ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

If atheists are right, and there is no God, then let’s burn down all the churches, for they’re all monuments to lies. If Catholics are right, and there is a God and He is who He says He is, then when He says, “Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32) we’d better realize He means it. That much, at least, Catholics should have in common with atheists: a devotion to the Truth.

But if we are too scared to be loyal to what is True, then we will also fail in being faithful to what is Beautiful and what is Good. The prince of Lies and the God of Truth don’t really mix that well.

I write a lot about Unreality on this blog, by which I mean a religious attitude that is divorced from the reality of life. Unreality is a form of idolatry, of using the things of God for your own small-minded purposes, of leaning on the Church to support your tottering house of cards, of being contrived and artificial, of adopting airs and affectations, of making the worship of God not about understanding and serving the Truth (troubling though the Truth may be), but about shoring up your own deliberately narrowed and circumscribed agenda. It is the main temptation facing devout Christians of all stripes.

And here’s how Unreality works in practice.

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.

ILLINOIS
OakPark.com

Monday, August 11th, 2014

By Ken Trainor
Staff writer

Ascension Catholic Church parishioners found the following message from Rev. Larry McNally in the church bulletin on Sunday:

“In the spirit of transparency and the parish family’s right to know … I received a phone call from the Archdiocesan Office of Youth and Protection. At a SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) press conference, an adult female spoke and said she was sexually abused by Monsignor John Fitzgerald in 1964. Msgr. Fitzgerald (now deceased was pastor at Ascension from 1951 until 1973). The Archdiocese has paid for her therapy.”

The accuser is Gail Peloquin Howard, who now lives in Norwalk, Connecticut. According to the SNAP website (SNAPnetwork.org), “In 2005, [Ms. Howard] reported to Chicago archdiocesan officials that in 1964, as a teenager, she sought guidance from her pastor at Ascension parish in Oak Park, Msgr. John D. Fitzgerald, who sexually attacked her during that meeting and later he offered to pay her for one year of therapy. … The archdiocese has paid for Howard’s therapy.

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.

OKLAHOMA
Opposing Views

The Highway of Holiness Church in Oklahoma City, Okla., recently invited a convicted sex offender, Dale Hoffert, to attend their Children’s Crusade event.

“I was upset. I was sick to my stomach,” mom Tanya Cotton told News 9 (video below).

“You should send your kids to church and feel safe about it,” added Cotton. “His past is not good with children. Do not be tempting him with our kids.”

Cotton saw Hoffert on a cell phone video that was shot by her 10-year-old son in the children’s church event.

Hoffert used to be the youth pastor at the church, but was convicted of forcible oral sodomy in 2007.

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
District Chronicles

By Josephine McKenna/Religion News Service
On August 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY – The defrocking of a former Vatican ambassador is a “sign of the seriousness” with which Pope Francis and the Vatican are approaching the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the Holy See’s representative to United Nations agencies in Geneva.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi was tasked with defending the Catholic Church’s record when he presented reports to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child and the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva earlier this year.

During questioning, Tomasi was asked whether the Vatican would agree to extradite Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Polish archbishop and papal envoy, to his native Poland after he was recalled from the Dominican Republic last September on claims of sexual abuse.

Wesolowski was defrocked this month, and Tomasi said the former nuncio was being investigated by Vatican prosecutors. Speaking in Rome last week, Tomasi said he hoped other states and institutions would now follow the approach taken by the Holy See in dealing with cases of pedophilia.

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

UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

[with video]

Here’s why you should listen to those protesters in front of churches

By Adam Grannick for the Moral Courage Project

The two men sit across from each other on a sofa, like old friends. “When I was twelve years old,” Kevin confesses, “I wanted nothing more in life than to be a priest.” Bob nods solemnly. “In all the time that I’ve known you,” Kevin continues, “I never called you Father Bob. Many people do, but I didn’t. It would have been detrimental for me.”

Kevin is one of many abused by priests as children, and the trauma continues to affect him to this day. Battling various anxieties, Kevin spent time in shelters as well as living out of his car. His unlikely friendship with Bob Hoatson, a former priest and abuse survivor himself, stems from Hoatson’s work as an advocate for those abused by priests.

Many within the Catholic Church feel that it is unfair that so much attention be focused on the Church, when—as we’ve seen—many communities are rife with incidents of abuse. “The Catholic Church’s issue is magnified,” Hoatson explains, “because they covered it up and secreted it for so long.” There are some glimmers of progress, and Pope Francis recently formed a team to combat child sexual abuse within the Church. However, Hoatson is among those who believe that the problems that lead to abuse run deeper.

“The image of the Church, and the maintaining of the secrets of the Church, are what is most important to the bishops. I felt that it was very important for me to expose all of this, so that victims would feel more comfortable coming out, so that they can get on the road to recovery and heal from the many injuries that they’ve received as a result of the abuse.”

A big criticism that Hoatson and others like him often face is that it’s not right for clergy to blow the whistle so loudly and so publicly. The abuse occurred within the Church, so it should be appropriate to address the crisis within the Church, right? Wrong, says Hoatson. “It became very clear that anyone who was going to whistleblow inside the structure [of the Church] was persona non grata. So we had to use the media, we had to go public. Because children were still being hurt.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has written to the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz MP, calling for the allegations of abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home in east Belfast to be included in a new investigation into child abuse across the UK.

Mr Durkan, who was the seconder of the original motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly which led to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry – and also questioned the Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons in 2012 over allegations of abuse at Kincora – said: “The remit of the “national panel” outlined by the Home Secretary should cover cases of abuse in Northern Ireland.

“The over-arching inquiry should cover the abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home. It should seek to uncover the apparent cover-up in relation to the complicity of security services, any governmental awareness and related action or inaction.

“If any other cases of abuse in Northern Ireland, including instances and patterns before the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry were known to, or suspected by, relevant authorities, and especially if such intelligence was shared with ministers and / or their officials, then that dimension should also be examined by the over-arching inquiry.

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VIRGINIA
WHSV

By: Channing Frampton

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY UPDATE: 08/10/2014

The church’s pastor says Layman is no longer with the church. He also says the incident involves a member of Layman’s family.

A children’s pastor with a Rockingham County church has been arrested and accused of a sex crime involving a child.

A member of the congregation from the Spring Creek Church of the Nazarene tells WHSV that an announcement was made Sunday regarding the arrest of the church’s children’s pastor.

The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Leonard “Sonny” Layman was arrested over the weekend for a sexual crime involving a child. We’re also told he is in jail without bond and waiting for a first court appearance Monday morning.

According to the church’s website, Layman was called into children’s ministry in 1990.

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VIRGINIA
WHSV

By: Samantha Galvez

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) — A former children’s pastor accused of a sexual crime with a child made his first court appearance Monday morning.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Leonard “Sonny” Layman this weekend and charged him with seven felonies, including five counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

As of last Wednesday, Layman is no longer with the church.

According to members of the Spring Creek Church of the Nazarene in Bridgewater, where Layman was a pastor, an announcement was made at services Sunday morning abut his arrest.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

David Clohessy | Aug. 11, 2014 Examining the Crisis

Last week, we in the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests celebrated our 25th anniversary. This week, we take note of another, less positive milestone.

It’s now been 10 years since we first began prodding the largest group of U.S. nuns to take action on abuse by women religious. It’s been a frustrating and fruitless decade.

Almost every August since 2004, we have shown up at and held news conferences outside the annual gathering of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, America’s largest organization of nuns. We’ve begged LCWR to expose the truth about child sex crimes and cover-ups by women religious. We’ve politely but firmly urged it to take simple steps to protect the vulnerable from abusive nuns and heal those wounded by abusive nuns.

And we’ve been politely but repeatedly rebuffed. (Our website lists each of our interactions with the LCWR over the past decade.)

How many boys and girls over the decades have been sexually violated by nuns? No one knows. We in SNAP have roughly 250 men and women who report having been molested by women religious, most as children, a few as adults. Who knows how many more are out there, likely suffering in silence, shame and self-blame?

Specifically, we’ve asked the leaders of the LCWR to:

* Put a link to our website on the LCWR website so victims of abusive nuns are given options if they want to heal or take action;
* Ask member orders to do the same;
* Invite SNAP members who are victims of sexual abuse by women religious to speak to LCWR member communities during LCWR national and regional conferences;
* Give us a list of member orders with addresses and names of contact people if a survivor of nun sexual abuse would wish to find healing and comfort from an order;
* Set up a national review board for sexual abuse by women religious to ensure this abuse comes to an end and so that those who were sexually abused by women religious can begin their journeys of healing.

Sadly, however, there has been no progress on any of our requests, and LCWR officials have not made any counterproposals that would show a good-faith effort to help prevent abuse in the future or help those hurting from abuse in the past.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

RAMAPO A Monsey rabbi and school principal was arrested Monday by Ramapo police after an investigation led by the Rockland District Attorney’s Office special unit that deals with crimes against children.

The exact charges against Gavriel Bodenheimer were unclear. His lawyer, David Ascher, said the charges were contained in a sealed indictment that he had not been able to see.

Bodenheimer, 71, was being processed Monday afternoon at the Rockland County jail, Ascher said. He said he has been told the arraignment and unsealing of the indictment will take place Tuesday morning.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Claire Taylor August 11, 2014

District Attorney Mike Harson said he will not take action on newly uncovered allegations of child sex abuse by priests unless asked to do so by a victim.

“To engage in an investigation without their commitment would appear to be a fruitless endeavor since I would certainly have to have their involvement in order to have any chance of success and it could unnecessarily revisit their trauma and open wounds that they thought were long dealt with, all without their request or desire,” Harson wrote in an email Monday in response to The Daily Advertiser’s questions.

The Daily Advertiser asked Harson last week if he will ask, demand or subpoena a list of 15 priests whose victims received settlements from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette or its insurers, as stated by Bishop Michael Jarrell.

The Advertiser also asked Harson if he will investigate allegations against the Rev. Gil Dutel, pastor at St. Edmond Catholic Church in Lafayette.

Dutel says he is innocent and Jarrell said the Diocese has no evidence of abuse or misconduct by Dutel, although it also has no report on the investigation.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Republican

By Anne-Gerard Flynn | aflynn@repub.com
on August 11, 2014

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, will be installed as the ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, on Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. at St. Michael’s Cathedral, with a public reception at 5 p.m., at the Better Living Center on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield.

During an Aug. 5 meeting at the diocesan offices, Rozanski welcomed questions on a variety of topics, with the resultant interview, Springfield’s Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, loyal to Orioles, Church doctrine and being a listener, offering insight into the next generation of bishops, as well as into the Church under Pope Francis.

The Catholic Church has faced disgrace globally during the last decade, as victims of pedophile priests have broken years of silence, and unsealed court documents revealed patterns of cover up within dioceses, as suspected clergy were reassigned by bishops, rather than reported. The Church in the U.S., alone, has paid out billions in settlement awards to victims.

A United Nations committee recently accused the Vatican of violating an anti-torture treaty it signed, in 2002, by failing to report accusations of abuse to legal authorities.

Francis, who became became pope in March, has promised to hold bishops accountable for any failures of reporting, and he has appointed a commission to advise him on Church efforts on protection of minors, and outreach to victims. The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, in 2005, created a charter mandating what dioceses must do when sex abuse allegations are made.

Against this background, Rozanski was asked to what extent the Church’s failure to report clergy sex abuse contributed to a lessening of its influence on secular society.

Rozanski said that the Church cannot evangelize, “unless we ourselves are evangelized and rooted fully in the Gospel.” He spoke about the effectiveness of the 2005 charter, and the need for dioceses to stay vigilant. In terms of secular culture, he said, today’s “crime, drugs, general lack of respect for one another, is really based on in the disintegration of family life.”

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TEXAS
Watch Keep

They called it “Freedom Fest.”

Among the crowd, Greg Kelley’s high school sweetheart, Gaebri Anderson — speaking on television about Greg for the first time.

She says there’s no way her boyfriend is guilty of this crime.

“From my perspective, I have known him for so long, I know his heart. I know he’s not capable of such terrible things,” she said.
…

But there is a big outcry, especially on social media from those who feel justice was done in the Greg Kelley case.

Amy Smith is with a group called SNAP that supports victims of abuse.

“Some of those that I have connected with on Twitter and through Facebook and then some have reached out to me privately through social media saying ‘we live here, we live in Leander, we live in Austin. And we’re very disturbed by such a public outpouring.’ And some of them are sexual abuse victims themselves and that really touched a nerve with them,” Smith said.

Smith says there are better, more private ways to show support for Kelley. She says many are upset Sunday’s Freedom Fest was held at a church.

“To a child, that says ‘They’re against me.’ And to even question ‘Is God against me because I spoke up?’ And so it’s the public way of showing support…and I don’t think you need to have a public festival with dancing and games and food and a party with a slip and slide to show support for an imprisoned friend or family member,” she said.

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TEXAS
KVIA

Darren Hunt

EL PASO, Texas –
Victor J. Reza, an El Paso diocesan school board member, has been granted $20,000 bond by a federal judge on Monday morning.

According to the affidavit in the case, Reza admitted to investigators to downloading child pornography.

In court Monday, it was revealed that Reza had done information technology (IT) work at St. Raphael Parish and St. Pius X Parish and also played in band at St. Raphael.

Reza was arrested on Aug. 5 on a federal child porn charge. According to jail records, Reza has been charged with in transit/receipt and distribution of child sexual exploitation material.

In the affidavit Reza told investigators that he works in the computer and information technology (IT) field.

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MISSOURI/MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, August 11, 2014

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

“Find a suitable cover story. . . so that this thing does not blow up.” That’s what then-Bishop Robert Carlson wrote to his boss about a credibly accused predator priest.

That priest was finally removed from active ministry just a few months ago.

Carlson now heads the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The memo, written in 1985, was made public this morning in Minnesota.

It is yet another example – in Carlson’s own words – of his willingness to deceive the public and his own parishioners about child molesting clerics.

Let’s see how Carlson spins this one. Let’s see what possible excuse he offers to “explain away” such Machiavellian, self-serving and irresponsible advice from one professed spiritual figure to another.

Our guess is that he’ll ignore this, even though these are his words, in writing, while he was a bishop. (We hope St. Louis Catholics, citizens, and journalists won’t let him ignore it.) Will Carlson claim that 20+ years ago, he didn’t know lying was wrong?

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Four Corners

[with video]

By Quentin McDermott and Peter Cronau

MONDAY 11th August 2014

They were sexually abused by the clergy and then found themselves targeted by the Church’s lawyers. Why did it happen and who was responsible for the strategy?

This week on Four Corners, reporter Quentin McDermott reveals the systematic way the Catholic Church sought to conceal the sexual abuse of children, using lawyers to minimise the potential financial impact to the organisation.

Talking to the abused, their families and employees of the Church, and by examining the detail of Royal Commission testimony, McDermott pieces together a strategy that even those inside the Church now concede was misplaced and utterly unethical.

“It’s a major, major crisis. It’s not only a crisis of scandal and crime; it’s also a crisis of faith and credibility.”

The program begins by looking at two cases where the Church clearly accepted that all the available evidence suggested abuse had happened, even offering a small settlement. When this was rejected, the lawyers acting on behalf of the Church argued the abuse had never happened.

“Firstly they disputed that the abuse had occurred and then they denied that our daughters had suffered from that abuse.”

The investigation examines the tactics employed by the Church in negotiating with victims in private, often with no legal representation, during compensation negotiations. …

‘IN THE NAME OF THE LAW’, reported by Quentin McDermott and presented by Kerry O’Brien, goes to air on Monday 11th August at 8.30pm on ABC. It is replayed on Tuesday 12th August at 11.00am and 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm, ABC iview or abc.net.au/4corners.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 12, 2014

Sarah Elks
Reporter
Brisbane

THE Catholic Church did not sack a parish priest even after an internal investigation commissioned by George Pell discovered he was guilty of child sex abuse.

ABC TV’s Four Corners last night revealed the results of a 1997 church investigation into Peter Searson that concluded he had for years sexually abused girls at the parish of Doveton, outside Melbourne.

However, Searson successfully appealed to Rome the ruling by the church’s internal Independent Commissioner into Sexual Abuse, Peter O’Callaghan QC, who had been appointed by Cardinal Pell, then archbishop of Melbourne. Searson argued Mr O’Callaghan didn’t have the jurisdiction to make such a finding.

Cardinal Pell is now in charge of Vatican finances.

Four Corners reported Cardinal Pell was approached by teachers at the Holy Family School in Doveton in 1989 and in the early 1990s, pleading with him to remove Searson after repeated complaints by children, parents and other teachers.

“I didn’t do nothing; I certainly did,” Cardinal Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse last year.

He denied there had been a cover-up.“No conviction was ­recorded for Searson on sexual misbehaviour,” he said. “There might be victims. He was convicted for ­cruelty. But speaking more generally, I totally reject the ­suggestion.”

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

Father Kenneth LaVan, removed from ministry in December 2013, is a serial predator whom the Archdiocese continually disregarded as being a threat to women and children.

Allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior were made in the 1980s and twice LaVan was sent for treatment. A lawsuit involving one of LaVan’s victims was settled in 1985 and by 1989 LaVan was diagnosed with a compulsive sexuality disorder. In 1995 the Clergy Review Board examined LaVan’s history and recommended he continue in ministry. Archbishop Flynn was informed in 2005 that LaVan was not part of the monitoring system and Flynn advised Father Kevin McDonough to leave the situation alone. Finally, after a review of Church files by Kinsale Management LaVan’s faculties were removed in December 2013.

Kenneth LaVan’s file was released as part of a civil lawsuit filed in 2013 in Ramsey County. Doe 1, a sexual abuse survivor of Father Thomas Adamson, successfully sought and obtained the release of a list of credibly accused priests and their secret files from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona. LaVan’s name was not part of the original list of credibly accused released by the Archdiocese in December 2013. LaVan’s name was later added after Kinsale completed its review.

A summary of the LaVan documents, a timeline, and a summary of LaVan’s priest file are available below.

Kenneth LaVan file, part 1
Kenneth LaVan file, part 2
Kenneth LaVan file, part 3
Kenneth LaVan Timeline
LaVan Hot Docs
LaVan summary

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 08/11/2014

The Rev. Kenneth LaVan began sexually abusing girls with his first parish assignment in the 1960s, and later threatened to burn down a woman’s house and have her husband killed — yet he was not removed from active ministry in the Twin Cities until last year, according to court and internal church records.

The Rev. Kevin McDonough told then-Archbishop Harry Flynn in 2005 that, while he knew of LaVan’s “boundary violations with adult females, I had forgotten that there were two allegations in the late 1980s concerning sexual involvement with teenaged girls.”

There were “significant doubts” about the girls’ stories, however, McDonough told Flynn. Nevertheless, he raised the possibility of “reopening an investigation into these old matters.

The details about LaVan’s record at parishes in West St. Paul, Crystal, Lake St. Croix Beach and Lino Lakes, among other locations, were revealed through a court-ordered release of his internal church file. Attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who sued the archdiocese on behalf of a man alleging sexual abuse by a different priest, released the contents of the file Monday to reporters.

“The secret personnel file of Kenneth LaVan shows a pernicious ‘blind spot’ among Catholic officials at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: the stunning and heartless minimization of the sexual abuse of girls and women,” Anderson said in a written statement.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

The priest who abused girls at confession – and how the Catholic church kept it secret: Furious families demand the truth about string of child sex abuse scandals

By EMILY CRANE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

A secret Catholic Church report found an Australian parish priest had been internally investigated and found guilty of child sex abuse, despite no criminal charges ever being laid against him.

A report into a confidential investigation into Father Peter Searson of the Doveton parish, south east of Melbourne, in 1997 found he was guilty of the offences, ABC’s Four Corners reports.

While Cardinal George Pell rejected a church cover-up of Father Searson’s crimes when he gave evidence at last year’s Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse, he did not make reference to the internal 1997 investigation or the finding that he had sexually abused children in his parish.

The revelation the church knew about Father Searson’s abuse was found in a report by the Independent Commissioner into Sexual Abuse, Peter O’Callaghan.

He was appointed in 1997 by Cardinal Pell, who was Archbishop of Melbourne at the time, to look at allegations from teachers and parents regarding Father Searson.

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WASHINGTON
Religion News Service

Sarah Pulliam Bailey | August 8, 2014 | 36 Comments

(RNS) Seattle megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll has been removed from a church-planting network of more than 500 churches he helped found after a pattern of “ungodly and disqualifying behavior.”

Driscoll, co-founder of the Acts 29 Network, has been an influential but edgy pastor within conservative evangelical circles for several years. His own Mars Hill Church attracts some 14,000 people at 15 locations across five states each Sunday.

At the same time, however, Driscoll has been controversial in evangelical circles for years. The New York Times Magazine called him “one of the most admired — and reviled — figures among evangelicals nationwide.” He has been provocative, occasionally profane and has faced allegations of plagiarism and inflating his book sales.

After Acts 29 board action, all of Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church locations have been removed from the website of the network.

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CANADA
Christian Week

By CRAIG MACARTNEY Senior Correspondent | August 1, 2014

ROCKWOOD, ON—An advocacy organization that helps the children of missionaries deal with their sometimes painful pasts has opened a Canadian chapter.

Missionary Kids Safety Net (MK Safety Net) works primarily with adults whose parents were missionaries. Some “missionary kids” (MKs) suffered abuse or trauma while their parents were in the field, and MK Safety Net is helping them connect with counsellors and other abuse survivors. The organization also helps survivors walk through the process of reporting abuse and initiating investigations.

“Even as children and teens, MKs often live in a great deal of emotional isolation from one another and that isolation continues into adulthood,” says Beverly Shellrude Thompson, a former MK and president emeritus of MK Safety Net Canada. “The work we do includes creating safe environments for people who want to talk about trauma they experienced to connect with others from their schools or people from different settings.”

MK Safety Net was founded following an investigation into abuse at Mamou Alliance Academy in Guinea. After a 1999 retreat held for survivors, including Shellrude Thompson, to review the investigation, numerous other MKs began contacting them with reports of past abuse in various organizations. The group decided to incorporate and continue their support work.

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OKLAHOMA
News 9

[with video]

By Deanne Stein, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY –
A mother is outraged after finding out a known registered sex offender attended an annual children’s event at a southwest Oklahoma City church.

Tanya Cotton says she is still shocked that the Highway of Holiness Church, located at 2800 S.W. 38th Street, allowed registered sex offender, 29-year-old Dale Hoffert Junior, to attend the Children’s Crusade event last week.

“I was upset. I was sick to my stomach,” said Cotton. “You should send your kids to church and feel safe about it.”

After the services, Cotton watched the videos on her 10-year-old son’s cell phone when she saw Hoffert in one of the videos, participating in the service. She recognized him immediately, because he used to be the youth pastor at the church.

“His past is not good with children,” she said. “Do not be tempting him with our kids.”

Hoffert was convicted on charges of forcible oral sodomy in 2007. The victim was not a member of the church. Court records show he served time in prison until he got out earlier this year on a suspended sentence.

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OKLAHOMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Aug. 11, 2014

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

Every person at the Highway of Holiness Church should be ashamed and outraged that church officials let a registered sex offender attend the Children’s Crusade event last week.

Convicted bank robbers can’t own handguns. Convicted drunk drivers can’t operate school buses. And convicted child predators should be nowhere near kids, even after “paying their debt to society.”

A reformed alcoholic doesn’t seek work in a brewery. And a truly repentant and reformed child molester doesn’t attend a children’s church service.

But Dale Hoffert Junior is just doing what predators do: spend time around kids. The more troubling wrongdoers here are the staff and members of Highway of Holiness Church, who are knowingly endangering kids by letting Hoffert near children.

You can believe God changes people without tempting fate and setting up risky situations in which children are put in harm’s way.

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UNITED STATES
Detroit Free Press

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Sister Sharon Holland, a Catholic nun who grew up in Pontiac as a judge’s daughter and became one of the highest-ranking women at the male-dominated Vatican, is used to navigating conflict and controversy.

And there’s more ahead.

On Friday, Holland, 75, becomes the president of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing most of America’s Catholic sisters that is under attack by Vatican overseers for being too liberal.

Observers say her 21 years of experience working as a Vatican-based canon lawyer — a legal expert trained in Catholic Church law — will assist her in the delicate, yet confrontational, discussions with Vatican representatives.

Holland is a member of the Monroe-based Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and before she earned a Catholic canon law degree from Gregorian University in Rome, she once taught elementary school at St. Mary’s in Wayne as Sister Marie Russell.

The LCWR, which is holding its annual meeting in Nashville beginning Tuesday, is comprised of female religious leaders from orders across the U.S. The Leadership Council’s 1400 members represent some 80% of an estimated 52,000 Catholic sisters in the country. Holland, who declined to be interviewed for this article, will become LCWR’s president Friday.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, August 11, 2014

For more information: Judy Jones (636) 433-2511, SNAPjudy@gmail.com, David Clohessy of St. Louis (314) 566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com

Abuse victims challenge bishop
“Stop defaming us,” group says
“Let’s have an open discussion,” they ask

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is challenging Youngstown’s Catholic bishop to a public discussion about his handling of child molesting clerics and is accusing him of “defaming” their organization.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing Bishop George Murry urging him to set up “an open debate or discussion about the on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up scandal.”

The request comes on the heels of last week’s disclosure that Deacon Ernest Formichelli has allegedly been ousted as a teacher and a deacon in the diocese. The Ohio State Board of Education has also permanently revoked Formichelli’s two teaching licenses.

“Bishop Murry’s spokesman, Fr. John Jerek, claims we’re misinformed, but conveniently, neither man will explain why,” says David Clohessy of St Louis, SNAP’s executive director. “They’re slinging mud when they should be shedding light. That’s not helpful. So we hope that Bishop Murry will overcome his fears and sit down with us in public and talk about this troubling situation.”

“Murry keep promising ‘transparency’ in clergy sex cases so why wouldn’t he have an open meeting about the biggest crisis the US Catholic church has ever faced?” said Judy Jones, SNAP’s Midwest associate director. “The bishop only comments on clergy sex cases through a spokesman, who issues a written statement only when forced to do so by disclosures from victims or reports from journalists. That’s no way to inspire confidence, bring healing, or clarify confusion.”

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

….after some parishes had already picked up their weekly copies of the U Matuna this past Friday, the Chancery suddenly gave the order to confiscate and destroy all 8000 or so copies? And then had to print a whole different edition?

The Pacific Daily News (which prints the paper) thanks you for the extra business by the way. Nice to know we have that kind of money to throw around. Gotta wonder how many homeless the cost of that extra run could have fed.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Online

[with video]

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – The Vatican bank two years ago invested in an Italian television company that makes family movies, including films about popes and a series about a bike-riding country priest who helps police solve crimes.

The Vatican’s at-the-time Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone ordered the investment in Lux Vide SpA. He said the company shared the Holy See’s “lofty goal of evangelization.”

Bertone, who was the second-in-command to former Pope Benedict, pushed the deal through despite objections from the bank’s director and board members.

The Vatican last month booked a loss for the entire amount spent, as part of a wider review of Vatican finances that has also led to the closure of hundreds of accounts at the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

[with video]

Newly discovered court records from the 1990s are giving us a look back at a dark era for the Diocese of Lafayette and the scope of just how many people were involved.

The church sex-abuse crisis has been back in the spotlight, after an in-depth report by Minnesota Public Radio last month. The report opened an old wound in Lafayette, which saw the first cases of priest sex-abuse in the country. When the scandal seemingly passed, federal documents relating to the scandal were unsealed in 1998. Those documents remained boxed-up in a courthouse in Ft. Worth, TX, until now.

KATC and our media partner, The Advocate, had 5 boxes of documents shipped in from Ft. Worth on Friday. The documents detail the Lafayette Diocese’s suit against their insurance company in the late 80’s. Among the documents are depositions from victims and members of the diocese, psychiatric reports on abusive priests and even personnel files.

One personnel file is a list of 41 priests, and includes basic information like dates of birth and ordination. The file goes one step further with a brief description of each priest. Some of the descriptions include terms like: “known pedophilia (sic),” “suspected of homosexuality,” and “effeminent (sic), counseling recommended.”

There were also minutes from a diocesan personnel board meeting from February 16, 1977, concerning the re-assignment of certain priests. While the reasons for the changes were not documented, two priests who would later be convicted of child molestion were discussed–Father Lane Fontenot and Father Gilbert Gauthe.

In discussing the placement of Fontenot, the diocese writes: “Because of a recent situation with Father Gilbert Gauthe in St. Mary Magdalen’s, we feel that assigning Father Fontenot to Abbeville would not be prudent. (this is strongly felt).”

Gauthe would go on to become the most notorious child molester in the diocese, and one deposition details how a father of one of his victims wanted to kill him. In the deposition, the boy’s father said when he heard what Gauthe did to his son, who was an altar boy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Iberia, he went to the rectory with a shotgun.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Catholic priest has stepped aside while an “historical complaint” is investigated, the Bishop of Dromore has said.

Monsignor Aidan Hamill, who is based in Lurgan, County Armagh, has voluntarily stepped aside from his duties.

Bishop John McAreavey said he was recently made aware of the allegations.

“In accordance with both national and diocesan child protection policy and procedures, the relevant statutory authorities were informed,” he said.

Bishop McAreavey said social services were carrying out an independent risk assessment.

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TEXAS
Fox 7

[with video]

They called it “Freedom Fest.”

The goal was to raise awareness about 19-year-old Greg Kelley and to help his family with mounting legal fees.

“This is a freedom fight for Greg. This is our big fundraiser. We’ve been raising funds, we’ve raised over $23,000 already. But this is the one we started in motion pretty much right after Greg got convicted,” said organizer Pam Brimberry.

Brimberry knows Greg through her daughter. She says Freedom Fest has a line up of live music, food, a chance to sign the petition and to donate. …

Amy Smith is with a group called SNAP that supports victims of abuse.

“Some of those that I have connected with on Twitter and through Facebook and then some have reached out to me privately through social media saying ‘we live here, we live in Leander, we live in Austin. And we’re very disturbed by such a public outpouring.’ And some of them are sexual abuse victims themselves and that really touched a nerve with them,” Smith said.

Smith says there are better, more private ways to show support for Kelley. She says many are upset Sunday’s Freedom Fest was held at a church.

“To a child, that says ‘They’re against me.’ And to even question ‘Is God against me because I spoke up?’ And so it’s the public way of showing support…and I don’t think you need to have a public festival with dancing and games and food and a party with a slip and slide to show support for an imprisoned friend or family member,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Anglican Church strips former archdeacon Peter Coote of clergy position over sexual misconduct allegations

ABC

August 11, 2014

The Diocese of The Murray has revoked the licence of former archdeacon Peter Coote following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

The decision means Mr Coote can no longer hold any office or position as a member of the clergy within the South Australian diocese.

It came after more than 10 years of investigations and hearings by the Anglican Church Professional Standards Boards and reviews of their findings and recommendations.

Mr Coote was the parish priest at Happy Valley when he became the subject of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour complaints involving three women in the southern suburbs in 2004.

At that time Mr Coote was reprimanded.

An internal church investigation took place three years later when the Anglican Church’s Professional Standards Board decided to stand Mr Coote down.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Secret Catholic Church report found parish priest Peter Searson was guilty of child sex abuse, despite no charges ever being laid against him

ABC

BY QUENTIN MCDERMOTT AND PETER CRONAU
August 11, 2014

A secret Catholic Church report concluded a parish priest was guilty of child sexual abuse, despite no charges ever being laid against him.

The internal report of a confidential 1997 investigation into Father Peter Searson, of the outer-Melbourne parish of Doveton, made a finding that “the parish priest had been guilty of sexual abuse”, Four Corners has revealed.

In his evidence to last year’s Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse, Cardinal George Pell rejected suggestions of a cover-up of Father Searson’s crimes, stating: “No conviction was recorded for Searson on sexual misbehaviour. There might be victims. He was convicted for cruelty. But speaking more generally, I totally reject the suggestion.”

Cardinal Pell made no reference to the inquiry about the internal hearing into Father Searson which had taken place in 1997, or the finding that the parish priest had sexually abused two girls.

Cardinal Pell was regional bishop in the early 1990s when allegations were being made about Father Searson in Doveton.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Former head of St Gregory’s College Campbelltown Brother Peter Pemble charged with child indecent assault

IAN WALKER THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AUGUST 11, 2014

A FORMER Western Sydney catholic school headmaster is to face court next week over an alleged decades-old child indecent assault.

The former head of St Gregory’s College Campbelltown, 66-year-old Brother Peter Pemble, allegedly indecently assaulted a boy at Maitland between 1971 and 1972.

Detectives began investigations last year after they received information about an assault on a child.

At the time Br Pemble was studying at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium after he stepped down at St Gregory’s due to ill-health in 2008.

He returned to Australia and was questioned by detectives in Surry Hills on July 22 about the alleged Maitland assault.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Lindsay Toler Sun., Aug. 10 2014

Father Alexander Lippert, a Catholic priest who served in eleven St. Louis-area parishes over 33 years, sexually abused a minor in the 1970s, according to the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Archbishop Robert Carlson says a report accusing Lippert of abusing a minor is credible, the archdiocese announced last week. Since Lippert died in April 2000 and can’t respond to the allegations, the archdiocese has officially ruled the report of sexual abuse as “credible though unsubstantiated.”

The archdiocese did not release details about the abuse or the victim, who was a minor at the time.

The archdiocese said it would post bulletins about the allegations against Lippert in the parishes where he served or resided. Lippert was assigned to Holy guardian Angels parish in south St. Louis in April 1956; Immaculate Conception in Union in July 1959; St. Liborius in north St. Louis in 1961; St. Teresa in north St. Louis in 1963; St. Ferdinand in Florissant in 1965; St. Aloysius in Spanish Lake in May 1968; St. Paul the Apostle in Pine Lawn (resided, during leave of absence) in July 1970; Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (Old Cathedral) in Downtown St. Louis in June 1980; St. Catherine of Alexandria in Coffman in November 1980; St. Ambrose in south St. Louis in May 1983; and St. Thomas of Aquin in south St. Louis in April 1986.

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UNITED STATES
Pew Research Center

BY MICHAEL LIPKA

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which includes representation from more than 80% of American nuns, is set to hold its annual assembly next week in Nashville. The meeting comes as the organization continues to draw scrutiny from the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, and also at a time when there has been a steep decline in the number of nuns.

The Vatican first began taking a hard look at some organizations of U.S. nuns about five years ago, eventually ordering an investigation and a “doctrinal assessment” of the LCWR – and a plan for organizational reform.

While the church’s specific concerns with the nuns are complex, a few major areas were highlighted in a 2012 Vatican document, which said the LCWR was “silent on the right to life from conception to natural death” and that Roman Catholic views on the family and human sexuality “are not part of the LCWR agenda in a way that promotes Church teaching.” The document also raised concerns about “radical feminist themes” at programs sponsored by the LCWR, and cited addresses at LCWR assemblies that “manifest problematic statements and serious theological, even doctrinal errors.”

More recently, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticized the LCWR in an April address before a meeting with the organization and reiterated the Vatican’s intention to require approval for speakers and awardees at LCWR events.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Crime Editor

The Archbishop of York has told victims of sexual abuse by predatory clergy that he is “deeply ashamed” of the Church of England’s failures to protect vulnerable children.

Dr John Sentamu has written to a number of men who were abused as children by the Very Rev Robert Waddington, the former dean of Manchester Cathedral, who preyed on schoolboys in Britain and Australia over a 60-year period.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Clarion Herald – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

Published on Monday, 27 January 2014

Written by Peter Finney Jr

In his decades serving as a pastor and as vicar for clergy in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Msgr. Ray Hebert, who died Jan. 16 at 85 at West Jefferson Hospital, was known for his gentle demeanor and his willingness to listen carefully with an open heart.

Although he was one of the most respected priests in the archdiocese, his loving spirit did not shield him from the cross – having to bear the weight of false sexual abuse accusations lodged against him by former residents of Madonna Manor in Marrero.

Protesting from the beginning that the 50-year-old allegations were false, Msgr. Hebert filed a defamation suit against his accusers and worked feverishly in his retirement to have the accusations publicly withdrawn.

Forgiveness shined through

When the last of his accusers finally recanted in 2010, Msgr. Hebert could have pressed for civil damages, but instead he turned the other cheek.

“Msgr. Hebert said he would withdraw his lawsuit if the man made a public retraction that was published in the newspaper,” former Archbishop Alfred Hughes said following Msgr. Hebert’s funeral Mass Jan. 20 at Immaculate Conception Church in Marrero. “He eventually did that, and then Ray withdrew the lawsuit.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Susan Edelman
August 10, 2014

David Seff, a math professor at Brooklyn College, asked a female student to meet him in a classroom one late afternoon in August 2011 to help with a “listening experiment.” Alone with the young woman, Seff pounced on her, authorities charged.

Seff, now 68, allegedly grabbed her breasts and crotch. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment last September and was ordered to stay away from her for a year.

But his case never made the news — his name was kept under wraps by then-Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.

That secrecy is over, says DA Kenneth Thompson, who succeeded Hynes in January.

At The Post’s request, Thompson’s staff last week released 20 names of defendants in cases Hynes had refused to divulge because they involved Orthodox Jewish suspects and/or victims.

Hynes, who would issue press releases on non-Orthodox sex offenders, insisted he was shielding Orthodox victims or their families from Mafia-like intimidation in their insular community. …

Other previously unpublicized suspects include:

 * Israel Moshe, 47, accused in 2010 of raping a 22-year-old woman with cerebral palsy who answered a Craigslist ad. He’s a fugitive with a warrant for arrest.

 * Alexander Rogalsky, 30, a camp counselor accused in 2011 of first-degree sodomy with a 13-year-old boy in 2003. Under a plea deal with Thompson in February, he copped to second-degree sodomy and got 10 years’ probation.

 * David Zimmer, 43, a locksmith convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in 1999 and arrested again in 2012 for taking photos of a 9-year-old girl in Borough Park. He pleaded guilty to failure to register in June and faces sentencing Sept. 13.

 * Naftolis Schwartz, 57, a Hebrew teacher accused in 2012 of sexually abusing a 13-year-old student. He pleaded guilty in February to endangering the welfare of a child and received no jail time.

* Yosef Ederi, 42, a repeat pedophile accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy at their synagogue in 2011. He pleaded guilty to child endangerment in July 2013, was set free, and struck again. In May, he was convicted of molesting an 8-year-old boy and sentenced to a year in Rikers. He’s already out.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Archbishop of York

Wednesday 23rd July 2014

The Independent Inquiry chaired by Her Honour Judge Sally Cahill QC into the Church’s handling of reports of alleged sexual abuse by the late Robert Waddington, formerly Dean of Manchester, has now concluded its investigations.

The Archbishop of York has now received a copy of the Inquiry’s Report. When all those referred to in the report have been informed of its completion, and when the Archbishop has met with the Chair of the Inquiry, it will be for the Archbishop to determine how and when to make public the findings of the Inquiry.

Although commissioned by the Archbishop, the process of this Independent Inquiry has rightly been outside the control of the Church. It has been the responsibility of the Inquiry to determine its own investigations, in order to complete the work and report as thoroughly and fairly as possible.

The Archbishop of York said: “Whilst it is never possible to put right the wrongs that have been done, the seriousness of the crimes which have been committed makes us determined both to acknowledge our responsibility and our shame for our failure to protect children in the past, and to respond far more positively to those victims who bravely come forward to share their experience today. I am thankful to all those who have participated, at some personal cost, in the process of this Inquiry. May we learn from the tragedy of abuse and ensure that systemic failure in the past can never be repeated.”

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd David Walker, said, “I welcome the news that the Inquiry Group have completed their work and passed their report to the Archbishop of York. I wish to pay tribute to those who are brave enough to come forward and report abuse that they have suffered. They have a vital part to play in driving institutional abuse out of British society.”

Anyone wanting to inform the Statutory Authorities of past or present abuse can speak to a Local Authority Designated Officer, who can be contacted through your Local Safeguarding Children Board.

If anyone would value support from people who have been through similar experiences, they can contact MACSAS, Minsters and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors. MACSAS is a support group for women and men from Christian backgrounds who have been sexually abused by Ministers or Clergy, as children or as adults. Please see their website at www.macsas.org.uk.

The following groups may also be of help:

•NSPCC: Helpline: 0808 800 5000 (24 hours, every day) www.nspcc.org.uk
•ChildLine: Helpline: 0800 1111 (24 hours) www.childline.org.uk
•Survivors UK : Helpline: 0845 122 1201 www.survivorsuk.org
•The National Association of People Abused in Childhood: Helpline: 0800 085 3330 www.napac.org.uk

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 11, 2014

Michael McKenna
Reporter
Brisbane

AUSTRALIAN and British child sex victims have finally been vindicated after years of cover-up by the Anglican Church, with an ­official admission that one of its most senior clergymen was a pedophile who had been ­“allowed’’ to abuse children.

Archbishop of York John Sentamu has written to victims of the late Robert Waddington — a ­former Queensland headmaster who later ran hundreds of Anglican schools in Britain — saying he was “deeply ashamed’’ the church had not listened and acted on complaints of child sex abuse.

The extraordinary admission follows a year-long inquiry into Waddington, the former dean of Manchester who died in 2007, and the mishandling of abuse allegations in 1999, 2003 and 2005 against him from former choirboys and students in England and Australia.

The inquiry, sparked by a joint investigation of The Australian and The Times of London that showed Waddington’s trail of horrific rapes and beatings of boys over five decades and inaction by senior church officials, was headed by sitting English judge Sally Cahill QC. It also investigated the former archbishop of York, now Lord (David) Hope of Thornes who last year expressed regret at not reporting the allegations to police or other child protection agencies.

Archbishop Sentamu wrote in his letter to Waddington’s victims that “we in the Church of England should face up to the wrong which has been allowed to be done to those children who were abused by the late Robert Waddington’’.

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GUAM
Juan Malimungga

Good Evening my dear friends and family,

Shocking that I would take the time two write about some of the issues that affected me and I continue to ask you today and always to keep the faith. These are very difficult times for many people and I recognize that I cannot be the sole person to come forward each and every time to fight against this kind of devious and criminal actions by leaders. Yet I do it knowing that I am putting into the universe and most importantly, to God above, that I am trying to follow his teachings in Loving my enemy as myself. And indeed, while some people may argue that I often time do this risking so much before me and my professional life, I cannot but help to state for the record, I can’t do it without you! You are the ones that I am madly in love. You, the suffering Chamorro People of the Marianas, and when ever something “major” like this happens, it has been our culture “to keep silent” and “to keep quiet.” And granted, this too is part of a colonial disposition – to feel helpless and to remain silent so that we don’t shame anyone in public or on the radio or even on T.V. However, this kind of behavior is really the work of Satan and we must do everything in our power to get rid of these devils that roam around the world seeking for the ruin of souls. This kind of behavior by Church officials, to keep things silent, is truly a shame upon all of us, the faithful in this Archdiocese. Yet, what my hope is in all of this is to continue to teach the young people who will have my words and my actions for the remaining time that I am alive and to illustrate to them that if anything like this happens – when you are abused in any way – that you take it one step up and seek help from authorities who must listen to your story. This is in the best interest of all involved because if we just keep silent, what would happen if another boy or another girl gets hurt. You and I have the opportunity to stop those who abuse in their place. If we just remain silent and don’t really do anything, then this teaches that person “NOBODY CAN GET ME!” – famous quotation used by other advocates on this island!

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

August 10, 2014

Colin Kruger
Business Reporter

Cardinal George Pell appears to have settled in quite nicely to his new role as ‘’God’s banker’’.

CBD is not sure how his Italian language skills are faring but in a recent interview with the Catholic News Service from St John’s Tower in Vatican City, he certainly showed how well he has boned up on the corporate lingo.

In an article titled Pope’s finance chief talks Vatican reform, Pell was asked what he was doing in Rome and why the reform was necessary.

‘‘I’d say we’re attempting to put into place the best available set of management practices,’’ Pell says.

There are international standards for accounting and money management which Pell says he’s introducing to the Vatican, such as regular independent audits.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Broken Rites has helped the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with research for a Four Corners television program, being broadcast on Monday 11 August 2014. The program is about how the Catholic Church in Australia tries to cover up its child-sex abuse – and how the church avoids paying full compensation to victims. The ABC producers obtained information from Broken Rites research. Here are the links to some of the relevant Broken Rites articles.

The Four Corners program includes case studies of some of the church’s paedophile priests. For example (you can click on any of the following names):

Fr Aidan Duggan: Cardinal George Pell instructed the church’s lawyers to crush a former altar boy (John Ellis) who had been one of Duggan’s victims. The church is still using this legal tactic (known in legal circles as “the Ellis defence”) to avoid paying full compensation to other victims.

Fr Kevin O’Donnell: George Pell praised Father O’Donnell but Broken Rites supported the victims.

Fr Peter Searson: The church inflicted this “chaplain” on disadvantaged victims.

Fr Dominic Phillips:This priest “befriended” young schoolgirls.

Four Corners also gives an example of one notorious Melbourne parish – Doveton. This low socio-economic area is on Melbourne’s south-eastern outskirts, near Dandenong. The Melbourne Archdiocese leadership sent a succession of sexually-abusive priests to this parish. For example (you can click on any of the following names).

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2014

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

In a grudge match before the state Supreme Court, defense lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn will square off against District Attorney Seth Williams.

At stake is the freedom of Lynn, whose historic June 22, 2012 conviction on one count of endangering the welfare of a child was reversed on Dec. 26, 2013 by the state Superior Court.

Both the district attorney and Lynn’s defense lawyers have filed briefs in anticipation of a yet-unscheduled hearing before the state’s highest court. The district attorney began his 33-page filing on July 10th by charging that Lynn “was a high ranking Archdiocesan official specifically responsible for protecting children from pedophile priests.”

“Instead, he relocated them, as part of a general scheme of concealment, in a manner that put additional children at risk of being sexually molested,” the district attorney wrote. In reversing Lynn’s conviction, “The Superior Court erred and should be reversed,” concluded the brief filed by Chief of the D.A.’s Appeal Unit Hugh J. Burns Jr., Deputy District Attorney Ronald Eisenberg, First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr., and D.A. Seth Williams.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Judy Bastien

Recent allegations of sex abuse of a child by a local priest has sent ripples through the congregation at St. Edmond Catholic Church and at the same time has spurred them to rally in support of its pastor.

“I’m very sad that a leader of my parish has had to go through this,” said Bob Chaney of the Rev. Gilbert Dutel — “Father Gil,” to his parishioners. Chaney, who called Dutel “an inspiring man,” firmly believes in his innocence, as it seems, does the whole congregation.

Last weekend, Dutel received standing ovations from his parishioners during Mass.

“If a person is innocent, it’s fabulous to have support of a community that believes in you,” said Kathryn Elliott, who holds a doctorate in psychology and is in private practice at the Anthetic Psychology Center. “That’s archetypical, loving support.”

But that kind of support can cut both ways. A support system that protects the guilty does the community a disservice.

It should be said that accusations do not always constitute guilt.

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NEW YORK
Post-Star

Meg Hagerty

ALBANY

Edward Scharfenberger remembers having a couple of sleepless nights after getting a call from the apostolic nuncio at the Vatican notifying him he had been named to succeed Howard Hubbard as the 10th bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

He wasn’t afraid of leaving the Brooklyn parish he served for 12 years, but he feared in his new position he’d be stuck behind a desk all day.

But the 66-year-old has not been languishing in his office since he started his duties in April. He has made it a priority to meet the Catholics in the 12 deanery, 14-county area bishopric.

Kenneth Goldfarb, director of communications for the diocese, said even he has trouble keeping track of the bishop. …

From 2002 to 2008, Scharfenberger was a member of the Diocesan Review Board for Sexual Abuse of Minors for the Brooklyn Diocese, charged with evaluating the way sexual abuse cases were handled. He and a committee determined whether an allegation was credible, then made recommendations to the bishop. During his last year on the board, he took on the role of Promoter of Justice and worked to protect and pursue individual and ecclesial rights in the church.

Sharfenberger acknowledged there was a “lack of vigilance” in the past on the part of church officials to respond to allegations of sexual abuse. As far back as the 1970s, mental health professionals were suggesting perpetrators only needed counseling and reassignment to a new parish and all would be well, he said.

“Those were obviously, as you look back, not the right decisions to be made. Never again,” he said. “Now we urge the public, if they see something, to say something. To many of the victims, more than anything else, the most healing thing is just knowing that somebody is listening to them and takes them seriously.”

Scharfenberger praised Pope Francis for reaching out and apologizing to victims of clergy sexual abuse. In the past 10 years, the Catholic Church has had to do “personal soul searching,” he said.

“That was important. The church that only focuses in on itself and, God forbid, in a very defensive way, is not going to be effective in claiming the Gospel. That having been said, what I like about the Francis approach is that it doesn’t seem like he’s doing this in order to bring people to convert, to proselytize. That’s very distasteful,” he said.

Scharfenberger said the Albany diocese has an agreement with each of the district attorneys in the 14 counties and if an allegation is made, it is forwarded to that office immediately. In addition, the diocese conducts its own investigation with the review board.

“I’m personally present throughout that process to keep an eye on things,” he said. “My goal is to be transparent, to follow law and go beyond in terms of those that have been affected.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Aug 10, 2014 By Marie Kierans

Cardinal Sean Brady should be axed over his role in the cover-up of sex abuse against children, a victim of paedo priest Brendan Smyth claimed on Saturday.

Brendan Boland’s poignant new book Sworn To Silence reveals for the first time an Oath of Secrecy that he signed as a young boy in 1975.

Fr Brady also put his name to the official document.

After plucking up the courage to report the abuse to another cleric following two years of hell, the youngster was summoned to a secret Church inquiry and questioned on his own by a group of priests including Fr Brady while his father was told to stay outside.

And despite assurances to both him and his dad that the matter would be dealt with, Smyth continued to abuse children for another two decades before being convicted of more than 100 counts.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A DISABLED woman is suing the former Superior of a Catholic religious order, alleging that he sexually abused her over 14 years and that others in the church failed­ to act on their knowledge of what took place.

Documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court show former school teacher Jennifer Herrick, 61, alleges Father Thomas Knowles repeatedly assaulted her without consent, including by forcing her to have sex in a park grandstand and within sight of other people.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By the national reporting team’s Lorna Knowles

A disabled woman has begun a legal case against her former parish priest for sexually abusing her over a 14-year period.

Jennifer Herrick is seeking aggravated damages from Father Tom Knowles and three senior members of his Catholic Church order, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers.

Ms Herrick says Father Knowles repeatedly exploited her vulnerability as a disabled and sexually naive parishioner.

In June, Ms Herrick spoke exclusively to the ABC about how the church was using the controversial Ellis defence to fight her claim.

Today, she took the long train ride from her home on the NSW Central Coast to Sydney for the first day of her hearing in the Supreme Court.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: A disabled woman has begun a legal case against her former parish priest, who she says sexually abused her over a 14 year period.

Jennifer Herrick is suing Father Tom Knowles and three senior members of his Catholic Church order, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers.

Ms Herrick says Father Knowles repeatedly exploited her vulnerability as a disabled and sexually naive parishioner.

Two months ago, Jennifer Herrick spoke to PM about how the church was using the controversial Ellis defence to fight her claim.

Lorna Knowles has the story.

LORNA KNOWLES: Early this morning, Jennifer Herrick took the long train ride from her home on the New South Wales Central Coast to the Supreme Court in Sydney, to take on the man she says abused her for 14 years.

JENNIFER HERRICK: It felt surreal in some ways, when you had had a close knowledge of someone that was so betrayed as I’ve had, to then be in a courtroom discussing that same person, it’s not a normal circumstance, and it’s very difficult.

LORNA KNOWLES: She sat silently in court, as a church barrister described her claims as excessive.

JENNIFER HERRICK: I was really affronted by that term. It was insulting and I thought frivolous on his part to something that’s extremely serious.

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
7 News

ABC

KATHLEEN DYETT AND JONATHON GUL
August 10, 2014

The Anglican Church has apologised to victims of abuse at special church services across Canberra and Goulburn.

Bishop Stuart Robinson publicly apologised to victims of abuse at the hands of church members, or groups connected to the church.

The apology was either read out to congregations at Lamentation Sunday services, or a video of the apology delivered by Bishop Robinson was played in church.

“From time to time I have to deliver messages which are difficult and painful, and this is one of them,” he said.

“I do make this apology sincerely and genuinely, we do hope to care for people.”

“I take this opportunity to apologise for any abuse or mistreatment, that those in this event, that is the service that you’re attending, may have experienced by groups or individuals connected with our Anglican church,” Bishop Robinson said.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Advertiser

By ELLA SMITH Aug. 10, 2014

THE Anglican church broke its silence on abuse within the ministry with a formal apology in Wagga yesterday.

The service acknowledged the pain, hurt and sorrow caused by the actions and inactions of the church, and sought to act as a step towards healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Reverend Stuart Robinson, made a public apology before local priests led their own congregations in services across the diocese.

“The general response in my community, many people were in tears, there was a heavy feeling of sorrow and the chance to lament the immense pain,” Rector of Anglican parish of Wagga, Father Michael Armstrong, said.

“It’s also about us, as a church, asking for forgiveness.

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

NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz | News Staff Reporter
on August 9, 2014

The 26 teenagers sat stone silent as Bishop Richard J. Malone stepped down from the altar to talk with them about the sacrament of confirmation during Mass inside St. Francis of Assisi Church in Athol Springs.

A confirmation service often is the only direct interaction that many Catholics experience with a bishop in their lifetimes, and Malone, sensing timidity in this group, encouraged them not to be afraid “to talk in church when the bishop asks you to.”

He wanted to know how many of them played sports – a ready icebreaker in sports-obsessed Western New York. He professed his own loyalty to the Boston Red Sox and compared the practice of Catholicism to being a good teammate who trains regularly and keeps in shape.

Malone then ratcheted up the gravity of his homily, urging the young Catholics not to become complacent in their religion. …

Still, the push to revitalize the Buffalo Diocese could not come at a more difficult time.

The Catholic Church hasn’t fully recovered from clergy sex abuse scandals that began rocking the American church more than a decade ago. A 2013 Pew Research Center survey found that 34 percent of American Catholics viewed sex abuse and its cover-up as the church’s most important problem.

In addition:

• For some Catholics, discontent lingers from church and school closings under former Bishop Edward U. Kmiec;

• A shortage of priests will only grow more acute as a large crop of pastors nears retirement age, with many clergy already feeling overburdened and underappreciated; and,

• After years of growth, overall Catholic parish collections, which reached as high as $101 million in 2002, are now headed downward, even as many costs increase, potentially hampering the diocese’s attempts to launch new evangelization programs. The diocese also estimates it has $85 million to $110 million in “long-term” financial commitments for which it must prepare, including priest and lay employee retirement plans and cemetery maintenance costs.

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
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

NCR’s full article with Haselberger’s speech focal points and our rebuttal after each paragraph is below these preliminary commentaries.

Jennifer Haselberger take SNAP Chicago Convention ‘for a ride’ to South Africa. (‘Take for a ride’ means to cheat or deceive someone)

According to NCR, Jennifer Haselberger got a standing ovation before she uttered a word at the SNAP convention in Chicago last week. The “who’s who” list of speakers who played major roles (in the past) in revealing the Catholic church’s clergy sexual abuse crisis frequently referenced to her (past) role in exposing the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese’s mishandling of pedophile priests. One speaker alone (was assigned) recapped portions of her dissertation (so she wouldn’t have to waste time repeating the past).

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Vinnie Rotondaro | Aug. 9, 2014 NCR Today

Few Americans knew much about (or had even heard of) Burwell v. Hobby Lobby before the Supreme Court ruled June 30 that the religiously devout owners of the Oklahoma-based arts and crafts retail chain didn’t have to pay for four kinds of contraceptive care for female employees under the Affordable Care Act.

In the end, what the Supreme Court dropped was a culture war bomb. America has been in the throes of the culture wars since 1970s, says Vince Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton. NCR interviewed Miller to learn more about the culture wars and the effect they have on American society.

NCR: What are the culture wars, and how do they work?

Miller: Culture war politics focuses on what can divide groups, polarize them and then mobilize them against each other. Part of what defines the culture wars is rhetoric: using language that portrays the opponent as not simply wrong, but morally depraved. Politically, it seeks policies and legislation that do not appeal to the majority. It aims to mobilize the base, but not broad coalitions. It’s always about getting 51 percent. …

What have the culture wars done to Christianity?

The religious right was enormously well organized and enormously well funded. And for my entire generation, they were the public voice of Christianity. For people whose access to Christianity is largely what they see on television or in the news or in the paper, they got to define the public face of Christianity. And study after study has shown that the millennial generation has gotten that message loud and clear, and they don’t find it interesting at all. They find it repugnant. In 2007, a Barna study showed that among non-Christians under 30, only 15 percent had a positive view of Christianity. When they were asked to describe Christianity, the words they gave were judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, and too political.

I’m 32, and sometimes when I mention I’m Catholic, I get a look.

Right, and if people don’t know that there’s something else that Catholicism represents — if they don’t already know about Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, or Sr. Dorothy Stang, about the church’s concern for justice and peace — then there’s no way they would ever learn about any of it in the broader media.

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

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

STEVE KILGALLON

As the Vatican’s “Promoter of Justice”, Monsignor Bob Oliver bears the “best job title I’ll ever have”.

Catchy title, unenviable occupation.

Oliver is out to capture paedophile priests, surrendering them to civil law, then exacting whatever punishment the Catholic Church can mete out. It makes him a lightning rod for anti-church sentiment, forces him to confront the church’s dark past and its worst miscreants, and means many meetings with victims, often talking of their abuse for the first time. “It breaks your heart,” he said.

It’s been a major worldwide problem for the church: in the US alone, they’ve paid more than $US3b in settling over 3,000 lawsuits from victims; in Ireland, there have been several government apologies and inquiries and estimates of thousands of victims. The new pope, Francis, has taken a hard line on abuse and Oliver, 52, was one of his first appointees.

Oliver visited New Zealand last week, for a conference in Wellington, and granted the Sunday Star-Times a rare interview. The church was once deeply suspicious of the media’s approach to sex abuse cases but Oliver believes media did the church a service: “It’s hard for any group over time to keep up the kind of energy that’s needed to do this work,” he explains. “What the media has been doing was to keep that energy up . . .”

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Thomas J. Sullivan was ordained a Jesuit priest of the California Province in 1944. His assignments took him to Jesuit Universities in Los Angeles and San Francisco CA, as well as to Japan, Rome and Hawaii. In Los Angeles he directed a retreat center while residing at a high school. Sullivan died in 1992. He was accused in 2002 of abuse in Los Angeles in 1953. In a 2003 lawsuit he was accused of sexually abusing a male high school student, also in Los Angeles,1956-1958. A 2004 archdiocesan report shows that three people had thus far come forward with reports of abuse said to have occurred 1952-1958.

Ordained: June 17, 1944
Died: Feb. 2, 1992

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John J. “Jack” Wood was ordained for the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in 1950. He had been working in Alaskan villages as a seminarian since 1945. In 1962 he transferred to Seattle University to teach, returning in 1965 to Alaska for another year. Next he was assigned to a Portland OR parish, back to Seattle U., on to a Spokane convent and then to a Beaverton OR nursing home as chaplain. Wood spent the following 11 years at a Portland OR retirement facility and another nearly 10 years at a Care Center in Spokane. He died in Spokane March 11, 1997. Wood’s name was included on the Fairbanks diocese’s list in 2009 of “individuals against whom one person has brought a complaint of sexual abuse”. The abuse is said to have occurred in Chevak AK, where he was assigned in the 1950s.

Ordained: June 17, 1950
Died: March 11, 1997

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

I am grateful to my good friend Stephanie Smith for contributing this guest post as I spend a little time away with my family – Boz
__________________________________________________________________________

I’m so pleased to be able to fill in for Boz this week as he enjoys a well-deserved time away with his family. Aside from being able to help out a friend, this guest post provides me an opportunity to address a topic that is of great interest and concern to me in protecting children from predators: Recidivism.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines recidivism as, “The tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior.” This has become a hot topic in the last few years as it relates to the different treatment models that have been put into place for sexual offenders. One school of thought argues that nothing can be done for sex offenders to change their behavior. Another school of thought argues that there is some evidence that some offenders can avoid reoffending with the managing of behaviors and triggers.

This is a complex subject that certainly cannot be fully addressed in one post. However, I think it is important to begin this discussion with a few key points to consider when re-offense (recidivism) rates are discussed:

1. Treatment options for those who have committed sexual offenses against children is a young and changing field. Although we know that the sexual abuse of children has been occurring throughout history, the idea of providing treatment to offenders is new and is largely untested with very little accompanying research. Much more remains to be learned about the effectiveness of treatment for child sexual offenders.

2. Recidivism studies require that the offenders have been caught and adjudicated within the time period being studied (five years, fifteen years, etc.). Many reported cases that will result in conviction might not be fully adjudicated within that time frame of the study due to the length of time involved in investigating and prosecuting such cases. Furthermore, the delay in the judicial process is also impacted by the fact that most abuse survivors do not immediately report the abuse.

3. Recidivism studies require accurate data regarding reoffending. The fact that child sexual abuse is one of the most underreported offenses makes it extremely difficult to collect accurate data on the recidivism of offenders. For example, the fact that there has not been a new report of abuse regarding a certain offender does not necessarily mean that the offender has not reoffended. It may simply mean that additional victims have not reported the offense.

4. Any study under discussion needs to be reviewed thoroughly to ascertain how “sex offenders” are defined. Are we looking at a broad or specific category of sex offenses? For example, are we considering only offenses against adults, or just offenses against children, or a combination of offenses against adults and children?

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

UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

BY PATRICIA MILLER AUGUST 8, 2014

Novelist, essayist and biographer Mary Gordon takes on Pope Francis’ treatment of American nuns, and by extension his and the Catholic Church’s attitudes toward women as a whole, in an essay in the August issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Gordon notes that Francis’ much-quoted assertion that the church has focused too much on “issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods” has “suggested the possibility of a new era for the Church, on in which economic justice would take precedence over divisive social issues.” As American nuns “have been the de facto leaders of the country’s liberal Catholics,” Gordon says that Francis’ treatment of the nuns can be seen as a marker of how serious he is about “shifting the Church’s attention.”

But, she concludes, “a year and a half into his papacy, Pope Francis is looking an awful lot like his predecessors,” most notably by allow the investigation into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and their ongoing censure and the larger “apostolic visitation” of all American nuns to continue at the behest of Vatican conservatives.

RD’s Patricia Miller talked to Gordon about Francis’ treatment of the nuns and the history of hostility between women religious and the all-male hierarchy, which she says “has been consistent throughout Catholic history.” …

You point to a crisis of masculinity among the hierarchy as a result of the sex abuse scandal and the fear of powerful women (who are playing a surprisingly effective role in the political arena, as Network and the LCWR did during the debate over ObamaCare). Does this come down to a question of authority in the church and who wields it?

Yes, it does. With all people in authority, when they feel embattled they get more aggressive. The bishops aren’t any different. They really perceive that their authority is being challenged by the nuns. It is a kind of default setting to look at women when that happens and to try and dominate them to reestablish authority.

You note how badly the attacks on the LCWR and the American nuns in general have gone over with the general public. It really has been a PR disaster for the Vatican. Why don’t you think they have recalibrated, if for no other reason than they seem to be generating more and more sympathy for the nuns?

Because I think they perceive, correctly, that their growth area is with the right wing. That’s their base and that’s where the money comes from. In America, the people who like the nuns are the liberals and they aren’t in the pews every Sunday.

It all comes down to the money. They don’t want to alienate Dominos Pizza [Dominos Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan is a major donor to conservative Catholic causes] and the other big money donors. No one on the left gives them the kind of money that they get from the right. You see this all the time with Catholic colleges like Boston College. Wealthy alumna will make a fuss about something they don’t like and they will pull back.

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

CANADA
APTN

By Kathleen Martens
APTN Investigates

WINNIPEG – There’s a new sheriff in charge of dealing with lawyers who might prey on Indian Residential School survivors.

Retired British Columbia judge Ian Pitfield has been deputized by BC Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown as a “special independent advisor” on survivor complaints about their legal services.

The fact there’s enough work to keep Pitfield busy may surprise some. But officials say they welcome the help. All parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement approved his hiring effective June 30th.

The details are contained in a court order issued by Justice Brown that was recently made public. She is one of the supervisory judges of the settlement agreement, and has presided over one investigation into a lawyer’s conduct and is presently reviewing another’s.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

David Briggs
Writer, Association of Religion Data Archives

The women came seeking healing. Many of these survivors of the Rwandan genocide had lost family members and some had been raped and infected with HIV. More than a few were struggling just it to make it to another day before they found Solace Ministries.

Sometimes it took a month, or a full year before they spoke about their experiences with other survivors. When they did, even if it was only to say a few words before they broke down in tears, other survivors gathered around, embracing one another.

The passage from the Book of Isaiah — “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” — was the mantra for this ministry, which helped women take the first steps to escape from the depths of horror.

Envisioning a future with a sense of hope was nurtured among a loving community that reinforced their belief in a God who had not abandoned them.

One sermon topic was off limits, however, for the Solace ministers.

“They never, ever, ever preached forgiveness,” said University of Southern California sociologist Donald Miller, who has visited Rwanda 16 times and conducted more than 260 interviews with widows and orphans of the 1994 genocide.

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IRELAND
Journal

‘DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT’ has been expressed at draft redress legislation aimed at securing medical and community services for survivors of Magdalene laundries.

Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) has said the Heads of Bill falls short of what was recommended by Justice John Quirke.

The group has also raised concerns for survivors living abroad, and said it was ‘dismayed’ at the delay in the publishing of this draft legislation.

Some survivors had passed away or have required frequent hospitalisation, the group claimed.

JFMR has noted that “important services” are missing from the Bill, ranging from “complementary therapies, high tech drugs and home support to assist with household tasks”.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conor Ryan
Investigative Correspondent

Justice for Magdalenes has strongly criticised draft legislation that deals with the entitlements of those given compensation for their suffering in the laundries.

JFM said the heads of bill fell far short of what had been recommended to the Government and limited the key medical entitlements that were supposed to be available.

The draft bill allows for a certain level of free medical care to those who receive ex-gratia payments.

However, the way the benefits are parsed means they are actually more restrictive than the established medical card (HAA) scheme.

“Important services which are missing from the bill include complementary therapies, high-tech drugs, and home support to assist with household tasks,” JFM research said in a statement. “The bill also requires a GP referral for counselling, which is not necessary under the HAA card scheme.”

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IRELAND
Breaking News

Justice for Magdalenes has criticised recommendations in draft legislation which sets out their compensation entitlements for treatment they received in the laundries.

The group is unhappy at the delay in publishing the legislation.

It says the medical care listed is restrictive and falls short of what was recommended by Judge Quirke.

Justice for Magdalenes says it will work with TDs and Senators to ensure the Bill is amended to honour the Government’s committments to Magdalene survivors.

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
Christianity Today

Sabrina Hardy, guest writer

“At least he didn’t take your virginity,” the leader of my Bible study group murmurs sympathetically, handing me a tissue to wipe away the tears brought on by my choked confession of a previous abusive relationship. I tense, mutter “that’s true,” and escape the conversation feeling just as broken and empty as before I worked up the courage to talk to her.

I have this conversation with three separate spiritual leaders at my Christian college, a roommate, and several close friends, and when they hear my ex-boyfriend never abused me sexually, their well-meaning first response always falls along similar lines: “It could have been worse—he could have raped you.” “At least he never laid a hand on you.”

I leave each conversation with none of the relief I expected, and each time, I spend a restless night staring at the walls of my dorm, wondering, Is my depression wrong because I was never sexually abused? and the more destructive, Maybe if he had taken my virginity, someone would listen to me.

Victims of sexual abuse are increasingly speaking out about the aching sense of shame and loss that accompanies such a violation and how it can become exacerbated by the church’s focus on feminine virginity. Yet, even these conversations and debates fall into the same trap: a narrow focus that seems to elevate sexuality to a position of sole importance.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Fr. Eddie Siebert, S.J. The IN Network | Aug. 8, 2014 NCR Today

It was a frigid, gray February morning, and we huddled alongside thousands of pilgrims packed outside St. Peter’s Square waiting for the pope. Heeding smart advice, my colleague Kathleen Kelly and I arrived just before 8 a.m. to an already massive crowd for the 11 a.m. General Audience. We were in Rome for the SIGNIS World Congress for Catholic Communicators, and it seemed that the main topic of conversation that morning among our fellow conference attendees was just how crowded the Vatican felt since Francis’ election. We were told that audiences are usually held inside St. Peter’s in winter, but the event had been moved outside to accommodate the record-breaking throngs hoping to see the pope.

At 10 a.m., the roar of the flock erupted to the level you might expect at a One Direction concert. He had arrived early — a move characteristic of a pope who has a habit of choosing to spend more time with the people than allotted on the papal schedule. Instead of making a beeline for the front VIP section, where the politically and ecclesially connected waited, the pope entered from the back of the crowd, greeting those with the worst views and least connections. He hopped off the popemobile and lingered there, looking very much at home embracing a mother and her baby, blessing a young disabled woman, and laughing with an older man who may have been homeless. There was this palpable joy in the air as we all watched Francis model something so simple and yet so profound.

His popularity is something even the best PR machines here in Los Angeles can’t execute. It seems like every day, there’s a new story about the popular pontiff — but unlike much of what we see in the news, the Francis stories don’t reek of strategic PR stunts. My own observation of him that day in February and most of the accounts I hear have a few things in common. This is a man who doesn’t start his encounters with theology or dogma. In each situation, he starts with the person right in front of him. He’s not afraid to go after the estranged, to walk with people in their darkness, anger or pain. He seems most comfortable on the margins, with the complicated people and complicated situations many of us would prefer to ignore. …

We also spoke with Peter Saunders, head of the London-based group the National Association for People Abused in Childhood. Sexually abused by two Catholic priests as a child, Peter has been an outspoken voice for change and reform in the Catholic church in the U.K. He was one of six abuse victims to have a groundbreaking face-to-face meeting with the pope last month. Peter admits he’s still not sure why he was invited, as he’s hardly a “safe bet from a PR perspective.” We spoke with him about his “life-changing meeting” with the pope, in which he said, “there wasn’t any pressure to hold back. The pope listened intently and said all the right things.”

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MISSISSIPPI
Huffington Post

By David Moye

A church leader in Roach, Missouri, is out of a job after being arrested for allegedly trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a dog.

Jerald Hill, 56, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempted unlawful sex with an animal and attempted animal abuse.

Authorities began investigating Hill after the Boone County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Task Force got a tip about a Craigslist post by a man looking for two types of animals for sex.

One of the chosen animals was a dog, but investigators declined to mention the other type of animal, the Columbia Tribune reports.

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AUSTRALIA
The Leader

By Monica Heary Aug. 9, 2014

THE Catholic Church has to be more open about the sexual abuse that has clouded its name, a former Sutherland priest celebrating 50 years in the ministry has said.

“The church has to do away with secrecy looking at this issue and also at celibacy; these are real questions for it to consider,” said Father John Sullivan, 74.

The priesthood has been a long learning process for the retired parish priest.

Among the parishes where he has ministered are Marayong, Malabar and Concord.

He has been a Parramatta Psychiatric Centre chaplain and a private secretary to cardinals James Freeman and Edward Clancy. But it was while he was ministering to alcoholics that he received one of his most profound messages.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

TOM HAWTHORN
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Aug. 08 2014

At the age of 10, Alvin Dixon was removed from his home and family and sent more than 500 kilometres south to the Alberni Residential Indian School on Vancouver Island. Two hours after arriving, he was beaten with a strap. His crime: speaking the only language he knew, which was not English.

Many more beatings were to be endured in the following years. The boarding school operated by the United Church would be revealed later to have been a stalking ground for sadists and at least one predatory pedophile, their quarry the helpless children snatched away in the name of civilization.

What young Alvin and the other children suffered is shocking for its callousness and cruelty. Even the mundane seemed puzzling; he was expected to fill out a form detailing what he had eaten after every meal, an odd bureaucratic task considering the boys all ate from the same shared pot. Only last year it was revealed the children had been the unwitting subjects of experiments conducted by the federal government and the Canadian Red Cross to determine how little nutrition they needed to survive. Alvin Dixon, a malnourished boy, had been a human guinea pig.

Mr. Dixon, who has died at 77, survived the school, earned a university degree, and later counselled fellow residential school survivors. Later still, as a respected Heiltsuk First Nation elder, he became an eloquent and sometimes angry voice for those wronged.

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TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

BY MAX B. BAKER
maxbaker@star-telegram.com

The family of a teenage girl who was sexually assaulted by a teacher and basketball coach on the campus of the Burton Adventist Academy in Arlington is suing the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, saying officials did not do enough to protect the girl while she was at school.

In June, Carlos E. Rodriguez, 37, pled guilty in Tarrant County court to continued sexual abuse of a child under 14 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison without possibility of parole. The assaults took place in 2012 when the girl was 13 and in the eighth grade, according to the court documents.

The family still lives in the area and waited until after the criminal case was completed to sue, one of their attorneys said. They are not named in court documents to protect the girl’s privacy.

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MISSISSIPPI
WREG

BY ASHLEY CROCKETT AND MIKE SURIANI

ALCORN COUNTY, Miss. — Judge James Roberts has declared a mistrial in the case of a pastor charged with felony sexual battery of a girl.

The judge learned the jury took two votes and couldn’t agree, and the jury foreman confirmed they can’t reach a verdict.

Pastor Timothy Nall is accused of sexually abusing the girl between August 1, 2012, and April 28, 2013, when the child was 6 and 7 years old.

The girl, who is now 8 years old, testified Nall inappropriately touched her while at her grandparents house in Alcorn County.

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UNITED STATES
The Hollywood Reporter

UPDATED: Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci are also joining the Tom McCarthy-directed, ripped-from-the-headlines drama.

Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci are in advanced talks to board the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal film Spotlight.

The ripped-from-the-headlines drama chronicles the Catholic Church’s decades-long cover-up of its pedophile priests in Massachusetts that came to light thanks to a yearlong investigation by The Boston Globe. Tom McCarthy (Win Win) is directing.

Ruffalo and McAdams would play reporters. Insiders say McAdams’ part is a supporting role.

Participant Media is financing the film, which is being produced by Michael Sugar and Steve Golin of Anonymous Content and Rocklin/Faust’s Nicole Rocklin and Blye Faust. Open Road will distribute in the United States. eOne is taking international sales rights and will distribute in its territories. The then-untitled film had been set up at DreamWorks, but the studio quietly exited the project last year. Multiple suitors are said to be vying for the potentially controversial title.
Josh Singer wrote the Black List script.

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UNITED STATES
Breitbart

The new movie Calvary starring Brendan Gleeson as a conflicted priest involves sexual abuse issues committed by Church officials.

It’s a fictional story, but Hollywood is prepping another film focusing on pedophile priests based on real headlines. And the names circling the project will be familiar to most movie goers.

Mark Ruffalo of The Avengers fame and Michael Keaton, experiencing a career reboot thanks to big buzz over the upcoming Birdman, are both in talks to join Spotlight. So, too, are Rachel McAdams (A Most Wanted Man) and Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games franchise), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Spotlight, to be directed by Win Win auteur Tom McCarthy, will focus on the Boston Globe’s investigation of a pedophile priest cover-up by the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Diocese of The Murray has revoked the licence of former archdeacon Peter Coote following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

The decision means Mr Coote can no longer hold any office or position as a member of the clergy within the South Australian diocese.

It came after more than 10 years of investigations and hearings by the Anglican Church Professional Standards Boards and reviews of their findings and recommendations.

Mr Coote was the parish priest at Happy Valley when he became the subject of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour complaints involving three women in the southern suburbs in 2004.

At that time Mr Coote was reprimanded.

An internal church investigation took place three years later when the Anglican Church’s Professional Standards Board decided to stand Mr Coote down.

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CALIFORNIA
Catholic Voice

Staff report

Almost 100 receptions are planned before year-end for about half the parishes in the Oakland diocese as an effort to raise $65 million goes into full sway.

The other half of the parishes will host their informational receptions in the first half of 2015.

At a kickoff presentation to parish staff members on July 17, Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ, suggested a standard for giving by pledging 10 percent of his salary to the Capital Campaign (See his column on Page 5). Archbishops Allen H. Vigneron and Salvatore J. Cordileone, both former bishops of Oakland, will make their own contributions, Bishop Barber said.

The parish receptions began Aug. 4. Most parishes have more than one event scheduled. The receptions are one way to provide information and develop pledges on the campaign. Personal contact, parish bulletins, announcements and the media are also being used to encourage participation.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

August 8, 2014 12:02 pm | Author: berger

The Cardinals have placed Jason Motte on a 15-day DL and the team recalled Nick Greenwood from Memphis. . .Ex-Belleville Bishop Wilton Gregory is catching fire from SNAP over his legal tactics in a clergy sex abuse case. Gregory, who now heads the Atlanta archdiocese, lost his bid to get a pedophile priest case tossed out because the alleged victim used “Jane Doe” instead of her real name in court filings. Meanwhile, St. Louis Catholic officials have admitted that Fr. Alexander P. Lippert has been credibly accused of abusing a child. . .

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: James W. Plamondon was ordained a priest of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus in 1951. He was sent to Alaska where he ministered in remote villages until 1972, at which point he was transferred to the Great Falls MT diocese. Plamondon studied in Berkeley CA 1974-1975, then did retreat work in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese for a year. He left the priesthood in 1977 to marry and moved to Worcester MA. He died in 1989. Plamondon’s name was included on the Fairbanks AK Diocese’s list of accused priests and religious with admitted, proven or credible accusations. There is one known accusation against him.

Ordained: June 13, 1951
Left priesthood: 1977
Died: May 24, 1989

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ILLINOIS
Frum Folllies

[with copy of the letter]

Two days ago on August 6, 2014, Rabbi Shmuel Feurst, one of the three dayanim (rabbinical judges) of the Chicago Special Beis Din wrote:

By this letter, I certify that according to Jewish law (al pi halacha)
1. any student currently enrolled in any of the following seminaries, Pninim, Binas Bais Yaakov, Chedvas Bais Yaakov or Keser Chaya, is free to attend any seminary they wish, and
2. any seminary is free to accept any student they wish including students who withdraw from the aforementioned seminaries.

Rabbi Feurst explicitly rejects the ruling (and thus, the authority) of the Israeli Beis Din (IBD) of Rabbis Shafran, Malinowitz and Gartner which forbade students from switching and other seminaries from recruiting or accepting them.

The seminaries named above were under the control of Elimelech Meisels and according to the IBD they were transferred to the control of the IBD and Mr. Yankie (Yaakov) Yarmish. They are embroiled in this controversy because Meisels admitted abusing students, and Chicago’s rabbis are not persuaded that the enablers have been removed or even of the extent of and nature of Meisels removal.

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

By Shant Shahrigian
Posted 8/7/14

Advocates for justice for years of sexual abuse at Horace Mann School and elsewhere are welcoming state Sen. Jeff Klein’s new support of the Child Victims Act, which would end the statue of limitations for sex crimes against minors and open up a one-year window for past cases to come to court.

Advocates previously voiced outrage at the Senate’s inaction on the legislation, with some of them blaming Riverdale’s state Sen. Jeff Klein — one of the most powerful lawmakers in New York — for the bill’s failure to gain traction.

As recently as March 2013, Mr. Klein gave a statement saying he opposes the Child Victims Act. But following a Press story quoting the angry activists, he wrote a letter in these pages saying he, in fact, supports the bill.

“I’m very encouraged by the fresh position expressed by Senator Klein,” said Joseph Cumming, a survivor of abuse at Horace Mann who previously criticized Mr. Klein. “I am happy to withdraw my earlier statement in which I said I would welcome seeing him out of office.”

Mr. Klein, whose office did not make him available for an interview, is fighting a Democratic primary challenge from Riverdale’s former Councilman Oliver Koppell.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Marist Brothers have apologised for inaction and poor processes in response to child sex abuse allegations, and say they’re now reviewing past settlements to victims.

The Catholic order has been under scrutiny in recent months as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse examined its handling of complaints against two pedophile brothers who abused children in NSW, Queensland and the ACT.

The order’s provincial head in Australia, Jeffrey Crowe, has paid tribute to those who had spoken out after suffering at the hands of John Chute and Gregory Sutton.

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MISSISSIPPI
WJTV

[with video]

By Danielle Avitable

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. – Josiah D. Franklin made his first appearance in court Thursday morning. The judge set his bond at $25,000, however, the 22-year old remains behind bars and charged with gratification of lust touching of a child.

Detective Clint Earls with the Brookhaven Police Department says the incident happened Monday evening at a local church and Franklin was arrested Tuesday.

Joshua Franklin tells us, it was his brother Josiah who called police about what he allegedly did at Christ Church International.

“My brother has never been in trouble with the law, this is his first time and he actually admitted it to the police himself,” says Joshua.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Thursday 7 August 2014

A police officer who investigated early allegations of child sexual abuse by Marist Brother Gregory Sutton has added further testimony to claims Sutton was tipped off so he could evade arrest.

A royal commission is examining how the Marist Brothers responded to allegations of child abuse against Sutton and another of its former teachers.

Sutton was convicted in 1996 after pleading guilty to 67 charges of sexual assault against 15 children. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with a minimum term of 12 years, and was released in 2008.

Sutton’s identity had been legally hidden for almost 20 years until the beginning of this public hearing, when the presiding commissioner, Justice Jennifer Coate, overturned the suppression order.

In new evidence submitted to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse on Thursday, Detective Senior Constable Donna Lawrence said when she and fellow officers sought to arrest Sutton, they learned he was overseas and could not be found, and suspected he had been tipped off.

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ILLINOIS
Tzedek-Tzedek

A class suit filing was submitted this week to the District Court for the Northern District of Illinios which accuses disgraced Rabbi Elimelech Meisels, his sister Rachel Slanger, Yakov Yarmish and Bet Din Dayan Rabbi Zvi Gartner of conspiring to defraud parents out of thousands of dollars in tuition fees and withheld deposits. The four Meisels seminaries (Pnimim, Hemdas, Binas and Keser Chaya) are also identified as defendants.

The plaintiffs names have been omitted from the head of the published document, but are assumed to be parents of girls who attended the seminaries or are now enrolled.

The filing details a gruesome tale of how Meisels and others lured parents and students into their seminaries under false pretenses of ultra-orthodox standards of behaviour, and then Meisels groomed and sexually assaulted the girls, subsequently threatening & intimidating the victims into silence.

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WISCONSIN
Channel 3000

Author: William R. Wineke, Special to Channel 3000
Published On: Aug 07 2014

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said he has seen the future of the Catholic Church and it is diminished, in numbers, at least.

“My conclusion to the question of the face of the Catholic Church in the United States is that we will be smaller but stronger because we will stand for the truth given to us through the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church instituted by Christ,” the archbishop wrote in an email to Milwaukee Catholics.

The comments are similar to those Madison Bishop Robert Morlino made to me a decade ago when he came to town.

I’m sure they mean well, but I can’t help thinking we seem to have bishops who don’t particularly like Catholics, which strikes me as downright weird.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 8, 2014

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

Atlanta’s Catholic archbishop has lost his bid to stop a clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit on a technicality. Shame on him for even trying.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory tried to get a case tossed out over the victim’s use of “Jane Doe,” rather than her actual name, in legal papers. This is a mean-spirited move designed only to help Catholic officials evade responsibility for heinous crimes. It is more befitting a cold-hearted CEO than a man who professes to be a caring shepherd.

In 2002, Gregory postured as a “reformer” when he headed the US Conference of Catholic Bishops as it enacted its first-ever nationwide church abuse policy (a policy we regarded then, and still regard now, as weak, vague and almost meaningless because it’s virtually never enforced).

The very least Catholic bishops can do is to fight victims, if they must, on the merits, not on the technicalities.

We are grateful to the appeals court for not letting Gregory get away with such a callous, self-serving maneuver. And we are even more grateful to this brave victim for having the strength and courage to speak up, expose wrongdoers, protect kids, deter cover ups and start healing. We hope her bravery will encourage others who have been assaulted by priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and bishops to follow in her footsteps.

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UNITED STATES
Pokrov

Author: Staff
Date Published: 08/07/2014
Publication: Orthodox Church in America website

Updated Background Check Guidelines
SYOSSET, NY [OCA]

At their most recent meeting held March 18-21, 2014, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops, in conjunction with the Office for Review of Sexual Misconduct Allegations (ORSMA) issued guidelines for background checks. On July 20, 2014, a final, revised set of guidelines were issued.

“Background checks must be obtained, and must be renewed every three years, for all readers, subdeacons, deacons, priests, and bishops in the Orthodox Church in America, as well as for all laypersons who have more than incidental contact with children in the course of their work in the Church,” said Archpriest John Jillions, OCA Chancellor. “While the guidelines recommend a company that provides background checks, parishes may utilize other companies, so long as they offer comparable products and costs.”

The revised guidelines are available in PDF format on the OCA web site.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

THURSDAY, 07 AUG 2014

A LETTER from the former Apostolic Delegate for the Pacific, Archbishop Charles Balvo, to Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron dated March 7, 2012, requested that a financial report be turned in to him as is the requirement for every diocese.

Balvo wrote to Apuron that he had not received a financial statement from the Archdiocese of Agana since 2007 and up to the time he wrote the letter in 2012.

Further, Balvo pointed out that every diocese is required to have a finance council and that consent of the finance council is required for acts of “alienation.”

In 2012, former finance council member Richard Untalan wrote to Balvo with his concerns about an alienation or assignment of the Yona property upon which the Redemptoris Mater seminary is built. Untalan wrote that he and three other council members agreed that they were terminated by Apuron because they voted against transferring the title of that land, a vote which was not supported by Apuron.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Stockman Dawn Cherie Araujo | Aug. 8, 2014

As the largest leadership organization for U.S. women religious prepares to gather for four days in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 12-16, the group appears to stand on a precipice.

But what lies on either side or what path the membership will choose to follow, no one can say.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious has been under the shadow of a Vatican-ordered doctrinal assessment since 2009. Following the investigation in 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered it to reform its statutes and appointed a bishop to oversee changes.

Now, the situation is starker: In April, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the congregation, ordered that after this assembly, speakers at the group’s events must be approved by Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who heads the five-year reform agenda for LCWR.

But will LCWR members choose to follow Müller’s edict that Sartain have approval power over speakers at major events? Or will the group decide to stick to its contention that the sanctions are “disproportionate to the concerns raised and compromised the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission”?

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PARAGUAY
The Tablet

08 August 2014 by Jon Stibbs, Isabel de Bertodano

A South American diocese at the centre of an investigation by the Vatican has strongly defended its bishop over his handling of abuse allegations concerning his new vicar-general.

A message on the diocesan website of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay’s second largest city, claimed the appointment of Fr Carlos Urrutigoity was approved by the future Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and that the accusations against the priest were “slander”.

Bishop of Ciudad del Este Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano has repeatedly defended Fr Urrutigoity, who was incardinated into the diocese in 2005. The priest was accused of abusing seminarians while working at the United States diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, between the late 1990s and 2002. He denies the allegations and has not been convicted of any crime.

Last week the diocesan website carried a robust defence of the bishop, stating that in 2005 Fr Urrutigoity, who is originally from Argentina, “came recommended by some cardinals with functions in the Holy See (one of them, elected a few days later Successor of Peter)”.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

THEATRE
The Last Confession
By Roger Crane
2.5 stars
His Majesty’s Theatre

Review: David Zampatti

The sudden death of the first Pope John Paul, Cardinal Albino Luciani, in September 1978 left a disquieting aftertaste. An apparently healthy man of 65, barely a month into his papacy, he died in contradictory circumstances while Vatican scandals lurked in the shadows.

After a whodunit? This could be a doozy.

Trouble is, The Last Confession is an awfully convoluted one, constructed around real, well-known, figures of the recent past. That gives its writer, Roger Crane, a lot of work to do, and precious little historical wriggle room in which to do it.

I’ve never seen – heard is more accurate – a play with so much exposition. The weight of it nearly crushes the life out of the drama. It’s not helped by a big cast, mostly men in scarlet cassocks. I half expected Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition to burst in at any moment.

The result is a someone-might- have-dunit; the play’s conspiracy theory goes no further than implying that there might have been one. Various cardinals with an axe to grind grumble in Vatican corridors but we are given no real evidence that any or all of them gave the unfortunate John Paul the chop, or even that any chop was given.

All of which is frustrating for the play’s detective, the energetic Cardinal Giovanni Benelli. As Crane’s story goes, at least, he has passed on the chance to ascend the papal throne in favour of the modest, good-humoured Luciani (the characterisation overtly emphasises Luciani’s similarities to the popular qualities of the current pontiff) and is about to accept the position of Vatican Secretary of State when his new boss is found dead in the papal apartment.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

by Sam McBride
sam.mcbride@newsletter.co.uk
Published on the 08 August 2014

A veteran unionist peer has said that everything must be done to uncover the truth of what happened at Kincora Boys’ Home.

Former Ulster Unionist deputy leader Lord Kilclooney said that the Home Office needed to examine whether the UK-wide inquiry into cover-ups of historical child abuse by establishment figures should extend to cover the notorious east Belfast case.

Last month the chairman of Stormont’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA), Sir Anthony Hart, told First Minister Peter Robinson that his inquiry did not have the power to compel witnesses or force the release of documents from the Ministry of Defence or the Home Office if they were unwilling to attend and be questioned about allegations that members of the Army or MI5 were aware of the Kincora abuse and failed to act.

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NEW JERSEY
News 12

[with video]

NEWARK – A lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Newark alleging sexual abuse of a child has yet to be resolved.

Filed by an unidentified John Doe, the suit names the late Father Robert G. Gibney as a pedophile.

The archdiocese and the abuse survivor met today to mediate a settlement, but were unsuccessful.

“The archdiocese, by stonewalling him, is denying him that the abuse even took place,” says Kevin Waldrip, a fellow abuse victim.

Advocates for the victim are demanding the church validate his claim so he can start healing

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PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER
Published: August 8, 2014

The woman who alleged she was indecently assaulted by the Rev. Philip Altavilla when she was a teenager filed notice she intends to sue him and the Diocese of Scranton.

Joseph Lenahan, attorney for the woman, filed a writ of summons on Aug. 1, the same day Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse dismissed all criminal charges against the suspended priest because the statute of limitations had expired.

A summons puts a defendant on notice of a pending lawsuit, but does not provide any details of the claims being made. Lenahan confirmed the lawsuit relates to allegations in the criminal case that the Rev. Altavilla inappropriately touched the woman in 1998, when she was 13.

The Rev. Altavilla was charged in April with indecent assault, corruption of a minor and a related offense after the woman alleged he gave her alcohol and ran his hands up and down her legs following a midnight Mass. Barrasse dismissed all counts because the statute of limitations required the crimes be reported within two years after the woman turned 18, which meant the charges had to be filed by 2005.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – Members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests continues its criticism of Archbishop Anthony Apuron. SNAP called for the removal of Father John Wadeson last month, accusing the archbishop of knowing the priest’s past but kept him in active and prominent ministry locally. SNAP says that according to the archdiocese of Los Angeles, Wadeson has been accused of abuse by two children in the 1970 and has been banned from acting as a priest there. SNAP’s volunteer regional director Joelle Casteix comments “how many warnings does Apuron need before he takes any action to protect children? It seems he only responds to embarrassment.”

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – Archbishop Anthony Apuron has not conducted any public interviews regarding the recent controversies involving the local Catholic Church. The biggest controversy as of late is his removal of Monsignor James Benavente as the rector of the Archdiocese of Agana and director of Catholic Cemeteries. The archbishop has only spoken through press releases in which he accused him of financial mismanagement.

KUAM News attempted to get comment from him today, to no avail.

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ILLINOIS
Peoria Public Radio

By WILLIS KERN

Attorneys for a religious community in Chicago are threatening individuals who have leveled sex charges at the organization with slander unless they stop talking publicly about the allegations.

The abuse charges were made in two lawsuits filed against Jesus People USA earlier this year, as well as in a documentary about the community by filmmaker Jaime Prater. Prater lived at the Jesus People community as a child and is now suing the community. He says he and other former child residents will not be silenced.

“Most of us got really irate. We’ve been quiet about this for years, for 30 years in some cases.”

Jesus People and its sponsoring church, the Evangelical Covenant Church of America, deny the allegations which involve physical as well as sexual abuse of minors.

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MISSOURI
The Daily Star-Journal

Kansas City (AP) — A Jackson County jury has returned a split verdict in a lawsuit accusing a pastor who’s also a past president of the Missouri State Board of Education of sexual exploitation.

The Kansas City Star reported the jury ruled Thursday that the Rev. Stan Archie’s Christian Fellowship Baptist Church has to pay a former staffer and her husband $350,000 for misrepresenting that a 2007 church investigation of her abuse allegations was aimed at learning the truth.

Jurors rejected claims alleging that Archie and the church had defrauded the staffer by misrepresenting Archie as a “safe and competent” counselor. The jury declined to consider punitive damages.

Lawyers for the couple, who were not identified, had been seeking $1.5 million.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Buhain Carrera
Friday, 08 August 2014

Guam – The local community and victims advocate organizations are calling on Archbishop Anthony Apuron to answer to questions regarding sexual abuse allegations and the removal of Monsignor James Benavente from the Agana Cathedral rectory.

Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests or SNAP issued a statement this morning blasting Apuron for allowing an accused child molester, Father John Howard Wadeson, to work for the Archdiocese of Agana and then recommending him to the San Francisco Archdiocese.

They called his behavior “reckless” and demanded “concrete action.”

Joelle Casteix of SNAP said in a statement, “How can Apuron claim to be a good and pastoral shepherd to his flock when he knowingly allowed a known predator to have a position of great power?”

SNAP also noted in their statement that Father Wadeson isn’t the only scandal affecting the Church, but the public outcry against the Archbishop for making allegations of financial mismanagement.

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