ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The world’s bishops are called to be servants and shepherds who use their position to care for people and the faith, not to seek power and boost their pride, Pope Francis said.

The church has no place for men with a “worldly mentality” who are seeking a career, he said at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 5.

“It’s sad when you see a man who seeks this office and who does so much to get there and when he makes it, he doesn’t serve, but struts like a peacock, living only for his own vanity,” the pope said.

The pope continued a series of talks on the nature of the church, focusing on the Holy Spirit’s gift of the ordained ministries, especially the role of the bishop.

The catechesis began with a reading from St. Paul’s Letter to Titus (1:5-9) in which the apostle lists the virtues the bishop must hold and the vices he must avoid, such as arrogance, irritability and greed.

“We all heard that, right?” the pope said, looking around him with a smile at the bishops who were attending the audience.

“It’s not easy” to live up to St. Paul’s advice “because we are sinners, but we trust in your prayers so at least we can move closer” to these ideals, he told the other pilgrims and visitors.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

05 November 2014 by Christopher Lamb

A document authorised by Pope Francis has decreed that non-Cardinal heads of Vatican departments and officials automatically lose office when they reach 75.

A “rescriptum” on the resignation of bishops and those appointed to positions by the Pope came into effect on Wednesday and takes on board recommendations of the Council of Cardinals, the group advising Francis on the reform of the Roman Curia also known as the “C9”.

It states that cardinals who lead a curial department and diocesan bishops must offer their resignation on turning 75, although the document praises bishops who do so earlier due to ill health or another reason.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 5 November 2014 (VIS) – The Rescriptum modifying the presentation and acceptance of resignation from pastoral ministry by diocesan bishops and offices of the Roman Curia by pontifical appointment came into effect today.

The text is as follows:

Art. 1: The current discipline in the Latin Church and in the “sui iuris” Oriental Churches, by which diocesan and eparchal Bishops, and those held to be of equivalent office in accordance with canons 381 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law and 313 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, as well as coadjutor and auxiliary Bishops, are invited to present the resignation from their pastoral office upon reaching the age of seventy-five years, is confirmed.

Art. 2: Resignation from the aforementioned pastoral offices is effective only from the moment in which it is accepted by the legitimate Authorities.

Art .3: With the acceptance of the resignation from the aforementioned offices, the interested parties cease to hold any other office at national level conferred for a period determined in concomitance with the aforementioned pastoral office.

Art. 4: The gesture of a Bishop who, by motives of love or the wish to offer a better service to the community, considers it necessary to resign from the role of Pastor before reaching the age of seventy-five on account of illness or other serious reasons, is to be deemed worthy of ecclesial appreciation. In such cases, the faithful are requested to demonstrate solidarity and understanding for their former Pastor, providing punctual assistance consistent with the principles of charity and justice, in accordance with canon 402 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 5

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

A Catholic priest who spent the last two decades of his life working in Alabama has been exposed – for the first time – as a credibly accused child molester. We call on Alabama Catholic officials to warn parents, parishioners and the public about him and to beg anyone with information or suspicions about him to call law enforcement immediately.

[WWLP]

From 1983 to 2003, Fr. Sean Leo Rooney worked at St. John Bosco parish in Birmingham and Holy Rosary parish in Birmingham (Gate City). In 2013, Fr. Rooney was accused in a lawsuit of having sexually abused a 14-year-old junior seminary student at least twice.

Last week, a Boston attorney disclosed that he settled a child sex abuse and cover up case against Fr. Rooney and his church supervisors. That attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, has posted Fr. Rooney’s name on his website as one of dozens of accused priests against whom Garabedian has won settlements.

[Garabedian Law]

We applaud Fr. Rooney’s victim for having the strength to come forward, file suit, endure delays and win some measure of justice and expose Catholic officials who have committed and concealed child sex crimes.

And we denounce Catholic officials in every state where he worked who apparently have kept silent about the accusations against Fr. Rooney for months or years.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

November 6, 2014

Amy Remeikis
Queensland state political reporter

A Queensland priest at the centre of a sexual assault investigation attempted to gain access to the police investigation against him, including the recorded interview with the alleged child victim, so he could appeal a decision made against him by the Catholic Church and sue the complainant.

The man, who had no charges laid against him as a result of the investigation 15 years ago, applied for access to 99 pages and two cassette tape recordings relating to the police investigation under the Right to Information Act.

He said he was entitled to the information because they contained his personal information and because “there is a strong public interest in QPS being accountable for the way it conducts its investigations”.

His request was denied late last year on the grounds it was contrary to public interest.

The man appealed his decision to the Office of the Information Commissioner [OIC] which reviewed the decision last month.

“The applicant states that he is seeking information to include in an application for review of findings made against him in the [Catholic Church’s] Towards Healing process and also considers that the information will assist him in commencing a defamation action against the complainant,” The Assistant Information Commissioner reported.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

11/05/14
Hannah Dreyfus
Staff Writer

Last Thursday night, a meeting at Drisha Institute, a local program of advanced Jewish textual study for women, attracted an eclectic crowd of 45 community members, clergymen and women rabbinical students. The topic du jour was boundaries on rabbinic authority, and the mood was upbeat.

“There’s been an implosion in our community thanks to one bad egg,” said one attendee, referring to Rabbi Barry Freundel, the Orthodox rabbi from Washington, D.C., who allegedly planted video cameras in the local mikvah to watch women bathe in the nude. He asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The scandal has prompted a whirlwind of responses and already led to what some are calling unprecedented changes. The most significant one is a decision by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the largest council of Orthodox rabbis worldwide, which has established a committee to review its conversion process. It consists of six men and five women whose professions include an attorney, educator, psychotherapist and a Yoetzet Halacha, who advises women on family purity laws.

The change represents the largest appointment of women to an RCA committee in the group’s 80-year history, according to Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, a former RCA president and rabbi in Englewood, N.J., who will chair the committee. The group will review the Beit Din of America’s Geirus Protocol and Standards (GPS), which Rabbi Freundel played a key role in creating, and will suggest safeguards against possible future abuses.

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BELGIE
Katholieke Actie Vlaanderen

Vangheluwe nam op 23 april ontslag als bisschop van Brugge, toen uitlekte dat hij dertien jaar lang zijn neef had misbruikt. Hij kreeg dezelfde dag nog onderdak bij de paters-trappisten in Westvleteren. Toen Jozef De Kesel in juni benoemd werd tot nieuwe bisschop van Brugge, werd Vangheluwe gevraagd zijn persoonlijke spullen op te halen. Dat waren enkele boeken en een paar meubeltjes. Vangheluwe deed wat hem gevraagd werd, maar tot ieders verbijstering deed hij dat geflankeerd door de wegens zedenfeiten geschorste priester Tom Flamez. Vangheluwe en zijn vriend laadden de spullen op en vertrokken, zonder veel te zeggen tegen hun ex-collega’s.

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POLSKA/POLAND
Ocaleni

Pisaliśmy już o sytuacjach, w których polscy księża, dopuszczający się nadużyć seksualnych na dzieciach dostają niskie wyroki lub wyroki w zawieszeniu – dzięki czemu cieszą się wolnością.

Podobna sytuacja miała miejsce w tym tygodniu – ksiądz katecheta z jednej z parafii spod Tarnowa za dopuszczenie się innej czynności seksualnej został skazany na zaledwie dwa lata w zawieszeniu na pięć. Teoretycznie nie pójdzie więc do więzienia.

/ We have already written about situations in which Polish priests who abuse children get light or suspended sentences – therefore they enjoy their freedom.

This week a similar situation has occurred – a priest and also a catechist from the parish near Tarnow got a two-year sentence up to five years on probation for sexual abuse.

Oprawca przyznał się do winy i wykazał skruchę.

Warto zauważyć, że w tym wypadku 31-letni ksiądz Mateusz G. musi poddać się przymusowemu leczeniu. Ma też dożywotni zakaz zbliżania się do dziewczynki i zakaz kontaktowania się z nią, a także dożywotni zakaz pracy z dziećmi w charakterze nauczyciela i pedagoga. Jeśli nie dopełni któregoś z tych warunków, trafi za kratki.

Ksiądz został zawieszony w obowiązkach duszpasterskich, a przeciwko niemu ruszyły postępowania kanoniczne.

Chcieliśmy prosić o gorące brawa dla poszkodowanej dziewczynki, która zgłosiła sprawę – jesteś dzielna!
———————

Consequently, in theory he will not go to jail. The abuser pleaded guilty and showed remorse.

Also, it is important to note that in the above-mentioned case, a 31-year-old priest Mateusz G., must undergo compulsory treatment. Besides, the priest got a lifelong restraining order not to approach

the girl as well as contact her. Additionally, he cannot work with children as a teacher or a pedagogue

for a lifetime. If he does not meet these conditions, he will be put behind bars.

The abuser was suspended from his priestly duties and canonical proceedings against him have already been initiated.

Let’s have a warm round of applause for the abused girl who reported the case – you are brave!

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MEXIKO
Finanzen

[Reporters Without Borders stands with Mexican reporter Sanjuana Martinez as Journalist of the Year 2014. She was endured harassment and death threats as she reported stories of sexual abuse of women and children, the illegal drug trade in Mexico, and clergy abuse.]

Reporter ohne Grenzen (ROG) zeichnet die mexikanische Reporterin Sanjuana Martinez als Journalistin des Jahres 2014 aus “Trotz Drangsalierungen und Todesdrohungen lässt sich Martinez nicht davon abbringen, Themen wie den sexuellen Missbrauch von Frauen und Kindern oder Details über den illegalen Drogenhandel in Mexiko ans Licht zu bringen”, sagt ROG-Geschäftsführer Christian Mihr in Berlin. “Sie ist beispielhaft für all jene Journalisten, die sich trotz massiver Repressionen nicht einschüchtern lassen.” Als Medium des Jahres würdigt ROG die Tageszeitung Frontpage Africa aus Liberia. Der 32-Jährige Informationsaktivist Raef Badawi aus Saudi-Arabien wird als Netizen des Jahres ausgezeichnet.

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UNITED STATES
First Things

by Aaron Taylor
11 . 5 . 14

ope Francis recently gave a speech to the International Association of Penal Law advocating for the improvement of prison conditions and reiterating pleas made by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI for an end to the death penalty.

Francis, however, went further than either of his predecessors by extending Catholic critiques of capital punishment to life sentences, which he condemned as the “death penalty in disguise.” His comments have reopened debates in Italy about life sentences (nearby countries such as Spain and Portugal have abolished them) and prompted Catholic bishops in the Philippines to denounce life sentencing as “inhuman.”

Those of us who lean conservatively where criminal justice is concerned would do well to take to heart the Pope’s critique of the “vengeful trend which permeates society” and reflect on how our attitudes toward convicts line up with the teaching of Scripture. “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them,” the author of the Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us (Heb 13:3). …

In his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, Pope Benedict XVI highlighted—among the causes of the sexual abuse crisis in the Irish Church—a loss of respect for the role that punishment plays in safeguarding the common good:

In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings.

Time and again, extremely serious sex crimes committed by clergy went unpunished. The prevailing attitude in the 1970s was that as long as clergy went through therapy programs that were believed to counteract the physical threat they might pose to the safety of children, expiatory punishment such as turning them over to civil authorities, removing them from the clerical state, or banishing them to monasteries, served no useful purpose.

One of the reasons that isolated cases of sex abuse eventually turned into full-blown national crises was that although ecclesiastical authorities did have some (largely inadequate) regard to the need to defend children from abuse, they had no regard for the need to punish those who perpetrated the abuse. For the 1970s generation, the entire concept of “punishment”—whether relating to the theology of the atonement, the concept of the Eucharist as a propitiatory Sacrifice, or to holding clergy accountable for violations of moral and canon law—was something to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Catholics should think very carefully before we ask the civil community to apply to itself a philosophy of punishment that has borne such bitter fruit within the Church.

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NEW YORK
Real Estate Weekly

[Via New York archdiocese:
Parish List 1 – Masses and Sacraments celebrated at both churches
Parish List 2 – Masses and Sacraments to be celebrated at the designated parish church; the other church may be used on special occasions.]

By Dan Orlando

The announcement that 112 parishes within the realm of the Archdiocese of New York will merge means that over 30 physical churches in the area will soon stand vacant.

On Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced that 112 parishes will condense to form 55 by August 1, 2015.

As the move is in large-part a cost-saving measure, it is expected that the empty properties will be sold.

“Most of the time, property that is occupied by a church has a tremendous amount of unused FAR associated with it,” said Bob Knakal, noting that Floor Area Ratio means the potential to develop more dense properties in their place.

“Usually, they’re good development sites, provided the church is not landmarked.”

The unique architecture and multitude of available space can potentially earn a hefty asking price for a church that hits the market. But will the flood of available property dilute the structures’ worth?
Knakal does not foresee the supply outweighing the demand.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

BY ANGUS LIVINGSTON AAP NOVEMBER 05, 2014

THE Catholic Church should pay for legal advice to pedophile priest victims seeking compensation, a victim’s father says.

A REVIEW of the Melbourne Response compensation scheme is under way after victims said it re-traumatised them and their capped payouts were too low.

The scheme was set up in 1996 to handle allegations of clergy sex abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese, but was criticised for protecting the interests of the church.

Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were raped by notorious abuser Father Kevin O’Donnell, said independent legal advice should have been available to all those who sought compensation.

“I think that given the scheme is run and managed by the very highly skilled, high-powered legal team on behalf of the archdiocese, victims should have access to legal advice right through that process,” Mr Foster told AAP on Wednesday.

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CALIFORNIA
Jewish Journal

by Ryan Torok

The scandal surrounding the Washington D.C. rabbi who was arrested and charged for allegedly secretly filming women while they were using a mikveh dressing room has prompted assurances from the Mikvah Society of Los Angeles that its own mikveh “continues to be a safe and secure environment.”

The statement appeared in an Oct. 28 letter that local modern Orthodox synagogues are distributing on behalf of the mikveh society.

“The dedicated individuals who are involved in our Mikvah are motivated to ensure a sanctified place for performing the Mitzvah of Taharat ha-Mishpacha (family purity) and facilitating conversions,” the letter reads. “As a community Mikvah, we are not affiliated with any particular shul or rabbi, and are guided by the Rabbinic Board of the Mikvah for halachic standard setting and consultation.” The letter is signed by Vivian Lurie, Mikvah Society of Los Angeles president.

Rabbi Barry Freundel of the Washington D.C.-based congregation Kesher Israel was arrested on Oct. 14 and has been charged with six counts of voyeurism.

The Rabbinic Council of America (RCA) also directly addressed Freundel’s actions, including by naming Rabbi Kalman Topp of Beth Jacob Congregation to a commission to review the practices of conversions in the Orthodox community. The commission includes women who have converted, as well as rabbis and others.

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MINNESOTA
Daily Mail (UK)

College student speaks out for the first time about being sexually abused by female gym teacher at Catholic high school

By LOUISE BOYLE FOR MAILONLINE

A former high school football captain has revealed for the first time how being abused by a female teacher shattered his dreams of playing at college level and changed his future.

Cameron Clarkson, 22, attended Catholic Cretin-Derham Hall in St Paul, Minnesota for four years where he eventually led the state-title winning Raiders football team.

However Mr Clarkson’s dreams of going on to play at college came crashing down when he was targeted at the age of 16 by substitute teacher and weight room supervisor Gail Gagne.

Mr Clarkson is now suing the school for not doing more to protect him from the 25-year-old teacher. Gagne is also facing a lawsuit.

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NEW YORK
Crain’s New York Business

Real estate investors are likely to cast a longing eye on 19 churches that the Catholic Archdiocese plans to shutter, only a handful of which are encumbered with landmarking restrictions.

BY JOE ANUTA
NOVEMBER 4, 2014

The Archdiocese of New York’s plan to consolidate 37 parishes in the city could prove a boon for real estate developers—especially since most of the properties set to be vacated are not landmarked.

As part of a large-scale restructuring that first came to light late last month, the archdiocese will cease services at 19 churches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island and will integrate those parishes with 18 others in the city.

Those individual parishes will decide what to do with the unused buildings in the short term, according to the archdiocese, but both the archdiocese and the parishes will likely decide to sell at least some of the parcels eventually.

As of now, there would be little impediment to their development. Only two of the churches set for closure are landmarked, with one more calendared for consideration. That means it is protected until the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission makes a decision.

In some cases, the church has campaigned against the landmarking of archdiocese property. Take the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District for example. A number of representatives from Catholic churches and organizations opposed the inclusion of the Church of the Nativity at 44 Second Ave. in the historic district. In the end the commission voted to do just that, neatly carving the property out of the district.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Facebook page calls for removal of Gieh ir-Repubblika honour awarded to Fr Charles Fenech

A Facebook page has been launched calling upon the authorities to remove the honour of Gieh ir-Repubblika awarded to Fr Charles Fenech.

Fr Fenech, who was awarded in honour in 2001, is being charged with sexually abusing a number of women. After he missed the first three court sittings, citing illness, the case is due to continue on 17 December.

The Facebook page also speaks about a petition that has been launched for the government to remove the honour the priest was given.

The Gieh ir-Repubblika was given to Fr Fenech at the time he was provincial of the Dominican Friars as well as the founder and director of the Kerygma movement. The citation read that “for 16 years (Fr Fenech) organised the National Campaign Solidarity through sport, in which hundreds of youths and helpers participate in the annual volleyball marathon. This has become an important occasion in the Maltese calendar and raises substantial funds for deserving institutions in Malta.

“His dedication to helping those in need does not impinge on his pastoral work, especially among youths, where through Kerygma’s activities he preaches by example”.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Steve Lieberman, slieberm@lohud.com November 5, 2014

RAMAPO – Cracking a sexual or physical abuse case within an insular religious community is filled with pitfalls, with law enforcement often dealing with victims and witnesses who fear retaliation from community leaders.

Rockland law enforcement and prosecutors say they have encountered such cases here. On Thursday, they will hear from investigators who worked a case under similar circumstances in Arizona.

Rockland STOP F.E.A.R. Coalition’s 17th annual criminal justice conference at Rockland Community College on Thursday will hear from Chandler, Arizona, detective Sgt. Chris Perez and Pinal County prosecutor Matthew Long about the investigation and prosecution of Susan Brock.

Brock, the former wife of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock and a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, sexually molested a teenage boy for more than three years, starting in 2006 when the boy was 11. She ultimately was sentenced to 13 years in prison in April 2011. Her daughter, then 17, also was implicated.

Advocates hope the seminar will become a general teaching model for prosecutors and police.

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UNITED STATES
Aleteia

PHILIP JENKINS

Thirty years ago, churches began to recognize the scale and gravity of child abuse by clergy. Now, though, we are on the verge of some critically important findings about what does, and does not, cause that heinous crime. In particular, new investigations teach us a great deal about the impact of mandatory clerical celibacy.

As I have written before, the abuse crisis is most notorious in the context of the Roman Catholic church. In the United States between 1950 and 2002, some 4.2 percent of Catholic clergy were plausibly accused of abusive actions, whether or not these charges might have stood up in court. Making comparative statements all but impossible, that quantitative statement is not possible for literally any other denomination or profession. Yes, we hear charges against individual Baptists or Lutherans or Jews, but such evidence is anecdotal. Hence, activists and campaigners of various shades feel free to assign the causes of clergy abuse as they wish, chiefly identifying features attributed to the Catholic priesthood — factors such as mandatory celibacy, the de facto toleration of clerical homosexuality, the exclusion of women priests, and so on. (Obvious comment: I am citing these explanations, not endorsing them).

Now matters are changing, in that we are finally about to have concrete data about abuse in another church, allowing serious and effective comparison. In best social scientific style, variables can be tested and excluded.

For years now, clergy of the Church of England have faced repeated scandals for offenses very much like those of the celebrated Catholic cases — abusive priests allowed to continue unchecked in their crimes, senior administrators turning a blind eye, victims’ protests unheard. These horror stories have become so grave as to provoke a sweeping and systematic investigation of abuse by Anglican clergy over the past 60 years, and the initial revelations are ghastly.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Raw Story

DAVID FERGUSON
04 NOV 2014

A 49-year-old Philadelphia pastor is accused of inappropriately fondling his mentally challenged 15-year-old niece in the church that he runs.

According to Philly.com, Rev. Albert A. Young of Total Deliverance Ministries is charged with using his position as head of the church to gain access to his 15-year-old niece and sexually abuse her.

Officials reported that Young was taken into custody last week after he was accused of enticing the girl into his lap in his office in the church on the night of Aug. 12. Once the girl was on top of him, Young reportedly touched her sexually, “putting his hands inside the girl’s pants, fondling her buttocks and kissing her neck.”

A police affidavit about the alleged assault states that Young continued to touch and fondle the girl, pressing his genitals against her and guiding her hand to his penis.

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MICHIGAN
Holland Sentinel

By Staff report
Posted Nov. 4, 2014

Holland, Mich.
A part time youth minister at the St. Francis Xavier Parish in northern Ottawa County has been arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct, according to a statement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids.

William Miller worked at the St. Francis Parish Xavier Parish in Conklin and the St. Catherine Parish in Ravenna.

Police have charged Miller with criminal sexual conduct of a young person, according to the diocese. The incident occurred about a decade ago off of church property and was not associated with a church activity, according to the diocese.

“We ask you to pray for healing for all of those people whose lives and families will be deeply impacted by these events,” the diocese said in a statement.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. (WOOD) — A youth minister at two parishes in West Michigan has been arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a young person, according to a statement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids.

William Miller, 61, was serving as a part-time youth minister at St. Catherine Parish in Ravenna, which is in Muskegon County and St. Francis Xavier Parish in Conklin, which is in Ottawa County.

He was arrested on October 28 and arraigned the following day on one count of first degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charges stem from an incident believed to have occurred about 10 years ago, away from church property and unrelated to church activities, the statement from the diocese read. It’s unclear how old the victim was at the time of the alleged incident.

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MICHIGAN
Grand Haven Tribune

A part-time youth minister for St. Catherine Parish in Ravenna and St. Francis Xavier Paris in Conklin has been charged with criminal sexual conduct with a young person.

BECKY VARGO
GRAND RAPIDS
NOV 4, 2014

William Miller was suspended from all ministerial activities once the allegations and arrest became known, said Carl Appel, director of Communications for the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids.

The incident is believed to have happened approximately 10 years ago, away from church property and unassociated with church activities, Appel said.

An announcement was read at parish Masses on Sunday and a letter were sent to parents who had children in the youth ministry and school programs.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News

Posted: Tuesday, November 4, 2014

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

IPSWICH — The trial of a Roman Catholic priest who ran a summer camp for disadvantaged boys in Ipswich decades ago is expected to get underway with opening statements Wednesday morning in Lawrence Superior Court.

Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of the Rev. Richard J. McCormick, 73, a high-ranking member of the Salesian Society of Don Bosco of North America, the order that ran the summer camp at what was then known as the Sacred Heart retreat in the late 1970s and 1980s. The site is now the headquarters of New England Biolabs.

The trial is the first of two that involve allegations brought by men who recalled being sexually abused at the camp by McCormick when they were boys.

In the trial now underway, McCormick is charged with five counts of child rape, involving a boy who attended the camp from the age of 9 to 12, prosecutors allege.

McCormick’s lawyer, Stephen Neyman, said his client denies abusing the boy, suggesting that the accuser has identified the wrong culprit for his abuse.

But prosecutors say that the victim was able to positively identify the man he knew as “Father Dick” decades later when he found a photo of him online, prosecutor Kate MacDougall said during arguments on several pretrial motions Tuesday, prior to the start of jury selection.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Religion News Service | By David Gibson

(RNS) Many conservative Catholics have long viewed Pope Francis with suspicion thanks to his effort to shift the church’s focus away from a culture war agenda and toward a more welcoming approach and a greater emphasis on serving the poor.

But last month’s controversial Vatican summit on the modern family, with the push by Francis and his allies to translate that inclusive view into concrete policies on gays and divorced and remarried Catholics, for example, seems to have marked a tipping point, with some on the right raising the specter of a schism — a formal split that is viewed as the “nuclear option” for dissenters.

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, a Catholic and a conservative, crystallized the peril in an Oct. 25 column warning the pope not to “break the church” to promote his goals, saying that if Francis continues to alienate conservative Catholics it could lead to “a real schism.”

Douthat had raised the possibility of “an outright schism” earlier this year, as well, and his warnings have been echoed by a number of other church leaders and commentators. The anxiety on the right has also drawn increasing media speculation about the possibility of conservatives splintering off.

So is a schism, with its echoes of medieval debates and heretics burning at the stake, a realistic possibility? And can an independent Catholic church be successful in the modern world?

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JON TEVLIN , Star Tribune Updated: November 4, 2014

A south Minneapolis church plans to bring in controversial Irish Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery to speak on Wednesday, despite warnings from Archbishop John Nienstedt. And the church’s pastor is using the words of a powerful church leader to justify it: Pope Francis.

Father Mike Tegeder, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Church, has been intent on bringing in Flannery, who is on a speaking tour of the country. But the Cabrini visit will be the only time he speaks on Catholic Church property.

Flannery, author of several books on religion, holds controversial positions on birth control, homosexuality and the ordination of women. He was silenced by the Vatican in 2012 and told he would be allowed to return to ministry only if he signed a statement denouncing beliefs that don’t agree with current church doctrine. He has refused.

Tegeder, long an outspoken priest who has repeatedly tangled with Nienstedt, met with him late last week to discuss the issue.

“We didn’t have a meeting of the minds,” said Tegeder. “He listened to me, and I’m thankful for that. But I pounded the table, as I’m prone to do, and said this is nonnegotiable. I told him, ‘you could throw my ass right out of here, but I’m throwing myself in your mercy.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio

By ERICA SMITH

This interview will be on “St. Louis on the Air” at noon Wednesday; this story will be updated after the show. You can listen live.

In 2012, Tony Flannery found out the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican watchdog group, was displeased with some of his writings about the church.

Flannery, a Redemptorist from Ireland, was suspended and forbidden to return to ministry unless he agreed to publish a statement saying he accepted the moral teachings of the church and that women should not be ordained priests. After a year of back-and-forth with the Vatican, Flannery went public with the matter in January 2013. A few months later he wrote about the experience in a book, “A Question of Conscience.”

Flannery will be in St. Louis this month for an event sponsored by the Catholic Action Network for Social Justice. On Wednesday, “St. Louis on the Air” will talk to Flannery about his faith and his book. Do you have a question for our guest? Email us at talk@stlpublicradio.org, or tweet us at @STLonAir.

Related Event

People of Conscience: A Conversation with Father Tony Flannery

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 13, 2014
Where: St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, 1413 N. 20th St., St. Louis

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
New York Daily News

BY MARC WEINREICH

A Philadelphia pastor was arrested last week after his 15-year-old mentally challenged niece ratted him out for allegedly molesting her inside the ministry office this summer.

Albert A.Young, 49, described in the Philadelphia Daily News as a “wolf disguised as a sheep,” was charged with unlawful sexual contact with a minor, corruption of minors and indecent assault of a child.

In a police affidavit cited in the report, the self-described “apostle” of Total Deliverance Ministries in North Philadelphia allegedly made the teen sit in his lap and put his hands inside her pants, touched her buttocks and kissed her neck on the night of Aug. 12. He allegedly forced his clothed genitals onto her and made her touch him sexually.

When he was done, he warned her not to tell anyone — but she went ahead anyway and an investigation subsequently led to his arrest at his rowhouse last week.

He posted 10% of his $50,000 bail last Friday.

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IDAHO
National Catholic Reporter

Catholic News Service | Nov. 4, 2014

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Driscoll of Boise, Idaho, and appointed Bishop Peter Christensen of Superior, Wis., to succeed him.

Driscoll, who has headed the statewide diocese since 1999, is 75, the age at which bishops are required by canon law to turn in their resignation to the pope.

Christensen, 61, has headed the Superior diocese since 2007.

The changes were announced Tuesday in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Christensen will be installed in Boise at a Dec. 17 Mass in St. John Cathedral. Until then, Driscoll will continue to oversee the daily governance of the diocese.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

Even if you’ve been following the deeply disturbing story of Sam Kellner, the ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn man whose life was destroyed after informing police about a serial child molester who abused his son, you’ll want to read The New Yorker’s in-depth report on the scandal. It’s a fascinating look at how the Hasidic community in Brooklyn enables sex offenders through intimidation, bribery, and their history of voting as a bloc, which gives them significant sway over elected officials like former Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes.

New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv lays out all the facts of Kellner’s ordeal, describing how he needed permission from a rabbi before even reporting his allegation to secular authorities, and how he became a pariah in the community for doing so. “Kellner’s behavior was seriously threatening to the community’s power structure,” one observer tells her, and it appears that power structure was only emboldened by Hynes’s handling of the case against Baruch Lebovits, a prominent cantor.

Despite very flimsy evidence, Kellner was charged with trying to extort money from Lebovits, supposedly in exchange for getting his son to recant “false” allegations. In fact, the Lebovits family tried to bribe Kellner repeatedly with large sums of hush money (something that apparently worked with another accuser), but Kellner refused. “What would I say to my son?” Kellner asks The New Yorker. “That I took money so he could be used as a prostitute?”

Perhaps the most incendiary allegation to emerge from The New Yorker’s story is that senior Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Michael Vecchione went after Kellner as a favor to Arthur Aidala, an attorney who represented Lebovits and happened to be a close friend of both Vecchione and Hynes. Six weeks after Lebovits was convicted of molesting a boy (“Aron,” not Kellner’s son) in 2010, Aidala met with Vecchione.

From The New Yorker:

Initially, Aidala didn’t focus on Kellner. He spoke about a case that was easier to substantiate: he said that, days before, a friend of Kellner’s named Simon Taub had extorted the Lebovits family. Taub had said that his son had been molested and threatened to go to the police unless he was compensated by the family. A few weeks later, in a sting operation, detectives from the rackets bureau wired Chaim Lebovits, a businessman who had made a fortune in oil and diamonds. Chaim went to Taub’s home and caught him on tape accepting money.

After he was arrested, Taub said that prosecutors told him, “If you coöperate with us, you will be home in an hour.” They pushed him to implicate Kellner in an extortion plot. Taub said that he didn’t have the information that the prosecutors wanted. “To coöperate, I had to lie,” he told me. Instead, he pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and was sentenced to probation. The alleged abuse of his son was never investigated.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Stephen M. Garrity was ordained a priest of the Jesuits’ Maryland Province in 1970. He was assigned to high schools in Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, Baltimore MD and Scranton PA. He served also as the Province’s vocations director, as director and rector of a Faulkner MD retreat house and as a college chaplain and parish pastor in Durham NC. Garrity was placed on leave in 2007 after admitting to having had “inappropriate sexual contact” with five young adults, ages 18-23, during his time in Baltimore and Philadelphia in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2012 he was accused of having molested a male high school student in in the 1970s in Philadelphia. Garrity is last known to have been living in a Jesuit community in PA.

Ordained: 1970

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MINNESOTA
Fox 10

[with video]

by Maury Glover

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
By his own account, Cameron Clarkson’s senior year at Cretin-Derham Hall should have been the best of his life. He was captain of the football team, and with players like Seantrell Henderson, the Raiders won their second state title in 10 years. However, the All-American teenager was carrying a devastating secret, one that would eventually derail his dreams of playing college football and test his faith, both in the institution that was his home for 4 years, and in himself.

Clarkson went to the Catholic high school because it was supposed to be a safe and spiritual place to learn, but it put him on a collision course with another Cretin grad who abused her position as a substitute teacher and weight room supervisor to have a sex with the then 16-year-old boy. Gail Gagne is the granddaughter of legendary Minnesota wrestler, Vern Gagne, and the daughter of his equally famous tag team partner and son, Greg, but to the boys at Cretin, she was a young, hot teacher.

In never-before-seen depositions, Gagne describes how the two began bonding over their sometimes absent fathers. They would talk as she gave Clarkson rides home from the weight room where he worked the summer before his junior year.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

Associated Press

POSTED: 11/04/2014

A former student is suing a Minnesota high school, saying it failed to provide a safe environment after he was sexually abused by a teacher while in his teens.

Cameron Clarkson was abused by Gail Gagne when he was a 16-year-old high school student and football player at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul. Clarkson said the abuse lasted two months during his sophomore year. Gagne was 25 at the time and working as a supervisor in the school’s weight room.

Gagne was fired and eventually convicted of having sex with a student and ordered to register as a sex offender. Clarkson’s name wasn’t released and was only mentioned as C.L.C. in court documents because he was a juvenile.

Clarkson, who’s now 22 and a senior in college, told WCCO-TV (http://cbsloc.al/1phPGn3) he decided to come forward so the public knows what happened.

“That’s a fact that has been swept under the rug by Cretin-Derham Hall for the past five years,” he said. “They have a saying that says, ‘All are welcome.’ But it’s not only a statement about what they value, but also a statement about who they don’t value.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

John Lauritsen

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – For the first time, a former Cretin-Derham Hall student is telling his story about being sexually abused by a teacher.

Cameron Clarkson said he was 16 when he was abused by Gail Gagne.

She was 25 at the time, working as a supervisor in the school’s weight room.

She was fired by the school and later convicted of fifth-degree sexual conduct for having sex with a student.

“It’s time to tell the truth on a very basic level,” Clarkson said.

Because he was 16 and a juvenile when he was abused by Gagne, Clarkson’s name could not be released.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Susan Madrak
An ex-journalist keeps a jaundiced eye on the media

As a fallen-away “cradle Catholic,” one who used to love arguing with my religion teachers about things like reincarnation, or women priests (“But if only men can be priests because Jesus only picked male apostles, shouldn’t priests have to be Jewish, too?”), I get a kick out of Pope Francis. He reminds me of that all-too-brief reign of Pope John XXIII, the last “people’s Pope.” He is a compassionate man who radiates the best qualities of the Church — namely, a strong foundation in social justice and mercy.

He hasn’t gone as far in liberalizing the Church as I’d like, but he shows signs that he’s getting there.

But the same Catholic conservatives who were so eager to snuggle under the covers with the worst elements of the right wing have learned a thing or two from U.S. politics — basically, how to undercut and erode the authority of a duly-elected leader. This is actually serious, and I’m only slightly kidding when I say I fervently hope this pope avoids small planes.

Matters came to a head last week when Pope Francis removed the extremely conservative U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke from his influential post as head of the church’s highest court, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. (Think of him as Tony Scalia, making distorted pronouncements about “original intent.”) Burke proclaims his version of what the Pope can or can’t do, and Pope Francis is supposed to fall into a worshipful crouch in front of Burke’s embroidered slippers.

It’s not working out that way. Pope Francis has his own ideas, and when a recent report indicated that an upcoming church synod might loosen church policies on divorce and gay marriage, conservatives led by Cardinal Burke went on the attack. German Cardinal Walter Kasper hit back:

In an interview this week, Kasper expressed confidence that bishops at the back-to-back synods would ultimately back some change, and he hit back at critics like Burke, saying they are engaged in political maneuverings. He said they are afraid that any changes would lead to a “domino effect.”

“This is all linked to ideology, an ideological understanding of the gospel that the gospel is like a penal code,” Kasper, who is retired from a curial job but lives in Rome, told America magazine.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Jonathan West

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Trust. That’s the issue. Child abuse survivors, particularly those abused in institutional settings, are often highly mistrustful and obsessively motivated. It’s hard for those not abused in childhood to understand how devastating it is to be so thoroughly betrayed by the very adults and authorities on whom you depend for your care, and how profoundly that affects your ability to trust anybody in later life.

The home secretary Theresa May’s conduct in setting up the inquiry falls far short of building the trust necessary to gain the confidence of these extremely and justifiably mistrustful people. It is clear from her statement in parliament on Monday that she isn’t close to understanding how much transparency is really needed.

Let’s start with the powers of the inquiry. May insists that the right course is a panel inquiry, which “if the chair requests” can later be converted into a statutory inquiry. And yet she claims to be absolutely determined to get to the truth on this issue. The two statements don’t go together.

Her “intention and expectation” that all government bodies will voluntarily cooperate with a panel inquiry will be met with a hollow laugh by the many people who were abused or otherwise failed by those same government bodies. Think of the trouble Alexis Jay had getting documents out of Rotherham council.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. .Congrats to Fr. Bruce H. Forman and his Young Catholic Musicians, celebrating their 40th anniversary, according to the latest issue of the St. Louis Review. Forman works at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Soulard. He’s one of three priests in our town who have been sued for alleged child sexual abuse but remains on the job. (The others: Fr. Vincent Bryce and Fr. Alex Anderson.) Back in 2002, Fr. Forman appeared on page one of The New York Times because a civil suit accused him of sexually abusing a minor at a drive-in screening of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”. . .

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor November 4, 2014

In the dying days of the Nixon administration, the discovery that the White House maintained an enemies list was, for many Americans, the last straw. It seemed to reveal an administration using power not to advance policy or defend the nation, but to settle political scores.

Although any comparison between Nixon and Pope Francis is obviously an apples-and-oranges exercise, nonetheless many Catholic conservatives and traditionalists these days are asking if the pontiff has an enemies list of his own.

Recently, news has surfaced that the Vatican is either contemplating or has launched investigations of three bishops in different parts of the world:

* Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, who has already been removed from the small Paraguayan diocese of Ciudad del Este.

* Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, who’s currently awaiting the conclusions of an apostolic visitation that’s already taken place.

* Mario Oliveri of the small Albenga diocese in northern Italy, where a Vatican spokesman this week said that an investigator may soon arrive.

In each case, there are specific motives for the inquests.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Nov. 4, 2014 NCR Today

Bishop William Murphy of the diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., has written a letter to Catholics on Long Island advising them that a proposed bill in the New York State Assembly, called The Child Victims Act, “seeks to penalize only the Catholic Church for past crimes of child sex abuse must also be recognized for what it is.”

Murphy’s letter, which was sent to all pastors in the diocese of Rockville Centre last week and reprinted in many parish bulletins over the weekend, was intended to advise Catholics on today’s elections. Even though the bill is not on the ballot, Murphy used the letter as an opportunity to condemn proposed law (a condemnation he has offered regularly since 2009).

The Child Victims Act (which is also known as the “Markey Bill” because it is sponsored by State Assemblyperson Margaret Markey) would serve to protect children by removing the statute of limitations for crimes of sexual abuse of children and minors. It would also open a one-year period for victims previously shut out by New York’s outdated statutes of limitations to bring forth charges in civil court.

Murphy, who called the bill an “annual threat,” seems to believe that sexual abuse in the Catholic church has been “effectively and permanently … remedied,” writing in the letter:

Those who support [the bill] should be opposed by those of us who know how effectively and permanently the Church has remedied that horrific scourge of the last decade. …

Bishop Murphy is no stranger to controversy. Before coming to Long Island, Bishop Murphy was second in command at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Boston which was led by Cardinal Law. He denied accusations that he helped to protect abusive priests while in that position. However, Murphy’s denials contradicted a July 2010 report by the Massachusetts Attorney General that stated that Murphy “placed a higher priority on preventing scandal and providing support to alleged abusers than on protecting children from sexual abuse.” The report also stated: “There is overwhelming evidence that for many years Cardinal Law and his senior managers had direct, actual knowledge that substantial numbers of children in the Archdiocese had been sexually abused by substantial numbers of priests. Any claim by the Cardinal or the Archdiocese’s senior managers that they did not know about the abuse suffered by, or the continuing threat to, children in the Archdiocese is simply not credible.”

BishopAccountability.org, a non-profit project that tracks sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, says Murphy is a “key figure in the sexual abuse crisis, both because of his earlier role in the Boston archdiocese and because of conditions in Rockville Centre.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano Tue., Nov. 4 2014

This morning, the Vatican press office announced that Diocese of Boise Bishop Michael Driscoll was resigning his position due to reaching the Holy See’s mandatory retirement age for bishops. Too bad Pope Francis couldn’t have booted Driscoll much earlier for his notorious career of protecting pedophile priests in Orange County.

We’ve reported extensively on Driscoll’s love of helping pedophiles during his time in Orange, from the diocese’s foundation in 1977 until he was promoted to Boise bishop in 1999, replacing fellow pedo-priest fan Tod D. Brown, who was becoming the head bishop in Orange; that was the worst trade since the Chicago Cubs got rid of Lou Brock. Instead of retelling all of Driscoll’s sins, we invite you to take this 2005 quiz on his evil ways to give you insight into what a creep he was. And now we pray to God to visit multiple boils on Driscoll’s nether regions, since we have mercy. Heckuva job, Brownie!

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ITALIA
Repubblica

[Death threats have been made against Father Giampiero Peschiulli, who is accused of pedophilia.]

di SONIA GIOIA

Minacce di morte contro il prete accusato di pedofilia. Don Giampiero Peschiulli ha presentato nelle scorse ore una denuncia in Procura cui parla di due persone che si sarebbero avvicinate ad alcuni parrocchiani dicendo loro che stavano cercando il sacerdote per ucciderlo. I due uomini avrebbero agito in pieno giorno e a volto scoperto, ma nè il destinatario delle presunte minacce nè i parrocchiani saprebbero dire di chi si tratti. Gli unici nomi contenuti nella denuncia consegnata alla magistratura sono quelli dei testimoni, oltre a quello del denunciante che per sottrarsi ai presunti tentativi di aggressione oltre che alla pioggia di ingiurie a cui continua ad essere sottoposto anche per strada, ha deciso di lasciare la città rifugiandosi da alcuni parenti.

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ITALIA
Voce Per le Donne

[Giada Vitale, who was abused for years by Father Marino Genova, said she wants nothing to do with the Catholic Church since they declined to defrock him because he is said to have “regretted” what he had done.]

3 novembre 2014 By Viviana Pizzi

“Faccio questo perchè non voglio avere più niente a che fare con la chiesa cattolica …. Dio non c’entra con questa mia scelta” . E’ la brevissima dichiarazione di Giada Vitale, 19enne di Portocannone abusata per anni da Don Marino Genova (prete che non è stato ridotto allo stato laicale perchè “pentito di quello che aveva fatto”) per annunciare che ha chiesto quello che si chiama “sbattezzo dalla Chiesa Cattolica”.

Tutto questo vuol dire che Giada, delusa dal comportamento dei tribunali ecclesiastici, ha chiesto la cancellazione della registrazione del suo battesimo con il quale è stata registrata la sua adesione alla religione cattolica. Da oggi non è più cattolica e le autorità le devono inviare una risposta entro 15 giorni, che attesti la sua cancellazione dal registro dei battezzati. Qualora non si adempisse alla sua richiesta il caso passerebbe al tribunale competente.

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GROSSBRITANNIEN
idea

[The York archbishop, John Sentamu, has questioned whether the confessional seal should apply in cases of abuse.]

London (idea) – In England ist eine öffentliche Debatte über die Beichte entbrannt. Der anglikanische Erzbischof John Sentamu (York) hat sich dafür ausgesprochen, das Beichtgeheimnis in bestimmten Fällen zu lockern. Wenn sexueller Missbrauch von Kindern eingestanden werde, sollte der Beichtvater die Möglichkeit haben, dies der Polizei zu melden. Dagegen erhebt der katholische Kirchenhistoriker John Cornwell (Cambridge) Bedenken, wie die Londoner Zeitung „The Times“ berichtet. Denn Täter würden erst gar nicht zur Beichte gehen, wenn sie mit strafrechtlicher Verfolgung rechnen müssten. Cornwell – selbst Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Priester – schlägt stattdessen vor, Tätern die Freisprechung von ihren Sünden zu verweigern, wenn sie sich nicht der Polizei stellen wollen.

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DEUTCHLAND
Westdeutche Zeitung

[The priest known as George K., 56, will go on trial on Jan. 9. He is facing 26 charges of sexual abuse. He was extradited from South Africa in July.]

Willich. Am 9. Januar beginnt vor dem Krefelder Landgericht der Prozess gegen Georg K. (56). Das bestätigte am Montag die Pressedezernentin des Landgerichts, Richterin Simone Rühl, auf Anfrage der Westdeutschen Zeitung. Dem aus Willich stammenden Priester wird Missbrauch in 26 Fällen vorgeworfen.

K. hatte von 1994 bis 2007 unter anderem in St. Tönis, Kempen und Lobberich als katholischer Priester gearbeitet. Danach wurde er für eine Auslandsseelsorge in Südafrika freigestellt. Ein Jahr später soll sich der Geistliche in einem Kommunioncamp Kindern sexuell genähert haben.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY MORGAN ZALOT
Philadelphia Daily News Daily News Staff Writer
zalotm@phillynews.com, 215-854-5928 November 03, 2014

ALBERT A. YOUNG was a wolf disguised as a sheep, lying in wait for an opportunity to use his role as a religious leader to perpetrate the sickest of crimes, authorities believe.

The 49-year-old self-styled “apostle” of Total Deliverance Ministries, at 22nd and Norris streets in North Philadelphia, was jailed late last week, accused of using his ministry not only to preach the Gospel but to perpetrate a sexual crime against his 15-year-old mentally challenged niece, police sources said.

Young was with his niece in the ministry office on the evening of Aug. 12 when he made her sit in his lap and began touching her sexually, putting his hands inside the girl’s pants, fondling her buttocks and kissing her neck, according to a police affidavit obtained yesterday by the Daily News.

Young continued to touch the girl, at one point pressing and rubbing his clothed genitals against her and taking her hand to make her touch him, the document says.

When he was finished, the document says, the pastor warned the girl not to tell anybody about it.

But she did – launching an investigation into Young, who is referred to as an “apostle” on the bright, yellow sign posted outside his purple-stone corner church.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 4 November 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Bishop Peter F. Christensen of Superior, U.S.A., as bishop of Boise City (area 218,272, population 1,584,985, Catholics 174,348, priests 91, permanent deacons 75, religious 91), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, whose resignation from the same diocese upon having reached the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Brighton and Hove News

Posted On 04 Nov 2014

By : Frank le Duc

The trial of a retired bishop on sex abuse charges has been put back until next year.

The case against the former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball, 82, of Langport, Somerset, has been adjourned until Wednesday 14 January.

He appeared at Hove Crown Court by video link from Taunton Magistrates’ Court in May.

He was accused of misconduct in a public office, indecently assaulting a 12 or 13-year-old boy and indecently a 19 or 20-year-old man.

The misconduct charge faced by Ball, of Langport, Somerset, accuses him of misusing his position and authority to manipulate and prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification.

He now faces another charge of indecently assaulting a boy under 16 in 1984 or 1985 and a man over 16 in 1990 or 1991.

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

New York Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling provided answers to the following questions about the Catholic parish consolidations and mergers announced Sunday. Several parishes in our region will be closed for regular services next August. More than a dozen other parishes will consolidate and merge, but are not required to close churches.

Are the decisions to consolidate or merge – in particular to close – parishes reversible?

…(T)here has been a tremendous amount of information gathering and consultation that went into this process. It is hard to imagine the circumstance under which there may be new, previously unconsidered information that would have a significant impact on a parish’s status, but if there was such information, that would be looked at. Otherwise, these decisions are final.

Will the consolidated and merged parishes take new names?

They may choose to hyphenate the name of the two former parishes that now make up this new parish, or they may choose a new name – for instance, a parish might want to take the name of one of our new saints, like Saint John Paul II parish, or Saint John XXIII parish, or Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish.

What happens to the assets and in particular the debts of the parishes consolidated or merged?

If there is any money that comes to the archdiocese, Cardinal Dolan has made it clear that the money will be used for endowing special ministries, like religious education, which we have not been able to adequately support since we were putting so much money ($392 million in the last 10 years alone) into propping up half-empty schools and parishes. Debts and liabilities also follow the people to their new parish, but we will be working with the individual parishes in this regard.

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.

FINLAND
Uutiset

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ so-called “judicial committee” is dealing with criminal cases, according to some former members of the Christian religious denomination. The committee has refused to reveal sexual abuse cases to the police. Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen of the Christian Democrats is asking for clarification on how police could better serve victims in such cases.

Kirsi-Maria Aho, a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination, faced sexual abuse some twenty years ago. Cases of abuse are heard by the faith’s judicial committee. The abuser was not part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“It was a crime. First, the man raped me and then he abused me sexually. This would have been a matter for the police, but the elders banned me from going to the police because the name of Jehovah couldn’t be dragged through the mud,” Aho says.

Aho had to appear before the committee several times. She describes it as cruel and accusatory.

“It was really cruel. A young girl under fire in front of three men,” she says. “The men asked confusing questions, such as whether I had indulged in group sex. The Committee emphasized that I had done wrong and that I was wicked and adulterous. No one defended me.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Road to Recovery, Inc.
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ 07039
862-368-2800
roberthoatson@gmail.com

November 4, 2014

Rev. Richard McCormick, S.D.B, former head (Provincial) of the Salesian Fathers and Brothers Eastern American Province, based in New Rochelle, NY, is scheduled to go on trial today November 4, 2014, at 9:30 AM in Essex County Superior Court, Criminal Division, in Lawrence, MA for the sexual abuse of a minor boy who is now an adult.

Fr. Richard McCormick is a serial sexual abuser of young boys. In 2009, the Salesian Fathers and Brothers settled a sexual abuse case of three men who claimed that Fr. Richard McCormick sexually abused them at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point, New York. More than ten separate claims alleging that Fr. Richard McCormick sexually abused minor boys have been settled.

In the current sexual abuse case against Fr. Richard McCormick, one man has alleged that he was sexually abused as a child by Fr. McCormick at Camp Salesian in Ipswich, MA which was operated by the Salesian Fathers and Brothers. Fr. Richard McCormick’s criminal trial is set to begin November 4, 2014 at Essex County Superior Court in Lawrence, MA.

Contact:
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President, Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families. Road to Recovery is advocating on behalf of several sexual abuse victims of Fr. Richard Mc Cormick.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The UK Home Secretary has today confirmed a forthcoming inquiry into historical child abuse in England and Wales WILL also look at evidence gathered by the Jersey inquiry.

Theresa May’s announcement follows an ITV News report last week revealing NAPAC, a charity which represents abuse victims, wanted the move.

She said, though the Westminster inquiry has no jurisdiction over Jersey, it will look at the findings and recommendations from what happens in the island.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Theresa May has apologised to victims of historical child sex abuse after losing a second chair of an official inquiry.

The Home Secretary faced MPs to explain how she would proceed after Fiona Woolf resigned on Friday because of her links to Lord Brittan, who is accused of failing to act on abuse allegations while home secretary in the 1980s.

Mrs Woolf’s predecessor, Baroness Butler-Sloss, stood down in similar circumstances in July.

Mrs May said she would meet victims next week before deciding on a new chair – and would establish a liaison group.

She told MPs: “Almost four months after I announced my intention to establish a panel inquiry it is obviously very disappointing that we do not yet have a panel chairman and for that I want to tell survivors that I am sorry.

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GERMANY
Independent (UK)

Germany’s 11th-century Neresheim Abbey is normally an oasis of calm where monks guide city dwellers in religious contemplation and offer an opportunity to dine on country fare in the monastery’s rustic Swabian restaurant.

But the Benedictine abbey set in the hills of the southern state of Baden Württemberg was immersed in an embarrassing scandal yesterday involving the discovery of unaccounted-for millions and allegations of systematic money laundering.

The source of the trouble was traced at the weekend to part of the estate left by the late abbot, Norbert Stoffels, who was Nereseheim’s guiding spiritual light from 1977 until his death in 2012.

His successor, Father Albert Knebel, admitted that he had discovered an unaccounted-for “fortune” amounting to €4m in the estate left by Abbot Norbert. “The fortune was neither registered on the abbey’s accounts, nor was anyone in the administration or any of my fellow brothers aware of its existence,” declared Father Knebel. “Our foremost concern is to find out where this money comes from,” he said in a statement.

The plot surrounding the unaccounted-for millions assumed sinister proportions yesterday: state prosecutors in Krefeld in northern Germany confirmed they had opened an investigation on suspicion the cash stemmed from a money-laundering operation.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

It is “unacceptable” for the Church to take eight years to investigate allegations of priestly abuse, Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said.

He said that all cases of abuse should be referred to the police, when asked for his reaction to the inconclusive investigation by the Church’s Response Team into a woman’s allegation of abuse by Dominican friar Fr Charles Fenech.

The woman had reported the case to the Response Team in 2006 but the investigation was never concluded.

Response Team head Judge Victor Caruana Colombo did not respond to questions when asked about the delay yesterday.

Subsequently, the woman also reported the matter to the police and charges were filed against the priest in court.

“These cases should be treated by the police because they have the competence to deal with them and the Church has to abide by the law,” Mgr Grech said, without entering into the merits of the case.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

BY JOAN SMITH – 04 NOVEMBER 2014

How could this happen? Almost four months ago the Government announced a wide-ranging inquiry into explosive allegations of historical child abuse. Since then two chairs have been appointed; both have resigned and the inquiry hasn’t even started work.

On Friday the embarrassment spread to David Cameron when he backed Fiona Woolf, the current Lord Mayor of London, only hours before her resignation as head of the inquiry was announced.

She lost the confidence of victims when it was revealed that she is a friend of the former Home Secretary Lord Brittan, who was at the Home Office in the 1980s when, it is alleged, a dossier on child abuse compiled by a Conservative MP went missing. It emerged last week that a letter setting out her contacts with Brittan went through seven drafts.

The inquiry needs to be exceptionally wide-ranging, shining a light into just about every area of the Establishment. Yet the Home Office seems not to have realised that the usual approach – announcing an inquiry and picking one of the great and the good to chair it – would be entirely inappropriate in this instance.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Caroline O’Doherty

A Catholic priest found not guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl is embroiled in a row with his order and the Archbishop of Dublin over claims they are punishing him for being accused.

Carmelite father Chris Conroy, 81, who is banned from saying public Mass and is defying orders to leave his family home and live in a monastery, says the Catholic Church has its own “Guantanamo Bay” for falsely-accused priests.

The former missionary from Co Wicklow, who was the subject of an award-winning documentary about his work with the Indians of the Peruvian Andes, says he has been in limbo for the last 10 years since his court case ended.

In his memoirs, to be launched next month, he accuses Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of interfering without authority to have him prevented from saying Mass and says his Order has shown undue deference to the Archbishop in attempting to impose other restrictions.

“This is why I wrote the book. I had to make a stand,” he said. “I spent my time in Peru fighting and putting my life on the line for the poor Indians and the suffering and injustice that they were enduring.

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MICHIGAN
Fox 17

[with video]

NOVEMBER 3, 2014, BY ANN MARIE LAFLAMME

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich.- Two church congregations were recently warned during mass that their youth minister is accused of sexually assaulting a minor more than a decade ago.

The church pastor says the suspect, 61-year-old William Miller, has grown up in St. Catherine’s parish in Ravenna and St. Francis Xavier parish in Conklin and had been a youth minister for at least 7 years.

This decade-old allegation has shocked the church communities.

“What the research is telling us is that probably less than half percent childhood abuse victims actually disclose during childhood, most of them are disclosing actually when they’re adults,” Tom Cottrell Vice President of Counseling Services at the YWCA said.

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MICHIGAN
WHTC

Monday, November 03, 2014

by Dan Spadafora

UNDATED (WHTC)-61 year old William Miller, a youth minister with two West Michigan parishes, was arraigned last week in Hudsonville District Court on first degree sexual assault charges. The alleged assault happened several years previously according to the unnamed victim who only recently informed local law authorities. Ottawa County Sheriff’s Captain Mark Bennett suggested that victims will often wait several years before bringing allegations to authorities, and that investigation into the alleged assault is still currently in progress.

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ROME
CounterPunch

by CESAR CHELALA

American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former archbishop of St. Louis, led a new attack on Pope Francis’s reformist agenda when he likened the Roman Catholic Church to a “ship without a rudder.” In an interview with the Spanish Catholic Magazine Vida Nueva, Burke stated that he was not speaking against the Pope personally but only questioning his leadership. Burke’s snide attack doesn’t take into account Pope Francis’ considerable achievements that have made of him a figure of worldwide respect.

Pope Francis took an uncompromising stand against war. Calling the war on Syria “a defeat for humanity,” Pope Francis reiterated his opposition to the war, denouncing at the same time “the commercial wars to sell arms” and demanding that political leaders find a “just solution to the conflict.” During the traditional Angelus ceremony in St. Peter Square Pope Francis stressed that world leaders should choose the way of peace, in what many interpreted as a message to the United States and French presidents.

The Grand Mufti of Damascus thanked Pope Francis for his efforts on behalf of peace in Syria, and invited Muslims to join an invitation from Pope Francis to fast in solidarity and opposition to outside military intervention in the conflict. Pope Francis also appealed to the world leaders at the G20 meeting in Russia, and urged them to abandon the “futile pursuit” of a military solution for the Syrian conflict.

He has confronted head on accusations against sexual abuses committed by priests. On July 7, 2014, in a homily given during a private Mass with six victims of sexual abuse by priests, Pope Francis apologized for the priests and bishops’ misconduct and asked for forgiveness, pledging that Catholic bishops “will be held accountable” for failing to protect children.

As proof of his determination not to allow clerical sexual abuse to continue, Pope Francis removed Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano from his post as Bishop of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. Bishop Livieres Plano has been accused of protecting and promoting an Argentine priest named Carlos Urrutigoity who had been called a “serious threat to young people” by Joseph Bambera, the Bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

This move followed the arrest of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who faces up to seven years in jail if he is found guilty that he sexually abused children while he was papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Post Elections Obama, Kids, the Catholic Church, The Salvation Army, et al. & “Child Abuse, War, and the Need for a National Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse”, by Aletha Blayse

Jerry Slevin

N.B. From Jerry Slevin — Aletha Blayse, the respected and brave Australian advocate for abused children, in her below article is calling on President Obama, with his final election campaigns now behind him, to heed his own advice and to “step up” at last for millions of abused children in the USA. What better legacy could he ask for than helping to save countless kids from being sexually abused in institutional settings? He needs to do more than he has done so far. Now is the perfect opportunity for him to do so. Please “step up”, President Obama. National epidemics require national solutions. Neither individual states nor the institutions themselves are doing enough in too many cases to protect kids where parental oversight has been insufficient.

Aletha Blayse is very persuasively and wisely calling for a US national commission to investigate child abuse, especially within US nationwide institutions like the Catholic Church, The Salvation Army, et al. She indicates, in effect, that concerned citizens in Australia and other nations now expect Obama (1) to influence, by the United States’ powerful example, many of the the world’s other democratic nations, and (2) to follow the bold steps that Australia has already begun taking with its unique and effective nationwide Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Obama faced significant indirect resistance in the recent US Congressional election campaigns from some of these institutions. His party’s candidate in the 2016 US presidential election will likely face similar resistance. Will Obama now, free of some political constraints, face the challenge and stand up to these institutions, at least to protect children?

In my view as an international lawyer, it is disgraceful that a smaller but noble country like Australia is addressing this scandal crisis effectively, while no national political leader of either party in the USA even acknowledges it in any meaningful way.

And why isn’t this unprecedented scandal crisis on the top of Pope Francis’ agenda at the Final Synod of Bishops to be held in less than a year from now? Why ???

It is time for Pope Francis publicly and effectively to pay attention to the “elephant” sitting in the middle of the Vatican’s crisis center !

Pope Francis can, of course, address the crisis and related challenges that he increasingly faces with Synods, “go slow” advisory commissions and diversionary media campaigns, and otherwise as he sees fit. If he fails, however, to curtail this abuse crisis soon and to hold priests and bishops fully accountable, the Vatican will not likely survive much longer, given the building pressure from outside government investigators and prosecutors.

But Pope Francis has already shown after over a year and a half that he cannot really be expected to address, anytime soon at least, the greatest crisis for the Catholic Church since the Reformation that has been presented by priest child abusers and bishops who facilitate them by covering up.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/03/2014

The case of a priest convicted of having sex with a woman he was counseling came before the Minnesota Supreme Court once again Monday.

Christopher T. Wenthe, who turns 50 on Tuesday, was assigned to Nativity of Our Lord parish in St. Paul in 2003, when he became sexually involved with a college student who had sought his spiritual advice.

She testified at trial that she told the priest about her struggles with an eating disorder and prior sexual abuse, and that he agreed to serve as her confessor. She said he exploited her vulnerability and trust in him as a priest.

Wenthe countered that the relationship was a friendship that went awry and that the 21-year-old woman was a willing participant.

The case has bounced around the courts since Wenthe went to trial in Ramsey County in 2011.

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KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

Matthew Glowicki, The Courier-Journal 5:07 p.m. EST November 3, 2014

Convicted sex offender Rev. James Schook will learn in December if he will be released early from prison on shock probation after serving six months of a 15-year sentence for molesting an altar boy in the 1970s.

Sixty-six-year-old Schook, who is dying of cancer, filed a request for shock probation, which allows offenders to be released after serving one to six months of their sentence.

“Mr. Schook now realizes the importance of obeying and conforming to the community’s rules,” defense attorney David Lambertus wrote in a motion filed in October.

Monday morning, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry set a shock probation hearing date for Dec. 19.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

Nine organizations who share a mission to protect children and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse and assault–BishopAccountability.org, Children’s Healthcare is a Legal Duty, The Child Protection Project, The Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, Jewish Board of Advocates for Children, Inc., Male Survivor, Survivors for Justice, and The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests– filed an amicus brief last week in support of the cert. petition in John Doe B.P. v. Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, No. 14-344.

Amici curiae argued that after thirty years of sexual abuse litigation, it was time for the Court to resolve the constitutional issue wrongly decided by the Missouri Supreme Court in Gibson v. Brewer, 952 S.W.2d 239 (Mo. 1997). To protect the survivors of sexual abuse as well as to deter the abusers and their enablers from future harm to children, amici asked the Court to rule that allowing religious organizations to be held liable for their negligent supervision of abusers does not entangle the courts with religious doctrine or infringe upon religious freedom.

Shortly after the brief was filed, the parties settled the case and the cert. petition was withdrawn.

Whatever the status of this particular litigation, victims of child sexual abuse continue to rely on the courts’ neutral enforcement of tort laws against all abusers and their enablers. The First Amendment should never be interpreted to protect the wrongdoers at the expense of their victims.

Read the amicus brief here: 30281 pdf Griffin

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NEBRASKA
World-Herald

By Michael O’Connor / World-Herald staff writer

A support group for clergy abuse victims is criticizing the Omaha Archdiocese for not making a quicker public disclosure of a local man’s allegation of sexual abuse by a priest.

Chicago-based SNAP called the delay “reckless and callous, and said Archbishop George Lucas should explain why it occurred and apologize.

The archdiocese announced Friday that an Omaha man alleges that a priest sexually abused him 30 years ago, when he was in his early teens.

The archdiocese identified the priest as the Rev. Anthony Palmese, who was associate pastor of Omaha’s Holy Ghost Parish in 1984-1985 when the alleged abuse occurred.

Palmese, who died in 2012, belonged to the New Jersey-based Order of Augustinian Recollects, according to the archdiocese.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By John Agar | jagar@mlive.com
on November 03, 2014

OTTAWA COUNTY, MI – A part-time youth minister at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Conklin and St. Catherine Parish in Ravenna has been charged in a sexual assault that allegedly occurred years ago, unrelated to his church activities, authorities said.

William Miller, 61, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The alleged victim came forward several weeks ago. The alleged victim said the sexual assault occurred while working on a farm, Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Bennett said Monday, Nov. 3.

Bennett said the case is an “open, active investigation.”

The allegations did not involve Miller’s work with the churches.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washingtonian

By Harry Jaffe
Published November 3, 2014

Moving trucks are scheduled to show up at the Georgetown home of Rabbi Barry Freundel Monday, according to signs posted in front of his home on O Street, not far from the Kesher Israel synagogue that provided the house for its longtime religious leader.

Freundel was arrested October 14 and charged with six counts of voyeurism for allegedly hiding video cameras in the synagogue’s mikvah, a ritual bath, to record women as they undressed and showered before entering. Police officers were seen carting computers and hard drives out of Freundel’s house on the day of the arrest.

Freundel, 62, pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance, while police and prosecutors investigate videos and forensic evidence. He is scheduled to appear before a status hearing on November 12. The US Attorney’s office has set up a website for potential victims.

Signs posted on the street listed Freundel’s wife, Sharon, for contact information. Calls to her were not returned. The O Street home, which is owned by a trust with ties to Kesher Israel, has been the Freundels’ home for at least 16 years. Fruendel has been rabbi at Kesher Israel, a modern orthodox synagogue, since 1989. The congregation includes such luminaries as former Senator Joe Lieberman and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

By: Associated Press

GARDNER, Mass. — The bishop of Worcester has announced that two of Gardner’s four Roman Catholic churches will close.

Bishop Robert McManus announced Saturday that Sacred Heart Parish and St. Joseph’s Parish will shut their doors next summer. Both are more than a century old.

Their congregations will be integrated into Holy Rosary and Holy Spirit parishes, which will remain open and consolidated into one parish.

Names for the new parish are still being considered.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

We Are Losing the War

On the eve of the November 4 election, America is at war. I’m not talking about the war in the Middle East. I’m talking about a different war. On the one side of the battle lines are those who abuse children or allow children to be abused. On the other are those who have declared war on these monsters in a fight for a world in which children are safe from all forms of predation. If ever the doctrine of jus bellum iustum applied, it is here and now. Because the statistics are horrifying. This year, the US Department of Justice cited figures from the Centers for Disease Control that approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. Rates of other forms of abuse are also high. This is the here and the now. This is not historical. And it is totally and utterly unacceptable.

We do not live in a child safe society. Predators and those who protect them are winning the war. As dismal as may be is to say this, it’s true, and we have to face it. Here, I hasten to add that in stating this, I am not denigrating or minimizing the extraordinary efforts of survivor groups, individual survivors who speak out about their experiences (even when it means exposing truly frightening individuals – see this blog for the voice of a very brave Australian survivor), outspoken supporters, advocates, and hard-working frontline staff of various governmental and non-governmental organizations who combat child abuse on a daily basis. The importance of their efforts cannot be understated, and I do not do so. However, as I note, we cannot get away from the fact that we are failing children, and failing them miserably. We may be winning several battles, but that doesn’t mean we’re not losing the war.

So what is going on? Why, despite the valiant efforts of all these fine and dedicated people, are we failing on a massive scale? In trying to find the answer to the question myself, I found the best way forward is to think of society as a huge, woven piece of fabric. This fabric is made up of laws, individuals, societal attitudes and norms, and institutions. Child abuse continues to occur because there are ‘holes’ in the fabric. We can continue to round up and put away child abusers as they come to light, as we are doing reasonably well at present, but until we find all the critical failure points, the rents in the fabric of our society that allow abuse to flourish, we will never move forward, forever stuck with the present horrifying rates of abuse. Only by examining every thread of society can we find where the holes are and fix them.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Josephine McKenna Religion News Service | Oct. 31, 2014

VATICAN CITY American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the feisty former archbishop of St. Louis who has emerged as the face of the opposition to Pope Francis’ reformist agenda, likened the Roman Catholic church to “a ship without a rudder” in a fresh attack on the pope’s leadership.

In an interview with the Spanish Catholic weekly Vida Nueva, published Thursday, Burke insisted he was not speaking out against the pope personally but raising concern about his leadership.

“Many have expressed their concerns to me. At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder,” Burke said.

“Now, it is more important than ever to examine our faith, have a healthy spiritual leader and give powerful witness to the faith.”

Burke is the current head of the Vatican’s highest court known as the Apostolic Signatura, but he said recently he is about to be demoted. There is speculation he will be made patron of the Order of Malta, a largely ceremonial post.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

In a way, Malta is not that important for the Universal Church. But the Church is important for Malta. At least, so far.

The Catholic Church is an important part of Malta’s DNA. Even without taking into account the shady years until the 11th century, the Christian faith, and later the Catholic faith, became so intertwined with Malta’s real essence they were for a long time one and the same.

That, we all agree, is slowly changing, glacier-like. The recent divorce referendum has shown a disaffection that has finally erupted into open defiance. Prior to that, there was a steady falling-off in church attendance. The monolith began to crumble.

That may have been the run of things, the normal course of evolution as a small insular island opens up to modern times and catches up with the rest of Europe.

But, as happened in other countries as well, this process is developing faster and perhaps irretrievable by the appearance in the public forum of scandals involving people associated with the Church.

There is today a new consciousness and awareness that was simply not there in past years. People are no longer ready to turn a blind eye to sins and mistakes just because those who committed them are, for instance, priests. People today have a heightened sensibility where sins of the flesh are concerned, especially where children or people with needs are involved. There is also increased encouragement for people who have been victims, maybe many years ago, to speak up and demand justice.

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

Minister loses bid to reverse big verdict
Two have accused high profile Protestant preacher
One alleged victim issues her 1st public statement
Clergyman was on State Board of Education recently
One abuse case against him went to trial in August
A second lawsuit – alleging child sex abuse – was resolved
His church was ordered to pay $350,000 to one alleged victim
Group urges that his board fire him & other clerics ostracize him
SNAP: “If you’ve seen, suspected or suffered abuse by him, come forward”

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

–disclose that a prominent pastor’s drive to toss out a $350,000 verdict has failed, and
–read a statement by one of the minister’s victims who has not spoken publicly before.

The group will also

— urge the pastor’s church colleagues to suspend or fire him,
— ask the KC religious community to shun him, for the safety of church-goers, and
— beg anyone who may have knowledge of or suspicions about misdeeds or crimes by the minister to “call police officials, not church officials” and “speak up, rather than continue to suffer in shame, silence and self-blame.”

WHEN
Monday, Nov. 3, at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, 4509 Troost Ave. in Kansas City, Missouri

WHO
Two-four clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). One is a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time executive director.

WHY
In August, a jury awarded $350,000 to a woman who said that a KC MO Baptist minister, Rev. Stan Archie, abused her when she was an adult. Now, SNAP is disclosing that the judge in that case is refusing to overturn that award.

A second suit against Rev. Archie, brought by another woman, has been resolved, according to the KC Star.

[Kansas City Star]

It accuses the minister of “having sexually inappropriate conversations with a female minor whom he was counseling, giving her money and gifts, and later harassing her after she ended their relationship,” according to KWMU Radio in St. Louis. It was filed “by a Kansas City-area woman identified as Jane Doe” and “alleges that the Rev. Archie began committing repeated acts of sexual misconduct against (her) when she went to him for counseling at age 15,” according to the KC Star.

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NEW YORK
News 12

NEW CITY – The sexual molestation case against an internationally known rabbi from Rockland has been delayed.

Rabbi Moshe Taubenfeld was set to face a new judge this morning so a trial date could be set, but the hearing was postponed until Dec. 3. No reason for the delay has been given yet.

The New Square father of 20 is accused of sexually molesting a 9-year-old boy over a five-year period after the child came to him for counseling after 9/11 terror attacks.

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NEBRASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 3

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

For 11 months, Omaha’s Catholic Archbishop George Lucas hid a child sex abuse allegation against a priest in one of his parishes. That’s stunningly reckless and callous. Lucas should explain and apologize for his irresponsible delay. And parishioners at that parish – and throughout the Omaha archdiocese – should be outraged.

[KETV]

On a Friday evening, Halloween in fact, Omaha’s Catholic Archbishop George Lucas disclosed that he learned on 12/30/13 that Fr. Anthony Palmese was accused of abusing a child years ago. Lucas “passed the buck” and asked Fr. Palmese’ direct supervisors, a religious order called the Augustinian Recollects, to carry out an investigation, even though the order is based in New Jersey.

Then, for months and months, Lucas kept quiet. Despite repeatedly pledging to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes, Lucas kept quiet. Despite a US national bishops policy that promises “openness and transparency” in such cases, Lucas kept quiet.

Finally, on a day when the revelation was most apt to get little public attention, Lucas announced the allegation.

Church officials claim the alleged victim was reluctant to cooperate with the order’s investigation. Given the Catholic hierarchy’s long and continuing track record of deceit in these cases, who could blame him or her for not trusting church officials.

But that’s a dodge. Lucas knows that the quickest, easiest and best way to help determine whether an accusation against a priest is true or not is to publicly disclose it, as church policy mandates. All he has to do is put announcements in church bulletins, archdiocesan website saying “We have an allegation of abuse against Fr. X. If you have any information that might help prove or disprove the accusations, please call police, prosecutors or church officials immediately.”

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NEW YORK
The New Yorker

After a Hasidic man exposed child abuse in his tight-knit Brooklyn community, he found himself the target of a criminal investigation.

BY RACHEL AVIV

Sam Kellner’s reputation in the Hasidic community of Borough Park, Brooklyn, began to suffer in 2008, when his teen-age son told him that he had been molested by a man who had prayed at their synagogue. Kellner’s first instinct was to run the man over with his van, but he didn’t know if his anger was justified. Molestation was rarely discussed in the community, and it didn’t seem to Kellner that any of the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments explicitly related to it. The most relevant sins—adultery and coveting a neighbor’s belongings—didn’t capture the depth of the violation. Kellner couldn’t pinpoint what was lost when a child was sexually abused, since the person looked the same afterward. But he sensed that molestation was damaging, because he knew a few victims, and they had gone off the derech, or religious way. “They became dead-enders, lost souls, outcasts,” he told me.

Kellner, a heavyset man with hazel eyes and a long, graying beard, never spoke about sexual matters with his six children. They would take classes about the human body (with a focus on how to get pregnant) only after their marriages were arranged. Kellner took his son to a modesty committee, called vaad hatznius, which enforces standards of sexual propriety among Borough Park’s hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews, the majority of them Hasidic. Vaad hatznius disciplines residents who freely express their sexuality or behave lewdly. In a community where non-procreative sex is considered shameful, molestation tends to be regarded in roughly the same light as having an affair. When children complain about being molested, the council almost never notifies the police. Instead, it devises its own punishments for offenders: sometimes they are compelled to apologize, pay restitution, or move to Israel.

Kellner had once been a top administrator at the Munkacz synagogue and yeshiva, in Borough Park, but he had fought with other leaders about financial and educational policies. He had left the job and started a toner business, collecting discarded cartridges and reselling them. His son’s alleged abuser, Baruch Lebovits, was the descendant of a rabbinic dynasty, a prominent cantor with twenty-four grandchildren. Kellner told vaad hatznius that he wanted to report his son’s abuse to the police, because he didn’t trust that the issue could be dealt with internally.

The committee granted him permission, as long he had the approval of a rabbi. The rabbi would have to make an exception to the Talmudic prohibition against mesirah, the act of turning over another Jew to civil authorities. According to some interpretations of Talmudic law, a Jew who informs on another Jew has committed a capital crime. He is a “wicked man,” who has “blasphemed and rebelled against the law of Moses,” the twelfth-century Torah scholar Maimonides wrote. The law was meant to protect the community from anti-Semitic governments. Kellner said, “The way history tells it is that if a Jew was arrested he was thrown in jail and never heard of again.”

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MALTA
Malta Today

Jurgen Balzan 3 November 2014

A Curia spokesperson has denied that Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona offered money to a woman who claims to have been violently sexually abused by Fr Charles Fenech, a former provincial of the Dominican order in Malta.

Reliable sources have told MaltaToday that some months ago one of the alleged victims of sexual abuse by Fenech was offered a “hefty sum” by Cremona to remain silent.

However, in reply to questions sent by MaltaToday, a Curia spokesperson said “your assertion is completely false. Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona never offered any sum of money to persons claiming abuse.”

The reply followed a brief appearance by Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna on PBS’s Xarabank on Friday, in which the Maltese Church’s temporary leader described any attempt to buy somebody’s silence as “the biggest insult to the Church.”

Fenech is now facing charges of violent sexual abuse against a mentally unstable patient and holding the woman against her will and committing indecent acts in public.

While deploring the Church’s slow reaction to alleged cases of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, Scicluna said that he could not ascertain whether any money was offered to one of Fenech’s alleged victims, “but any attempt to buy somebody’s silence is the biggest insult to the Church.”

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INDIA
Financial Times

NEW DELHI: The Centre today assured the Delhi High Court that it will not extradite to the US till November 10 an Indian Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl there during his stay in 2004.

The submission made before Justice Pratibha Rani has come as a relief for Reverend Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul as he was scheduled to be extradited to the US today evening on an United Airlines flight.

Jeyapaul, 59, moved the court after his representation to the Centre challenging a trial court order recommending his extradition was rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on October 30 and order to extradite him was issued on October 31.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on November 10, by when MEA will file its response to Jeyapaul’s plea.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Priest accused of sexual abuse sends SMS to friends, asks them to pray and says God will win

Father Charles Fenech, the Dominican friar accused of sexually abusing a number of women, has sent an SMS to several people on his contacts list and insisted he is innocent, TVM is reporting. The full SMS reads: “The accusations made in media are all false truth will come out. God will win pray 4 me and i for u.”

It is being reported that Fr Fenech sent out the SMS after The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday published parts of a sworn affidavit by one of the alleged victims regarding alleged sexual abuse by the priest. The affidavit contained details of her relationship with him. The woman gave a chronological account of the various times she and Fr Charles Fenech were involved sexually.

She said that after her marriage was annulled, she threw a party to which Fr Charles Fenech was invited. It was here that he tried to kiss her for the first time.

Fr Fenech’s case has been before the Curia Response Team for at least eight years.

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MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Nov. 2, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO. — In a day-long gathering, Rockhurst University educators and National Catholic Reporter journalists dissected the theological and pastoral implications and challenges of the still emerging Pope Francis pontificate.

The event, promoted as a “conversation”, used the theme “Becoming a Church of Mercy,” drawing 200 locals and students who filled a Rockhurst campus auditorium Saturday on a chilly autumn morning here.

It was the first time the two institutions joined forces to bring their vantages and insights to the Catholic scene and came just days after NCR began to celebrate its 50th anniversary as a publishing company.

Speakers concurred that Pope Francis is taking contemporary Catholicism into uncharted waters. Not because his message his fundamentally new, but rather because of his unique style and pastoral emphasis following decades of pontificates that stressed strict orthodoxy. …

The journalists then listed a number of what they called “unanswered questions,” troubling observations they’ve filed in stories and analyses the first 19 months of the pontificate.

Their list began with the way Francis’ has spoken about and dealt with women. The list includes what they said are inadequate steps he’s made in facing clergy sex abuse, his unwillingness to reexamine certain Catholic teachings, beginning with aspects of sexual morality, and, finally, the continued opaque and arcane methods by which bishops continue to be appointed.

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KENTUCKY
WKLY

By Colin Mayfield

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —A Louisville priest convicted of sexual abuse will appear in court.

He wants out of prison, but he’ll have to face survivors of those abused first.

In April, James Schook was found guilty in Jefferson Circuit Court for offenses committed in the 1970s.

He was sentenced in late May to 15 years – but now Schook wants to be let out on shock probation.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests plan to be in the courtroom Monday morning for the hearing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Ekklesia

By Savi Hensman
3 Nov 2014

A BBC documentary in late October 2014 revealed the damage resulting from a rush to judgement over the failure to protect ‘Baby P’. A kneejerk reaction to the Church of England’s child protection failings may also do more harm than good.

Anger is understandable over failures to safeguard children. However in the wake of the appalling death of a child, the furore whipped up by politicians and sections of the press made it even harder to recruit professionals to help keep children safe.

The Church of England must do more to counter abuse. But there is a risk of acting hastily in ending the ancient practice of confidential confession without evidence that it will make things better for children. Indeed it might put them at greater risk.

Meanwhile, in church and society, the focus can be diverted from examining why procedures were not properly followed, as well as the culture surrounding abuse.

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CANADA
iPolitics

By Michael Harris | Nov 2, 2014

Sex, lies, and perhaps videotape.

The Jian Ghomeshi story took me on a bullet train back to the past — to Easter Sunday 1989 to be precise.

On that day, the newspaper I was managing in St. John’s, the Sunday Express, broke the Mount Cashel orphanage story.

It was the story of children at the orphanage and their sexual and physical abuse at the hands of a lay order of the Roman Catholic Church. The Irish Christian Brothers were legendary across the province as teachers and caregivers. They had also, as it turned out, been infiltrated by a coven of pedophiles.

It was a story of abused innocence versus overwhelming institutional authority — for in the Newfoundland of those days, still a denominational society, there was no more powerful institution beyond government itself than the Roman Catholic Church.

The nightmare of Mount Cashel began as a sensational newspaper story and ended in a police investigation, a court case, federal prison terms for the perpetrators, a royal commission, and multi-million dollar compensation for 422 victims across North America. And yes, finally, after 25 years, an apology to the victims from the Irish Christian Brothers. I should also say that it all started with a single victim whom I happened to believe: Shane Earle.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

On Sunday morning, a solemn-faced Dolan released his list of 112 parishes in the Archdiocese of New York that would be merged in 55 new ones in the face of shrinking congregations. Empty churches, Dolan says, are not caused by a shortage of priests, but ‘a shortage of the faithful.’

Denis Hamill

Timothy Cardinal Dolan walked slowly into the Catholic Education Building on First Ave. at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday with an Irish tweed cap pulled down over a face as sad as that of a man who’d just had to put down an old and very faithful dog.

In the morning he’d released his long-dreaded hit list of 112 parishes in the Archdiocese of New York that would be merged into 55 new ones. Parishes in Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx, and in Westchester, Rockland, Ulster and Orange counties felt the pain.

“Thanks for coming in and letting me ruin your Sunday,” says Dolan, plopping down at a table in a 20th-floor conference room. He asks which parish I grew up in. I say St. Stanislaus Church in Park Slope, Brooklyn, long ago closed.

“Heartbreaking,” he says. “Whenever I meet someone in New York, they usually start by telling their parish is gone. And now we have a whole new slate of others today.”

The numbers are alarming: Just 12%, or 346,000, of the 2.8 million Catholics in Cardinal Dolan’s New York Archdiocese still attend Sunday Mass. In the 1980s, there were 1,200 priests; today, 365. …

Didn’t the priest sex scandals lead to that shortage of the faithful?

“Some of it did,” he admits. “Yes, some problems, like sex abuse, are internal. Did it drive people away? Yes. But external causes are also responsible. The slogan today is, ‘I believe; I don’t belong.’ Faith is important, not the church. We have to win back those people.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Nov 02, 2014 By Marion Scott

Investigators have been told that the documents which run in to the hundreds are no longer available.

Government files containing claims of abuse of some of Scotland’s most vulnerable children have disappeared from national archives.

The secret papers contain allegations of physical and sexual abuse in homes and residential schools over four decades.

Some of the papers prepared by a task force set up by the-then Secretary of State for Scotland Bruce Millan in the late 1960s were seen by Sunday Mail in 2002.

But the vast majority of the papers, relating to abuse claims from the 1930s to 1960s, have never been made public. …

Campaigner David Whelan, 55, a member of the joint government and survivors think tank, the National Confidential Forum for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, said: “Those missing files weren’t where they should have been. They need to be found.”

He says the papers may have included claims about serial abuser Jimmy Savile, a regular visitor to Fort Augustus Abbey School in Inverness-shire.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Attorneys for a Louisville priest who was convicted on child molestation charges will be back in court Monday to request an early release from prison.

Father James Schook was sentenced to 15 years in prison for molesting a teenage boy for years in the 1970’s.

His attorneys asked the jury to sentence Schook to house arrest because he is suffering from end-stage melanoma.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Murray Sinclair and Stuart Murray
Posted: 11/1/2014

In 2008, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights began its formative work by travelling across the country to listen and learn from people about their human rights experiences. In the same year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada began its work of listening and learning from Indian residential school survivors and their descendants. The stories people told both the museum and the TRC were powerful and reflected different ways of understanding justice and equality. The stories provide a foundation to approach the challenging issues and conversations around both human rights and indigenous rights.

Since the TRC began its work, the public conversation around residential schools and the devastating effects of colonization has grown. Survivors have been vocal in rejecting a society marred by racism and exclusion, and the result is that all Canadians are looking for new ways to listen and understand each other. There are many unknowns, but what we do know is we cannot continue as we have in the past and that reconciliation will be a long journey. After all, Indian residential schools operated for more than 100 years in Canada, but it’s only recently people have begun to listen.

In 2008, the Canadian government delivered a formal apology to residential school students for the abuses they endured, for the schools themselves, and committed itself to a new relationship.

In 2010, the first national event of the TRC took place in Winnipeg, which marked the beginning of a five-year process and six more national events. These events are important steps in publicly acknowledging and taking responsibility for the damage these schools inflicted on indigenous communities and individuals. On Nov. 12, 2010, Canada endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, further reflecting the ongoing need in Canada to take indigenous rights seriously.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NOVEMBER 03, 2014

Mark Coultan
State Political Correspondent
Sydney

THE NSW government has told its agencies not to use the statute of limitations to avoid claims of child abuse, as part of its response to the royal commission into institutional child abuse.

The royal commission has heard the NSW Crown Solicitor’s office pursued a strategy of trying to deny claims on the basis of the passage of time, suggested spying on those making claims, and spent almost $1 million on legal fees before paying about $100,000 in compensation.

The NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard said that cultural change was required. Claims would be finalised as quickly as possible with agencies guided by an understanding that litigation could be a traumatic experience.

The government would issue guidelines to its agencies on how to respond to claims for child sexual abuse. The underlining principle would be compassion for the victims, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Legal process will be easier but redress scheme for sex abuse victims in children’s homes a long way off

November 3, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The legal process for survivors of sexual abuse committed in state-run children’s homes and orphanages will be simplified under recommendations from the NSW government aimed at reducing the suffering for victims.

Victims advocates welcomed the move but continued calls for a national redress scheme that includes financial compensation.

Care Leavers Australia Network executive officer Leonie Sheedy commended some aspects of the state government’s interim response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse but said much more work was needed.

“We need to have a national independent redress scheme for people who have been abused and used in orphanages in NSW and foster homes,” Ms Sheedy said.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

VICTIMS of child sex abuse have been promised a more “compassionate” approach from NSW government agencies processing their civil claims.

THEY will also be able to access state care records more easily as part of the government’s first official response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“No more government denial and ducking,” Attorney-General Brad Hazzard said.

He said the government would direct state agencies and their lawyers to avoid enforcing a six-year statutory time limit for survivors of child abuse to bring civil claims in court.

The Victorian government has recently gone a step further and pledged to remove the time limit altogether via a change in legislation.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Joanna Woodburn

Resources for claims made in response to a royal commission into child sexual abuse have been doubled by the New South Wales Government.

The move is part of a number of measures the Government has introduced to address some of the issues raised by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Five initiatives have been unveiled to support survivors and help them seek assistance in response to matters raised by inquiry.

The Government said it would boost resources at the Department of Family and Community Services to ensure people could access their care records quicker and to clear the backlog of applications by mid 2015.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

May facing questions over failure to publish explosive report into missing child abuse dossier handed to Home Office in 1980s

By Tom McTague, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline

Theresa May is facing further questions over her handling of historic allegations of child abuse this morning – after it emerged she has failed to publish a crucial report on the Home Office’s record of dealing with paedophile claims.

Mrs May has been accused of delaying the release of the report, compiled by NSPCC chief Peter Wanless, into how the Home Office dealt with a dossier of child abuse allegations delivered to former Home Secretary Leon Brittan in the 1980s.

The revelation comes as Mrs May faces growing pressure over her handling of the wider inquiry into historic child abuse which has been left in chaos after Fiona Woolf became the second chairman to quit before its investigations had even begun.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Caroline O’Doherty

A relationship with a troubled teenage girl and the subsequent accusation of sex assault — of which he was cleared — has left a priest with a battle on his hands, writes Caroline O’Doherty

Fr Chris Conroy had a saying when he was living in the Andes Mountains in Peru: “Canon law doesn’t apply above 10,000 feet.”

By that, he meant the formal structures and strictures of the Catholic Church took second place to the practicalities of survival in a harsh environment among people living a primitive existence in grinding poverty, stalked by a guerrilla insurgency.

Back at sea level in his native Wicklow, however, Church law very much holds sway and Fr Conroy has found himself in difficulties for challenging it.

The 81-year-old entered the priesthood through the Carmelite Friary in Kinsale and after his ordination in 1959 he was based at the Order’s Whitefriar Street community in Dublin.

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MALTA
Malta Today

It is not the attire which makes you a worthy priest or a nun, but the personality and psychological make-up that lies beneath. Some are truly good. Others are truly nasty pieces of work.

Josanne Cassar 3 November 2014

I think I had better start this piece with a disclaimer: I know very well that there are very good, very worthy priests (and nuns for that matter) who are doing a lot of commendable missionary work in their chosen fields. I particularly admire the nuns who run the creches and the priests who work with the poor and disadvantaged in Malta’s problem areas.

Unfortunately, they do not compensate, in the public’s mind, for those who transgress. This is understandable, since it has been drilled and drummed into most of us from the time we attended our first catechism lesson, that those who represent the Church are (or should be) above reproach. Although the influence of religion on the mores of Maltese society has been greatly diluted in the last 50 years, it is still there, ever present, as part of our national social fabric.

One can hardly turn on a TV talk show without seeing a member of the clergy speaking on behalf of the Church. And even if their own lifestyle is far removed from the teachings of the Church, many lapsed Catholics find absolutely no contradiction in sending their children to a church school, packing them off to muzew in order to be able to do their Holy Communion and Confirmation, and basically raising their offspring as Roman Catholics, because….

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POLAND
The News

A Polish priest indicted for abusing children in the Dominican Republic and Poland allegedly forced boys to perform oral sex and photographed minors in drag carrying out sex acts.

Father Wojciech G. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws) was formally indicted in October, with his case referred to a district court in Wolomin.

Prosecutors in Warsaw claimed that the “ample evidence” against the clergyman includes testimonies of over 100 witnesses, and over a dozen reports by experts.

According to the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, which has accessed documents connected with the indictment, about 91,000 images containing child pornography were found on the priest’s computer in the Caribbean republic, as well as 400 films of a similar nature.

A number of the pictures were allegedly taken in the priest’s vicarage in the highland village of Juncalito, where he led the Roman Catholic parish for close to a decade.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Stephen Calleja

Monday, 3 November 2014

Those of you who know a little bit of Church history were not surprised when they watched the much-acclaimed television series The Borgias, which recounts the story of the most notorious pope, Alexander VI. Although the producers at times did exaggerate to add some more drama to the show, the series is based on facts that really happened – a pope with a wife and a mistress; four children, one of whom was appointed a Cardinal, and a life of scheming and luxury, far from spirituality. This pope’s life and times were even captured by Mario Puzo, well-known for “The Godfather”, in another famous book called “The Family”. It is no wonder that the word Borgia is now associated with nepotism and libertinism.

The Church has evolved since those times, but is still made up of humans, and humans make mistakes. It is always wrong to put everyone in the same basket. If one priest steps out of line, it does not mean that all priests are behaving improperly. Just as much as what happened in the News of the World some years back does not mean that all editors around the world are unethical or worse.

But the story that has emerged these past few days, since The Malta Independent named Fr Charles Fenech as facing court charges on alleged sexual abuse, has once again thrown bad light on what should be an exemplary institution. I’m not saying that what Fr Charles Fenech allegedly did is in any way comparable to what Pope Alexander did; far from it, but it goes without saying that the alleged abuse committed by Fr Charles is not something that should make him proud.

After two other priests were involved in a highly publicised scandal involving children a few years ago, this time round a priest who was already well-known to the public because of his involvement in Kerygma volleyball marathons has been linked to another scandal that is rocking the local Curia.

What has been uncovered so far raises more suspicions on why Mgr Paul Cremona, himself a Dominican friar like Fr Fenech, resigned from the post of Archbishop a few weeks back. It also adds to the speculation on why the Kerygma volleyball marathon was stopped so suddenly, with stories of how it was turning into an occasion for more than just aces and spikes now taking on a new meaning.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

FOR years there have been persistent rumours about a dark conspiracy to conceal child abuse within the political establishment.

By: Leo McKinstry
Published: Sun, November 2, 2014

But concern grew dramatically in the aftermath of Jimmy Savile’s death, when the horrendous scale of his predatory activities began to emerge.

In a move to quell these mounting public anxieties, the Home Secretary Theresa May set up an independent inquiry in July this year to examine historic allegations of abuse and cover-up inside our political system going back to 1970.

This panel, we were promised, would shine the searing spotlight of truth into the murkiest corners of the establishment.

Sadly, four months later, the work of the panel remains shrouded in darkness.

The spotlight has not even been switched on.

This is because the Home Office has botched the selection of the panel’s head, exasperating victims’ groups and undermining public faith in the whole process.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

Please click here for espanol.

Parish List 1 – Masses and Sacraments celebrated at both churches

Parish List 2 – Masses and Sacraments to be celebrated at the designated parish church; the other church may be used on special occasions.

“This time of transition in the history of the archdiocese will undoubtedly be difficult for people who live in parishes that will merge. There will be many who are hurt and upset as they experience what will be a change in their spiritual lives, and I will be one of them. There is nobody who has been involved in Making All Things New who doesn’t understand the impact that this will have on the Catholic faithful. It will be our responsibility to work with everyone in these parishes so as to help make the change as smooth as we possibly can.”

With these words, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, today announced the results of a multi-year pastoral planning process, Making All Things New, undertaken to strengthen and enhance parish life in the Archdiocese of New York and to assist the archdiocese in serving its Catholic faithful most effectively. This pastoral planning process, which had its beginnings in 2010, sought the input and suggestions of parishioners, the leadership of religious orders of women and men, and the clergy, resulting in today’s announcement.

The first phase of pastoral planning, directed by Bishop Dennis Sullivan, then the vicar general of the archdiocese, picked up on the good work begun by Cardinal Edward Egan prior to his retirement as archbishop in 2009. This initial work consisted in surveying the parishioners of every parish of the archdiocese; meeting with priests, deacons, and religious throughout the archdiocese; consulting with the archdiocesan pastoral council; and reviewing the observations offered by Cardinal Dolan from his own extensive parish visits since his 2009 appointment as archbishop. These elements were used to determine how pastoral planning should proceed, as well as to identify areas in which the archdiocese should concentrate its resources. Among the issues raised most frequently during these meetings were:

1. The need for a strategic plan for Catholic schools
2. Improved religious education and faith formation programs for children, youth, and adults
3. Greater outreach to various ethnic groups, in particular Hispanic Catholics and recent immigrants
4. Enhanced ministry to teens, college students, and young adults
5. Better use of technology for more effective communication with parishioners
6. Expansion of healthcare throughout the archdiocese
7. An emphasis on the works of charity, particularly in affordable housing
8. Enhanced transparency, especially on financial matters
9. Promotion of greater involvement of the faithful in the life of the Church, especially in attracting new people to the faith, and winning back people who have left

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NEBRASKA
JRN

By Rebekah Rae

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) A former pastor who served at an Omaha church is accused of sexually abusing a minor. Two years after his death, the church announced a priest thousands trusted is accused of sex crimes.

“We treat it as a credible allegation,” said Deacon Tim McNeil. Friday, the archdiocese announced Reverend Anthony Palmese may have sexually abused a child in Omaha 30 years ago. Palmese served as an associate pastor at Holy Ghost from 1984 to 1985.

“We want parents and parishioners and the public to know about these men,” said David Clohessy. He’s the director of the survivors network of those abused by priests, otherwise known as SNAP.

Sunday, he passed out fliers at Saint Cecilia church, warning catholic parishioners of possible predators. He fears more victims may be hiding. “Even though some of the crimes may have happened a long, long time ago, we still believe it’s the civic duty and the moral duty of everybody who has information about child sex crimes to call law enforcement.”

SNAP asks victims to come forward and tell police. McNeil said the archdiocese wants victims to speak out as well. Sunday, Holy Ghosts announced the investigation in their weekly newsletter. “If there’s anybody here who had a negative experience with a priest, the priest in question, come forward. We want to make sure that you get all the love, attention and care that you deserve.”

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

In the US, attention has shifted from anti-abortion battles to jobs and poverty. There is controversy over Francis’ choices. Meanwhile, neoconservatives are protesting

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

Blase Joseph Cupich represents the new face of the American Church. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1949, to a Croatian family and has eight siblings. Francis unexpectedly nominated him leader of the Diocese of Chicago, which has 2,3 million faithful and is the third largest diocese in the US. The fact he was chosen as replacement to the seriously ill 77-year-old Wojtylian cardinal, Francis George, is the sign of a significant change of course when compared to the past few decades, which saw “cultural warriors” being appointed leaders of the US episcopate. These “warriors” took part in tough public battles against abortion and same-sex unions. They were much less concerned with subjects such as immigration, social justice, peace and the consequences of what Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium called: an economy “that kills”. When he was bishop of Rapid City, Cupich – whom the Editor-in-Chief of U.S. Catholic magazine, Bryan Cones, referred to as “the bishop who can speak without shouting” – transformed the local “pro-life committee” into a “social justice committee”: he did not stop speaking out against abortion, but widened the focus of his speeches, calling for immigration reform and taking an interest in the poor.

The difference in approach between the US Episcopate on one hand and Francis on the other, became all the more evident during the Synod on the Family. So much so, that Boston Globe Vatican expert John Allen said the US Church’s “honeymoon” with Pope Francis was over. Among the most shocking declarations made by prelates who were not present at the Synod assembly, were those published on the Diocese of Providence website by Bishop Thomas Tobin: “The concept of having a representative body of the Church voting on doctrinal applications and pastoral solutions strikes me as being rather Protestant. According to Tobin, “the Church risks the danger of losing its courageous, counter-cultural, prophetic voice”. Commenting on the distortions of the media, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, said the “public image” of the Synod has created “confusion” and “confusion is of the devil”.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

[list of churches that will merge]

By SHARON OTTERMAN
NOV. 2, 2014

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan announced on Sunday the largest reorganization in the history of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New York, with 55 parishes from Staten Island to the Catskills to merge with neighboring parishes.

In 31 of those mergers, all Masses and other sacraments such as weddings and funerals will cease to be celebrated on a regular basis at one of the churches being merged. In the remaining 24 mergers, both churches will remain open for the regular celebration of Masses and other events.

Of the churches that will essentially be closed on a weekly basis for worship purposes, nine are in Manhattan, six in Westchester, six in the Bronx, four in Staten Island and six are in Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, or Dutchess counties.

The churches that will cease to be used regularly in Manhattan include Holy Rosary, Holy Agony, and Saint Lucy’s in East Harlem, and Our Lady of Peace, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and Saint Stephen of Hungary on the Upper East Side.

In the Bronx, churches no longer used regularly will include Visitation on Van Cortlandt Park South and Saint Ann on Bainbridge Avenue. On Staten Island, they include Assumption on Webster Avenue and Saint Mary of the Assumption on Richmond Terrace.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Elizabeth Ganga, eganga@lohud.com 10:01 a.m. EST November 2, 2014

The Archdiocese of New York announced Sunday that it will merge 112 parishes into 55 new parishes, with less than half of the merged parishes continuing to celebrate masses and sacraments at both churches.

Of the new parishes, 31 will only use one of the church buildings on a regular basis.

In Westchester, 12 churches will be merged and the Salesian community will keep two active churches in Port Chester at sites to be determined. In Rockland, four churches will be affected.

No parishes are merging in Putnam.

At St. Bernard Church in White Plains, which had been told it might merge but in the end was not on the list, parishioners Danuta and Don Zamora were happy and relieved as they walked into 9 a.m. Mass Sunday. They had sampled several churches before picking St. Bernard. They liked its diversity and that it seemed to be growing and thriving.

“We just moved into the area and we were just extremely hopeful that the church would stay open,” Danuta Zamora said.

Sunday’s announcement was in the works for several years. The church initiated a reorganization process called Making All Things New that involved self-evaluations by parishes and recommendations from an Archdiocesan Advisory Board.

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