ABUSE TRACKER

OHIO
Washington Post

By Abby Ohlheiser October 15

In Ohio’s Grace Cathedral, the Rev. Ernest Angley says he can heal the sick in the name of Jesus. The televangelist is famous for it.

But a stunning series of reports from the Akron Beacon Journal has thrown a spotlight on what many former members of the Cuyahoga Falls church say is a terminal illness plaguing Angley’s empire.

That illness, they say, is Angley himself.

Even for those who don’t know Angley’s church, the allegations are shocking. The 93-year-old televangelist has torn apart families, pressured congregants to get abortions and vasectomies, and turned a blind eye to sexual abuse within his congregation, according to former church members who spoke to Akron Beacon Journal reporter Bob Dyer. There are also allegations of abuse at the hands of Angley.

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KENTUCKY
New York Daily News

BY RACHELLE BLIDNER

A Kentucky Sunday school teacher confessed to sexually abusing one of his 16-year-old students after he was arrested Monday night, police said.

Rex Allen Murphy, a 30-year-old teacher at Polly Ann Church of God in Eubank, Ky., was charged Monday night with sexual assault, sodomy and the use of a minor in a sexual performance, police chief Colin Hatfield said.

Murphy allegedly touched the male victim inappropriately at church and at Murphy’s home, with at least 10 incidents of sexual abuse over the course of six months, police said.

Murphy also allegedly threatened the teen with black magic, The Commonwealth Journal reported.

“What the suspect told the victim is that if he touched his skin or shook his hand, he could tell the victim’s sins from the past,” Hatfield told the Daily News. “If the victim ever told anybody like his parents what was going on between the two, he would notify his parents of his past sins.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 16, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The Pentecostal movement needs a child sexual abuse telephone hotline because it’s too hard for church leaders to report crimes to the state executive body, a royal commission has heard.

Retired senior pastor Chris Peterson told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse that reporting abuse to the movement’s umbrella body, Australian Christian Churches, was “too difficult a course”.

He said the senior pastors of the 1000 Australian churches affiliated with the movement needed an easier way to report abuse.

“We [should] create some sort of hotline or facility where a senior pastor has an immediate connection on matters of such importance,” he said.

Mr Peterson was the senior pastor at a Queensland church where a teenage boy had been sexually molested by a youth pastor.

The church had a child abuse policy, written by two volunteers with no child protection background, that implied abusers should try to avoid detection and said Satan was to blame for accusations, the commission heard.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP OCTOBER 16, 2014

A retired church leader says the Pentecostal movement needs a hotline to report abuse allegations.
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).

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

Andres Gutierrez

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Victims of sexual abuse by members of the Kansas City Diocese are one step closer to receiving a settlement.

The lawyers and victims held their last hearing in the case Wednesday morning on the second floor of Jackson County courthouse in Independence.

On Tuesday, the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph agreed to pay $9.95 million to settle 30 lawsuits that alleged sexual abuse by priests.

This comes after former altar boy Jon David Conzens filed a lawsuit in 2011, accusing Monsignor Thomas O’Brien of molesting him 30 years ago.

Conzens was pleased with the settlement, but the plaintiff’s attorney Rebecca Randles said the decision is bittersweet.

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CHILE
Press TV (Iran)

[with video]

A Chilean court has found an Irish-born Catholic priest guilty of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in the capital Santiago.

John O’Reilly, who migrated to Chile from Ireland in 1985, was found guiltily of sexually abusing a pre-teen girl between 2007 and 2009 at the Colegio Cumbres private Catholic school.

“The tribunal has established beyond all reasonable doubt that… O’Reilly resolved to carry out actions of a sexual nature via body contact with a school student,” said Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos on Wednesday.

The priest, who has denied the charges, is to face sentencing next month. Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of 10 years.

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UNITED STATES
The Monitor

JOSE DE LEON III | STAFF WRITER

Posted on Oct 15, 2014

U.S. Marshals are attempting to find a former Catholic priest who disappeared after he was accused of molesting a six-year-old Brooklyn girl last June.

The suspect, Augusto Rafael Cortez, who was priest in Long Island, was already on probation after being charged in June 2008 with second-degree sexual assault. He eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of forcible touching, according to Long Island-based website Newsday, which did not require him to register as a sex offender.

“We found out he has friends and family down here,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Juan Lara, the agency’s local spokesman. “He was probably here in the Valley or he made it back into the interior of Mexico.”

Reportedly, the six-year-old girl contracted a sexually transmitted disease from Cortez. He is wanted by the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force-Long Island Division and charged with first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Oct 16, 2014 By Kenny Smith

Parishioners at a Cambuslang church have vowed to support their priest who has been suspended from his duties after police launched an investigation into historic sexual abuse allegations.

Father Paul Morton has been the Parish Priest at St Bride’s Church for 14 years.

We reported last week there was concern amongst his flock when he was unable to take Mass on October 5, with the Bishop of Motherwell stepping in his place.

It was later revealed Fr Morton (54) has stepped aside from his duties at the church, as a result of an investigation by Police Scotland.

Police Scotland said this week the investigation was still at an early stage.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Church said: “As a result of an ongoing police inquiry, Fr Paul Morton, parish priest of St Bride’s, Cambuslang, has been asked to take administrative leave from parish ministry for an unspecified period of time.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

A Catholic priest 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 teenager between 1983 and 1986 when he was 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.

Mr Rafferty said his client was struggling with his sexuality at the time and there was an “adolescent quality” to the hugging and touching that made the case “exceptional”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
GoUpstate

By Daniel J. Gross
daniel.gross@shj.com
Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2014

An Upstate conservative radio host has been charged with criminal sexual conduct.

Josh Kimbrell, host of Common Cents on Christian Talk 660, is accused of inappropriately fondling his 3-year-old son, according to a warrant from the Greenville Police Department.

He was charged Tuesday and taken to the Greenville County jail. The warrant states that the incident took place Sept. 24.

Kimbrell, of 531 Caledon Court in Greenville, recently served as the emcee to a roundtable discussion with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at the Spartanburg Community College Downtown Campus.

“He hasn’t even been before a judge yet. We’re going to let things play out as far as the courts are concerned,” said Gary Miller, operations manager for Christian Talk.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WYFF

Christian Talk radio host accused of sex crime against 3-year-old

GREENVILLE, S.C. —An Upstate man who is the host of a conservative radio show on a Christian talk channel has been charged with a sex crime against a 3-year-old boy, according to arrest warrants.

Josh Kimbrell, who is the host of Common Cents on Christian Talk 660AM/92.9FM, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11.

According to the arrest warrant, Kimbrell, under the guise of a game, fondled the child and committed other sexually acts against the boy.

Greenville police said that Kimbrell was arrested Tuesday. He is being held without bond.

Kimbrell’s Common Cents show airs weekdays at 5 p.m. He was born and raised in the Upstate and attended North Greenville University, according to his website. It says he is also chair of the Palmetto Conservative Alliance.

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CHILE
The Journal

AN IRISH-BORN priest was found guilty in Chile today of sexually abusing a young girl for years from the time she was a toddler.

John O’Reilly, 68, was accused of repeatedly molesting the girl, who is now nine, between 2007 and 2010 when he was a spiritual advisor at an elite school in eastern Santiago.

“A majority of the court’s members take as established, beyond a reasonable doubt, the following facts… that O’Reilly decided to engage in acts of a sexual nature through physical contact with a student at the school,” Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos said in her ruling.

O’Reilly was also accused of molesting the girl’s older sister but the court acquitted him unanimously of that charge, considering there was insufficient evidence.

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Allison Kaplan Sommer Oct. 15, 2014

Sadly, it’s a sign of our times that no one is exactly stunned by clergy sex scandals anymore. It is arguable whether sexual impropriety by spiritual leaders happens more now than in the past – or if simply more of the cases now come to light. Either way, it seems that hardly a month goes by when we don’t hear something about a priest, minister, imam or rabbi of accused of some form of bad behavior involving sex. In the Jewish community, as elsewhere, the spectrum of offenses range from the revelations of embezzlement of synagogue funds to hush up affairs to yeshiva rabbis convicted of sexually assaulting their students.

Each time it happens, it rocks a community to its core, and creates waves that affect adherents of that religion far beyond the immediate area. The scandals also provide fuel for those who may have an issue with the religion in question or the form in which it is practiced.

But the underlying lesson is usually the same: once again, we learn that every human being, no matter how exalted or respected, is tragically flawed and capable of terrible things. The fact that someone is learned in holy teaching and stands in front of congregations in ritual garments, preaching to them about distinguishing between good and evil doesn’t make anyone immune from giving in to base or unethical urges.

That said, the unfolding news of why Rabbi Barry Freundel, rabbi of the Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C. in handcuffs and charged with voyeurism, has succeeded in shocking even those who thought they couldn’t be surprised anymore. The details of his arrest as reported by a local television station:

“D.C. police say Rabbi Freundel used cameras set up in a changing area just outside the mikvah to peep on women. According to a police report, Freundel was seen installing a camera hidden in a clock radio above a shower at the mikvah.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Week

Rabbi Barry Freundel, the longtime spiritual leader at Kesher Israel in Washington, D.C., was arrested and charged with voyeurism after the synagogue board alerted the authorities.

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, Washingtonian magazine reported.

Reportedly the rabbi is accused of surreptitiously filming women showering in the synagogue’s mikveh. However, the police declined to confirm this detail.

A statement from the board of directors emailed to congregants said it had suspended Freundel without pay.

“Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the Board of Directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials,” said the statement. “Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Failed Messiah

[with copy of the police report]

Rabbi Dr. Barry Freundel, one of the top Modern Orthodox rabbis in the world, is Jformer US Senator Joseph Lieberman’s and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s rabbi, was arrested yesterday ona voyeurism charge. Here’s the police incident report.

Note that Freundel claimed the purpose of the clock radio that was also a hidden camera and recorder was to provide “ventilation” for the shower area of the women’s mikvah.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Perry Stein on Oct. 15, 2014

District police removed a black Sony Dream Machine radio clock and camera as evidence on Sunday from Kesher Israel in Georgetown—the modern orthodox synagogue whose rabbi was arrested Tuesday on voyeurism charges.

Police arrested Rabbi Barry Freundel at his nearby Georgetown home Tuesday and he is expected to appear in D.C. Superior Court this afternoon.

According to the police incident report, a 35-year-old woman reported seeing Freundel plug in the electronic device in the showers in the mikveh—a bath used in orthodox Jewish rituals. Freundel said, according to the report, that he was using the device for ventilation in the shower area. Women often use mikvehs for spiritual cleansing and purity after child birth and menstruation. mikvehs are also used by men and people converting to Judaism. During this spiritual cleansing, all clothing must be removed.

If the allegations are true, it could mean the rabbi was spying on people in his congregation while they were partaking in a religious ritual.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A prominent Georgetown rabbi was arrested Tuesday after being accused of setting up a camera inside the women’s shower rooms at his synagogue, police say.

Dr. Barry Freundel, 62, was arrested Tuesday morning at his home. Freundel is the rabbi at Kesher Israel Congregation.

CBS affiliate WUSA reports that a 35-year-old woman reported the incident. According to police reports, when the woman confronted Dr. Freundel, he told her he was fixing the shower ventilation system in the mikvah, a ritual cleansing bath.

According to a statement on their website, Kesher Israel has suspended Freundel without pay and is cooperating with law enforcement.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Rabbi charged with voyeurism hid camera in clock-radio in ritual bath, police report says

By Peter Hermann and Michelle Boorstein October 15

A prominent modern Orthodox rabbi at a Georgetown synagogue who was arrested Tuesday on a charge of voyeurism had a camera inside a clock-radio in the showers of a ritual bath, according to a D.C. police report made public on Wednesday.

A woman saw the 62-year-old rabbi, Barry Freundel of Kesher Israel Congregation, plugging the radio in, the report says, and police were notified. The synagogue’s board said in a statement that they informed authorities of the alleged impropriety.

It is not immediately clear whether anyone was filmed or photographed. Police were called to the synagogue on N Street Northwest on Sept. 28. Police arrested Freundel on Tuesday after a search of his home on O Street Northwest, also in Georgetown.

Freundel was charged with one count of voyeurism and is expected to make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court Wednesday afternoon. More information about the case will most likely be available then when police affidavits are unsealed. If images were not distributed, the charge is a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail; if images were showed to others, the charge can be a felony carrying a prison term of up to five years.

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CHILE
RTE News

An Irish priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in the Chilean capital, Santiago.

The court found that John O’Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, had abused the girl at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent area of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009.

“The tribunal has established beyond all reasonable doubt that … O’Reilly resolved to carry out actions of a sexual nature via body contact with a school student,” said Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos.

O’Reilly, who denied the charges, will be sentenced next month.

Prosecutors have requested that he be sent to prison for ten years.

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CHILE
ABC News

AP

An Irish-born priest was found guilty on Wednesday of sexually abusing a minor while he was chaplain at a school in Chile’s capital.

A court in Santiago said that the Rev. John O’Reilly committed the abuse while he was the spiritual guide at the Cumbres school located in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes.

The families of two sisters had accused the priest of molesting the pre-teen girls between 2007 and 2012. The court absolved him in one of the cases. His sentence will be announced on Nov. 11.

“The court has established … beyond all reasonable doubt the following facts: that O’Reilly decided to carry out actions of a sexual nature through body contact with a school student,” Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos, said adding that the priest committed the abuse several times in 2010 and 2012 during school hours.

O’Reilly, who arrived to Chile in the mid-1980s and was granted Chilean citizenship in 2008, is a member of the Legion of Christ. The once-respected conservative order fell into scandal after it revealed that its founder had fathered a child and had sexually abused seminarians.

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KENTUCKY
WKYT

[with video]

PULASKI COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – Police say the victim in this case is a 16-year- old who told them Rex Murphy intimidated him with tales of witchcraft.

“The victim stated that the suspect told him on numerous occasions that by brushing his skin or shaking his hand…he could tell his sins by the power he has. He comes from family of warlocks,” said Eubank Police Chief Colin Hatfield.

Police say Murphy, a Sunday School teacher at Polly Ann Church of God, also abused the 16-year-old. He’s charged with sodomy and sexual abuse.

“The accusations were very graphic,” said Hatfield.

Police say Murphy told them he was both the church’s youth pastor and Sunday School teacher. The Polly Ann Church of God pastor said he was only a Sunday School teacher. The pastor says the situation is being dealt with internally but because of confidentiality little else could be said. Police say Murphy threatened the victim if he told his parents.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Judicial Observatory (OJD) of the think tank Funglode on Wednesday said the country has legal options to seek the extradition of former Vatican envoy Josef Wesolowski, charged with sexually abusing minors in Dominican Republic, EFE reports.

The Polish-born defrocked bishop, 66, is accused of abusing minors during his stay in the country, from January 2008 to August 2013, and of possession of child pornography in Italy.

Justice minister Francisco Domínguez in September said Wesolowski’s trial could begin later this year or the beginning of 2015, but in the Vatican.

The analysis by OJD criminal justice researchers Junior Santana and Héctor Peña notes that the Dominican State can exercise its criminal jurisdiction as stipulated in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

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CANADA
Catholic Register

BY DEBORAH GYAPONG, CANADIAN CATHOLIC NEWS
October 15, 2014

OTTAWA – A lawyer representing the Catholic entities involved in Indian residential schools has vehemently rejected criticism from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) head who has accused the Catholic Church of withholding documents.

Pierre Baribeau says commission chair Justice Murray Sinclair has unfairly targeted the Catholic entities.

“We have a feeling that we have been discriminated against by the TRC, compared to the way they have treated the other churches,” said Baribeau. “That’s a strong feeling, and it’s very unfortunate.”

Baribeau was reacting to a speech in Winnipeg Sept. 29 by Sinclair, who said the road to reconciliation after 150 years will be a long one and the Catholic Church isn’t helping, as reported in the Prairie Messenger. Sinclair said the “government of Canada and the Catholics have not provided documents” needed for the commission to complete its work. He also said the churches were being unco-operative, and the Catholic Church in particular fears more abuse stories will emerge against living clergy.

Sinclair chairs the commission that began with a five-year mandate that has been extended by a year. It is looking into the abuses that occurred over the years in Indian residential schools in which government policy was to assimilate Canada’s First Nations’ youth with the rest of Canadian society. From 1820 to the 1970s, the federal government removed aboriginal children from their homes and placed them in Church-run boarding schools in what became known as an effort “to kill the Indian in the child.” The children were not allowed to speak their language or practise their culture and many suffered abuse.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, October 15, 2014

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

An Irish born priest, who had been working in Chile, has been found guilty of sexually abusing a child. We are grateful for the bravery of the victims for coming forward. We hope the perpetrator is put behind bars for a long time.

Fr. John O’Reilly is a member of the notorious Legion of Christ and has been convicted of abusing a girl while he was a chaplain at Cumbres School in Santiago. There are at least two allegations against O’Reilly.

We urge church officials to immediately alert parishioners and the community about O’Reilly’s conviction and beg anyone else who suffered, witnessed or suspects abuse to call law enforcement immediately.

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MINNESOTA
West Central Tribune

[with poll]

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and sexual abuse victims took a major step toward healing Monday with the announcement of a historic lawsuit settlement and agreement on future child protection.

At an emotional news conference Monday, church officials and sexual abuse survivors along with their lawyers shared a public platform to make this significant announcement.

This announcement is a positive one for all involved, but especially so for the sexual abuse survivors of the church in Minnesota.

“We’ve come forward together today because we’ve forged a new way,” said plaintiff’s attorney Jeff Anderson.

Church officials apologized Monday saying they were sorry the abuse happen and that it should not have happen.

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CHILE
Irish Independent

An Irish-born Chilean priest was found guilty on Wednesday of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in the capital, Santiago.

The court found that John O’Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, had abused the pre-teen girl behind closed doors at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009.

“The tribunal has established beyond all reasonable doubt that … O’Reilly resolved to carry out actions of a sexual nature via body contact with a school student,” said Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos.

O’Reilly, who denied the charges, will be sentenced next month. Prosecutors have requested that he be sent to prison for 10 years.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Kathleen Hopkins, @Khopkinsapp October 15, 2014

TOMS RIVER – Jurors deliberating molestation charges against a popular Brick priest just reviewed a videotape of the clergyman acknowledging that he touched a 5-year-old girl, her 13-year-old brother and the children’s mother.

On the videotape, about one hour and 15 minutes long, Marukudiyil Velan, better known to parishioners at Church of the Visitation in Brick as “Father Chris,’’ readily admits he touched the mother’s breast on the date in question, July 13, 2012, and that he had done so in the past in the process of hugging her.

Regarding the children, Velan, 66, said he was resisting their inappropriate moves when he touched them.

He denied, however, touching the boy inappropriately on a previous occasion in April 2012, when the pair were in his car en route to McDonald’s.

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CHILE
Business Insider

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – An Irish-born Chilean priest was found guilty on Wednesday of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in the capital, Santiago.

The court found that John O’Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, had abused the pre-teen girl behind closed doors at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009.

“The tribunal has established beyond all reasonable doubt that … O’Reilly resolved to carry out actions of a sexual nature via body contact with a school student,” said Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos.

O’Reilly, who denied the charges, will be sentenced next month. Prosecutors have requested that he be sent to prison for 10 years.

The school where the abuse took place is part of the network of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose founder was revealed to be a fraud and pedophile who had fathered several children.

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CHILE
Diario U Chile

La fiscalía pide 10 años de cárcel para el sacerdote Legionario de Cristo mientras que su defensa reclama que se le condena a muerte por su avanzada edad.

El Tercer Tribunal Oral en lo Penal determinó que el sacerdote John O’Reilly, perteneciente a los Legionarios de Cristo, sí procedió a abusar sexualmente contra una de las ex alumnas del Colegio Cumbres, entre los años 2007 y 2009.

La justicia determinó que el sacerdote se aprovechaba de su condición de guía espiritual para sustraer constantemente de la sala de clases a J.P.H.M y abusar de ella.

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CHILE
La Tercera

El Tercer Tribunal Oral en lo Penal afirmó que el sacerdote John O’Reilly sí procedió a abusar sexualmente contra una ex alumna del Colegio Cumbres.

La jueza afirmó que el tribunal de forma mayoritaria decidió que el religioso es culpable de los hechos que se le acusan.

Por otro lado, fue absuelto de forma unánime de la acusación del abuso sexual contra la hermana mayor de la víctima, ya que no se pudo acreditar el delito con las pruebas presentadas durante el juicio oral.

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CHILE
New Zealand Herald

Thursday Oct 16, 2014

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) A court in Chile has ruled that an Irish-born priest is guilty of sexually abusing an underage minor.

The court said Wednesday that the Rev. John O’Reilly committed the abuse while he was chaplain and spiritual guide at the Cumbres school in Santiago.

The families of two sisters accused the priest of molesting the girls between 2007 and 2011. The court absolved him in one of the cases.

O’Reilly is a member of the Legion of Christ. The once-respected conservative order fell into scandal after it revealed that its founder had fathered a child and had sexually abused seminarians.

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ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 15, 2014

ROME – True old-timers in the Vatican press corps still love to reminisce about how much fun it was covering the Second Vatican Council, a gathering of the world’s Catholic bishops from 1962 to 1965 that launched the Church on a course of modernization and reform.

It was a gripping story, filled with colorful characters. There were the great lions of the reform camp, such as Cardinal Leo Suenens of Belgium and Giacomo Lercaro of Italy, facing off against the old guard, personified by Italian Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, whose episcopal motto Semper Idem, “Always the Same,” was an entire ideological program in miniature.

Underneath the drama was the sense that something momentous was happening — a Church that had seemed frozen in place was suddenly on the move. Whether it was doing so in a wise or haphazard fashion is a matter of debate to this day, but no one denied that the plates were shifting.

Over the past two weeks, that kind of drama has been back on the Vatican beat.

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NEW JERSEY
Claims Journal

By MICHAEL CATALINI | October 15, 2014

A man who’s suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, alleging a priest sexually molested him more than 30 years ago, wants the state to change the statute of limitations in such cases.

Stephen Marlowe, of Hoboken, and members of a sexual assault victims advocacy group on Tuesday called for passage of a state Senate measure aimed at rolling back the state’s two-year statute of limitations in civil lawsuits involving sex assault.

“People are very forgiving, but you need to show acts of contrition, that you’re sorry and that you’re not attacking victims,” Marlowe, who’s 48, said before a news conference on the steps of the statehouse.

His lawsuit, which was filed last month in state Superior Court, seeks a ruling against the defendants and unspecified punitive damages.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com | Posted: Tuesday, October 14, 2014

A Central City priest is charged with sex crimes involving children in Honduras, and attorneys expect a surge in allegations of kids in poorer countries suffering sexual exploitation.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian said global child abuse is gaining more attention from law enforcement.

“We’re just now seeing what’s going on in the Third World,” Garabedian said. “The sexually abused victims in Third-World countries are just now coming forward.”

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. was arraigned Tuesday in Federal Court in Johnstown, accused of engaging in illicit conduct in foreign places and possessing material depicting sexual exploitation of a minor.

Garabedian is representing alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of former Bishop McCort Catholic High School teacher Brother Stephen Baker.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

OCTOBER 15, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

I recently founded a political action committee (PAC) called Protect PA Kids. Kathy and other dedicated professionals joined the board and generously donate their time to working for candidates who work hard to keep our commonweath’s children safe. Why a PAC? Lobbyists for financially-driven issues drown out the voices of grandparents, parents, law enforcement officials and advocates. As a PAC, we can leverage our collective resources on their behalf. We support candidates who are working hard to protect children and hold those who aren’t accountable. Please considering joining this PAC. Information is available at www.ProtectPaKids.com. The PAC is non-partisan and not connected to any organization, candidate or ballot measure.

While we focus on issues ranging from teen driving laws to educator background checks, we’ve prioritized child sex abuse Statute of Limitations (SOL) reform. Child predators could be living in your community because of the current SOL. Bill blockers in the state house may say the current ages of 30 for civil and 50 for criminal are adequate. But we know that recourse doesn’t apply to all victims whose abuse happened prior to 2002 and 2007, when those laws were enacted. Our state representatives and senators should not be concerned about whether a particular bill will lead to the financial duress of institutions, will cause insurers liability, give victims false hope or allow lawyers to profit. They should act on behalf of voters and children.

Delaware, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts and other states have enacted SOL reforms. With institutional cover-ups making headlines, including those involving Penn State and our Church, isn’t it time for Pennsylvania to do the same?

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TEXAS
Ecumenical News

Henri Rose Cimatu
Wednesday, October 15 2014

A Houston family has filed a lawsuit the Second Baptist Church for its role in the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.

The lawsuit claims that the megachurch’s youth pastor Chad Foster used his position to abuse teenagers, CultureMap Houston reported.

Second Baptist Church is led by senior pastor Ed Young and has some 65,000 members across five campuses with an annual budget of $53 million.

The church is accused of giving Foster the opportunity to interact with public school students without giving him proper training when dealing with minors.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, October 15, 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 )

A prominent Orthodox Rabbi from Washington DC has been arrested after allegedly video tapping women bathing in a ritual bathhouse. We applaud the brave woman who alerted officials to her suspicions.

Prior to his arrest, Rabbi Barry Freundel has been the rabbi at Kesher Israel in Georgetown since the late 1980s. He allegedly was filming women as they bathed at the synagogue’s mikvah, which is a traditional bathhouse. We are disappointed that a trusted official allegedly abused his position of authority to violate the privacy of maybe countless women.

We hope officials at Kesher Israel reach out to anyone who may have been violated. And we urge law enforcement officials to vigorously investigate and pursue the allegations and we urge synagogue officials to contact former synagogue members and staff who may have information about these allegations.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 15, 2014

TOMS RIVER – The fate of a Brick priest on trial for molestation charges could come down to a video tape.

A jury in the trial of Marukudiyil Velan, of the Church of the Visitaion in Brick, asked Ocean County Superior Court Judge James Blaney on Tuesday to watch a videotape again on which, prosecutors claim, the priest admits to improperly touching a mother and her two children in 2012, the Asbury Park Press reported.

However, Velan’s defense attorney argues that maintains detectives badgered, cursed at and manipulated Velan until he confessed, the newspaper reported.

Velan, 66, better known as “Father Chris” in the Brick parish, has been a adjunct priest at the Church of the Visitation in Brick since 2001. A garden at the church is named after him.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By Jacob Lupfer
Religion News Service October 15, 2014

Pope Francis has engineered a lively debate at the Synod of Bishops about gays and lesbians, divorced and remarried Catholics, and couples who live together before getting married. Yet through these discussions about Catholic life runs a theme that is as old as the Reformation: the role of individual conscience.

The conflict between conscience and authority is the pre-eminent battle underlying the synod’s debates. Even the dramatic turn from language such as “living in sin” and “intrinsically disordered” is a tacit nod to conscience over authority.

If there is a common thread among issues as diverse as contraception, divorce, premarital sex, and homosexuality, it may be the limits of the Church’s authority over Catholics’ behavior and consciences.

Protestant denominations vary in how much they have abandoned traditional teaching on these matters. Evangelicals have mostly accommodated birth control and divorce, but not premarital or gay sex. Mainline Protestants rarely enforce what weak prohibitions on premarital sex remain, and are more rapidly accepting gays and lesbians in the life and ministry of their churches.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Kesher Israel

This is a painful moment for Kesher Israel Congregation and the entire Jewish community. At this challenging time, we draw strength from our faith, our tradition, and our fellow congregants.

Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the Board of Directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials.

Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so.

After today’s arrest of Rabbi Dr. Barry Freundel, the Board of Directors suspended him without pay. As always, Kesher Israel will remain open as a place of learning, prayer, and community, including throughout the remainder of the Sukkot holiday.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
New York Times

By MICHAEL PAULSON
OCT. 14, 2014

An Orthodox rabbi who presides over a prominent Washington congregation was arrested on Tuesday and charged with voyeurism.

Although the police in the District of Columbia confirmed the arrest of Rabbi Barry Freundel, they declined to provide details or a copy of an arrest report for the misdemeanor charge. Rabbi Freundel is accused of placing a hidden camera in a changing area used by women, as well as some men, to disrobe before they enter a ritual bath called a mikvah, according to a person familiar with the allegation who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The congregation’s mikvah is in a building next to the synagogue, Kesher Israel. The congregation’s board of directors said it had notified law enforcement authorities of its concern about Rabbi Freundel’s behavior, and had suspended him without pay. It called the allegation “a painful moment for Kesher Israel Congregation and the entire Jewish community.”

“Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the Board of Directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials,” the board said in a statement posted to the congregation’s website.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Peter Hermann and Michelle Boorstein October 14

A prominent modern Orthodox rabbi at a Georgetown synagogue was arrested by D.C. police on Tuesday morning and charged with voyeurism, according to a department spokeswoman.

Barry Freundel, 62, of the Kesher Israel Congregation, was being held in police custody Tuesday and was likely to have an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday. Within hours, the synagogue’s board of directors suspended him without pay.

D.C. police confirmed that his arrest came during a search of his home on O Street NW, about five blocks from the synagogue in the 2800 block of N Street NW that he has led since 1989.

The police spokeswoman, Gwendolyn Crump, confirmed the arrest but declined to provide details of the allegation. Freundel’s home phone was not answered Tuesday afternoon. His arrest was first reported by Washingtonian magazine.

Law enforcement authorities said the case involves a hidden camera but gave conflicting accounts of where the alleged voyeurism took place. Both the synagogue bathroom and the mikvah, where ritual bathing takes place, were mentioned.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Fox 5

[with video]

By Maureen Umeh, FOX 5 Reporter & Anchor
By Paul Wagner, FOX 5 Reporter

WASHINGTON –
D.C. police have arrested and charged a prominent Georgetown rabbi with voyeurism.

Barry Freundel was arrested at his Georgetown home Tuesday morning and has been the rabbi of the Kesher Israel Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue, on N Street in Northwest D.C. since 1989.

Freundel is accused of setting up a hidden camera inside his Northwest D.C. synagogue and recording women as they showered.

The alleged crime happened in an area of the synagogue known as a mikvah. It is a ritual bath where congregants go to get spiritually cleansed.

D.C. police say Rabbi Freundel used cameras set up in a changing area just outside the mikvah to peep on women.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WJLA

[with video]

By Jay Korff October 14, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP/WJLA) – D.C. police have charged a rabbi at a Georgetown synagogue with voyeurism.

Police said 62-year-old Barry Freundel was arrested Tuesday at his home. Freundel is the rabbi at Kesher Israel Congregation.

A police report indicated that a camera and recorder hidden in a clock radio were found in the women’s shower in the mikvah, a ritual cleansing bath, at the synagogue.

According to the congregation’s website, Freundel has been the rabbi at Kesher Israel for 25 years. The site said Freundel is an adjunct instructor at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University. He also teaches at Towson University.

A message left at Freundel’s phone number was not immediately returned, but some of his neighbors – who witnessed his arrest -were careful not to judge.

“I hope we all remember that he is a brilliant man and a great leader. My prayers go out to his family and his congregation,” neighbor Sharon Lockwood told ABC7 News.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Haaretz (Israel)

Prominent Washington rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested and charged with voyeurism on Tuesday morning, The Washington Post reported.

A reporter with Washington D.C.’s local Fox television station reported on Twitter that Freundel was arrested for “electronic voyeurism” and “had cameras in ladies rooms.”

Another news website, the Washingtonian, cited eyewitnesses as saying that Freundel was led away in handcuffs while police searched his house, at 30th and O streets, Northwest. They were later observed removing computers and other items from the house.

Police confirmed that the arrest took place during a search of his home, about five blocks from the synagogue, according to the Post.Freundel is the rabbi of Kesher Israel congregation in Washington DC, vice-President of the Vaad of Washington and head of the conversion committee of the Rabbinical Council of America.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Press

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Published: October 15th, 2014

If the charges brought against a Washington, D.C. rabbi are true, the stain against him and the shadow cast by the accused wrongdoing will be long and hard to remove.

The rabbi of the Modern Orthodox Kesher Israel, also known as the “N” Street shul, has been charged with installing an electronic camera in the mikveh building and using or intending to use the camera to see the women as they prepare to immerse themselves monthly in the ritual bath as is commanded in the Torah. The mikveh is also used on certain occasions by men.

Rabbi Dr. Barry Freundel was suspended without pay by Kesher Israel’s board of directors after he was arrested and charged with voyeurism, allegedly using cameras to spy on women in the mikveh.

A police report obtained by the Washington, D.C. Fox affiliate alleges that Freundel was installing a camera hidden in a clock radio above a shower at the mikveh. The rabbi allegedly told the person who caught him that he was fixing the shower’s ventilation system.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

[with video]

BALTIMORE —A rabbi at a prominent Washington, D.C., synagogue who teaches at Towson University was arrested and accused of secretly recording women in showers.

Police arrested Barry Freundel at his home in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning. He’s charged with voyeurism.

A witness told WBAL-TV’s sister station in Washington, D.C., WRC-TV, that Freundel installed a hidden camera inside the women’s showers at Georgetown’s Kesher Israel Orthodox Synagogue. The showers are used for ritual cleansing.

Freundel, 62, is also an associate professor who teaches in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department at Towson University.

The synagogue released a statement, saying, “This is a painful moment for Kesher Israel Congregation and the entire Jewish community. At this challenging time, we draw strength from our faith, our tradition, and our fellow congregants. Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the Board of Directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials. Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so. After today’s arrest of Rabbi Dr. Barry Freundel, the Board of Directors suspended him without pay. As always, Kesher Israel will remain open as a place of learning, prayer, and community, including throughout the remainder of the Sukkot holiday. This is a very difficult time for all of us. We respectfully request that our community be granted privacy. Any further questions should be directed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
New York Daily News

BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN

A prominent Washington, D.C. rabbi was busted Tuesday after cops discovered he had allegedly been filming women showering at his modern Orthodox synagogue in Georgetown.

Police swarmed Rabbi Barry Freundel’s O Street home Tuesday morning and spent hours investigating, removing hard drives and computers, witnesses told WTTG-TV. The 62-year-old has served as rabbi at Kesher Israel, some five blocks from his home, since 1987.

Freundel is charged with voyeurism and is expected to appear in court Wednesday.

Kesher Israel has a mikvah, a ritual bath women in Orthodox Judaism are expected to use each month, the Jewish Daily Forward reported. The facility’s mikvah has three changing rooms and the bath, used by men and women at different times, the outlet reported.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Francis Oakley

Human beings chart their collective past, like their individual ones, via anniversaries, and this year has been particularly rife with important memorializations. June saw the seventieth anniversary of D-day in 1944, a date that increasingly tests the limits of living memory. In August we observed the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War. Go further back, and you enter a remoteness where anniversaries more typically engage the historian than the man on the street. Well, I’m a historian; and it is a sixth-hundredth anniversary to which, somewhat forlornly, I wish to draw attention. Forlornly, because I am guessing that we are unlikely to hear much about it, and least of all from church-connected sources. Yet the anniversary marks a truly great ecclesiastical event—one on which the fate of the universal church was directly dependent. November 16, 1414, saw the opening at Constance of a general council of the Latin Church. Both for what it was and what it did, the council was an event of great and historic significance.

In size alone—and it was far better attended than the later, iconic Council of Trent—Constance was perhaps the most imposing of all medieval representative assemblies, ecclesiastical or secular. A citizen of Constance who was charged with helping find quarters for the flood of visitors listed, in addition to popes John XXIII (the first John XXIII, the one who had convoked the council) and Martin V, some five patriarchs, 33 cardinals, 47 archbishops, 249 bishops and suffragan bishops, 247 abbots and priors, 217 doctors of theology, 361 doctors of both laws, 5,300 “simple priests and scholars,” 3,000 and more merchants, shopkeepers, craftsmen, musicians, and players—and over 700 “harlots in brothels.” The council, moreover, attracted not only the papal but also the imperial chancery, as well as the official representatives of a host of European countries; one historian has called it the nearest medieval equivalent to the United Nations.

And what did the council do? Quite a lot, in fact, not least of all the passage of a series of reforming measures, one of which—the decree Frequens (1417)—mandated the automatic assembly of frequent general councils, thereby making them a regular and continuing part of church governance. Had the popes not chosen to ignore that decree, the abuses of the late-medieval church might well have been remedied and the great “rupture” of Protestant Reformation avoided. But the council’s most important achievement was its success in bringing about what years of negotiation, diplomatic pressure, and even military action had failed to achieve—namely, the ending of the Great Schism of the West, which, after a disputed papal election and nearly forty years of debilitating deadlock, had seen Latin Christendom divided first into two and then into three rival “obediences,” each presided over by its own claimant to the papal throne.

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MINNESOTA
City Pages

By Jesse Marx Tue., Oct. 14 2014

Jeff Anderson hurries down the historic hallways of the Landmark Center in St. Paul dressed in a blue-pin-striped shirt with a white collar and pauses to hug two men. Both Jim Keenan and Al Michaud have been working with the attorney for years — both victims of clerical sexual abuse.

“This is a good day,” Anderson whispers and steps aside, revealing an odd sight: two priests.

Handshakes go round and one by one the men step into a room packed with reporters and cameras and survivors and pols — many of the people who’ve had a stake in cleaning up the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in the last couple years. Jennifer Haselberger, the former canon lawyer and whistle blower, stands in the back, smiling nervously.

They’ve come to hear Anderson announce the details of a sweeping settlement. His three-decade-long battle, though far from over, has come down to this: a 17-point “child protection protocol” that’s intended to revive confidence in local parishes and remove the veil of secrecy and silence that has plagued generations of sexual abuse survivors.

For instance, the plan forces the archdiocese to report allegations to law enforcement immediately and stay out of the investigation until it’s completed. Meanwhile, the suspected priest will be pulled from active ministry and his personnel files open to scrutiny.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: October 14, 2014

The historic settlement of a clergy abuse lawsuit Monday now moves to a sticky second phase as attorneys try to negotiate financial settlements for dozens of other church lawsuits either filed or pending court action.

Under the “new era of cooperation,” the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and victims’ attorneys will work to forge out-of-court settlements for the lawsuits filed since Minnesota relaxed its statute of limitations on older abuse cases last year. That includes three cases scheduled for trial in January.

“We agreed to a noneconomic portion of a global settlement; now we will try to achieve an economic portion of a global settlement,” said Charles Rogers, a Minneapolis attorney recently retained by the archdiocese to negotiate with victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson.

Anderson said his office has filed 16 lawsuits to date on behalf of alleged victims of clergy sex abuse. Dozens more are pending. And the Minnesota Child Victim’s Act, which opened the doors to lawsuits from decades-old abuse, doesn’t expire until May 2016. Those cases also will need to be negotiated.

Neither side predicts that a global economic settlement will be easy. But it makes more sense to assist victims than to pour money into lawyers fees and litigation, they said.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

Kate Raddatz

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – After a historic settlement in clergy sex abuse lawsuits in Minnesota, now the question becomes how the Catholic Church will pay for it.

The exact amount of the settlement has been kept confidential, but experts say it could cost the Archdiocese tens of millions of dollars.

On Monday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis along with the Diocese of Winona said they were considering all options to pay for the settlement, including bankruptcy.

Experts say if their insurance doesn’t step up to cover the payment of this settlement, it could be very likely they will file for bankruptcy.

But as for whether or not a bankruptcy claim would then cause Catholic school or churches to shut down, it is unlikely.

As the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, along with the Diocese of Winona, review their finances to see if they have the assets to pay for their lawsuits, bankruptcy remains on the table.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Catholic Church drafted a Memorandum of Understanding to share information with the NSW Police Force in 2004 despite being told a year earlier that the agreement breached child abuse mandatory reporting laws, an inquiry has heard.

The Police Integrity Commission had previously heard the MOU was designed to open up lines of communication between the church’s Professional Standards Office and the Child Protection Enforcement Agency, to facilitate the sharing of information relating to allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

But a 2003 letter from Commander Kim McKay from the Child Protection Squad to Michael McDonald, who was the head of the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations, advised that the unsigned MOU breached section 316 of the Crimes Act.

In the letter, Ms McKay said “the draft MOU has not been approved by the NSW Police Service, and the arrangements proposed by the MOU are not currently in place”.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

Esme Murphy

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — In her first in-depth television interview, the whistleblower in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis abuse scandal says Archbishop John Nienstedt must step down.

Jennifer Haselberger, Nienstedt’s former top legal adviser, said Monday’s announcement of new policies to protect children is a significant victory, but believes new leadership is needed to implement them.

So, Haselberger said not only Nienstedt should go, but all the top leadership of the Twin Cities archdiocese should leave as well.

Last year, Haselberger resigned from the archdiocese and went public with her concerns that the church covered up and mishandled abuse allegations. She insists she is not on a mission to destroy the archdiocese, but to help save it.

Her efforts, along with a change in state law allowing old abuse claims to be heard in court, are widely credited for the reforms announced this week.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
MSN News

Reuters

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has agreed to pay $9.95 million to settle all outstanding sexual abuse claims against its priests in a bid to close a long-running scandal.

The settlement resolves 30 pending claims filed between 2010 and earlier this year alleging abuse by priests 20 or more years ago, the diocese said in a statement.

“The diocese sincerely hopes that this settlement can bring about some closure to those hurt by abuse in the past,” it said.

A large part of the settlement will be covered by insurers, with the diocese paying the rest, the statement said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Steven Morris and agency
The Guardian, Wednesday 15 October 2014

A senior Church of England bishop will face no further police action over allegations of historical sexual offences against a girl and a woman, it has been revealed.

Michael Perham, the bishop of Gloucester, was interviewed under caution by detectives from the Metropolitan police’s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command.

But Scotland Yard has told Perham that he will face no further action. The Church of England is continuing to assess whether there are any “ongoing safeguarding issues”.

Perham, who is due to retire on his 67th birthday next month, said: “It was right that the allegations should be fully investigated and I am grateful that the police have completed the investigation and concluded there are no grounds for further action to be taken. My family and I are very grateful for all the support and affirmation we have received at this time.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AAP

BY EOIN BLACKWELL
October 15, 2014

The former head of the NSW child protection squad says he was unaware of a special arrangement between the police and Catholic Church to “blind report” incidents of sexual abuse until this week.

John Heslop, former commander of the Child Protection Enforcement Agency (CPEA), told the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) he didn’t know of the arrangement until the inquiry started on Monday.

The commission has heard the church and police had an arrangement of blind reporting, whereby information about abuse allegations would be given by the church to police without key details about the victim, since 1998.

“Are you saying you don’t recall it either way,” asked counsel assisting Kristina Stern.

“Yes,” Mr Heslop said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MEGAN BAILEY DIAMOND VALLEY OCTOBER 15, 2014

A PASTOR from Bundoora’s Encompass Church has expressed remorse to the victims of paedophile teacher Kenneth Sandilands during hearings into the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In 2000, Kenneth Sandilands, now 69, pleaded guilty and was jailed for two years for 13 counts of indecently assaulting eight students in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Pastor John Spinella, from Encompass Church (formerly Northside Christian Church), was at Northside Christian College and was on the church board during Sandilands’ time.

Mr Spinella yesterday told the commission hearing the organisation had “bungled” its handling of the matter, in particular the Reverend Denis Smith, who had the power to fire Sandilands.

Mr Spinella said the school now had a mandatory reporting policy for suspected abuse.

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OHIO
WKYC

[with video]

Chris Tye, WKYC 1

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — For sixty years, Ernest Angley has preached to the world from his headquarters in Cuyahoga Falls.

But for the last two months, Akron Beacon Journal columnist Bob Dyer has been talking to dozens of former members of Angley’s congregation who say what went on in here needs to stop. He wrote:

“Angley’s church is a dangerous cult where pregnant women are encouraged to have abortions, childless men are encouraged to have vasectomies and Angley — who preaches vehemently against the “sin” of homosexuality — is himself a gay man who personally examines the genitals of the male parishioners before and after their surgeries. They also say he turns a blind eye to sexual abuse by other members of his church.”

WKYC asked for a comment from the church and received the following: “Reverend Angley is not interested in responding to the article. It is a bunch of lies. It is not hindering us. We are being blessed in each service with crowds.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 15, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The father of a sexual abuse victim has accused his church of abandoning his family and attempting to “minimise losses” if his son sought compensation, a royal commission has heard.
Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the man, given the pseudonym ALD, said Australian Christian Churches tried to protect its assets rather than the victim.

“The church instead worked to minimise potential losses in case the victim should seek compensation,” he said. “Insurance was checked, consideration given to possibly shifting assets to other entities.”

The royal commission heard ALD’s son, given the pseudonym ALA, was sexually abused for two years from the age of 13 by a youth pastor at a Queensland church.

The abuse, which started in 2004, occurred on and off church premises.

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OHIO
Cleveland Leader

Published by Julie Kent on October 15, 2014

Televanelist Ernest Angley of Gracey Cathedral in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, has been accused by former members of his church of demanding that they have vasectomies or abortions, and further claim that the church leader would turn a blind eye to sexual abuse in the church.

During the Akron Beacon Journal’s six-part series covering the various allegations that have been made against Angley, 93, 20 former members of his congregation came forward and spoke with reporters. Members said that he not only encouraged vasectomies and abortions, but also personally examined “the genitals of the male parishioners before and after their surgeries.”

One former member said, “none of us have kids because he makes all the men get fixed”, and another former parishioner, Becky Roadman, said, “You’re not allowed to have babies there.” Others noted that Angley frequently counseled women to have abortions, and that he told at least one woman to think of her fetus as “a tumor.” One woman says that she knows of another woman, who will not come forward at this time, who was forced in to four abortions.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 15, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A Pentecostal pastor may have overlooked suspicions about his paedophile son-in-law because of their family relationship, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told church members raised concerns about a relationship between youth pastor Jonathan Baldwin and a teenage boy.

The then senior pastor of the Queensland church, Ian Lehmann, told the commission he may have downplayed the claims because Baldwin was dating his daughter.

“He was in a relationship with my daughter and that would have blindsided me to a degree, because I would never have allowed my daughter to have a relationship with somebody if I thought he was engaging in alternate sexual activity,” he said.

The commission has heard Baldwin started abusing the then 13-year-old boy in 2004 and the molestation continued until 2006, after Baldwin married Mr Lehmann’s daughter.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former Pentecostal pastor at a Sunshine Coast church cannot accept that a former youth leader who married his daughter is a paedophile, an inquiry has heard.

Jonathan Baldwin was jailed for a maximum of eight years in 2009 for molesting a 13-year-old boy for two years at the Queensland church.

The church, which could not be named for legal reasons, was attended by about 200 people.

Baldwin had a non-parole period of four years and was no longer in jail.

His father-in-law and former boss, Ian Lehmann, told the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday that Baldwin made an error in judgment but was not a paedophile.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP OCTOBER 15, 2014

A SENIOR Pentecostal pastor whose son-in-law ran his church’s youth program had no idea he was sexually abusing a 13-year old boy, an inquiry has been told.

IAN Lehmann, who led a small Queensland church where Jonathan Baldwin took sexual advantage of the boy between 2004 and 2006, says he still struggles to accept his son-in-law’s guilt.

Baldwin, who had charge of a 200-strong youth congregation, was jailed in 2009 for eight years, with a non-parole period of four years, for indecent treatment of a child under 16 and for one count of sodomy. He is no longer in jail.

Pastor Lehmann on Wednesday told a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing he found “pedophilia and homosexuality” repulsive, but when he sits down to have a meal with Baldwin “I don’t think I am doing this with a pedophile”.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph has settled 30 claims of sexual abuse for $10 million, according to a news release.

The settlement resolves 30 pending claims filed between 2010 and earlier this year alleging abuse by diocesan priests twenty or more years ago.

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.

A large portion of this settlement will be covered by insurers with the balance being paid by the Diocese.

In 2008, the Diocese settled 46 pending cases for $10 million. Jack Smith, the diocese’s director of communications, said these settlements will take away some missions the church wanted to do.

In a statement to 41 Action News, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said those who sued the diocese were heroes.

Dozens of brave Kansas City men and women who were sexually assaulted as a child by priests have settled their abuse and cover up case against the KC Missouri diocese and its convicted bishop, Robert Finn.

Finn and his aides and their expensive lawyers pulled out all the stops to try and deny Jon David Couzens his day in court. They did the same with these other victims. Time after time, Finn failed. So at the 11th hour, to protect their reputations and careers, Kansas City Catholic officials settled this case and the others as well.

While we are relieved these courageous survivors, especially Jon David, won’t have to endure even more mean-spirited legal attacks by Finn and his expensive lawyers, more cover ups by more Catholic officials would have emerged had these cases gone to trial and we’re sad that this won’t happen.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A settlement has been announced this evening for victims of predator priests in Kansas City.

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese says they’ve reached an agreement to settle all 30 outstanding sexual abuse claims for a total amount of $9.95 million.

The cases, filed between 2010 and earlier this year, allege abuse by diocesan priests twenty or more years ago.

“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,” according to a statement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gazette

Bishop of Gloucester to face no further police action over historic sex abuse allegations
by Stuart Rust

The Bishop of Gloucester, Right Rev Michael Perham, is to face no further police action over an allegation of historic sex abuse against a woman and a girl.

The Metropolitan Police said simply that they had completed their inquiries into the allegations and would not be taking any further action.

“We can confirm enquiries are now completed and there is to be no further action by the police,” said the Met statement.

The 66-year-old Bishop, a father of three, has issued a statement welcoming the announcement and expressing his relief.

However, he will not be able to return to work immediately because of an ongoing inquiry by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Committee.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

By Jeffrey Field

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph said Tuesday it has agreed to settle all outstanding sexual abuse claims against priests.

The $9.95 million settlement resolves 30 pending claims filed between 2010 and earlier this year. The abuse alleged in those claims dated back 20 years or more.

A large portion of the settlement will be covered by insurers. The rest will be paid for by the church.

David Clohessy of Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) issued a statement about the settlement, saying the church did not want to risk a trial and worried jurors would find the accusers credible.

“(Bishop Robert) Finn and his aides and their expensive lawyers pulled out all the stops to try and deny Jon David Couzens his day in court. They did the same with these other victims. Time after time, Finn failed. So at the eleventh hour, to protect their reputations and careers, Kansas City Catholic officials settled this case and the others as well,” the statement said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

Posted: Oct 14, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph said they have settled all outstanding sexual abuse claims for a total amount of $9.95 million.

The settlement resolves 30 pending claims filed between 2010 and earlier this year alleging abuse by diocesan priests twenty or more years ago.

They explained where the money came from in a release:

“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.”

“A large portion of this settlement will be covered by insurers with the balance being paid by the Diocese.”

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests released a response saying they are glad the sexual abuse survivors won’t have to endure going through trial, but they believe more cover-ups would have come out if the cases had gone to trial.

“While we are relieved these courageous survivors, especially Jon David, won’t have to endure even more mean-spirited legal attacks by Finn and his expensive lawyers, more cover ups by more Catholic officials would have emerged had these cases gone to trial and we’re sad that this won’t happen.”

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Joanna Menagh

A Catholic priest has been sentenced to 22 months’ jail for sexually abusing a teenage boy while was working in Perth 30 years ago.

Father Glenn Humphreys, 61, was found guilty by a District Court jury of four charges of molesting the 15-year-old boy in the 1980s.

The court heard the boy had gone with his mother, a devout Catholic, to the Church where Humphreys was an assistant priest.

Some of the offences took place in the Church’s presbytery, and another at Quinns Rocks where the two had gone on holidays.

The court was told the victim would visit Humphreys in his quarters and they would smoke cigarettes and listen to Barbara Streisand songs.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph says it has agreed a $9.95 million agreement to settle all outstanding claims alleging sexual abuse by priests decades ago.

Diocese spokesman Jack Smith said in a statement Tuesday that the agreement settles 30 claims filed between 2010 and earlier this year.

Smith says a large portion of the settlement will be covered by insurers with the balance paid by the diocese. He does not provide a breakdown of payments.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

ELLE FARCIC The West Australian
October 15, 2014

A Catholic priest who unlawfully and indecently assaulted a teenager in Perth 30 years ago has been sentenced to 22 months in jail.

Glenn Humphreys was found guilty of four counts of unlawful and indecent assault but acquitted of carnal knowledge against the order of nature in August.

The 61-year-old admitted having an “inappropriate” sexual relationship with the boy, who is now aged 45, but told the court their actions were consensual.

District Court Judge Philip Eaton said given his age, Humphreys would have known his behaviour was “grossly inappropriate”.

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MISSOURI
The Examiner

By Karl Zinke
karl.zinke@examiner.net
Posted Oct. 15, 2014

Independence, Mo.
The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has agreed to settle 30 sexual abuse lawsuits for nearly $10 million, the diocese announced Tuesday night.

The agreement for a total of $9.95 million resolves all 30 outstanding claims – including some involving priests in Independence – filed from 2010 to early 2014 alleging abuse by priests from the diocese from 20 or more years ago.

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

The diocese said most of the settlement would be covered by insurance with the remaining amount paid by the diocese itself. The settlement ended the civil lawsuit trial brought by Jon Couzens against Monsignor Thomas O’Brien for alleged abuse in the late 1970s and early ’80s. That trial has been in court in Independence for more than a week

David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, criticized the diocese’s timing in settling the lawsuits in a press release.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fars News Agency (Iran)

TEHRAN (FNA)- The American Catholic Diocese of Kansas City, St. Joseph, has agreed to pay $9.95 million to settle all its sex scandals in a bid to close a long-running file, media reports said.
The settlement resolves 30 pending cases filed between 2010 and earlier this year alleging abuse by priests 20 or more years ago, the diocese said in a statement, Reuters reported.

A large part of the settlement will be covered by insurers, with the diocese paying the rest, the statement said.

The Kansas City diocese in 2008 settled a lawsuit for $10 million brought by 47 plaintiffs who claimed they were repeatedly sexually abused by priests when they were children.

In 2012, one of its priests pled guilty to producing child pornography, and the diocese’s current leader, Bishop Robert Finn, was convicted of failing to report him to police.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

The “gay” issue announced by Vatican Pied Pipers as “earthquake, gray areas, do-over, gradualism, stuns Catholic world, stirs controversy” in the Synod of Bishops is Vatican Circus for idiot Catholics at its most ludicrous. The Washington Post belongs to the Vatican Mammon Beast aka Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team and look at how its title (like John Allen of Crux always cleverly does) deceive Catholics: “Vatican stuns Catholic world with greater openness toward gays and lesbians”. This title is so ludicrous and loaded with pathological lies that it can build a higher Tower of Babylon!

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

POSTED: 10/14/2014

“I pray that the darkness of the past be overcome by the light of this new day.”

— The Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, vicar general of the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

That new day should begin to pave the way for healing after Monday’s joint announcement of a legal settlement by archdiocesan officials and the lawyer for sex-abuse plaintiffs.

With it comes the hard work of restoring trust.

The church has been a central part of St. Paul’s identity from our city’s first days. After building the Chapel of St. Paul in 1841, “so delighted were the residents of Pig’s Eye with their first community institution that they rechristened the river settlement in its honor,” wrote Mary Lethert Wingerd in “Claiming the City,” the 2001 book that serves as a biography of the city.

This week, Pioneer Press columnist Ruben Rosario called the scene in a historic courtroom at Landmark Center an unprecedented public reconciliation.

A news conference brought together former adversaries — plaintiffs’ attorney Jeff Anderson and church leaders — with victims. They stood side by side in announcing a legal settlement and a 17-point child-protection agreement.

Through the current suit, the Pioneer Press’ Emily Gurnon recounts, Anderson leveraged the disclosure of more than 50,000 pages of clergy personnel documents from the church, as well as sworn testimony from Archbishop John Nienstedt, former Archbishop Harry Flynn, former Vicars General Kevin McDonough and Peter Laird, and Robert Carlson, formerly with the Twin Cities archdiocese and now archbishop of St.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

10/14/20140

Jennifer Haselberger

Unusually for me, I have agreed to interviews with WCCO TV and radio this afternoon. This has forced me to spend more time ruminating on the provisions of the Doe 1 settlement, and what it means in terms of resolving the crisis in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I want to state at the outset that I really would like to see this crisis come to an end. I have no interest in becoming entrenched in a position of binary opposition to the Archbishop or the Archdiocese. At the same time, I must admit that I felt much more hopeful about the settlement and its impact prior to the press conference yesterday afternoon. I continue to believe that the provisions of the settlement will have a tremendous impact, but I see that impact as being limited to two key areas: support for victims and investigations of alleged criminal conduct. The rest of the provisions are, by and large, little more than a restatement of previous promises, and I don’t think we should be patting the Archdiocese on the back for agreeing not to have priests in ministry who have abused minors.

In order for me to believe that we are truly entering ‘a new era’, I think that four things still need to occur. What follows is my attempt to outline these four things, as well as to explain my reasons for believing they are necessary. I hope to also have the opportunity to discuss these items with WCCO this afternoon.

Item #1: Leadership Change in the Archdiocese

The first and most critical ‘action item’ if you will, is leadership change in the Archdiocese. Obviously, this has to begin with Archbishop Nienstedt. Whether he chooses to resign or some process is begun to determine his fitness for ministry is not for me to say. What I think is clear is that he lacks many of the characteristics to be any sort of a leader, much less a good leader. This is not just a comment on his handling of allegations of sexual abuse. Many besides me have raised issues about his style of management, his ability to relate to people, and his administration in general. Yet, in calling for a change in leadership, I do not mean to stop there. Bishop Piche should be granted medical retirement. Bishop Cozzens, if his episcopal ministry is to be salvaged, should be transferred to another Archdiocese where he can serve as an auxiliary under a bishop capable of mentoring him in authentic and effective pastoral leadership. The rest of the upper levels of Archdiocesan staff also have to go. I observed yesterday’s press conference from the back of the room, and so my view was different than those of you who saw it unfold through the lens of a camera. From my vantage point what was obvious was that while the faces in front of the camera were by and large new, the faces of those beyond camera range were all too familiar. There will not be any true change in the Archdiocese until all the faces are new. If someone was in a directive position in the years leading up to or during 2013, and stood by while the Archdiocese was assuring the public that there were no accused priests in active ministry, that it was complying with the Charter, and that there had been only one credible accusation since 2005, he or she needs to go. Perhaps that will happen as part of a reorganization plan arising from a Chapter 11 filing, but previous Archdiocesan reorgs have rarely led to the right departures. I think we will only see this change when there is a change at the very top.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Kathleen Hopkins, @Khopkinsapp
October 14, 2014

TOMS RIVER – Jurors weighing the fate of a popular Brick priest on trial on molestation charges on Wednesday will get a second look at what the prosecution says is among the strongest evidence against him – a videotape of what he said to detectives.

An assistant prosecutor reminded the jury on Tuesday that Marukudiyil Velan, better known to parishioners at Church of the Visitation in Brick as “Father Chris,” admitted on the videotape that he improperly touched a mother and her two children in 2012.

Velan’s defense attorney, however, maintains the detectives badgered, cursed at and manipulated Velan until he told them what they wanted to hear.

Brick priest trial: Sex assault or tall tale?

After deliberating late into the afternoon on Tuesday, the jurors sent a note to Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney saying they wanted to view the videotape again. Blaney sent the panel home without reaching a verdict, saying they would have a chance to see the videotape in the morning.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils

Paris Arrow

Updated October 14, 2014

Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team movie script akin to a Hollywood production for the Synod of Bishops is going on as planned and their foremost Vatican Pied Piper John Allen is the main journalist who’s presenting the bishops in center stage and the lay speakers who were handpicked by the Opus Dei Beast PR. Watch John Allen’s brainwashing title. Today it’s “Married couples are stealing the show at Synod of Bishops” – which deceives idiot Catholics – to feel-good about the lay couple’s 5 minutes fame as in a television show and to not see the truth that the laity are being given bread crumbs of attention by the homosexual misogynists bishops oligarchy boys club.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

OCTOBER 14, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Here is the information you need to calculate if you can currently proceed with either a civil or criminal child sex abuse case in PA. It’s completely confusing, but the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape does a great job of explaining the law.

Civil SOL

Criminal SOL

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MICHIGAN
Detroit News

Oralandar Brand-Williams; The Detroit News October 14, 2014

Detroit – — A woman who authorities say conspired with a Catholic priest to embezzle money from a church charity was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

Dorreca Brewer, 34, of Jackson said nothing as she was sentenced by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Morrow.

Her lawyer, Southfield attorney Randall Upshaw, had asked that Brewer be ordered to give back only $2,000 of the money Upshaw says she is responsible for taking.

But Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Woodyard asked Morrow to order Brewer to also pay back $3,000 given to needy applicants which was split with her co-defendant, the Rev. Timothy Kane.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

A Pennsylvania priest has pleaded not guilty to charges he possessed child pornography and traveled to Honduras for sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio entered the plea Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto in Johnstown.

The 69-year-old remains jailed, though Pesto gave lawyers 10 days to return with information about the priest’s finances, at which point Pesto says he may reconsider releasing the priest pending trial.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Island Packet

The Associated Press
October 14, 2014

JOHNSTOWN, PA. — A Pennsylvania priest has pleaded not guilty to charges he possessed child pornography and traveled to Honduras for sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio entered the plea Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto in Johnstown.

The 69-year-old remains jailed, though Pesto gave lawyers 10 days to return with information about the priest’s finances, at which point Pesto says he may reconsider releasing the priest pending trial.

Defense attorney Steven Passarello tells the judge the priest will agree to freeze two investment accounts worth $900,000 and surrender his passport to address concerns he may flee prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Haines says investigators found another account from which Maurizio withdrew $127,000.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

JOHNSTOWN, CAMBRIA COUNTY— A Somerset County Priest pled not guilty in Federal Court Tuesday to charges of sexually abusing young boys at an orphanage and having explicit photos of them.

The U.S Attorney is prosecuting the case against Rev. Joseph Maurizio. The 69 year old was arrested back in September. Attorneys alleged they found images of child pornography on his computer at the church in Central City, Somerset County. Agents raided the church a few days’ prior to his arrest, seizing computers, cameras and other digital equipment.

The defense team for Maurizio maintains that their client is innocent.

On Tuesday Maurizio was back in court for his formal arraignment. 35-40 people including family, friends and church members were there in support of the former priest who was at Our Lady Queen of Angels. Not one was willing to give a statement or comment to the media after the hearing.

The prosecution told the judge they felt Maurizio is a flight risk even with his passport taken away because of large sums of money he has access too. Maurizio’s accounts total more than $1 million, including cash, bonds and IRA’s.

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FLORIDA
Herman Law

Another child sex abuse lawsuit against Archdiocese of Miami alleges Father Neil Doherty drugged and sexually abused a 10-year-old boy

WHAT: JEFF HERMAN (www.hermanlaw.com), a nationally-recognized attorney for victims of sexual abuse, announces the filing of a lawsuit against ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI for the sexual abuse of a child by Father Neil Doherty, a priest sentenced last year to 15 years in prison for child sex crimes.

According to the Complaint:

JOHN DOE first met Father NEIL DOHERTY in or around 1989, when JOHN was ten years old and living in Liberty City, Miami. At all relevant times, DOHERTY worked as Pastor at the Holy Redeemer Parish, in Liberty City.

JOHN ran away from his foster mother to stay with his cousin in Miami. While JOHN was crying on the street, he met DOHERTY, who was driving by. DOHERTY told him that part of his job was to help troubled children. JOHN told DOHERTY that he ran away from his foster home and DOHERTY told JOHN he would help him find his birth mother.

DOHERTY took JOHN to a motel on Biscayne Boulevard. While in the room, DOHERTY gave JOHN a marijuana joint and a “soda”. Shortly therafter, JOHN passed out. When he came to, JOHN woke up feeling groggy and he noticed DOHERTY leering at him in a predatory-like manner.

On another occasion, DOHERTY drove past JOHN’s cousin’s house, wearing clergy attire. When JOHN noticed JOHN, DOHERTY invited JOHN into the car with him and again promised that he would help JOHN find his birth mother. DOHERTY drove JOHN to another motel on Biscayne Boulevard and again plied JOHN with marijuana and a “soda”. JOHN passed out. When he came to, JOHN was on his stomach as DOHERTY was sodomizing JOHN.

Doherty sexually abused other boys before, during, and after the time he abused John Doe, which was known to the Archdiocese and actively concealed.

JOHN DOE NO. 125 v. ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI was filed last week in Miami-Dade.

Jeff Herman, the attorney for the victim in this case, said: “According to our lawsuit, the Archdiocese of Miami chose to avoid scandal, in part by continuing to give Father Doherty unfettered access to boys, instead of taking action to protect children and help victims heal.”

CONTACT: KAYLA REPAN; krepan@hermanlaw.com; 305-931-2200 (OFFICE) or 561-302-1692 (CELL)

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, October 13, 2014

Statement by SNAP leader Frank Meuers of Plymouth ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

This settlement and these promises are happening for two reasons: because caring victims take legal action and complicit officials fear trials. Let’s never forget these two simple facts. So we desperately hope that no matter how this agreement plays out, we hope that men, women and kids who have been sexually violated by Minnesota priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and other Catholic officials keep filing police reports and civil lawsuits.

What may happen in the future is unclear. What’s happening now and what’s happened in the past, however, is crystal clear: Catholic officials don’t ever pledge reform – must less carry it out – unless they’re under tremendous external pressure. That hasn’t changed and likely won’t. That pressure must come from brave victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, journalists and our justice system.

We in SNAP support any moves toward reducing the nearly limitless power that bishops exercise over so-called church “investigations” into clergy sex crimes and therefore welcome today’s announcement. But we have also heard time and time again, Catholic officials claim that their processes and their new staff are “independent” when in truth, they almost never really are.

So we join with Al Michaud in urging continued vigilance and healthy skepticism. Thousands of clergy sex crimes and cover ups have happened, and keep happening in Minnesota. The reason is not inadequate staff or protocols. So more or different staff or protocols isn’t really the answer. Rather, it’s a strong and independent system of ‘checks and balances’ – involving all of us – on the inherent secrecy of a self-serving, all male monarchy that answers to virtually no one. While hoping these new systems will protect children, we urge anyone who saw, suspects or experienced inappropriate sexual actions or cover ups to call law enforcement promptly.

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WISCONSIN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, October 13, 2014

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

A courageous, compassionate and persistent clergy sex abuse victim who helped warn parents and the public about a serial child molesting Catholic cleric is being honored this weekend. He richly deserves it.

He is Arthur Budzinski, a deaf man who helped expose Fr. Lawrence Murphy, a now-deceased predator priest who assaulted dozens and dozens of children for decades.

Arthur is, plainly and simply, an absolute hero. Long before almost anyone publicly discussed clergy sexual abuse and cover ups, Arthur was leafleting to alert families about a dangerous priest. We are overjoyed at the recognition he’s receiving and hope that his bravery will inspire others who are in pain to break their silence, get help, expose predators and start healing.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, October 14, 2014

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

A Kentucky youth minister allegedly sexually abused and threatened one of his students. We are grateful to the brave victim who found the courage to speak up.

Rev. Allen Murphy, who was a youth pastor at Polly Ann Church of God in Eubank, was charged with three counts of sex crimes involving a minor.

We urge officials at Polly Ann Church of God to use their resources to reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspects, or suffered crimes by Murphy. We hope any other victims who might be suffering in silence and self-blame will find the courage to speak up, report abuse, help protect other kids, and start healing.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Observatorio Judicial Dominicano

[The extraterritorial application of the Act in the case of criminal Jozef Wesolowski and other
procedural issues]

Santo Domingo, 28 de septiembre de 2014

Junior Santana
Coordinador

Héctor Peña
Asistente de investigación

SUMARIO: 1. Introducción • 2. Inmunidad del agente diplomático • 3. Discusión acerca de la posibilidad de extradición • 4. La denegación a la solicitud de captura internacional en R.D. • 5. Las solicitudes de anticipo de pruebas • 6. Reflexiones finales.
1. Introducción

En los últimos 10 años se han suscitado en República Dominicana seis casos de abusos sexuales relacionados con autoridades de la Iglesia católica1, entre los cuales se encuentra el caso del exnuncio apostólico Jozéf Wesolowki. Ante esta situación, ha surgido la discusión sobre la posibilidad de someter a un diplomático a la acción de la justicia en el Estado receptor, en la misma se tiene en cuenta que la Convención de Viena de 1961 acerca de las Relaciones Diplomáticas establece que solo existen tres excepciones en las que personas con esta calidad podrían ser alcanzadas por el ejercicio jurisdiccional. Dichas excepciones serán abordadas más adelante.

Los órganos judiciales del Estado son competentes para ejercer la jurisdicción penal en contra de las personas que han sido imputadas por la comisión de ilícitos en el territorio en que ejerce su soberanía2. Esto es cónsono con el cumplimiento de la función esencial del Estado, que de conformidad con lo dispuesto en el artículo 8 de la Constitución de República Dominicana consiste en:

“La protección efectiva de los derechos de la persona, el respeto de su dignidad y la obtención de los medios que le permitan perfeccionarse de forma igualitaria, equitativa y progresiva, dentro de un marco de libertad individual y de justicia social, compatibles con el orden público, el bienestar general y los derechos de todos y todas.”

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ALABAMA
Christian News

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A minister in Alabama is refusing to step down despite being voted out after he admitted from the pulpit last month that he has the AIDS virus and that he has been engaging in sexual activity with members of the congregation.

Juan Demetrius McFarland of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery announced during a sermon series last month that he had full-blown AIDS, and that he not only had been having sex with members in the building, but that he did not tell them that he had the virus. He has had HIV since 2003, and AIDS since 2008.

According to WSFA-TV, McFarland revealed further information little by little each week, including that he had been engaging in illicit drug use and that he had been misusing funds.

At first, the congregation expressed concern for McFarland’s health as all they knew during the early admissions was that their leader had AIDS. But as McFarland began to admit other deeds openly each week, they were horrified.

“He confessed to the entire membership and then to the City of Montgomery, because as soon as he got done confessing, it went all over Montgomery anyway,” Deacon Nathan Williams Jr. told the outlet. “So it’s nothing we [are] making up. It’s coming out of his mouth.”

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ALABAMA
NBC News

An Alabama minister who shocked his congregation by confessing he had sex with church members while afflicted with AIDS is now being sued. The congregation of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery voted 80-1 on Oct. 5 to dismiss Rev. Juan Demetrius McFarland as pastor, but he refused to give up the pulpit and presided over services Sunday. Deacons who tried to oust him filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking the court to order McFarland to vacate the church, citing his “debauchery, sinfulness, hedonism, sexual misconduct, thievery and rejection of the Ten Commandments.”

The deacons’ lawyer, Kenneth Shinbaum, said they feel threatened by a McFarland supporter, Marc Anthony Peacock, who allegedly vowed to enforce “castle law” if they showed up again. “Most of the membership is scared to go to church right now,” Shinbaum said. “They don’t want someone to shoot them.” Peacock told NBC News the allegation was “incorrect” and declined to comment further.

In a series of Sunday sermons, McFarland reportedly admitted to a series of misdeeds, including using drugs, misappropriating church funds and adulterous affairs on church property while he had full-blown AIDS. He confirmed the disclosures to NBC affiliate WSFA but has not spoken publicly about the scandal. McFarland did not respond to numerous requests for comment and it’s not clear if he has an attorney.

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ALABAMA
WTOC

By Tametria Conner

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) – A lawsuit is now pending in Montgomery Circuit Court against the embattled pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church who refuses to step down from his position even after being voted out by church members by an 80-1 margin.

Juan Demetrius McFarland was removed from his leadership role by the church after he made several pulpit confessions in which he admitted to sexual relations with congregants inside the church building while knowingly having AIDS, to drug abuse and to mishandling of the church’s finances.

Just moments after McFarland was voted out, a disturbance erupted in which Montgomery police were called to the church. Police say subjects refused to leave the property but the issue was

But even after being forced out, McFarland, as well as a second defendant identified as Marc Anthoni Peacock, are alleged to have changed the church’s locks and bank account access. Peacock is also said to have informed the church’s Board of Deacons that if they tried to attend the church, he would use “castle law”, meaning he would shoot them.

The attorney for the deacons who are suing for McFarland’s removal says he arrived at the church on Sunday October 12 with a prepared sermon on divine healing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

OCTOBER 14, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

The 2011 Grand Jury Report on the Archdiocesan cover-up of child sex abuse was my wake up call. As a mom, I’d assumed there were nothing but allies for child protection in my Church leadership and my state government. How wrong I was. The last several years have been an education for both Kathy Kane and myself. We wanted to do more beyond providing this forum.

I recently founded a political action committee (PAC) called Protect PA Kids. Kathy and other dedicated professionals joined the board and generously donate their time. The PAC is non-partisan and not connected to any organization, candidate or ballot measure. Why a PAC? Lobbyists for financially-driven issues drown out the voices of grandparents, parents, law enforcement officials and advocates. As a PAC, we can leverage our collective resources on their behalf. We support candidates who are working hard to protect children and hold those who aren’t accountable. Please considering joining this PAC. Information is available at www.ProtectPaKids.com.

While we focus on issues ranging from teen driving laws to educator background checks, we’ve prioritized child sex abuse Statute of Limitations (SOL) reform. Child predators could be living in your community because of the current SOL. Bill blockers in the state house may say the current ages of 30 for civil and 50 for criminal are adequate. But we know that recourse doesn’t apply to all victims whose abuse happened prior to 2006, when that law was enacted. Our state representatives and senators should be concerned about whether a particular bill will lead to the financial duress of institutions, will cause insurers liability, give victims false hope or allow lawyers to profit. They should act on behalf of voters and children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily American

Central City priest indicted on felony child sex abuse charges will remain in jail for at least 10 days until the judge decides whether to grant him bond.

Joseph D. Maurizio Jr., 69, a priest at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church, was indicted last week on foreign travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors and possession of child pornography charges.

According to the indictment filed in federal court, each year between 1999 and 2009, Maurizio traveled to Honduras to assist a nonprofit organization that provides services to children there. While he was in Honduras, Maurizio provided money or candy to boys in an orphanage in exchange for sexual favors or silence, authorities said.

During Tuesday’s arraignment hearing prosecutors said they are concerned that he may have access to funds to use to flee the country.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

October 14, 2014

A Somerset County priest charged with sexually abusing children in Honduras appeared briefly today in U.S. District Court in Johnstown for his arraignment and entered a standard not guilty plea.

Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, was indicted last week on child-sex charges and possession of child pornography after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

He is being held in the Cambria County Prison pending a detention hearing. Last week, the U.S. attorney’s office requested he be detained pending trial as a flight risk, and a magistrate today ordered that he will remain behind bars while his lawyer and federal prosecutors gather information about nearly $1 million in various bank accounts to which the priest has access.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gloucestershire Citizen

The Bishop of Gloucester will not face any charges following an enquiry by the Metropolitan Police.

He had spoken to Met Police officers over historic sex abuse allegations against a child in the 1980s.

A statement from Bishop of Durham, Rt. Revd. Paul Butler, Lead Bishop on Safeguarding for the Church of England said: “We can confirm that we have been notified by the Metropolitan Police that following enquiries they are to take no further action regarding the allegations made against the Rt Revd. Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester.

“The Church of England takes any allegations of abuse very seriously and is committed to being a safe place for all. As in any case where allegations of this nature are made any police investigation is followed by a rigorous process to assess whether there are any ongoing safeguarding issues.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gloucestershire Echo

The Bishop of Gloucester Michael Perham will not face any charges relating to historical child sex abuse allegations.

The Bishop ‘stepped back’ from his duties earlier this year when the matter was being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.

But now the police say he will face no further action.

Speaking for Church House in Westminster, the Bishop of Durham the Right Reverend Paul Butler, lead bishop on safeguarding for the Church said: “We can confirm that we have been notified by the Metropolitan Police that following inquiries they are to take no further action regarding the allegations made against the Rt Revd. Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed that no action will be taken against a 66-year old man who was interviewd in Gloucestershire on Tuesday August 5.

Bishop Michael said: “It was right that the allegations should be fully investigated and I am gratified that the police have completed the investigation and concluded that there are no grounds for further action to be taken

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Bishop of Gloucester is to face no further action by police over two allegations of indecent assault.

The Right Reverend Michael Perham was questioned in August in connection with historical sex offence allegations dating back more than 30 years.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it would not be taking the matter any further.

In a statement, the Bishop said it was right the allegations were “fully investigated”.

He added that his family were grateful for the support they had received.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor

14 Oct 2014

The Bishop of Gloucester is to face no further action from police over allegations of indecent assault in the early 1980s, it has emerged.

The Church of England confirmed that it had been notified by Scotland Yard that the Rt Rev Michael Perham will not be facing charges over the claims involving a women and a girl.

It comes just days after the bishop, who “stepped back” from ministry earlier this year because of the allegations, announced that his retirement service was being postponed amid the investigation.

Bishop Perham, 66, was questioned – but not placed under arrest – after attending a police station in August in connection with the allegations, which date back to 1980 and 1981.

He was a curate at St Mary’s Addington in Croydon, south London, at the time.

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MINNESOTA
Catholic News Service

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — With a historic courtroom in downtown St. Paul as the backdrop, attorney Jeff Anderson and officials from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Oct. 13 announced a settlement of one of the first cases filed under the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

They also released a history-making agreement to work together to protect children and help clergy sexual abuse victims/survivors heal.

“This is about truth, and this is about a new day; this is about a new way, this is about a safe way,” said Anderson, who has represented plaintiffs in dozens of lawsuits filed against the archdiocese during the past three decades. “It’s not just about pledges and promises. It is an action plan … words don’t protect kids. Actions do.”

During the news conference, a long line of survivors came forward to shake hands with Auxiliary Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens and Father Charles Lachowitzer, vicar general for the archdiocese.

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