ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Tim Nelson St. Paul, Minn. Oct 17, 2014

After nearly a year of investigation into clergy misconduct in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, prosecutors say they still aren’t ready to file any criminal charges against priests or church officials.

Seven of 10 criminal cases tied to clergy sex abuse are now closed, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Friday.

Four cases of alleged priest misconduct were not formally presented by police for charging while three were declined for prosecution based on the statute of limitations, Choi said.

Investigations continue on the ones that are open, including a case involving Archbishop John Nienstedt, he added.

Choi said the decisions not to charge those cases, reached earlier this month, represent only an initial phase of work by his office.

But he defended the decisions authorities have made so far, including the decision not to present the cases to a Ramsey County grand jury and the decision not to seek any search warrants that would open church archives — legal tools common in criminal matters, particularly in high profile and controversial cases.

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

MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Dan Ruiter, News Director

NEW ULM, Minn. –
The Diocese of New Ulm is hit with another lawsuit over priest sexual abuse allegations.

The Plaintiff identified as John Doe 116 is suing the Diocese, claiming church leaders were negligent in their supervision of Father Michael Skoblik.

Skoblik served in the New Ulm Diocese from 1965 to 1988.

He died in 1989.

The lawsuit was filed in September in Brown County District Court.

Back in September, we told you that Skoblik has been named in another lawsuit against the Diocese. Like that lawsuit, this one involves a boy in Silver Lake.

This lawsuit, filed by Minneapolis-based attorney Patrick Noaker, alleges that back in 1968, Father Skoblik forced an eleven year old boy to perform sex acts more than 100 times, and that Skoblik threatened the boy if he told anyone about the abuse, or if the boy refused to comply with Skoblik’s demands.

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ROME
Crux

John Allen

October 17, 2014
ROME – Heading into the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family, the granddaddy of all controversial issues was the idea of allowing Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church to return to communion.

After two eventful weeks, featuring at times intense debate, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that there simply is no consensus in the synod.

As a result, many sources say the most probable conclusion out of this gathering is that the idea needs further study, which is often a bureaucratic euphemism for saying we’re divided and don’t know what to do.

The Synod of Bishops is scheduled to take up its final report tomorrow, and it’s not clear when the text of the document will be released. Some predict Monday or Tuesday, while others think it may be delayed even further if there’s a significant chunk of “no” votes on critical passages.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

OCTOBER 17, 2014, BY SARAH J. CLARK

KANSAS CITY — A man who endured sexual abuse by a Catholic priest as a child is speaking out Friday about this week’s trial that resulted in a nearly $10 million settlement for clergy abuse victims.

Jon David Couzens is a former altar boy who sued the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City and St. Joseph in an 11 day trial that ended just before the jury would have started it’s deliberations.

Couzens is one of only two men in Missouri to ever take to trial a civil suit against the Catholic church for priest sex abuse. He says he endured 25 hours of repeatedly detailed and embarassing questions by lawyers for Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.

The diocese has agreed to pay nearly $10-million to settle Couzens’ suit and 29 others that allege sexual abuse by priests.

Couzens says in court, lawyers portrayed him in an unpleasant and unflattering light, but in the end he says it was worth it to get retribution for the abuse he has survived.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By James Nord
Associated Press
POSTED: 10/17/2014

The landmark clergy abuse settlement announced Monday leaves many unanswered questions about the future for victims, church finances and the continuing disclosure of abusive priests in Minnesota.

Catholic officials and victims’ attorneys said the accord was a needed change in the relationship between victims and the church. It’s also a departure from litigation that resulted in dramatic document releases.

The settlement includes child protection and disclosure provisions that two Minnesota dioceses have agreed to follow. Victims’ attorneys want to settle with additional dioceses across the state to encourage transparency, but others question the effectiveness of settling compared with litigation.

Critics are also concerned the church won’t follow the protocols in the settlement. Victim payouts could also result in diocesan bankruptcies, which some church officials haven’t ruled out.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Perry Stein on Oct. 15, 2014

There is no instance in which violating someone’s body should be considered anything less than reprehensible. These violations, as we learn over and over, come in many forms. There are the unwanted catcalls on the street, the stealing of nude photos off someone’s phone, and, most horribly, rape. All of these, and everything in between, constitute a violation of one’s being, and in the eyes of the law, most are considered illegal.

On Tuesday, police arrested Rabbi Barry Freundel, who leads the modern orthodox Kesher Israel congregation in Georgetown, on a voyeurism charge, saying he may have set up a camera in a room where people shower to prep for a mikveh, a spiritual bath. These are, of course, allegations, and if Freundel is found guilty, the law will hold him accountable.

But there’s something additionally disturbing about this alleged crime, which police say happened during a holy ritual. In Judaism, women and men partake in mikveh for a variety of reasons. Men and women must have a mikveh during the conversion process to Judaism. Women have one if they just had a baby and, in very religious settings, at the end of their menstrual cycle. It’s a spiritual cleansing, and the mikveh ceremony is supposed to be available for worshippers whenever they want it. Some will choose to have a mikveh because they’re feeling depressed or have had a major life event.

Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, the executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, explains that in a typical set-up, worshippers will enter a prep room, perhaps containing toothpaste, q-tips, and a shower, before the mikveh. The idea is to be naked and rinse one’s body of all dirt so that nothing comes in between the person and the mikveh. The person is then led into the mikveh room by a person from the temple. (Weiss-Greenberg says if it is a woman is going to the mikveh, then she’ll be led by a woman.) The mikveh itself is a bath filled with water that comes from a natural source.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Perry Stein on Oct. 17, 2014

New court documents reveal that the scope of the investigation into the Georgetown rabbi extends far beyond the six misdemeanor counts of voyeurism the rabbi was charged and pleaded not guilty to on Wednesday.

Barry Freundel, the now-suspended rabbi at the modern Orthodox Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown, is accused of secretly filming women while they showered in preparation for a mikveh, a ritual cleansing bath in Judaism. Police say videos show Freundel setting up the camera attached to a clock radio, which captured at least six partially naked or naked women in the shower area.

In a newly released affidavit and search warrant for the synagogue and Freundel’s home, the Metropolitan Police Department says it found that the recording device had more than 100 deleted files in it dating back to February. Some of the files are labeled under the first names of the women. In the preliminary investigation, “numerous” other women, according to the affidavit, told officials they believe they were also recorded changing in the shower area or mikveh room itself.

The acts of voyeurism were likely not limited to the mikveh area, and police say in the documents that evidence shows Freundel has been engaging in the activity with “several devices and over a period of time.” Police seized a similar recording device from Freundel’s home and found a manual for another hidden camera disguised as a fan.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Jewish Times

October 17, 2014
BY SUZANNE POLLACK

The Metropolitan Police Department is asking anyone who used the National Capital Mikvah in Georgetown to submit his or her photo to the department as part of the ongoing investigation into Rabbi Barry Freundel, who was charged Tuesday with voyeurism.

Freundel is accused of making secret video recordings of at least six women in the bathroom and shower area of the National Capital Mikvah as they dressed and undressed during their visit to the mikvah.

At least one D.C. woman who has used the mikvah decided to submit her photograph. Rabbi Freundel “is someone I trusted,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “He is the leader of the Jewish community. When you say his name, everyone knows it.”

The woman, who converted to Judaism through the Conservative Movement, had approached Freundel about receiving an Orthodox conversion. During that conversation, he told her he would take her to the mikvah for a practice dunk, even though she didn’t have the $25 fee with her.

Freundel did come into the shower room and talk to her there. She did not undress in his presence, the woman said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: STEVE KARNOWSKI , Associated Press Updated: October 17, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota prosecutor said Friday that charges are likely to be brought in one case of alleged sexual misconduct by a Catholic priest, but declined to give more details.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the case is one of three that are still under investigation by the St. Paul police.

But Choi said seven other cases of alleged sexual misconduct involving eight Catholic priests will not be prosecuted for various reasons.

Speaking to reporters, he said the statute of limitations had expired on three cases. Two priests suspected in one case had died, he said. There was not enough evidence to prove one case and investigators could not identify the suspects in the other two cases, Choi said.

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ALABAMA
Fox 6

[with video]

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) – Embattled church pastor Juan McFarland has complied with a judge’s order to turn over keys, bank accounts and a Mercedes Benz to Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church officials prior to a 5 p.m. deadline, according to the church’s board of trustees chairman

Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Charles Price ruled against McFarland earlier in the day, telling him in a preliminary injunction hearing to return the property to the church’s leadership. In addition to returning the property, the judge barred McFarland from the church’s property.

The ousted pastor arrived in the Mercedes around 4 p.m., surrendered it to the church, and drove away in a different Mercedes with an unidentified woman.

The ruling against the pastor came several hours after Judge Price called a morning recess for the courtroom, packed with more than two-thirds of the church’s members. Juan McFarland sat on the very back row and had to be called to the front by the judge to join his co-defendant.

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MINNESOTA
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Oct 17, 2014

Because everybody in the Catholic news world has been focused on that amazing synod in Rome, this week’s settlement of an abuse case in the Twin Cities has largely sailed under the radar. It shouldn’t have.

Negotiated between premier abuse victim lawyer Jeff Anderson and officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the settlement establishes 17 child protection protocols that ought to be adopted throughout the United States, if not the world. Most important is Protocol 17, which reads as follows:

When the Archdiocese receives a report of child sexual abuse and makes a mandated report to law enforcement pursuant to Minnesota statutes, the Archdiocese shall not conduct an internal investigation and will not interfere in any way with law enforcement until law enforcement concludes its investigation, closes its file without an investigation, or authorizes the Archdiocese to proceed with its investigation.

Time and again, when dioceses have failed to handle an abuse case properly in recent years, it’s been because their internal investigation failed to result in law enforcement being informed when a possible abuser was brought to their attention.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

A CATHOLIC priest who formerly taught at St Stanislaus’ College will spend at least 11 months behind bars after being convicted of abusing a West Australian teenager more than 30 years ago.

Glenn Humphreys, 61, was found guilty of abusing a boy between 1983 and 1986 when the boy was aged 15 to 17.

A District Court jury found Humphreys guilty of four counts of unlawful and indecent assault, but acquitted him of carnal knowledge against the order of nature.

During sentencing submissions on Wednesday, defence lawyer Seamus Rafferty argued there was an “immature context” to the offending rather than any form of grooming adding his client was “deeply remorseful” and had engaged in rehabilitation, which Judge Philip Eaton accepted.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Updated: Archbishop expected to step down; Bishop Scicluna expected to take over until new Archbishop is appointed

Archbishop Paul Cremona is expected to resign as the head of the Maltese Church, Times of Malta learnt last night. The resignation is expected to be made official tomorrow during a press conference.

The 68-year-old archbishop is believed to have written to Pope Francis requesting to step down, according to sources. It is not yet known whether the Vatican has formally accepted his request.

However, the church portal Newsbook reported this afternoon that Bishop Charles Scicluna is expected to take over the administration of the Church until a new Archbishop is appointed.

When contacted, a Curia spokesman said any such questions should be referred to the Apostolic Nunciature, which could not be reached for comment.

Should the Vatican give its blessing, Mgr Cremona would be the first head of the Church in Malta to step down before retirement age since the 19th century.

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MINNESOTA
City Pages

By Jesse Marx Fri., Oct. 17 2014

Before his death in 1985, Father Thomas Stitts is believed to have confessed his sins of sexual abuse — and the sins of some of his colleagues — in a letter. However, that letter may have been burned to protect the parties involved.

There is still one way to get to the bottom of what Stitts knew — by asking the priests who were close to him near the end, some of whom are still alive. But they’re not talking.

Father Richard Rice, for instance, is refusing to answer questions about his private conversations with Stitts as part of a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Rice’s excuse? Minnesota statute 595.02(c) — otherwise known as the “priest-penitent privilege.”

It says members of the clergy do not have to disclose the details of confessions, and is very often upheld by judges. But what makes this case different is that Rice spoke with Stitts as a spiritual adviser, outside the traditional confession-penance-absolution ritual that occurs in a box.

In court Thursday, Patrick Noaker, an attorney for a man who claims to have abused by Stitts as a boy, suggested that the archdiocese was withholding evidence by allowing Rice to remain silent.

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MICHIGAN
Daily Tribune

DETROIT (AP) >> A judge has refused to release a priest who is accused of secretly recording hockey players in the locker room at a Detroit school in the late 1990s.

The Rev. Richard Kurtz, formerly of Clarkston, is charged with production, transportation and possession of child pornography. He was recently arrested at a Missouri retreat for wayward priests and returned to Detroit.

Federal Judge Stephen Murphy III refused to grant bond to Kurtz on Thursday, saying he’s a threat to the public.

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ITALIA
La Nazione

[Priest investigated for pedophilia. “He has repeatedly abused the child”]

Viareggio, 16 ottobre 2014 – L’«ORCO» che avrebbe abusato ripetutamente di un ragazzino di 11 anni è un sacerdote. E’ questa la scioccante verità sulla quale da tempo la Procura di Lucca ha aperto un fascicolo. Un fascicolo che di giorno in giorno si è arricchito di testimonianze, di documenti medico-legali, di perizie concordati: il bambino è stato violentato. Una vicenda scabrosa, non l’unica, che da qualche tempo sta creando da una parte imbarazzo e dall’altra sgomento nel campo investigativo.

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ROME
John Thavis

The Synod of Bishops has entered the crucial, final 48 hours of its assembly, a time to produce results and deliver them to the pope and to the world.

From the outside, this synod is looking more and more like an amazingly candid exchange of ideas, with two different pastoral perspectives locked in a line-by-line, word-by-word debate over the final text.

The perspective emphasizing mercy, welcome and accompaniment was expressed in Monday’s remarkable midterm relatio, which proposed, among other things, that modern evangelization should begin by finding “positive elements” in unions and relationships that the church had always considered sinful or “irregular.” This is Pope Francis’ line, and I’m sure he would like to see it endorsed by this synod.

The critical reaction has been unusually blunt, by Vatican standards. The small-group reports released yesterday went beyond fine-tuning – some groups proposed what would amount to a recasting of the entire document in a more doctrinal mold. (We need to remember, however, that these reports deal only with proposed changes, so there may well be a greater-than-apparent level of consensus on much of the relatio.)

I would love to hear what Pope Francis thinks of the proceedings so far. It may be an exaggeration to say that his pastoral agenda is at stake, but it’s hard not to see this synod as an evaluation of his first 18 months in office. At one point in the synod, one bishop told the pope that not even he had the right to change divine law. That’s a measure of the resistance that has surfaced here.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Vatican press office tells The Malta Independent resignation of Archbishop still to be accepted

The Vatican Press office has said that the Church is still to accept the resignation offered by Archbishop Mgr Paul Cremona this week.

Speaking to The Malta Independent after a press conference held this morning about Sunday’s ceremony to beatify Pope Paul VI, the Vatican’s press officer Father Federico Lombardi said that the Vatican is still to confirm its position on the matter.

The Curia has in the meantime scheduled a press conference for Saturday.

The Malta Independent learnt yesterday evening that the head of the Maltese Church has written to Pope Francis informing him of his decision to step down.

A scheduled pastoral visit to Qormi this week was cancelled by the Archbishop as speculation about his future grew.

It would be the first time that a bishop in Malta requests to step down before the formal age of retirement at 75 years. Mgr Cremona is 68 years old and became archbishop seven years ago.

The resignation comes in the wake of reports that the Church in Malta was demoralised and needed a new leader. Priests have also expressed the concern about what they called a leadership vacuum.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Father John Fleming’s inappropriate relationships “wrong whichever way you cut it”, court hears

CHIEF COURT REPORTER SEAN FEWSTER THE ADVERTISER OCTOBER 17, 2014

FATHER John Fleming’s inappropriate relationship with a male parishioner and “prurient” interest in two teenage girls was “wrong whichever way you cut it”, a court has heard.

Lawyers for the Sunday Mail today told the Supreme Court their evidence against the prominent priest was a “contextual tsunami” that would “break” over his years of denials.

Andrew Harris, QC, for the newspaper — published by the same company as The Advertiser — said his client’s defence centred on the evidence of the girls and the man.

“This case is about three unconnected people who each thought they were the only ones to be involved sexually with Fr Fleming,” he said.

“Each of these three people will tell a story about Fr Fleming taking advantage of them and about the impact this has had on their lives.

“(One of them) effectively assumed the role of providing an outlet for his sexual urges … she thought her calling was to be a sexual outlet for a priest who was 15 years older than her.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Nathan Guttman
Published October 17, 2014.

WASHINGTON — A young woman jogging down O Street Thursday night slowed down as she passed by Kesher Israel synagogue, in the heart of Georgetown. “My father used to go here,” she told a group of congregants standing outside, before entering services on the eve of Simchat Torah. “I just wanted to tell you to be strong.”

For members of the synagogue, being strong following news of their rabbi’s arrest Tuesday meant going forward with the mitzvah of celebrating the Torah, even as he faced charges of peeping on women bathing in the mikveh, or ritual bath.

The scene at Kesher Thursday night made clear that its members were trying extra hard to celebrate this year. Rabbi Barry Freundel, leader of the prominent Washington, D.C. Orthodox congregation, was released to his home on Wednesday and banned from visiting the synagogue or being in touch with his alleged victims. Freundel is accused of installing a hidden camera in the synagogue’s mikveh and taping female congregants as they disrobed and dipped in the ritual bath. Investigators have seized his computer, on which they say they found nude images of at least six women he peeped on.
The holiday service was lay-led, not unusual for Kesher, and though Rabbi Freundel was undoubtedly on the mind of many, they did not allow the news hamper their celebrations. One member explained that this is the source of the congregation’s strength. “We have to continue,” he explained. “We are obliged to go ahead with the holiday services.”

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AUSTRALIA
Survivors of Clergy Abuse Australia (SoCAA)

We have come to understand that unless you specifically state and insist that you want evidence based treatment only you will most likely be handled by someone who has their own religious superstitions who will judge firstly on the basis of their unproven beliefs. This is a lottery style system that feeds you back to your original abusers and their religious culture. This is not an adequate or suitable form of treatment – in fact this is dangerous to you if you have progressed in any way towards being independent in your treatment.

There are no checks to prevent this from happening in any Australian government operated or funded systems and it appears that this can now also be found in pockets of the Royal Commission itself.

Their beliefs and belief systems take precedence over your well-being including how you are treated for any condition that you have as a result of your original abuse. You and your needs become secondary to their superstitions. This issue is rampant in those systems which have been funded or employed to support you.

You do not have to accept the fantasy beliefs of other people.

More than $45 million has been spent on support for victims and rarely can they find evidence based support. A psychologist trained in a Christian psychology school can only establish a toxic relationship with you while claiming to be able to support and to treat you – in this scenario you have become the trade goods that are being used to keep Christian trained people in employment, it allows them to prevent your healing from abuse by the religious as that allows them the freedom to dominate and to determine your treatment on the basis of their superstitious or mythological belief systems.

We have been unable to find any evidence of a survivor in active treatment with an evidence based system who successfully committed suicide. Survivors treated with evidence based systems reach far better outcomes more quickly, the treatment lasts for the rest of your life unlike superstition based treatments which become lifelong dependant relationships. Superstition based systems are a cess pit of re-trauma, re-abuse and misguided treatments. They do not serve your needs.

This leaves 100% of successful suicides of survivors of childhood clergy sexual abuse originating from superstition based systems of healing and treatment. This also happened in Ireland where suicides sky-rocketed out of control and continue to this day.

These are the systems your government prefers to fund and to foist on to you. They are a death sentence for far too many.

Simply demanding evidence based treatment is insufficient in some circumstances. You will be deceived and they will encourage you to remain within the superstitious system. You are profit for them as well as being in their control; your journey will become endless and will quickly fill with horror and re-trauma as they are unable to treat you properly for abuse by religious people. These forms of treatment are toxic, they are a danger to you.

The experience of many has been one that has repeatedly forced them into the mental health system where any form of medication can be forced on to you. This is claimed to be for your benefit. People with a superstitious agenda do not and can not act in your best interests. Demand and insist on evidence based treatments only.

If you should find yourself in such a situation we recommend that you feign belief in the Christian God or the God of Islam or the Jewish God (Preferably the Christian God) – they will accept you as their superstitions allow for this and will begin to treat you less severely, you are still in the most unhealthy and the most toxic environment possible for a survivor of clergy abuse. To stay is to risk your life and your sanity.

We recommend that you continue with this deception until you can flee these insane and unregulated, incompetent and toxic systems. Fleeing to an interstate location can buy you time so that you can connect with other survivors who may be able to assist. Most survivors have been forced into a medical haze and or poverty; very often the most they can offer you is a bed for a few nights and enough food to stop you going hungry – they are your safest allies.

Police and government funded systems in any Australian state are not your friends when you find yourself in these circumstances.

So that you obtain real counseling and support based on evidence you must reject offers for people who “have well defined boundaries” (or similar wording). This will on most occasions put you in the hands of a believer of fantasy – effectively you are back in a system that will silence you or send you insane until you prefer to kill yourself.

By demanding evidence based treatments you are rejecting all beliefs unless they can be validated by evidence. This will help protect you from those who have a belief that the only way to save you is to return you to the same system that abused you.

Before you can begin a genuine healing journey you need to free yourself from government funded superstition based belief systems. Ensure your own safety and ensure that you have some form of protection for your life and your sanity – insist on evidence based treatments only .

Thank you.
rgds
JohnB

contact@molestecatholics.com
Australia 0756412311
SKYPE: TFYQA1

Prepared, written and distributed by John A Brown 17, October, 2014. Please distribute to any know survivors of clergy abuse in Australia urgently.

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CALIFORNIA
The Guardian

Reuters in Los Angeles
The Guardian, Thursday 16 October 2014

The author John Grisham apologised on Thursday for comments he made to the Daily Telegraph that not all men who look at child abuse images should be sent to prison and that sentences for such crimes were too harsh.

Grisham, who is about to publish his new legal thriller, made the comments to the British newspaper in the context of a wide-ranging attack on the US judicial system and its high prison rates.

Parts of the interview were available on video on the Telegraph’s website on Thursday, and will be published in full on Saturday, the paper said.

Grisham also issued an apology on his own website:

“Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure, or who in any way participates in child pornography – online or otherwise – should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JON KAILA CRIME REPORTER HERALD SUN OCTOBER 17, 2014

AN ELDERLY man has been charged with scores of historical sex offences.

The man, aged 72, was arrested in Cairns and will be extradited back to Victoria today and face 62 charges at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

The arrest follows an investigation by SANO Taskforce detectives into alleged sex attacks on seven victims in Greensborough between 1968 and 1974.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

On 17 January 1951, John was one of the first boys to enter Rubane House, the boys home run by the De La Salle order which is currently being investigated by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

John (not his real name) was 14 years old at the time.

“I was frightened because I didn’t know what to make of it. The big place looked like somewhere medieval,” he said in an exclusive interview with UTV Live Tonight.

John, now aged 77, recalled how he was sexually abused on the day after he arrived there under the guise of horseplay and was continually beaten for no reason.

On one occasion, he was caned on the hands so badly that his fingernail came off and he was left on his knees crying in pain.

Another time, he was sent to get a film but lost the ten shilling note. Terrified of what would happened to him, he ran away and was picked up by the police.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 17, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A man who was repeatedly molested by his youth pastor lashed out at church elders, accusing them of using the child sexual abuse royal commission to “justify their failings and minimise their responsibilities”.

In a statement read out to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, the man, now aged in his mid-20s, described his life as a living hell.

The royal commission heard that he was abused for two years from the age of 13 to 15 by a youth pastor at his Pentecostal church in Queensland.

Jonathan Baldwin was convicted over the offences in 2009 and sentenced to eight years jail but has since been released. His father-in-law, Ian Lehmann, was the senior pastor of the church at the time of the offences.

His victim, given the pseudonym ALA, said Mr Lehmann and the umbrella body for the Pentecostal movement, Australian Christian Churches, had failed him and his family.

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ROME
Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 17, 2014 – “The spirit of the Council is blowing again,” Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle has said, a rising star of the worldwide episcopate as well as being a historian of Vatican II. And it is true. At the synod that is about to conclude there are many elements in common with what happened at that great event.

The most visible similarity is the distance between the real synod and the virtual synod driven by the media.

But there is an even more substantial resemblance. Both at Vatican Council II and at this synod the changes of paradigm are the product of careful coordination. A protagonist of Vatican II like Fr. Giuseppe Dossetti – the consummate strategist of the four cardinal moderators who were at the controls of the conciliar machine – asserted this with pride. He said that he had “transformed the fate of the Council” thanks to his capacity to pilot the assembly, which he had learned in his previous political experience as the leader of the foremost Italian party.

The same thing has happened at this synod. Both the openness to communion for the civilly divorced and remarried – and therefore the admission of remarriage on the part of the Church – and the startling change of paradigm on the issue of homosexuality that found its way into the “Relatio post disceptationem” would not have been possible without a series of skillfully calculated steps on the part of those who had and have control of the procedures.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Oct. 16, 2014

INDEPENDENCE, MO.
After 11 days of testimony from three dozen witnesses related to a lawsuit alleging clergy sexual abuse, jurors here never received for deliberation the case brought by a former altar boy against the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese.

Instead, a global $9.95 million settlement Tuesday night resolved the suit and 29 others against the diocese, just hours before closing arguments were set to begin Wednesday.

A statement from the diocese said the claims were filed between 2010 and early 2014 and involved allegations dating back 20 years or more. Insurers will cover “a significant amount of the settlement,” it said, with the diocese responsible for the remaining balance.

The diocese indicated the agreement resolves all outstanding historical sexual abuse claims. A case related to former priest Shawn Ratigan remains pending.

“The Diocese sincerely hopes that this settlement can bring about some closure to those hurt by abuse in the past. The Diocese also prays for a healing which can bring peace to the hearts of all of those hurt by child sexual abuse,” the statement 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.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: ARTHUR MCCAFFREY Updated: October 16, 2014

If anything, there has been too much fear of appearing to be presumptuous with regard to “internal matters.”

If consistency is a virtue, then the Star Tribune Editorial Board should be full of grace: It has now called twice for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt — first last July, then again this week in conjunction with the procedural settlement between abuse victims, their lawyers and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Charles Rogers, an attorney negotiator for the archdiocese, described the landmark accord as a “global settlement,” with both economic and noneconomic portions. Reversing the national trend, the innovative policies and procedures (the noneconomic part) were settled before the wrangling over cash takes place, with the hope that goodwill created by the former would optimize outcomes for victims.

That July editorial (“To heal church, Nienstedt must go”) went out on a limb, with editors worried that some might think it “presumptuous for a secular news organization to advise a church about internal matters.” This time around, the Editorial Board was less apologetic — emboldened, no doubt, by a critique from 12 apostle-professors at the University of St. Thomas who had publicly lambasted Nienstedt last month for his failed leadership (even though they stopped short of demanding his resignation).

These editorials have performed a brave public service, despite the editors’ initial misgivings about possible backlash for meddling in the “internal matters” of a religious institution — even though the “matters” in question could not be more public in both their causes and effects. Namely, church employees committing criminal acts against children, while their managers obstruct justice by covering up the crimes and enabling further terrorization of victims. To be worried about “presumptuousness” in this context is a wee bit like the FBI worrying about intruding on the internal workings of organized crime.

Yet backlash there will be. Like most newspapers taking stances on sports, religion or politics, the Star Tribune will find itself in the position of “damned if you do/damned if you don’t.” It will take its licks from two sources: from church defenders leveling accusations of “Catholic-bashing” and from people like me accusing the media of being too soft and deferential on Catholic criminality.

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.

DOMINIKANISCHE REPUBLIK
Radio Vatikan

In der Dominikanischen Republik mehren sich Stimmen von Menschenrechtsvertretern, die eine stärkere Präsenz des Karibikstaates im anstehenden Verfahren gegen den ehemaligen Nuntius Jozef Wesolowski im Vatikan fordern. Die dominikanische Ombudsfrau Zoila Martinez rief am Donnerstag im dominikanischen Nachrichtenportal „Noticias SIN“ Generalstaatsanwalt Francisco Dominguez Brito auf, eine Kommission zu bilden, die das Land während der Gerichtsverhandlung in Rom vertritt. Ziel einer solchen Kommission müsse es sein, die Familien der Missbrauchsopfer zu repräsentieren und zu unterstützen, so Martinez. „Das Land darf nicht mit verschränkten Armen da stehen. Wir müssen in der Anhörung als moralische Vertretung der Missbrauchsopfer präsent sein.“

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
La Nacion Dominicana

[Ombudsman Dra. Zoila Martinez asked the republic’s attorney general, Dr. Francisco Dominquez Brito, to appoint a commission to travel to the Vatican to represent the country during the trial of former papal nuncio Jozef Wesolowski. She explained it is one way to support the families and victims who are said to be abused by the former nuncio. The Dominican Republic cannot remain with arms crossed and must be present at the hearing, she said. She argued the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican should also assist the commission.]

Santo Domingo, R.D.- La Defensora del Pueblo, Dra. Zoila Martínez solicitó al Procurador General de la República, Dr. Francisco Domínguez Brito designar una comisión para que junto a la Defensoría del Pueblo, viajen al Vaticano a representar al país durante el juicio que se llevará a cabo en contra del ex nuncio Józef Wesołowski.

Explicó que es una forma de apoyar a los familiares y a las víctimas que fueron abusadas por el ex nuncio en el país.

“El país no puede quedarse con los brazos cruzados, debemos estar presentes en la audiencia en representación moral de las víctimas que fueron abusadas”. Explicó Martínez.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Abuse victim who endured abuse trial speaks out
Dozens of his family and friends rally around him
Victims also push KC church officials to do more about 2 ousted priests
They are still priests, were part of new settlement, and now live out of state

WHAT
Surrounded by relatives and friends, the KC man who endured a two week clergy sex abuse and cover up trial will speak for the first time publicly about the ordeal and how he was treated by church lawyers.

And clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers to church goers. The leaflets urge KC’s embattled Catholic bishop to warn the public – in KC, Nevada and Pennsylvania – about two credibly accused KC predator priests who have quietly been sent elsewhere

WHEN
Friday, Oct. 17 at 11:45 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 416 W. 12th in downtown KC MO

WHO
Plaintiff Jon David Couzens and two dozen of his friends and family including members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
Couzens is one of just two men in Missouri to ever take a clergy sex abuse civil case to trial. Lawyers for KC Bishop Robert Finn deposed him for roughly 25 hours, repeatedly asking extremely detailed and embarrassing questions.

And in court, they revealed deeply personal information about him and drew inferences and “conclusions” about him that deliberately – and deceptively – portrayed him in the most unpleasant and unflattering ways possible.

Two accused predator priests from Kansas City who were involved in the just-settled clergy sex abuse suits have been quietly sent out of state and now live among unsuspecting neighbors, SNAP says.

The group wants Bishop Robert Finn – and bishops in those states – to warn parents, police, prosecutors and parishioners about the clerics.

They are Fr. Mark Honhart and Fr. Thomas Cronin. (Photos of both are at BishopAccountability.org)

Fr. Honhart was ordained in the Kansas City diocese in 1980 and worked there until 2002 when he was transferred to New Mexico and then to Pennsylvania. Three civil lawsuits have been filed against Fr. Honhart with all three allegations having taken place in Kansas City.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A police inspector who advised a church body charged with handling reports of child abuse did not see it as her role to pass on information to her superiors.

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) was today questioning Inspector Beth Cullen about her role on the Catholic Church’s Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) – a body set up to help funnel information about sex abuse cases to the police.

Using a system called ‘blind reporting’, the information about abuse incidents would be given to police without victims’ details. In some cases the blind report said the victim did not want police involvement when in fact they did.

Insp Cullen, who attended the monthly PSRG meetings for six years, said she didn’t see it as her role to pass each abuse case to police.

‘My role wasn’t as a police liaison officer or conduit of information to police,’ she told the hearing in Sydney.

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
Newcastle Herald

By MICHELLE HARRIS Oct. 17, 2014.

A POLICE officer never reported or told her superiors of the dozens of cases of child sexual abuse she learnt of through her involvement with a Catholic Church advisory group, telling the police watchdog ‘‘that wasn’t my role’’.

Inspector Elizabeth Cullen rejected any conflict of interest between her membership from 1999 to 2005 of the Church’s Professional Standards Resources Group, which was set up to consider abuse victims’ complaints, and her responsibilities as an officer.

In her evidence to the Police Integrity Commission on Friday, she said she was a member of the group to provide her expert advice to the Church on addressing child sexual abuse and was not a ‘‘police liaison or…conduit of information’’.

The NSW Police Force had not expected her to make such reports, she said.

The commission is considering whether police ‘‘condoned’’ the Church withholding information from police about clergy abuse.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 17, 2014

Paul Bibby

A NSW Police Inspector learnt about scores of child sex abuse cases while on a Catholic Church advisory committee but did not report any of the information back to the force, the police watchdog has heard.

The officer told the NSW Police Integrity Commission on Friday that her role was that of an “adviser or liaison” not as an “investigator or conduit of information”.

The Commission is investigating whether police engaged in misconduct through their participation in the Catholic Church’s professional standard’s research group – a body set up to advise the church as it dealt with complaints of clergy abuse through its controversial “towards healing” program.

On Friday, the sole police representative on the research group, Inspector Elizabeth Cullen – who was a senior sergeant at the time of her involvement – told the Commission that she saw numerous case summaries setting out allegations of child sexual abuse, but never took them back to her police colleagues.

This included one case summary, from June 2001, where a member of the clergy was referred to as “likely to be a serious, serial offender”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Friday 17 October 2014

A senior police officer at the centre of hearings into the force’s relationship with the Catholic church has broken down in tears while defending the practice of “blind reporting” sex abuse.

Inspector Elizabeth Cullen was a member of the Professional Standards Resources Group (PSRG) between 1999 and 2005, a body that supported the church’s Professional Standards Office (PSO).

But Cullen, a police officer for 28 years, told the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) it was not her role to make direct reports to her superiors at the child protection squad about incidents of abuse being handled by the PSO.

Counsel assisting, Kristina Stern, on Friday asked Cullen if sex abuse victims whose cases were brought before the PSO should have been encouraged to talk to police so they could make an informed choice about making a criminal complaint.

“There was an over-arching factor that their wishes be respected,” she said, referring to abuse sufferers who requested privacy while detailing allegations.

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UNITED STATES
Adventist News Network

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SENDS EDITS TO NEXT JULY’S GC SESSION FOR CONSIDERATION
October 16, 2014 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Edwin Manuel Garcia/ANN

Delegates at the 2014 General Conference Annual Council this week agreed to amend some chapters of the Church Manual, including adding new details to further specify the reasons that members can face discipline.

The 13 reasons for which members can be disciplined—such as disloyalty to the church and physical violence—did not change. But the section that deals most closely with extramarital relationships was expanded to include details on specific definitions relating to sexual conduct.

The current wording on that section states that members can be disciplined for “violation of the seventh commandment of the law of God as it relates to the marriage institution, the Christian home and biblical standards of moral conduct.”

The Church Manual revision committee proposed to replace that statement with the following: “Violation of the commandment of the law of God, which reads, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ (Ex. 20:14, Matt. 5:28), as it relates to the marriage institution and the Christian home, biblical standards of moral conduct, and any act of sexual intimacy outside of a marriage relationship and/or non‑consensual acts of sexual conduct within a marriage whether those acts are legal or illegal. Such acts include but are not limited to child sexual abuse, including abuse of the vulnerable. Marriage is defined as a public, lawfully binding, monogamous, heterosexual relationship between one man and one woman.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

Ralph Iannotti

IRWIN (KDKA) — A local church volunteer, who had contact with children, is facing child pornography charges.

Andrew Patterson, 45, who’s married and has a teenager daughter, was arrested Thursday and charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and sexual abuse of children.

Patterson, described by friends as a computer genius, allegedly shared photos of children in sexually explicit situations with others on the Internet. One of the images investigators say they retrieved from his computer showed an adult male with a baby girl.

Patterson recently started doing volunteer work with youth groups at a non-denominational church in Irwin, Westmoreland County.

Rev. Roy Tryon, of the Living Waters Family Worship Center, told KDKA’s Ralph Iannotti that he was stunned when Patterson called him and left a message on his cell phone saying, “I resign. I expect to be arrested soon; I’m a horrible person.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jessica Kidd
Fri 17 Oct 2014

A senior police officer who sat on an internal Catholic Church panel set up to manage allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy says it was not her role to report that information back to New South Wales Police, an inquiry has heard.

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) is investigating whether then-Senior Sergeant Elizabeth Cullen’s appointment to the Church’s Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) amounted to police misconduct. She is now an Inspector.

It is also examining whether an information-sharing arrangement between the Church and the police breached mandatory reporting laws set out in the NSW Crimes Act.

The commission heard Inspector Cullen was privy to individual cases of alleged sexual abuse by members of the clergy when she sat on the PSRG from 1999 until 2005, while working in the Child Protection Enforcement Agency.

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UNITED STATES
Aljazeera America

October 17, 2014

by Puck Lo

Frank Lindsay, 62, is a father, small-business owner and avid surfer. He’s also one of 105,000 people in California — and 760,000 nationally — listed as a sex offender. In accordance with federal law, his name, photograph and home address appear in a public, online offender registry. In 1979, Lindsay, then 27, was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14.

“I thought I could do whatever I wanted,” Lindsay says. “Add on some alcohol, and I was a real asshole.”

Today, Lindsay considers himself a reformed man. He says he hasn’t had a drink in 30 years, is a Taoist and advocate for restorative justice — encouraging violent people to make amends for their actions. But, he says, “It seems that I can never be forgiven.”

Few groups are as widely despised as sex offenders. Activities prosecuted as sex offenses vary by state, but can include public urination, consensual sex between teenagers, streaking, prostitution, downloading child pornography and rape. In some states, law-enforcement officials distribute flyers to notify neighbors of registrants’ convictions. Some registrants are prohibited from using the Internet. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that indefinite detention at psychiatric hospitals — or “civil commitment” — of sex offenders is constitutional.

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ALABAMA
KFVS

[with video]

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) – Embattled church pastor Juan McFarland has complied with a judge’s order to turn over keys, bank accounts and a Mercedes Benz to Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church officials prior to a 5 p.m. deadline, according to the church’s board of trustees chairman

Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Charles Price ruled against McFarland earlier in the day, telling him in a preliminary injunction hearing to return the property to the church’s leadership. In addition to returning the property, the judge barred McFarland from the church’s property.

The ousted pastor arrived in the Mercedes around 4 p.m., surrendered it to the church, and drove away in a different Mercedes with an unidentified woman.

The ruling against the pastor came several hours after Judge Price called a morning recess for the courtroom, packed with more than two-thirds of the church’s members. Juan McFarland sat on the very back row and had to be called to the front by the judge to join his co-defendant.

Both McFarland and his co-defendant, Marc Peacock, Sr. were being sued by church members who say they voted McFarland out of the church by an 80-1 margin after he admitted from the pulpit to having sexual relations inside the church building – with congregants – while knowingly having AIDS. McFarland has also admitted to drug abuse and misuse of church finances. Still, the pastor refused to step down.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 17, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Australian Pentecostal churches might have to enforce a strict national child protection policy as a condition of registration with their umbrella body Australian Christian Churches, a royal commission has heard.

The national president of Australian Christian Churches, Wayne Alcorn, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse that the organisation would review its structure after listening to shocking cases of abuse which occurred at three affiliated churches.

A mandatory and enforceable child protection policy for the ACC’s 1000 churches will be discussed at the national executive conference in April next year.

“We will seriously examine whether or not we can demand, for ongoing registration, the adoption and adherence to a policy for child protection,” he said.

Churches registered with the ACC are independently run by their senior pastors and not currently required to adopt any policies from their umbrella body.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP OCTOBER 17, 2014

A YOUNG man abused as a boy by a Pentecostal pastor says attempts by leaders of the movement to justify themselves at a royal commission have made him even angrier.

HIS statement was read on the fifth day of a hearing into how a Queensland church and the Australian Christian Churches (ACC) handled allegations youth pastor Jonathan Baldwin sexually abused the boy for two years from 2004 to 2006.

“The past 10 years of my life have been a living hell,” he said.

The young man, given the pseudonym ALA, said the local church and the ACC “utterly failed to acknowledge, take responsibility, support and help my family and I anywhere near an acceptable level”.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The involvement of Hillsong pastor Brian Houston in handling abuse allegations against his father is one reason the Pentecostal movement will review its conflict of interest rules, an inquiry has heard.

Wayne Alcorn, the national president of the Australian Christian Churches (ACC) group that represents 1000 affiliated churches, said today the conflict of interest rules only covered financial matters not familial.

He was giving evidence at the end of a two-week hearing in which the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse looked at three cases of child abuse in Pentecostal institutions.

In two of these cases, there was a familial conflict of interest.

In the first case, well-known Hillsong church senior pastor Brian Houston, who was then president of the ACC, handled complaints against his father Frank Houston.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

The problem of the Roman Catholic Church today is not gays, divorcees, schism, blasphemy or heresy but – extinction and total annihilation – and no Council of the Vatican or of Constance and Synod of Bishops can turn back the clock of time that’s leading to St. Peter’s Basilica turning into another Parthenon where giant statues as those of Zeus and festivals and incenses are a thing of the wistful past. This extinction and annihilation is already happening with the mass exodus of millions countless Catholics who no longer go to church or are formally asking for their “de-baptism” especially in the continents of Europe as best exemplified in The Netherlands, in Germany, and in North America in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where hundreds of Catholic churches are shut down and sold because of empty pews and disappearance of Roman Catholic believers, read more and see PHOTOS of extinct churches here – Jesus Christ is liberated from hundreds of tabernacles (prison) in Catholic churches shut down, sold-off, converted into apartments, stores, warehouses http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/09/jesus-christ-is-liberated-from-hundreds.html

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle
Fri 17 Oct 2014

A man who was sexually abused by a Sunshine Coast youth pastor as a child says Australian Christian Churches was more concerned with protecting its reputation than protecting him, an inquiry heard.

The Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has completed hearings into the way Pentecostal churches managed complaints of child sexual abuse in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

On the final day of evidence at the Sydney hearing, Peter O’Brien, the lawyer representing a man who was abused by the youth pastor read a statement from his client, known as ALA, that said the past 10 years had been a “living hell”.

“They failed to detect the abuse. They failed to prevent the abuse. They failed to support us through the criminal trial process,” ALA said.

“It appears to me they were more concerned about the reputation and financial position of the ACC (Australian Christian Churches) above all else.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Pentecostal movement needs a hotline for senior pastors to report child sex abuse allegations to the executive, a retired church leader says.

Chris Peterson was senior pastor of a small church in Queensland when Jonathan Baldwin, a former youth pastor, was jailed for eight years for indecent treatment of a child under 16 and one count of sodomy.

At a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing on Thursday, Pastor Peterson said he accepted some responsibility for not passing the information up the line to the state and national executive of the Australian Christian Churches (ACC).

ACC is the umbrella body to which more than 1000 Pentecostal churches are affiliated.

It credentials pastors but the local churches are autonomous and expected to deal with abuse cases themselves. They can arrange insurance cover through the business arm of the ACC.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: MARK PETERSON Updated: October 16, 2014

The media tirelessly cover the sex abuse scandal, focusing on a just a sliver of the priesthood.

The Star Tribune regularly reminds us of the scandal in the Catholic Church, highlighting the horrible actions of the priests who molested young boys and the bishops who covered up for those priests.

These priests and bishops committed horrendous sins and will be held to account not only in the media but by Almighty God. As a practicing Catholic, I pray often for healing for all the victims of this terrible abuse.

Yet I believe that today’s media are painting a picture of the Catholic Church based on the actions of a minority of priests. The John Jay Report of 2011 estimated that about 4 percent of priests were accused of abuse between 1950 and 2002.

On a regular basis, newspapers print front-page stories detailing the actions of the four among every 100 priests who went astray, while paying little or no heed to the 96 good and humble priests who have remained faithful and true to God and to their congregations.

The story has become so distorted that it is like opening a Bible to the New Testament accounts and finding references only to Judas Iscariot, the one apostle of the 12 who went astray, while discovering that the references to the 11 who remained faithful have been expunged, or perhaps mentioned only in footnotes. Judas Iscariot’s actions should never be used to tarnish Jesus and his message. In the same way, the actions of four of every 100 priests cannot falsify the teachings of the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Stefan Armbruster
17 OCT 2014

A 72-year-old priest deported from Papua New Guinea to Australia on Wednesday is expected to be charged with 62 historical sexual assault offences against seven victims.

A Cairns court this morning approved Roger Melville Mount’s extradition from Cairns to Victoria.

Detectives from Victoria historical child sexual abuse SANO Task Force have arrested the man.

The alleged incidents happened in the Melbourne suburb of Greensborough between 1968 and 1974, Victoria Police said in a press release.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Times Editorial Board October 16, 2014

The recent landmark settlement between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona and sexual abuse victims is remarkable for its accomplishment and promise.

The accomplishment is a list of protocols agreed to by Roman Catholic church leaders and the lawyers for abuse victims.

According to an Associated Press news report, the protocols include:

• Church leaders won’t recommend a priest for active ministry or for a position working with minors if the priest has been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

• Church leaders won’t conduct an internal investigation or “interfere in any way” with law enforcement investigations.

• Each clergy member will sign a declaration stating he has not abused a minor.

• The diocese must reveal the names of all abusers and all documents related to their cases.

• More details about the care the archdiocese is required to provide victims.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Daily Star Journal

Kansas City — An 11-day trial in a former altar boy’s lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph ended abruptly with a nearly $10 million settlement that covers his case and 29 others alleging sexual abuse by priests.

Jon David Couzens filed his lawsuit in 2011 alleging he was repeatedly molested by Monsignor Thomas O’Brien three decades ago and the diocese took no action to protect him, The Kansas City Star reported. He had been seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and an undisclosed amount of punitive damages, far more than what he will receive under the $9.95 million deal announced Tuesday.

“Even though mine is just one of 30 lawsuits, this gives the other victims a chance to be free and be able to speak about it,” Couzens said. “Not just these 30 victims, but those who haven’t had a voice.”

The 30 lawsuits were filed from September 2010 through February 2014 involving 13 current and former priests, several of whom have died. The alleged sexual abuse happened between 1963 and 1987.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Elyse Goldstein

It’s time for Simchat Torah, but I don’t feel much like dancing. A promise I made long ago has been broken.

In the summer of 1986, I wrote what many consider the first piece about non-Orthodox women using the mikvah. Published in Lilith Magazine, in “Take Back the Waters” I proposed a feminist re-appropriation of mikvah and all its symbolism. I suggested that the mikvah no longer be considered the domain only of married women; its rationale not only to make us “kosher” for resumed sex with our husbands but to mark important moments in our female lives: first menstruation, menopause, lactation. After that article I started taking women to the mikvah for all sorts of experiences: after chemotherapy, after marital infidelity, after rape. I went before my ordination and again after shloshim for my sister. I wrote other articles and suggested many times that mikvah be considered “spiritual therapy.” I found myself on panels with psychologists speaking about how helpful mikvah could be for these non-traditional uses.

In effect, I promised women that the patriarchy which controlled our bodies and the mikvah itself could be overturned with our good feminist intentions.

This week proved me wrong.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-highly respected Orthodox rabbi, is accused of peeping at women through hidden cameras in the mikvah. Much has been said and written already about all this.

Let me add my voice in this direction: we must continue to see this travesty not as an isolated incident but as a result of a system which continues to both sexualize and desexualize women concurrently, and all within the name of Jewish law.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Jewish Times

October 16, 2014
BY DMITRIY SHAPIRO

Shuffling into Superior Court Magistrate Judge William Nooter’s courtroom late Wednesday in ankle chains and handcuffs, a black kippah atop his head and a grave, pensive expression on his face, Rabbi Barry Freundel entered a plea of not guilty to six charges of voyeurism.

The rabbi’s wife, Sharon, and a young woman who appeared to be the rabbi’s daughter, sat emotionless in the gallery as they had the entire day waiting for the preliminary arraignment.

In contrast to their apparent stoicism, Emma Shulevitz, 27, of Rockville, one of the alleged victims in the case was outspoken in her reaction to being allegedly recorded undressing before a practice run of her mikvah ceremony required as part of her conversion to Judaism.

“I feel violated,” she said. “The ceremony is supposed to be between a woman and God and not between a woman and her rabbi.”

Freundel, who had served as head rabbi at the Modern Orthodox Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown and is currently suspended without pay, is accused of making secret video recordings of women in the bathroom and shower area of the National Capital Mikvah, which is separated from the main synagogue by a courtyard. Although a separate legal entity for tax and legal purposes, the mikvah is affiliated with the synagogue.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS – Crimesider

[with vidoe]

WASHINGTON – Police say a rabbi set up a recording device disguised as a digital clock radio to secretly videotape at least six women changing clothes at a ritual cleansing bath affiliated with his District of Columbia synagogue.

The rabbi, 62-year-old Barry Freundel, is charged with voyeurism. He appeared in court Wednesday and was released from custody but ordered to stay away from his alleged victims and his synagogue.

Charging documents filed in D.C. Superior Court allege Freundel set up the recording device in the changing and showering area of the National Capital Mikvah, which is affiliated with the Kesher Israel Congregation.

Police say he recorded women on June 2 and Sept. 13, and that he appears on tape setting up the device.

The congregation’s website says Freundel, who has been the rabbi there for over 25 years, has been suspended without pay. Freundel also held a teaching position at Towson University. The school has since suspended him, reports CBS Baltimore.

Emma Sulevitz, a 27-year-old Maryland woman, told 48 Hours’ Crimesider she believes she may be a victim of the rabbi. She says she went for a “practice dunk” at his ritual cleansing bath, or mikvah, in 2012 when she was in the midst of converting to Judaism.

“I remember the clock. He said, ‘Don’t put anything there. No, you can’t do that,'” Sulevitz said. “I always thought that was suspicious.”

Sulevitz said she went through with the submersion that day and that afterwards, Freundel was sure to advise her that she still hadn’t officially been converted and told her she could come back to practice “as many times as you want.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Fox 5

[with video]

By Paul Wagner, FOX 5 Reporter

WASHINGTON –
There is new information in the case of the rabbi accused of voyeurism. Newly unsealed search warrants show police found another device inside Barry Freundel’s Georgetown home capable of “surreptitious” recording along with evidence the rabbi had been secretly recording women in “several” different locations.

The search warrant affidavits say investigators found evidence in the rabbi’s home indicating the 62-year-old was saving files of women undressing in the shower of the synagogue’s mikvah and they were listed by name.

The warrants also say investigators discovered evidence the rabbi has been using more than one recording device with files going back to at least February of this year.

The two warrants, one for the rabbi’s home and the other for the synagogue, show D.C. police took quite a bit of potential evidence out of Freundel’s O Street home when they searched it Tuesday.

A list of the items seized includes six external hard drives, seven laptops, five desktop computers, three cameras, 20 memory cards and 11 flash drives.

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CANADA
CTV Ottawa

[with video]

Published Thursday, October 16, 2014

There are more allegations of fraud within Ottawa’s Catholic Church.

CTV News has learned the allegations target three men– including an Ottawa lawyer– who sat on the St. Patrick’s Fallowfield Cemetery Committee.

St. Patrick’s Fallowfield Catholic Church is one the most popular parish’s in west-Ottawa.
The troubling allegations date back more than a decade, reported for the first time now only after a CTV investigaton.

According to court documents, The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of the City of Ottawa has launched a lawsuit seeking damages of 736-thousand dollars. The civil lawsuit names three men, Ottawa lawyer Ronald Houlahan, Michael Rooney and Glenn Clarke, all former members of the church’s cemetery committee.

It’s alleged they used “deceitful transactions” to divert $413,970 from the St. Patrick’s Fallowfield Cemetery. The allegations of fraudulent activity date back to 2003 and continued until 2011. A forensic investigation alleges that over those eight years money from the sale of plots had gone missing, honorariums were handed out, and unsupported payments were made through the signing of cheques by all three men. The alleged irregularities only discovered after a review of the cemetery’s finances in 2010.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 10/16/2014

Rumors spread among priests in the Twin Cities archdiocese after the Rev. Thomas Stitts died in 1985: He had written a letter to be sent to another priest upon his passing. It “spoke of his personal moral life and implicated several priests in his activities,” according to an internal church memo.

At least 15 men have accused Stitts of sexually abusing them when they were boys at parishes in Hastings, St. Paul, Edina and Long Lake, Minn.

Stitts’ letter came up in a Ramsey County courtroom Thursday as attorneys debated whether the former Rev. Dick Rice — the priest who was to have received it — should be ordered to disclose more information.

“This man deserves to ask the question: Did Stitts ever admit to abusing this boy?” attorney Patrick Noaker said, gesturing toward his client, who has sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as John Doe 104.

Noaker conducted a deposition of Rice on June 18. Rice said he did not know the letter existed until “very recently.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

Syed Shabbir

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Just outside the Catholic Diocese Center in downtown Kansas City, Mo., a half circle of men formed Thursday afternoon to share their stories of how they were sexually abused as children by priests.

Their demonstration comes just two days after the Diocese agreed to pay $9.95 million to settle 32 cases of abuse involving 13 local priests.

Among the cases was Phillip Ricottas’.

“Little by little the grooming started, and you find yourself at that age in places you don’t want to be,” Pisciotta said. “And there’s no way out.”

Pisciotta said his abuse happened in 1962 and 1963 at St. Bernadette’s Parish in Raytown, Mo. He was 12 at the time and didn’t speak of it until 40 years later.

“You find creative ways to block it,” Pisciotta said. “But it’s always there.”

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Pope Francis keeps preaching about the Gospel of the Poor yet he is nowhere near poor West Africa in the fight against Ebola. If Pope Francis really means it about helping the poor other than lip-service to them, he should partake in the fight against Ebola after all the Vatican Roman Catholic Church is the wealthiest institution on the planet and he should donate some billions of dollars – looted from hundreds of countries through the years via the Vatican Concordats, read more here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/abolish-vatican-concordat-in-dominican.html. Pope Francis should dip a small bucket of maybe 2 or 3 billion dollars – especially from the hundreds of billions of dollars and assets of the Vatican in the USA. Francis must walk the talk from his Vatican Circus and show not only his teeth but the Vatican Billions that can make a difference in the lives of the poor.

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VATICAN CITY
Bolletino

Relatio – Circulus Anglicus “A”

Moderator: Em.mo Card. Raymond Leo BURKE
Relator: S.E. Mons. John Atcherley DEW

I present this report of behalf of the English speaking group Anglicus “A”. The group has suggested a number of amendments to the RELATIO POST DISCEPTATIONEM, some are major amendments and others quite small, nevertheless they have significant meaning attached to them. In proposing amendments we have shifted the focus from particular situations described in the Relatio to the people involved in the situations, concentrating on the goodness to be found in them.

We believed that there needed to be a new introduction to the Relatio. Our proposed Introduction is placed within the context of the great gift of the Sacrament of Matrimony and the grace of God freely given through the sacraments. It also provides a theological anthropological foundation, which we believe is needed in order to address serious issues spoken on in the Synod. We have addressed these issues within the context of Scripture and the remarkably rich Magisterium of the Church. We want the final Synod document to speak of human life, marriage and family life, as we know it to be revealed to us by God through reason and faith, both aided by the grace of God. The Relatio Synodi must proclaim the truth of the Gospel, the truth of human life and sexuality as revealed by Christ. The Word of Christ illuminates our knowledge of human nature and the intrinsic sexuality of man and woman through the natural law.

We agreed that this is to be a pastoral document, as has been expressed as the wish of the Synod, a document which speaks to people about the often critical issues which confront families today. Those issues cannot be separated from Church teaching found in the treasury of her documentation. We are aware that the final Relatio Synodi will be discussed and debated over the next year; therefore as we proposed amendments we indicated appropriate references to the Sacred Scriptures and Magisterial documents

We referred to the methodology used as appearing to be based on the SEE, JUDGE, ACT principles, but in this case it was LISTEN, JUDGE, ACT.

LISTEN and observe what others are saying and what the situation is regarding marriage and family life in the world today.

JUDGE according to what we have been gifted with through the Deposit of Faith.

ACT through our pastoral accompanying of all God’s people entrusted to our care.

W e have attempted to show in our amendments that the “Listening” or “seeing” must always be through the lens of the Gospel. Our Proposals have stressed God’s love and our pastoral love and care for individuals, while at the same time honestly recognizing and acknowledging sinful situations, and searching for ways to invite conversion of heart.

In our amendments we see suggest a return to the SEE, Judge, Act formula.

We know that the final Synod document gives us a wonderful opportunity to influence the prevailing culture and for the Church to present the way of Jesus Christ who is “The Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14). Our amendments have tried to show that living as disciples of Jesus Christ, with all the challenges that brings is the life that leads to true joy and human happiness.

For example, where the Relatio appeared to be suggesting that sex outside of marriage may be permissible, or that cohabitation may be permissible, we have attempted to show why such lifestyles do not lead to human fulfillment. At the same time, we want to acknowledge that there are seeds of truth and goodness found in the persons involved, and through dedicated pastoral care these can be appreciated and developed. We believe that if we imply that certain life-styles are acceptable, then concerned and worried parents could very easily say “Why are we trying so hard to encourage our sons and daughters to live the Gospel and embrace Church teaching?”

We did not recommend the admission to the sacraments of divorced and re-married people, but we included a very positive and much –needed appreciation of union with Christ through other means.

The group recognizes and favors the concern and compassion the Relatio shows for those who face difficult pastoral situations in their lives. However our amendments suggest that we express these carefully so as not to create confusion in the minds and hearts of our people.

We had serious questions about the presentation of the principle of GRADUALITY. We wished to show in our amendments that we are not speaking of the GRADUALITY of DOCTRINE of faith and morals, but rather the gradual moral growth of the individual in his or her actions.

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ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent October 16, 2014

ROME — In yet another unexpected turn in the Synod of Bishops, the bishops decided today to make all the discussions of the past week public, and those internal reports offer an x-ray of a divided summit on the family.

In a Vatican briefing today, Italian layman Francesco Miano, one of the synod participants, described the main fault line as running between truth and mercy — with one camp insisting on clarity about Church teaching, and another outreach to constituencies that don’t fully live it, including gays, the divorced, and people living together outside of marriage.

The reports have no official standing, and were described today by a Vatican spokesman as one step in a long and yet unresolved process. It marks the first time a synod has released these reports from its 10 small working groups, which are organized by language.

The documents suggest general agreement on the importance of restating that there’s only one role model of family promoted by official Church doctrine, which is that marriage is between a man and a woman and open to new life.

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ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 16, 2014

ROME – As the Synod of Bishops continues to produce drama, coming today in a surprise decision to release frank internal reports of its debates, one big-picture question captured by the event seems to be coming into clear focus.

Here it is in a nutshell: Is a tipping point drawing close, when conservatives who have been inclined to give Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt will, instead, turn on him?

Granted, labels such as “liberal” and “conservative” often conceal as much as they reveal, especially when applied to the Church. That said, they capture something at a big-picture level, and the fault line between left and right has seemed especially clear over the past two weeks.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTRF

MONROEVILLE, Pa. (AP) – A western Pennsylvania volunteer youth pastor has resigned and been jailed after the district attorney’s office charged him with possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, some featuring adults performing sex acts with infants.

Forty-five-year-old Andrew Patterson, of Monroeville, was jailed after his arraignment Thursday. He faces a preliminary hearing Oct. 28.

The Allegheny County district attorney’s office says child pornography being shared on the Internet was traced to Patterson’s computer address. Online court records don’t list an attorney for Patterson.

Sylvia Tyron, the pastor at Living Waters Family Worship Center in Irwin, says Patterson resigned his volunteer position Thursday morning.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

MONROEVILLE, Pa. —A youth pastor was arrested Thursday on child pornography charges after search warrants were executed at his family’s Monroeville home, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Andrew Patterson, 45, kept his head down and did not comment as Monroeville police took him for arraignment by District Judge Jeffrey Herbst.

An FBI special agent saw more than 1,000 images and video files depicting children in sexual acts or poses on a desktop computer that was seized from Patterson’s home on Foxboro Drive, according to the criminal complaint.

A naked female infant and a girl about 4-6 years old were among the minors seen in the videos, according to the complaint.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Fay Observer

By Nancy McCleary Staff writer

SOUTHERN PINES – The rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church and another man are accused of engaging in sex acts in Reservoir Park earlier this month, the Southern Pines Police Department said.
Father John Grey Tampa, 63, of Southern Pines, and Howard Reynolds, 79, of Whispering Pines, are each charged with indecent exposure, which is a misdemeanor.

The alleged incident was reported Oct. 2, Police Chief Robert Temme said Wednesday.

A plainclothes officer was checking activity in Reservoir Park about 12:45 p.m. when he saw an elderly man sitting in a vehicle, Temme said.

A second vehicle pulled in and parked, Temme said, and a man, identified as Tampa, got out. Reynolds got out of his vehicle shortly after, Temme said.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Danya Ruttenberg

Yesterday, prominent Modern Orthodox Rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested on charges of voyeurism. The police report obtained by the media indicates that he had used cameras to record women showering as they prepared to use the mikveh.

Freundel should, and will, have his say in court. These charges are serious, though, and there are implications to the fact that this allegedly took place in the mikveh, of all places.

The mikveh is sacred space. All of it, including the rooms in which women prepare to immerse. The act of preparation is, in fact, part of the ritual. And the profound, complex, and deeply personal feelings that can be part of mikveh immersion can manifest in the preparation room as well as in the water itself.

Picture a woman returning to the mikveh for the first time after a miscarriage. She’s swimming in grief, still, maybe. Judaism doesn’t traditionally have a formal ritual to mark the loss of a pregnancy — except the mikveh. Her first immersion after first a time of hope, and then one of what’s all too often an unnamed bereavement is her ritual to mark what’s happened inside her body and her heart, everything she’s feeling and everything that’s different now.

Now picture a woman coming back to the mikveh after her third miscarriage.

Now picture a woman coming to the mikveh once again, despite months or years of trying to conceive, and the ways in which that ritual space holds her frustrations, pain, questions, grief, anger, letting go, not letting go.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Josh Nathan-Kazis
Published October 15, 2014.

A national Orthodox rabbinic association recently investigated allegations of impropriety made against the rabbi accused of videotaping women at his mikvah, the Forward has learned.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, spiritual leader of the Washington, D.C. congregation Kesher Israel, will be charged with voyeurism after a witness allegedly saw him installing a hidden camera above a shower stall at his synagogue’s mikvah.

The president of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Leonard Matanky, confirmed that the RCA received allegations over the summer of “ethical issues that came up regarding an issue with a woman.” The allegations were investigated, but no action was taken.

The RCA suspended Freundel’s membership on October 15, after his arrest.

A person who works in the travel industry told the Forward that they had informed the RCA earlier this year that Freundel, who is married, made reservations to stay overnight in a hotel with a woman converting to Judaism who was not his wife. The person declined to be identified, citing confidentiality rules.

Matanky said that the RCA questioned Freundel about the allegations. The person who brought the charges was unwilling to provide supporting evidence for legal reasons.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/207382/orthodox-group-probed-alleged-mikveh-peep-rabbi-ba/#ixzz3GL1CZRE9

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ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 16, 2014

ROME – Every day, the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family, a summit of 260 bishops and other participants convened by Pope Francis, seems more and more like a daytime soap opera. Today brought more surprising turns on multiple fronts.

For one thing, the bishops made the unprecedented decision to release internal reports of small group discussions about a working document released Monday that became a sensation due to its positive language about same-sex unions, couples who live together outside of marriage, and others in “irregular” situations.

The reports photograph a vigorous debate within a divided synod, with one camp seemingly embracing a more positive vision of situations that fall outside the boundaries of official Catholic doctrine, and another clearly alarmed about going soft.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, one of the leaders of the moderate camp, today compared the situation in the synod in which a mother says “watch out, be careful,” and the father says “no, that’s fine, go ahead.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. Embattled Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, who was ordained and promoted in our town, has just agreed to pay, for the third time in his decade-long tenure in K.C., an expensive settlement to dozens of clergy sex abuse victims. This time, it’s almost $10 million to 30 plaintiffs. (The deal was announced late last night.) In 2008, it was $10 million to 47 victims. And in August, he was forced to shell out $1.1 million to 40+ victims in an unusual breach of contract case.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on October 16, 2014

UPDATE: Grisham apologized. Looks like he finally read the memo. And he got people talking …. –

Child pornography is criminal for a reason: It’s gross, vile, and extremely damaging to the children who were exploited.

But someone didn’t get the memo.

John Grisham (yes, THAT John Grisham) said recently in an interview that men who look at 16-year-old girls in sex acts are not pedophiles and should not be punished.

If you are sexually aroused by watching minors being sexually abused and/or forced into sex acts, you have real issues.

But I am not going to get into that in this post. What I AM going to talk about is why these photos are illegal and why people who create, sell, and/or look at them should be punished.

Here are reasons why John Grisham is horribly mistaken:

1) The actions involved in the photos are criminal.

Child pornography is not “art.” It includes photos of children (boys, girls, toddlers, and teens) being tied up, raped, drugged, sodomized, and violated. It’s disgusting stuff. Talk to prosecutors—they will tell you.

2) All of the children in these photos are victims of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is when a child is sold for sex—including prostitution and child pornography. The children in the photos—whether they be 10-year-old boys or 16-year-old girls—are being sold for sex. Period. Bad people are making money off of this. Yes: They are making money off of pictures of children being raped.

3) Let’s talk about the kids in the photos. How do you think that pornographers get the kids? They don’t do a casting call and abide by union rules. Instead, they exploit and imprison runaways, force kids into drug addiction, or take pictures of children they are already sexually abusing. Other children are isolated from friends and family, marked with tattoos to show that their pimp “owns” them, and then are forced to comply if they want to eat, sleep, or get a hit of drugs to keep them from going into painful withdrawal symptoms.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Rabbi Eliyahu Fink | Oct. 16, 2014

The digital era has given society many gifts. Near the top of the list of those gifts is easy access to information and the rapid speed at which information can be shared. Perhaps this explains why it feels like scandals are reported in media at an alarming rate. Today it is nearly impossible to limit the reach of any given story: The Internet has created a global community in which we know and care more about people and events from every corner of the globe. As a result, we learn more about people behaving badly more often and more quickly than at any other time in history – including rabbis.

In recent days, Kesher Israel, a prominent Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington D.C. and its community has been reeling from a terrible scandal. Their rabbi, Barry Freundel, was arrested on charges of voyeurism and it is alleged that he installed a camera in the equivalent of a women’s locker room where he filmed potential converts in varying degrees of undress before their ritual bath. Indeed, the shockwaves in the aftermath of this scandal reverberate well beyond the District and are being felt across the entire Jewish world.

Generally, rabbinic ‘scandals’ come in one of two varieties. Some scandals merely involve flawed human behavior that is only considered scandalous because of the stature of the rabbinic figure. If a non-rabbi would commit the same acts there would be no story. In my opinion, these are not scandals. Human beings behaving in a manner consistent with other human beings are not news. After all, rabbis are people too.

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NEW JERSEY
NBC New York

Thursday, Oct 16, 2014

A Catholic priest was convicted Wednesday of groping a woman but acquitted of molesting her two children.

Marukudiyil Velan’s defense attorney, S. Karl Mohel, said his client is unlikely to face prison time. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison but is not an offense subject to Megan’s Law registration requirements.

Velan was convicted by a jury of criminal sexual contact. He was acquitted of sexual assault charges involving the woman’s then-5-year-old daughter and then-13-year-old son, The Asbury Park Press reported.

The boy and his mother testified that Velan groped them at their home in July 2012 and then went out for pizza. Mohel said the family lied to collect money in a lawsuit against Velan and the church. The girl, now 7, did not testify at the trial and neither did Velan.

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NEW JERSEY
Philly.com

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
POSTED: Thursday, October 16, 2014

TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) – A Catholic priest was convicted Wednesday of groping a woman but acquitted of molesting her two children.

Marukudiyil Velan’s defense attorney, S. Karl Mohel, said his client is unlikely to face prison time. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison but is not an offense subject to Megan’s Law registration requirements.

Velan was convicted by a jury of criminal sexual contact. He was acquitted of sexual assault charges involving the woman’s then-5-year-old daughter and then-13-year-old son, The Asbury Park Press reported (http://on.app.com/1qBtyyC).

The boy and his mother testified that Velan groped them at their home in July 2012 and then went out for pizza. Mohel said the family lied to collect money in a lawsuit against Velan and the church. The girl, now 7, did not testify at the trial and neither did Velan.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

16 October 2014 11:49 by Joanna Moorhead

Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith has ordered an inquiry into the events that led to the resignation of Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, who stepped down this month after admitting he had broken his priestly vows.

This week, a diocesan spokesman said the investigation would “be undertaken in respect of Bishop Conry’s relationship with potentially vulnerable female adults”.

The inquiry will be headed by an approved independent investigator whose identity will not be made public, and will be managed by the safeguarding commission of the diocese of East Anglia. It is expected to report within three to four months, but its report will not be released. What happens next to Bishop Conry is likely to depend very much on the inquiry’s findings.

In his resignation statement, read out at all Masses in his former diocese, Bishop Conry said he wanted “to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor
16 Oct 2014

The Roman Catholic Church has ordered a secret inquiry into whether the former Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, who resigned over an adulterous affair, took advantage of “vulnerable” women.
An independent investigator has been called in to examine whether the allegations against Bishop Kieran Conry, the Church’s former head of outreach, have “safeguarding” implications.

It is understood the inquiry will take between three and six months but even the name of the investigator is to be kept secret.

Although the Bishop, who is current undergoing a period of “prayer and reflection”, will be allowed to see the findings, the report itself will also never be published.

And anyone wishing to raise fresh concerns about the bishop must log a complaint with the Church first before it can be passed on.

The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Rev Peter Smith, has been appointed by Pope Francis as apostolic administrator to oversee the running of the diocese following Bishop Conry’s resignation last month.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, October 16, 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 )

We are grateful that Fr. Marukudiyil Velan, known as “Fr. Chris” has been found guilty of criminal sexual conduct. Often trusted members of the clergy are given “light” sentences and then free to move into unsuspecting communities where they pose a very real danger.

We are especially grateful to the brave mother who reported what happened to her and allegedly to her children. Her courage to speak up and to seek justice will protect more people.

This is not the time to become complacent. Predators are known to molest throughout their lifetime. Church officials should reach out to any other possible victims or witnesses. We have a simple message to every current and former Catholic Church employee and member: It’s never too late to share what you know or suspect with law enforcement officials. It’s up to us to pass on information. And it’s up to police and prosecutors to determine what will help them further prosecute or imprison a criminal.

Velan was an adjunct priest at Church of the Visitation and in 2012 molested a mother. Velan admitted what he did on video tape during the police investigation.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

Kathleen Hopkins, @Khopkinsapp 9:09 a.m. EDT October 16, 2014

TOMS RIVER – A jury on Wednesday convicted a popular Brick priest of groping a woman, but acquitted him of molesting her two children.

After deliberating about nine hours over two days, the panel of six men and six women announced its verdict about 5 p.m. in the trial of Marukudiyil Velan, better known to parishioners at Church of the Visitation in Brick as “Father Chris.”

The jury found Velan, 66, guilty of criminal sexual contact on the woman, among the least serious of the charges he faced, and acquitted him of six other crimes related to alleged molestation of the woman’s two children.

Velan’s attorney, S. Karl Mohel, said his client is unlikely to face prison because the offense he was convicted of, a fourth-degree crime, carries a presumption of no incarceration for people who do not have any prior criminal convictions. The crime, which carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison, is not a Megan’s Law offense, so the priest will not be required to register his whereabouts with police or be on parole for the rest of his life, Mohel said.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 16, 2014

TOMS RIVER – A Brick Township priest has been convicted of criminal sexual contact on a female parishioner, but was acquitted of six other crimes involving the alleged molestation of the woman’s two children, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Spokesman Al Della Fave said.

The jury announced its verdict in the trial of 66-year-old Marukudiyil Velan on Wednesday after deliberating for several hours over two days.

Della Fave said the priest likely faces only a probationary sentence and because the fourth-degree crime he was convicted of is not a Megan’s Law offense, Velan will not be required to register with police.

“But hopefully with the jury’s verdict his current vocation will nevertheless be impacted,” Della Fave said via email.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Thursday, October 16, 2014

For more info: Barbara Dorris ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com ), David Clohessy ( 314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com )

A hearing will be held tomorrow in a St. Paul courtroom in a clergy sex abuse and cover-up case that revolves around the question of whether a priest can refuse to answer questions about alleged childhood sexual abuse by asserting the priest-penitent privilege.

It will be held in Ramsey County District Court (Room 1470) before Judge John B. Van de North, J. The accused priest is Fr. Thomas Stitts. One of the clerics who is refusing to answer questions is Fr. Richard “Dick” Rice, a Jesuit.

“Time and time again we’ve seen Catholic officials abuse various ‘privileges’ to protect their colleagues while endangering kids,” said David Clohessy of SNAPO, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Not everything one priest tells another is ‘off-limits’ in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. Sometimes, the physical safety of children trumps the beliefs of two powerful adults. ”

In 2013, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was sued relating to allegations that Fr. Stitts sexually abused a Minneapolis man.

The archdiocese was alleged to have known of Stitts’ sexual of abuse of children as early as 1970, but allegedly took no action to discipline him or to prevent further abuse by him.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | October 15, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) After two days of fighting between happy liberals and angry conservatives, the Vatican on Wednesday (Oct. 15) dispatched a leading moderate from the U.S. church to tell both sides to temper their expectations about impending changes in church doctrine.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, stressed that a working document on family issues released on Monday (Oct. 13) is simply that — a draft document still subject to amendment by about 200 bishops and lay delegates meeting at Vatican City.

Monday’s midpoint report from the two-week Synod on the Family raised expectations that the Catholic Church was poised to revolutionize its teaching on homosexuality, divorce and cohabitation, saying gays and lesbians have “gifts and qualities” to offer the church.

On Wednesday, Kurtz, flanked by Spanish Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach and Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella, urged both sides to take a breath.

“The working document is an important moment, but it is a moment,” Kurtz told journalists. “It’s at the surface of the synod discussion. I see the synod as a process. My focus is going to be on the document that will be the fruitfulness of the whole process and that includes our amendments.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus ordained in 1936, Bonn was a poet and a teacher of English at Boston College in Massachusetts, Fairfield University in Connecticut and Marycrest College in Davenport, Iowa. Additionally, he served as a Navy chaplain during World War II. Bon died in 1975. In 2011 an Iowa woman reported to the Davenport diocese that Bonn and two other priests sexually abused her beginning when she was four years-old, in 1969. She said the priests were her father’s best friends. The woman received a settlement from the diocese.

Ordained: 1936
Died: Jan. 17, 1975

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Josh Nathan-Kazis
Published October 15, 2014.

Rabbi Barry Freundel recorded secret videos of at least six women women showering at the mikvah in his synagogue, according to allegations filed by authorities at his arraignment on Wednesday afternoon.

Freundel, 62, pleaded not guilty to a charge of voyeurism, a misdemeanor, and was freed without bond.

The details from the charging documents were posted on Twitter by WTOP reporter Neal Augenstein.

According to Augenstein’s account, the police found backed-up videos of the six women, plus video of Freundel himself setting up the camera.

Police were seen removing computers and other electronic equipment from Freundel’s home Tuesday morning after they led him out in handcuffs.

Fruendel was arrested by police on Tuesday at his home in the U.S. capital’s upscale Georgetown neighborhood, a few blocks from his modern Orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israel Congregation.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Beth Kissileff

A respected rabbi installing cameras in the preparation room of the mikveh in the building next door to his synagogue? The sensationalistic story of alleged voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel seems tailor-made to go viral in our internet age. So what can be done to counteract the negative publicity this gives to the observance of mikveh, the Jewish ritual bath, and to general trust in rabbis? How can we ensure this type of situation (assuming the allegations are true — that has yet to be legally corroborated) doesn’t happen again?

It’s simple: Put women in charge of the mikveh system.

I’d like to see a world where the mikveh and all questions about it are totally overseen by female scholars, who possess the relevant Jewish legal wisdom and are permitted to be part of that authority structure.

This is an area where we women need to be trusted with the knowledge of our own bodies and how they function. This is an area where we should be the main experts.

I recently interviewed a number of women trained as yoatzot halacha, legal advisors, at Nishmat in Jerusalem, for an article on female educators. These women have studied the laws of “family purity” and are able to answer questions over the phone and online from women all around the world, and from all walks of Jewish life. Manhattan’s Yeshivat Maharat — the only Jewish seminary dedicated to training Orthodox women as synagogue clergy — is likewise educating a new generation of female experts on Jewish law as it pertains to sensitive topics like the body, fertility and sexuality. The Israeli institute Matan also has a five-year program in which women study Jewish law at the highest levels.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

Towson University has suspended a DC rabbi, who served on the university’s faculty, after he was arrested on charges of voyeurism.

Dr. Barry Freundel, who is a member of the faculty in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he videotaped women using a shower.

In a statement on the university’s website, spokesman Ray Feldman said, “Dr. Freundel has been suspended from any and all faculty duties and responsibilities, pending the outcome of that investigation and associated criminal proceedings. At this time there is no indication that these activities occurred on the Towson University campus.

“We are concerned about the serious nature of this matter, and we are providing support and counseling resources to members of the campus community.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
JTA

By Ron Kampeas
October 15, 2014

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Rabbi Barry Freundel was known to the Washington Jewish community as a champion of moral rectitude. But on Tuesday, the spiritual leader of Kesher Israel congregation for the past 25 years, was charged with the most intimate of transgressions: voyeurism.

Freundel, 62, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs, after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department searched his home in the Georgetown section of Washington. A local NBC affiliate reported that the rabbi had installed a clock radio with a hidden camera, called the “Dream Machine,” in the women’s showers of the congregation’s mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath.

The arrest marks a startling turn in the career of a rabbi known as a national leader in establishing precepts for conversion and as a strict moralist, who just last month railed against the corrosive effect of pornography on marriages. His synagogue, Kesher Israel, is one of the most prominent in Washington; Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier are members, and former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman is a former congregant.

The synagogue board in a statement said it had reported Freundel to authorities. “Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the Board of Directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials,” the statement, posted on the congregation’s website, said. “Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Haaretz

The Rabbinical Council of America suspended Barry Freundel, the Washington D.C. rabbi arrested this week on a voyeurism charge.

The RCA board met in an emergency meeting Wednesday and suspended Freundel, effective immediately, extending the ban to his activities with the Beth-Din of America, meaning that Freundel’s functions as one of the leading conversion rabbis in the United States were also suspended.

In a letter to member rabbis of the Orthodox body, the president, Rabbi Leonard Matanky, said the charges Freundel faces are “deeply troubling” and confirmed what had until now been attributed to anonymous sources — that the alleged peeping took place in the mikvah adjacent to Kesher Israel, Freundel’s Georgetown shul.

Freundel is “facing charges that are deeply troubling,” Matanky said, adding that the alleged peeping is a “terrible, awful violation of privacy and of the sanctity of the mikvah.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Daily Beast

Steven I. Weiss

Barry Freundel was busted for allegedly spying on female congregants. Last year, he booked a trip with a woman who’s not his wife, which is prohibited under Orthodox law.
One of the most powerful Orthodox rabbis in America was arrested Tuesday for allegedly spying on nude women in his synagogue, but possibly sinful behavior by Barry Freundel may be more damanging.

Documents reviewed by The Jewish Channel and The Daily Beast reveal that Freundel was booked on a cross-country trip with a woman who was not his wife this year, which is prohibited under Orthodox laws of yichud. It’s not clear when they met or what the exact nature of their relationship was.

Freundel’s work responsibilities until last year included setting standards for Orthodox conversion in the United States and overseeing thirteen rabbinical courts around the country, Until last year, Freundel served as the chairman of the Conversion Committee for the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest body of Orthodox rabbis in the United States. In his position, he oversaw 13 rabbinical courts and set standards for Orthodox conversion. In both positions, Freundel has been in a position to decide what activities make one eligible and ineligible to be an Orthodox Jew. Freundel is also rabbi of the prominent Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington. Not only is the congregation full of prominent Jews like Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew but it’s also one of America’s most modern, letting women read from the Torah and hold positions of leadership.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Toronto Sun

A prominent Washington rabbi who police allege installed a video camera in a ritual bathing area pleaded not guilty to a voyeurism charge on Wednesday, according to court documents.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 62, was arrested by police on Tuesday at his home in the U.S. capital’s upscale Georgetown neighborhood, a few blocks from his modern Orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israel Congregation.

Freundel pleaded not guilty in District of Columbia Superior Court to voyeurism, a misdemeanor.

Judge William Nooter ordered Freundel to stay away from all individuals he had helped convert to Judaism and participated with in the Jewish ritual bathing process known as mikvah, according to court documents online.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Ron Kampeas
Published October 15, 2014

WASHINGTON — (JTA) — Rabbi Barry Freundel was known to the Washington Jewish community as a champion of moral rectitude. But on Tuesday, the spiritual leader of Kesher Israel congregation for the past 25 years, was charged with the most intimate of transgressions: voyeurism.

Freundel, 62, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs, after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department searched his home in the Georgetown section of Washington. A local NBC affiliate reported that the rabbi had installed a clock radio with a hidden camera, called the “Dream Machine,” in the women’s showers of the congregation’s mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath.

The arrest marks a startling turn in the career of a rabbi known as a national leader in establishing precepts for conversion and as a strict moralist, who just last month railed against the corrosive effect of pornography on marriages. His synagogue, Kesher Israel, is one of the most prominent in Washington; Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier are members, and former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman is a former congregant.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MICHELLE HARRIS Oct. 15, 2014

THE former commander of the Child Protection Enforcement Agency has told an inquiry he was unaware that Catholic Church officials routinely withheld the names of victims when they reported sex abuse to police, as he never checked on the Church’s reporting practices.

John Heslop also told the Police Integrity Commission on Wednesday he could not recall a draft agreement between NSW Police and the Church that set out abuse reporting protocols, although the agency’s chief of staff received advice while Mr Heslop was commander that warned the draft’s terms breached criminal laws and the Catholic Church was seeking ‘‘preferential treatment’’.

Documents show Police later explicitly told the Church it would not sign the agreement as it did not comply with obligations under the Crimes Act to report information about serious indictable offences.

But another draft of the memorandum (MOU) was produced the following year.

The Police Integrity Commission is considering whether the MOU effectively operated and whether any police misconduct was involved in the arrangements, as well as the participation of officers in the Church’s Professional Standards Reference Group between 1998 and 2005.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Nicole Winfield
Associated Press October 16, 2014

VATICAN CITY — It’s one of the great mysteries of the meeting on family life taking place behind closed doors at the Vatican this week: Just where did the authors of a draft report come up with such ground-breaking language that gays had gifts to offer the church, and that even same-sex partnerships had merit?

Officially speaking, the draft report was a synthesis of the interventions from more than 200 bishops, a starting point for small working groups to propose amendments, elaborations, additions, and subtractions to the drafting committee preparing a final report that will be released on Saturday.

But conservative cardinals have said their views were not reflected in the draft. They blasted the report as “unacceptable” and said it was in sore need of an overhaul.

US Cardinal Timothy Dolan said his fellow American, hardline Cardinal Raymond Burke, reflected the view of “a good number of people in saying, boy, this document is a rough draft, does it ever need major revisions.”

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CHILE
Yahoo! News

Ein Geistlicher des ultrakonservativen katholischen Ordens Legionäre Christi ist in Chile des Kindesmissbrauchs schuldig gesprochen worden. Der 68-jährige John O’Reilly, der 1984 aus Irland nach Chile kam und 2008 die chilenische Staatsbürgerschaft erhielt, habe ein jetzt neunjähriges Mädchen seit es fünf Jahre alt war wiederholt missbraucht, befand die Richterin María Teresa Barrientos am Mittwoch in Santiago de Chile. Das Strafmaß soll am 11. November verkündet werden, die Staatsanwaltschaft plädierte auf zehn Jahre Gefängnis.

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OSTERREICH
kathweb

[Rejected motion for bias in lawsuit against Admonter Fathers]

Graz, 15.10.2014 (KAP) In eine weitere Runde geht eine Zivilrechtsklage gegen Admonter Patres, bei welcher der Anwalt des Klägers einen Befangenheitsantrag gegen den Richter am Landesgericht Leoben gestellt hatte. Dem Antrag wurde vom Senat nicht stattgegeben, entschied das Gericht am Mittwoch, woraufhin nach Ankündigung des Klägeranwalts nun das Oberlandesgericht Graz eine Entscheidung treffen soll. Schon bei Bekanntgabe des Antrags hatte das Stift in einer Stellungnahme die “unbegründete” erneute Verzögerung der Neuverhandlung bedauert.

Bereits im Vorjahr war ein Befangenheitsantrag gegen den Verhandlungsrichter aufgrund eines angeblichen familiären Naheverhältnisses zu Stift Admont beim Senat des Landesgerichts Leoben abgelehnt worden. Beim jetzigen Klagsweg geht es nach Darstellung des Klägers darum, dass der Richter eine Rechtsmeinung geäußert habe, noch bevor er selbst vernommen wurde. Stiftssprecher P. Winfried Schwab zufolge habe der Richter jedoch vielmehr die Rechtsauffassung des Oberlandesgerichts in Wien zitiert und dies auch wiederholt betont.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

[Hamburg Bishop Kirsten Fehr said the final report of a group consisting of lawyers and social scientists on sexual abuse in the church revealed a situation that is “disgraceful and shocking.” According to the group, the church from 1993 to 2012 had a total of 16 disciplinary proceedings against 14 pastors. These involved sexual acts on children, adolescents and adults in the context of pastoral care. The acts are barred from prosecution in many cases.]

Die Hamburger Bischöfin Kirsten Fehrs bezeichnete den Abschlussbericht der aus Rechtsanwälten und Sozialwissenschaftlern bestehenden Kommission bei der Veröffentlichung am Dienstag als “beschämend und erschütternd”.

Demnach führte die nordelbische Kirche von 1993 bis 2012 insgesamt 16 Disziplinarverfahren gegen 14 Pastoren. Ihnen wurden sexuelle Handlungen – von der Belästigung bis zum Missbrauch – an Kindern, Jugendlichen oder Erwachsenen im Rahmen der Seelsorge vorgeworfen. Die Taten geschahen zwischen 1973 bis 2011 und sind in vielen Fällen strafrechtlich verjährt.

Fehrs dankte den Opfern für ihre Offenheit, ohne die die Kirche nicht hätte verstehen können, was vorgefallen sei. “Wir als Institution Kirche sind schuldig geworden. Wir als Kirche tragen Verantwortung für Ihre Verletzungen.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jessica Kidd

A senior police officer who sat on a panel set up by the Catholic Church to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse was not obligated to report the information she received, an inquiry has heard.

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) was investigating the conduct of Inspector Elizabeth Cullen while she was a member of the church’s Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) to determine if it amounted to police misconduct.

The inquiry was also examining whether the information sharing arrangement between the Catholic Church and New South Wales Police, in the form of blind reports, breached mandatory reporting laws set out in the Crimes Act.

Inspector Elizabeth Cullen (then a senior sergeant) was appointed to the PSRG from 1998 until 2005.

The PSRG was set up by the church in 1997 to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, working within the church’s Professional Standards Office (PSO).

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former NSW child protection squad commander has defended the system of blind reporting of sex abuse cases by the Catholic Church to police, saying it has kept open the lines of communication.

But Kim McGee only considered information about sex abuse from a key church- and police-sanctioned body as intelligence reports, and not reports of crimes.

‘In some regard it kept conversations open between the church and police,’ Ms McGee told the Police Integrity Commission in response to a question about blind reporting.

‘It opened up a lot of things that were very problematic with the law in this area.’

The retired policewoman, who was at the Child Protection Enforcement Agency (CPEA) in 2003, said the blind reports provided valuable intelligence.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Three who lost their abuse cases get a break
New settlement with 30 victims will be shared with them
SNAP: “This is an unprecedented and extremely generous move”
More than 90 victims of KC pedophile priests have now come forward, group says
Advocate praises them for “breaking new ground” & “showing incredible kindness”
And victims prod KC Catholic officials to do more about two now-ousted local priests
One is Missouri’s most prolific child molesting cleric; the other lives near several schools

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

–disclose an unusual, perhaps “first-ever” arrangement in which 30 clergy sex abuse victims are agreeing to share part of their new $9.95 million settlement with three other victims whose cases were tossed out of court on legal technicalities,
–praise the 90+ KC area men and women who, over the past 20 years, have settled abuse and cover up suits against KC church officials and
— urge KC Catholic officials to warn the public about two credibly accuse serial predator priests who are still living in the KC area (one near several schools).

They will also urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes to come forward and report to police.

WHEN
Thursday, Oct. 16 at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the KC Catholic Diocese headquarters, 20 W. 9th St. (corner of Baltimore Ave.) in downtown Kansas City, MO

WHO
Four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director and was molested by a Missouri priest

WHY
In what may be an unprecedented move, 30 clergy sex abuse victims will share part of their new $9.95 million dollar settlement with three other victims who aren’t formally part of the deal. Their cases were rejected by judges largely based on what SNAP calls “a bizarre legal technicality” – because the alleged crimes took place on private property, not church property.

[BishopAccountability.org]

[BishopAccountability.org]

“The bad news is that Bishop Robert Finn and other Catholic officials successfully exploit this loophole,” said Mike Hunter, SNAP’s KC director. “The good news is that, despite Bishop Finn’s callous and selfish behavior, these three victims are not being left out in the cold, because their brothers and sisters who just settled are recognizing and generously remedying this injustice.”

SNAP leaders say they can’t recall a similar situation anywhere in the country.

“Usually, we’re isolated and abused as kids by Catholic predators, and often, in litigation, we’re isolated and betrayed again by church officials, each of our cases winning or losing in individual hearings before individual judges,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP. “It’s heart-warming and inspiring to see these 30 KC victims overcoming this isolation and showing such compassion to their brothers who would otherwise walk away with no justice or compensation at all.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A man abused by a Sunshine Coast youth pastor as a child is still extremely angry at the church’s handling of his complaint more than five years after his abuser was jailed, an inquiry has heard.

Perpetrator Jonathan Baldwin befriended his victim, referred to in the commission as ALA, at a Queensland church that cannot be named for legal reasons in 2004.

The abuse allegedly occurred over a two-year period beginning when ALA was 13, the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard.

The inquiry heard the boy’s family was baffled by the “deafening silence” of the church when in 2009 Baldwin was jailed for eight years, with a non-parole period of four years, on charges including “maintaining”, the indecent treatment of a child under 16 and sodomy.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

October 16, 2014

Rory Callinan
Investigative journalist

A Catholic priest who was allowed to continue preaching in Papua New Guinea despite being named in child abuse compensation settlements has been deported to Australia and is likely to face being extradited from Queensland to Victoria.

Earlier this month, Fairfax Media revealed how Father Roger Mount was still being allowed to minister at a remote parish in PNG despite being named in the Catholic church documents as an alleged child abuser of boys in homes in Victoria and NSW.

Following more revelations that Mount had been living in the country illegally without a visa for the past three years, the PNG Government on Wednesday deported him to Cairns.

The 72-year-old Catholic priest had been alleged to have abused children when he was working as Brother Gabriel with the Catholic St John of God Order at a home for intellectually disabled boys at Kendall Grange in Morisset, about 65km north of Sydney, and at boys homes in Victoria run by the same order.

Legal documents obtained by Fairfax reveal at least two boys from the homes had successfully sought apologies and compensation payments after they reported the abuse to the St John of God Order in the 1990s and the 2000s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 16, 2014

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

COURTS

The former head of the NSW Police Force’s child protection command has admitted she knew the Catholic Church’s practice of “blind reporting” child sex abuse to police was against the law but she accepted it because “it kept the conversation going”.

Kim McGee made the comments during a emotional day of evidence before the NSW Police Integrity Commission on Thursday.

The police regulator is examining allegations police were complicit in the covering up of allegations of child sex abuse by the Catholic Church.

The former chief of the force’s Child Protection Enforcement Agency broke down as she spoke of the difficulties she faced in trying to get victims of child sexual abuse to come forward.

“We worked so hard to encourage them to report the crimes,” Ms McGee said, crying.

“Particularly women in Aboriginal communities.”

But the retired officer defended her acceptance of the practice of blind reporting, where the Catholic Church would report the details of an alleged sex abuse offence, but not the name of the alleged victim.

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WALES
Barry and District News

by Dominic Jones

CHANGES to the way the Jehovah’s Witness Church deal with child abuse allegations are being sought by victims of Barry sex predator Mark Sewell.

Two of the women who suffered at the hands of the Barry church elder are also taking legal action against the church, saying that they were failed by a culture of secrecy that “protected” Sewell.

In July, Mark Sewell, 53, was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of one count of rape and seven accounts of sexual assault at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.

The offences stretched back more than 20 years, during a time when Sewell, of Porthkerry Road, Barry was a trusted and respected church elder.

One of his victims, his niece Karen Morgan, is spearheading a campaign against practices within the church that she says allowed sexual predator Sewell to run rampant.

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