ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON June 1, 2014

THE Police Association of NSW has welcomed the findings of the Special Commission of Inquiry, saying it vindicated Hunter police and the force’s integrity.

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione and Police Minister Stuart Ayres are yet to comment on the report handed down by commissioner Margaret Cunneen on Friday, but association president Scott Weber offered his support to police yesterday.

‘‘The Police Association of NSW is pleased that the special commission has found that officers tasked to investigate the allegations of child sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle have been totally vindicated and their integrity remains intact,’’ Mr Weber said.

‘‘In our view their honesty was never in question and they continue to do a great job protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JASON GORDON June 1, 2014

VICTIMS of sexual abuse by Hunter-based clergy say they are bewildered that only one senior church figure has been recommended for possible prosecution.

The Special Commission of Inquiry on Friday made adverse findings against at least six senior members of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese, but only one as-yet-unnamed figure has been referred to the Department of Public Prosecutions.

Many victims spoken to by the Newcastle Herald echoed the sentiments of one yesterday who said: ‘‘The evidence that the Church knew about [Father Denis] McAlinden for so long is there in black and white.

‘‘Senior clergy went to great lengths to not only cover it up, but protect his name and the Church’s name. It’s all right there in the findings. So why aren’t they all being referred to the DPP?’’

In many ways, commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC was restricted by the complex laws which relate to the concealment of serious offences. Also, much of the evidence her inquiry revealed in relation to concealment matters within the diocese are historic in nature.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By Andrew Parkinson June 1, 2014

Bishop Bill Wright will provide the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese response to the Special Commission of Inquiry’s damning findings into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Hunter Region tomorrow morning.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC handed down her findings on Friday and determined that a number of senior Catholic clergy intentionally misled investigations and were unreliable witnesses.

Three of the four volumes of the report were made public on Friday.

Ms Cunneen said the fourth volume remained confidential in order to protect potential future criminal proceedings or until a decision had been made that they should not proceed.

Monsignor Allan Hart, Father William Burston and former Newcastle Catholic bishop Michael Malone all came under fire in the report.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kathnews

Ein Kommentar von Dr. iur. can. Gero P. Weishaupt.

Der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann sprach sich auf dem Katholikentag in Regensburg gegen eine starre Nulltoleranz bei der kirchlichen Bestrafung von Missbrauchstätern aus. Sie hätten wie alle Straftäter einen Anspruch auf ein gerechtes Urteil, sagte der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz laut Medien gestern in Regensburg.

Nicht öffentliche Meinung, sondern Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit
Dem Trierer Bischof ist mit seiner Forderung vollends zuzustimmen. Was sich in den vergangenen Jahren im strafprozesslichen Umgang der Kirche mit Verdächtigen und Tätern des sexuellen Missbrauchs zugetragen hat, wirft im Blick auf die Gerechtigkeit Fragen auf. Es hat zuweilen den Anschein, als ob die Bischöfe bzw. ihre Behörden unter dem Druck der Medien und der Öffentlichkeit Rechtsprinzipien nicht die ihnen gebührende Beachtung zukommen

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NEDERLAND
de Gelderlander

[Summary: The car accident in which pastor Jac Steeghs died on Jan. 2, 1991 was almost certainly a suicide, according to the Roermond diocese. The priest was to report to police after the father of a boy filed a complaint alleging the priest had abused the boy.]

OSPEL/ROERMOND – Het auto-ongeluk waarbij de Ospelse pastoor Jac Steeghs op 2 januari 1991 om het leven kwam, is zo goed als zeker een geval van zelfmoord. Daar gaat het bisdom Roermond van uit.

De pastoor moest zich op die dag melden bij de politie, nadat eind 1990 de vader van een jongen die door Steeghs werd misbruikt naar het kerkbestuur en de politie was gestapt. “Alles wijst erop dat het misbruik een rol heeft gespeeld”, zegt de bisdomwoordvoerder over Steeghs’ dood.

In Ospel gaan al jaren geruchten over het kindermisbruik dat Steeghs tussen 1980 en 1991 zou hebben gepleegd. Het bisdom heeft inmiddels 1 slachtoffer erkend.

Vicaris-generaal Hub Schnackers van het bisdom Roermond biedt komende zondag in Ospel excuses aan voor het kindermisbruik. Daarnaast roept Schnackers slachtoffers van Steeghs op zich alsnog te melden.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Delco Times

June 1, 2014

Dear Friends in Christ,

This weekend as we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are reminded of the joy and grace bestowed upon Mary and Elizabeth for placing their trust in the Lord and obeying His will in all things. May we be inspired by their example as we continue the work of building vital parishes for the future where spiritual fulfillment and pastoral care will be provided for generations yet to come.

In the Fall of 2010, a pastoral letter was issued to parishioners throughout the Archdiocese. It outlined the necessity of an in-depth examination of all parishes in order to gauge whether they possessed the necessary resources to remain vibrant and sustainable faith communities. This process, known as Parish Area Pastoral Planning, is designed to be as collaborative and consultative as possible. Its goal is to provide pastors, after consulting with their parish leadership, with the opportunity to dialogue with members of the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee in providing joint recommendations to the Archbishop for growth and sustainability within their respective geographic areas.

During the process additional steps are taken to be as inclusive as possible. In the majority of cases, the regional bishop and the dean meet with the pastors as well as their pastoral and finance councils to hear their concerns and receive their recommendations. Additionally, the recommendations of all parish mergers are brought before the Council of Priests and the College of Consultors by the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee for their observations and recommendations.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

[with video]

[with list of parishes]

Many Catholics attending services throughout the region this weekend are learning the fate of their parish’s future as priests revealed which churches the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will close.

Earlier this week it emerged that Notre Dame de Lourdes in Swarthmore would close, a rumor that was confirmed to parishoners Saturday. The church will close June 30.

“We’s been here for almost 38 years,” said Laura Peterson. “So I’ve watched my children grow here and be baptized here and be married here!”

Rock Star Welcome For Local Marine
The parish will merge with Our Lady of Peace, which is located in nearby Milmont Park.

As Notre Dame’s faithful are coming to terms with the Archdiocese’s decision, many others in the area have yet to find out what the future holds for their parish.

A committee — made up of lay persons, priests and Archdiocesan personnel — presented Archbishop Charles Chaput with three possible recommendations for each parish: to merge, to complete additional evaluations in the future or maintain their current structure and develop a plan for long-term sustainability.

NBC10 will continue to update the determinations of the self-study as the results are revealed.

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NEW YORK
CNYcentral

by Michael Benny
Posted: 05.21.2014

SYRACUSE — Father Robert Ours, 65, who retired from the priesthood after most working at a parish outside Binghamton has been indicted and was arraigned on charges relating to possession of child pornography. Ours is charged with six counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. In responding to the charge against Ours, the Syracuse Catholic Diocese was not specific about the allegations.

The diocese does say it contacted Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, “once it learned of Father Ours’ actions.” Reports indicate Ours has been living at the Tommy Coyne Residence for Priests, at 714 Brighton Avenue, Syracuse.

The diocese says it remains committed and vigilant to its child and youth protection efforts.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

EMER O’KELLY – PUBLISHED 01 JUNE 2014

IT IS exactly five years since the Ryan report into the residential institutional abuse of children was published. When he presented his report, Mr Justice Sean Ryan said categorically that the State authorities had been systematically and continuously “submissive and deferential” to the religious orders which ran the hellholes that were industrial schools (and also the Magdalene laundries, although they were not included in the scope of the report).

When his commission of enquiry had originally been set up, it had been headed by Ms Justice Mary Laffoy; she resigned in despair because she found herself faced with a brick wall in attempting to get co-operation from the religious orders involved.

Judge Ryan stuck with it; and he gave us a report which proved in the face of every attempt at denial and justification, that children were denied their rights, denied an education, physically abused, frequently sexually abused, half-starved, and terrorised. Thirty five-thousand children were committed to industrial schools over the years.

When the Ryan report was published, Brother Kevin Mullan, the head of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, one of the orders indicted, said he and his people would continue to co-operate with “those seeking to explore” what had happened. But the exploration would not include the naming of the individual members of the order who were responsible for the inhumanity. The Irish State had, after all, guaranteed them protection and anonymity.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published May 28, 2014, issue of June 06, 2014.

SHARON, MASS. — Rabbi Miriam Spitzer did not have to mention him by name.

The class of sixth graders at Temple Israel, in Sharon, Massachusetts, knew exactly whom Spitzer was thinking of when she dedicated that day’s lesson to Elisha ben Abuyah, a revered rabbi who became a heretic.

“The lesson was that the Torah taught [by Abuyah] was still Torah,” Spitzer said. “What we learned from somebody who left the fold or was flawed is still good Torah.”

Spitzer taught the class days after the shock resignation of Rabbi Barry Starr, a hugely popular Conservative spiritual leader in this verdant suburb of pastel-colored clapboard houses.

Starr, a former president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis, sent an email to congregants on May 6 explaining that he was stepping down immediately after 28 years, “with great remorse and deep regret,” after engaging in “marital infidelity and other serious personal conduct.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Adena Cohen-Bearak

I don’t know Rabbi Barry Starr personally, but I don’t like at how he is being vilified in the media, most recently in an article in The Forward with the lurid headline “When a Good Rabbi Goes Bad.”

We still don’t know all the facts in this case, and we’ve already found this man guilty in the court of public opinion. I also think there is an important aspect to this case that hasn’t been adequately addressed: the issue of shame.

When I taught sex education way back in the mid-1980s, it was popular when talking about sexuality to describe a continuum of sexuality, also known as the Kinsey Scale. If you imagine a horizontal line, with the words “completely heterosexual” on one end and “completely homosexual” on the other, and then imagine gradations in the middle, you get the idea of the continuum.

The notion was to get people to think about sexuality not as black and white — completely straight or completely gay — but as something that had lots of grays. For example, it is possibly to be sexually attracted to people of your own gender yet not “be gay.” It is possible to identify as gay but also have some sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex. There are lots of variations in-between, and it’s all okay and normal.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Delaware County Daily Times

[with video]

By Kathleen Carey, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 05/31/14

Two Catholic congregations filled their pews Saturday evening and learned of their parishes’ demises as one grappled with confusion and frustration and the other hung onto hope.

At the 4 p.m. Mass, the Rev. Anthony Orth, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Parish announced that his parish would be merging with St. Gabriel Parish in Norwood. At a Mass beginning an hour and 15 minutes later, the Rev. Karl Zeuner, pastor of Notre Dame de Lourdes Church in Ridley Township, shared that his parish would be merging with Our Lady of Peace, also in Ridley Township.

These changes are effective July 1 as the result of the ongoing Parish Area Pastoral Planning evaluations taking place throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and are based on various factors including population shifts, high parish densities in small areas, declines in Mass attendance, Sacramental activity and availability of priests.

Since the process began in 2010, 30 parishes have been closed. The entire process is expected to take five to eight years.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

[map}

HAROLD BRUBAKER, BEN FINLEY, AND ERIN MCCARTHY, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
LAST UPDATED: Sunday, June 1, 2014

Merging one parish into another is “like someone dying or losing a child,” Father Salvatore Pronesti said during Saturday afternoon Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Bridgeport.

“A mother, actually,” he continued, referring to the namesake of the Montgomery County parish he has led for 20 years, only to see it become part of Sacred Heart Parish in Swedesburg.

Still, he hopes for the best.

“You must pull together and try to form this united parish,” Pronesti said. “It’s critical for our spiritual lives. . . . The buildings, yes, we like them. But the buildings don’t make the parish. The parish makes the buildings.”

The scene at Our Lady of Mount Carmel was repeated Saturday afternoon at 46 of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 235 parishes.

In all, The Inquirer has learned, the church decided to close 16 parishes, merging them with 13 neighboring parishes. The status of the remaining 17 parishes will not change. This will leave the archdiocese with 219 parishes, down from 266 in 2010, when it launched a systemic push to review and downsize its facilities.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has announced that 29 more parishes will be consolidated down into 13.

While the changes are not a surprise for everyone, it’s still a painful reality for many Catholics across the region.

“Oh it’s killing me. It’s killing me,” said RoseAnn VanSickle.

VanSickle of Swarthmore is responding to news that her parish – Notre Dame de Lourdes, will merge with Our Lady of Peace in Milmonth Park.

VanSickle says, in her opinion, it’s an injustice.

“I’m actually very, very angry that they’re doing this, especially for me watching it grow from absolutely nothing to the church that I’ve been a part of all my life,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

ANDREW BOLT HERALD SUN JUNE 02, 2014

WE must stop this vindictive witch-hunting, and Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox is just the zealot to warn us why.

Fox triggered a royal commission after telling the ABC’s Lateline in 2012 that paedophile Catholic priests were being protected.

He claimed a Catholic mafia in NSW Police had rigged “sham” investigations into Hunter Valley priests that were “set up to fail”.

Alarm bells should have rung, not least because Fox’s claim was so improbable.

As I noted after his second interview to Lateline a week later, there was also something too gleeful about Fox’s denunciations of Catholics generally and Cardinal George Pell, particularly.

Three times Fox denigrated the cardinal as “Mr Pell” and he mocked his church’s “antiquated rules”.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 2, 2014

Joanne McCarthy, Jason Gordon

A paedophile priest victim, whose evidence at the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry reduced people to tears, is ”hurt” and ”disappointed” by findings he says lack balance about Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox and what he represents for child sexual abuse victims.

”I gave evidence to give a balanced view on what Peter has done,” said Daniel Feenan of Maitland. ”I hoped it would be reflected in the findings and it hasn’t been, which is why I’m speaking now.”

Mr Feenan’s statements to Detective Fox in 2003 led to the conviction of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, one of two priests who were the subject of the inquiry.

”Peter needed to be made to account for what he put out there, but knowing the man, the reasoning behind what he did, I’ve got nothing but admiration for him,” Mr Feenan said. ”He was the shock we needed to get a commission.”

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, SC, found the church first knew about Fletcher’s offending in 1976, the year Mr Feenan was born.

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OHIO
The Chronicle-Telegram

Filed on May 30, 2014 by Anna Merriman

ELYRIA — A prominent Westlake pastor has been indicted on multiple counts of molesting a child as far back as 2005.

Paul Endrei, 53, who lives in Avon, has been indicted on two counts of sexual battery and four counts of gross sexual imposition by a Lorain County grand jury.

Endrei is the pastor of Church on the Rise, a Christian church in Westlake which is called, “a church for the whole family,” according to its website.

The indictment states the molestation dates back to 2005 when Endrei allegedly had sexual contact with a child under 13 years old. The molestation also occurred in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013, according to the indictment.

He also is accused of having sexual relations with the girl in 2010 while he was in a position of authority over her, according to the indictment.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Saturday 31 May 2014

Evidence by a whistleblower, Peter Fox, about the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church’s Maitland-Newcastle diocese should be investigated by the federal royal commission, the NSW Greens and survivor advocates say.

The NSW special commission of inquiry found that Detective Inspector Fox, who made allegations of a cover-up, was an unsatisfactory witness.

A small band of Fox’s supporters, who are challenging the inquiry’s findings, including abuse survivors’ families, rallied outside NSW Parliament House on Saturday.

The four-volume report, delivered on Friday, uncovered no evidence to show that senior police officers had tried to block investigations into child abuse.

It found that Fox was not a credible witness and it was appropriate for police to instruct him to cease his own investigations.

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VERMONT
Rutland Herald

By Kevin O’Connor
Staff Writer | June 01,2014

When Vermont’s Catholic Church settled the last of a string of priest misconduct lawsuits a year ago, the final numbers — some 40 child sexual abuse cases in a near-bankrupting 11-year court saga — were immense.

And, until now, incomplete.

The last 12 plaintiffs to file claims against the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese resolved their civil cases in a January 2013 blanket settlement that lacked any public financial figures.

“The diocese has asked us not to specify the amount and we have agreed,” Burlington lawyer Jerome O’Neill, representing all but two of dozens of plaintiffs over the years, said at the time.

But in his new memoir, Dan Gilman of Rutland — who faced repeated abuse as a teenager while he was hospitalized for a paralyzing diving accident — reports the combined 2013 blanket settlement for the final dozen cases to be $6,750,000, with “each claimant’s amount to be decided by a special arbitrator.”

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

WORCESTER — On March 3, 2004, Providence Auxiliary Bishop Robert Joseph McManus received a five paragraph letter from Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo — the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States — informing him that Pope John Paul II had formally decided to appoint him as Worcester’s fifth bishop.

The short note, which requested that Bishop McManus keep the matter confidential until the news was officially released six days later, confirmed a telephone conversation the two men had had two days earlier.

Though it’s a very special honor for a priest to be named chief shepherd of a diocese, it wasn’t the best of times to become a new bishop in the United States.

The clergy-abuse scandal was consuming the American church and Worcester was one of the dioceses at the heart of the controversy. …

Ten years after assuming the reins, Bishop McManus is generally credited with placing the local church on a solid financial footing, launching a major reorganization plan to cope with the shortage of clergymen, boosting interest in vocations, and getting lay and religious leaders to be more attentive to the spiritual needs of parishioners.

Recognizing that the sexual abuse crisis will haunt the church for years, Bishop McManus has also warned chancery officials and pastors to be continually on the watch for sexual predators.

While he said he believes the diocese is generally in good shape, the 62-year-old prelate said there are still many challenges to be undertaken including wooing back alienated worshippers and dealing with a tide of new immigrants.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Sunday Independent

June 1 2014
By Pinky Khoabane

Will Pope Francis now step up to the plate and decisively deal with the issue of the clergy’s sexual abuse, asks Pinky Khoabane.

As Pope Francis prepares to meet victims of sexual abuse by clergy, will he concede that the notion of abstinence has failed, and even more importantly, demand that priests facing accusations of sexual abuse be handed over to the law?

During a flight from Jerusalem last week, Francis announced he would be meeting with sexual abuse victims at the Vatican and declared the act of priests’ molestation of children equivalent to “a satanic mass”.

This meeting would be the first of this sort since the pope’s election in March last year.

Francis is quoted as saying “sexual abuse is such an ugly crime… because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic mass”.

Enough already!

By now victims and whistle-blowers of the Roman Catholic’s sexual scandals – details of which have exploded in the last 15 years or so – could do with more action and less of the emotive descriptions of what are plain unlawful acts which ought to be handed to law enforcement for prosecution.

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