trust existing between priests and parishioners.

Judge Rozenes said Ridsdale had preyed on his vulnerable victims under the guise of being the ‘friendly priest’.

Ridsdale’s position in the church involved a high degree of trust and some degree of power and his offending had had a devastating impact on his young victims.

The Catholic Church had unfortunately allowed Ridsdale’s criminal behaviour to go unchecked for so long, Judge Rozenes said when jailing Ridsdale for eight years with a non-parole period of five years.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale has been sentenced to eight years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of five years for the abuse of 14 children.

The offences came to light last year following the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse and span almost three decades.

The 80-year-old pleaded guilty to the most recent charges, which included raping and abusing children as young as four.

In sentencing Judge Michael Rozenes said Ridsdale’s crimes were abhorrent and had caused his victims ongoing pain and suffering.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Tue, Apr 8, 2014

‘Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again . . .”

You’ve been on my mind for four weeks now, like “a vision softly creeping . . .” Since Christine Buckley died.

I’ve been surprised. Perhaps I should not be. At her funeral, President Michael D Higgins spoke of you. He referred to “the darkness she broke open with the light of her own experience”.

She who had been, as Fr Tony Coote put it in the funeral Mass homily, “a tiny voice amid the clamour of denial and recrimination”. She of whom he said, “perhaps belief is her greatest legacy”. You have been graceless since she died. You and your cuttlefish friends. Your silence since March 11th has been eloquent.

Not a word for her family or friends. Nor for those tens of thousands on whom she bestowed a priceless gift, credibility. Immediately after Dear Daughter – broadcast by RTÉ again last night and dealing with Christine’s days in the Goldenbridge orphanage – was first broadcast in February 1996, your cuttlefish friends got to work, generating doubt. As they do.

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VATICAN CITY
CT Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press
Updated 4:01 pm, Monday, April 7, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is sending its former sex crimes prosecutor to Scotland this week to investigate “recent serious allegations of misconduct” surrounding disgraced Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned last year after admitting to sexual misdeeds.

The Vatican and the Scottish church said Bishop Charles Scicluna will report on the situation.

O’Brien, once Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, resigned in disgrace as the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 and recused himself from the conclave that elected Francis as pope in 2013 after unidentified priests alleged in British newspaper reports that he acted inappropriately toward them.

The men said they had complained to church authorities about O’Brien’s conduct but that the church had failed to respond. None of the men are believed to have been minors at the time of the purported misconduct.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on April 07, 2014

Mark Crawford, New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will be honored by the state Attorney General’s Office Wednesday. He is seen here in 2011.
Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal

An advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse and a prosecutor who handled one of Essex County’s most high-profile murder cases will be recognized Wednesday by the state attorney general for their service to crime victims.

Mark Crawford, the New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and Romesh Sukhdeo, an assistant prosecutor in Essex County, will receive awards during a morning ceremony at the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton.

“Through their relentless efforts, the men being honored at this week’s ceremony change the landscape every day within their own communities and throughout New Jersey,” acting Attorney General John Hoffman said in a statement today.

The awards, the first of their kind bestowed by the attorney general’s office, coincide with Crime Victims’ Rights Week and the 30th anniversary of the Victims of Crimes Act.

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NEW YORK
Jerusalem Post

By SAM SOKOL
04/07/2014

Member of ultra-Orthodox sect in New York is released from jail after serving sentence for attempting to buy silence of sexual abuse victim.

A hassidic man convicted of attempting to buy the silence of a victim of sexual abuse was given a hero’s welcome by the Satmar rabbi, the Failed Messiah blog reported.

Abraham Rubin, 50, a member of the Satmar hassidic (ultra-Orthodox) sect in Brooklyn, offered over half-a-million dollars to buy the silence of the unnamed victim. The minor’s testimony regarding repeated instances of sexual abuse helped secure the conviction of unlicensed therapist Nehemia Weberman.

The girl’s parents had sent her to Weberman for therapy sessions at the recommendation of her school.

According to the New York Daily News, the girl was referred to him for not meeting her sect’s strict modesty guidelines regarding dress code and for asking questions about the existence of God.

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NEW JERSEY
Office of the Attorney General

TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced today that an Essex County Assistant Prosecutor and a Middlesex County sexual abuse survivor who became a victim advocate will be honored at a statewide Crime Victims’ Rights Week event this week for their dedication to providing outstanding services to victims of crime.

According to Acting Attorney General Hoffman, Romesh Sukhdeo, of Montclair, and Mark Crawford, of Avenel, will receive the first-ever Office of Attorney General Excellence Awards for Victims’ Justice at a statewide program celebrating Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The program is held annually to reaffirm New Jersey’s commitment to enforce victims’ rights and address their needs. The event is co-sponsored by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, the Victims of Crime Compensation Office and the State Office of Victim-Witness Advocacy.

“This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act, which changed the landscape of victim rights and services nationwide,” Acting Attorney General Hoffman said. “Through their relentless efforts, the men being honored at this week’s ceremony change the landscape every day within their own communities and throughout New Jersey.” …

Crawford will receive the Ronald W. Reagan Award. Crawford was chosen for his long-term commitment to victims’ rights and services, extraordinary efforts on behalf of victims, delivery of compassionate services to victims and advocacy for victims via legislation, policies and other measures.

Crawford is a survivor of sexual abuse as a child who is currently the New Jersey State Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. In nominating Crawford, Senator Joseph Vitale wrote, “In 2005, Mark was appointed New Jersey State Director of SNAP, a position he still holds today. Mark receives contacts weekly from sexual abuse victims throughout the country, and spends time listening and educating victims who are often in a raw emotional state.” Senator Vitale continued, “Because of Mark’s efforts, many individuals, after living in years of silence and shame, learned of their predators crimes and came forward themselves, finally getting help and holding their offender accountable.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A man who had cigarette butts put out between his toes when he was a child in the care of The Salvation Army was given $10,000 compensation, an inquiry into child abuse has heard.

The army had a system by which it measured what it offered abuse victims who came forward, the royal commission hearing in Sydney was told.

Daphne Cox, a major who met with abuse victims and reported back to the army’s Personal Injuries Complaints Committee (PICC), said she always believed victims.

‘We accepted what we were told. The fact that it hadn’t been proven didn’t indicate how much we offered,’ she said on Monday.

A hearing held in February heard that EF, who was seven when he was placed in the Indooroopilly Boy’s Home in Queensland in 1966, was violently punished and raped by Major Victor Bennett, who was the home’s manager.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

THE top ranks of the Salvation Army gave a self-confessed child abuser a “guiding hand” to keep his behaviour secret, its territorial commander James Condon admitted yesterday.

Colin Haggar had sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl but although he was dismissed from the Salvos, he was allowed to give his own reasons to both his colleagues and his congregation in the western NSW town where he had been based, the child sex abuse royal commission heard yesterday.

In a letter to the “family and friends” in the town, Haggar and his wife, also a Salvation Army officer, wrote: “We are taking a break from duties of office so we can spend time on our own spiritual growth and thus hopefully be of more use to Him when we resume our service. All we can say is to keep your eyes on Jesus. We may not understand the whys and wherefores of His actions and timing …”

Haggar had told the girl’s parents: “It wasn’t that serious. I only fingered her”.

This is the second hearing by the commission into the Salvation Army and how it handled claims of sex abuse. The organisation dismissed Haggar in 1990 but moved him to a lay job and provided the couple with accommodation. In 1993, he was reinstated and became a lieutenant colonel.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 08, 2014

THE international general of the Salvation Army promoted a self-confessed child abuser to a senior rank within the church, despite a church commander in Sydney arguing against the appointment, the royal commission has heard.

The officer, Colin Haggar, had been dismissed from the charity in 1990, after confessing to having sexually molested an eight-year-old girl in regional NSW, before being readmitted three years later.

Giving evidence yesterday, Salvation Army commissioner James Condon said Mr Haggar was most recently promoted, to the rank of lieutenant colonel, because his wife, Kerry, had been appointed to a senior “cabinet” position within the church.

“There’s correspondence … where I raised it with the general, the international leader of the Salvation Army and I said, ‘I do not want to promote Colin to the rank of lieutenant colonel’,’’ Mr Condon said.

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ITALIA
Il Messaggero

FELTRE – Un nuovo scandalo esce dalle volte sacre delle chiese, tanto che il sacerdote è stato allontanato in fretta e furia dal vescovo di Belluno-Feltre. La giustificazione dell’improvvisa assenza fu annunciata come “problemi di salute”.

Il parroco del feltrino è finito sotto inchiesta per estorsione nei confronti di un giovane marocchino con il quale avrebbe intrattenuto da tempo una relazione. Ma non si trattava di amore né prestazioni date o effettuate sotto minaccia, bensì di sesso a pagamento. E per pagare quel giovane magrebino il reverendo usava i soldi che le suore del vicino asilo gli affidavano.

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ITALY
The Local

A priest from Feltre, a hillside town in the northern Italian province of Belluno, is under investigation for allegedly paying a Moroccan man for sex, and with cash from the local convent.

The priest, who was immediately dismissed by the bishop of the diocese as the scandal surfaced, but for “health reasons”, allegedly used money from a nearby convent to pay for sex with the young Moroccan, Il Gazzettino reported.

The pair had a “long-standing relationship”, the newspaper said.

In September last year, an Italian priest from Turin admitted paying a Romanian woman €350,000 after she threatened to expose him for having sex with her, La Repubblica reported.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

Salvation Army commissioner James Condon says he opposed the promotion of an officer with a history of sex abuse.

Salvation Army commissioner James Condon says he already had a process in train to remove an officer with a sex abuse record before a whistleblower contacted authorities.

Mr Condon, the territorial commander of the Salvation Army in NSW, Queensland and ACT, told a hearing in Sydney on Monday that his absence due to a meeting in London in early 2013 had probably contributed to a delay in removing Colin Haggar as director of a crisis shelter for women and children.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard that Mr Haggar confessed to indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl in 1989, and was dismissed from the Salvos, but was re-admitted in 1993 and subsequently promoted.

Additional allegations were made against him in 2013.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Megan Stewart

The Minnesota Appeals Court is reversing a sexual misconduct conviction and ordering a new trial for a St. Paul priest accused of having sex with a woman seeking spiritual advice.

The Appeals Court says the lower court made several errors during Christopher Wenthe’s trial.

Wenthe was convicted in 2011 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct after a woman reported a relationship with the priest that happened years earlier.

The Appeals Court says the trial judge should have told jurors they had to unanimously agree on a single meeting during which the crime occurred. In addition, prosecutors had to prove Wenthe knew the meeting had a religious purpose.

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HAWAII
Jeff Anderson & Associates

News Release
April 7, 2014

[the lawsuit]

Sex abuse lawsuit filed against diocese, former bishop
New Hawaii predator priest exposed
Deadline to come forward, use courts is April 24

(Honolulu, HI) – Less than three weeks before a legal deadline, a Honolulu man has come forward and filed a lawsuit charging that he was sexually abused by Catholic priests and a former Catholic bishop.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, says that the victim, John Roe 27, was sexually abused at St. Stephen’s Seminary and Damien Memorial School. The boy was a 14-year-old student at St. Stephen’s in 1968 when Fr. William Queenan began sexually abusing him. Queenan, who is being exposed for the first time, was a member of the Sulpician order and a teacher at the school. Soon after the abuse, the lawsuit says, the victim came forward to then-priest, later-Bishop Joseph Ferrario. Ferrario used the disclosure against the boy and began abusing him as well.

In 1970, the victim transferred to Damien Memorial School. Because of family turmoil, he lived in the residence reserved for the Irish Christian Brothers, who ran the school. As a result of the trauma of the abuse he had already suffered, the victim was immediately targeted and sexually abused by Br. Robert Brouillette and Br. Thomas Ford, two notorious predators who lived and worked at the school.

An attorney for the victim says that stories of abuse like this are tragic and common.

“As we get closer and closer to the legal deadline, more brave victims like this are coming forward to tell their stories and get justice,” said Mark Gallagher, a Kailua-based attorney for the victim. “For decades, this boy and others like him thought they were all alone and that no one would believe them. Now, we can see that they were victims of patterns of abuse across Oahu.”

Brouillette has been named as an abuser by dozens of children in Hawaii and across the mainland. In 2000, Ford was convicted of the violent abuse of abandoned children for crimes he committed at the Mt. Cashel Orphanage in Canada. Ferrario has been accused of abuse by at least five boys.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 04/07/2014

The criminal sexual conduct conviction of a former Nativity of Our Lord priest has been reversed and the case sent back to the lower court for retrial.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in a decision published Monday that a lower court judge made errors in the case of Rev. Christopher Wenthe.

Wenthe was convicted in 2011 on one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He had a sexual relationship with an adult woman from his St. Paul parish during a meeting in which she “sought or received religious or spiritual advice, aid or comfort” in private, the jury found.

But, agreeing with Wenthe’s defense, a three-judge panel of the appeals court determined that Judge Margaret Marrinan made several errors by: failing to tell jurors they must agree on which particular meeting between priest and victim was the one in which she sought or received spiritual advice or aid; failing to instruct the jury that the state must prove Wenthe knew the woman sought or received spiritual advice during the sexually infused meeting; prohibiting evidence about the woman’s sexual history from being presented by the defense after the state “opened the door” to it by eliciting testimony of her sexual inexperience.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: ROCHELLE OLSON , Star Tribune Updated: April 7, 2014

Court of Appeals found multiple errors in pastor’s Ramsey County District Court trial.

A Catholic priest from a St. Paul parish saw his conviction overturned Monday for sexual misconduct in a case involving a 21-year-old parishioner in 2003.

The state Court of Appeals sent the case of Christopher Thomas Wenthe back to Ramsey County District Court — possibly for a new trial, depending on what County Attorney John Choi decides.

The Court of Appeals ruled that Wenthe’s first trial in 2011 had three significant errors.

The 22-page ruling said that in sexual misconduct cases, the jury must unanimously agree that each incident occurred. Also, in cases of clergy sex abuse, prosecutors must prove that the defendant knew of the “religious or spiritual purpose of the meeting,” according to the decision written for a three-judge panel by Judge Gary Crippen.

More specific to this case, the court said Wenthe should have been able to question the alleged victim about her sexual history, despite rape-shield laws, because the woman portrayed herself through her own testimony as sexually inexperienced.

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MINNESOTA
KTTC

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Appeals Court is reversing a sexual misconduct conviction and ordering a new trial for a St. Paul priest accused of having sex with a woman seeking spiritual advice.

The Appeals Court says the lower court made several errors during Christopher Wenthe’s trial.

Wenthe was convicted in 2011 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct after a woman reported a relationship with the priest that happened years earlier.

The Appeals Court says the trial judge should have told jurors they had to unanimously agree on a single meeting during which the crime occurred. In addition, prosecutors had to prove Wenthe knew the meeting had a religious purpose.

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MISSISSIPPI
Cottonmouth

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Yesterday, House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) participated in a charity run to help victims of child abuse and human trafficking. Let the irony sink in for a moment.

This is the same Philip Gunn who back in 2011 led the task of hushing any discussion of alleged child abuse that took place at Gunn’s Morrison Heights Baptist Church. This went so far as to discourage people from talking with the police about reports of criminal activity against a child.

To recap:

1. In 2011, Gunn claimed a secrecy provision to keep members of his church from talking to the police and county prosecutors about alleged child abuse.
2. Yesterday, Gunn has the nerve to participate in a race to help victims of crimes he once tried to ignore and silence.
3. For the next 22 months, he will be a top Republican leader in Mississippi as he serves as Speaker of the House while professing to uphold family values.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A nun in charge of a Londonderry children’s home in the 1970s was “very caring”, an ex-social worker has said.

She was giving evidence to the Historical Abuse Inquiry about the former St Joseph’s Catholic children’s home in Termonbacca.

The inquiry is examining claims of abuse at 13 homes and training centres in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.

The woman said Termonbacca was in large grounds with a high gate and could seem “intimidating” to young children.

She said she believed children were well fed and well dressed as well as having a roof over their heads.

But, she said: “They were very institutionalised. I would have been concerned for their emotional welfare”.

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GEORGIA
Belleville News-Democrat

The following editorial appeared in the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer on Thursday, April 3:

The outrage over Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s Buckhead mansion has been headline news all over the country for most of the last week. And the fallout has not been limited to Catholics whose faith offerings paid for it.

Nor should it be. Because the humbling of Archbishop Gregory ought to be an object lesson of universal relevance.

The basics of the story are now familiar: Gregory built a 6,000-square-foot, $2.2 million mansion in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood on land bequeathed by heirs of “Gone With the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell. As word of the cleric’s lavish new digs got around, so did some intense resentment.

He got the message: He announced he would sell the mansion and relocate, and issued a public apology which acknowledged that “we are called to live more simply, more humbly, and more like Jesus Christ who challenges us to be in the world and not of the world … I failed to consider the impact on the families throughout the archdiocese who, though struggling to pay their mortgages, utilities, tuition and other bills, faithfully respond year after year to my pleas to assist with funding our ministries and services.”

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, April 07, 2014

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

A Florida megachurch leader has resigned due to “moral failings.” We are glad that he will not be in ministry anymore, but believe he should be investigated.

[Sun Sentinel]

[Christian Post]

Bob Coy, who founded the Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale 30 years ago, admitted to having a problem with pornography and to multiple “affairs.”

In many states, it is illegal for ministers to have any kind of sexual contact with or to sexually exploit their congregants in any way. (We believe it should be illegal in every state.)

We hope that church leaders and parishioners will be diligent and reach out to anyone who may have been hurt by Coy.

With his resignation, we hope anyone who saw, suspected, or suffered abuse will find the courage to speak up and report to law enforcement.

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CONNECTICUT
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Apr 7, 2014

Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) held its annual Assembly in Hartford on Saturday, and I can report that the mood of the liberal Catholic organization was pretty chipper. It was, pretty clearly, yet another manifestation of the Francis Effect.

Established in Massachusetts a dozen years ago in the wake of the Boston Globe‘s revelations of Cardinal Bernard Law’s cover-up of sexual abuse, VOTF dedicated itself to promoting “structural change in the church” — i.e. an increased role for the laity. Now, thanks to the new pope’s declaration of war on clericalism, it looks like this might actually be happening.

The 200-plus members — mostly from the Northeast but including a few from as far away as Texas and Montana – gathered in the Connecticut Convention Center to hear presentations on the State of the Papacy from North America’s leading Vatican reporter, John Allen, and from North America’s leading Vaticanologist, Thomas Reese, S.J.

Recently translated from the National Catholic Reporter to the Boston Globe, Allen can easily be mistaken for an apologist for whoever happens to be pope. He’s now fully aboard the Good Ship Francis, and he treated the assemblage to a fast-paced overview of the annus mirabilis franciscanus. Bottom line: the new papacy is all about 1) leadership as service; 2) a missionary church; and 3) a re-balancing of mercy and justice in favor of mercy.

From the audience came the question: Would the pope be bringing to justice bishops engaged in covering up clergy sexual abuse as well as showing them mercy? Allen’s answer was that the new Vatican abuse commission was half women, and that everyone on it was only too aware of the need to hold bishops accountable. For all that, he acknowledged that Francis was “not fully understanding of the crisis.”

Taking his turn at the podium, Reese agreed, calculating that because the crisis has been muted in Latin America, “Francis is about 10 years behind us on this issue.” He took his fellow Jesuit to task for inaccuracy and defensiveness in characterizing the church’s handling of the crisis in an interview with an Italian newspaper last month.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

John Hooper in Rome
theguardian.com, Monday 7 April 2014

The Vatican bank is to stay in business despite speculation Pope Francis might close down the scandal-plagued institution. After months of investigation and consultation, the Vatican announced the pope had opted for a reform plan instead.

The bank, officially called the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), has as its core business the management of cash deposited by Catholic religious institutions and members of the clergy. But its offshore status has been central to a string of scandals and controversies.

The statement said the IOR would continue to “serve with prudence”. It added that strict regulatory supervision and improvements in compliance and transparency were critical for the institute’s future.

But it said Francis recognised “the importance of the IOR’s mission for the good of the Catholic church, the Holy See and the Vatican city state”.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

April 6, 2014|By Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE — Thousands of parishioners attending a special Sunday afternoon meeting at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale were stunned to learn that the megachurch’s popular founder and leader, Pastor Bob Coy, had abruptly resigned.

The reason given by church elders: “a moral failing.”

“Most people were shocked,” said congregant Robert Milne, of Wilton Manors, who attended the standing room-only meeting that drew an estimated 7,500 parishioners. “A lot of people were hurt, a lot of people are disappointed.”

Coy, 58, and his wife Diane founded the Fort Lauderdale church nearly 30 years ago. Today, it consists of the main campus and six affiliated churches in Boynton Beach, Boca Raton, West Boca, Plantation, Hollywood and the Keys.

Pastors read a letter from Coy at the special meeting saying he was sorry for his transgressions and that the church will continue to flourish. Coy did not return calls to his cellphone Sunday night.

Church elders said Coy was not present Sunday at the main church, which occupies a large tract in the 2400 block of Cypress Creek Road in Fort Lauderdale.

“Of course I forgive him,” said Milne. “We’re all sinners and we’ve all slipped here and there.”

In a statement released Sunday, church elders said Coy, of Coral Springs, resigned Thursday as senior pastor of the 20,000-member church “after confessing to a moral failing in his life which disqualifies him from continuing his leadership role.”

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FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Calvary Chapel

Posted on Sun, Apr 6, 2014

Media Statement – April 6, 2014

On April 3, 2014, Bob Coy resigned as Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, effective immediately, after confessing to a moral failing in his life which disqualifies him from continuing his leadership role at the church he has led since its founding in 1985. The media ministry of the Active Word that distributes his Bible teachings through radio, television, and digital media has also been suspended.

Pastor Bob will be focusing his full attention on his personal relationship with God and with his family. The governing board of the church is providing counselors and ministers who will help guide him through the process of full repentance, cleansing and restoration.

Trusting in God’s providence, protection, provision and direction, the staff of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale will continue our mission to “make disciples,” through regular services at all campuses and through a myriad of other ministries the church has established over the years. A team of assistant pastors already on staff will maintain their usual rotating schedule as teaching pastors for all services.

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FLORIDA
CBS Miami

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Many parishioners attending a special meeting Sunday at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale were surprised by the news of the senior pastor’s resignation.

Pastor Bob Coy, who has led the church since its founding in 1985, was not in attendance but, according to the Sun Sentinel, pastors read a letter from Coy at the meeting which said he was sorry for his transgressions and that the church will continue to flourish.

The church released a statement Sunday that read in part that Coy’s resignation comes “after confessing to a moral failing in his life which disqualifies him from continuing his leadership role,” according to the paper.

“Most people were shocked,” Wilton Manors resident Robert Milne, a congregant who attended the standing-room-only meeting told the Sentinel.

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FLORIDA
Daily Mail (UK)

By ALEX GREIG
6 April 2014

The pastor of a Florida megachurch with a congregation in excess of 20,000 has resigned over a ‘moral failing.’

Church elders announced to an estimated 7,500 parishioners attending a special Sunday meeting of the Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale that Pastor Bob Coy, 58, had resigned.

In a statement released Sunday, church elders said Coy, of Coral Springs, resigned Thursday as senior pastor of the 20,000-member Calvary Church ‘after confessing to a moral failing in his life which disqualifies him from continuing his leadership role.’

Coy’s Active Word ministry on radio, television and digital media has also been suspended, the church said.

‘Most people were shocked,’ congregant Robert Milne told the Sun-Sentinel. ‘A lot of people were hurt, a lot of people are disappointed.’

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AUSTRALIA
Haaretz

A defamation suit launched by a senior Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi has been settled following a public apology by the founder of a victims’ advocate group.

Rabbi Abraham Glick was questioned by police in December 2013 regarding claims he sexually abused a student in the 1970s when he was deputy principal of Yeshivah College in Melbourne.

Glick vehemently denied the allegations but was suspended from his position pending the inquiry. In February, police closed the case, saying they could not authorize charges due to “insufficient evidence.”

As part of Friday’s settlement, Manny Waks, the chief executive of Tzedek, the advocacy group for Jewish victims, apologized “unreservedly” for posting comments on the Internet.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

A public hearing will commence in Perth on 28 April 2014 into the experiences of a number of men who were resident at Christian Brothers’ residences in Western Australia. The hearing will investigate the responses of the Christian Brothers and relevant Western Australian State authorities to allegations of child sexual abuse at the residences.

The public hearing will examine:

* The experiences of residents at Castledare Junior Orphanage, St Vincent’s Orphanage Clontarf, St Mary’s Agricultural School Tardun and Bindoon Farm School in Western Australia.
* The response of the Christian Brothers and relevant WA State authorities to complaints made about members of the Christian Brothers who were engaged in teaching or other activities at these Christian Brothers’ institutions.
* Claims made through Towards Healing, Redress WA, civil action and/or directly to the Christian Brothers for compensation or assistance by residents and their experiences with these processes.
* The evidence and findings of other inquiries relating to the Christian Brothers’ institutions.

The hearing will be held at the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 111 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the Scope and Purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by Monday 14 April 2014.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano Mon., Apr. 7 2014

We’ve never had a chance to truly beat down Lawrence Baird, longtime pedo-priest apologist for the Diocese of Orange, because he was before our time. But his claims to infamy are legion: from calling notorious boy-lover Michael Harris “an icon to the priesthood” to living in a multimillion-dollar Balboa Island home to suing a sex-abuse victim for defamation (and losing. And having to pay her legal bill. And getting caught trying to shut up her free speech), Baird is just an overall asshole–and that’s what makes him so esteemed among Orange County Catholics and fools. I mean, what other reason would a new restaurant ask him to bless their grand opening?

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

One of Australia’s worst child sex predators, pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, is expected to die in prison.

The former Catholic priest will be sentenced on Tuesday for abusing 14 children at parishes in Victoria’s western district, between 1961 and 1980.

He has now admitted his guilt in assaulting 53 children in abuse that spanned three decades.

Ridsdale’s latest charges include grooming a four-year-old victim by calling her ‘God’s little angel’ and telling an altar boy he was doing ‘the Lord’s work’ as he abused him.

One victim told Ridsdale’s Victorian County Court plea hearing in March he had hidden behind the Catholic Church as he abused children.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Salvation Army Major put cigarettes out on boy, 7, and threw him in a pool with bricks tied to his legs

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH APRIL 07, 2014

A SALVATION Army major put out cigarette butts between the toes of a seven-year-old boy, the child sex abuse royal commission has been told.

It happened at the organisation’s Indooroopilly Boys’ Home in Queensland where Major Victor Bennett also woke the boy up in the middle of the night, stripped him naked, tied bricks to his legs and threw in him the swimming pool.

Major Bennett has since died but it is the latest shocking evidence of violence in Salvation Army homes to be revealed in the royal commission sitting in Sydney.

When the man, who was also raped by Bennett in the home in 1966 as a seven-year-old, finally told the Salvation Army what had happened, his file was marked “not proved” next to the claims of the cigarettes and the swimming pool.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bolletino

The Holy Father has approved a proposal on the future of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR), reaffirming the importance of the IOR’s mission for the good of the Catholic Church, the Holy See and the Vatican City State.

The proposal has been jointly developed by representatives of the Pontifical Referring Commission to the IOR (CRIOR), the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic- Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA), the IOR’s Commission of Cardinals and the IOR Board of Superintendence and presented to the Holy Father by the Cardinal-Prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy with the consent of Cardinal Santos Abril Y Castelló, President of the IOR’s Commission of Cardinals. It is drawn from information on the legal status of the IOR and its operations gathered by and presented to the Holy Father and his Council of Cardinals by CRIOR in February 2014.

The IOR will continue to serve with prudence and provide specialized financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide. The valuable services that can be offered by the Institute assist the Holy Father in his mission as universal pastor and also aid those institutions and individuals who collaborate with him in his ministry.

With the confirmation of the IOR’s mission and at the request of Cardinal-Prefect Pell, the President of the Board of Superintendence, Ernst von Freyberg, and the management of the IOR, will finalize their plan to ensure that the IOR can fulfil its mission as part of the new financial structures of the Holy See/Vatican City State. The plan will be presented to the Holy Father’s Council of Cardinals and the Council for the Economy.

The activities of the IOR will continue to fall under the regulatory supervision of AIF (Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria), the competent authority within the Holy See and Vatican City State. In compliance with Motu Proprios of August 8th, 2013 and November 15th, 2013, as well as Law No XVIII on transparency, supervision and financial information which came into force on October 8th, 2013, a comprehensive legal and institutional framework has been introduced to regulate financial activities within the Holy See and Vatican City State. In that respect, the Cardinal-Prefect Pell has confirmed the importance of a sustainable systematic alignment of the legal and regulatory framework of the Holy See/Vatican City State with regulatory international best practice. Strict regulatory supervision and improvements in compliance, transparency and operations initiated in 2012 and substantially accelerated in 2013 are critical for the Institute’s future.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, April 7 – Pope Francis approved the new mission of the Institute of Religious Works (IOR), better known as the Vatican Bank, as it aims to improve transparency, the Vatican said Monday. The pontiff’s green light marks a critical vote of confidence for IOR management in its ongoing, wide-ranging efforts improve transparency and compliance at the bank. The image of the bank has been hit by a series of scandals over the years. The pope’s support reaffirms “the importance of the mission of IOR for the good of the Catholic Church, the Holy See and the Vatican,” said a Vatican statement.

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has approved a reform proposal keeping the Vatican bank operative, ending a year of speculation over whether the pontiff would close the institution that has embarrassed the Church for decades.

The bank’s stated purpose is to manage funds for Roman Catholic orders of priests and nuns, charitable institutions and Vatican employees and retirees. But it has been dogged by episodes of malpractice by people authorised to hold accounts there and murky dealings with Italian financial institutions.

“The IOR will continue to serve with prudence and provide specialised financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide,” the Vatican said on Monday in a statement annoucing that Francis had approved recommendations for the future of the bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a former senior Vatican accountant

who had close ties to the IOR, is currently on trial accused of plotting to smuggle millions of dollars into Italy from Switzerland as part of a scheme to help rich friends avoid taxes.

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VATICAN CITY
Star News Online

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has given his backing to the Vatican Bank to keep operating as it strives to improve compliance with international best banking practices.

The bank, which has been caught up in money-laundering probes, is also known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR).

In a statement Monday, the Vatican said “the valuable services that can be offered by the Institute assist the Holy Father in his mission as universal pastor.”

Referring to reforms sparked by the probes, the Vatican said the bank’s executives and managers will finalize plans to ensure the institute can fulfill its mission “as part of the Holy See’s new financial structures.”

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