ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Denver Post

By The Associated Press
POSTED: 04/23/2014

VATICAN CITY — The Polish priest who has spearheaded the case to make Pope John Paul II a saint said Tuesday that no documentation exists linking the pontiff personally to the scandal of the Legion of Christ religious order.

John Paul and his closest advisers had held up the legion and its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, as a model for the faithful, even though the Vatican for decades had documentation with credible allegations that Maciel was a pedophile and drug addict with a questionable spiritual life.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the postulator for John Paul’s sainthood case, didn’t mention John Paul’s closest advisers, who were among Maciel’s staunchest supporters. These cardinals still were praising Maciel’s work years after the Vatican in 2006 ordered him to observe a lifetime of penance and prayer for having sexually abused seminarians.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Radio New Zealand

The Vatican has dismissed allegations that Pope John Paul II – who it will declare a saint on Sunday – turned a blind eye towards one of the Catholic Church’s most damaging scandals.

John Paul is accused by a number of commentators of failing to come to grips with the sexual abuse crisis and highlighted by the Vatican’s warm welcome to a priest who became known as a serial abuser.

More than 1 million people are expected to attend the ceremony at the Vatican, at which Pope John XXII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963, will also be made a saint.

John Paul is being fast-tracked to sainthood, only nine years after his death, and an all-time record, the BBC reports.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 04/22/2014

The top official in the Twin Cities archdiocese said in a sworn deposition that he learned early on about priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children but believed only “certain people in parishes” needed to know.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said he has since changed his mind about that.

Plaintiff’s attorney Jeff Anderson and his co-counsel Michael Finnegan made public Tuesday morning the 200-page written transcript and selected video clips from Nienstedt’s April 2 deposition, taken as part of a lawsuit by an alleged abuse victim.

As Anderson held his press conference, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis also released the written transcript via email to the media and posted it on its website.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Star Tribune

Article by: PAT FERGUSON HANSON Updated: April 22, 2014

How could this happen? A window into the culture that protected pedophile priests.

I have often referred positively to the parish of my youth as the village that helped to raise me. I have used the term “village” in the same way Hillary Rodham Clinton did in her book, the title of which was attributed to an African proverb: It takes a village to raise a child. It has shaken me to the core to learn that one of the priests assigned to the parish of my youth is on “the list” that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recently submitted to civil authorities. This is the list of priests for whom the church has credible evidence of sexual abuse. My four siblings and I all attended our parish school; my brothers served as altar boys. I thank God we came out whole.

Long before I learned that our parish priest appeared on this list, I had to ask myself how this kind of abuse could happen over and over in the Catholic Church. What was it that kept sexual crimes against children from seeing the light of day? I used to say that if I could understand something, I could accept it. But that is not the case here. I can never accept the fact that grown men — guardians of the church — came to seriously harm the very people they took vows to help. But I can share with you how I think these things came to be.

I am no longer Catholic, but I was for more than 60 years. During that time, I came to learn a fair amount about the culture of the church, and my focus in graduate school was on cultural anthropology.

Everyone knows that Catholic priests are not allowed to marry and that they take vows of celibacy. What kind of man is attracted to the priesthood? Well, for one, men who believe they can spend a lifetime not having sex with women. Now, for some, this is not a sacrifice. They are gay. I have personally known a number of them. If you were a homosexual Catholic male growing up in a homophobic society and did not care to ever have sex with women, becoming a priest might be seen as an attractive option. In the priesthood you could escape discrimination for your sexual orientation and be surrounded by people who share your spiritual goals and beliefs. I have repeatedly read that gay men do not engage in pedophilia any more than straight men do. But those straight men who are not priests have traditionally had many legitimate outlets for expressing their sexual desires. This has not been the case for celibate priests. I believe that when suppressed, even healthy sexual desires can become twisted. And what can be more twisted than preying on the very children one is charged with protecting?

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

[with video]

Chuck Goudie

April 22, 2014 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — A popular North Side Roman Catholic pastor, Father Michael O’Connell, is curbing contact with children until the latest sexual abuse allegation against him can be investigated, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.

O’Connell, pastor at St. Alphonsus Church in Lakeview, is once again under investigation by officials of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, after just being reinstated a week ago. The latest controversy comes after a former south suburban resident claims to have witnessed lewd acts by Father O’Connell 16 years ago in the locker room of a local health club.

The alleged sexual misconduct is said to have occurred in the late 1990s when O’Connell was assigned to Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park.

The former south suburban resident says he contacted the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, after learning that O’Connell was being reinstated after an investigation of a sex abuse claim made last December. That first accusation prompted O’Connell to “voluntarily” step aside from ministry during the investigation.

Now in his 30’s, the new accuser told police and church investigators on Tuesday that he saw Father O’Connell molest a teenage boy at a gym on S. Harlem Avenue.

“I saw Mike in the locker room with this young man who was sitting on the bench in the locker room and Mike had his, he was behind him and he had his hands down his pants in the frontal section,” the man told the I-Team.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
dotCommonweal

[with video]

Grant Gallicho

On April 2, Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis was deposed by attorney Jeff Anderson as part of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims he was molested by a priest in the 1970s. The plaintiff alleges that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, along with the Diocese of Winona, created a public nuisance by failing to disclose information about clerics accused of sexual abuse. At a press conference this afternoon, Anderson released a slightly redacted transcript of the deposition. The archdiocese posted the transcript and full video to its website, noting that Anderson did not ask any questions about the abuse allegations that occasioned the deposition.

The wide-ranging and often contentious conversation reveals an archbishop who felt comfortable delegating authority to deal with the abuse crisis–even though he’s “a hands-on person”–and who still believes that he and his delegates have done a good job handling the problem. According to Nienstedt’s sworn testimony, one of those delegates recommended that conversations regarding accused priests shouldn’t be put in writing because they could be discovered in litigation.

“You followed his advice, didn’t you?” Anderson asked the archbishop.

“In terms of?”

“Not putting things into writing.”

“Yes,” Nienstedt replied.

The man who offered that advice, according to Nienstedt, is Fr. Kevin McDonough. He served as vicar general under the previous archbishop, Harry Flynn, and then as “delegate for safe environment” under Nienstedt. Last week, a task force created by Nienstedt to investigate diocesan abuse procedures sharply criticized McDonough for mishandling reports of clergy misdonfuct.

McDonough features in two troubling cases brought to light after Nienstedt’s former top canon lawyer, Jennifer Haselberger, went to the police and the press with her concerns about how the archdiocese had handled them. In one case, McDonough objected to the archdiocesan review board’s recommendation to warn a parish staff that their new pastor had a history of sexual misconduct (with adults), which included allegedly propositioning a nineteen and twenty-year-old at a bookstore, trying to pick up teenagers at gas station, driving drunk, and being spotted by a cop cruising for sex. That priest–and he is still a priest–is Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer. He’s in jail for molesting children and possessing child pornography. Among his victims were the children of a parish employee.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Mankato Free Press

AMY FORLITI Associated Press

ST. PAUL — Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a recent sworn deposition that he hasn’t reprimanded or disciplined anyone for the way church officials have handled allegations of clergy sexual abuse, and he doesn’t think he should have, according to a recording of the deposition that was made public Tuesday.

During the interview, the head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said he does not believe any priests or church leaders mishandled allegations of abuse. He also said his staff told him there was nobody in ministry who had credible accusations of child abuse made against them, and that he believed another church official was responsible for notifying parish officials about problem priests.

Attorneys for victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests said the deposition, recorded April 2, shows an ongoing practice of denial and deflecting responsibility. Attorney Jeff Anderson said Nienstedt lied during the deposition, but when asked what he believed was a lie, he said there has been a “longstanding pattern of deceit and deception.”

In response to Anderson’s comments, Jim Accurso, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told The Associated Press that Nienstedt “was under oath when he gave that deposition.”

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.

OREGON
Oregonian

By Helen Jung | hjung@oregonian.com

A 52-year-old Oregon man is suing the Archdiocese of Portland, saying he was one of a dozens of boys that former pedophilic priest Maurice Grammond sexually abused in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland, alleges that while Grammond was assigned to Our Lady of Victory in Seaside, he molested the plaintiff, who was between 7 and 12 years old at the time. The plaintiff, who filed the complaint under the pseudonym Mark Roe, suppressed the memories of the sex abuse and did not realize its connection with his depression, anxiety and substance abuse until fall 2013, the lawsuit states.

The complaint seeks $2 million in pain and suffering and unspecified punitive damages from the archdiocese for sexual battery of a child, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. The archdiocese knew of several reports by families that Grammond had sexually abused boys but failed to take any action to protect children from Grammond, the complaint alleges.

In a statement, the archdiocese said, “The protection of children is vitally important to the Archdiocese of Portland. We continue to work to ensure a safe environment at all of our parishes and schools. We are saddened to hear of these allegations from 40 years ago in Seaside. We will consider this lawsuit carefully, and we will work for a just resolution of the claim.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
inSerbia

VATICAN CITY – An appeal by Holocaust survivors and their heirs from former Yugoslavia and Ukraine has been sent to Cardinal-Prefect George Pell.

Cardinal Pell was recently appointed by Pope Francis to head up the new Vatican Secretariat of the Economy with unprecedented power over secretive Vatican finances including the troublesome Vatican Bank.

Since 1999 the Holocaust survivors have been requesting the scandal plagued Vatican Bank audit accounts alleged to contain Holocaust era assets looted from the Balkans and Ukraine. About 30 current and former Vatican Bank accounts have been identified as suspect including accounts controlled by the Franciscan Order and various Dioceses.

The appeal also includes declassified documents from the US National Archives requested in 2000 but only produced 12 years later which establish both the British and Americans were certain the Vatican was harboring a major Nazi war criminal, Ante Pavelic, the brutal ruler of World War Two era Croatia.

Pavelic was the source of the Ustasha Treasury which consisted of funds looted from Serbs, Jews, Roma, and Ukrainians during the genocide of over 500,000 people in wartime Yugoslavia.

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.

MONTANA
Missoulian

Associated Press

HELENA — An order of nuns being sued for child sex abuse wants to bring the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena back into state court.

Attorneys for the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province say they may seek to have the diocese to pay for part of any judgment that goes against the order.

They want a judge to lift a stay in legal proceedings against the diocese granted when it filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

The Ursulines and the diocese are being sued by 362 alleged abuse victims from the 1940s to the 1970s.

The bankruptcy is part of a proposed settlement with the victims. The Ursulines are not part of the settlement

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
The New Civil Rights Movement

by DAVID BADASH on APRIL 22, 2014

After much stonewalling, the archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul finally testified in a four-hour court deposition on April 2 about his role in managing child sex abuse cases, and his comments can only be described as damning.

Archbishop John Nienstedt claimed to have no knowledge that known child sexual abusers were working under his nose during his current six-year tenure, claimed to have delegated all duties surrounding allegations and follow-up of child sex abuse cases, admitted to actively hiding information of priests suspected of child abuse, and even admitted that his diocese had never handed over to law enforcement authorities a single complete case file.

One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys is accusing Nienstedt of lying under oath. “We have a serious pattern of deceit and deception by this archbishop and his predecessors,” Jeff Anderson says, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Throughout the contentious questioning, Nienstedt portrayed himself as a leader who relied on others to handle the clergy sexual abuse crisis. He professed little knowledge of the scandal within his archdiocese and said he assumed it was safe for children. Nienstedt said it “didn’t occur” to him to ask for a list of abusive priests when he arrived in 2007 and that he didn’t review any clergy files. He said he did not know that one priest had pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s or that another was receiving secret disability payments for pedophilia. Several of his statements are contradicted by internal documents obtained by MPR News.

“Typically, I’m a hands-on person, but I have to delegate responsibilities,” Nienstedt testified.

And later:

“Do you think you’re doing a good job?” Anderson said.

“I believe I am, yes,” Nienstedt said.

“When Nienstedt became archbishop in 2008, he said he had a briefing with key archdiocese officials about clergy abuse,” the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. “He testified he didn’t remember any names of abusive priests mentioned at the time, how many were being monitored, and even the names of the archdiocese officials present.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A victims’ advocate says there is a glaring omission at this week’s summit for Southern Baptist pastors on sexual issues — any mention on the program about the church’s response to sexual abuse.

Amy Smith, a lifelong Southern Baptist who works with Catholics and people from other denominations in an advocacy organization called the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, found the subject “noticeably absent” among topics being covered in the April 21-23 “leadership summit” sponsored by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“How can a summit on ‘The Gospel and Human Sexuality’ not include a topic on the pervasive, devastating, destructive issue of sexual abuse?” Smith asked April 22. “Sexual abuse ravages the lives and souls of people that we hope that churches would be trying to minister to, yet the ERLC doesn’t devote a session, or even a breakout session or panel, to cover how pastors and churches should properly respond to abuse allegations to pursue justice, heal the wounded and protect kids in their midst.”

Leaders of SNAP, a support-and-advocacy group begun in response to the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church a decade ago, have questioned the inclusion on the summit program of a Mississippi Baptist pastor whose church was at the center of controversy about its long-time music minister who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of multiple boys committed decades earlier.

Greg Belser, pastor of Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, Miss., agreed with other members of a panel at the ERLC summit discussing “The Gospel and Homosexuality” that the time has come for pastors to get rid of “redneck theology” — repeating clichés and claims about sexual orientation that aren’t backed up by the facts.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Updated April 22, 2014

Since Pope Francis can reincarnate magically the real flesh-and-blood of Christ in the Eucharist daily, for sure John Paul II must have reincarnated himself in Pope Francis for he has become an instant rock star (from Argentina to the Vatican) with his polls ever rising as Archbishop Dolan boasted today (read news below). Most of all, John Paul II must have reincarnated his papal ruse to cover-up the worst crimes of the Vatican against children – which the UN condemned last February – because Pope Francis is likewise covering up the biggest heist in mankind’s history between the Vatican Bank and Switzerland, the other “little” country the pope owns. The greater the powers of the pope, the greater are his crimes, thanks to the cover-ups by the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team.

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.

OREGON
KTVZ

[note: The issue between Father Radloff and the Catholic bishop does not involve an allegation of abuse.]

BEND, Ore. –
More than six months after his removal as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Bend, a move that sparked controversy in the congregation and an unsuccessful appeal to the Vatican, Father James Radloff announced Tuesday he is resigning from the Roman Catholic Church and will start a new parish in Bend, affiliated with the Evangelical Catholic Diocese of the Northwest.

Here’s the full statement issued by the Evangelical Catholic Diocese Tuesday morning:

“After a prolonged period of personal and spiritual discernment, Father James Radloff, in accordance with the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, has submitted his resignation from the order of the presbyterate of the Roman Catholic Church and his resignation as a member of the Roman Catholic Church to Bishop Liam Cary of the Diocese of Baker effective April 22, 2014.

“On May 16th, 2014, Father Radloff will make his Profession of Faith with the Evangelical Catholic Church and will petition the Evangelical Catholic Diocese of the Northwest to begin the process of Clerical Incardination.

“Father Radloff stresses, “Though I leave the Diocese of Baker as a priest in good standing, my decision to take this step may not be interpreted by Bishop Cary or his Chancery as a nolo contendere response to the meaningless direct, indirect, inferred or implied charges leveled against me. My response to all the issues Bishop Carey has inferred against me remains an unconditional not guilty.”

“Father Radloff, who was ordered by Bishop Cary to return to his family home in Orland Park Illinois on October 1st, 2013, plans to return to Bend Oregon in June after he has been granted transitional faculties to function as a priest of the Evangelical Catholic Diocese of the Northwest. Upon his return Father Radloff will begin responding to requests by the laity to establish a new mission parish of the ECC in Central Oregon.

“Bishop James Alan Wilkowski, Bishop for the Evangelical Catholic Diocese of the Northwest, is “pleased to welcome Father Radloff into our catholic community of faith and l look forward to sharing with him the directions we both shall be called upon by the Holy Spirit in providing sacramental and pastoral care to the People of God within the State of Oregon.”

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

April 21, 2014

The Archdiocese of Chicago is committed to the protection of children and youth and responds compassionately and thoroughly to all allegations received. The Archdiocese has continuously invited victims to come forward, regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.

We are disappointed that SNAP’s information today was presented to the media at a street-corner press conference directly outside the Archdiocese. We are further concerned that SNAP has been in communication with an individual “for several weeks,” and only now is making the information known to authorities and the Archdiocese. We look forward to meeting with the person and listening to his information. If SNAP has any additional information or other accusations, it is imperative that they bring it forward immediately.

Finally, in the comments Barbara Blaine made today, she claims that Cardinal George removed and reinstated three priests before removing them permanently. This is totally false. None of the priests mentioned by Blaine were withdrawn and reinstated by the Cardinal.

The abuse of any child is a crime and a sin. The Archdiocese encourages anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest, deacon, religious, lay employee or volunteer, to come forward. Complete information about reporting sexual abuse can be found on the Archdiocesan website under Protecting Children at www.archchicago.org or by calling the Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review, 312-534-5205 or 1-800-994-6200, or the Office of Assistance Ministry, 312-534-8267 or toll-free at 866-517-4528.

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.

OREGON
National Catholic Reporter

[note: The issue between Fr. Radloff and the Catholic bishop does not involve abuse allegations.]

Dan Morris-Young | Apr. 22, 2014

Fr. James Radloff’s status as a priest in good standing in the diocese of Baker, Ore., has come to an end as he announced in an open letter Tuesday that he is leaving the Roman Catholic Church to “continue my journey as a priest” with a breakaway denomination, the Evangelical Catholic Church.

In addition, Radloff told NCR he has sent a demand through his civil attorney to Baker Bishop Liam Cary to “turn over a complete copy of my personnel records, and everything he used to make his decision.”

That decision was to implement a formal removal of Radloff as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, effective Oct. 1, 2013. At the time of the ouster, Cary praised Radloff’s ministry at the diocese’s largest and Bend’s only parish. The bishop said Radloff remained a priest in good standing and had done nothing illegal. Cary refused to reveal the reasons for the termination, stating that he was “not at liberty to do so.”

No change in Radloff’s status with the diocese was announced even after the Vatican Congregation for Clergy rejected the pastor’s appeal of Cary’s action. Dated Jan. 31 and made public in Bend on Feb. 14, the ruling let Cary’s removal of Radloff stand, allowed the bishop to keep the reasons private, and did not require lifting the ban on public ministry imposed on Radloff.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: Associated Press Updated: April 22, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Attorneys for victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests say a deposition by Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt shows deceit continues in the church.

Nienstedt is head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. On April 2, he testified about the church’s response to sexual abuse allegations.

Attorneys made the deposition public Tuesday. In the interview, Nienstedt said under oath that he hasn’t reprimanded or disciplined anyone for how abuse cases were handled. In several instances, he says the responsibility for notifying people about problem priests fell on another church official, the Rev. Kevin McDonough.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson says the deposition shows Nienstedt continues to deny the problem and deflect responsibility.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 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 )

In our view, here’s the most important admission in Archbishop John Nienstedt ‘s deposition.

Anderson: Have you at any time reprimanded, punished, demoted or taken any disciplinary action against any priest or official of the archdiocese for their mishandling of child sexual abuse allegations?

Nienstedt: I don’t believe so, no.

Anderson: Do you believe you should have?

Nienstedt: No.

Look at a few undisputed facts:

There are 52 publicly accused Twin Cities child molesting clerics. (See BishopAccountability.org)

There are more who have not yet been publicly exposed.

Many have stayed hidden for years or even decades.

Many have molested more victims because Twin Cities Catholic staff have ignored or concealed their crimes.

Many have been “outed” only because of courageous victims, skilled police and smart journalists.

Some have been on the job or unsupervised until very recently.

Despite all of this, Nienstedt cannot bring himself to even slap the hand of one of his employees for helping predators, hurting victims, deceiving parishioners, stonewalling police, misleading prosecutors or endangering kids.

Not one.

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.

CANADA
Global News

By Steve Rennie The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – After nearly four years of public hearings and with the clock ticking on a final report into the legacy of physical and sexual abuse at Indian residential schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is about to get a pile of new documents.

The development comes more than a year after an Ontario court ordered the federal government to hand over reams of material to the commission.

The inquiry was supposed to end in July, but its mandate has been has been extended by a year.

Even with the extra time, researchers are still under the gun to sort through the latest additions to the millions of documents the government has already provided. Early estimates have tens of thousands of boxes sitting in storage at four different Library and Archives Canada locations.

“Preliminary estimates identify up to 60,000 boxes of material … requiring review,” says a procurement notice.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

Maria Keena
April 22, 2014

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – It’s not the first allegation against Father Joseph Jiang.

The suspended 31-year-old priest is charged with first-degree statutory sodomy, and was previously accused of having improper contact with a teenage girl and giving the family $20,000 in hush money. Those charges were dismissed in November 2013.

But the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) want to know why he was able to live unsupervised, following the first allegation of abuse.

David Clohessy tells KMOX that Archbishop Carlson is deliberately trying to discourage others from coming forward about Father Jiang’s crime by going after the latest alleged victim’s family. He says that Archbishop Carlson claims that the family reported that their son had been bullied at school, and that he only recently made his abuse disclosure.

“Catholic parishes are tightly knit,” he says. “And they’re especially tightly knit when they have a school, like Cathedral has. So, for Archbishop Carlson to disclose information that lets other parishioners know who this family is, and who this victim is—he’s still a boy—that’s just unconscionable.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
KARE

Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Attorneys for victims of alleged sexual abuse by Minnesota priests have released both transcripts and videotape of the deposition of Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Nienstedt is head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. On April 2, he was questioned by attorney Jeff Anderson and testified about the church’s response to sexual abuse allegations. It was the first time since Nienstedt became archbishop six years ago that he has addressed these questions under oath.

CLICK HERE FOR TRANSCRIPTS OF THE DEPOSITION OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT

The deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims a priest abused him in the 1970s.

Transcripts of Nienstedt’s testimony reflect a line of questioning from Anderson that became increasingly testy, especially when it came to child pornography and sex abuse.

At the end of the deposition, Anderson indicates his desire to continue questioning the Archbishop. Attorneys for the Archdiocese tell Anderson that his time is up. “So we are done?” Anderson asks. “We’re done. You’re past your time,” Nienstedt’s attorney replies.

Church lawyers tried to block the deposition, claiming it wasn’t relevant to the case because Nienstedt was not Archbishop at the time of the alleged abuse. But a Ramsey County judge and the Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

CLICK HERE FOR THE DEPOSITION TRANSCRIPT OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT

This site includes videos of the deposition.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with video]

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Apr 22, 2014

Archbishop John Nienstedt acknowledged in sworn testimony that he took steps to hide information on abusive priests and never provided complete files to police, according to a transcript released today.

• Transcript: Read the text of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s deposition (April 2, 2014)

Nienstedt made the remarks in a four-hour deposition taken April 2 as part of a lawsuit filed by a man who said he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in the mid-1970s. The man alleges the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on accused priests secret. The man’s attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, argued that the deposition could provide evidence of a pattern of deception by the archdiocese.

Anderson and Finnegan released a partial transcript of the deposition at a news conference this morning. They said they redacted several pages that related to victims or sealed information.

“The archbishop and his predecessors have promised zero tolerance,” Anderson said, but “there has been an ongoing tolerance of sexual predators” among the clergy on the Twin Cities archdiocese.

And, generally speaking, he said, “We’re alarmed. We’re sad, and we’re scared, the more we learn, the more we see.”

Anderson said he believes Nienstedt lied under oath. “We have a serious pattern of deceit and deception by this archbishop and his predecessors,” Anderson said.

Throughout the contentious questioning, Nienstedt portrayed himself as a leader who relied on others to handle the clergy sexual abuse crisis. He professed little knowledge of the scandal within his archdiocese and said he assumed it was safe for children. Nienstedt said it “didn’t occur” to him to ask for a list of abusive priests when he arrived in 2007 and that he didn’t review any clergy files. He said he did not know that one priest had pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s or that another was receiving secret disability payments for pedophilia. Several of his statements are contradicted by internal documents obtained by MPR News.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO/AP) – Attorneys for victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests have released the deposition of Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt to the public.

Nienstedt is head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. On April 2, he testified about the church’s response to sexual abuse allegations. It was the first time since Nienstedt became archbishop six years ago that he has had to answer these questions under oath.

The deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims a priest abused him in the 1970s.

Church lawyers tried to block the deposition, claiming it wasn’t relevant to the case. But a Ramsey County judge and the Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis via KSTP

In his deposition, Archbishop John Nienstedt repeatedly stated that the safety of children is the archdiocese’s highest priority. He responded to questions about the tragedy of sexual abuse by clergy, and how the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis handled this issue during his tenure.

He expressed regret for mistakes that were made in the past with how the archdiocese responded to allegations of sexual abuse against clergy. He assumed responsibility for mistakes that have been made since he became archbishop of the archdiocese in 2008. The archbishop was not asked any questions about the plaintiff, Doe 1, or Thomas Adamson, the offending former priest.

The archbishop noted recent changes that have been made by the archdiocese to address how any new reports of sexual abuse will be handled. He repeated his commitment to adopt upcoming recommendations, including those of an outside expert firm that is reviewing existing procedures and clergy files.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Jennie Olson

Details on what Archbishop John Nienstedt said when he testified under oath earlier this month were released Tuesday, including a transcript and video.

It was the first time Nienstedt has had to answer questions under oath regarding the alleged sexual abuse of children by priests. Church lawyers tried for months to block the deposition on the grounds it is not relevant to a case that will go to trial in September, but a Ramsey County judge and the Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed.

A statement from the Archdiocese released Wednesday, April 2, said the Archbishop expressed regret for mistakes that were made in the past and assumed responsibility for mistakes that have been made since he became Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in 2008, according to the statement. Read the full statement here.

Read the entire un-redacted transcript of the deposition of Archbishop Nienstedt that took place on April 2 in St. Paul.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER and CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Staff Writers Updated: April 22, 2014

Attorney Jeff Anderson shows video of deposition of archbishop on clergy abuse cases. Archdiocese releases its own copy.

The sworn testimony of Archbishop John Nienstedt in a clergy sex abuse case was made public Tuesday morning by St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who said the Catholic Church continues to tolerate and hide predatory priests.

“The methods they have employed in the past are being employed in the present,” Anderson said during a news conference. “We’re alarmed, we’re sad and we’re scared.”

Nienstedt’s pledge that the church would protect children and the public are untrue and “have been broken,” Anderson added.

The archdiocese has not yet released a statement, but it released a copy of Nienstedt’s testimony about the time Anderson began his news conference. It has previously stated that children’s safety is its highest priority, and that Nienstedt had expressed regrets for “mistakes made in the past.”

On Tuesday, Anderson showed a short video clip of Nienstedt’s deposition, in which the archbishop said he recently learned about previous abuse committed by a priest, the Rev. Kenneth LaVan, even though LaVan’s abuse of two girls was known.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Charisma

4/22/2014 JENNIFER LECLAIRE

Bill Gothard made quite a name for himself in the home-schooling movement. Now his name is associated with something less honorable.

Gothard, 79, resigned from Basic Life Principles, the organization he founded, after allegations he was sexually harassing women. He has remained silent until now.

“I have withheld this statement in order to honor the request of the Board of Directors to wait until an initial review has taken place,” he wrote in a blog post. “As the review continues, I now want to make this statement.”

Here is Gothard’s statement:

“God has brought me to a place of greater brokenness than at any other time in my life. It is a grief to realize how my pride and insensitivity have affected so many people. I have asked the Lord to reveal the underlying causes and He is doing this.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

“It’s just about money.” That’s what many Catholic officials say when they’re sued for committing and concealing child sex crimes. But today’s release of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s deposition is proof that civil lawsuits are a key tool in the struggle to safeguard children from predators.

Civil suits can help expose wrongdoers, protect kids, reveal truth and hopefully deter future cover ups. Sometimes, information gleaned from civil litigation helps police and prosecutors catch and convict child predators. Always, information from civil litigation educates us all on how cunning predators operate and how callous supervisors collude.

So we applaud this brave victim for seeking justice for himself, while also seeking to reveal the truth for others. He could have pushed hard for a quick and quiet settlement. Instead, he’s pushing hard to expose those who commit and conceal horrific crimes against innocent boys and girls. Every Minnesota Catholic owes him – and dozens of other equally courageous Minnesota clergy sex abuse victims – a debt of gratitude.

For decades, bishops have tried to seal any court records about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. But for the last decade, bishops have pledged to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex cases. They continue, at virtually every opportunity, to keep trying to seal such records. We’ve seen absolutely no decline whatsoever in efforts by bishops to keep every single page of court documents about this crisis hidden from public view.

We hope other child sex abuse victims who were hurt in institutional settings take note of today’s disclosure. We hope they find the strength and courage to call law enforcement and support groups and civil lawyers, so they too can protect children by exposing wrongdoers.

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 Australian

Abusers say they never existed: Congregation of Christian Brothers ‘never in Australia’

JANET FIFE-YOEMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH APRIL 23, 2014

THE child sex abuse royal commission is being urged to investigate why the Congregation of Christian Brothers has claimed it never existed in ­Australia, as it looks into shocking abuse at four of its orphanages.

The commission is expected to hear from child migrants who, as young boys, were raped and physically ­assaulted by Christian Brothers at the notorious homes when it starts its ­latest inquiry in Perth next week.

Sydney solicitor Adrian Joel is urging the commission to look into the Christian Brothers’ response to a test case for the thousands of former child migrants shipped to Australia as cheap labour in mass migration schemes of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

Lawyers frustrated at the legal walls erected by the Christian Brothers in Australia launched the case in New York, under an old international law, arguing that it exists as an international order. A judge ruled against the case on a number of points including that they had sued the “wrong” Christian Brothers. Despite being a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, the Christian Brothers claims it is constituted differently in different countries and never existed in Australia as the Congregation of Christian Brothers.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Deposition of ARCHBISHOP JOHN NIENSTEDT, taken pursuant to Notice of Taking Deposition, and taken before Gary W. Hermes, a Notary Public in and for the County of Ramsey, State of Minnesota, on the 2nd day of April, 2014, at 30 East 7th Street, St. Paul, Minnesota, commencing at approximately 9:05 o’clock a.m.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Fox 9

by Mike Durkin

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The transcript and video clips from the deposition of Archbishop John Nienstedt were released Tuesday by St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson.

PDF: Deposition of Archbishop John Nienstedt

In 4 hours of testimony on April 2, Nienstedt gave a statement and answered questions about how officials in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

“It really reflects, in real time, the problem that exists at it is today,” Anderson said a news conference Tuesday. “This is not about what has been in the past. This captured a harsh reality that the promises and the pledges made by this archbishop and his predecessor were broken…We’re alarmed, we’re sad and we’re scared, the more we hear and the more we see.”

ABRUPT ENDING

Anderson said Nienstedt ended the deposition abruptly by walking out when asked the following question: “Why not just turn over these files that you know to be credibly accused to the professionals, to law enforcement?”

A spokesperson for the archdiocese explained that Nienstedt did not “walk out of the deposition,” as Anderson claimed, but that the deposition had simply run past its 4-hour time budget.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
KAAL

[live stream of Jeff Anderson’s press conference]

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Attorneys for victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests are releasing the deposition of Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Nienstedt is head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. On April 2, he testified about the church’s response to sexual abuse allegations. It was the first time since Nienstedt became archbishop six years ago that he has had to answer these questions under oath.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 22, 2014

VATICAN CITY The priest who has guided the Vatican’s sainthood process for Pope John Paul II responded vaguely Tuesday when questioned publicly about the late pope’s response to clergy sexual abuse and his handling of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ and a serial sexual abuser.

When Msgr. Sławomir Oder was asked whether those investigating the saintliness of John Paul II considered if the late pope had sufficiently handled Maciel, who by the late 1990s was the subject of substantial investigative reporting, Oder said the investigations were carried out “with the real desire to clear things up and confront all the problems.”

“Even concerning the specific question that you mention, an investigation was carried out, documents were studied, [documents] which are available, and the response was very clear,” Oder said. “There is no sign of a personal involvement of the Holy Father in this matter.”

Oder, a Polish native who serves as a vicar in the Rome diocese, is the postulator of the cause of sainthood for John Paul II and was responsible for organizing the official investigations into the late pontiff’s sanctity and virtues for the official Vatican process to have John Paul II declared a saint.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Charles J. Reid, Jr.

Santo subito! — “Sainthood now!” That was the urgent plea of the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square in April, 2005, as Pope John Paul II lay dying. If the crowd had had its way, he would have been proclaimed a saint the very moment he died. And in truth, the canonization process has been extremely brisk. John Paul II has been dead only nine years and the Church stands ready to canonize him on April 27.

The passage of years, however, has allowed for a more sober assessment of his pontificate. For sure, John Paul II did things that make him worthy of canonization. There is no question that he was a deeply prayerful man who authored profound reflections on the meaning of Jesus and his mission. He provided a great witness to courage, first when he was shot in May, 1981, and then, two decades later, as an elderly victim of Parkinson’s. He rallied Poland and Eastern Europe in the Cold War. Where others might have been intemperate, his messages always encouraged resolute, peaceful, non-violent resistance.

Still, the perspective of time allows us to realize that his pontificate had the effect not of strengthening but rather of weakening the Church in a number of crucial respects. And we would be a friend to history — and to the Church — if we acknowledged these flaws, for they are not insignificant.

First, there was the priestly pedophilia crisis. It was in the middle 1980s when the public first began to get a sense of its enormity. In 1983, the national media highlighted the serial abuse committed by a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, Fr. Gilbert Gauthe. And two years later, in a report to the American Bishops’ Conference, Fr. Thomas Doyle detailed the depth of the problem and predicted that the pedophilia crisis might be the largest disaster to confront the Church “in centuries.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Latin Times

By Susmita Baral | Apr 22 2014

Pope John Paul II (né Karol Józef Wojtyła) and Pope John XXIII (né Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) are scheduled to be declared saints by the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, Apr. 27, 2014 in Rome. The canonization process will be led by the current pontiff, Pope Francis, at the Catholic capital, which is estimated to receive 3 million visitors to celebrate the occasion.

Many have said that Pope John Paul II–the Polish pontiff led the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005–was the obvious choice for sainthood but there is more to being declared a saint than winning a popularity contest. According to the church, a pontiff must have two church-verified miracles attributed to him in order to be considered for sainthood.

For Pope John Paul II, the two miracles attributed were a French nun claiming to be cured from Parkinson’s and a Costa Rican woman being cured from a fatal brain aneurysm. Even Pope Francis gave testimony, in 2005, to support the sainthood of Pope John Paul II. “John Paul II taught us, by hiding nothing from others, to suffer and to die, and that, in my opinion, is heroic,” said Pope Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Pope John Paul II’s legacy is not all miracles and words of praise from Pope Francis, as his involvement with Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest and the founder of Christ’s Legionaries, has proven to be controversial, to say the least. The allegations against Pope John Paul II is that he, and his papacy, ignored the credible claims that late Maciel was a pedophile, drug addict, con artist, and religious fraud.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Catholic prelate who led the campaign to make the late Pope John Paul a saint exonerated the pontiff on Tuesday against accusations he turned a blind eye to one of the Church’s biggest sexual abuse scandals.

Victims of sexual abuse quickly criticized the prelate’s defense of John Paul, who died in 2005 and will be made a saint at a ceremony this weekend along with Pope John XXII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963.

While the late Polish pope is almost universally hailed for his role in helping bring about the fall of communism, his critics say he was slow to grasp the seriousness of the sexual abuse crisis that emerged towards the end of his pontificate.

Specifically, critics have been pressing the Vatican over what the pope knew about sexual abuse by Father Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of a disgraced Catholic religious order, the Legionaries of Christ.

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.

WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 2014

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

A Bluefield man, who claims to be a “warlock,” was arrested for sexually assaulting children. Our heart aches for the innocent kids who were hurt and their families.

[Bluefield Daily Telegraph]

James Irvin allegedly used his spiritual beliefs to lure the children to him. He claimed that in order for their mother to be healed, they needed to be sexually assaulted by him. It is always appalling when children are abused, but even more so when spiritual beliefs are used as an excuse.

We are grateful for the detective on this case for reaching out to potential victims in Texas, where Irvin lived before moving to West Virginia.

We hope anyone who saw, suspected or suffered abuse by Irvin will immediately call law enforcement and start 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.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 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 )

Canonizing Pope John Paul II is an extraordinarily hurtful move. Now, the pain is being made worse by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, who insists that the now-deceased pope had “no personal involvement” in the horrific, decades-long Fr. Marcial Maciel scandal.

[The Republic]

First, a leader of an institution is responsible for what happens in that institution. This is especially true in an ancient, rigid monarchy like the Catholic Church. So popes can’t wield massive power yet evade responsibility for massive wrongdoing just because his aides may have carefully shielded him from the gory details.

Second, the Maciel case is just one case out of many in which John Paul II ignored or helped conceal horrific sexual violence against kids. In the rare instances where the pontiff took action, it was hurtful, not helpful (like his decision to water down an already weak US bishops sex abuse policy).

Oder got what he wanted: his idol is being idolized. Has he no decency? Can’t he stop here, and resist the temptation to revise history and exacerbate wounds?

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.

NEBRASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 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 former youth pastor from Kearney was sentenced to 17-40 years in prison for sexually assaulting 3 boys. We are grateful to the brave victims who spoke up and to the judge for a strict sentence.

[Kearney Hub]

It is always extremely troublesome and disappointing when some entrusted by the community to guide children exploits this trust and abuses children. We hope that church officials where Thomas A. Jones worked will aggressively reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered child sexual abuse and encourage them to call police.

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.

WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By CHARLES OWENS

BLUEFIELD — Police say a Bluefield man claiming to be a “warlock” used a promise of magical spells to lure children into committing sexual acts with him.

James “Jim” Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, was arraigned Monday before Mercer County Magistrate Susan Honaker on five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of sexual abuse involving juveniles. The victims in the case were 3, 9 and 13 years of age at the time of the alleged abuse, according to Detective K.L. Adams of the Bluefield Police Department.

Honaker set bond for Irvin at $100,000. Irvin told the court he had no money, and couldn’t afford an attorney. The man avoided eye contact with the news media as he was escorted in and out of the courtroom.

“I can’t come up with $100, not much less $100,000,” Irvin told Honaker.

The man was remanded to the custody of the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver following his arraignment on the charges. Honaker told Irvin that, if convicted, he faces a sentence of 15 to 35 years in prison on each of the sexual assault charges and five to 25 years in prison on each of the sexual abuse charges.

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.

WEST VIRGINIA
New York Daily News

BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Monday, April 21, 2014

A sicko calling himself a “magical warlock” allegedly sexually abused several children, authorities in West Virginia said, using his Wiccan religion to trick the youngsters into sexual acts.

James Irvin, 57, of Bluefield, abused children as young as 3, 9 and 13, according to court documents, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reported.

He was arraigned on five counts of sexual assault and 10 counts of sexual abuse.

The practicing Pagan/Wiccan pervert, police said, used his religion to get close to the children, two of whom lived in Irvin’s home with their parents in 2007 when the abuse occurred, WVVA-TV reported.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Jennie Olson

Details on what Archbishop John Nienstedt said when he testified under oath earlier this month will be released Tuesday, including a transcript and video, Attorney Jeff Anderson announced Monday.

It was the first time Nienstedt has had to answer questions under oath regarding the alleged sexual abuse of children by priests. Church lawyers tried for months to block the deposition on the grounds it is not relevant to a case that will go to trial in September, but a Ramsey County judge and the Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed.

A statement from the Archdiocese released April 2 said the Archbishop expressed regret for mistakes that were made in the past and assumed responsibility for mistakes that have been made since he became Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in 2008, according to the statement.

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.

WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 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 )

Yakima’s Catholic bishop is desperately trying to evade responsibility for a child molesting cleric by stressing that the cleric’s crimes happened during guitar lessons that weren’t “church-sanctioned.” That is disgusting hair-splitting. Deacon Aaron Ramirez would likely never have been trusted by this boy or his parents had Yakima’s bishop not irresponsibly held Ramirez out to be a holy, celibate man when he clearly wasn’t.

[Yakima Herald-Republic]

For decades, Catholic officials have said almost anything to avoid any accountability for their reckless, callous and deceptive wrongdoing in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases.

(In one notorious case, then-Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco argued in court filings that one of his priests shouldn’t have to pay support for the child he fathered because the woman should have used birth control, which of course the Catholic hierarchy insists is immoral.)

Catholic bishops have shown a remarkable ability to sound pastoral in public, but fight viciously in court. We hope Yakima jurors won’t reward more of this legalistic, self-serving hair-splitting.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 22, 2014

VATICAN CITY — The Polish priest who has spearheaded the case to make Pope John Paul II a saint says there is no documentation that he had any “personal involvement” in the scandal of the Legion of Christ religious order.

John Paul and his closest advisers had held up the Legion and its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, as a model for the faithful, even though the Vatican for decades had documentation with credible allegations that Maciel was a pedophile and drug addict with a questionable spiritual life.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder said Tuesday that based on documentation available for the saint-making investigation, “There is no sign of personal involvement of the Holy Father in this case.”

Oder didn’t mention John Paul’s closest advisers, who were among Maciel’s staunchest supporters.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Archbishop John Nienstedt’s sworn testimony about his handling of sexual abuse allegations in the Twin Cities Catholic church will be released Tuesday, according to a St. Paul victims’ attorney.

The four-hour deposition took place April 2. It is part of a lawsuit brought by a man who says he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in the mid-1970s. The lawsuit claims the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by refusing for decades to release information about abusive priests. It says that the actions of top church officials continue to put children at risk.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is representing the plaintiff in the case and conducted the four-hour deposition, said questioning ended heatedly when he asked the archbishop to turn over the files of offending priests to police. Anderson will release video of the questioning, along with a transcript, at a Tuesday morning news conference.

The deposition marked the first time Nienstedt has had to answer questions under oath about clergy sexual abuse in the Twin Cities since he was appointed to lead the archdiocese six years ago. In 2006, he testified under oath in a lawsuit involving the Diocese of New Ulm, where he served as bishop before coming to the Twin Cities.

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.

INDIA
Times of India

KENDRAPADA: A priest of Madhukeshari Temple allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl on its premises at Chakoda village under Dharmasala police limits in Jajpur district on Monday.

The survivor’s motherlodged an FIR, alleging that Rabindra Panda, 35, raped her minor daughter.

According to IIC of Dharmasala police station Sudrashan Dash, Panda raped the girl when she went to the temple to have prasad.

The girl was taken to community health centre at Dharmasala where doctors after medical examination told police that she was raped. Doctors said there were injury marks on her person and private parts. The girl was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after her condition deteriorated.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

I knew Father Mike O’Connell, but I didn’t know he was a priest because of all the steroids at a gym where I was a member.

I was a teenager and I knew then that Mike O’Connell was dangerous, especially to kids. I stepped in and helped another kid that he was abusing, which is why I’m speaking out now.

I want to help other kids that are in danger now as well as survivors that are still hiding in shame. I also want to support the brave victim that came forward and reported Father O’Connell.

Based on my interactions with Father O’Connell I’m not surprised at all that a survivor has stepped forward. I hope many more will. I hope that by speaking out now I can help survivors in the same way I was able to help the kid at the gym that was being abused.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

Maria Keena
April 21, 2014

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The Catholic Church has reason to celebrate findings of a CBS poll that shows more people than ever feel the Church is in touch with their needs.

Timothy Dolan, a St. Louis native and the Archbishop of New York, says that’s good news. He credits the Pope for being so genuine and sincere.

But there are still lingering questions about real reform in the Church regarding predator priests and sex abuse.

“Those 10 days before we actually sealed ourselves in the Sistine Chapel, the College of Cardinals met in confidence every day,” he says. “We spoke our mind, and Jorge Bergoglio [Pope Francis], who was there, listened intently. And now we know it for sure, because he’s doing a lot of the stuff.”
Pope Francis still has not met with victims, but Dolan believes that he will.

“I think he should and I think that he will, Pope Benedict did,” says Dolan. “We’ve got to give him some time, he knows that it’s a towering problem.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Chicago Province Jesuit ordained in 1973, Fr. Bill Spine worked in Peru, Brooklyn NY, Moline IL, Chicago, and Lexington KY. He was a teacher, parish assistant and pastor, and associate director of a diocesan hispanic ministry office. Spine was removed from active ministry in February 2006, several months after the Jesuits received what they called a credible allegation that the priest sexually abused a teenage boy while assigned to Peru in the mid-1970s. The boy was Spine’s student. The Official Catholic Directory shows that Spine lived in Rome from 2007 to at least 2010.

Ordained: 1973

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Telemundo Chicago

Después de haberse reincorporado la semana pasada como pastor de la “Parroquía San Alfonso”, de Lakeview, ahora surgen nuevas acusaciones en contra del Reverendo Michael O’Connell.

Según reportes, el padre O’Connell aceptó renunciar en Diciembre del 2013, cuando presentaron una denuncia oficial por supuesta conducta inapropiada. En esta querella, se acusó al religioso de un presunto abuso sexual de un jovencito que ocurrió hace 20 años, cuando estaba a cargo de la “Parroquía Lady of Woods” de Orland Park.

De acuerdo a la Arquidiócesis de Chicago, las alegaciones fueron investigadas por el Dpto. de Servicios para Familias y Niños de Illinois, la fiscalía del Condado Cook y la oficina del alguacil del Condado Cook. Al parecer, se concluyó que las acusaciones no tenían fundamento.

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
Whyalla News

By KAYLEIGH BRUCE April 22, 2014

Local service providers were recently provided with information to aid people who may wish to tell their story to the Royal Commission into the Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.

Currently the Royal Commission is hearing from people across Australia to look at how institutions have managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.

Any child sexual abuse survivors can share their story as part of the commission to show what happened in the past to help build child safe organisations in the future.

Victim Support Service facilitated the information session in conjunction with Know More – an independent legal service offering free legal assistance to people considering making a submission.

Victim Support Service Royal Commission Support Services counsellor Dianne Newton said the aim of the local session was to educate service providers to let community members know that the royal commission was interested in their story.

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.

HAWAII
Hawaii News Now

[with video]

By Tim Sakahara

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) –
There are just three days left for Hawaii child sex abuse victims to seek justice against their attackers even if the statute of limitations has expired. The deadline is prompting a slew of last-minute lawsuits.

The state passed a law allowing child sex abuse victims to sue their perpetrator even if the crime happened decades ago. However it was a two year window. That window closes this Thursday which is why some lawyers are in for a busy week.

Mark Gallagher may be wearing a path in the courthouse floor. He has already filed 38 child sexual abuse cases and counting.

“I probably have about eight, nine maybe even ten more back at the office to be filed this week,” said Mark Gallagher, Attorney.

Gallagher is one of the attorneys on various advertisements looking for more victims to step forward. There is a sense of urgency because this Thursday April 24 is the deadline, not just to call but to have an actual lawsuit filed with the clerk’s office before it closes at 4:15.

“If you’re going to act tomorrow there is enough time, Wednesday there is enough time, Thursday it’s going to be a little bit tight,” said Gallagher.

The defendants are against various churches, private school groups and individuals. There is a big case against Kamehameha Schools involving 28 alleged victims. There are about 30 different cases against the Catholic Church in Hawaii.

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.

NEBRASKA
Kearney Hub

KIM SCHMIDT Hub Staff Writer

KEARNEY — A former church youth leader has been sentenced to 17 to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting three boys during a span of seven years.

Thomas A. Jones, 37, was sentenced Monday morning in Buffalo County District Court on two counts of felony sexual assault of a child, two counts of felony third-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of femoly attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child.

The incidents took place in Kearney between 1999 and 2006. In each case, Jones either exposed himself to the boys, touched their private parts or was involved in oral sex with them.

With good time, Jones could be eligible for parole in 8½ years. Judge John Icenogle gave him credit for 27 days already served in prison.

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.

NEBRASKA
Press & Dakotan

Associated Press

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A former Kearney church youth pastor faces up to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting three boys.

The Kearney Hub reports (http://bit.ly/1rgAXU0 ) that 37-year-old Thomas A. Jones was sentenced Monday in Buffalo County District Court. Jones was convicted of two counts of felony sexual assault of child, two counts of felony third-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child.

Prosecutors say the incidents took place in Kearney between 1999 and 2006. In each case, Jones exposed himself to the boys, touched their private parts or was involved in oral sex with them.

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
Niagara Gazette

By Howard Balaban
Niagara Gazette

ALBION — A local pastor accused of sex crimes against children declined a plea deal Monday in Orleans County Court.

Roy Harriger Sr., 70, of Middleport, faces three charges of course of sexual conduct against a child and three charges of incest, in connection with incidents that allegedly took place during 2000-2001 while he was the pastor of a Lyndonville church.

Harriger, now of Community Fellowship Church in Hartland, declined Monday to accept a plea deal involving three counts of first-degree course of sexual conduct, with sentences to run concurrently.

Instead, Harriger’s attorney filed a motion relating to the language of the statute under which Harriger was indicted by a grand jury in early Febuary. The attorney also asked Orleans County Judge James Punch to lift an order of protection that directs Harriger to avoid any contact or communication with any child under the age of 18. Punch said no.

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.

WASHINGTON
KIMA

[with video]

By Samina Engel Published: Apr 21, 2014

YAKIMA, Wash. — Attorneys for both sides made their final pitch in a sex abuse case against the Yakima Diocese. The case is being heard in federal court.

The anonymous plaintiff says he was raped by a Yakima deacon almost 15 years ago. He’s suing the diocese for more than $3 million in damages.

His attorneys say the Yakima Diocese should have protected the teenager and argued there was a “campaign of silence and secrets” to cover up the abuse.

A lawyer for the diocese questioned the plaintiff’s credibility, highlighting inconsistencies in his testimony.

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.

WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald-Republic

By Donald W. Meyers / Yakima Herald-Republic
dmeyers@yakimaherald.com

YAKIMA, Wash. — A man who alleges he was raped as a teen by a deacon with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yakima deserves more than the $3.1 million originally sought, his attorney argued in federal court Monday.

Attorney Bryan Smith urged U.S. District Judge Edward Shea to use his discretion to award more, suggesting $8.6 million instead.

“How much is it worth to have your soul ripped from you, or think that it will never come back?” Smith asked during closing arguments in the abuse case.

But an attorney for the diocese argued the lawsuit should be thrown out, saying the man, known in court papers as John Doe, has not proven his case.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Voices

By LeeAnn Shelton

A man filed a lawsuit Friday against the Archdiocese of Chicago, claiming he was sexually abused by convicted former Catholic priest Daniel McCormack at a West Side parish in 2005.

The plaintiff, listed in the lawsuit as John C. Doe, was 12 when McCormack began abusing him in the spring of 2005, he claims in the suit, which was filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The boy lived across the street from St. Agatha’s Parish, where McCormack was a pastor, teacher and coach, the suit said. McCormack would ask him to help with chores around the parish in exchange for the boy playing pick-up basketball games.

The plaintiff, who is now in his early 20s, alleges the sexual abuse continued through late fall of 2005, according to the suit.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

[with video]

By Rob Elgas | Monday, Apr 21, 2014

A witness has come forward with new allegations against a Chicago priest who was reinstated to his parish just last week.

Father Michael O’Connell, of St. Alphonsus Church, was cleared of any wrongdoing in a previous case, but now the Cook County Sheriff’s Department have decided to reopen the case.

An Arizona man claims he saw O’Connell sexually abuse a young man 15 years ago. He says it happened in a Gold’s Gym in the south suburbs when a man he only knew as “Mike,” inappropriately touch the teenager.

“Now, I feel with this victim coming forward and people are starting to question him, then maybe my story is more believable,” said the man, who know lives in Arizona and asked that his identity not be revealed for fear of retaliation.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Portland Press Herald

By Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II is rightly credited with having helped bring down communism, of inspiring a new generation of Catholics with a globe-trotting papacy and of explaining church teaching on a range of hot-button issues as Christianity entered its third millennium.

But the sexual abuse scandal that festered under his watch remains a stain on his legacy.

John Paul and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the abuse problem until very late in his 26-year papacy, even though U.S. bishops had been petitioning the Holy See since the late-1980s for a faster way to defrock pedophile priests.

The experience of John Paul in Poland under communist and Nazi rule, where innocent priests were often discredited by trumped-up accusations, is believed to have influenced his general defensiveness of the clergy. The exodus of clergy after the turbulent 1960s similarly made him want to hold onto the priests he still had.

Pope Francis has inherited John Paul’s most notorious failure on the sex abuse front – the Legion of Christ order, which John Paul and his top advisers held up as a model. Francis, who will canonize John Paul on Sunday, must decide whether to sign off on the Vatican’s three-year reform project, imposed after the Legion admitted that its late founder sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

[with video]

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Religion Reporter April 21, 2014

The Cook County Sheriff’s office said Monday it has resumed investigating a Catholic priest just days after the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that a sexual abuse allegation against the priest was unfounded.

The Rev. Michael W. O’Connell was reinstated last week to active ministry as pastor of St. Alphonsus on the North Side.

The sheriff’s office declined to say what prompted the new investigation but it comes as a former Illinois resident appeared at a news conference Monday. The man, who refused to identify himself, alleged he witnessed O’Connell behaving improperly at a south suburban gym years ago.

The man said he reported the incident to authorities Monday but did not tell police or the archdiocese at the time.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

VATICAN CITY, April 22, 2014 (AFP) – A much-loved pope will be declared a saint on Sunday but not everyone in the Catholic Church agrees.

John Paul II also alienated many left-wing Catholics and has been blamed for hushing up child sex crimes.

“Not all the people of God agree about canonisation,” the International Movement We Are Church said in a statement ahead of the canonisation ceremony in St Peter’s for John Paul II and his Italian predecessor John XXIII.

The group accused the late pope of “spiritual authoritarianism” and of putting too much emphasis on “hierarchical control” — two traits it said left little room for victims and investigations of abuses.

“Pope John Paul II was a pope of great contradiction. His tragedy lies in the discrepancy between his commitment to reform and dialogue in the world and his return to authoritarianism,” it said.

The pontiff credited with helping to bring down Communism in Eastern Europe was accused of backing right-wing dictators in Latin America including Augusto Pinochet in Chile during the Cold War.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 21, 2014

Archbishop’s statements in abuse case to be made public by an attorney for alleged victim.

The contentious deposition of Archbishop John Nienstedt in a child sexual abuse suit will be made public Tuesday, attorneys for the alleged abuse victim said.

A judge ordered the deposition over the objection of attorneys for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Nienstedt testified under oath for four hours April 2 about the way church officials have responded to allegations of sexual abuse by priests. The archdiocese was strongly criticized last week by a church-appointed panel investigating those issues.

“We’re releasing these now because we believe it is important for the public to be able to read the archbishops’s testimony,” said attorney Mike Finnegan. “We believe all information on child sex abuse in the archdiocese should be made public.”

The archdiocese released a statement immediately after the deposition, stating that Nienstedt had explained that children’s safety was the archdiocese’s highest priority. The statement said he “expressed regret for mistakes that were made in the past,” and that he would follow recommendations by the panel reviewing how the archdiocese handled abuse complaints.

However, attorneys for the alleged abuse victim said Nienstedt had ended his testimony abruptly and “heatedly” when asked to give police investigators more church files about credibly accused priests.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Faribault County Register

April 22, 2014
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Attorneys for an alleged sexual abuse victim plan Tuesday to release St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt’s deposition.

Nienstedt testified under oath for four hours April 2 about the way church officials have responded to allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Attorney Mike Finnegan, who represents a man who says he was sexually abused by a priest in the 1970s, tells the Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1h8I4N4) it’s important for the public to be able to read the archbishop’s testimony.

Church lawyers tried for months to block the deposition on the grounds it is not relevant to the case. But a Ramsey County judge and the Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Patch

Posted by Lorraine Swanson (Editor) , April 22, 2014

Less than a week after he was reinstated to his position as pastor of a Chicago parish, another witness has stepped forward with a new allegation of child sex abuse against Rev. Michael W. O’Connell.

O’Connell returned to his post at St. Alphonsus Church on April 17, after taking a leave of absence from his current parish after he was accused in December 2013 of sexual misconduct with a minor while serving at Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park, 20 years ago.

An investigation by the Cook County Sheriff’s office, working with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, was unable to find enough evidence to support the charges, Barbara Blaine said, president of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Now, another former south suburban man has stepped forward, stating that he witnessed O’Connell abusing a young male teen at an Orland Park fitness center sometime in 1999 or 2000.

The witness, now 33 and living in Nevada, contacted SNAP in Chicago after learning that the Archdiocese had allowed O’Connell to return to ministry.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

What: At a news conference Tuesday attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will:

• Release video clips and the deposition transcript of Archbishop John Nienstedt taken on April 2, 2014 as part of a civil lawsuit.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 11:00 AM CDT

WHERE: Law Office of Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

Notes: All attendees will be provided with copies of the video testimony and deposition transcripts. Clips of the testimony and the transcript will be posted tomorrow morning on our website www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: 612.817.8665 Office: 651.318.2650
Mike Finnegan: Cell: 612.205.5531 Office: 651.318.2650

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

(CBS) — Police are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against a Chicago priest who was just re-instated at his north side parish.

Fr. Michael O’Connell returned to St. Alphonsus Church last week after a four-month investigation into an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the 1990′s. Investigators couldn’t find enough evidence for criminal charges.

The new allegation also dates from the 1990′s, when O’Connell was pastor at Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park. A witness says he saw Fr. O’Connell molest a teenager at a south suburban gym.

“He claims that he saw Fr. O’Connell bring a youngster to the gym and said he saw him touching him inappropriately and it caused him a great deal of concern,” said Barbara Blaine SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Cook County Sheriff’s police have interviewed the witness. They confirm they’ve re-opened their investigation into Fr. O’Connell.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
USA Today

Brett M. Decker
April 21, 2014

This Sunday, one week after Easter, Pope Francis is scheduled to canonize two of his predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII. Few moves could so quickly undo his popular efforts to make the Roman Catholic Church more sensitive to the values of modern churchgoers.

Francis has concentrated much of his 13-month papacy on making symbolic gestures. To great news media fanfare, he wears black boots with his clerical robes instead of more formal, traditional slippers, and he sleeps in a hotel built for cardinals rather than the papal apartment in the Vatican palace.

Church knew

The impact of the Argentine pontiff raising two popes to sainthood after their failures to address the globe-spanning clergy sex abuse scandal would be far more than symbolic. The scandal damaged thousands of innocent lives and cost the church billions of dollars in legal damages as well as its moral standing.

John XXIII, pope from 1958 to 1963, and John Paul II, pope from 1978 to 2005, both held their positions after the widespread abuse, stretching back deep into the 20th century, was known to the Vatican.

The strict hierarchical structure of the Roman church means accountability goes straight to the top. The buck stops at the pope’s desk, for good or for ill.

Canonizing pontiffs from the era of abuse is not only tone deaf but also exposes a continuing, stubborn refusal to acknowledge the institutional coverup that occurred for decades and that those at the highest levels — including popes — didn’t do enough to prevent the crimes, enabling the crisis to continue.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

By Scott Alessi

This story is starting to get almost comically repetitive: Yet another high ranking church official has caused a stir by opting for a lavish living arrangement instead of looking for more humble housing. This time it is Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former Vatican secretary of state, who is moving in to a newly renovated 6,500-square-foot apartment, which was actually created for him by merging two smaller apartments. And Pope Francis, according to news reports, is not happy.

For those following the news, this has been a trend for bishops in recent months. Germany’s Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst will now forever be known as the “Bishop of Bling” for the $43 million in renovations to his residence, which included a $300,000 fish tank, $2.38 million for bronze window frames, and a $20,000 bath tub. The news earned him a meeting with Pope Francis about his extravagant lifestyle and Tebartz-van Elst ended up being replaced as bishop of his diocese.

Here in the United States, Newark, New Jersey Archbishop John Myers came under fire recently for a half-million dollar, 3,000-square-foot addition to the house which will serve as his retirement home. Then it was Atlanta’s Archbishop Wilton Gregory building himself a $2.2 million residence, although Gregory at least apologized after the fact and has decided not to live in the house after all. Meanwhile the pope is living in the simple Vatican guesthouse rather than the traditional–and more upscale–papal apartments.

I really don’t see the argument for bishops living in luxury housing. I understand they may need space to house guests or to have meetings, or that certain accommodations may be necessary in their older age. But it is hard for people to see their bishop as an example of Christ when he’s living a lifestyle that the vast majority of Catholics in his own diocese can’t afford.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

by Sean Lewis
Anchor/Reporter

A Chicago priest, accused in December of sexual abuse, faces a new allegation today from a man who says he witnessed another incident of abuse 15 years ago.

Father Michael O’Connell stepped down as pastor at St Alphonsus Parish in Lakeview when the original allegations were made in December. And just last week, after an investigation, O’Connell was reinstated by the archdiocese when the Cook County Sheriff called the allegations unfounded.

But now the Cook County Sheriff’s Dept says it has now reopened their investigation.

Today new allegations came from a 33-year-old man who claims that he witnessed Father O’Connell sexually abuse a young teenage boy in the locker room of a south suburban gym in 1999. O’Connell, he says, had his hand down the front of the other boy’s pants.

At the time, O’Connell was priest at Our Lady of the Woods parish in Orland Park.

Priest accused of sexual misconduct cleared, resumes role at churchThe man now lives out of state but came forward because he say he believes Father O’Connell to be dangerous.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Second man accuses priest
Cleric was put back on the job just last week
Church officials didn’t believe first allegation
SNAP: “Suspend alleged predator immediately”
“Don’t keep endangering children,” support group says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will disclose that

– a second accuser is reporting that he was assaulted by a just-reinstated priest, and
– he’s meeting today with police and archdiocesan officials.

They will also urge Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to
– suspend the credibly accused child molesting cleric immediately,
– put him in a treatment center, and
– aggressively seek out others who saw, suspected or suffered the priests crimes or misdeeds and encourage them to call police or prosecutors, not Catholic officials.

WHEN
Monday, April 21 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the archdiocesan headquarters/chancery office, 835 N. Rush St (corner of Chestnut) Chicago, IL

WHO
Three-four victims of clergy sex crimes who belong to an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including the organization’s long time president

WHY
Last week, Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George put an accused predator priest back on the job in a parish. Today, a second man who reports having been assaulted by Fr. Michael O’Connell will file a police report, meet with church officials and speak publicly about his experiences.

Last December, because of child sex abuse allegations, Fr. O’Connell stepped down from his post at St. Alphonsus Catholic parish (1429 W. Wellington Ave., 773 525 0709) in Lakeview. He was accused of molesting a boy when he worked at Our Lady of the Woods Parish (708 361 4754) in Orland Park (1997-2012).

But on April 15, archdiocesan officials announced that they consider the abuse allegations against Fr. O’Connell be “unfounded.”

Now a second man is reporting that he too was hurt by Fr. O’Connell, in a one-time incident in the 1990s at a gym. The man, who was an older teen at the time, has not disclosed this before to either secular or church authorities.

SNAP says in dozens of cases across the country, Catholic officials have reinstated an accused child molesting cleric only to later oust him permanently. Cardinal George has done that at least three times in the past few years regarding Fr Bennett, Fr McCormick and Fr. Klein.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Lawyer

By: Elizabeth Ahlin April 21, 2014

Attorneys for a man suing the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plan to release a deposition transcript and video clips from the deposition of Archbishop Nienstedt Tuesday at 11 a.m. The plaintiff in the suit has alleged abuse at the hands of a priest in the 1970s.

After the four-hour deposition earlier this month, attorney Jeff Anderson accused Nienstedt of leaving early and refusing to cooperate fully. A spokesman for the archdiocese disputed that allegation.

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
The Legislative Gazette

By Tiffany Brooks
Staff Writer

April 21, 2014

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey is renewing her push for legislation that would give sexual assault victims more time to file criminal and civil complaints against their abusers.

Markey’s Child Victims Act (A.1771-a/ S.06367) would eliminate completely the statute of limitation on reporting criminal charges of sexual assault, erasing the current five year limitation on reporting an incident after a victim turns 18. The bill would also suspend the civil statute of limitations for one year in order to help expose older crimes and allow for possible identification of hidden abusers through the court discovery process.

“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,” said Markey, D-Maspeth. “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.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 percent of men and 18 percent of women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Thirty-five percent of female victims were assaulted as minors and 28 percent of male victims were assaulted under the age of 10.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Edmund J. Robinson was ordained a priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in 1955. He spent the bulk of his career working at Indian missions across the province in Montana, Washington state and Idaho. Robinson was accused in 2011 of raping a 5-year-old Native American girl in 1963 in Arlee, Montana. In 2012 his name was included in a lawsuit as a perpetrator of past child sexual abuse in Hays, Montana. Robinson was known in 2012 to have been residing since 1993 in a Jesuit community in Spokane.

Ordained: 1955

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Two weeks ago, New Jersey’s attorney general honored our state director Mark Crawford for his tireless work and ceaseless compassion for sex abuse victims. Crawford received the Ronald W. Reagan Award, which is the first of its kind given by the attorney general’s office.

Earlier this month, the Harvard Divinity School honored our Midwest director Peter Isley for his never-ending work for clergy sex abuse victims. Isley received the Peter J. Gomes Memorial Honors, which was established last year to honor alumni whose “excellence in life, work and service pays homage to the mission and values of Harvard Divinity School.”

Next month our western regional director Joelle Castiex will receive the Susan Laufer Award for Outstanding Contribution to Support Group Awareness from SHARE! Joelle has contributed selflessly and tirelessly to help survivors of sexual abuse find help and healing.

We’re proud of our brave and dedicated leaders, who selflessly volunteer their time and energy to help victims all over the world. Without them we would not be able to do what we do. Countless victims have been helped and future abuses have been prevented because of what they do every day.

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.

CHILE
ADN radio

[Summary: Juan Carlos Cruz, who has said he was abused by priest Fernando Karadima, has complained to the United National Committee on Torture that Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Ricardo Ezzati acted to cover-up abuse by Karadima.]

Juan Carlos Cruz, uno de los denunciantes de Fernando Karadima, se refirió en ADN al informe de la Comisión de Tortura de Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU), que critica la responsabilidad de los cardenales Francisco Javier Errázuriz y Ricardo Ezzati, por no actuar y encubrir los casos de abusos sexual por parte del exparróco de El Bosque.

“El vaticano tiene que comparecer, porque están cuestionando ciertas cosas, va a comparecer de nuevo en Ginebra en la Comisión Contra la Tortura. Lo más impresionante es que Chile está destacado, porque se nombra con nombre y apellido a Cardenales de la iglesia chilena y esto ha sido gracias a los medios de todo el mundo”, explicó.

Además destacó que en el primer informe que entregó la ONU, “no se alcanzó a incluir a Chile, y salió el informe que fue bastante duro contra el Vaticano, ahora ellos fueron llamados ante la Comisión de Tortura y se específica lo que ha pasado en otros países y ahí se nombra a los cardenales por la contradicción de que ocupen cargos importantes”.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, April 21, 2014

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

We are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Our mission is to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we help anyone who was hurt in any institutional setting.

We have two key concerns – what Archbishop Robert Carlson is saying about the Fr. Joseph Jiang case and what Archbishop Carlson is doing about the Fr. Jiang case.

What he’s SAYING about the case is deceptive, self-serving and cruel.

There are 52 publicly accused St. Louis child molesting Catholic clerics. Archbishop Robert Carlson has been involved in clergy sex cases since 1984. And Carlson is a smart man, surrounded by plenty of smart lawyers and smart public relations people.

So Carlson knows how to respond when allegations of clergy sex crimes surface. But when his close pal Fr. Joseph Jiang was arrested Friday on a second set of criminal child sex charges, Carlson chose to publicly cast doubt on and violate the privacy of the second alleged victim’s family. Shame on him and on every person on his staff who played a role in this callous, self-serving statement.

Carlson publicly cast doubt on this courageous family when, on Friday, he issued a statement claiming that the second victim’s family supposedly didn’t mention child sex abuse until this week.

[St. Louis archdiocese]

Everyone knows that the overwhelming majority of child sex abuse victims can’t understand and disclose their trauma until decades later. So delays in reporting child sex crimes are not unusual or relevant at all.

But by mentioning the alleged delay, Carlson is deliberately casting doubt on the victim’s family.

(What’s ironic here is that in many cases, Carlson and other Catholic officials question and criticize victims who step forward decades after their abuse. Now, a victim reports promptly, while he is still a child, and Carlson attacks him too for his timing. When exactly does Carlson feel it’s appropriate for those who are raped, sodomized or fondled by priests to speak up?)

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Esquire

By Charles P. Pierce on April 21, 2014

Holy Mother Church is making saints again, and what a fine hash it is, too.

On April 27, Papa Francis is going to canonize both John Paul II and John XXIII. This is a very shrewd move, because there are a lot of people — like me — who consider JP The Deuce as a world-historical figure who deserves more credit for ending the Cold War than does, say, Ronald Reagan, but who also consider him a terrible pope — a theological reactionary and bully who was tougher on theology professors than he ever was on clerical rapists. He got fast-tracked onto the calendar of saints so that Peggy Noonan would not cry bitter tears into her Grey Goose. And, of course, now, all kinds of embarrassing chickens are coming home to roost.

Letter from John Paul’s personal secretary, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz, to the prefect of the Congregation for Religious, with the pope’s approval of the Legion’s constitutions, despite Vatican reservations that they include too many rules.

The process of John Paul’s canonization began before Francis’s watch began. But it was the latter’s decision to include John XXIII, good Pope John, in the festivities, thereby throwing bones — Not literally. This isn’t the Middle Ages — to both wings of the Church. (Alas for all concerned, Maciel was quite the perv going back decades, including the brief papacy of John XXIII.) The politics of it are deft. The theology of it, less so,

Pope Francis decided to waive John XXIII’s second miracle so he could canonize both popes together, which has caused speculation about just what Francis hopes to get out of the deal. “Pope Francis made a calculated political decision on canonizing the two popes, trying to bring some unity to a fractured church,” says Jason Berry, author of Render Unto Rome, who has written extensively on the Catholic Church.

What I am already worrying about is that Good Pope John is going to get buried under an avalanche of rightist nostalgia for John Paul II, during which the sexual abuse scandal is likely not to be mentioned. John is a figure of ancient history now. John Paul was a media superstar. This is the kind of thing I’m already dreading.

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
Tampa Bay Times

Anna M. Phillips, Times Staff Writer
Monday, April 21, 2014

TAMPA — Another teenage girl has come forward to accuse Brandon pastor Francisco Rios of sexually abusing her, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office officials said Monday.

Already facing three charges of lewd and lascivious molestation for incidents involving a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old in his congregation, Rios will now be charged a fourth time, officials said, for inappropriately touching another 15-year-old. Arrested in early April, Rios is the pastor of the Spanish-language evangelical church Casa de Amor.

A spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office said detectives had known about and tried to contact the girl, but in the year since the alleged incident she had left Florida and couldn’t be reached until recently.

At a court hearing Monday, sheriff’s Detective Chris Seaton said the girls told similar stories of being alone with Rios in his office at the church on Windhorst Road. The 12-year-old said there had been multiple times when Rios slapped her behind, kissed her and touched her inappropriately, Seaton said. The first 15-year-old to come forward told the detective that Rios began touching her several years ago, but in 2013, his actions escalated.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

Post by JULIE INGERSOLL

As I reported last Fall, Doug Phillips resigned from Vision Forum Ministries in what seemed like a sudden confession of a lengthy inappropriate relationship with a woman but with whom he denied having sex. As details trickled out it became clear the woman was the family’s nanny, a member of the church where Phillips was a leading elder (but had resigned months earlier when the church learned of his misconduct), and an employee of Vision Forum.

The details from a lawsuit filed last week against Phillips by Lourdes Torres-Manteufel only underscore the reality that this and the recent sex scandal at Bill Gothard’s Institute in Biblical Life Principles (IBLP) are more than isolated events—they shine a light on a darker side to Protestant fundamentalism that facilitates abuse.

While distinctly different, these two “ministries” share elements that facilitated the abuse, and a growing number of “alumni” are raising concerns.

Gothard has staffed the headquarters of his $95 million nonprofit with young home school volunteers, some of whom (now adults) recently started sharing stories of his behavior toward them when they were teens, away from home serving the ministry on the website Recovering Grace. A groundswell developed and Gothard was forced to resign; he’s now under investigation and on April 18th he released a statement admitting to many of the accusations but insisting they were not sexual.

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.

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter

Monday 21 April 2014

A PROMINENT Catholic cleric is being sued by Scotland’s largest local authority for almost £5 million after a church-run approved school closed with major pension liabilities.

Monsignor Peter Smith, currently a Vatican attache at the United Nations in New York, is being held personally responsible for the gaping hole left in the pension pot caused by the closure of Springboig St John’s School in Glasgow almost four years ago.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Watch Keep

Step 1: Cover for an admitted child sex offender.

Step 2: Refuse to speak with police and prosecutors about private meetings with said admitted child sex offender, claiming priest-penitent privilege, forcing prosecutors to issue subpoenas to obtain said information.

Step 3: Exert political influence and put pressure on the admitted sex offender to take the plea deal so you don’t have to comply with the subpoena to testify at the trial about the information shared with you by said admitted child sex offender.

Step 4: Remain silent on sexual abuse.

Exhibit A: Greg Belser and Philip Gunn

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

By Scott Kaufman
Monday, April 21, 2014

As the Catholic Church prepares for the canonization of the late popes John Paul II and John XXIII in what is being called a “Popapalooza” on April 27, concern that it may be too soon to elevate John Paul II — given his role in the ongoing child sex abuse scandal — is growing.

On Monday, the Associated Press published excerpts from 212 Vatican documents exposed in the book The Will to Not Know. They mostly concern the Reverend Marcial Maciel, leader of the troubled Order of the Legion of Christ, who possessed “a certain moral lassitude” and lived a life that “wasn’t very pious and at the same time quite comfortable.”

According to the documents, the Vatican knew about Rev. Maciel’s weaknesses beginning in 1948, and was complicit in hiding his crimes from the general public. An October 20, 1976 letter from Rev. Juan Vaca described the “disgrace and moral torment” that began when Rev. Maciel abused him one night in 1949 and listed 20 other Legion of Christ seminarians that Rev. Maciel also sexually abused.

A December 24, 1978 affidavit from another priest, Felix Alarcon, backed Rev. Vaca’s story, and added that “the fact that the drug-related and homosexual activity of the founder could occur for such a long period of time without correction is only a signal of the deeper problem of the congregation itself. The congregation is a ‘cult’ of regimented and indoctrinated followers dependent slavishly on a central dependent-figure.”

As Jason Berry, author of Render Unto Rome, told The Daily Beast, what John Paul II “did to the Church internally is a sadder story, most strikingly in his failure on the abuse crisis. Sheltering Maciel was an act of blind hubris. By elevating [John Paul II] to the same status as ‘good Pope John,’ Francis will draw groans from both sides of the Catholic divide.”

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.

MICHIGAN
ClickOnDetroit

Author: The Associated Press

TROY, Mich. –
Federal authorities are accusing a Detroit-area priest of fraud in the purchase of a condominium in Florida.

The government filed a lawsuit in Detroit federal court Monday to seize the Rev. Edward Belczak’s condo in Wellington, Fla. The FBI says the $110,000 down payment came from a bank account belonging to St. Thomas More parish in Troy.

The Associated Press left a message seeking Belczak’s current contact information from the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Belczak was removed from the church last year. He hasn’t been changed with a crime, but the request to take control of property means there’s a criminal investigation.

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
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 14 April 2014)

Research by Broken Rites has demonstrated how Catholic Church leaders kept quiet about a certain Australian priest, “Father F”, for THIRTY years until the matter was finally revealed by the media (not by the church) in 2012. Church leaders now need to explain why they remained silent for so long.

Father F spent his priestly career in New South Wales. The Catholic Church in New South Wales is divided into eleven dioceses, with each diocese being responsible for recruiting its priests and assigning them to various parishes or other postings. Father F belonged to the Armidale diocese (comprising two dozen parishes) in northern New South Wales, extending along the New England Highway to the Queensland border.

Father F’s first parish (from November 1981 to about April 1984) was the town of Moree (St Francis Xavier parish), where he assisted the Parish Priest, Monsignor Frank Ryan. Thus, Father F’s first full year in Moree was 1982 — and this is when the 30-year silence began.

Ten years later, in 1993, the newly-established Broken Rites victim support group announced its Australia-wide telephone hotline. One of the first incoming calls was from a former altar boy of Father F at Moree, recalling certain things that allegedly happened in this parish in 1982-84. Soon, Broken Rites had similar phone chats with other Moree families.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
CBS St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A 31-year-old St. Louis priest accused of sexually abusing a grade school student has been released on bail.

The Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang is charged with two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy involving a boy younger than 14. He’s accused of sexually abusing a male student at St. Louis Cathedral School. His lawyer has said Jiang denies the allegations.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Jiang was released on bail Friday from the city jail. Bill Hannegan, a friend of Jiang’s, said another supporter posted the $150,000 bond but declined to identify the person who provided the bail money.

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.

ARGENTINA
Tiempo del San Juan

[Summary: When everything seemed to be on track to finally reach a trial of sexual abuse of his own step-daughter, former priest and former provincial deputy Juan Carlos Icazatti, 76, got a medical certificate citing health problems. He declined to go to the trial which is scheduled for April 22.]

Por Gustavo Martínez Puga

Cuando parecía estar todo encaminado para que finalmente le llegara la hora del juicio por el abuso sexual en contra de su propia hijastra, el ex sacerdote y ex diputado provincial Juan Carlos Icazatti (76) metió un certificado médico aduciendo problemas de salud y pidió no ir al debate.

Eso ocurrió una semana antes de la fecha del juicio, previsto para el próximo martes 22 de abril, a las 9 de la mañana.

Según fuentes de la Sala III de la Cámara Penal, el certificado médico que llevaron los abogados defensores a la Mesa de Entrada tiene una letra ilegible en la que sólo se alcanza a leer con precisión que “no puede movilizarse por sus propios medios”.

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.

ARGENTINA
Diario de Cuyo

08:55 | San Juan, 21 de abril.- La defensa de Juan Carlos Icazatti presentó un certificado médico asegurando que tiene problemas de salud y no podrá asistir al juicio en su contra que comienza mañana. El excura y exdiputado provincial que fue denunciado hace 7 años por abusar y someter a supuestas perversiones sexuales a la hija de su pareja.

Desde la Sala III de la Cámara Penal confirmaron a Diario de Cuyo Online que el escrito llegó al juzgado el pasado miércoles y el acusado ya fue revisado por el perito médico para constatar la veracidad del certificado. Se aguarda que el informe llegue hoy.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Lindsay Toler Mon., Apr. 21 2014

Rev. Xiuhui “Joseph” Jiang faces new charges of sexually abusing a Catholic school child five months after a judge dismissed a different case with similar allegations.

Jiang, 31, faces two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy for having sexual conduct with a boy younger than 14 at the St. Louis Cathedral School, in the 4400 block of Maryland Avenue. The boy told investigators Jiang abused him twice in a school bathroom between July 2011 and August 2012, according to court documents.

Jiang voluntarily surrendered to police Thursday, and the Archdiocese of St. Louis revoked his canonical privileges while he faces the charges.

The boy’s family reported the abuse through the Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline, according to the archdiocese. The family has claimed for the past year that their child was bullied by other students but only raised sexual abuse allegations against Jiang this week.

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.

NEDERLAND
kerknieuws

[Summary: The Catholic church is still not properly handling allegations of sexual abuse by priests and brothers according to three victims’ organizationS. They are outraged that the church has unilaterally terminated mediation and victim assistance.]

De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk werkt nog steeds niet mee aan een goede afhandeling van misbruik door priesters en broeders. Dat zeggen de drie slachtofferorganisaties.

Zij zijn woedend dat de kerk eenzijdig de drieluiksbemiddeling heeft opgezegd, waarbij kerk en slachtoffer met hulp van een bemiddelaar de zaak afhandelen. De kerk vindt de methode te duur, denken de slachtofferorganisaties. Respectloos van de kerk, zeggen ze, die zelfs tijdens hoorzittingen bewezen misbruik nog in twijfel trekt en weigert mee te werken aan genoegdoening en compensatie voor de slachtoffers.

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.

NEDERLAND
RTV Utrecht

[Summary: The reporting of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church will stop after July 1.]

UTRECHT – Het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik van de Katholieke Kerk stopt. Na 1 juli kunnen bij de organisatie in Utrecht geen meldingen meer worden gedaan.

De afgelopen tijd konden slachtoffers er terecht voor erkenning en compensatie voor zaken die verjaard zijn. Mensen die dat willen, kunnen na 1 juli nog wel hun verhaal doen, maar dan zonder vervolgstappen.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Republic of Gilead

Bill Gothard, founder of the Basic Life Principles ministry and a supporter of Christian homeschooling, is embrolied in a sexual harassment scandal. Recovering Grace, a website dedicated to helping those who have been negatively impacted by Bill Gothard’s teachings, has posted statements from multiple women accusing Gothard of sexual harassment. Last month, Religion News Service reported that Gothard had resigned from the Institute of Basic Life Principles, a week after he had been placed on administrative leave.

Gothard’s ministry was popular among Quiverfull Christians and respected by the Duggar family, according to Religion News Service and No Longer Quivering. Radar Online reports that Megan Lind, one of the women who accused Gothard of sexual harassment, wrote an open letter to the Duggars urging them to reconsider their endorsement of Gothard’s ministry.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) expressed concern over allegations that Bob Jones University officials helped Bill Gothard cover up sexual harassment allegations against Gothard’s brother. In a March 27th statement, SNAP urged Bob Jones University to hire an outside firm to investigate these claims, arguing that “it’s best to err on the side of protecting the vulnerable and wounded, not the accused and the powerful.”

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Attleboro Sun Chronicle

BY EMILY O’DONNELL SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

He cracks jokes. He rides the bus. He tweets.

With the election of Jorge Bergoglio as the 266th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the College of Cardinals looked to the New World for the first time in choosing the 77-year-old former Jesuit cardinal from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but it’s paying off – certainly, in the Americas.

Pope Francis, whose papal name was taken from beloved Francis of Assisi (patron saint of the animals), is riding a wave of popularity barely a year after his ascension to the Throne of Saint Peter.
Thomas Boffa of Attleboro praised Francis for making the Catholic Church seem more welcoming. …

Members of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized the pope and the Vatican for doing too little to punish priests who have sexually abused children.

In a speech earlier this month, Francis condemned the sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and said perpetrators will be punished. But, Barbara Dorris, SNAP’s outreach director, said the promise was “all talk.”

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.

INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Will Higgins, will.higgins@indystar.com 10:12 p.m. EDT April 20, 2014

Norbert Krapf, Indiana’s poet laureate from 2008 to 2010, kept a secret for a half-century: As a boy in Jasper, in Southern Indiana, he had been molested by his parish priest, Monsignor Othmar Schroeder.

He told only his wife, Katherine, providing no details, and afterward the couple rarely spoke of it.

Krapf didn’t want the abuse to take over his life. “I wanted a career and a family, and for a long time I was able to put the abuse aside and focus on living,” he said. Norbert and Katherine Krapf (pronounced Cropf) have been married since 1970 and have two children. They spent their working lives in education in New York. She taught middle school English; he taught English at Long Island University and directed the C.W. Post Poetry Center.

He left teaching in 2004 and with his family moved back to his native Indiana to concentrate on his poetry.

Soon, for multiple reasons, childhood memories came flooding back. Indiana was the scene of the crimes, for one thing; and in 2006, Krapf read an Indianapolis newspaper account of a Catholic priest named Harry Monroe, who had abused boys throughout Indiana before being drummed out of the priesthood. Also, Krapf was aging — people often get reflective as they age. (Sting, 62, talked about this at the last TED conference; he said he recently overcame writer’s block by revisiting his old haunts.)

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Journal Review

[note: The link cited in this story does not appear to be operational.]

Associated Press

Posted: Monday, April 21, 2014

The late Pope John Paul II and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the sexual abuse problem until late in his 26-year papacy, especially concerns about the troubled Legion of Christ order and its leader, the Rev. Marcial Maciel. But the Legion’s troubles were not news to the Vatican, according to a trove of 212 Vatican documents exposed in the 2012 book “The Will to Not Know” and placed online at www.lavoluntuddenosaber.com . Here’s a look at some of the more pointed criticism about Maciel from the archive, which also included plenty of letters from bishops and Vatican officials praising him and his order.
___

June 8, 1948:
—The Vatican’s envoy to Spain sends the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious an investigator’s report to determine if Maciel’s new association should be approved as a religious order. The investigator, the Jesuit Rev. Lucio Rodrigo, reports violations of the confessional seal, that Maciel falsified documents, demonstrates “a certain moral lassitude,” and lives a life that “wasn’t very pious and at the same time quite comfortable.”
___
May 28, 1962:
—The Congregation for Religious summarizes the mounting accusations against Maciel: Suspended as superior by the Vatican from 1956-1958, he was ordered to get medical help to cure his morphine “abuse.” Maciel also exhibits “dubious moral conduct,” makes personal use of “copious amounts of money” without identifying its origins, gives “dangerous” spiritual direction to others with regards to priests’ vow of chastity and demands priests in his order vow not to criticize their superiors.
That vow, which the Legion only officially removed in 2007, was key to Maciel’s success in preventing his priests from coming forward with allegations against him.

“Given the nature of the accusations … the moment has come to take definitive measures concerning Father Maciel, also to prevent great public scandal from arising,” the summary reads. The congregation recommends removing him as superior, naming a new superior and a Vatican investigator, or placing the Legion in the hands of the archbishop of Mexico City.
Nothing was done.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
Hull Daily Mail

HUNDREDS of men who claim to have been abused at a notorious children’s home could have their compensation claims settled next year. A number of trials will be heard next year to determine how much compensation the men abused at the St William’s home in Market Weighton will receive.

More than 200 men are suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Brotherhood, who ran the home before in closed in 1992.

Judge Mark Gosnell has ruled that several lead cases will be heard next year at the High Court in Leeds, which should influence the amount of compensation most men will receive.

Christine Sands, head of personal injury at Jordans Solicitors, said: “The ruling is positive news for all of those affected by the abuse at St William’s.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
eNCA

Monday 21 April 2014

VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II is rightly credited with having helped bring down communism, of inspiring a new generation of Catholics with a globe-trotting papacy and of explaining church teaching on a range of hot-button issues as Christianity entered its third millennium.

But the sexual abuse scandal that festered under his watch remains a stain on his legacy.

John Paul and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the abuse problem until very late in his 26-year papacy, even though U.S. bishops had been petitioning the Holy See since the late-1980s for a faster way to defrock pedophile priests.

The experience of John Paul in Poland under communist and Nazi rule, where innocent priests were often discredited by trumped-up accusations, is believed to have influenced his general defensiveness of the clergy. The exodus of clergy after the turbulent 1960s similarly made him want to hold onto the priests he still had.

Pope Francis has inherited John Paul’s most notorious failure on the sex abuse front – the Legion of Christ order that John Paul and his top advisers held up as a model. Francis, who will canonise John Paul on Sunday, must decide whether to sign off on the Vatican’s three-year reform project, imposed after the Legion admitted that its late founder sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • The Roman Catholic Church was rocked by the clergy sex scandal in the United States more than a decade ago.

Church officials have been forced to acknowledge they moved known abusive priests from parish to parish, enabling them to claim even more victims. Tears have been shed and millions of dollars in settlements spent, along with vows that necessary reforms are in place to protect children.

And so over this Easter weekend in St. Louis, members of the region’s many Catholic parishes could be excused if they expressed both concern and fatigue as they faced news of the latest allegation of abuse by a young priest.

On Good Friday, criminal charges were brought against the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, 31, said to be a close friend of Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, over allegations that Jiang sexually abused a young boy. The molestation is alleged to have taken place on two separate occasions at St. Louis the King School, the elementary school at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

Police said the unnamed boy told detectives and a forensic interviewer that sometime between July 1, 2011, and August 1, 2012, Jiang molested him in the school’s bathroom. The archdiocese has suspended the priest from his duties while the case is investigated.

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.