ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Boston Herald

[with video]

By: Jack Encarnacao

Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s stunningly candid “60 Minutes” interview — tackling thorny subjects such as clergy sex abuse and ordination of women in the shadow of St. Peter’s — has made Boston’s archbishop the American face of an extraordinary papacy that takes tough questions and embraces criticism, in stark contrast to centuries of Vatican custom.

There was a “certain rawness” to O’Malley’s answers to Norah O’Donnell that typifies the papacy of Francis, said Dennis Doyle, professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, a prominent Catholic research university in Ohio. “I think that there were signs that he was not completely prepped on what to say even. We weren’t getting canned answers on every issue. I do think that signals something about what Pope Francis is trying to model, and calling for.”

Boston College theologian the Rev. James Bretzke said O’Malley, the pope’s closest American advisor, has “gauged that now is the time when he can be a little more forthright.” Under prior papacies, he said, such candor “would have been certainly a nonstarter.”

Bretzke said what he saw was “confronto Americano” — or frank American-style discussion — which had largely been antithetical to the Vatican.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

by ANN CAREY 11/17/2014

Whatever happened to the Vatican’s Apostolic Visitation of U.S. Women Religious conducted 2009-2010 by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life?

That question takes on increasing urgency as the predicted deadline for releasing a Vatican report on that visitation looms in just days: Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, secretary of the Vatican’s congregation for consecrated life, told reporters last January that he thought the final report on the visitation likely would be made public before the Year of Consecrated Life begins Nov. 30.

The visitation had been initiated in late 2008 by then-prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Franc Rodé, with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. The cardinal said he had been concerned for some time about the declining vocations among women religious in the U.S., as well as the quality of life of sisters. In a Nov. 3, 2009, interview with Vatican Radio during the visitation, he also expressed concern about a “certain secularist mentality that has spread among these religious families, perhaps even a certain ‘feminist spirit.’” All individual sisters, as well as their religious superiors, were invited to give their input to a visitator and/or the visitation office, and a final report on the visitation has been anticipated for months.

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BOSTON (MA)
CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS/AP) — Cardinal Sean O’Malley was “terrified” when the Vatican sent him to run the scandal-plagued Archdiocese of Boston in 2003, he said in a “60 Minutes” segment that aired Sunday evening.

In the wide-ranging interview with Norah O’Donnell, O’Malley talked about his new role as the president of a Vatican commission to combat child abuse, his views on the role of women in the church and his close relationship with Pope Francis.

When O’Malley was sent to Boston, the church was facing its biggest sex abuse scandal in history.
“There were a thousand lawsuits against us. The seminary was empty,” O’Malley said. “As I say such anger, disappointment, upset on the part of the people.”

O’Malley had earned a reputation for cleaning up churches besieged by scandal in Fall River and Palm Beach, Florida, but the Boston assignment was especially daunting.

“It was – somebody described it as a fixer-upper,” O’Malley said.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By Teresa M. Hanafin
Editor November 16, 2014

Catholics who thought Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s remarks about Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn’s suitability for office were provocative have another interesting comment to ponder: If he were to start a church, he would “love to have women priests.”

In an interview with “60 Minutes” on CBS that producers said took more than a year for them to persuade him to do, O’Malley seemed troubled by reporter Norah O’Donnell’s question as to whether the exclusion of women from the Church hierarchy was “immoral.”

O’Malley paused, then said, “Christ would never ask us to do something immoral. It’s a matter of vocation and what God has given to us.”

“Not everyone needs to be ordained to have an important role in the life of the Church,” he said. “Women run Catholic charities, Catholic schools …. They have other very important roles. A priest can’t be a mother. The tradition in the Church is that we ordain men.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor November 17, 2014

CHICAGO — Back in 1997, journalist Jonathan Kwitny published a biography of Pope John Paul II called “Man of the Century.” The idea was that the biography of John Paul cut across all the great dramas of the 20th century, from Nazism and Communism to the upheaval in the Catholic Church caused by the Second Vatican Council.

By the same logic, one could argue that Cardinal Francis George of Chicago was the American churchman of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, because there’s almost no story in which he wasn’t a lead actor.

George played a key role in pushing through a reform of Catholic worship in the English language, adopting translations closer to the Latin originals and, in general, a more reverent and traditional style. He was the architect of the US bishops’ battles with the Obama administration over health care reform, and more broadly in defense of religious freedom, during his three-year term as president of the bishops’ conference.

George was also the lead advocate for the American bishops when their new zero tolerance policy on sex abuse seemed dead on arrival in Rome, eventually making it stick over significant Vatican resistance. To boot, George voted in the conclaves that gave the Catholic Church both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 17, 2014 NCR Today

Boston Cardinal Seán O’Malley, a key advisor to Pope Francis, was featured in a lengthy interview on the U.S. television program 60 Minutes Sunday night.

The interview covered a wide range of topics: from O’Malley’s relationship with the pope, to his feelings about the Vatican’s investigations of U.S. women religious, to his thoughts on the possibility of women’s ordination to the priesthood.

One revelation? O’Malley and the pope regularly communicate via fax.

“Usually … we fax,” O’Malley told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell. That method, he said, is “very quick and efficient.”

That prompted O’Donnell to respond: “Most people think texting is quicker than faxing.”

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

11/16/14
Amy Sara Clark
Staff Writer

Sam Kellner, the chasidic sex abuse whistleblower who was indicted in 2011 for bribery and extortion, but whose case dismissed in early 2014, has filed a defamation suit against The Jewish Daily Forward.

The suit, which concerns a Nov.14, 2013 article published by the Forward, entitled “Sam Kellner’s Tangled Hasidic Tale of Child Sex Abuse, Extortion and Faith,” alleges that the article relied on illegally made and doctored recordings in an attempt to commit “low grade character assassination” of Kellner. In doing so, the suit claims, the article turned the “distinguished” publication into “the propaganda wing of a criminal conspiracy” to protect convicted child molester Baruch Lebovits, making it the “Pravda for pedophiles.”

The suit, filed by Kellner’s attorney Niall Macgiollabhui, of the law firm of Michael G. Dowd, in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, alleges that the Forward defamed Kellner twice in the article, and then once more over twitter.

The first claim is that the article falsely states that Kellner was caught on tape telling “the family of a child molester who had pleaded guilty that he can help get the man off and that, citing the hasidic bloc vote, they should tell the da, ‘hey, you took a jewish man, you railroaded him into a deal … and we won’t forget it.’”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

1. A Ray of Hope In A Crisis of Trust — A Holy Mess: Pope Francis says Catholics should “create a mess” to help him promote changes in the Catholic Church. The Catholic majority are pleased for now; although many are skeptical. Some see a bright ray of hope shining into the crisis of trust triggered by Church scandals. Others think the window of opportunity for hopeful light from Pope Francis will close soon if he is not prophetic and transparent. Indeed, some even think the Vatican’s current “holy mess” will be its final mess.

2. Yet, Francis has so far offered few indications about concrete changes he really wants. Many Church leaders seem fearful of any changes. Yet, many Catholics and others are finally pressing for permanent changes. They have by now seen Vatican misconduct up close and too often. They now also understand better that many of the Vatican’s frequently ambiguous, if not vague, biblical and historical basic sources supporting papal power have been overplayed, if not misused. These permanent changes may differ ultimately from what many in the Vatican now want. As the “infallible Supreme Pontiff” for millions of Catholics, Pope Francis has the best papal opportunity in many years, if not centuries, to fix the broken Catholic Church. This may also be the final papal opportunity to clean up the “holy mess”. Time will soon tell.

3. This crisis has led to one papal resignation already. Pope Francis appears for many reasons to be the Vatican’s best and last chance to lead on initiating overdue Church changes. Pressures beyond Vatican control can be expected to compel more severe changes if Francis fails to act effectively and transparently. This has already begun to happen with respect to Vatican finances, as a result of the continuing European governmental investigations of multiple misdeeds involving both the Vatican Bank and the Vatican’s own significant portfolio assets. Prospects for criminal prosecutions of Catholic Church officials have seemingly caused the Vatican to focus on overdue reforms in ways that earlier financial penalties and shameful publicity had rarely done before. As with corporate criminal executives worldwide, prosecution risk is generally a uniquely effective deterrent to future crimes by senior leaders.

4. Almost 150 years ago, facing a similar crisis, Pope Pius IX refused to initiate overdue changes to his arbitrary and ineffective leadership of his Kingdom of the Papal States in central Italy. His key misguided “fix” was to push to be declared “infallible” in July 1870. Two months later, he militarily lost the Kingdom completely to Italian nationalists. Traditional papal protectors like France and Austria-Hungary stood by and passively watched, unwilling to support further papal mismanagement and capriciousness. Will Pope Francis make a similar mistake like Pius IX did by misjudging his precarious position?

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WASHINGTON
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oregon Province, Theodore St. Hilaire was ordained in 1967. He spent the better part of the following decade as an assistant for Indian missions in Omak and East Omak WA. He appears to have left the order in the mid-1970s. St. Hilaire’s name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1967

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ROME
The Times (UK)

Tom Kington Rome

A Polish priest who has been sentenced to three years in jail by a Vatican court after he embezzled £170,000 from the church was undone by his poor spelling.

Bronislaw Morawiec carried out the fraud while serving at Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, one of the city’s most important churches, which is often visited by Pope Francis.

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UNITED STATES
Question from a Ewe

How to determine if clergy listen humbly and learn…

Soon to retire Cardinal George of Chicago said before last week’s US bishops’ annual fall meeting that he doesn’t get what Pope Francis wants him to do. “He says wonderful things, but he doesn’t put them together all the time, so you’re left at times puzzling over what his intention is… What he says is clear enough, but what does he want us to do?”

I don’t know… Maybe follow the gospels? Maybe imitate Jesus’ effusion of inclusion, love and mercy?

It’s a bit ironic that a 77 year-old self-acclaimed career Jesus-expert suddenly becomes confused when asked to imitate that very guy. Maybe thoughts like this are rattling through his and other clergy’s heads these days, “The last two popes were so much easier…. You just really couldn’t go wrong with mindless regurgitation of their words and ruthless expulsion of people who disagreed with them…perennial Vatican crowd pleasers…like serving cake at a wedding reception. It certainly got me where I am today, anyway… ”

It seems sumptuously dressed Cardinal Raymond Burke is also confused. Before his recent removal as head of the powerful Apostolic Signatura, Burke said, “At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder”.

Ray, a ship heading in a direction you don’t like is not a rudderless ship. It’s a ship going in a different direction than you want. Getting a new job during a corporate reorganization is not the work of Satan. Shifting power from you to another albeit most likely less stunningly dressed prelate is not grounds for a delicately worded public temper tantrum. Calm down. It’s still a bunch of guys in gowns who live in rarefied environments running the show. I realize Francis’ focus on Christ-like simplicity might threaten your penchant for donning fancy threads and bejeweled mitres but as Jesse J sings and I think Francis is trying to say, it “ain’t about the ba-bling, ba-bling…”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Leonard A. Kohlman was a Jesuit priest of the Oregon Province, ordained in 1953. Kohlman spent his entire career on Indian reservations in MT, WA and ID. He died in 1972. Kohlman’s name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1953
Died: Sept. 24, 1972

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

November 17, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Calls to Australia’s leading child abuse helpline have quadrupled since the start of the royal commission with research finding many survivors wait 30 years or more before seeking support.

Analysis of the Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) professional support line has found that almost 100 people are coming forward each week with the majority of them aged over 40.

The study of 4000 callers found the most common age for abuse to occur was between 6-10 years of age, but the majority of callers seeking help were aged between 40-49 years old.

President of ASCA, Dr Cathy Kezelman, said the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had encouraged more people to come forward.

She said many had carried the burden of abuse for decades before seeking help.

“There is an incredible sense of shame and self-loathing which does hold people back from seeking support,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Tyson Shine
November 17, 2014

The Anglican Church and its Hobart private school Hutchins will be in the spotlight this week when an investigation into child sexual abuse holds public hearings in Tasmania.

The Royal Commission investigating Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will begin its first public hearings in the state on Wednesday.

The milestone is seen as important because Tasmania is the only remaining state or territory the commission has not heard from on the public record.

Elizabeth Little from the Sexual Assault Support Service said the hearings were overdue.

“It’ll bring home to Tasmanians that it’s happened in this state and that we’ve got a job ahead of us in terms of supporting people that have experienced abuse,” she said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Patch

By Dennis Robaugh (Patch National Staff)
Updated November 16, 2014

The Chicago Archdiocese granted a dying man’s final wish, bringing him a copy of the report on the priest who sexually abused him in the 1950s. On Friday, the Archdiocese dispatched its Victims Advocate to Hines Veterans Hospital and the bedside of Rick Springer, a taxicab driver and activist who spent years trying to hold the Catholic Church accountable for the misdeeds of its priests.

NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern, who has covered the church and sex abuse scandal for years, learned of the church’s effort to connect with Springer.

As he lay dying, the advocate read the file to him and allowed Springer to hold the document. He died Saturday afternoon at the age of 76. A memorial ceremony will be held on Monday.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about the abuse and how it’s affected my life,” Springer told Medill News Service in 2010.

He grew up on the North Side, in Rogers Park, and began attending a neighborhood Catholic church after his parents divorce in 1945 even though he was raised a Lutheran.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

A Roman Catholic priest has been placed on administrative leave following allegations of inappropriate relationships with adult women, the Diocese of Toledo announced today.

The Rev. David A. Reinhart, pastor of St. John the Evangelist parish in Delphos and St. John the Baptist parish in Landeck, will not be permitted to exercise public ministry, administer any of the sacraments, wear clerical attire, or present himself publicly as a priest pending the outcome of the investigation.

Bishop Daniel Thomas has accepted Father Reinhart’s resignation from the two parishes, which are located in northwest Ohio. Landeck is southwest of Delphos. Delphos is located in Allen and Van Wert counties, 85 miles southwest of Toledo

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MALTA
Malta Independent

‘U are the one and only for me’ – Fr Charles Fenech tells victim of alleged sexual abuse

Rachel Attard
Sunday, 16 November 2014

“I love you very much”; “u know that I do mistakes but I never do anything 2 hurt you and lose u”; “Even when u r down rem (remember) u r v imp 2 me”.

These are just a sample of the many SMSs that one of the alleged five victims sexually abused by Fr Charles Fenech received from him during their 10-year rollercoaster relationship.

This newsroom has a copy of a list of SMSs that one of the victims obtained from her mobile telephony service provider. A copy of this list was also given to the police and the Curia Response Team. These types of messages, as evidenced by the lengthy list, were sent on regular basis during the periods in which the two were in a relationship.

The alleged victim told this newsroom that when Fr Fenech was abroad, he used to keep in touch with her regularly via text messages and emails. One message sent to the victim by Fr Fenech during one such period of separation reads: “Thank god I got a photo of you cause I am extremely sad”.

Kerygma Movement director Father Charles Fenech – a prominent figure in the Maltese Church and one who has been active with youth movements – has been accused of sexual abuse and of holding one of the women he was involved with against her will.

He is due to appear in court on 17 December.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

November 16, 2014

Ross Peake
Senior reporter for The Canberra Times

Sacked Catholic Bishop Bill Morris will campaign for the ordination of married men, during a book signing tour to Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.

He says he was treated unfairly and deprived of natural justice by the late Pope Benedict who had a “closed door approach” during a private meeting in Rome.

“I experienced a monologue, there was definitely no dialogue,” Bishop Morris said from Brisbane on Sunday.

“My disappointment was that he [Pope Benedict] didn’t listen to me.

“He repeated exactly what had been given to him and what was given to him had been wrong.

“The facts were wrong, the interpretation was wrong and therefore his take on that, accusing me of doing something that I didn’t do on the grounds of the advice he was given [was wrong].” …

He told Pope Benedict during the meeting in 2009 of a sex abuse case at a Toowoomba school but the Pope dismissed the bishop’s request to stay at his post to deal with it.

Bishop Morris said the atmosphere within the Catholic Church was changing under Pope Francis who encouraged dialogue.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

PAUL GALLAGHER
Sunday 16 November 2014

The leading charity for supporting victims of child sexual abuse is being forced out of its London office because of soaring rent, and will go bust in six months unless urgent funding is secured.

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said the charity he founded in 1995 has six weeks to find new premises, after its current landlord raised the rent by 50 per cent; otherwise, it will become homeless.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was told of the charity’s plight during a two-hour meeting at its office last week. “I told Ms May we will be homeless because our landlord has pushed the rent up so much. I don’t know where we’re going to go,” Mr Saunders said. “We need help. Our costs are going up, our workload is going up, and we’re on the rocks. If we don’t find extra funding soon then in a few months’ time it could be curtains for Napac.”

The charity has played a leading role in influencing the Government’s wide-ranging child sexual abuse inquiry, but will have to cut staff and services if affordable premises are not found quickly.

“It’s very difficult for an organisation like ours to show exactly what kind of measurable impact we have; we’re much like the Samaritans in that respect, so it’s more difficult for us to tick the boxes of groups who consider funding us,” Mr Saunders said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Caroline Crawford

16/11/2014

THE BON Secour Order of nuns who ran the mother and baby home in Tuam in which almost 800 children died, will be compelled to attend a Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the matter.

In the event that the Order or any other witnesses who are called, do not assist the inquiry, they will be ordered to do so.

The Order will also be compelled to hand over records it might hold on the home to the Inquiry, which will be chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

Historian Catherine Corless, who highlighted the deaths of almost 800 children in the Tuam mother and baby home, received the assurance from Minister for Children Dr James Reilly.

Ms Corless met with the minister in recent weeks to discuss her research into the Tuam home. She raised concerns about the inquiry’s ability to access records currently held by the Sisters of Bon Secours nuns who ran the home.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Nov 16, 2014 By Leona Greenan

Parishioners at St John Ogilvie Church in Blantyre claim they were booted out after praying for suspended priest Father Matthew Despard.

The group of supporters for Father Despard have been meeting outside the church grounds every Saturday following vigil mass to pray for a “speedy outcome” for the priest.

But they say that on Saturday, October 25, an assistant priest invited the group to pray inside.

However, they claim that shortly after lining up to pray, they were told to “get out of the church.”

They also allege that they were told the initial priest had no right to invite them in.

The group have gathered every Saturday, no matter the weather, over the last year since the then parish priest of St John Ogilvie Church, Father Matthew Despard, was suspended.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beat

Warren Throckmorton

What’s Christian about evangelical authors using shady business tactics in a bid to boost visibility on best-seller lists?

In January 2012, former megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll’s book Real Marriage went to the top spot on the Hardcover Advice section of The New York Times best-seller list. In March 2014, it was disclosed by evangelical magazine, World, that Driscoll’s publishing success was aided by a consulting firm called ResultSource, which purchased books on behalf of Driscoll in a coordinated effort to spike sales and give the impression that the book was popular with thousands of book buyers. Driscoll recently resigned from his church and one factor associated with his departure is the decision to buy his way onto the best-seller list.

Driscoll later admitted that the scheme was wrong and even asked that the designation “New York Times best-selling author” be removed from his bio and book covers. However, Driscoll is not alone among evangelicals wanting to improve their brand and increase sales. Just after the Driscoll story broke, another megapastor, Perry Noble, admitted using ResultSource on one of his book projects.

Jeffrey Trachtenberg pulled back the curtain on ResultSource’s operation in a 2013 Wall Street Journal piece. He noted that business and health care books have made the list with the help of ResultSource but didn’t report on any books from Christian publishers. The revelations about Driscoll’s Real Marriage best-seller campaign demonstrated that Christian authors and publishers also use the service. In fact, it appears that ResultSource CEO Kevin Small, as a graduate of Liberty University, is right at home with Christian clients.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

John Gallagher

PUBLISHED 16/11/2014

Audrey Carvill’s interview with Mairia Cahill on Morning Ireland last Thursday concluded with a question which insinuated that Mairia was being used by the other political parties to attack Sinn Fein. While Mairia answered strongly, the question was then repeated in even more blunt and unsympathetic terms.

In the past, victims of abuse by church institutions were never confronted by RTE on air in this way. It was never put to them that they were being used by political parties or anybody else. The completely opposite approach was taken, of facilitating and encouraging them to speak out. RTE did everything possible, notably through the work of the late Mary Raftery, to encourage victims to come forward and tell their stories.

Just as in the case of clerical child sex abuse, there are indications that many, many others have suffered abuse at the hands of the same kind of people who abused Mairia Cahill. The Morning Ireland interview effectively told them “if, having being abused, you come forward, your alleged helpers will also use/abuse you”.

This will be particularly distressing for victims thinking of speaking out, because having trust in anyone afterwards is perhaps the biggest single issue for those who have suffered serious abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Convicted SA sex offender Ray Partridge member of Adelaide Triathlon Club, which is frequented by children young as five

A FORMER church youth worker who sexually abused two boys in the 1980s is a member of a triathlon group that is frequented by children as young as five.

The Advertiser can reveal Ray Partridge — convicted, in the District Court, of multiple child sex crimes — is a member of and volunteer at the Adelaide Triathlon Club.

His involvement with the club is now the subject of inquiries by Triathlon Australia, the sport’s national governing body.

One of Partridge’s victims, known as “Clifford”, yesterday told The Advertiser he hoped those inquiries would result in the sex offender’s expulsion for the sake of young members.

He said photographs of Partridge on the club’s Facebook page had left him upset and dismayed at the thought of children being at risk.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on November 15, 2014

A Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge gave approval Friday for a woman to proceed as Jane Doe in a pending new civil case against a former doctor and minister convicted in the 1980s of sexually abusing children.

The court order by Justice Deborah Paquette allows the woman to keep her name confidential and also excludes the naming of her small community.

It stems from an application made by lawyer Will Hiscock of Budden and Associates. The order paves the way for a statement of claim to be filed, which has not happened yet.

Stephen James Collins worked as a minister and later as a doctor in this province until he was arrested and pleaded guilty in the 1980s to sexually abusing 11 children in the Baie Verte and La Scie area. After his arrest he was diagnosed as a pedophile.

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UNITED STATES
Irish Central

James O’Shea @irishcentral November 16,2014

In an unprecedented move, Cardinal Sean O’Malley has called for action against a fellow American bishop convicted of covering up a sexually abusive priest.

“It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently … There’s a recognition of that from Pope Francis,” O’Malley tells “60 Minutes” tonight.

O’Malley, considered very close to Pope Francis, stated the church had to address the case of Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St Joseph Missouri diocese.

O’Malley stated “We’re looking at how the church could have protocols on how to respond when a bishop has not been responsible for the protection of children in his diocese”

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

The Vatican says it is doing everything it can to take pedophile priests out of circulation. If that’s true, why are there so many wandering around?

Father Daniel Buck was a popular priest around the suburbs of Chicago in the 1970s and early `80s. According to notes in his extensive personnel file released last week by the Chicago diocese, he was especially fond of hosting Catholic youth retreats at a vacation cabin where he was part owner. But Buck was removed from ministry in 2002, after the Chicago Archdiocese said it had confirmed four credible allegations of sexual abuse against pre-pubescent and adolescent girls dating back to the mid 70s, according to his file.

Father Buck was caught because he left a guilty trail, including an undisputedly perverted love note that a victim’s mother said she found hidden in her daughter’s bedroom (PDF) . It took nearly 20 years between the first allegation and his ultimate removal. The letter, handwritten on Snoopy stationary and signed by the priest, is included in Buck’s 914-page abuse dossier (PDF) released last week by the Chicago archdiocese:

“I loved your outfit, the way it covered (and uncovered) various delightful parts of you,” Buck allegedly wrote the girl, who was just 11 when he allegedly first lured her into a sexual relationship, according to the complaint against him. “I tried to be careful, but I couldn’t resist touching your legs and your neck … Your cute little belly button was like a magnet to me. I hope you didn’t mind me taking a peek at it every chance I got, and searching for it with my naughty fingers … I’m sorry if I embarrassed you at all, but I’m only human and I can’t resist you. I go nuts every time I realize God has given me such a beautiful, warm, caring, loving friend.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Priest fired over alleyway tryst with a parishioner: Married Church of England cleric describes cheating as the ‘biggest mistake of my life’

A married Church of England cleric has been removed from his post after having sex with a parishioner in ‘an alleyway’.

The Rev Stephen Vincent, a 40-year-old father of three young children, said yesterday he had made the ‘biggest mistake of my life’ by sending the woman explicit texts and cheating on his wife.

Just three days after Mr Vincent had been ordained as a priest, the Cambridge-educated cleric and the woman – referred to only as ‘X’ at a Church of England disciplinary hearing – had sex in what was described as an alleyway.

In 2012, Mr Vincent was working as a curate at St Giles in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, when his rector introduced him to the parishioner. After a text message exchange, the couple had sex.

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

By Mary Ann Ahern

Saturday, Nov 15, 2014

In the final days before Cardinal Francis George retires and Archbishop Blase Cupich takes over, a dying man’s request is granted. Both Cardinal George and Archbishop Cupich had been asked to intervene on behalf of Rick Springer. NBC 5 has learned the Archdiocese sent its Victim’s Advocate to Springer’s hospital room Friday. Springer, a survivor of priest sex abuse, had requested for years a copy of the file on his abuser, a Chicago priest. The priest died many years ago and never responded to the allegations.

Late this week, knowing Springer was told he was dying, survivors asked NBC 5 to also forward Springer’s request. While he had seen the file years ago, he wanted a copy of it. Late Friday, the Archdiocese’s Victim’s Advocate came to Hines Veterans Hospital to see Springer in person, reading to him portions of the file and allowing him to hold it.

Rick Springer passed away Saturday afternoon — 24 hours later — surrounded by his many friends.

Among the visitors in his final days was Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, who had served on the first ever National Lay Review Board for priest sex abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

11/13/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

Since Saturday’s announcement that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis needs to cut 20%, or nearly $5 million, from its operating budget, I have been quoted by various media outlets as stating that the Archdiocese’s financial troubles are not just the result of legal costs resulting from the Doe 1 litigation, but can also be seen as the logical result of years of mismanagement and poor decision making. While I don’t think anyone has publicly challenged the truth of that assertion, I do want to take the opportunity to point out what I consider to be five examples of poor decision making that have negatively impacted the Archdiocese’s bottom line. The cumulative effect of these decisions, as you will see, have cost the Archdiocese in excess of $5 million.

Decision #1- Gift of land to Hill Murray

Prior to 2005, the Archdiocese had a 41% interest in land on which Hill Murray High School sits (the Sisters of Saint Benedict, Saint Paul Monastery, owned the other 59%). The assessment of the property at that time placed its value at over $12,000,000. As part of a restructuring of the governance of the school, the Monastery sold its portion of the property for ‘fair and adequate compensation’. The Archdiocese, on the other hand, gifted its portion of land to the school.

Obviously, the ‘gift’ by the Archdiocese was to the benefit of the school and arguably therefore to Catholic education. However, canon law requires that prior to making such a ‘gift’ (canonically referred to as ‘alienation’) the Archbishop must get the consent of the Archdiocesan Financial Council and its College of Consultors, who are to assess whether such a decision is rationale, practical, and in accord with the general priorities of the Archdiocese. I have seen nothing to indicate that these consultative bodies were ever informed of the decision, much less that their consent was sought. Nor was such consent likely to be forthcoming. After all, this ‘gift’ was given just shortly before the Archdiocese’s first ‘restructuring’, its freezing of the lay pension plan, and its significant reduction in other benefits provided to lay employees.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

11/10/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

There is no doubt that Rome is a fascinating city and one that is always a pleasure to visit. But, most travels guides recommend travel in the spring or early autumn, when it is dry and pleasantly warm. November and December, being the wettest months, are not generally recommended for tourism or leisure travel.

Which is one reason that I was surprised to hear rumors that Bishop Piche and Bishop Cozzens were in Rome last week. It would make sense for Bishop Cozzens to have gone to Rome earlier in the fall for the seminar for new bishops, but for both bishops to have gone to Rome, in November, and without their Archbishop, seems odd to me.

I don’t want to raise expectations that the situation in Saint Paul and Minneapolis is finally getting attention from the Holy See, nor do I think we can safely conclude that the investigation into Archbishop Nienstedt’s conduct has been completed and some sort of resolution is imminent. After all, perhaps the rumors are false. Perhaps the only ‘City of Seven Hills’ the bishops visited last week was Saint Paul. Or, perhaps they were in Rome, but were called there because the Holy See, like many of the rest of us, has questions regarding the landmark settlement announced last month. And, perhaps Archbishop Nienstedt was there with them, as he claims to have been when the two auxiliaries met with the Nuncio earlier this year.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

November 15, 2014

Among all the Vatican Pied Pipers’ ruse articles about Cardinal Burke getting “demoted” to Malta – this “Napoleonic exile” comparison is the worst deception. Alfred Doblin (The Record, New Jersey) wrote that Cardinal Burke is sent to “a Napoleonic exile” which is a pathological lie because there is no similarity one iota between Emperor Napoleon and Cardinal Burke. Napoleon was in exile and was an actual prisoner surrounded by guards with weapons to prevent him from travelling to another country or anywhere else. In sharp contrast, Cardinal Burke enjoys a diplomatic passport – the most coveted passport on the planet – that gives him total freedom – unchecked and unbridled to come and go in all countries – which is extremely functional especially for conducting secret businesses for the Vatican Swiss Banks

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UNITED STATES
Salon

AMANDA MARCOTTE, ALTERNET

While the burgeoning atheist movement loves throwing conferences and selling books, a huge chunk–possibly most–of its resources go toward the Internet. This isn’t borne out of laziness or a hostility to wearing pants so much as a belief that the Internet is uniquely positioned as the perfect tool for sharing arguments against religion with believers who are experiencing doubts. It’s searchable, it allows back-and-forth debate, and it makes proving your arguments through links much easier. Above all else, it’s private. An online search on atheism is much easier to hide than, say, a copy of The God Delusion on your nightstand.

In recent months, this sense that the Internet is the key for atheist outreach has started to move from “hunch” to actual, evidence-based theory. Earlier this year, Allen Downey of the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts examined the spike in people declaring they had no religion that started in the ’90s and found that while there are many factors contributing to it–dropping familial pressure, increased levels of college education–increased Internet usage was likely a huge part of it, accounting for up to 25 percent of the decline in religious belief. While cautioning that correlation does not mean causation, Downey did go on to point out that since so many other factors were controlled for, it’s a safe bet to conclude that the access to varied thought and debate the Internet provides is persuading people to drop their religions.

But in the past few months, that hypothesis grew even stronger when a major American religion basically had to admit that Internet arguments against their faith is putting them on their heels. The Church of Latter Day Saints has quietly released a series of essays, put together by church historians, addressing some of the less savory aspects of their history, such as the practice of polygamy or the ban on black members. The church sent out a memo in September telling church leaders to direct believers who have questions about their religion’s history to these essays, which they presented as a counter to “detractors” who “spread misinformation and doubt.” …

The Internet generally gathered around President Obama for his recent comments endorsing an extremely strong version of net neutrality that would make it very difficult for corporate internet providers to give certain people preferential internet access over others. His comments were seen as a victory for political activists, everyday bloggers, and non-profits that would lose out on the ability to compete with moneyed corporations and other institutions in the free-for-all that is internet discourse. But atheists and critics of religion also win out with net neutrality. Giant, well-funded churches would probably love to pay for better access to your computer screen than any atheist blogger could afford, but if net neutrality becomes the law, they won’t have that ability. …

At a recent conference on technology held by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Monsignor Paul Tighe expressed concerns that the Catholic Church is losing out by not being more aggressive online. “If the church in some way is not present in the digital, we’re going to be absent from the experience and from the lives of many people,” he said. “If we withdraw, then we’re leaving those areas to the trolls. We’re leaving it to the bullies.”

Again, it’s hard to believe that trolls and bullies, as irritating as they may be, are the real issue here–trolling is aggravating, but it’s not very persuasive. No, the real threat to the faith is people making strong cases against the Catholic Church and religion in general. Some of those cases are boldly stated and some are more polite and accommodating, but either way, they are real arguments and far more threatening to religion than some trolls saying stupid stuff that is best ignored.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

…Archbishop Robert Carlson will hold healing service for abuse victims on Nov. 19 at St. Raphael the Archangel Church on Jamieson. Ironically, at lest four accused priests worked there: Frs. Michael Campbell; Alex Anderson; Joseph Monahan and James Patrick Grady.

“I wanna ask you about Robert Finn, the bishop of Kansas City.” That’s what Nora O’Donnell of “60 Minutes” says to Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Finn is a St. Louis native who remains in office despite having been convicted of hiding evidence of a pedophile priest from police. Finn “wouldn’t be able to teach Sunday school” in the church with that record, she notes. “How is that zero tolerance? What does that message send to Catholics?” “It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently. There’s a recognition (of that) by Pope Francis,” O’Malley says. The prelate also addresses the Vatican’s clumsy crack-down on U.S. nuns. The full interview airs tomorrow (Sunday).

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

…bets are off that our town’s Monsignor Richard Stika, currently Bishop of Knoxville, will be the American prelate to take up a Vatican post. Says vet Vatican watcher John Allen: “Traditionally, at least one American is asked to head a significant decision-making post.

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August 6, 1937 – November 15, 2014

The great survivor-activist Rick Springer died today in Chicago.

Almost every cabbie has a story: Here’s one of self-redemption, by Brianna McClane, Medill Reports, Northwestern University, June 8, 2010

Silence is broken: Victims of sexual abuse by clergy seek strength and answers at conference, by Michael Hirsley, Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1992

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho November 15, 2014

Are Robert Finn’s days as bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph numbered? Judging from comments Cardinal Sean O’Malley made to 60 Minutes, it sure sounds like it. Yesterday CBS News released a preview of Norah O’Donnell’s interview with O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, in which he acknowledged that the Holy See must do something about Finn, who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child endangerment over two years ago, and was never publicly disciplined by Benedict XVI. “It’s a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently,” O’Malley told O’Donnell. Does the pope understand that? she asked. “There’s a recognition…from Pope Francis,” O’Malley replied. The cardinal also acknowledged that, owing to Finn’s conviction, the bishop would not even be allowed to teach Sunday school.

In September, the National Catholic Reporter broke the news that the Vatican had sent Archbishop Terrance Prendergast of Ontario to Kansas City to investigate Finn, after the bishop’s former chancellor (who is now posted in Chicago) asked the Congregation for Bishops to intervene (I covered some of this here). That seemed to confirm speculation that Finn was one of the three bishops Pope Francis revealed was under investigation back in May. At that time, the pope said that one of the three had “already been found guilty, and we are now considering the penalty to be imposed.” As head of the Vatican’s new sexual-abuse commission, and as one of the pope’s closest advisers, Cardinal O’Malley is part of that “we.”

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PARAGUAY
ABC Color

El papa Francisco nombró este sábado a los nuevos obispos en Encarnación, donde renunció monseñor Ignacio Gogorza, y en Ciudad del Este, donde había sido destituido el polémico Rogelio Livieres.

El nuncio apostólico Eliseo Ariotti convocó a una conferencia de prensa en el local de la Conferencia Episcopal Paraguaya (CEP) para anunciar la reciente decisión emanada de la Santa Sede. De esta manera, se comunicó que el papa Francisco aceptó la dimisión de monseñor Ignacio Gogorza Izaguirre de la diócesis de Encarnación, quien decidió retirarse debido a que hace tres años cumplió los 75 años, edad límite para presentar la renuncia al cargo de obispo, según el canon 401 parágrafo 1 del Derecho Canónico.

Como nuevo obispo de la capital de Itapúa fue designado Francisco Pistilli Scorzara, sacerdote del Instituto Secular de los Padres de Schoenstatt. El religioso de 49 años nació en Asunción y tiene 17 años en el sacedocio. Por otra parte, se nombró como obispo de la diócesis de Ciudad del Este al padre Wilhelm (Guillermo) Steckling, quien es “misionero oblato de María Inmaculada”. El nuevo líder de la Iglesia en la capital del Alto Paraná nació en Westfalia, Alemania, pero ya se encontraba viviendo desde hace varios años en Paraguay. Tiene 67 años de edad y recientemente cumplió 40 en el sacerdocio.

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PARGUAY
La Nacion

[Pope Francis has appointed Francisco Pistilli Scorzara to replace Bishop Ignacio Gogorza Izaguirre of the Encarnacion diocese and Wilhelm Steckling has been appointed to replace Bishop Regelio Livieres Plano, whom the pope previously terminated from his position in the Ciudad del Este diocese.]

El nuncio apostólico Eliseo Ariotti en conferencia de prensa, anunció que Francisco Pistilli Scorzara, reemplaza a monseñor Ignacio Gogorza Izaguirre de la diócesis de Encarnación, luego que éste renunciara por llegar a los 75 años, como lo establece el canon 401 parágrafo 1 del Derecho Canónico.

Además, en reemplazo del destituído obispo Rogelio Livieres Plano, fue designado Wilhelm Steckling, al frente de la diócesis de Ciudad del Este.

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ESTADOS UNIDOS
Religion Digital

Sean O’Malley: “El Vaticano debe aplicar tolerancia cero contra los sacerdotes pedófilos y quienes los encubren”

El cardenal de Boston y responsable de la Comisión de Víctimas de Abusos Sexuales del clero creada por el Papa Francisco, Sean O’Malley, sostuvo ayer que el Vaticano debe aplicar una política de tolerancia cero con los sacerdotes pedófilos y quienes los encubren.

La Santa Sede deberá “atender con urgencia” el caso del obispo Robert Finn, todavía en funciones en la diócesis de Kansas City-Saint Joseph pese a que fue declarado culpable, hace dos años de no denunciar un delito de pedofilia cometido por un sacerdote, declaró el cardenal a la cadena CBS.

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WASHINGTON
University Book Store

SUNDAY • NOVEMBER 23 • 4:30PM
Mary Dispenza
Split: A Child, A Priest, and the Catholic Church (NA)
Bellevue Store – Seattle, WA
Launch Party

A former nun, author and activist Mary Dispenza now serves as the Puget Sound representative for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). In her poignant and powerful new memoir, she shares her journey to becoming the advocate she is today, beginning with the childhood abuse by her parish priest that remained buried in her memory for decades, offering an inside look at the church during her years as a nun and teacher, and chronicling her search for understanding, her journey of healing, and her involvement in legal proceedings to hold the church accountable after the memory resurfaced. As her influential new book hits shelves this fall, we’re excited to celebrate its release and the brave and important journey it depicts at a launch party with Dispenza herself.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

BY PATRICIA MILLER NOVEMBER 14, 2014

The U.S. bishops’ semi-annual meeting, which concluded in Baltimore on Thursday, was one giant raspberry to Pope Francis’ agenda. The meeting was heavy on the bishops’ favorite culture war themes, but largely dissed issues near and dear to Francis like income inequality and immigration.

The oversight on immigration was so glaring in light of the current debate in Washington that the bishops hastily arranged for Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, the head of the bishops’ migration committee, to remind the meeting about a letter the committee sent the Obama administration in September urging executive action on the immigration crisis.

The bishops failed to elect Francis’ favorite bishop, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, to represent them at the next critical leg of the family summit. They are, however, sending the president and the VP of the bishops’ conference, as well as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who has been highly critical of efforts to modernize the church. Newly appointed Chicago Bishop Blase J. Cupich was selected as an alternate.

And Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who spent the meeting denying that there was any discord at the recent family synod and blaming any perception of such on the media, was elected to head the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, giving him an elevated platform and a good excuse to dial-up the anti-abortion rhetoric.

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UNITED STATES
RTE News

Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has said it is high time for the Vatican to tackle the case of an American bishop convicted of shielding an abusive priest.

In an interview to air tomorrow on CBS television’s “60 Minutes” current affairs programme, O’Malley said “the Holy See needs to urgently address” the question of Bishop Robert Finn.

“There is a recognition of that from Pope Francis,” added O’Malley.

Cardinal O’Malley is the president of the Pope’s new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is leading the church’s efforts to recover from the clerical child sexual abuse scandals.

He is also the only American appointed by Francis to his council of nine cardinal advisers from around the world.

Finn is still head of the Catholic diocese in Kansas City, Missouri two years after he pleaded guilty to failing to tell police that one of his priests was sexually abusing a minor.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

Sat, Nov 15, 2014

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have apologised for the hurt caused by one its congregation after he was convicted of sexually abusing two boys at a boarding school run by the order in Co Cork in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tadhg Ó Dálaigh (71), of Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Dublin, pleaded guilty earlier this year to abusing one of the boys at Coláiste an Craoí Naofa in Carrignavar in 1982 and 1983

He was convicted by a unanimous verdict of a jury following a two day trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in June of sexually assaulting another boy at the boarding school on a date in 1979.

Ó Dálaigh was back in court for sentence yesterday when Judge Donagh McDonagh heard victim impact statements from both the boys – now middle aged men – about how their lives had been affected by the abuse.

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BELGIE
Focus TV

[Deacon Philippe Carpentier, who worked closely with the latest priest accused of abuse in the Bruges diocese, said he knew nothing of the investigation of the priest and said it came as “a bolt from the blue.”]

De diaken in Hooglede wist niets af van het onderzoek tegen de in opspraak gekomen geestelijke.

Diaken Filip Carpentier werkt nauw samen met de priester, als sinds 2007. Toen werd de man uit Loppem pastoor in Hooglede. “Het is een donderslag bij heldere hemel. Hoe is dat nu mogelijk. Een kerk wordt gemaakt door mensen en er gebeuren daar jammer genoeg zware fouten”, zegt de man.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

[Child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens said its is painful to find a third abuse case in the Bruges diocese.]

STEFAN GROMMEN

“Heel pijnlijk”, zo noemt kinderpsychiater Peter Adriaenssens de link tussen de derde misbruikzaak in het bisdom Brugge, die vandaag aan het licht gebracht werd, en de actuele heisa in het bisdom. Dat zei in een interview in ‘De Ochtend’ op Radio 1. Hij suggereert dat De Kesel in die periode niet meer kon en mocht doen.

De timing waarop het oude kindermisbruikdossier van de priester die nu nog altijd met straatkinderen in Brazilië werkt aan het licht kwam, was uitzonderlijk. Dat vertelt Peter Adriaenssens, toen voorzitter van de commissie-Adriaenssens die het misbruik in de Kerk moest onderzoeken. “Ik herinner me dit dossier nog zeer goed, want het gesprek met hem (de priester in kwestie, nvdr) had plaats op de dag van de inval van operatie-Kelk (eind juni 2010, nvdr), de dag dat de commissie opgeheven werd. We waren net met dat dossier begonnen.”

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CANADA
VOCM

The province’s survivors of Indian Residential Schools will begin their lawsuit against the Canadian Government in court next week. VOCM’s Linda Swain has more.

Back in 2007, the federal government agreed to settle a nation-wide class action with the survivors of abuse at the schools which were set up to assimilate Aboriginal children into European-style cultural norms. The Prime Minister also offered an official apology to survivors on behalf of all Canadians.

At the time, approximately 1,000 survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador were excluded from the settlement and have been forced to take a separate class action lawsuit. Canada in turn, is suing the International Grenfell Association, Moravian Church and Moravian Union as third parties.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

[with video]

By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
According to a top American cardinal, Pope Francis needs to take quick action against Kansas City’s bishop for failing to report a pedophile priest.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, spoke to 60 Minutes’ Norah O’Donnell for an interview airing after NFL football on Sunday.

O’Malley is the head of the church’s new commission formed to combat child abuse within the Catholic Church worldwide. He said there must be accountability when it comes to bishops who fail to protect children in his diocese.

In May, Pope Francis revealed that three bishops were under investigation for their roles in child abuse sex scandals. It was revealed in September that Kansas Bishop Robert Finn is one of those three.

Finn was found guilty of failing to report to state authorities a priest who took pornographic pictures of little girls and pulled down their clothing to expose their private parts. Finn apologized in 2012 and was placed on two years probation for the misdemeanor conviction.

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FLORIDA
Crestview News Bulletin

By News Bulletin contributor

Published: Friday, November 14, 2014

SHALIMAR — The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office today charged a Shalimar man with lewd or lascivious battery on a person 12 to 16 years of age.

Larry Michael Thorne, 53, a chaplain at Abundant Life Church, is accused of committing the sexual acts on numerous occasions between Jan. 1, 2012 and Nov. 11, 2014.

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FLORIDA
Northwest Florida Daily News

By TRISTA PRUETT | Daily News
Published: Friday, November 14, 2014

FORT WALTON BEACH — Larry Michael Thorne, pastor of Abundant Life Church, was arrested Friday on charges of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl.

Thorne had sexual contact with the girl on numerous occasions between January 2012 and this month, according to his arrest report from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. He was charged with lewd and lascivious battery-engaging in sexual activity with a person 12 to 16 years old.

The girl was 14 years old when the touching began. She said it started with mutual massages and escalated to “sexual activity,” Thorne’s arrest report said.

The investigation included forensic interviews and “a controlled telephone call between (Thorne) and the victim,” according to the report. During the call, the victim confronted Thorne “numerous times” about the acts. He didn’t refute the allegations and changed the subject, the report said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

NOVEMBER 14, 2014, BY MEGAN BRILLEY

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese bishop is back in the national spotlight, gaining the attention of Pope Francis himself.

A key cardinal and advisor to Pope Francis spoke with 60 Minutes and said the pope knows he will have to soon address Bishop Robert Finn.

Since Bishop Finn’s conviction, the diocese has not been the same. Catholics are hoping this break in silence will bring change and hope to back the church.

“I’m just your average catholic in the pew,” said Jeff Weis.

Weis was raised Catholic and was heavily involved in the diocese of Kansas City, until he heard the man he once called a spiritual leader is now labeled a criminal.

“It’s hard for me to go to a church that I know is part of his diocese,” said Weis.

In 2012, a Jackson County judge convicted Bishop Finn of misdemeanor failure to report suspicions of child abuse. Investigators say Bishop Finn did not tell authorities about a priest who later pleaded guilty to producing child porn.

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UNITED STATES
Broadway World

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston, tells 60 MINUTES that the Vatican needs to “urgently address” the fact that the first American bishop to be convicted of shielding an abusive priest still remains the head of an American Catholic diocese. O’Malley speaks to Norah O’Donnell in a rare extended interview in which the cardinal addresses several issues in the Catholic Church. It will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday Nov. 16 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese, pleaded guilty more than two years ago to the criminal misdemeanor of failing to tell law enforcement one of his priests was suspected of sexually abusing a minor. The Vatican began investigating Finn’s leadership of his diocese in September, where he remains bishop. Citing the Church’s stated “zero tolerance” policy on sex abuse, O’Donnell says to O’Malley that Finn “wouldn’t be allowed to teach Sunday school in Boston.”

“That’s right,” replies O’Malley. Asked what Finn’s continued status says to Catholics, the Cardinal responds, “It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently…There’s a recognition of that from Pope Francis.” Watch an excerpt. O’Malley is head of the Catholic Church’s new commission formed to combat child abuse in the Church worldwide. He was also chosen by Pope Francis to be on the nine-member Council of Cardinals – the pontiff’s closest advisors.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal judge Friday reversed a decision by a magistrate to release a Johnstown-area priest charged with traveling to Honduras for sex with boys and ordered him detained pending trial.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson said the Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, will remain behind bars as a risk to flee and a danger to the community, the two standards that govern federal detention orders.

The ruling overturned a decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto to release the priest as long as his bank accounts were frozen and he was unable to access church funds.

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

UNITED STATES
Boston Herald

By: Owen Boss

An American bishop convicted of shielding a sexually abusive priest is still the head of a Catholic diocese, a fact the Vatican needs to “address urgently,” Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley tells CBS News during an extended “60 Minutes” interview set to air tomorrow night.

“We’re looking at how the church could have protocols on how to respond when a bishop has not been responsible for the protection of children in his diocese,” O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, says of Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese.

Finn pleaded guilty more than two years ago to a charge of failing to tell law enforcement one of his priests was suspected of sexually abusing a minor.

“It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently … There’s a recognition of that from Pope Francis,” O’Malley tells CBS.

Finn waited six months to notify police about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

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

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Updates on Two Catholic Abuse Stories: Cardinal O’Malley on Bishop Finn and Pope Francis; SNAP Holds Media Event to Press Arkansas Bishop for More Information about Abusive Priest

Two updates on previous stories I’ve told here about the clerical abuse situation in various parts of the Catholic world. The first has to do with Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Missouri, who was convicted in 2012 of criminal behavior in shielding Father Shawn Ratigan after Finn knew that Ratigan possessed child pornography (he had been taking pornographic photos of little girls) on his computer. If you want to follow what I’ve reported about that story in the past, please click on the label “Bishop Robert Finn” below this posting.

Today, CBS News has uploaded to its website a preview of an interview of Boston cardinal Seán O’Malley by journalist Norah O’Donnell. The full interview will air on CBS this coming Sunday (16 November) at 7 P.M. ET. As Joshua McElwee reports for National Catholic Reporter, Finn’s situation is “a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently.”

Stay tuned. This is a story that sounds to me as if it’s about to get interesting.

The second update is about a story I reported here in October: in late September, the Catholic bishop of Little Rock, Anthony Taylor, removed from ministry a priest named Father James Melnick. As my previous posting notes, when Taylor removed Melnick from ministry, he announced that there had been multiple accusations of sexual misconduct with adults made against Melnick.

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

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Father Tom Doyle on Sexual Abuse by Clergy: An Audio File from Presentation to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Finally today, I want to share with you another educational resource — this one, a link to an audio file of a presentation given by Father Thomas Doyle to Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. As the graphic from the Facebook page of this school indicates, in late October, Father Tom Doyle, who has for years now been a prophetic voice in challenging Catholic institutional leaders to address the clerical abuse crisis in the Catholic church, spoke at the seminary about clergy sexual abuse.

AMBS has helpfully uploaded an audio file of the presentation to its website. It’s here. I’m grateful to Ruth Krall (who attended this event) for pointing me to this resource, and I want to share it now with all of you.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Headteacher who was arrested at his desk on child sex abuse charges and endured year-long court ordeal is cleared by jury in just 15 minutes

By MARTIN ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE

A respected headmaster was cleared by a jury in just 15 minutes of molesting an unruly pupil in his study.

James Bird, 53, was arrested at his desk and subjected to a year long court ordeal after he was accused of assaulting a boy more than decade ago when he was head of a Church of England primary school.

The boy, now 20, described as ‘aggressive, confrontational and challenging’ by staff had been sent to Mr Bird’s study for being rude to a teacher in class.

Ten years later he went to police after a drinking session with a friend to claim he was forced to perform sex acts upon Mr Bird as ‘punishment’ for being naughty at St Peter’s C or E Primary School, in Accrington, Lancashire.

During the inquiry Mr Bird was suspended and computer and phones were seized from his home in Leyland – but no inappropriate material was found.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

TIFFIN — A former layman at Bloomville United Methodist Church was convicted Friday of gross sexual imposition and sentenced to the maximum five years in prison.

Emanuel Lewis, 61, of New Washington, Ohio, was found guilty by a jury in Seneca County Common Pleas Court. Judge Steve Shuff also ordered him to pay restitution of $692 to the victim’s family and to register as a sex offender.

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INDIA
The American Bazaar

Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting 14-year-old girl in Minnesota loses appeal in India’s High Court to stop extradition

By The American Bazaar Staff

WASHINGTON, DC: Roman Catholic priest Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 59, who has been incarcerated at the Tihar Jail in New Delhi for over two years, lost his appeal in the High Court in New Delhi on Friday, to stop being extradited to the US, to face trial in Minnesota over allegations of sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl during his time of service there nearly 10 years ago.

Justice Pratibha Rani ordered extradition of Jeyapaul to the US, saying there was no fault in the decisions of the Indian government and the trial court, reported the Business Standard.

“This court is unable to find any fault in the finding of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the lower court,” Justice Rani said, adding that there is a “prima facie” case against Jeyapaul, warranting his extradition.

Jeyapaul had approached the High Court after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rejected his representation challenging the trial court’s order. MEA had on October 31 issued an order to extradite him.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Liam Heylin

A normal middle-class teenager’s life collapsed around him when a priest sexually assaulted him in the sick bay of a boarding school in 1979 and returned moments afterwards with a Disprin and a glass of water.

This victim of Tadhg Ó Dálaigh, aged 71, of Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin, and another victim of the priest both told yesterday of attempting suicide as a result of feelings of self-loathing after the sexual abuse.

The abuse in the sick bay was denied by Ó Dálaigh but a jury found him guilty earlier this year. In a statement read by investigating officer Sgt Ann Marie Guiney yesterday, this victim described how the abuse had affected him.

His said his last happy memory was sitting in a friend’s bedroom aged 16 without a care in the world listening to Genesis’ ‘Follow You, Follow Me’. His next memory was of going to boarding school at Coláiste An Chroí Naofa, Carraig Na Bhfear, Co Cork, and waking up on a Sunday night at Easter 1979 in the sick bay of the school being masturbated by the priest until he ejaculated. He pretended to sleep until it was over because he went into deep shock. He sat up afterwards. Ó Dálaigh then went away and came back with a glass of water and a Disprin for the sick boy.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily American

BY CODY MCDEVITT codym@dailyamerican.com

A federal judge has overturned the decision of a magistrate judge to release a Central City Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse while he awaits trial.

Joseph Maurizio Jr., 69, is charged with sexually assaulting Honduran children while performing missionary work. U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto placed him on home detention on Nov. 6 until the disposition of his trial.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Paul Peirce
Friday, Nov. 14, 2014

A Somerset County Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing an orphaned boy in Honduras in 2009 will not be released from jail to await trial, a federal judge in Johnstown ruled Friday.

Judge Kim Gibson reversed a decision last week by U.S. Magistrate Keith Pesto that permitted the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 69, to await trial under home detention at his farm in Windber. Gibson ruled after hearing a federal agent testify Friday that investigators may have located two more alleged molestation victims in Honduras.

Maurizio is charged with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor. A federal indictment accuses Maurizio of traveling to Honduras between Feb. 26 and March 13, 2009, to have sex with an underage boy.

Maurizio has pleaded not guilty. He has been held in the Cambria County Jail since Sept. 24.

The U.S. Attorney’s office was granted a stay following Pesto’s ruling Nov. 6, delaying Maurizio’s release so it could appeal.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: James P. Hurley was ordained a Jesuit of the Oregon Province in 1940. Most of his career was spent on Indian reservations in WA state, MT, OR and ID. He was also assigned to Gonzaga University in Spokane WA, and briefly to Jesuit high schools in Seattle and Spokane WA, Portland OR and Missoula MT. He retired to the Jesuits’ Regis Community in Spokane in 1996, and died in 1998. Hurley’s name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1940
Died: Nov. 14, 1988

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 14, 2014 7:16 PM

By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal judge today reversed a decision by a magistrate to release a Johnstown-area priest charged with traveling to Honduras for sex with young boys and ordered him detained pending trial.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson said Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, will remain behind bars as a risk to flee and a danger to the community, the two standards that govern federal detention orders.

The ruling overturned an earlier decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto to release the priest as long his bank accounts were frozen and he was unable to access church funds.

Judge Pesto had kept Rev. Maurizio jailed, however, while the U.S. attorney’s office appealed the decision.

Prosecutors were especially concerned that Rev. Maurizio would use his money, the source of which remains unexplained, to flee the country.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Journal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: November 14, 2014

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania — A federal judge is reversing an earlier order to grant home detention to a Pennsylvania priest and is ordering him held until his trial on charges of traveling to Honduras for sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson in Johnstown reversed the decision after a detention hearing Friday for the Rev. Joseph Maurizio.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto last week ruled the 69-year-old priest could be released to home detention as long as his bank accounts are frozen and he’s not able to access church-related funds.

Now, the 69-year-old Maurizio will remain behind bars, after prosecutors argued he could use the money to flee the country before he’s prosecuted and sought the second hearing.

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NEW MEXICO
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on an editorial by the Gallup Independent, a New Mexico daily, attacking the Diocese of Gallup:

Much to the pleasure of the Gallup Independent, the Diocese of Gallup filed for bankruptcy a year ago. How do I know they are delighted? Because of a November 12 editorial noting the “one-year anniversary.”

The editorial wants Bishop James S. Wall to “Publicize the list of credibly accused abusers by inserting it for three consecutive weeks in the church bulletins of every parish that was ever part of the Gallup Diocese.” Reality check: Parishes that have closed have no bulletin.

There is a rampant problem with the sexual abuse of minors among the Navajo in the Gallup area, yet we know of no campaign by this newspaper to demand that they publicize such a list. Wonder why.

The overreach of Bob Zollinger, who runs the Gallup Independent, is incontestable:

“Publicly release a list of all real property in Arizona and New Mexico, along with the sale price,” he says. Here’s my favorite: “The Diocese of Gallup has no need for such property.”

I do not know if Bob has ever employed any wayward characters at his paper, but if he did, would he not think it evidence of an agenda if his critics opined that his newspaper occupies too much space in Gallup? Moreover, since Bob is one of the richest persons in New Mexico, and rich people have been known to cheat on their taxes, does he not have a moral obligation to let the public examine his tax returns? Perhaps he could publish them for three consecutive weeks in his newspaper.

———————

The editorial:

Holding the diocese accountable
NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Editorial published in the Gallup Independent, Nov. 12, 2014

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 petition being filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Mediation talks before Judge Randall J. Newsome should begin soon if they haven’t already started.

As Bishop James S. Wall discusses mediation strategy with his bankruptcy attorneys, he needs to keep some very vulnerable children in the forefront of his thoughts. Although they are adults now, the case’s clergy sex abuse claimants were once Catholic children from parishes across the diocese. They were once children whose parents sent them to Catholic schools and churches to learn about their Christian faith. They were once eager young altar servers. Neither they nor their parents expected to be betrayed by their own church leaders.

As the mediator, Newsome also needs to keep some promises in the forefront of his thoughts. Newsome is new to the bankruptcy case, but he needs to hold the Gallup bishop and his attorneys accountable for some old promises. Whatever monetary settlement amount is determined for abuse survivors, the mediation talks should result in a settlement agreement that includes the following requirements that will insure clergy abuse survivors finally receive some truth and transparency from the diocese.

• Publicly release a list of everyone associated with the Gallup Diocese who has been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors since the diocese’s founding. This includes men and women, priests, members of religious orders, employees and volunteers. This list needs to be posted on the diocese’s website as the bishop promised when he arrived here in 2009, and it needs to be posted permanently and prominently. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s listing on its “Office of Investigations” webpage would be an example to emulate.

• Publicize the list of credibly accused abusers by inserting it for three consecutive weeks in the church bulletins of every parish that was ever part of the Gallup Diocese.

• Publicly release and post online every personnel file of each credibly accused abuser. Identifying information pertaining to clergy sex abuse victims must be redacted, but diocesan officials and their attorneys should not be allowed a role in the redaction responsibilities.

• Require the personnel file of James M. Burns, which has already been released and posted online, to be re-released with dramatically fewer redactions. It is unacceptable that the Gallup Diocese was allowed to censor more than one-third of this notorious abuser’s file.

• Require the diocese to offer counseling to all victims of clergy sex abuse and their immediate family members by underwriting the cost of the therapy.

• Require the diocese to create a new ethics policy for all employees and volunteers. Require that policy be posted prominently on the diocese’s website, and require all employees and volunteers to read and sign the policy and attest to the fact that they have not violated the policy. Another good example from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia would be its “Standards of Ministerial Behaviors and Boundaries.”

• Require the diocese to publicly remove from ministry every employee and volunteer who has violated the ethics policy. The Gallup Diocese currently has a number of individuals who have not been accused of sexually abusing children, but they have been credibly accused of offenses that range from “boundary” allegations to violent crimes. The diocese needs to finally remove these individuals from ministry and tell the public the truth about their removal.

• Publicly release a list of all real property in Arizona and New Mexico, along with the sale prices, which the diocese has sold to help fund the bankruptcy settlement. This includes residential lots, rural tracts of land, and commercial property that is not needed for religious purposes. Lead bankruptcy attorney Susan G. Boswell promised such a list would be compiled, and she promised such property would be sold. The Diocese of Gallup has no need for such property — it needs to live up to its promise of funding a fair and just settlement.

These mediation talks and the final settlement agreement will reveal a lot about the character of the Gallup bishop. We hope it will reveal some sorely needed moral courage.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Nov. 14

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

There’s more talk about the possible ouster of embattled KC Bishop Robert Finn. But it’s only talk. And it’s a distraction that buttresses an already unhealthy complacency in the church.

Suppose, after centuries of widespread child sex crimes and selfish cover ups, one pope finally does oust one bishop for complicity in clergy sex crimes. That will be encouraging. But that will only a very tiny drop of reform in an enormous bucket of horror. It will be the smallest of baby steps.

Finn’s departure will, in the short term, if it happens, make some adults happier. By itself, it won’t, in the long term, make many kids safer.

Keep in mind that dozens of Kansas City Catholic employees are concealing or have concealed clergy sex crimes. So it’s irresponsible for anyone to get complacent. Protecting predators and endangering kids is a deeply-rooted and long-standing pattern in the Catholic hierarchy. It didn’t start with one man and won’t stop with one man.

The dozens of current and recent Catholic employees in Kansas City who knew of or suspected clergy sex crimes and kept quiet should be ashamed of themselves. They should be at least suspended – or more likely fired – by Finn or his replacement. But that almost certainly will never happen.

There are now, according to BishopAccountability.org, 25 publicly accused Kansas City area child molesting clerics. That’s a fraction of the real total. Finn alone did not enable, ignore and conceal their crimes. Sadly, he has had and still has plenty of help continuing the cover ups.

So vigilance, not complacency, is needed now. It’s crucial that those who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes and cover ups in KC keep finding the strength to get help, protect kids, call police, expose wrongdoers, deter wrongdoing, and start healing. Let’s not waste precious time that could help precious kids by idle speculation and wild hopes that may or may not ever be fulfilled.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor November 14, 2014

On the cusp of a new Archbishop of Chicago hand-picked by Pope Francis taking office on Tuesday, the CBS news program “60 Minutes” is set to offer a reminder Sunday night that one doesn’t have to go all the way to the Windy City to find the premier face and voice of the Francis era in American Catholicism.

Boston, thank you very much, will do just fine.

In a provocative new interview, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston tackles head-on two issues that have been sources of chronic controversy in the American Church: clerical sexual abuse and an ongoing Vatican investigation of American nuns.

On both fronts, O’Malley doesn’t pull punches in espousing what will be seen as strong reform positions in line with the pope’s vision and direction.

According to excerpts of the interview released in advance, O’Malley confirms that Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Missouri, wouldn’t even be allowed to teach Sunday school in O’Malley’s archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

AFP

It’s high time for the Vatican to tackle the case of an American bishop convicted of shielding an abusive priest, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has said.

In an interview to air Sunday on CBS television’s “60 Minutes” current affairs program, O’Malley said “the Holy See needs to urgently address” the question of Bishop Robert Finn.

“There is a recognition of that from Pope Francis,” added O’Malley, a close advisor to the pontiff and a member of a Vatican commission looking into Church child abuse worldwide.

Finn is still head of the Catholic diocese in Kansas City, Missouri two years after he pleaded guilty to failing to tell police that one of his priests was sexually abusing a minor.

The Vatican put Finn, who was sentenced to two years under probation, under investigation in September.

But O’Malley said that under the Church’s zero tolerance policy on sex abuse, Finn “wouldn’t be allowed to teach Sunday school in Boston.”

The Church in the United States has struggled since the 1980s to put allegations of child abuse by members of its clergy behind it, even after paying out nearly $3 billion in compensation payments.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
US News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The leader of the Roman Catholic church’s new commission to fight child sex abuse said the Vatican needs to “address urgently” the position of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, the highest-ranking church official in the U.S. to be convicted of failing to take action in response to abuse allegations.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who leads the pope’s global commission on the abuse problem, acknowledged that child protection policies in his own archdiocese would bar Finn from teaching Sunday school there.

“It’s a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently,” said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” set to air Sunday. “There’s a recognition of that (from the pope).”

“One of the first things that came up is the importance of accountability,” O’Malley said. “We’re looking at how the church could have protocols on how to respond when a bishop has not been responsible for the protection of children in his diocese.”

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter November 14, 2014

Speaking out on the most important clergy sexual abuse issue in the United States, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley said the Vatican must do something quickly about Bishop Robert Finn, the Kansas City prelate convicted of failing to report child abuse by one of his priests.

Finn, convicted two years ago, was sentenced to two years of probation for waiting six months before telling police that diocesan officials had found pornographic images of young girls on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, one of his parish priests. Ratigan pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison; Finn has remained the bishop of the diocese.

Speaking to CBS News, O’Malley agreed that under the Catholic Church’s zero-tolerance policy, he wouldn’t let Finn even teach Sunday school in Boston, let alone head a diocese.

“It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently …. There’s a recognition of that from Pope Francis,” O’Malley told 60 Minutes reporter Norah O’Donnell in an interview scheduled to air Sunday.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patriot Ledger

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley was interviewed vt the CBS news show “60 Minutes” for a segment that will be broadcast Sunday night.

The interview focuses on the cardinal’s background working with immigrants, Pope Francis, clergy sexual abuse and the challenges facing the church.

The story follows the Cardinal to the Mass on the border in Arizona as well as Rome and Boston.

The interview was produced by Marblehead native Frank Devine, a 30-year veteran and senior producer for the show.

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BELGIUM
Expatica

The Bishop of Bruges is once again at the centre of controversy after it emerged that the Roman Catholic Church authorities allowed a priest who had been accused of sexual abuse to leave for Brazil to work with street children.

The daily Het Nieuwsblad reports that the priest stood accused of abusing two pupils at a secondary school in Bruges during the eighties.

Bruges prosecutors confirm that in 2010 two complaints were lodged against the priest.

No prosecution was possible because of the time that has lapsed since the alleged abuse occurred.

The Belgian judicial authorities were powerless to act and the priest was allowed to continue to work as a missionary in Brazil with street children.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian Follow @BozT | Nov 14, 2014

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Mathew 18: 15-17.

Do these words of Jesus require professing Christians to privately confront those accused of committing a crime before the matter can be reported to the police? Too many within faith communities argue that it does. Even worse, I have met many sexual abuse survivors who actually walked through this nightmare. Not only were they re-traumatized by being required to privately confront their abuser, but they often watched as the perpetrator was never reported to law enforcement.

This well-known biblical passage has all too often been a justification for 1) not reporting abuse disclosures to the authorities and 2) convincing sexual abuse victims to privately confront their perpetrators. Needless to say, this misreading and misapplication of Jesus’ words is incredibly harmful on a number of fronts. More importantly, it’s simply not consistent with the person and character of Jesus.

In Matthew 18, Jesus prescribes three progressive steps for handling personal offenses within the local church: 1) a private confrontation, 2) a witnessed confrontation, and 3) a wider confrontation before the church. At each step, the goal is repentance by the offender as a basis for some form of reconciliation with the offended. If all three approaches are rebuffed, then the offender is no longer part of the fellowship.

Child sexual abuse is not merely a personal offense. It is a serious crime. Child sexual abuse does not even fit into the paradigm of which Jesus was speaking about in this passage. Jesus never intended these statements to be twisted into the required method for handling murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, or genocide. Child sexual abuse is not a private matter, but rather a public offense against the victim, society and humanity as a whole. It is not a matter which can be handled quietly between two persons or between two families, as is wrongly done in many communities. It is a matter of public alarm, because of its pervasive, extensive, and expansive nature, causing a cascade of misery in countless lives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Newsweek

Reuters

Police looking into accusations that powerful figures at the heart of the British establishment were involved in child sex abuse in the 1970s and 1980s said on Friday they were now investigating murder allegations.

London detectives launched an inquiry two years ago into allegations about paedophile rings involving politicians, officials and other senior public figures.

“Our inquiries into this, over subsequent weeks, have revealed further information regarding possible homicide,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“Based on our current knowledge, this is the first time that this specific information has been passed to the Met.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Newsmax

Friday, 14 Nov 2014

By Drew MacKenzie

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley has called on Pope Francis to “urgently address” the fact that an American bishop heads a Catholic diocese even though he’s been convicted of shielding a pedophile priest.

In an interview on “60 Minutes” to be broadcast this Sunday, O’Malley told correspondent Norah O’Donnell that the Vatican must deal with the leadership problem surrounding Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City, Missouri, diocese.

“It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently,” said O’Malley. “There’s a recognition of that from Pope Francis.”

Citing the Catholic Church’s stated “zero tolerance” policy on sex abuse, O’Donnell told O’Malley that Finn “wouldn’t be allowed to teach Sunday school in Boston.”

“That’s right,” said O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, replied during the rare extended interview on the CBS show.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY MARK MORRIS
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
11/14/2014

Breaking two years of silence since the 2012 conviction of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, a key member of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy said the church must deal with the situation soon.

Speaking with the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, said he understands the message that leaving Finn in place sends to Catholics.

“It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently,” O’Malley said in an interview with correspondent Norah O’Donnell.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, which Finn leads, could not be reached for comment Friday morning.

A Jackson County judge convicted Finn of misdemeanor failure to report suspicions of child abuse for not telling authorities about a priest who later pleaded guilty to producing child pornography.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Nov. 14, 2014 Faith and Justice

A lack of passion and leadership marked the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week in Baltimore. Their agenda was stale and did not reflect the excitement that Pope Francis’ papacy has generated.

The pope has caught the imagination of the world with his emphasis on God’s love, compassion, and mercy toward us and our need to respond by loving one another, especially the poor. But most of the bishops’ meeting was devoted to mind-numbing housekeeping actions and reports.

The action items dealt with minor liturgical translations, which got some of the bishops excited, but no one else. Should it be “children of Adam,” as the committee recommended, or “children of men,” or “sons of men”? The committee won. And does the bishop really have to preach while seated with a miter on his head and crosier in hand at the dedication of a church as required by the rubrics?

Meanwhile, nothing was said about the economic plight of the American people, gridlock in Washington, or the wars in which America is engaged. They practically ignored immigration and only gave a few minutes to the topic because the media kept asking why the bishops were silent on the hottest political issue of the day.

There is a significant faction among the bishops and the USCCB staff who do not want these issues emphasized lest they distract from their core agenda — opposition to gay marriage, abortion, and the contraceptive mandate.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

[The Evangelical Church in Germany wants to strengthen disciplinary proceedings in cases of sexual abuse.]

Die Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland will Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch in kirchlichen Disziplinarverfahren gegen mutmaßliche Täter stärken. Die Synode zieht damit Konsequenzen aus einem viel beachteten Fall aus dem Jahr 2013.

Die Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) will Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch in kirchlichen Disziplinarverfahren gegen mutmaßliche Täter stärken. So sieht es die Änderung des EKD-Disziplinargesetzes vor, die die EKD-Synode am Mittwochabend beschlossen hat. Der Rechtsausschuss hatte bereits zugestimmt.

Die Evangelische Kirche zieht damit Konsequenzen aus einem viel beachteten Fall aus dem Jahr 2013. Der EKD-Disziplinarhof hatte das bayerische Disziplinarurteil gegen einen Oberkirchenrat aus dem fränkischen Hof kassiert, der in den 60er und 70er Jahren Frauen sexuell missbraucht haben soll, dies aber bestreitet. Das Kirchengericht hatte mit Rücksicht auf das hohe Alter des Beschuldigten und wegen angeblicher Formfehler in der vorangegangenen Instanz eine Entlassung des Mannes aus dem Dienst aufgehoben. Der Oberkirchenrat war in dem Verfahren vor dem EKD-Disziplinargericht angehört worden, seine mutmaßlichen Opfer hingegen nicht.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Houston Chronicle

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge is reconsidering a lower magistrate’s order to release a Pennsylvania priest from jail and confine him to his home until his trial on charges that he traveled to Honduras for sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson in Johnstown will hold a new detention hearing Friday for the Rev. Joseph Maurizio.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto last week ruled the 69-year-old priest could be released to home detention as long as his bank accounts are frozen and he’s not able to access church-related funds. Prosecutors are concerned Maurizio could use the money to flee the country before he’s prosecuted.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Anschuldigungen gegen Pfarrer. Die Erzdiözese hat die Staatsanwaltschaft eingeschaltet.

Man hat der katholischen Kirche seit Jahren vorgeworfen, bei Verdachtsfällen sexuellen Missbrauchs in ihren Reihen zu mauern, zu verharmlosen, zu vertuschen.

Im jüngsten Fall, der sich in einer Pfarre in Wien-Simmering zugetragen haben soll, ging der Anstoß für Ermittlungen gegen einen Pfarrer aber allen Anschein nach von der katholischen Kirche selbst aus. Wie berichtet, wird ein Priester verdächtigt, vor wenigen Monaten einen Jugendlichen sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Darüber hinaus ordnete die Staatsanwaltschaft Wien wegen Verdachts der Kinderpornografie eine Hausdurchsuchung an – der Computer des Geistlichen wurde vergangenen Freitag beschlagnahmt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

[The Regensburg diocese has paid out $158,500 euros to victims of clergy sexual abuse.]

Das Bistum Regensburg hat erstmals Zahlen zur Missbrauchsaffäre veröffentlicht: 158 500 Euro wurden bislang an Opfer sexuelle Übergriffe ausbezahlt. Doch vielen Betroffenen geht es gar nicht ums Geld.

Von Wolfgang Wittl, Regensburg

Zum ersten Mal im Zuge der Missbrauchsaffäre in der katholischen Kirche hat das Bistum Regensburg Zahlen über Anerkennungsleistungen veröffentlicht: In den Jahren 2011 bis 2014 seien 158 500 Euro an Opfer von sexuellen Übergriffen ausbezahlt worden, heißt es im Tätigkeitsbericht des neuen Missbrauchsbeauftragten Martin Linder. Die Summe sei an insgesamt 30 Antragsteller geflossen – auch an solche, deren Vorwürfe nicht mehr juristisch geklärt hätten werden können. Linder, der mehr als 20 Jahre lang die Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie am Bezirksklinikum Regensburg leitete, ist Nachfolger der 2013 gestorbenen Beauftragten Birgit Böhm. Opfer kritisieren den Bericht als nicht ausreichend.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Questions over trial as headteacher cleared of sex abuse allegations in just 15 minutes

A respected headmaster has been cleared by a jury in just 15 minutes after “unbelievable” allegations he molested an unruly pupil subjected him to a year-long court ordeal.

James Bird, 53, was arrested at his desk after he was accused of assaulting a boy more than decade ago when he was head of a Church of England primary school.

The pupil, described as “aggressive, confrontational and challenging” by staff, had been sent to Mr Bird’s study for talking back to a teacher in class.

Ten years later the pupil, now 20, went to police after a drinking session with a friend to claim he was forced to perform sex acts upon Mr Bird as “punishment” for being naughty at St Peter’s C or E Primary School, in Accrington, Lancashire.

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UNITED STATES
CBS News

NOVEMBER 14, 2014, 8:00 AM|Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston and the head of the Roman Catholic Church’s new commission to fight sex abuse, gives a rare and wide-ranging interview. Watch Norah O’Donnell report on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 14, 2014 NCR Today

Boston Cardinal Seán O’Malley, a key advisor to Pope Francis, has said the pontiff recognizes the need to address the situation in Kansas City, Mo., where Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty in 2012 of a criminal misdemeanor count of shielding a priest who was a threat to children.

Speaking in a forthcoming interview with the U.S. television program 60 Minutes, O’Malley says the situation surrounding Finn is “a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently.”

“There’s a recognition of that — from Pope Francis,” O’Malley continues during the interview, which is to air Sunday evening.

CBS made a preview of the interview available online Friday.

During the interview, O’Malley is apparently speaking of his work on both the Council of Cardinals and the pope’s new commission on the sexual abuse of minors. After interviewer Norah O’Donnell says one of the “biggest scandals” of the church in recent years is the way bishops handled priests accused of abuse, O’Malley says that is something he is working on.

“One of the first things that we came up was the importance of accountability and we’re looking at how the church can have protocols and how to respond when a bishop has not been responsible for protection of children in his diocese,” O’Malley states.

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BELGIE
kerknet

De volgende zin zou het begin van een mop kunnen zijn. Wat is het verschil tussen een vrouwelijke burgemeester uit een Vlaamse kustgemeente en een Vlaamse kerkjurist uit de Amerikaanse hoofdstad? Het antwoord op die vraag zou kunnen luiden: Er is geen verschil, want… (dan volgt de pointe).

Maar het was geen mop dat er geen verschil was tussen burgemeester Janna Rommel-Opstaele en kerkjurist Kurt Martens. Beiden reageerden boos op de geplande benoeming van priester Tom F. als pastoor in de federatie van Middelkerke. De burgemeester met een quote op de televisie, de kerkjurist met een opiniestuk in de krant.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

[The Bruges bishop said he acted immediately after receiving a complaint of abuse by a priest and notified the prosecutor and the court but the court did not respond right away.]

Bisschop van Brugge Jozef De Kesel heeft voor het eerst gereageerd op de jongste schandalenzaken in zijn bisdom. Dat deed hij donderdagavond voor de camera’s van Focus-WTV en Terzake. De Kesel blijft erbij dat hij in het recente geval van de priester uit Hooglede juist heeft gehandeld. “Ik heb mijn plicht als burger gedaan”, klinkt het.

“Ik heb meteen gehandeld nadat de klacht binnenkwam bij het Opvangpunt”, aldus De Kesel. “Ik heb de procureur en het gerecht verwittigd en het onderzoek niet doorkruist. Ook het gerecht heeft niet meteen ingegrepen. Er zijn me zaken bekend waarbij een priester meteen gearresteerd werd of in voorhechtenis werd genomen. Dat is hier niet gebeurd.”

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

[Two victims of abuse by a Belgian priest said Bruges Bishop Jozef De Kesel did not prevent the priest from going to South America where he now works with street children.]

De Brugse bisschop Jozef De Kesel riep in 2011 een priester terug uit Brazilië, nadat twee slachtoffers een klacht hadden ingediend wegens kindermisbruik. Maar de bisschop verhinderde niet dat de man een jaar later weer naar Zuid-Amerika vertrok, waar hij nu met straatkinderen werkt. Het is het derde dossier waarmee De Kesel in zwaar weer belandt.

Priester M.D. was in de jaren 80 een leerkracht in een Brugse katholieke middelbare school. In die tijd zou hij twee slachtoffers gemaakt hebben. De leerlingen dienden jaren later, in 2010, toen ze volwassen waren, afzonderlijk van elkaar een klacht in tegen de priester. Eén slachtoffer stapte naar het gerecht, bevestigt het parket van Brugge. Een tweede slachtoffer stapte naar de Commissie Adriaenssens. De feiten gebeurden tussen 1986 en 1992. De twee zouden elkaar niet kennen.

Het Brugse gerecht kon niet meteen ingrijpen, want M.D. woonde toen al geruime tijd in Brazilië. Hij was begin jaren 90 als missionaris naar Brazilië vertrokken.

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

[Peter Adriaenssens, who served on a defunct commission looking into sexual abuse in the Belgian Catholic Church, said the Bishop of Bruges is concerned about recent allegations of sexual abuse in the diocese. A priest in question is now working in Brazil.]

Peter Adriaenssens van de opgedoekte commissie Adriaenssens neemt het op voor de Brugse bisschop De Kesel. ‘Hij is heel begaan met wat er allemaal gebeurt’, aldus Adriaenssens op Radio 1.

Pastoor M.D. was een gekende naam bij de commissie Adriaenssens, een commissie over seksueel misbruik in de Kerk die voorgezeten werd door kinderpsychiater Peter Adriaenssens. In 2011 werd M.D. door de Brugse bisschop De Kesel teruggeroepen uit Brazilië, waar hij op dat moment aan het werk was, omdat twee slachtoffers een klacht hadden ingediend wegens kindermisbruik.

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BRASIL
Gazeta

[Lieve Halsberghe, spokesman in Belgium for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said a Belgian priest accused to sexually abusing minors in Belgium is currently working at a shelter for street children in Brazil.]

AGÊNCIA EFE

Um sacerdote belga acusado de abusar sexualmente de menores no país trabalha atualmente em uma casa de amparo a meninos de rua no Brasil, denunciou nesta quinta-feira uma associação de ajuda a vítimas deste tipo de crime.

O padre trabalhou em várias paróquias do norte da Bélgica antes de ir para o Brasil, segundo a porta-voz da associação SNAP Belgium, Lieve Halsberghe, citada pela agência “Belga”.

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INDIA
Business Standard

The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a plea of Catholic priest Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, accused of molesting a child in the US, against his extradition.

Jeyapaul, 59, had challenged the order of a trial court here recommending that he be extradited to the US to stand trial.

Justice Pratibha Rani dismissed his plea, saying she has not found any fault in the decision of the trial court.

The trial court said a prima facie case was made out for his extradition.

The high court ruling said: “I am unable to find any fault either with the decision making process or with the view taken by the extradition magistrate…”

If extradited, Jeyapaul will stand trial on charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct in Minnesota. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in jail.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Catholic priest has appeared in court accused of indecently assaulting 10 girls in Greater Manchester.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 82, is charged with 17 offences during his time at a church in Rochdale.

He is alleged to have abused the girls between the 1970s and 1990s.

The fomer priest, who now lives in the Irish Republic, was given bail at Bury Magistrates’ Court and will appear at Manchester Crown Court on 4 December.

Canon Stanley is now based in Bullybunion, County Kerry.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 14 NOVEMBER 2014

One of Northern Ireland’s most notorious clerical sex offenders has been charged with child abuse for a fifth time.

Fr Daniel Curran (64) has already been jailed for abusing more than a dozen boys over a 17-year period.

At Downpatrick Magistrates Court yesterday Curran, of Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, was charged with four further sex offences committed against a child in the 1990s.

He is accused of gross indecency and indecent assault.

Curran allegedly abused the child sometime between August 8, 1990 and August 7, 1995.

At a preliminary enquiry yesterday District Judge Eamon King ruled there was a case to answer.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John S. “Jack” Harrington was ordained a Jesuit priest of the Oregon province in 1948. He went on to teach for 25 years – at Seattle University in Seattle WA, and then at Gonzaga University and Gonzaga Preparatory High School in Spokane WA. In 1976 Harrington was assigned to a parish in Havre MT, where he stayed almost twenty years, before being transferred to a parish in Missoula MT. He was an assistant priest at both. Harrington retired in the early 2000s to the Jesuits’ Regis Community in Spokane. He died March 5, 2004. Harrington’s name name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1948
Died: March 5, 2004

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

13 November, 2014

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hear oral submissions in relation to the Retta Dixon Home public hearing on Monday 17 November 2014.

The public hearing commenced in Darwin on Monday 22 September and inquired into the experiences of men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home.

The oral submissions will take place in Sydney with a video link to parties based in Darwin.

Location: Royal Commission Hearing Room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney
Video link: Courtroom 6, Darwin Supreme Court Building, State Square, Darwin
Time: 10:00AM AEDT (8:30AM ACST)

Interested parties can attend the oral submissions in person in Sydney or Darwin. The oral submissions will also be streamed live on the Royal Commission website but will only show the Sydney hearing room.

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WASHINGTON
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Nov. 13, 2014

The law firm accused by the Spokane, Wash., diocese of mishandling a 2007 bankruptcy and settlement with clergy sex abuse victims filed a motion to dismiss the diocese’s claims on Monday in federal bankruptcy court.

Based in part on depositions from retired Bishop William Skylstad and Fr. Steven Dublinski, the diocese’s previous vicar general, the Monday filing charges that “the current claims are simply an attempt to throw mud at Paine Hamblen to try to get some insurance money.”

For its work leading to the 2007 settlement, the law firm of Paine Hamblen was ordered to be paid about $3.5 million by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patty Williams.

On Wednesday, the Spokane daily newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, reported that the diocese “is asking for at least $4 million in damages from the firm after alleging attorneys failed to disclose a conflict of interest in the case and were wrong about how many claims would be made against the church by abuse victims.”

“The diocese sought to change the terms of its bankruptcy settlement after a flurry of abuse allegations, most of them outside of Spokane, depleted the $1 million fund the church had set aside to pay future claims,” wrote Spokesman-Review reporter Kip Hill, adding that Spokane Bishop Blase Cupich “and the diocese say Paine Hamblen undershot the amount that would be necessary to pay future claimants because lawyers failed to conduct an independent study of potential cases and limited the diocese’s ability to challenge payments out of the victim fund.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Xavier La Canna
November 14, 2014

The head of a religious group that once employed a notorious Darwin paedophile met with him last month in an unsuccessful bid to get him to admit to child sexual abuse allegations he was never convicted of, new submissions say.

The information came as siblings of Donald Bruce Henderson prepare to meet with him this weekend, including one flying in from America, to discuss matters including the allegations of child sexual abuse.

Documents tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Friday reveal that the head of the Australian Indigenous Ministries (AIM), Reverend Trevor Leggott, met with Mr Henderson in an attempt to get him to admit he was involved in child sexual abuse against children at Darwin’s Retta Dixon home.

“This was done for the specific purpose of, if those admissions were made, placing the matter in the hands of the police,” the submission by Reverend Leggott’s lawyer Mark Thomas said.

Mr Thomas told the ABC the meeting occurred on October 20.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Nov 14, 2014 By Neal Keeling

Canon Mortimer Stanley, who lives in Kerry, appeared before Bury Magistrates court in Manchester yesterday

A priest who lives in Ballybunion, Co Kerry has been charged with a string of sex offences dating back 30 years.

Canon Mortimer Stanley returned to Manchester from his home in Ireland to face the allegations at Bury Magistrates court yesterday.

The Crown Prosecution Service authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Canon Stanley, 82, after numerous complaints by former pupils at a Rochdale school.

He is accused of 17 charges of indecent assault on a girl under 14 between 1977 and 1988.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

NOVEMBER 14, 2014
BY ALFRED P. DOBLIN
THE RECORD

Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Record. Contact him at doblin@northjersey.com. Follow AlfredPDoblin on Twitter.

THE WORD “miracle” is often used in the Catholic Church. In October, Pope Francis beatified Pope Paul VI, the first step toward sainthood. Popes John XXIII and John Paul II were canonized saints in April of this year.

Two miracles must be attributed to a candidate for sainthood. The process focuses on miracles affecting individuals; one affecting an institution may be occurring before our eyes.
Francis, elected by a body of cardinals mostly selected for their conservative views and lack of personal charisma, is emerging as the most progressive, charismatic pope since John XXIII. If this isn’t a miracle, I’m not sure what qualifies.

On Saturday, Francis demoted Cardinal Raymond Burke, not a household word in America unless you live in St. Louis where Burke was once archbishop. Burke was a favorite of previous popes because he is a hard-line conservative. He railed against Catholic public officials who supported a woman’s right to choose. Burke believed those opinions were sufficient reasons to deny those Catholics communion.

Burke was sent to the Vatican where he once was on the committee that recommended who would be named bishop. Francis removed him from that committee. Burke also was the head of the Vatican’s highest court. Francis removed him from that post last week and then made him the new cardinal protector of the Sovereign Order of Malta.

The Knights and Dames of Malta are loyal Catholics, and usually not without substantial financial means. It is a nice title for a lay person indeed, but the cardinal protector doesn’t have much to do. Pope Francis sent his Napoleon into exile.

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CANADA
Argus Observer

PAYETTE — Forest Reuben Gibson, a former Canyon County youth pastor, has pleaded guilty to the charge of sexual battery to a minor.

Gibson entered his guilty plea in 3rd Judicial District Court Friday. Because of that plea, a hearing that had been set for Wednesday was canceled, said Josh Dalton, deputy prosecuting attorney for Payette County.

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