ABUSE TRACKER

CALIFORNIA
The Record

By The Record
July 16, 2014

STOCKTON – Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests stood outside the downtown Diocese of Stockton headquarters Wednesday morning to bring attention to a malfunctioning telephone line that ​might have ​prevented other abuse victims from obtaining information for almost two weeks on filing a claim before next month’s deadline.

They believe the leader of the six-county diocese, Bishop Stephen Blaire, is ultimately responsible for the situation despite claims to the contrary.

A statement issued this week by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said:

“Never mind what lawyers do or don’t do. The person responsible for the crimes of child-molesting clerics is the bishop. The person whose duty it is to reach out to those hurt by predator priests is the bishop.”

A spokeswoman for Blaire ​said he was on vacation this week and unavailable for comment.

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.

Updated July 15, 2014

Paris Arrow

The article in June 24 that – Pope Francis’s achievements are substantial and not merely empty symbolism – was republished again at a Catholic news agency and so we are also republishing our rebuttal. Some things have happened since then. For one, it was almost a month ago when we wrote in our rebuttal that the biggest statue of Christ the Redeemer on the top of a hill in Rio de Janeiro where the FIFA was happening is a symbol of Christ and not the substance of Christ. The FIFA now is over and thank God that Germany won because that victory did both Brazil and us a big favor. The Brazilians have been praying that Germany would win to do them a favor because 100,000 Argentinians have descended to Brazil and have taken over the city and were making so much noise day and night all over Rio de Janeiro including Copacabana, Beach.

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UNITED STATES
Talk to Action
.
Frank Cocozzelli
Sat Jul 12, 2014

Pope Francis recently indicated he is serious about ending child sex abuse and cover-ups by Catholic prelates by defrocking a former apostolic nuncio (a nuncio is essentially a high level Vatican diplomat) for having sexual relations with young boys.

But while the Holy See should be applauded for this decisive action, there is unfinished business with the bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri. And the bishop in question is Robert Finn a darling of the American Catholic Right who have very little to say – at least now that he is a convicted criminal.

As the National Catholic Reporter described recent events:

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has ordered the laicization of an archbishop-ambassador accused of paying for sex with minors.

Józef Wesołowski, former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, will have two months to prepare an appeal to the ruling, which was announced in a brief statement from the Vatican on Friday.

The former nuncio, who the Vatican did not refer to as an archbishop in the statement, was removed from his post in August with little explanation. News accounts days afterward detailed allegations of paying for sex with minors and being connected to a Polish priest accused of sexually assaulting at least 14 underage boys.

But while Francis has acted on Wesołowski, he has yet to remove Robert Finn.

Let’s recall that the crimes of Bishop Finn resulted from his knowledge of the related crimes of a priest in his diocese who pleaded guilty in Federal Court to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography. As I reported here and here, Bishop Finn had constructive knowledge of that priest’s improper touching of young girls and possession of child pornography. Finn knew or had good reason to suspect the priest`s crimes. Had he acted, he would have prevented other crimes against children under his pastoral care. Indeed, in September 2012 Bishop Finn became the first American prelate convicted of failing to report a pedophile priest.

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CALIFORNIA
Law Office of Michael J. Kinslow

26050 Acero ~ Mission Viejo, California 92691
(Office) 949.288.6678 (Mobile) 949.282.9494 (Fax) 949.288.6676 (E-mail) mjpk@kinslowlaw.com

15 July 2014

This week, a Church expert stated that one in fifty priests of the Roman Catholic Church has sexually abused a child. That statistic includes bishops and cardinals. The expert, Pope Francis, described the scourge of childhood sexual abuse within his ranks as a leprosy. The Pope admits that which cannot be denied by any reasonable mind: that many more in the Church are guilty of covering up the scourge. The statements were made in a recent interview the Pope had with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

While the Pope’s recognition of the scourge is welcomed, the time for words alone has long passed. Vigorous action is required. Action more intense then that employed by those who inflicted, facilitated, and ratified the abuse of children. The bishops in the Pope’s church have lost their moral authority to lead on the issue. They must stop treating survivors and their families as adversaries. Openness in the extreme is required to move the Church forward. Real hope will emerge only after the bishops produce the records of their actions and cooperate with civil and law enforcement officials investigating the scourge in jurisdictions all across the globe. The bishops must stand down in their lobbying and public relations efforts to thwart the rights of survivors and state officials to access courts to investigate wrongs committed and remedy the damage inflicted. Stop fighting against the reform of statutes of limitations that would pave the way to Lady Justice atop courthouses. Cease the efforts at cover-up and let the sun created by God shine on in. In sum and substance, the Pope must order his men to get out of the way and allow the day of reckoning, which must precede reconciliation, to dawn.

As an advocate who stands with survivors, I have seen time and again the re-victimization which occurs when the words and public relations efforts of those responsible for childhood sexual abuse do not match their conduct toward the survivor who has found the courage to come forward. I have also seen the strength that emerges when a survivor is able to access the civil and criminal justice systems and confront those responsible for their abuse. I chose a policy that promotes the latter. His Holiness, Francis, should do the same.

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: Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A former top Catholic official disclosed yesterday that she was asked to seek tax-exemption in cases where she believed it was “wrong.” In light of this – and widespread deception by others in the Twin Cities Catholic hierarchy – we call on the Internal Revenue Service to begin investigating the St. Paul archdiocese.

In a sworn new court filing yesterday, whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger wrote: “It was a constant struggle to keep Archbishop (Nienstedt) and especially Father (Peter) Laird within the bounds of their legal authority, and there were times when I was instructed by Father Laird to move ahead with an incorporation or, more frequently, to submit an entity for inclusion under the IRS Group Tax Exemption, when I believed that doing so was wrong.”

On its face, this revelation, by a clearly honest whistleblower, is worrisome. But it’s more problematic given;

– how other Catholic institutions have tried to move and hide assets before and during bankruptcy proceedings,

– how St. Paul church officials have considered seeking bankruptcy protection, and

– how archdiocesan staff have skirted and likely broken both secular and church laws regarding children’s safety.

Catholics and citizens should know whether improper financial moves have been made by archdiocesan officials. We hope the IRS moves quickly to follow up on Haselberger’s allegations.

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
Spokesman-Review

The desire to retain position at the cost of victims continues within the Catholic Church. St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop John C. Nienstedt refuses to resign while the scandal surrounding him continues.

Former chancellor, Jennifer M. Hasleberger, filed an affidavit claiming while the archbishop was informed of pedophile priests, he did nothing. Haselberger’s documents also claim the archbishop, “…declined to report suspected abusers to civil authorities; failed to monitor sex offenders in the clergy; and in various ways violated the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

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)
Berger’s Beat

Today’s New York Times details a rolling church abuse controversy in the Twin Cities (Archbishop Robert Carlson’s home diocese), where ex-KMOV reporter Ann Steffens is now the interim communications director for perhaps the second most-embattled Catholic prelate in the U.S. – St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt. Nienstedt is a virulently anti-gay crusader who faces new accusations that he himself broke his celibacy vows (with perhaps as many as 10 men) and continuing charges that he repeatedly and recently minimized, mischaracterized, hid and enabled child sex crimes.
(Reminder, after leaving journalism, Steffens became the flak for the controversial then-Archbishop Raymond Burke, who fought with St. Stan’s, Sheryl Crow and many others during his stormy tenure here. She’s the second ex-Channel 4 reporter to take on that role, following in the footsteps of Jamie Allman.)
And for the curious, the MOST embattled U.S.Catholic bishop continues to be Kansas City’s Robert Finn, who hails from our town.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
CBS St. Louis

SNAP Calls on Archbishop Robert Carlson to Release Names of “Credibly Accused” Priests, Archdiocese Staffers

Kevin Killeen (@KMOXKilleen)
July 16, 2014

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests wants Archbishop Robert Carlson to take further action, following last week’s out-of-court settlement against accused former priest Father Joseph Ross.

“Private eyes told us that Ross is living now in St. Charles County, likely with his relatives,” says SNAP’s David Clohessy. “He’s clearly a serial predator—church officials have admitted this—and we believe that Archbishop Carlson should use his resources to warn families about Father Ross.”

Clohessy also wants the Archbishop to release the names of 115 priests and other St. Louis Archdiocese employees who, according to a list tallied by the church in the Ross case, have been “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese released a statement on Ross saying it doesn’t keep track of ex-priests, and it can’t reveal the names of the 115 accused staffers because it doesn’t comment on personnel matters.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Hampshire Gazette

Pope Francis met for the first time last week with Catholics sexually abused by members of the clergy. He conducted a private Mass with six victims — two each from Ireland, Britain and Germany — at his Vatican residence. He also spent several hours listening to their accounts, one on one.

We pray that the time spent with the victims gives the pope added strength to heal this deep wound in the Catholic Church.

To his credit, the pope went further than any of his predecessors in promising to hold bishops accountable for their failure to protect children from abusive priests. This is a dramatic change from the church’s stance on accountability just a few months ago. We just hope it is followed up with decisive action.

The pope’s meeting with victims happened after the church came under harsh criticism in two recent United Nations reports. In February the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded that the Vatican had placed its interests over those of victims by enabling priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children under the protection of a clerical code of silence.

In May, the U.N. Committee Against Torture concluded that Vatican officials had failed to report sex abuse charges properly, transferred priests rather than disciplining them and failed to pay adequate compensation to victims. That report found that the Vatican, despite its claims to the contrary, exercises worldwide control over its bishops and priests and must comply with the U.N.’s anti-torture treaty.

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MINNESOTA
Bilgrimage

Jerry Slevin on Jennifer Haselberger’s Affidavit: “It Underscores That Francis’ Calculated and Ineffective Approach to Facing the Catholic Church’s Greatest Challenge in Centuries Will Likely Be a Failure”

William D. Lindsey

In response to Brian Roewe’s report today at National Catholic Reporter about Jennifer Haselberger’s affidavit in the sexual abuse lawsuit involving the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Harvard-trained international lawyer Jerry Slevin writes,

Her affidavit provides detailed evidence of how a major diocese covered up numerous cases of priest sexual abuse that continued even after Pope Francis’ election and may still be going on. It underscores that Francis’ calculated and ineffective approach to facing the Catholic Church’s greatest challenge in centuries will likely be a failure.

Not a single bishop to date has been removed for covering up for child predator priests.
The affidavit includes revealing and disturbing looks at some of the US hierarchy’s key players: (1) Archbishop Harry Flynn, one of the leaders of the US bishops’ purported child protection “reform program”, (2) Archbishop John Nienstedt, a top anti-gay marriage culture warrior subject now also to an investigation of alleged earlier hypocritical gay relationships, and (3) Fr. Kevin McDonough, a former Minneapolis vicar general and older brother of President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough.

Jerry’s absolutely correct. He argues that Pope Francis’s decision to prioritize the Vatican’s financial scandals while dragging his feet on the abuse crisis has been a serious mistake, and that his vague, half-hearted, ineffectual gestures to date in the direction of accountability and transparency in addressing the abuse crisis suggest that “he hasn’t changed much from when he exhibited a clearly underwhelming approach to curtailing priest abusers in Argentina.”

In Jerry’s view, unless Francis wakes up soon and begins to deal with the mess on full display in Jennifer Haselberger’s affidavit (and, as Jerry notes, we can reasonably infer from abundant evidence that the crimes are continuing even now throughout the Catholic world), his papacy will have been a failure.

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CALIFORNIA
Insurance News Net

By Jeremy Hay, The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

July 16–The Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa has paid $3.5 million to a teenager who was molested by a Lakeport priest, one of the largest settlements paid out by the North Coast diocese in a series of sexual abuse cases that spanned more than two decades.

An attorney for the victim attributed the settlement’s size partly to the church’s failure to protect children from the Rev. Ted Oswald, even though it was aware he had abused others. Oswald molested the boy, then 12, in 2010, the same year the priest died, with some of the incidents taking place in the Lakeport parish church.

“But for the diocese’s actions, it is entirely possible that this 12-year-old boy would never have been molested,” said Skye Daley, the victim’s attorney.

Bishop Robert F. Vasa, who has led the diocese since 2011, was on vacation Tuesday and unavailable for comment. Diocese spokesman Brian O’Neel rejected Daley’s assertion.

“When the diocese became aware of this most recent allegation, they removed Father Oswald from ministry and reported the situation to civil authorities,” O’Neel said. “The diocese could not do more than the civil authorities could.”

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: Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A new court filing yesterday revealed that an admitted predator priest likely molested a West Virginia boy and a support group for victims is urging the state’s Catholic bishop to “aggressively reach out” to anyone else the cleric may have assaulted.

The priest is Fr. Joseph G. Gallatin, who was suspended in Dec. 2013 when church officials found evidence of “inappropriate conduct with a minor” around 1998 in his personnel file. Those records included reference to”the sexual nature of his contact” with a West Virginia boy and his “admitted sexual attraction to boys as young as 12,” a former high-ranking church official-turned-whistleblower wrote.

Last month, a St. Paul Minnesota church panel determined that “significant restrictions” would be placed on Fr. Gallatin with continued monitoring and very limited ministry not involving children.

Jennifer Haselberger, the former chancellor of the St. Paul archdiocese, wrote a stunning 107 page affidavit that was filed in a civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit in the Twin Cities. In it, she outlined;

–repeated instances of a “cavalier attitude” towards the safety of children by Catholic officials and

–about 20 clergy in ministry who were guilty of sexual misconduct with adults and children despite bishops’ pledges of “zero tolerance.”

Fr. Gallatin is mentioned by name 18 times in the document.

Click here for her full affidavit.

Fr. Gallatin’s records may be available from St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson (jeff@andersonadvocates.com, 612 817 8665 cell, 651 227 9990), who represents abuse victims.

We call on Bishop Michael J. Bransfield Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to use his resources to seek out others who may have been hurt by Fr. Gallatin. Bransfield should put notices in parish bulletins and church websites and make pulpit announcements across the state this Sunday, urging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Gallatin to call police and get help.

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MINNESOTA/MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, July 16, 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)

Catholic officials issued a “clearly false and deceptive statement” about the marriage of one of America’s most notorious predator priest, Fr. James Porter of the Fall River diocese, according to a stunning 107 page affidavit filed in a Minnesota court yesterday.

The affidavit is from Jennifer Haselberger, the former chancellor and canon lawyer for the St. Paul Catholic archdiocese. In April of 2013, she resigned in protest after repeated cases in which she felt that top Catholic staffers endangered kids, hid evidence of crimes and deceived parishioners and the public.

In an exhibit attached to her affidavit, Haselberger wrote last year to her boss, St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt:

“I discovered four ‘restricted’ files on Father James Porter, which included a 1974 ‘Stipulation to the Execution of Rescript’ which required Porter to receive the permission of the Archbishop in order to enter into marriage because of ‘past problems in sexual orientation’ that ‘might jeopardize a possible future marriage’, and a statement from the Archdiocese in the 1990s indicating that ‘there was no information trail that led from Porter’s abusive past to the decisions made about his marriage’ (a clearly false and deceptive statement).”

“This, in combination with other issues. . .have led me to conclude that it is impossible for me to continue in my position given my personal ethics, religious convictions, and sense of integrity.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org – Monitor

Dear Friend,

Pope Francis’s meeting last week with six clergy sex abuse survivors made headlines worldwide – not only because it was his first encounter with the church’s own victims, but because he made the first promise by any pope to discipline complicit bishops: “All bishops must carry out their pastoral ministry with the utmost care in order to help foster the protection of minors, and they will be held accountable.”

Pope Francis must now internalize his message about Church leaders who “did not respond adequately to reports of abuse.” Our research has revealed that such accountability must begin with the Pope himself.

What is known of the Pope’s past response to clergy sex abuse has been documented in a comprehensive report by BishopAccountability.org. Our work began last year, soon after the former archbishop of Buenos Aires became our first Latin American pope. We gathered and translated hundreds of Argentine court documents and news articles into English. We located and interviewed Argentine whistleblowers and survivors, including four who had sought then-cardinal Bergoglio’s help but were ignored by him. We researched the Argentine legal code and wrote summaries of cases involving 42 clerics. The result was a 17,000-word report in English and Spanish, including detailed studies of the crucial cases, a database of the accused, and profiles of the survivors who sought the future Pope’s help. We believe it to be the Internet’s most thorough analysis of clergy sexual abuse in Argentina and of the Pope’s role as archbishop.

Last week, our research and insights were cited by the Washington Post and New York Times, in two reports each by NPR and Reuters, by GlobalPost, AP, and papers in Europe. One longtime Vatican reporter said our report had been “crucial,” and NPR’s top European correspondent noted our unique role:

News anchor, NPR: Sylvia, what was Pope Francis’s record on the issue of sex abuse before he was pope …?

Sylvia Poggioli, NPR’s Rome correspondent: Little was known in the English-speaking world until the Boston-based group BishopAccountability.org recently published a report … [more]

For the first time in Francis’s papacy, his troubling past performance on clergy sex abuse is being widely considered.

Now he has finally met face-to-face with the church’s own wounded for the first time, and perhaps he will be changed by the experience. For specific recommendations of what he must do next, see the statement we issued last week. Better yet, read the moving open letter sent to him last week by Argentine survivors, empowered now despite the impunity of Argentine bishops and their country’s victim-hostile laws. Their anguish is being heard worldwide.

Sincerely,
Anne

Anne Barrett Doyle
Co-Director
BishopAccountability.org

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Ian Elliot
Published 16/07/2014

Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that “two per cent” – or one in 50 – of the Catholic Church’s clergy are paedophiles involved in abuse cases.

This information has often been requested previously but has never been provided by the church.

For this reason, I was shocked to see a figure being quoted by Pope Francis and the question immediately arose in my mind as to how he calculated it?

Previous experiences for me in Ireland have taught me to be wary of opinion stated as fact.

This frequently happens when leading churchmen express their views about clerical abuse but present them as facts.

I recall the public statement made by Cardinal Pell in Australia when the government there announced the setting up of a Royal Commission to examine institutional abuse in that country. His confidence in the way allegations had been handled in the Australian church has been shown to be badly misplaced.

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IRELAND
Irish News

A PROMINENT Irish abuse survivor has said she believes quotes attributed to Pope Francis about the number of paedophile priests in the Church are accurate.

Marie Collins, a member of the Vatican’s new child protection commission, was referring to reported comments by the Pontiff in Italian paper La Repubblica that 2 per cent of Catholic clergy – equivalent to one in 50, or nearly 8,000 in total – were child abusers.

The Vatican has disputed the quotes but Ms Collins said she believed the Pope was responsible for the remarks and she could “see a shift” in the Church’s approach to the issue under Francis’s leadership.

Pope Francis reportedly told veteran journalist Eugenio Scalfari that child abusers within the ranks of the clergy included “priests, and even bishops and cardinals”.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – His blog has been known to create quite the uproar within the Catholic community, and with the recent visit from a Vatican official, Tim Rohr isn’t holding back.

Rohr is the main person behind the Junglewatch website a blog focusing on the dealings within the local Catholic community. For many who’ve visited the site he’s brought up strong criticism of Archbishop Anthony Apuron, from his connection to the Neocatechumenal way to last year’s controversial removal of Father Paul Gofigan, the long time pastor at Santa Barbara Church in Dededo.

Over the last couple of day the Archdiocese of Hagatna has been hosting the Vatican’s delegate Archbishop Martin Krebs. Krebs has been holding closed door meetings with local clergy.

According to Rohr however he’s learned those meetings, in particular, one that included Archbishop Apuron got a little heated. Rorh says while the meeting was supposed to focus on concerns of local priests, the archbishop allegedly used 15 minutes of the time to go over Diocesan financials. It was Monsignor David Quitigua, Rohr says spoke up and reminded them what they really were there for.

“There’s just a lot of serious frustration anger that’s pent up for many years because for many years the priest have tried many things that they could do to work things out try to get some harmony going some unity and it all just seems to fall by the way side after they had their meetings and they come up with their action plans,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: William C. Wehrle was a Jesuit of the Maryland Province, ordained in 1950. His assignments took him to the archdioceses of Baltimore MD, Washington DC and Omaha NE, as well as to the Pittsburgh and Denver dioceses. In 1985 Wehrle was accused of sexual abuse; he was removed from his Woodstock, MD parish and resurfaced two years later in Pittsburgh, PA. He died in 1995.

Ordained: 1950
Died: Aug. 25, 1995

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By: Tim Alamenciak News reporter, Published on Tue Jul 15 2014

The claims of 38,000 residential school survivors could be headed for a vault instead of an incinerator depending on the direction of a judge.

On the second day of arguments over the potential destruction of documents detailing abuse at residential schools, Julian Falconer, the lawyer representing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, proposed an alternative to eradication — locking the documents away for 30 years and then transferring them to Library and Archives Canada.

“You’re guaranteeing the claimants that no one can access their information for three decades and you’re not putting yourself in that irreversible position the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is worried about,” said Falconer. “The minute you destroy this portion of history, you alter the ability for generations to come to remind people what was done to these individuals.”

Under the commission’s proposal, survivors would have the option of voluntarily sending their files to the National Research Centre, an archive set up at the University of Manitoba. Falconer also said the commission would accept a 50-year seal on the records if 30 years was deemed to be too short.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims seek bishop’s help
Deadline has been set for victims to step forward
According to court filing, 11 predators worked in diocese
But survivors’ group says “there are surely more”
SNAP: Anyone who believes they have a claim should act now
Organization is available to help survivors as they navigate this process

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

— urge officials of the Stockton Catholic diocese to aggressively seek out abuse victims before an August 15th deadline;
— list names the 11 predator priests diocesan officials admit to, plus identify additional child molesting clerics who have been accused, sued or convicted (and where they worked);
— beg victims to come forward, report crimes and report their abuse before it is too late.
–give out contact information for local SNAP leaders who are available to help survivors as they come forward

Where:
Outside the Diocesan headquarters, 212 N San Joaquin Street (between Miner and Channel), Stockton

When:
Wednesday, July 16th at 11:00 a.m.

Who:
Two to three victims of child sex abuse and their supporters who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org)

Why:
In January, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton filed for bankruptcy. The deadline for sex abuse victims to report abuse and seek compensation is August 15 at 4:00 pm.

[bankruptcy court document]

The August 15th deadline, or “bar date,” is explicitly for child sex abuse victims. (Other “creditors” have an earlier deadline.) After August 15th, victims of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Stockton will likely be unable to use the civil justice system to seek justice.

However, for almost two weeks, from June 25th through July 7th, a toll free phone line giving information to clergy sex abuse victims in the Stockton Diocese malfunctioned, according to a New Mexico newspaper.

(The complete text of the July 12th article is pasted below.)

While the faulty phone lines were being monitored by the California law firm of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, SNAP feels the person ultimately responsible for outreach to victims of child molesting clerics is Stockton’s Bishop Stephen Blaire.

SNAP is urging Blaire to step up efforts to find and help victims now. The group wants Blaire to personally visit every parish where pedophile priests worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to speak up. He should post the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric in every parish bulletin, SNAP says, and should “more aggressively than ever seek out those who are in pain because Catholic priests assaulted kids and Catholic officials hid those crimes.”

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The most detailed allegations made by canon lawyer-turned-whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger are now public. A 107-page affidavit released Tuesday accuses archbishops and senior staff of lying to the public and concealing evidence of alleged sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Haselberger pulled no punches as she detailed practices and decisions within the archdiocese that ignore the Catholic church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” and she was very thorough as she laid out what she knew about the sex, the secrets and the cover-ups.

‘Stop looking under the rocks’

Haselberger said she was told to “stop looking under rocks.” More specifically, she said the men at the top — Archbishop John Nienstedt and his former second in commands, vicar generals Peter Laird and Kevin McDonough — obstructed and ostracized her.

She said Nienstedt ordered his secretary to shred important documents under Haselberger’s desk, including some that later proved to be important — like financial records related to the marriage amendment campaign funding and the investigation by the campaign finance board.

Haselberger also described McDonough as an apologist for abusing priests, who believed in forgiveness, not zero tolerance.

Paper chase for problem priest files

Haselberger said that when she started examining records in 2008, she found the files of “nearly 20” priests who were guilty of sexual misconduct but were still in ministry. Those priests include Father Curtis Wehmeyer, who was allowed to live in a camper by the church, where he smoked marijuana and would go on to molest two boys. Also, Father Jonathan Shelley, who had alleged child pornography on his computer, but for 8 years the church did nothing.

According to Haselberger, most priests hadn’t had background checks since the early 1990s, despite the “industry standard” of background checks every 3 to 5 years. Furthermore, the archdiocese relied heavily on self-reporting by sexual misconduct offenders, “with very little effort made to verify if those reports were accurate.”

Furthermore, Haselberger said those priests who were accused of sexual misconduct joined a sort of shell game that allowed them to be quietly moved while the personnel records were scattered here and there.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Joe Gill

First, a confession. I’m not much of a Catholic and have a limited relationship with religion.

A succession of awful stories about the Church’s role in destroying so many young lives over recent decades did not help. The material trappings that evolved around the upper levels of the institution were also in conflict with what I assumed Catholicism should be all about.

Against that backdrop there have been two interventions in the financial world by Pope Francis that have caught my eye in the last month. Both point to a different and more encouraging impulse within the Church and, if replicated in other parts of its moral sphere, may resuscitate belief in its ability to do good.

The first notable engagement by the Pope was to gut the Vatican Bank and the second was his opinion about commodity speculation.

For years, the Vatican Bank has been mired in controversy and a suspicious odour has emanated from it for decades. A lack of transparency was a core problem and it has been difficult to ascertain what purpose it had aside from providing power for certain individuals.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

SHAMED cardinal Keith O’Brien is enjoying a quiet retirement in a comfortable home bought by the Catholic Church.

The UK’s former senior Catholic is staying in a £208,750 bungalow – bought by Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Leo Cushley – in a Northumberland village.

It had previously been thought O’Brien was living in a monastery in 
England after admitting he had “fallen beneath the standards” expected of him.

But the disgraced churchman has been living in the village of Ellington, Northumberland, since January.

Documents show the house was purchased in the same month by Cushley – who succeeded O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – and two other leading churchmen in their capacity as trustees of the 
archdiocese.

Neighbours, unaware of his identity, spoke of regular groups of visitors with Scottish accents.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Jul 16, 2014 03:00 By Keith McLeod

DESPITE O’Brien’s self-imposed exile from Scotland, he is living just 50 miles across the Border in a house bought by Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Leo Cushley.

SEX shame cardinal Keith O’Brien is enjoying a quiet retirement in a comfortable home provided by the Catholic Church.

It had been believed O’Brien was doing penance at a monastery in England after admitting he had “fallen beneath the standards” expected of him.

But the UK’s former senior Catholic is staying in a £208,750 bungalow – bought by Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Leo Cushley – in a Northumberland village.

O’Brien, 76, refused to explain his situation yesterday, saying only: “I’m not speaking to anyone at the moment.”

The disgraced churchman has been staying in the former pit village of Ellington, Northumberland, since January.

The house was purchased in the same month by Cushley – who succeeded O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – and two other leading churchmen in their capacity as trustees of the archdiocese.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sam Griffin
Published 16/07/2014

THE State’s failure to take accountability for a ‘collection’ of abuses, including the mother and baby home scandal, the Magdalene laundries, symphysiotomy procedures and child abuse has been slammed by the UN.

The chair of the organisation’s human rights committee, Nigel Rodley, said there was “quite a collection” of social issues that still need to be addressed by the State. He made the remarks in his concluding comments after two days of intense of scrutiny of Ireland’s human right issues in Geneva.

“The issue that remains for the state party is what it is going to do about accountability,” he told the committee.

He said the instances of abuse were “not disconnected from the institutional belief system” that has predominated and dominated and the state. On the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, he welcomed the recognition of the primary right to life of the woman, which he said “has to prevail over that of the unborn child”.

But he added he was sorry that the legislation did not extend to the right to health of the woman.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Richard Umbers
Lecturer in Ethics & Philosophy at University of Notre Dame Australia

Imagine you were playing with your phone while you waited for the World Cup final to get underway and you suddenly saw a photo of the Pope Emeritus eating popcorn with the current Pontiff on your timeline. Below the photo is a tagline wishing both countries well and a quote from St John Paul II:

Sport … protects the weak and excludes no-one.

In the very near future we may see such a radical reshaping of how we view the Vatican and it will come via the most unlikely of social media champions, Cardinal George Pell, current Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in the Holy See.

Cognisant that the wireless no longer refers to a radio set, last Wednesday Pell, the former archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, broadcast a social media thrust for the Vatican by way of a YouTube-streamed interview.

New media to spread the word

You won’t find the tweetless @CardinalPell trolling @RichardDawkins or sending you an invitation to play CandyCrush on Facebook. Pell is, however, a strong backer of initiative and spreading the Gospel message among youth. For that reason he is more than happy to encourage new media despite his own lack of personal interest.

We have seen similar bold moves from Pell in the past. During the 2008 World Youth Day, as Archbishop of Sydney, he launched a major social networking initiative – Christ in the Third Millennium (XT3) – which was touted as the Catholic Facebook.

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FLORIDA
WESH

[with video]

SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. —A South Daytona teacher is accused of possessing thousands of images of child pornography, and distributing more than 100 images and several videos to an undercover FBI agent.

Investigators arrested 42-year-old Matthew Graziotti Monday at his Edgewater home. He is a middle school teacher, coach and director of the summer camp program at Warner Christian Academy in South Daytona.

“We were all shocked, really were,” said Warner Christian Academy Superintendent Mark Tress. “Like I said, there was nothing at all that pointed to that, because if there were I would have been investigating that.”

Neighbors watched as the agents carried out bags of evidence and then escorted Graziotti out of his home in handcuffs. They say he hung his head.

“Almost ashamed because there were a couple of us that knew him that were out and I think he was upset that a couple of us who knew him. What he had done,” said neighbor Susan Hoff.

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FLORIDA
Click Orlando

Author: Dawn Brooks, Online Editor, Producer
Sheli Muniz, Reporter, smuniz@wkmg.com

ORLANDO, Fla. –
An Edgewater teacher was arrested Monday on charges of producing and distributing child pornography, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

According to a criminal complaint, Matthew C. Graziotti, 42, an elementary teacher at Warner Christian Academy, distributed 141 pictures and six videos that depicted sexual abuse and exploitation of children to an FBI agent who was acting in an undercover capacity.

In addition, thousands of child porn pictures were found on Graziotti’s computer Monday during the execution of a search warrant.

The DOJ said one of the files on Graziotti’s computer found by agents showed a picture of him sexually abusing a prepubescent boy. They later found the camera used to take the photograph.

Through an investigation, officials learned that Graziotti teaches elementary school, is the director of the school’s summer day camp program, and he formerly worked as a youth pastor at a church in Edgewater, the DOJ said.

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FLORIDA
Daily Mail (UK)

An elementary school teacher in Orlando, Florida, has been charged with producing and distributing child pornography.

Matthew C. Graziotti, 42, who worked at Warner Christian Academy, distributed 141 pictures and six videos that depicted sexual abuse and exploitation of children to an undercover FBI agent, according to a Department of Justice statement.

On Monday, police executed a search warrant and found thousands of images of child porn on Graziotti’s computer, including one where he is molesting a prepubescent boy.

Agents later found the camera that was used to take that photograph.

Graziotti teaches at the elementary school, is the director of the school’s summer day camp program and he previoulsy worked at a church in Edgewater as a youth pastor, the DOJ said.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Source: Jim Accurso, Media and Public Relations Manager

From Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens

Today, it was brought to our attention that Jennifer Haselberger, former Chancellor of Canonical Affairs for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, provided an affidavit in the case of Doe 1, which is a civil lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Diocese of Winona, and Thomas Adamson. Thomas Adamson was accused of abusing Doe 1 in 1976 – 1977, decades before Ms. Haselberger’s service to the archdiocese.

This affidavit provides a more detailed account of Ms. Haselberger’s perspective of events at the archdiocese, which she has already shared publicly during the past year. Her recollections are not always shared by others within the archdiocese. However, Ms. Haselberger’s experience highlights the importance of ongoing constructive dialogue and reform aimed at insuring the safety of children.

Since Ms. Haselberger’s departure, we have begun the implementation of the Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force Recommendations which address some of the concerns she has raised. We continue to take concrete steps toward greater transparency and accountability in protecting children while offering hope and healing to victims.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Amy Pavuk, Orlando Sentinel
12:41 p.m. EDT, July 15, 2014

A South Daytona elementary teacher and former youth pastor accused of possessing thousands of child pornography images — including some he produced — remained jailed Tuesday, while federal agents continue to investigate the case.

Matthew Graziotti, 42, was arrested Monday after FBI agents searched his Edgewater home and found the illegal images on his laptop, according to a criminal complaint filed in Orlando federal court.

The same day, Warner Christian Academy announced it suspended Graziotti, a fifth-grade teacher, without pay.

Agents began investigating Graziotti in May, when an undercover agent using a peer-to-peer file sharing program downloaded about 140 child pornography images and six videos from him.

When agents arrived at Graziotti’s house on Monday, that file sharing program was running on his laptop, and uploading and downloading files with names that were indicative of child pornography, the complaint said.

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MINNESOTA
Christian Science Monitor

Jennifer Haselberger, the highest-level official from a US diocese to make claims of a cover-up, is a canon law expert educated at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. She alleges a cover-up is happening right now in Minnesota.

By Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer JULY 15, 201

A canon lawyer alleging a widespread cover-up of clergy sex misconduct in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has made her most detailed claims yet, accusing archbishops and their top staff of lying to the public and of ignoring the US bishops’ pledge to have no tolerance of priests who abuse.

Jennifer Haselberger, who spent five years as Archbishop John Nienstedt’s archivist and top adviser on Roman Catholic church law, also charged that the church used a chaotic system of record-keeping that helped conceal the backgrounds of guilty priests who remained on assignment.

Haselberger said that when she started examining records in 2008 of clergy under restrictions over sex misconduct with adults and children she found “nearly 20” of the 48 men still in ministry. She said she repeatedly warned Nienstedt and his aides about the risk of these placements, but they took action only in one case. As a result of raising alarms, she said she was eventually shut out of meetings about priest misconduct. She resigned last year.

“Had there been any serious desire to implement change, it could have been done quickly and easily with the stroke of a single pen,” Haselberger wrote in the affidavit, released Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by attorney Jeff Anderson. “The archbishop’s administrative authority in his diocese is basically unlimited.”

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Brandi Powell

A canon lawyer who became a whistleblower against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says church officials considered silencing a critic by declaring him to be disabled.

In a sworn statement released Tuesday, Jennifer Haselberger claimed that she was “ignored” and “dismissed” when she brought up sex abuse allegations to the church. The affidavit was filed after the archdiocese attempted to throw sexual abuse survivor, John Doe 1’s civil lawsuit out of court.

The law firm, Jeff Anderson and Associates, is representing John Doe 1 in the case. Attorneys released Haselberger’s sworn affidavit.

University of St. Thomas Canon Law Expert Dr. Charles Reid weighed in on the claims. He said Haselberger makes it clear that investigations carried out by the Archdiocese were “inadequate.”

“If her affidavit lays out the foundations of Jeff Anderson’s case, I think she presents compelling testimony that helps lay the groundwork for a claim of past, and perhaps even continuing, public nuisance,” Reid explained.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

ST. PAUL, Minn. – In an insider’s view of how the St.Paul Archdiocese handled priest sex abuse cases, a whistleblower documents claims of cover-ups, lies and the turning of a blind eye towards the safety of children.

In a scathing 107-page affidavit filed by Twin Cities attorney Jeff Anderson in the civil suit by a man known as Doe 1, canon lawyer Jennifer M. Haselberger, the former chancellor for canonical affairs at the St. Paul Archdiocese, describes a “cavalier attitude toward the safety of other people’s children.”

Haselberger was employed by the Archdiocese from 2008 to 2013. Her affidavit was filed Tuesday in Ramsey County. It describes the Archdiocese as being incredibly “reckless and irresponsible.”

In the case of Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer, Haselberger writes that in 2009 she notified the Archbishop about what she calls Wehmeyer’s “history of acting out sexually.” Despite the warning Archbishop John Nienstedt appointed Wehmeyer pastor at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul where he later sexually abused two boys. Wehmeyer pled guilty in 2012.

Feeling she was “out of options” with the church, Haselberger on two occasions called a friend who worked for the Ramsey County attorney’s office. Her affidavit reads like a road map for investigators, including footnotes where she describes a small light blue file about problem priests. She accuses church leadership of consistently “failing to investigate” allegations of reported sexual abuse and “not taking necessary precautions.”

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MINNESOTA
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
JULY 15, 2014

Just two years ago, the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis was making headlines as a leader in the battle against same-sex marriage. But for the last year and a half, the archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, has been battling to hold onto his post in the face of a series of scandals, which further deepened on Tuesday with the filing of an explosive affidavit by the former chancellor of the archdiocese.

The troubles started in May 2013 when the accountant for the archdiocese pleaded guilty to stealing more than $670,000 in church funds, and intensified when the chancellor, Jennifer M. Haselberger, quit and went public that autumn with allegations that the archbishop and his inner circle had covered up the actions of pedophile priests in recent years and funneled special payments to them.

This month brought new revelations, first reported by the Catholic journal Commonweal, that Archbishop Nienstedt had earlier this year commissioned an investigation of himself in response to allegations that he had a series of inappropriate sexual relationships with men, including seminarians and priests he supervised, as he moved up the church’s hierarchy in Detroit and Minnesota.

The archbishop said the accusations are “entirely false,” and do not involve minors or criminal conduct, and that he had authorized his auxiliary bishop to hire a law firm in Minneapolis to conduct an independent investigation.

His defenders say he is being pilloried because of his staunch opposition to homosexuality, spending more than $650,000 in church funds in 2012 to campaign for a state constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage. The amendment ultimately failed.

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CONNECTICUT
Darien Times

By Susan Shultz on July 15, 2014

As he prepares to celebrate the first anniversary of his installation, the new leader of the Diocese of Bridgeport continues to open doors of communication between the leaders of the church and area Roman Catholic parishioners. To that end, Bishop Frank Caggiano has announced the fourth diocesan synod to be held throughout the next fiscal year.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport will convene a diocesan synod this fall for the first time since 1981. According to Catholic.org, a synod is a gathering of designated officials and representatives of a church, with legislative and policy-making powers. The synod in 1981 was held under the second bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, the Most Rev. Walter W. Curtis. There were also synods in 1971 and 1961.

Caggiano recently told The Darien Times that the synod is a process required under old church law. He hopes that the synod process will help make strides in issues facing the diocese, including the need to improve transparency and communication, and young Catholic adults feeling distant from the church.

“I’ve heard over and over that people are anxious to do something — to have input and be heard. What we are going to do is get together to address this and there is no better way to do it than a synod,” he said.

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MINNESOTA
The American Conservative

Catholic Bishops As Fifth Columnists In War On Religious Liberty

By ROD DREHER • July 15, 2014

A reader sends along the sworn affidavit of Jennifer Haselberger (PDF), from 2008-2013 the chief canon lawyer for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It’s part of a civil lawsuit having to do with alleged clerical sexual abuse in that archdiocese, and the conduct of its archbishop, John Nienstedt.

Learning how the sausage is made in the Minneapolis archdiocese makes for sobering reading. For starters, she said that shortly after she was hired by the archdiocesan marriage tribunal, she learned that the priest leading it, Father Conlin, had been taken out of parish ministry because he had fathered a child out of wedlock with a married woman — a woman that some believed he had been counseling when he got her pregnant. Haselberger said she was shocked to discover this, and even more shocked when she learned that the archbishop and many other canon lawyers knew about it before the priest was appointed to lead the tribunal — a position in which he would be leading decision-making about the validity of marriages, and dealing with emotionally vulnerable men and women. Haselberger testified that she wanted to quit her job, but another canon lawyer told her that if she did, people would think that she was the woman carrying Father Conlin’s baby, and that it would hurt her ability to find another canon law position.

When she eventually left the archdiocese for the first time, in her exit interview she talked about how the archdiocese’s toleration of moral corruption by priests on the tribunal hurt the morale of its lay employees. At that time, Harry Flynn was the Minneapolis archbishop — and tolerated all this even as he was chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ sexual abuse task force. …

If Haselberger is telling the truth, it staggers the mind to think that Pope Francis — who has the right to remove Nienstedt — tolerates this man remaining in charge a single day longer. Then again, Bishop Finn still rules in Kansas City, and according to a comprehensive report done by BishopAccountability.org, the pope had a poor record on responding to abuse as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

As a non-Catholic, I read this story, and think about how religious liberty in this country is now under assault, especially how right here in Louisiana, the seal of the confessional is severely threatened by ongoing litigation. And I think about how the archbishops of Minneapolis-St. Paul have behaved, saying one thing to reassure the public, but in fact behaving in exactly the opposite way, doing whatever they could to protect the clericalist mafia, and to marginalize Catholics like Jennifer Haselberger, who only wanted the Church to be the Church. I think about how the archdiocese appointed a priest who — if Haselberger is telling the truth (and as chancellor, had access to his personnel file) — had used the confessional as a way to facilitate an adulterous relationship.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jul. 15, 2014

After weeks of depositions from top officials exposing how they handled abusive priests and allegations that arose in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese, sworn written testimony from a former chancellor pulled back the curtain further to reveal a system “far, far from best practice.”

In a 107-page affidavit made public Tuesday, Jennifer Haselberger — the canon lawyer whose leaking of documents and files promulgated the region’s current abuse scandal — disputed the accounts of her former coworkers and described in compelling detail the mistakes, oversights and omissions she witnessed during her tenure as chancellor of canonical affairs.

At one point, Haselberger characterized the archdiocese as having a “cavalier attitude towards the safety of other children.”

The affidavit, released by attorney Jeff Anderson, was taken in relation to the John Doe 1 lawsuit against the Twin Cities archdiocese, the Winona, Minn., diocese and former priest Thomas Adamson. The next hearing is set for Monday. Anderson, pursuing a public nuisance charge against the archdiocese, told NCR the sworn statement is “a powerful recitation of whistleblowing and truth telling.”

Among Haselberger’s revelations:

A perceived pattern of incomplete investigations of sexual misconduct by Setter and Associates, a private firm frequently hired by the archdiocese, including in the Fr. Jonathan Shelley pornographic images case;

A lax application of policies outlined by the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People by former vicar general and safe environment delegate Fr. Kevin McDonough: “While he occasionally gave lip-service to these principles, he never accepted them and often failed to apply them”;

As of April 2013, the archdiocese had not secured the “essential three” forms required by the charter (background check, VIRTUS training, signed Code of Conduct) for all diocesan priests, and struggled to renew background checks;

Charter auditors have never been allowed to access clergy records “to determine if the data matched what we

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

[with video]

Retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss has used her first appearance in the House of Lords since stepping down as head of a probe into child sex abuse to call for extra funds to be given to the police to help the tackle child abuse.

Lady Butler-Sloss who sits as a crossbench peer told peers that the police’s ability to tackle both historical and ongoing child abuse is being undermined by cuts to their funding.

“There needs to be sufficient resources for the police, who are at the moment being cut down” she told peers

The former High Court judge stepped down as the head of an independent inquiry into allegations of historical child abuse on 14 July saying she was “not the right person” for the job.

Her resignation came after days of pressure over her links to the political establishment in the 1980s, when her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general.

Several other peers called for the government to do more to prevent and tackle child abuse during the oral questions session on 15 July 2014.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

by CHRIS MARSHALL
Published on the 15 July 2014

WHILE the decision to appoint Baroness Butler-Sloss to lead an inquiry into historical child abuse may have seemed eminently sensible to the Home Secretary, it’s easy to see why it caused so much disquiet.

An establishment figure with links to the Tory party and an esteemed career behind her, the former judge would have been an obvious choice for Theresa May.

Yet the baroness’s establishment connections were ultimately what did for her, leading her to step down as the head of the inquiry.

Butler-Sloss’s late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s, a time associated with claims of paedophile rings within Westminster and high-level cover-ups.

Labour MPs were among the first to raise objections to Butler-Sloss’s appointment, but it was concerns from victims, who will clearly play a crucial role in the inquiry, which made the former judge’s position untenable.

But while she erred in her choice of its head, the Home Secretary’s decision to establish an inquiry is to be welcomed. The high-profile cases of Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris have shown how survivors of abuse can find the strength to come forward when a spotlight is shone on the darkest recesses of the past.

The work of the inquiry will be difficult and it is likely to unearth yet more painful truths not only about the perpetrators of abuse, but those who seemingly turned a blind eye and allowed it to continue.

Sadly, there is currently no inquiry into such abuse in Scotland.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Jul 15, 2014

Updated 3 p.m.

Whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger, whose revelations of a clergy sexual abuse cover-up have rocked the Twin Cities archdiocese for the past 10 months, disputed the sworn testimony of Archbishop John Nienstedt in a damning 107-page affidavit filed as part of an abuse lawsuit Tuesday.

In her sworn statement, the former archdiocese chancellor also accused top church leaders of a “cavalier attitude” towards the safety of children, and contradicted sworn testimony by former top church deputies Peter Laird and Kevin McDonough and archdiocese attorney Andrew Eisenzimmer.

Betrayed By Silence: An MPR News investigation
Explore the full investigation Clergy abuse, cover-up and crisis in the Twin Cities Catholic church

The affidavit comes at a critical time in a massive clergy sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona by attorney Jeff Anderson.

The lawsuit, brought on behalf of a man who says he was sexually abused as a child by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in the 1970s, alleges the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on abusive priests secret. Church lawyers have asked Ramsey County Judge John Van de North to dismiss the lawsuit, and a hearing is scheduled for next Monday.

The case has already forced the depositions of Nienstedt, former Archbishop Harry Flynn, St. Louis archbishop Robert Carlson, and other top officials. It’s also required church officials to turn over more than 60,000 pages of internal documents. Van de North had ordered church officials in December to disclose the names of abusive priests, as well.

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MINNESOTA
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Affidavit of Jennifer Haselberger in St. Paul-Minneapolis Abuse Case: “To See an Archbishop . . . Holding His Crosier, Lie to the Faithful in Such a Boldfaced Manner, Was Heartbreaking to Me”

Earlier today, I pointed readers to what I called a chilling documentary just produced by Minnesota NPR about the bold lying of three archbishops covering up abuse in the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. This documentary painstakingly demonstrates that three archbishops of the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis — John Roach, Harry Flynn, and John Nienstedt — lied boldly to the people of God as they covered up sexual abuse of minors by their priests and “participated in a cover-up that pitted the finances and power of the church against the victims who dared to come forward and tell their stories.”

Today, an affidavit of whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger, the former Chancellor of Canonical Affairs of the archdiocese who resigned from her position after the archdiocesan powers that be made her life a living hell when she raised critical questions about the cover-up of abuse of children by priests, has been made public. The affidavit is Haselberger’s statement in the case of Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Diocese of Winona, and Thomas Adamson.

Here’s Haselberger’s heart-wrenching conclusion to testimony full of other heart-wrenching statements about how leading diocesan officials repeatedly lied to the public as they protected and paid off priests sexually molesting minors:

The final straw for me was when the Archbishop [Nienstedt] himself stated in December of 2013 that he believed that the issue of clergy sexual abuse had been taken care of when he became Archbishop in 2008, and that he was ‘surprised as anyone else’ when the story broke. To see an Archbishop, who had recently celebrated Mass and was still vested and holding his crosier, lie to the faithful in such a boldfaced manner, was heartbreaking to me. That was really when I abandoned hope that this situation could be resolved by the present administration, by which I mean not only the Archbishop, but everyone else who has been involved in this ongoing debacle. Following my resignation, I often explained to people how difficult it was to be in a place where you were constantly disappointed by the people around you. That disappointment was only intensified when I witnessed the decisions taken by those ‘in the know’ in the weeks and months that followed, who apparently were willing to sacrifice their integrity, and their judgment, in order to be seen as ‘close’ to those in power.

As Jesse Marx notes, Haselberger’s affidavit is “the closest look yet at the inner workings of the archdiocese and portrays a devout Catholic who for seven years was ignored, marginalized and bullied for trying to warn her superiors about sexually deviant men.” And as Jean Hopfensperger states,

Haselberger described the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a place where child abusers were given repeated opportunities to remain in the priesthood, where “monitoring” was lax or nonexistent, and where investigations into abuse complaints often missed key interviews and resulted in findings that favored priests.

Financial deals were frequently cut with priests who agreed to step down from ministry, she said. Some, however, tried to come back — even after serving jail time.
The archdiocese, she wrote, had a “cavalier attitude toward the safety of other people’s children.”

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

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

We’re here today for three reasons: to warn the public about a defrocked predator priest’s current and recent whereabouts, to prod St. Louis’ archbishop to disclose the names of 63 credibly accused child molesting clerics, and to denounce the archbishop for his mean-spirited actions last week in attacking a child sex abuse victim.

1) A pro bono professional investigator tells us that the now-defrocked Fr. Joseph Dixon Ross lives at 5321 N. Highway 94, St. Charles (Three others live at that address including a Patrick Ross Wehmeier and a woman we suspect is Fr. Ross’ sister.) His phone numbers are believed to be 636 250 3723 and 314 289 9545. His last known Arkansas address was 501 Napa Valley Dr., Apt. 216 in Little Rock.

We make this public for the safety of children. We believe Ross’ neighbors in St. Charles deserve to know they have a serial child predator in their midst. We can’t help but worry that he may worship in and befriend families with kids at nearby Catholic parishes in St. Charles.
We hope that St. Louis families will spread the word about Ross’ presence back in the metro area.

2) One of Ross’ victims, Jane Doe, settled her lawsuit against the archdiocese last week. Because of her courage and persistence, Archbishop Robert Carlson was forced to admit that the archdiocese has gotten 240 credible child sex abuse reports against 115 priests and other church employees. (These figures, we suspect, are lower than the true numbers. The judge told church officials they only had to include allegations that they deemed “credible.”)

A trustworthy Boston-based archive group lists 52 publicly accused St. Louis child molesting clerics (including nuns, priests and seminarians).

So this means three things;

First, the sheer number of proven, admitted and credibly accused St. Louis Catholic clerics is at least twice as high as anyone knew previously.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

Posted: Jul 15, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The most detailed allegations of canon lawyer-turned-whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger are now public. A 107-page affidavit released Tuesday accuses archbishops and senior staff of lying to the public and concealing evidence of alleged sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Haselberger details practices and decisions within the archdiocese that ignore the Catholic church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

First experience with concealment

Haselberger wrote that she first experienced the archdiocese’s efforts to conceal potential criminal acts of sexual misconduct in October of 2004. She learned Rev. Daniel Conlin had fathered the child of a married woman who he may have counseled. She was “deeply concerned and distressed” to learn Conlin was then reassigned to a position in which he supervised women.

‘Haphazard’ archiving of priest files

Haselberger said that when she started examining records in 2008, she found the files of “nearly 20” priests who were guilty of sexual misconduct, but still in ministry. She said most priests hadn’t had background checks since the early 1990s, despite the “industry standard” of background checks every 3 to 5 years. Furthermore, the archdiocese relied heavily on self-reporting by sexual misconduct offenders, “with very little effort made to verify if those reports were accurate.”

Haselberger points to record-keeping policies that were “haphazard at best, and made it nearly impossible to locate them once the problem was identified.”

“In many cases, the active personnel files of these priests did not contain any reference to the existence of the files that had been archived, meaning that someone reviewing one of these priests’ personnel file would not necessarily discover that there were concerns regarding misconduct,” she said. …

Pimp calls the chancery

In March or April of 2013, the archdiocese learned of new allegations that a priest had been “engaging the services of prostitutes.” Haselberger and others learned of these allegations when a man named Robert called the chancery complaining that one of his “associates” named Nicole had provided services to a priest but hadn’t been paid.

It was discovered the priest in question was being extorted for $30,000, but former vicar general, Father Peter Laird, wouldn’t allow Haselberger to review the parish financial reports or speak with the bookkeeper about irregularities.

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MINNESOTA
Daily Journal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: July 15, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS — A canon lawyer who became a whistleblower against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says church officials considered silencing a critic by declaring him to be disabled.

In a sworn statement released Tuesday, Jennifer Haselberger alleges a former top deputy to Archbishop John Nienstedt proposed declaring the Rev. Michael Tegeder disabled to silence his opposition to the archbishop’s efforts to promote a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.

Tegeder calls the idea laughable and the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

Tegeder, who serves as pastor at St. Francis Cabrini Church in Minneapolis, has been calling for Nienstedt to step down for some time.

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PUERTO RICO
Pulso

SAN JUAN (AP) — La Corte Suprema de Puerto Rico determinó que una diócesis no tiene que divulgar información sobre denuncias de abuso sexual por parte de sacerdotes si las víctimas son adultos que desean mantenerse anónimos.

La diócesis de Arecibo, en el norte de la isla, desea proteger las identidades de quienes han presentado denuncias contra los curas. Seis sacerdotes han sido destituidos debido a tales denuncias.

El tribunal también determinó que toda información proveniente de confesiones privadas puede seguir siendo confidencial.

En el fallo emitido el lunes, el tribunal también decidió que la diócesis debe compartir su información en casos en que la víctima sea menor de 18 años.

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PUERTO RICO
New Zealand Herald

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has found that a Roman Catholic diocese does not need to share information about alleged sexual abuse by its priests if the victims are adults who wish to maintain their privacy.

The Diocese of Arecibo in northern Puerto Rico had sought to protect the identities of parishioners who made allegations against its priests. The diocese has defrocked six priests over such claims.

The court also states that information that came from private confessions may remain confidential.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

15 JULY 2014

Baroness Butler-Sloss called today for the police to be given more resources to investigate cases of child abuse.

In her first comments in the Lords after stepping down as chair of an inquiry into allegations of child abuse by establishment figures, the former judge stressed the need to deal with both historic cases of abuse and “recent child abuse … going on across the country at this moment”.

At question time, the independent crossbench peer said the police needed “more money to cope with both kinds of abuse – those of the past and those of the present”.

Lady Butler-Sloss stepped down yesterday from leading the inquiry announced last week by Home Secretary Theresa May following controversy over her selection.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 15, 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 )

Six years after America’s bishops pledged “zero tolerance” of child sexual abuse, the former chancellor of the St. Paul Archdiocese says she found about 20 clergy in ministry who were guilty of sexual misconduct with adults and children.

Six years after America’s bishops pledged mandatory background checks on all church personnel, that same former chancellor found that most Twin Cities priests hadn’t had background checks since the early 1990s.

Meanwhile, top Catholic officials in St. Paul expanded the archdiocesan public relations staff from one to more than 20, according to the Pioneer Press.

And that former chancellor, Jennifer Haselberger, said she endured “months of harassment, threats, and intimidation” before resigning last year.

In a shocking, lengthy new affidavit filed today, Haselberger said that as recently as last year, Archbishop John Nienstedt lied to the public, claiming “that no abusing priests were in ministry,” something that simply wasn’t true, Haselberger said, citing the case of the Rev. Joseph Gallatin, then pastor at the Church of St. Peter in Mendota Heights.

Even before the St. Peter assignment, Gallatin’s personnel file indicated “the sexual nature of his contact with a boy in West Virginia and his admitted sexual attraction to boys as young as twelve…” Haselberger wrote.

Fr. Gallatin was finally put on leave last December

Remember, Haselberger is a devout Catholic and a canon lawyer who has been hired by at least three bishops.

Her integrity and motives are unquestioned. If she is to be faulted in any way, we suspect it would be for erring on the side of understatement.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Kincora: Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt joins calls for inquiry into abuse at boys’ home

15 JULY 2014

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has joined the calls for an inquiry into the sexual abuse of children at Kincora.

The MLA for Strangford has backed the call for the UK Government to include the Kincora Boys’ Home in east Belfast in its inquiry into how public bodies dealt with allegations of child abuse.

Speaking today, he said: “This is not a criticism of the current Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry headed by Sir Anthony Hart. Rather it is an acknowledgement that the HIA’s Terms of Reference limit him to examine “if there were systemic failings by institutions or the state in their duties towards those children in their care…”

“The point about Kincora is that abuse was carried out, not as part of a systemic policy, but as a horrible, murky attempt to use children to gain control over prominent public figures.

He added: “For most of my adult life, there have been persistent rumours about who was either involved, or knew of what was going on but said nothing.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — One week after publishing highlights of its 2013 financial statement, the Institute for the Works of Religion — commonly called the Vatican bank — released a 107-page, detailed financial report for the year.

The first statement, released July 8, said the institute’s net profit for 2013 was only 2.9 million euros ($3.9 million) compared to 2012 net profits of 86.6 million euros ($117.7 million).

The main entrance of the Institute for the Works of Religion, known colloquially as the Vatican bank. The tower where it is located is the Bastion of Nicholas V. (CNS/Paul Haring)

The detailed report released July 15 and published on the institute’s website — www.ior.va — is packed with charts, tables and explanations of the institute’s focus, its investment policies, the division of its assets and detailed information about its expenses, including contributions to employee pensions.

It also contains some curiosities:

— The main depository for the Vatican’s gold is the U.S. Federal Reserve, while medals and precious coins (valued at close to 9.9 million euros) are kept in IOR vaults. A “significant decline” in the price of gold meant that the value of the Vatican’s gold fell to 20 million euros in 2013 from almost 28.3 million euros in 2012.

— The bank’s officers have almost 3.2 million euros in four funds set up for charitable purposes, including one to support religious orders in missionary work. Only the “Fund for Holy Masses” reported distributing money in 2013; it gave out 59,000 euros.

— The institute is the sole owner of an Italian-registered company, SGIR, which has 21.7 million euros in equity. The report describes SGIR as a real estate company.

— Speaking of real estate, the report said the institute’s operating expenses included a “provision of 1 million euros payable to the owner of the building in which the IOR conducts business.” The bank is based in the 15th-century Tower of Nicholas V on the eastern edge of the Apostolic Palace.

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VATICAN CITY
Istituto per le Opere di Religione

IOR releases financial statements for 2013 and announces Phase II of the Institute’s
reform

 Phase I 2013-2014 of IOR reform concluded: all accounts checked, principal legacy cases investigated, transparency achieved, procedures improved.
 Satisfactory operating performance in 2013, Net Profit and Assets under Management affected by reform process.
 Successful first half of 2014, with strong financial results.
 Phase II: IOR to continue to serve the Catholic Church worldwide with a new focus, a new governance and a new board and executive team.

Vatican City State, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 – The Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) today released
its 2013 financial statements and gave a detailed update on the results of Phase I of the Institute’s reform. The second phase, namely the integration of the IOR into the new economic-administrative landscape of the Vatican, will be entrusted to a new board and executive team, operating under a new governance structure.The costs necessary for the completion of Phase I, and costs related to legacy investments, are reflected in the results for 2013.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Institute for the Works of Religion has published its annual report for 2013 ahead of its leadership change. The 23 million Euros seized back in 2010 remain blocked. The report also presents an analysis of assets and liabilities in the PIG countries

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
VATICAN CITY

Today the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) published its annual report for 2013 on its website www.ior.va, following its recent leadership reshuffle. The independent audit and consulting firm Deloitte & Touche Ltd. gave the green light on 9 July. This is why the document does not contain the names of the IOR’s new management, as these figures, including the new president, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu – were nominated on 9 July. The document contains the information presented last week, plus details regarding the salaries of the outgoing managers and the severance pay received by its former directors. It also provides information regarding the geographical distribution of assets and liabilities and confirms that the 23 million Euros seized by prosecutors in 2010 remain blocked.

The key figures relating to the IOR’s management during 2013 were published in a press release issued by the Institute on 8 July. In 2013, the IOR witnessed a drop in net profit, from 86, 6 million Euros in 2012 to 2, 9 million Euros in 2013 but this grew again in the first half of 2014. At the end of 2013, the IOR had 17,419 clients compared to 18,900 at the end of 2012. The financial statement goes through the process followed to bring the Institute in line with international transparency standards and presents the new legal framework. “Phase I of the reform process successfully completed,” the former president of the IOR, Ernst von Freyberg writes in the report’s introduction.

The report notes that “bank deposits includes EUR 23 m deposited in a third-party bank pending full availability,” showing that the Institute’s relations with the Bank of Italy are still a work in progress.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mick Forgey | Jul. 15, 2014

A religious educator with decades of experience, hired to write Scripture commentaries for a liturgy training sourcebook, had her writing pulled from the book after the publisher learned that she had presented a workshop at a Call to Action conference.

Liturgy Training Publications, owned by the Chicago archdiocese, had hired Margaret Nutting Ralph to write short daily Scripture commentaries for its Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons, and Weekdays 2015, a resource for lectors.

Ralph had previously written marginal notes and commentaries on Sunday Lectionary readings for the Advent, Lent and Easter seasons for Liturgy Training Publications’ 2011 and 2013 Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word.

But in January, Ralph was informed in a letter from the publishing house’s director, John Thomas, that her work would not be used.

“Our archdiocesan censor has requested that we withhold the Scripture Commentaries that you wrote,” the letter stated. “The request was made because of your recent presentation at Call to Action.”

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

San Angelo Bishop Michael Sis has quietly put Fr. Steven E. Hicks on the job at Sacred Heart Cathedral, despite the fact that Fr. Hicks was accused of attempted rape.

In 2012 Fr. Hicks was suspended from his position at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, CA after allegations of sexual abuse were made by a sailor in the United States Navy. His victim was later granted a restraining order after Fr. Hicks allegedly threatened him.

We suspect the bishop warned no one about the allegations against Fr. Hicks. We urge Bishop Sis to immediately reverse this action and remove Fr. Hicks. We also urge him to immediately reach out to victims and witnesses using his vast resources.

We urge anyone who saw, suspects or suffered crimes by Fr. Hicks to come forward and report to police.

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UNITED STATES
City of Angels

Crimes of pedophile priests in Australia and USA too similar to be coincidence

By Kay Ebeling

“Hello, John it’s C from the Royal Commission here, how are you. John: Good, thanks.” John Brown agreed to let me transcribe and publish his submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia.

The commission report released last week shows that when a nation looks into child sex abuse at an institutional level, “well over half” took place in Catholic Church properties. Why Can’t the USA do an inquiry like the one just completed in Australia?

As I transcribe John’s testimony, he says, ““I found myself in a school that the teacher happened to be the nun who sexually interfered with me before … and I was groomed by Kevin O’Donnell who’s a pedophile priest.” I realize that’s eerily similar to Ted’s story from the USA, which I’d been working on in Chicago, but then he’d said, don’t publish it. In that case the perpetrator was Gilbert Gauthe, who like O’Donnell, is a prolific and now-infamous pedophile priest in his region. Both boys were sexualized by nuns who then were party to the crimes of the priests. I got back in touch with Ted, said, you have to let me publish your story along with John’s, because they’re so much alike. Ted said, yeah okay go ahead.

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UNITED STATES
Just Once Will Hurt

About the Initiative
07 Monday Jul 2014

This blog is dedicated to the cause of eliminating the practice of Mormon bishops asking sexually invasive questions during interviews. Currently, it is common practice for Mormon bishops to ask questions of a sexual nature to Mormon individuals from the age of 12. There is an emphasis on questions regarding the issue of masturbation, or self-abuse as the church has labelled it. The practice of conducting these interviews alone with an individual behind a closed door is prevalent in the Mormon church and needs to be stopped immediately for the protection of individuals, as well as Mormon bishops.

The intended purpose of this blog is not to shame the Mormon church. It is to bring attention to the severity of the issue and the need to address it immediately. Countless people have already been emotionally and mentally hurt by this practice and this blog is here to give a voice to those who need it.

It is not enough to allow members to opt-out or have a parent or guardian present during these interviews. Mormon bishops should never be allowed to ask sexually invasive question to a member of any age. Help us stop this practice by sharing your story and/or support for the initiative here. This blog is a work-in-progress. We are now in the beginning stages of something that could help change the interview process drastically and reduce the risk of sexual-abuse in the Mormon church.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Sasha Aslanian St. Paul, Minn. Mar 12, 2014

A Twin Cities priest whose sexual urges led him to steal church funds and serve time in the Hennepin County workhouse is calling on his archdiocese to face the clergy sexual abuse crisis more openly.

Betrayed By Silence: An MPR News investigation
Explore the full investigation Clergy abuse, cover-up and crisis in the Twin Cities Catholic church

“I have often felt that the Archdiocese is more interested in its public image and avoiding lawsuits than the welfare of its people and priests,” writes the Rev. Stan Maslowski, 77, in his new book, “How to Heal When the Church Hurts.”
“The Catholic Church, in many places, has paid dearly for its cover-up of clergy misconduct.”

Maslowski, now retired, self-published the 68-page volume this month, detailing his experiences and reflections on the clergy sex-abuse crisis. The priest describes how he embezzled from the church to pay for visits to strip clubs, massage parlors and adult bookstores. “I always rationalized I deserved the extra money for extra work I was doing,” he wrote.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sam Griffin
Published 15/07/2014

The UN Human Rights Council has criticised Ireland for not taking accountability for the “collection” of state abuses including Magdalene Laundries, the mother and baby home revelations and symphysiotomy procedures.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald was today heading an Irish delegation for the second and final day before the UN.

The delegation faced further scrutiny under a variety of issues as part of Ireland’s fourth examination of its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In his closing remarks, the council chair Nigel Rodley said there were remained “many social issues” that need to be addressed by the State which he described as “quite a collection”.

“It’s (the issue of abuses) carried on beyond any period that is hard to imagine how the state party can tolerate,” he said.

“I guess I comprehend myself from observing that all (the issues) are not disconnected from the institutional belief system that has predominated in the state party and which occasionally has sought to dominate the state party.

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MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

July 15, 2014 | Updated: July 15, 2014

A canon lawyer alleging a widespread cover-up of clergy sex misconduct in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has made her most detailed claims yet, accusing archbishops and their top staff of lying to the public and of ignoring the U.S. bishops’ pledge to have no tolerance of priests who abuse.

Jennifer Haselberger, who spent five years as Archbishop John Nienstedt’s archivist and top adviser on Roman Catholic church law, also charged that the church used a chaotic system of record-keeping that helped conceal the backgrounds of guilty priests who remained on assignment.

Haselberger said that when she started examining records in 2008 of clergy under restrictions over sex misconduct with adults and children she found “nearly 20” of the 48 men still in ministry. She said she repeatedly warned Nienstedt and his aides about the risk of these placements, but they took action only in one case. As a result of raising alarms, she said she was eventually shut out of meetings about priest misconduct. She resigned last year.

“Had there been any serious desire to implement change, it could have been done quickly and easily with the stroke of a single pen,” Haselberger wrote in the affidavit, released Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by attorney Jeff Anderson. “The archbishop’s administrative authority in his diocese is basically unlimited.”

The archdiocese has for years pledged it was following the national bishops’ policy, known as the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which lays out a series of requirements — from conducting background checks to alerting parishioners about offender priests and barring guilty clergy from parish assignments. Archbishop Harry Flynn, who led the Minneapolis archdiocese until retiring in 2008, was an architect of the 12-year-old plan.

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MINNESOTA
The Republic

By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer
July 15, 2014 – 11:58 am EDT

A church lawyer is making her most detailed allegations yet about a cover-up of clergy sex abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Jennifer Haselberger says in an affidavit released today that archbishops and staff ignored the 2002 pledge by Roman Catholic bishops to keep abusive clergy out of parishes.

Haselberger spent five years as the top adviser on canon law to Archbishop John Nienstedt.

She says when she started in 2008, she discovered about 20 clergy in ministry who were guilty of sex misconduct with adults and children. At the time, she said most priests hadn’t had background checks since the early 1990s, and church monitors mostly relied on self-reporting by offenders.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 07/15/2014

The whistleblower whose revelations on priest sexual abuse cases and their mishandling by the Twin Cities archdiocese has written a scorching 107-page affidavit describing top officials’ cover-ups, blaming of victims, willful ignorance, lies and a “cavalier attitude toward the safety of other people’s children.”

Canon lawyer Jennifer M. Haselberger, who served as the chancellor for canonical affairs at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 2008 to 2013, submitted the document in the civil case of Doe 1. The plaintiff filed suit against the archdiocese, the Diocese of Winona and former priest Thomas Adamson last year, alleging Adamson abused him in the 1970s. Plaintiff’s attorney Jeffrey Anderson filed Haselberger’s affidavit Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

Anderson’s experience with church-related sexual abuse cases goes back 30 years, he said, and he found the affidavit to be the “the most stinging and broad-ranging indictment I’ve ever seen of these practices.”

Haselberger provides shocking detail on the action, or lack of action, of past and present officials in the archdiocese, including former Archbishop Harry Flynn, Archbishop John Nienstedt, Bishop Lee Piche, former Vicar General Kevin McDonough, former Vicar General Peter Laird and former chancellor for civil affairs and archdiocese attorney Andrew Eisenzimmer.

Haselberger said she endured “months of harassment, threats, and intimidation” before resigning April 30, 2013. The state Department of Employment and Economic Development concluded she “resigned for good reason caused by my employer, because I felt that I could no longer work for an organization that was not cooperating fully with investigations into illegal activities within the organization,” she wrote.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: July 15, 2014

Jennifer Haselberger, who resigned as canon lawyer at the Twin Cities Archdiocese, describes flawed clergy abuse policies in written testimony.

Jennifer Haselberger, the whistleblower who exposed troubling clergy child abuse practices in the Twin Cities archdiocese, offers further details of the church’s protection of abusing priests in an affidavit filed in Ramsey County District Court Tuesday morning.

Hasselberger described the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a place where child abusers were given repeated opportunities to remain in the priesthood, where “monitoring” was lax or nonexistent, and where investigations into abuse complaints often missed key interviews and resulted in findings that favored priests.

Financial deals were frequently cut with priests who agreed to step down from ministry, she said. Some, however, tried to come back — even after serving jail time.

The archdiocese, she wrote, had a “cavalier attitude toward the safety of other people’s children.”

The written testimony of Hasselberger, an archdiocese canon lawyer before resigning last year, comes in response to an explosive lawsuit filed on behalf of a man who claims former priest Tom Adamson abused him in the 1970s.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

[affadavit]

Attorneys for a sexual abuse survivor, Doe 1, filed and made public a sworn statement signed by former Chancellor of Canonical Affairs for the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis, Jennifer Haselberger. The affidavit was filed in response to the Archdiocese’s attempt to throw Doe 1’s civil lawsuit out of court.

————————————————

News Release
July 15, 2014

Sworn Statement of Former Archdiocese Chancellor Jennifer Haselberger Released Today

(St. Paul, MN) – Today, attorneys for a sexual abuse survivor, Doe 1, filed and made public a sworn statement signed by former Chancellor of Canonical Affairs for the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis, Jennifer Haselberger. The affidavit was filed in response to the Archdiocese’s attempt to throw Doe 1’s civil lawsuit out of court.

The sworn statement can be found on our website here:

[Anderson Advocates]

[Anderson Advocates under News & Events]

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

St. Paul prosecutor and state representative John Lesch says, according to Minnesota Public Radio, that “a call from survivors for a grand-jury investigation (into the St. Paul Catholic archdiocese) has some merit.”

“Of course it’s rare, but if there is a situation that is tailor-made for a grand jury, I think this is it,” he said.

We applaud his thinking and his courage. We continue to be dreadfully disappointed in Ramsey County Attorney John Choi who seems to spend more time explaining his inaction than he does taking action against the clearly complicit and corrupt Catholic officials who head the Twin Cities archdiocese.

Our 25 years of working with victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors and lawmakers has taught us one crucial lesson: almost always, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Sure, many laws are inadequate and archaic. Sure, Catholic officials shrewdly cover their tracks in clergy sex cases. Sure, many victims don’t come forward promptly.

But time and time again, despite these obstacles, we’ve see law enforcement officials be aggressive and creative and successful in pursuing criminal charges against members of the Catholic hierarchy. The biggest hurtle seems to be finding not the one case or the one legal tool or the one investigative maneuver or the one whistleblower. It seems to be finding the political will.

We aren’t lawyers, police or prosecutors. We assume Choi is doing some worthy action to quietly to bring some of these high-ranking, self-serving and morally bankrupt Catholic officials to justice. But we also firmly believe he can and should do more (as Lesch suggests).

We urge Choi to get on the right side of history and insist that police officers and his own staff do more to investigate those who commit AND those who conceal heinous sexual violence against children in the church.

At the very least, Choi should again make an impassioned plea for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward. The more time goes by and the more horrors that get exposed, the more hopeless people with knowledge or suspicions about clergy sex crimes become. They should be prodded, again, to call police and prosecutors immediately. Those kinds of public pleas can make a real difference.

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

Civil case against him settled last week
Victims blast archbishop for “crossing a line”
Carlson publicly attacked an alleged rape victim
His goal, groups say, is “to intimidate others to stay quiet”
SNAP to Carlson: “Defend yourself without being cruel to accusers”
Group also wants church officials to disclose names of 63 “credibly accused clerics”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that a notorious local predator priest is now back in the St. Louis area (and provide his address and phone number).

They will also urge St. Louis’ archbishop to:

–warn his flock about the predator’s whereabouts,
–disclose names of 63 credibly accused child molesting clerics who he is keeping secret, and
–apologize for and pledge to never repeat his attacks last week on an alleged clergy sex abuse victim.

WHEN
TODAY, Tuesday, July 15, 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside of the “new” Cathedral on Lindell near Taylor in the Central West End

WHO
A man who has never spoken publicly but whose friend was abused by a notorious predator priest who was the subject of a recent, high profile settlement, along with two concerned Catholics and three-four clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a confidential support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHYSNAP has learned that a high profile serial predator priest – who was convicted of abuse and involved in last week’s historic settlement of a civil clergy sex abuse and cover up case – is now living in St. Charles. (Recent news accounts said he lives in Arkansas.) SNAP wants Archbishop Robert Carlson to warn his neighbors about him.

During that litigation, Carlson was forced to admit that 115 archdiocesan employees, mostly clerics, have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse. (A research group, Bishop Accountability, had already posted names of 52 of them.)

SNAP wants Carlson, for the safety of kids, to identify the 63 accused archdiocesan clerics who have been accused of abuse but whose identities he is keeping secret. SNAP also wants him to apologize and pledge to stop disclosing private information about alleged victims.

A week ago, in an unprecedented move, Carlson publicly attacked a 22-year-old woman who was reportedly molested – dozens of times, sometimes brutally – by a convicted predator priest who faces several other allegations. Through a spokesperson, Carlson claimed that:

–the woman “has a medical condition” that causes her to “falsify claims (&) exaggerate symptoms,”
–her family members disputed her abuse reports and
–her allegations “contained multiple inconsistencies.”

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
Addicting Info

The Christian Conservative movement is well known for evacuating its children to special “camps” should they show the slightest inclination of defying the family traditions, over things like their sexuality. A whiff of rebellion and they are disappeared for anything from a semester to a year. Newsweek has this week covered the story behind Escuela Caribe, a Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic that’s the subject of a forthcoming documentary called Kidnapped for Christ -which reveals an epidemic of child abuse at these camps.

Like so many of these ‘schools’, Escuela Caribe is viewed as a sort of last resort by many parents whose children are failing to embody the fundamentalist Christianity they espouse — a faith where homosexuality, depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders are frequently written off as “rebellion” or “demonic possession.”

The stressful environment coupled with no true accountability or regulation often creates an environment of systemic abuse, as the Newsweek report indicates:

By her second day at the school, [Deirdre] Sugiuchi’s image of a nurturing Christian boarding school was shattered when her “house father” made her perform exercises for hours.

“According to him, I had ‘an authority problem’ at home. He made me do bear crawls, pushups and duck walks. He had me hold my arms out balancing books until I cried from pain,” she wrote on a website dedicated to collecting the stories of survivors of the school. “We had 24-year-old male house fathers in a house full of teenage girls. I had a house father that used to watch me change clothes. I was constantly either being abused or seeing people be abused,” she tells Newsweek.

Swatting, or being struck on the rear with a wooden paddle, was among the disciplinary practices at the school, along with a “quiet room” where students deemed particularly insubordinate would be isolated for days with only a thin mattress. A system of points based on obedience kept students on different levels, and low-ranking students would be forced to ask permission to perform any task, and supervised at all times by higher-ranking students, including in the shower, Sugiuchi says.

“When I was there, at 17, I was a high ranker, and it was my job to make sure [low rankers] were properly washing their private parts in the shower. I had to make sure they soaped. That was how I spent my senior year,” she says. Phone calls to parents were recorded, and written letters were monitored. “They would do anything to keep you there.”

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

videos

On May 6, 2014 Attorney Andrew Eisenzimmer gave sworn testimony under oath as part of a civil lawsuit involving a man, Doe 1, sexually abused as a child by former priest Thomas Adamson at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. Eisenzimmer has represented the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis in legal matters, including child sexual abuse cases, for over 30 years.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

Laura Yuen, Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio News 8:58 a.m. EDT July 15, 2014

Some prominent Catholics are demanding the resignation of Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt, saying the credibility of the entire archdiocese is at stake. The call for change among lay Catholics is rising after an

MPR News documentary

showed how three Twin Cities archbishops kept quiet about priests who sexually abused children.

After details of abuse and cover-ups began emerging last fall, Nienstedt publicly admitted mistakes had been made. One of his top deputies resigned and the archbishop named a task force that this spring cited poor oversight and flawed policies in the handling of abuse allegations. But it hasn’t been enough to restore the confidence of Catholics like Jim Frey, who says the only way the archdiocese can begin to heal is if Nienstedt steps down.

“I would say if there’s anything the laity can do, it’s to speak with one voice to say as loudly as we can, ‘The time has come to resign,'” he says.

Frey is a major donor to Catholic organizations. He says lay Catholics felt a bit of hope last week when Pope Francis promised to hold bishops accountable for failing to protect kids from sexual abuse. But here in the Twin Cities, Frey says the church scandal has dragged out for nearly a year with few consequences for top church officials.

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
Belfast Telegraph

BY ADRIAN RUTHERFORD – 15 JULY 2014

The brother of a retired judge who quit her post as chair of an inquiry into historic sex abuse tried to limit an official investigation into Kincora Boys’ Home, it has been revealed.

Baroness Butler-Sloss stood down yesterday – before she had even started the task of examining if alleged abuse by politicians and other figures in the 1970s and 80s was covered up.

Pressure was mounting on her since her appointment last Tuesday, with critics warning of potential conflicts of interest because the investigation was likely to look into the role of her late brother, Sir Michael Havers.

Sir Michael, a former Attorney General, is alleged to have tried to prevent the naming of an abuser in Parliament in the 1980s. It has now emerged that Sir Michael also limited an investigation into Kincora, the east Belfast boys’ home where dozens of children were 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.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[Journalism icon John Seigenthaler is laid to rest – Jackson Sun]

[John Seigenthaler: You couldn’t choose a better journalism hero – Poynter]

For immediate release: Monday, July 14, 2014

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

We in SNAP join hundreds of thousands of Americans in mourning the passing of a real hero, John Seigenthaler of Nashville. He quietly helped our group for years.

His most noteworthy achievements were in journalism and government, especially his courage during the civil rights movement. But behind-the-scenes, he was in touch with our organization’s leadership, both locally and nationally.

He was justifiably outraged by how Catholic officials acted – and still act – irresponsibly in child sex cases. And he listened patiently when we described our plight to him while also offering us helpful advice and information.

He will be sorely missed.

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
The Guardian

Catherine Pepinster
theguardian.com, Tuesday 15 July 2014

As an Argentinian, Pope Francis probably doesn’t know about English diminutives. But he really ought to be called Pope Frank. This is not a man who minces words, as his recent comments about the sex abuse of children by priests makes clear. In a recent meeting with victims of such abuse he talked of the sacrilegious crimes committed by the sons and daughters of the church, and in an interview with La Repubblica this weekend he reportedly talked of abuse as a leprosy and as “the most terrible and unclean thing imaginable” (although it should be noted that the Vatican has since described the quotes as a “product of [the journalist’s] memory … not the precise transcription of a recording”).

We are now a world away from the 1980s, when evidence first emerged of clerical child abuse and the Catholic church’s response was to vilify both the journalists investigating and the victims testifying. The first cases were reported in 1984 in a courageous Louisiana paper, the Times of Acadiana, and led to a church-organised advertisers’ boycott for the editor daring to call for the bishop to resign. Revelations of abuse in the US, Ireland, the UK, Australia and elsewhere were frequently met with denials, both of incidences of abuse by priests and cover-ups by the church hierarchy. In places such as England and Wales, the bishops have since set up child protection and safeguarding committees. Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, took action against one of the most notorious abusers, the Legionaries of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, and frequently met with victims during his travels. One might say that the clean-up, the penitence and the PR are all in hand. But it’s much harder to deal with the cause.

During his La Repubblica interview Pope Francis said that 2% of priests are paedophiles. I have to admit that yes, about two in every 100 priests I have known or reported on have later been exposed as abusers of children, especially adolescent boys. Psychiatrists who specialise in this field estimate its prevalence at about 4% of the general population. One of the most simplistic claims about abusers in the Catholic church is that their acts are directly linked to celibacy, as if these any celibate male has repressed urges that burst out if there’s an altar boy handy. But that doesn’t account for Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris, or the social workers, teachers, Anglican vicars, and fathers and uncles who have all assaulted young people. As Esther Rantzen, founder of Childline, once said to me, people who want to abuse children find ways to access them. Becoming a Catholic priest was one way of gaining a position of trust and authority in the parish, in the school and in the confessional.

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
News 24

Sydney – An Australian Catholic Church body dealing with the legacy of child sex abuse by clergy said on Tuesday it believed the number of paedophile priests was historically twice the pope’s reported estimate.

In an report published on Sunday, Pope Francis condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” in the church and cited his aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the church is at two percent”.

“That two percent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” the pope was quoted as telling Italy’s La Repubblica daily, in comments later questioned by a Vatican spokesperson.

Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, said he believed the figure was historically higher in Australia, where clergy were deeply involved in schools and orphanages.

The council, on behalf of the church, is compiling a database of abuse by clergy dating back to the 1940s and its preliminary work suggests the number of perpetrators of child sex abuse was about four percent in Australia, he said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen | GLOBE STAFF JULY 15, 2014

Bob Bullock was a great priest and better person. Some years ago, he faced an existential question: Who was he, and what did he stand for? More importantly, what did the Gospel he tried to live by stand for?

In Father Bob’s case, he had to decide whether he was going to publicly repudiate his bishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, or stand with the institutional Catholic Church. Father Bob was appalled at the levels to which Law sank to protect deviants in Roman collars who preyed on kids. He was appalled that good priests were being lumped in with the criminals because the bishops were shielding those who should have gone to jail, protecting the institution at the expense of the individual.

When Father Bob decided he could not be silent and called for Cardinal Law to resign, I drove down to Sharon and asked how he reached his decision. Father Bob said he simply asked himself: What would Jesus do? Would Jesus approve of hush money and transferring predators to other parishes so they could rape more children? Or would Jesus side with the most vulnerable members of his flock? Would Jesus side with expediency or justice? When he framed it like that, Father Bob said, the answer was obvious.

I only wish Father Bob was still alive because I’d like to know what he thought of all the holy rollers, encouraged by a Supreme Court that’s a little slow on this separation of church and state stuff, who are swanning around, dressed in a cloak of bigotry they refer to as religious freedom.

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
The Times

Sean O’Neill Crime Editor
July 15 2014

The retired Church of England bishop whom Baroness Bulter-Sloss didi not want to mention in a report on child abuse allegations has been summonsed to court on two new alleged offences, police said yesterday.

The second set of charges against the Right Rev Peter Ball, 82, were revealed as Lady Butler-Sloss stood down from the Westminster child abuse inquiry after concerns that included the way that she handled allegations about the cleric’s conduct.

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UNITED STATES
Mary DeMuth

Away on vacation, I came home to a pile of mail, one of which had no return address, and my own name and address typed on a piece of paper that had been cut and pasted to the envelope. I opened it. My heart sunk.

The letter had to do with this sexual offender and one church’s handling of the situation. It was a letter “proving” that the church did everything right (although from my limited perspective…I don’t know a lot about this case…it seems like the fact that the abuser wasn’t reported is a problem.)

I glanced at the contents and threw the letter away. I simply did not want it in my house. I could not stomach justifications for inaction. And to be honest, the whole thing just creeped me out.

In my work with sexual abuse victims, I am used to undergoing attack in subtle and not so subtle ways, but this one made me nervous. Whoever sent this knew my home address. What is strange is that I haven’t written about this case, or publicly commented on it here. I have been angry at institutions that have chosen to prefer the perpetrator over the predator and have written about that here. I also applaud Boz Tchividjian’s brave work in this area.

So yesterday, I received another letter. I kept it as evidence. (Anyone know if I have any recourse?)

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 Salt Lake Tribune

By JOSEPHINE MCKENNA | Religion News Service
First Published Jul 14 2014

Vatican City • Pope Francis has provoked a debate within the Catholic Church after being quoted as saying that one in 50 Catholic clerics is a pedophile.

In the latest example of his get-tough stance against sex abuse — and his signature style of frank answers to tough questions — the pope told the Italian daily La Repubblica that the sexual abuse of children was like “leprosy” in the church, and he pledged to “confront it with the severity it requires.”

But the exclusive interview with 90-year-old veteran journalist Eugenio Scalfari published Sunday drew an immediate reaction from the Vatican that disputed the accuracy of the pontiff’s quotes.

“Even we have this leprosy at home. Many of my advisers who are fighting it with me are giving me reliable data that estimates pedophilia inside the church at a level of 2 percent,” the pope was quoted as saying. “This figure should reassure me, but I have to tell you that it does not reassure me at all. Instead I consider it very serious. Among the 2 percent who are pedophiles are priests, and even bishops and cardinals.”

The number would represent 8,000 priests, based on the latest Vatican figures that count a total of 414,000 priests globally.

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
Sydney Morning Herald

July 15, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Sexual assault cases should be heard in specialist courts, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions told the royal commission into child sexual abuse on Tuesday.

Lloyd Babb, SC, said sexual assault cases comprise almost a quarter of the office’s work but deserve sensitive handling due to their nature.

He told the royal commission it was his opinion that such cases be dealt with by specialist prosecutors in dedicated courts.

“It is a way of facilitating, ensuring that questions are age-appropriate”: Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb.

“These things in my view should be considered very closely – specialist sexual assault courts and, in particular, child sexual assault courts,’’ the Director of Public Prosecutions told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Frontpage Mag

July 15, 2014 by Stephen Brown

As Christian religious belief declines in Europe, the continent’s pagan heart comes more and more to the fore, and England, is only the latest European country to witness this growing phenomenon.

A major pedophilia scandal is currently rocking British society, in which as many as 20 prominent politicians, judges and other members of the British establishment are suspected of having abused children in the 1980s and 1990s as part of a pedophile ring. The victims were among society’s most vulnerable, being mostly boys from state children’s homes. And such abuse, it is suspected, may have been going on for decades.

“We are looking at the Lords, the Commons, the judiciary- all institutions where there will be a small percentage of pedophiles, and a slightly larger percentage of people who have known about it,” former child protection manager Peter McKelvie told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), calling the predators “an extremely powerful elite” who have been abusing children “for as long as I have been alive.”

This latest episode involving sexual exploitation of children comes on the heels of other, jarring, pedophilia scandals to stun Britain this year. One involved the BBC itself.

BBC star entertainer Jimmy Savile, now deceased, was one of several BBC employees suspected of having molested literally hundreds of children and teenagers, some on BBC premises. Perhaps most shockingly, 28 British hospitals reported Savile may have molested patients on their wards, to which he was allowed access, sometimes even possessing hospital keys.

Another scandal saw artist and “iconic” children’s entertainer Rolf Harris, who once painted Queen Elizabeth’s portrait, found guilty this month of 12 counts of indecent assault on children and teenagers. Harris was described as a “part of millions of British childhoods” and was viewed as “a national treasure.”

One can correctly say pedophilia was not invented in Western countries in our times. But what differentiates the current climate concerning this once very taboo practice from earlier decades is the equally reprehensible movement underway in the West involving some academics, among others, to minimize its devastating effects on children, garner sympathy for the perpetrators and make the practice acceptable to the public. All of which is allowing pedophilia to creep into the cultural debate.

Journalist Andrew Gilligan recently pointed out in England’s Daily Telegraph an example of this gradual, ongoing promotion of pedophilia in mainstream society. Gilligan writes that only last year in July at a conference at the University of Cambridge, one of Britain’s most famous institutions of higher learning, pro-pedophilia positions were put forward. The conference was about classifying sexuality in “a standard international psychiatric manual used by the police and courts” that is produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Raw Story

By David Edwards
Monday, July 14, 2014

A Pennsylvania pastor has been accused of sexually abusing a minor for the second time.

According to KDKA, Higher Call World Outreach Church Pastor Duane Youngblood was charged on Saturday with corrupting a minor.

The 21-year-old victim told police that Youngblood began molesting him at the age of 16 during counseling sessions at the church in Homestead.

A criminal complaint said that Youngblood took the boy in a back room of the church, instructed him to pull down his pants, and touched him inappropriately during their first session. The victim estimated that Youngblood abused him in 25 out of 30 to 40 counseling session until the “sexual activity” ended in 2011.

Youngblood allegedly told the boy, “We are not going to speak about this.”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 07/14/2014

The 14-year-old girl had not intended for anyone to know her secret. But when an older teenage cousin was looking for some notebook paper, the cousin came across a folded-up letter that the young girl had written.

A male relative “would ask for sex and stuff,” she wrote. She felt worthless.

“At times, I wish I was dead or never born.”

The girl’s allegations involved Jacoby Kindred Sr., 61, a Maplewood pastor who faces two charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted the girl and her older sister for years, forcing anal sex on one and oral sex on both of them. Testimony in his trial began Monday in Ramsey County District Court.

Kindred told police he was a pastor with One Accord Ministries, which he said does not have a building, according to the criminal complaint against him. He referred to himself on his now-defunct Facebook page as “Jacoby Preacherman.”

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NEW MEXICO
KOAT

GALLUP, NM —A hotline set up for people abused by clergy members in the Gallup Diocese stopped working for almost two weeks.

The line is used by victims of clergy sexual abuse to provide their information for an ongoing civil suit against the diocese. They have until Aug. 1 to do so.

But for two weeks, people calling the number just got a dial tone and then were disconnected.

Barbara Dorris with the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP said that experience could turn potential victims away.

“For nothing to happen, for the lines to be essentially broken is very painful,” said Dorris.

No one noticed the problem until a reporter called the line and got that dial tone. Attorney Jim Stang represents the creditors in the bankruptcy case against the diocese and oversees the line. He said the problem occurred when a new phone system was installed.

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.

LOUISIANA
National Review

By The Editors

When in 2008 Father Jeff Bayhi, a priest then at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Clinton, La., heard the troubling confession of a twelve-year-old parishioner, he likely did not imagine that his sacramental duty would land him in prison. But given a recent ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court, Father Bayhi is in the position of choosing between prison and excommunication.

Per the Supreme Court’s ruling, Bayhi must appear before the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, which will determine whether what he heard – a civil action by the girl’s parents contends that it involved allegations of sexual abuse by a 64-year-old parishioner — constituted a “confession” or instead some other non-confidential statement that invoked Bayhi’s duty to report abuse under Louisiana’s Children’s Code. Under the law, members of the clergy are “mandatory reporters” except when they have a duty to keep private “confidential communications” shared “in the course of the discipline or practice of that church” by “the discipline or tenets of the church” (CHC 603.17.c).

If what Bayhi heard was in fact a confession, that provision would seem to exempt him, except that under Louisiana law, priest–penitent privilege attaches to the client, not the priest. If the client chooses to make the contents of a confession public, the priest can be called to confirm or deny the testimony. However, Church teaching makes no provisions for the statutes of Louisiana: “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason” (Code of Canon Law 983.1). Priests who make known directly or indirectly to a third party the contents of a confession are automatically excommunicated, subject to reversal by the pope alone. The inviolability of sacramental confession has been formally communicated since the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215, though its origins predate that.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) –- A police report released Monday to 24 Hour News 8 suggests former Christian radio host John Balyo admitted to another crime after his arrest.

Balyo, 35, is currently facing one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for his alleged involvement with an 11-year-old boy.

In the police report, which includes a narrative of the interview police conducted with Balyo shortly after his arrest at a Christian music festival in Gaylord. Mich., Balyo told investigators he also took pictures of the boy in suggestive poses.

Battle Creek police also interviewed the victim, and according to the report, the victim told them that Ron Moser — who allegedly brought the boy to Balyo — had taken pictures of him before they met up with Balyo on May 17 at a Marriot hotel on Beckley Road in Battle Creek.

On that night, the victim said he believed Balyo was a professional photographer.

The victim also said Moser had purchased women’s underwear for him to wear, and he put it on for Balyo and Moser while the two photographed him. The victim told police the pair then forced him to perform oral sex on them.

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MONTANA
NBC Montana

By Jacqueline Gedeon, KTVM Butte Reporter, jgedeon@ktvm.com

BUTTE, Mont. –
We’re digging into a story that has some claiming an information line set up to help Catholic sex abuse victims is actually victimizing them all over again.

Here’s some background.

The Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy protection in January.

The move comes after a proposed $15 million settlement from claims clergy members abused more than 300 children over five decades.

Victims have until August 11th to join the suit.

When we started digging deeper, we uncovered a possible problem that’s making it tough on victims.

Look at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena’s website and it’s not difficult for victims to find more information on filing sexual abuse claims.

A box in the corner takes you to claim forms, deadline information, and gives you two phone numbers to call with questions.

And that’s where some tell us the problems start.

“It’s so very, very difficult for most victims to talk about what happened to them,” said a survivor Jeb Barrett. He said a Helena Diocese priest abused him.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Laura Pitel Political Correspondent

The reputation of her late brother had been called into question and her actor nephew was left to come to her defence on national radio.

However, the last straw for Baroness Butler-Sloss, the short-lived chairwoman of the sex abuse inquiry, came when her husband was dragged into the affair.

A diary story in the Daily Mail yesterday reported that the retired high court judge Joseph Butler-Sloss, now 87, was caught paying for sex with prostitutes in Kenya in 1988.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

BARONESS Butler-Sloss was the wrong choice to chair the inquiry into allegations that child sex abuse was aided and abetted by state bodies.

Her late brother Sir Michael Havers served as Attorney General in the 1980s when some of the alleged crimes took place and the inquiry is expected to look at how he handled claims of abuse.

This is a strong conflict of interest and despite the many undoubted qualities she possesses Lady Butler-Sloss’s ability to remain impartial has to be questioned.

A major aim of the inquiry is to find whether senior establishment figures were involved in a large-scale cover-up of paedophilia.

Having it led by somebody with close family ties to one of those establishment figures would have undermined the inquiry’s findings.

Those who did suffer or who have claimed that they suffered at the hands of paedophiles need to have the chance to deliver their evidence to an inquiry that is completely and utterly impartial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Child abuse inquiry: Theresa May under fire over appointment of Lady Butler-Sloss

BY NIGEL MORRIS AND ANDREW GRICE – 14 JULY 2014

Theresa May came under repeated fire over her failure to look in enough detail at the family background of Baroness Butler-Sloss, who today stepped down as chairman of a wide-ranging inquiry into child abuse claims.

The former High Court judge’s dramatic resignation, just six days after accepting the post, has severely embarrassed the Home Secretary.

In fiery exchanges with MPs, Mrs May insisted she stood by the appointment of a woman of “absolute integrity” to head the government-commissioned panel of inquiry.

However, the Home Secretary indicated she had been taken by surprise by allegations that the peer’s brother, the late Sir Michael Havers, attempted to thwart an attempt to expose paedophile activity.

Lady Butler-Sloss’s panel would have had to investigate whether Sir Michael, who was Attorney-General from 1979 to 1987, failed to act on allegations of child abuse involving senior establishment figures.

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WISCONSIN
WISN

MILWAUKEE —A priest accused of embezzling six figures from his Milwaukee congregation is a no-show in court again.

His attorney said Father James Dokos was admitted to the hospital Monday morning.

She waited outside court to show her support. The former secretary at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church compared her former boss to Jesus Christ.

“There’s only one man that’s perfect and what did they do to him? He’s gone. He’s dead. They killed him, and that’s what they’re trying to do to Father Jim — crucify him,” church member Stephanie Rauch said.

Rauch said Dokos was a good priest distracted up by worldly possessions.

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ILLINOIS/WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

By Alexandra Chachkevitch
Tribune reporter
2:26 p.m. CDT, July 14, 2014

A Glenview priest who has been charged with theft failed to show up in court today for a second time.

The lawyer for the Rev. James Dokos said his client was absent because he had been admitted to a hospital for an emergency. Attorney Patrick Knight told the court commissioner overseeing the hearing in Milwaukee this afternoon that he couldn’t disclose the nature of Dokos’ medical emergency, but that he had called the undisclosed hospital to confirm Dokos has been admitted.

The court commissioner, Barry Phillips, ordered Dokos to appear in court on Thursday and said he would activate a warrant for Dokos’ arrest if fails to appear, unless the priest is still in the hospital. The prosecutor, Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney David Feiss, did not object.

Dokos, who is pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview, had been scheduled to make his first appearance in court on the theft charge last Thursday. His attorney then told the court that Dokos didn’t make it because of car trouble.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

BY LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/THE GAZETTE JULY 14, 2014

One priest out of 50 being a pedophile isn’t a “huge number,” but one priest being a pedophile is already one too many, said former Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte in response to comments made by Pope Francis.

The pope said recent estimates have shown that as many as two per cent of clerics within the Roman Catholic clergy are pedophiles.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he said that instead of being reassuring, the statistic had the opposite effect.

On top of that, Pope Francis said there are other people within the church, an even larger number of people, who are aware of the unforgettable actions taking place but who aren’t speaking out about it.

Turcotte, who retired a little more than two years ago, would not comment on the commonness of the phenomenon, which he says to have “always hated enormously.”

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 14, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

For almost two weeks, a toll free phone line giving information to victims of clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Helena has malfunctioned.

This is problematic for several reasons, including the fact that there’s a rigid deadline by which victims must come forward to get help, because Helena Catholic officials are exploiting U.S. bankruptcy laws to keep clergy sex crimes and cover ups covered up.

Never mind what lawyers do or don’t do. The person responsible for the crimes of child molesting clerics is the bishop. The person whose duty it is to reach out to those hurt by predator priests is the bishop.

Bishop George Leo Thomas of Helena must step up efforts to find and help victims now. He should personally visit every parish where pedophile priests worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to speak up. He should post the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accuse child molesting cleric in every parish bulletin. He should apologize profusely for his error and more aggressively than ever seek out those who are in pain because Catholic priests assaulted kids and Catholic officials hid those crimes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

EVIDENCE has emerged that the views of the Paedophile Information Exchange influenced policy-making at the National Council for Civil Liberties when it was run by former Labour Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

By: James Murray & James Fielding
Published: Sun, March 2, 2014

PIE members were lobbying NCCL officials for the age of consent to be reduced and campaigning for “paedophile love”.

Their view that children were not harmed by having sex with adults appears to have been adopted by those at the top of the civil liberties group.

Today we publish extracts from an NCCL report written for the Criminal Law Revision Committee in 1976 when Mrs Hewitt was general secretary.

It says: “Where both partners are aged 10 or over, but under 14, a consenting sexual act should not be an offence. As the age of consent is arbitrary, we propose an overlap of two years on either side of 14.

“Childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage.

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UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
July 14, 2014

SNAP has continued to follow and get information out about the United Nations Committee Against Torture Report. Recently, the report disclosed information about Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who was the papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic and is accused of molesting children in Poland and the Dominican Republic.

The Washington Post also reported:

Tackling the controversial case of Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, the panel demanded “a prompt and impartial investigation” of abuse allegations in his native Poland and in the Dominican Republic, where he served as papal nuncio until his dismissal in August 2013. The committee said the Vatican should reconsider an extradition request from Poland if warranted.

The question is whether Wesolowski should be returned to Poland to face criminal charges there. Up until recently, he has claimed diplomatic immunity and that the Vatican doesn’t extradite its citizens. The Holy See recalled Wesolowski last August and relieved him of his job after the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez, told Pope Francis in July about rumors that Wesolowski had sexually abused teenage boys in the Dominican Republic. Dominican authorities subsequently opened an investigation, but haven’t charged him. Poland also opened an investigation into Wesolowski and a friend and fellow Polish priest.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

Archbishop Robert Carlson is getting more news coverage across the U.S., but not the kind he wants. Under the heading, “Least Competent Bishop”, Chuck Shepherd, in his nationally syndicated “News of the Weird” column, recounts Carlson’s now-famous deposition testimony in which he said he was “not sure” in 1984 whether he “knew it was a crime or not” for an adult to have sex with a child.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Editorial
The Guardian, Monday 14 July 2014

The decision by Lady Butler-Sloss to stand down from the inquiry into historical child sex abuse was too slow coming. It is welcome, but by derailing the inquiry before it started the government has lurched from seeming at sea in the face of a possible establishment cover-up to appearing both at sea and incompetent. And when the process does finally get going at some yet-to-be-determined point in the future, persuading the survivors of abuse to place their faith in it will be the harder. For a home secretary more sure-footed than most in her perilous office, this has been an uncharacteristic lapse. To get this important inquiry back on track, she must act with less haste this time round.

The Home Office response to the swirl of allegations of abuse going back as much as 50 years has been damagingly uncertain, betraying an ingrained reluctance to take seriously such notoriously difficult questions even under pressure from politicians of all parties. Having repeatedly said an investigation was unnecessary, right up until the moment when it became necessary after all, there was then a rush to appoint someone distinguished to chair it. In the complex context of offences under laws that no longer exist, or did not exist then but do now, and the analysis of failures to protect children that had to be considered, Lady Butler-Sloss was an obvious choice. She has a universal reputation for integrity, long legal experience and a distinguished record conducting child abuse inquires. Equally, because of her personal circumstances – not what she knew, but who she knew – she should just as obviously have been rejected. That neither she nor Theresa May seem to have been aware of the impossibility of her appointment is evidence of a worrying insensitivity.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Bishop Peter Ball has been summonsed to court over two alleged sexual offences which took place in Litlington and Berwick.

Bishop Ball, 82, a former Bishop of Lewes and currently of Aller, near Langport in Somerset, had already been summonsed in March this year for alleged:

– Misconduct in public office between October 1977 and December 1992 while a Bishop in the Church of England, by misusing his position and authority to manipulate and prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification;

– Indecent assault on a boy then aged between 12 and 13, in 1978;

– Indecent assault on man aged 19 to 20 between 1980 and 1982.

All those offences are alleged to have taken place at Litlington.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Msgr. M. Francis Mannion *

More than one commentator has suggested recently that Pope Francis is all symbolism and little substance. I disagree. (For one thing, I think symbolism is substance.)

Here are six areas in which Pope Francis has made real differences which are unlikely to be overturned by a future Pope.

1. The end of the imperial papacy. “Conservative” theologians never tire of saying that the Church is not a democracy. That’s true. But neither is it a monarchy, not mind an empire. It is, as Cardinal Avery Dulles said, “a community of disciples.”

Pope Francis is no imperial figure. He does not live in the Apostolic Palace, but in a guesthouse. He has avoided much of the traditional papal regalia. He dislikes the idea of a papal court, with its myriad of ceremonial attendants. He travels in a modest car, even on occasion on a bus (with cardinals).

2. More effective communication. Traditionally, popes have spoken with extreme caution and avoided spontaneous comments. Now, Francis gives daily homilies off the cuff. He speaks freely to crowds–and never over their heads. His engaging and open style of communication has mesmerized the media, and it is often said of Pope Francis that “The world is listening.”

3. Initial reform of the Curia (Vatican offices and departments). It has long been a complaint that the curia is too powerful and, yes, imperious. It has tended to boss bishops around.

Recently, bishops have spoken about a new mood in (many) curial offices, one that is more respectful of local bishops and national bishops’ conferences. The bishops of Japan have, for instance, stated that Rome is now much more respectful of the authority of their bishops’ conference on liturgical matters, and is more willing to let them judge what is best for their country. Bishops’ conferences do not want a repeat of the Vatican procedures for approving liturgical translations, as occurred in the English-speaking world.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 14, 2014

If Pope Francis were truly sorry for the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church, he’s take a gander at a little Catholic diocese is California, where a cleric found guilty of abuse in a civil trial is still a powerful priest.

Here’s the situation: Fresno priest Eric Swearingen was recently appointed the pastor of a Visalia, California, parish and will oversee four parishes and a school.

The problem? Well in 2006, a civil jury found 9-3 that Swearingen had sexually abused Army Sgt. Juan Rocha when Rocha was a child. How is Fresno Bishop Armando Ochoa able to justify this?

Well, his predecessor Bishop John Steinbock said the jury “got it wrong.” But Ochoa takes a different tack. Swearingen’s trial ended in a mistrial because the jury did not think that the Fresno diocese was liable for the abuse. So Ochoa believes that Swearingen has a “get out of jail free card” and that his civil guilty verdict doesn’t count.

But remember: a CIVIL JURY found the Swearingen HAD abused Rocha. And in a 2008 settlement, the Diocese of Fresno settled with Rocha for a large, undisclosed sum.

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LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, July 14, 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)

Two new stories by Minnesota Public Radio – a ten minute piece and startling one hour documentary – shed disturbing light on the case of a Lafayette, Louisiana predator priest. Both are available now online.

Ten minute piece

Documentary

It includes painful interviews with Louisiana clergy sex abuse victims and their family members who contradict the carefully-crafted but patently false image of former Lafayette Bishop Harry Flynn as a “reformer” on abuse.

This is a very close look at how Flynn dealt with the horrific Fr. Gilbert Gauthe case. We are grateful that MPR unveiled Flynn’s deceit in Louisiana. For decades, church officials have claimed that prelates like Flynn and Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley “cleaned up” abuse in dioceses far earlier than their colleagues. In our view, that’s a convenient and self-serving myth.

These Catholic officials were simply forced to deal with clergy sex crimes and cover ups sooner than their peers. And they learned, as MPR reports, that continued secrecy was key. Yet they used smart public relations and soothing words and symbolic gestures to foster a false impression of change.

MPR reports that the lesson Flynn learned in Lafayette and encouraged other bishops to follow was “express concern for victims, hire aggressive attorneys and disclose nothing. He did not ask the Vatican to kick out a single abusive priest.”

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