ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Matt Miller | mmiller@pennlive.com
on November 11, 2014

A Pennsylvania court has refused to overturn a $425,000 restitution order against a former Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to stealing from his own parish to finance a lavish lifestyle.

Richard E. Nachajski, who led the Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Reading for about 15 years, had argued on appeal that he wasn’t given a chance to argue that he actually had stolen far less from his former congregation.

The state Superior Court in a recent ruling turned aside Nachajski’s argument that his original lawyer was ineffective, however, and so concluded that his restitution argument was void.

Berks County Judge Scott D. Keller sentenced Nachajski, now 68, to 2 to 7 years in state prison in September 2012 after the ex-priest pleaded guilty to a theft charge.

Investigators said Nachajski diverted parish money from 1998 to 2008 to his own purposes, including to pay for vacations and finance a time share in Mexico. The theft was uncovered in an audit conducted by the Diocese of Allentown and a probe by the Berks County District Attorney’s Office conducted after Nachajski took a leave of absence from the parish in 2009.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Agence France Presse

VATICAN CITY: Ireland accredited a new envoy to the Vatican on Tuesday, three years after Dublin closed its embassy following a row over a sex abuse probe.

Emma Madigan was received by Pope Francis, the Vatican said in a statement. She also met the Vatican’s number two Pietro Parolin.

Madigan, who presented her credentials, invited the pontiff to visit Ireland, adding that while such an invitation would come from church authorities, the government would do everything “to make the visit a success,” Irish foreign ministry spokeswoman Fionnuala Quinlan said.

“Ambassador Madigan underlined that Ireland is a strong advocate for the freedom of religion or belief. The persecution of members of religious minorities, including Christians, in several parts of the world is a matter of serious concern to the Irish government,” Quinlan added.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Nov 11, 2014 / 11:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis established on Tuesday a new judicial body within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with responsibility for dealing with clerical sex abuse, thus confirming the Holy See’s continuing response to the crisis.

The new body, which is known as a college and which goes into effect Nov. 11, was established “due to the number of appeals and the need to guarantee that they are examined more rapidly and following detailed reflection.”

The decision was taken by Pope Francis during a Nov. 3 audience with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, and issued in a rescript.

The department will be composed of seven members appointed by the Pope from among cardinals and bishops, and will be entrusted with examining appeals by clergy accused of commiting ‘delicta graviora’, or ‘more grave crimes’, in order to lighten the work of the ordinary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The department’s members do not have to be members of the congregation.

The ordinary session is the plenary meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and it meets once a month, on Wednesday – hence the name of ‘feria quarta’ to label the meeting, ‘feria quarta’ being the Latin name for Wednesday.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | November 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Tuesday (Nov. 11) created a new Vatican body to deal with the most serious cases of child sexual abuse and to streamline complaints against the clergy.

The Vatican said the pope would nominate seven cardinals or bishops to consider appeals from clergy accused of abusing minors in a bid to speed up the judicial process of clergy who have received an initial assessment by local bishops.

The members of the panel, or “college,” may come from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which currently handles cases, or elsewhere in the church. Members will also be asked to deal with serious abuses of penance in the confessional.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, called the pope’s proposal a “good solution” to help alleviate a backlog of cases.

Bishops accused of sexually abusing minors will still have their appeals handled by a session of CDF members at their monthly meetings

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

One of Australia’s largest yoga retreats on a NSW Central Coast mountain will be the focus of a national hearing into child sexual abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says its 21st public hearing will inquire into the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain to allegations of child sexual abuse by a former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

Akhandananda Saraswati was charged, convicted and jailed in the late 1980s for sexually abusing teenage girls living at the Ashram.

The Swami spent 14 months in prison and the convictions were overturned by the High Court appeal in 1991. He died in 1997.

The commission at a hearing in Sydney on December 2 will examine the response of the Ashram to allegations and reports of child sexual abuse made against Swami Saraswati.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Theresa May orders review into MI5’s handling of child sex abuse claims, as she admits: ‘There may have been a cover-up’

By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

Theresa May today ordered a review into how MI5 handled allegations of Establishment child abuse.
The Home Secretary also admitted to MPs that ‘there might have been a cover-up’ at the Home Office in the 1980s.

She has now asked advisers to examine whether files alleging abuse by senior figures in the 1980s were ever passed to the security services, and what action they took.

It came after a review by NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless and barrister Richard Whittam QC found no evidence of an organised Home Office cover-up of abuse claims.

Mr Wanless was brought in to investigate in July after an internal review found the department ‘lost or destroyed’ 114 files between 1979 and 1999.

A list of names of alleged abusers, compiled by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens, was not found.

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ARGENTINA
The Public Opinion

Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — In a story Nov. 6 about papal action against a pedophile priest, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the man was excommunicated. He was stripped of priestly status, not excommunicated.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Pope defrocks pedophile Argentine priest

Clerical abuse victims applaud pope’s decision to defrock pedophile Argentine priest

By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Pope Francis has defrocked a pedophile Argentine priest, a move applauded by advocates for victims of clerical abuse.

Jose Mercau was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011 after admitting to sexually abusing four teenagers. He spent 15 days in jail and was then held in a monastery in Buenos Aires province until he was released last March.

The pope’s decision was made public Wednesday by the bishopric of San Isidro on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

ANNA WILLIAMS

A former Blenheim priest who fondled a young man’s buttocks committed a serious offence and will never be a parish priest again, says the acting leader of his Catholic order.

Passionist order acting leader Kevin Hennessy said there was no way Alastair Aidan Kay would escape the consequences of his actions. The order saw the offending as serious despite Judge Bruce Davidson saying it was a low level indecent assault, made worse by a substantial breach of trust.

“It’s not at the lower end of the scale. For us, it’s a serious matter,” he said.

Hennessy talked to Kay after he was sentenced, and said the former St Mary’s parish priest understood he would have to face up to what he did. “It’s a breach of trust. Father Aidan realises that and he realises that there are consequences to his actions,” he said.

“Even though he had become very popular in that part of New Zealand, he has broken the trust and he has to face up to that.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Jeff Anderson and Associates

* Files released by the Archdiocese of Chicago on November 6, 2014

[Searchable: Accused Priests Who Worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago – BishopAccountability.org ]

PRIEST FILES
• Baranowski, Alexander Sylvester * Timeline
• Bartz, Richard Barry * Timeline
• Becker, Robert C. Timeline
• Bennett, Joseph R. Timeline
• Bogdan, Leonard Adolph * Timeline
• Bowman, Robert Peter * Timeline
• Braun, David Francis * Timeline
• Brigham, Kenneth. Timeline
• Buck, Daniel Peter * Timeline
• Burns, Eugene Patrick * Timeline
• Calicott, John Walter * Timeline
• Cloutier, William J. Timeline
• Craig, Robert D. Timeline
• Curran, John Timeline
• Czajka, Norman J. * Timeline
• DeRoeck, Walter George * Timeline
• Dilla, Francis Emil * Timeline
• Fassbinder, Richard Wayne * Timeline
• Fitzharris, Joseph L. Timeline
• Flosi, James Vincent * Timeline
• Friese, Robert * Timeline
• Garza, Jesus P. * Timeline
• Hagan, James C. Timeline
• Hefferan, John Edward * Timeline
• Hoder, James * Timeline
• Hogan, Michael J. * Timeline
• Holihan, Daniel M. Timeline
• Huppenbauer, Walter Edward * Timeline
• Job, Thomas J. Timeline
• Kealy, Robert Louis * Timeline
• Keehan, John James * Timeline
• Kelly, Thomas F. Timeline
• Keough, John Joseph * Timeline
• Kissane, Joseph P. Timeline
• Kmak, Leonard Paul * Timeline
• Lupo, William L. * Timeline
• Maday, Norbet J. Timeline
• Mayer, Robert E. Timeline
• McCaffrey, Vincent E. Timeline
• McDonald, Robert Joseph * Timeline
• McNamara, Peter John * Timeline
• Miller, Gary M. * Timeline
• Mulsoff, Donald John * Timeline
• O’Brien, William J. Timeline
• Owens, Joseph Timeline
• Pallakunnen, Emmanuel Timeline
• Ray, James M. * Timeline
• Robinson, John Allen * Timeline
• Rohrich, John F. * Timeline
• Romano, Russell L. Timeline
• Ruge, Kenneth C. Timeline
• Savage, Joseph E. * Timeline
• Skriba, Raymond Timeline
• Snieg, Marion J. Timeline
• Steel, James R. Timeline
• Stewart, Victor Timeline
• Strand, Ralph S. Timeline
• Swade, Thomas J. Timeline
• Swider, Henry P. Timeline
• Tanghal, Albert * Timeline
• Theisen, Richard Gregory * Timeline
• Thomas, Joseph S. * Timeline
• Turlo, Walter J. Timeline
• Ulatowski, Donald Francis Timeline
• Vader, Anthony Joseph * Timeline
• Weston, Michael Timeline

SELECTED DOCUMENTS OBTAINED THROUGH OTHER MEANS

• Przybylo, Chester J. Timeline
• McCormack, Daniel J. Timeline

KEY DOCUMENTS
Cardinal George’s Knowledge of Abusive Priests:

Brigham, Kenneth Maday, Norbet J. Curran, John Holihan, Daniel M. McCormack, Daniel J. Strand, Ralph S. Bennett, Joseph R.

Priests Placed Back in Ministry Despite Danger to Minors:

Brigham, Kenneth. O’Brien, William J. Skriba, Raymond Mayer, Robert E. Curran, John Cloutier, William J. Hagan, James C.
Fitzharris, Joseph L. Becker, Robert C. Snieg, Marion J. Holihan, Daniel M. Job, Thomas J. McCormack, Daniel J. Swider, Henry P.
McCaffrey, Vincent E. Romano, Russell L. Ruge, Kenneth C. Stewart, Victor Strand, Ralph S. Swade, Thomas J. Weston, Michael

Priests Criminally Convicted for Abuse of Minors:

Maday, Norbet J. Fitzharris, Joseph L. McCaffrey, Vincent E. Mayer, Robert E. Strand, Ralph S.
Reasons for Removal of or Restrictions on Predator Priests Other than Abuse of Minors:

Skriba, Raymond
Swade, Thomas J.

Laicized Priests:

Job, Thomas J. Holihan, Daniel M. Weston, Michael Fitzharris, Joseph L.
Hagan, James C.
Steel, James R.

Abusive Priests whom Cardinal George or Cardinal Bernardin Chose Not to Laicize:

Curran, John
Maday, Norbet J.
O’Brien, William J.
Ruge, Kenneth C.
Skriba, Raymond F.
Bennett, Joseph R.

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UTAH
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
NOV. 10, 2014

Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old.

The church’s disclosures, in a series of essays online, are part of an effort to be transparent about its history at a time when church members are increasingly encountering disturbing claims about the faith on the Internet. Many Mormons, especially those with polygamous ancestors, say they were well aware that Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, practiced polygamy when he led the flock in Salt Lake City. But they did not know the full truth about Smith.

“Joseph Smith was presented to me as a practically perfect prophet, and this is true for a lot of people,” said Emily Jensen, a blogger and editor in Farmington, Utah, who often writes about Mormon issues.

She said the reaction of some Mormons to the church’s disclosures resembled the five stages of grief in which the first stage is denial, and the second is anger. Members are saying on blogs and social media, “This is not the church I grew up with, this is not the Joseph Smith I love,” Ms. Jensen said.

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UTAH
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

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

We applaud the Mormon hierarchy for gradually becoming more open about the sexual behavior of its founder, especially the fact that Joseph Smith took a 14 year old “bride” which constitutes child sexual abuse.

But now, church officials should unequivocally denounce child sexual abuse and tell and remind their flock that it is always illegal and immoral for any adult to have any sexual contact with any child. And they should beg anyone with information or suspicions about child sex crimes – past or present – to call police and prosecutors now.

[The New York

“That’s not needed. Everyone knows this,” some may protest. But this is a reckless assumption, especially in a denomination with a sordid history of secrecy around sexual crimes and misdeeds. If such a strong and clear declaration helps embolden one person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes in a Mormon church or family to call law enforcement, it will have been worth it.

Reversing decades of sexual secrecy and misconduct in any institution is tough. It requires repeated and vigorous action, including public statements.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

My friend Tom Leith notes that most people view marriage as a legal or consensual arrangement, not as an ontological change. By “ontological change” he means a change in our very being.

There are many of these ontological changes that we go through in our lives. Adolescence is the first big one, one in which we grapple with the great change of going from being a child to being an adult. But we recognize other ontological changes in life as well, if only subconsciously.

When a man becomes a father or a woman becomes a mother, we realize that this changes who we are. At least we used to recognize that readily. Many people are very casual about this ontological change these days and don’t recognize the responsibility suddenly thrust upon them by becoming different people from what they once were. And we fathers are surprised to learn that, foolish and inept as we sometimes are, our children nonetheless view us as entirely different sorts of creatures from every other person on the planet. Mommy or Daddy is something other and something greater than Aunt or Uncle or brother or sister. Our kids see that, sometimes to our embarrassment and chagrin. …

And the higher the goal, the greater the disparity when we don’t reach it.

Take, for instance, Holy Orders. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the majority of bishops and even a solid contingent of priests are not only bad at what they do (which is to be expected, as they are called to be remarkably great), but simply scoundrels, bad men who have adopted a mask that allows them to exercise their badness is ways that normal people can’t.

Here’s a long description of a priest who simply appears to be a predator in a collar. It’s by Peggy Warren of Wichita, a woman who (if her story is true) was preyed upon by a priest and treated with contempt by his bishop, while, because of the whole sordid mess, her marriage and sanity began to crumble around her. I’m not sharing her story to enter into a discussion on the fiduciary duty of priests and to examine how abuse can happen even between adults, when one of them is in a position of authority and the other is vulnerable. I’m sharing it because priests having affairs with married women is much more common than priests molesting children, and this flouting of marriage and the priesthood does an incredible amount of damage, despite the fact that bishops take it lightly.

Note that it’s the ontological change, which is apparently viewed as a mere mask by the priest in the story – it’s this ontological change or alteration of identity that allows the abusive relationship to happen. The priest was able to begin his long process of grooming, he had access to the wife, to the home, to the family in the way that he did because he was a priest. No unmarried guy off the street would have been given the opportunity this man was given. He was operating under cover, a convenient cover that works automatically in the minds of many people. “Father is a priest! He’s a nice guy! Why would I worry that he spends time alone with my wife in my living room after I go to bed at night?”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent November 11, 2014

ROME — In Pope Francis’ latest effort to show resolve about cleaning up the sexual abuse scandals in Catholicism, the Vatican is creating a college of experts to speed up the procedure for expelling abusers from the priesthood.

Since 2001, the process to remove an alleged abuser has been supervised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with most cases taking four or five months to process once they arrive in Rome.

The seven-member college created by Francis on Tuesday, to be composed of cardinals and bishops, is designed to cut that lag time significantly. The college also will handle other grave offenses under Church law, including violations of the secrecy of the confessional and impersonating a priest.

Members of the team haven’t been appointed yet, but a document released Tuesday and signed by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, says they will be chosen by Pope Francis in the near future.

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

Pope Francis has created a new commission to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of child sex abuse, the Vatican has said.

“The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists, without specifying how many cases are currently being examined.

Speeding up the process would see sex abusers handed a definitive conviction more quickly, as well as helping innocent priests eager to clear their names.

The new commission, made up of seven cardinals and bishops, will work for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which currently oversees such appeals.

The Vatican said in May that church courts had sanctioned at least 3,430 priests and other religious figures over the past ten years.

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UNITED STATES
U.S. News

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

America’s Catholic bishops came together Monday to project an image of unity, after a Vatican meeting on the family unleashed an uproar over the direction of the church.

Last month’s gathering in Rome on more compassionately ministering to families featured open debate — alarming many traditional Catholics, who argued it would undermine public understanding of church teaching. Pope Francis encouraged a free exchange of ideas at the assembly, or synod, in contrast to previous years, when such events were tightly scripted.

At a meeting Monday in Baltimore, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops, signaled there was no conflict between a gentler approach and upholding church orthodoxy. Kurtz cited his home visits to parishioners, where he wouldn’t give them “a list of rules to follow firsthand,” but would instead “spend time with them trying to appreciate the good that I saw in their hearts,” before inviting them to follow Christ.

“Such an approach isn’t in opposition to church teachings. It’s an affirmation of them,” said Kurtz, who attended the Vatican gathering.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

Statement by Nicky Davis, Australia SNAP director ( nicky@nickydavis.com.au ) (in Switzerland now)

Pope Francis has made a poor promotion. This time, it’s his new top diplomat: Archbishop Peter Gallagher.

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=42281#.VGEmMPnF_Mh

Less than a year, in Australia, Gallagher “claimed diplomatic immunity in response to repeated requests for archival documentation that might assist” a governmental inquiry into clergy sex crimes and cover ups. In other words, he exploited legal technicalities to conceal evidence of crimes and cover ups, like literally hundreds of other Catholic officials have done for decades and continue doing.

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/australian-abuse-inquiry-faces-diplomatic-standoff-vatican

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2013/11_12/2013_12_19_Crittenden_AustralianAbuse.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/05_06/2014_06_05_Barlow_WillPope.htm

Fortunately, Gallagher later relented.

But once again, it seems like church officials who conceal crimes, protect predators and endanger kids get rewarded. Once again, it feels like church officials who respond legalistically and selfishly, rather than pastorally and responsibly, get moved up the clerical career ladder.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 11

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

Like his precedessors, Pope Francis tweaks policies instead of firing criminals. He’s doing it again now.

Yet another new church body will reportedly be created. This one will supposedly deal with the “most egregious” clergy sex crimes.

But it’s the front end where attention is needed, not the back end. The Pope should focus on independent prevention work, not on biased church adjudication.

And it’s not progress when the very prelates who conceal abuse rule on abusers’ fates.

The Tablet reports there will be a new “special procedure for any bishop accused of grave crimes.”

[The Tablet]

Again, new procedures aren’t needed. Decisive action is needed. And historically, only bishops who commit child sex crimes face even the slightest discipline while the hundreds more who conceal the crimes are ignored or promoted.

Defrocking dangerous molesters is a first step not the last that any bishop should take. While this long overdue step may bring some comfort to the victims and their family members who have been hurt by these men, it is important to remember that molesters are not cured and may still pose a serious threat to nearby children.

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POLAND
The Tablet (UK)

10 November 2014 by Jonathan Luxmoore

A Polish priest has been charged with 10 counts of sex abuse in connection with the case of the laicised Polish former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski.

In a statement, Warsaw’s District Procurator said the charges against Fr Wojciech Gil had followed over 100 witness testimonies during a year-long investigation, and covered offences in Poland and the Dominican Republic between 2001 and 2013.

It added that the priest, who was suspended last year, also faced counts of possession of child pornography and illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition. Prosecutors said 91,000 images and over 400 films involving child pornography were found on the priest’s computer hard drive.

Fr Gil, a member of the Michaelite order, was arrested during a holiday in Krakow last February and suspended from priestly duties, during the preparation of charges against Archbishop Wesolowski, who was defrocked in June and is currently under pre-trial house arrest in the Vatican. Prosecutors have not yet detailed how Fr Gil was connected with the disgraced ex-nuncio.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Papst Franziskus hat bei der Glaubenskongregation eine neue Stelle eingerichtet, die die Untersuchung von Missbrauchsfällen und anderen schweren Delikten durch Kleriker beschleunigen soll. Das Kollegium setzt sich aus sieben Kardinälen und Bischöfen zusammen und soll Einsprüche gegen Entscheidungen der Kongregation bearbeiten, wie der Vatikan am Dienstag mitteilte. Den Angaben zufolge treffen im Monat rund vier bis fünf Einsprüche ein. Für ihre Aufarbeitung war bisher die Kardinalssitzung der Glaubenskongregation zuständig. Diese wird durch das neu errichtete Kollegium entlastet.

Das Kollegium kann eigene Entscheidungen treffen. Für Untersuchungen gegen Bischöfe bleibt jedoch die reguläre Kardinalssitzung zuständig, heißt es in der Anordnung. Die Ernennung des Vorsitzenden und der Angehörigen des Kollegiums erfolgt durch den Papst. Sowohl Mitglieder der Glaubenskongregation als auch Experten von außen werden vertreten sein, hieß es. Die Statuten des Kollegiums müssen noch erarbeitet werden.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Star (Lebanon)

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has moved to speed up rulings on appeals by clergy who have been accused of sex abuse of minors and other grave abuses.

The Vatican announced Tuesday that the pope is setting up a panel, made up of seven cardinals or bishops, to examine appeals that reach the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Congregation is cracking down on priests who sexually abuse children, but critics say the Vatican is moving too slowly to decide the ultimate fate of these priests.

Bishops accused of sexually abusing minors will still have their appeals handled by all congregation members, not by the new panel.

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ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

Milan, November 11 – A priest arrested on suspicion of drug possession for dealing after being discovered at a ‘cocaine party’ in Milan in July is to be judged in a fast-track trial, judicial sources said Tuesday. Don Stefano Maria Cavalletti, 45, is set to appear before a preliminary hearings judge on January 29. He was detained in July after police were called out to investigate noise and shouting during a party in Piazza Anghilberto in Milan. There police found traces of white powder throughout the apartment, with the majority in the lavatory together with the priest’s shredded passport. Don Stefano, who served in the Piedmont town of Stresa, told police he had started to use cocaine as a form of ‘self-treatment’ for depression after first running into trouble with the law. In September 2013 he was convicted by a court of first instance of fraud against an elderly woman whom he allegedly convinced to pay 22,000 euros into his bank account.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

11 November 2014 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

Pope Francis has set up a new judicial body to deal specifically with the most serious cases of sexual abuse committed by clergy.

The Vatican said today that the college, which will be overseen by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), had been set up because of the large number of cases and the need to deal with them more swiftly.

It will also deal with the abuse of the confessional.

The college will consist of seven cardinals or bishops who can come from within or outside the CDF and will be chosen by the Pope.

The document announcing the new body outlines a special procedure for any bishop accused of grave crimes. He “shall have his case examined by the whole body of members of the Congregation – the Ordinary Session – which may also examine other specific cases upon papal request, and/or examine cases referred to it by the newly created College.”

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VATICAN CITY
Buenos Aires Herald

Pope Francis has created a new commission (Coleggio) of seven bishops and cardinals to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of serious crimes, including sexual abuse on minors, the Vatican said.

The commission, under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will examine the case of any bishop accused of grave crimes as well as other specific cases upon Papal request.

The Pope’s decision is intended to expedite the handling of these cases, according to the Holy See Press Office. “The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 November 2014 (VIS) – St. John Paul II’s Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (SST), published on 30 April 2001 and implemented on 21 May 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI, defines the offences reserved to the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (cf. Art. 1-6), in accordance with Art. 52 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith judges these offences by penal or administrative procedures (cf. Art. 21 paras 1 and 2, No. 1 SST), taking into account the possibility of submitting the decision directly to the Supreme Pontiff in the most serious cases (see Art. 21 para. 2, No. 2 SST). Crimes against faith remain, in the first instance, within the sphere of competence of the Ordinary or the Hierarch (cf. Art. 2 para. 2 SST).

Due to the number of appeals and the need to guarantee that they are examined more rapidly and following detailed reflection, in the Audience granted to Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on 3 November 2014, the Holy Father Francis decreed the following:

1. A special college is to be instituted within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, composed of seven cardinals or bishops, who may either be members of the Dicastery or external to it;

2. The President and the members of the aforementioned College are to be appointed by the Pope;

3. The College is a provision made by the Ordinary Session of the Congregation to enable greater efficiency in processing appeals in accordance with Art. 27 SST, without substantive modification to its competences as established in the same Art. 27 SST;

4. Should the offender be of episcopal dignity, his appeal shall be examined by the Ordinary Session, which will also be able to decide specific cases according to the Pope’s judgement. Other cases to be decided by the College may also be deferred to the Ordinary Session;

5. The College shall periodically report its decisions to the Ordinary Session;

6. Specific internal regulations shall determine the working methods of the College.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Rescritto del Sommo Pontefice Francesco sulla istituzione di un Collegio, all’interno della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, per l’esame dei ricorsi di ecclesiastici per i delicta graviora, 11.11.2014

[Rescript of the Holy Father Francis on the establishment of a College within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the consideration of the appeal to the clergy delicta graviora, 11/11/2014]

Rescritto del Sommo Pontefice Francesco sulla istituzione di un Collegio, all’interno della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, per l’esame dei ricorsi di ecclesiastici per i delicta graviora

RESCRIPTUM EX AUDIENTIA SS.MI

Il Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (SST) del 30 aprile 2001, aggiornato il 21 maggio 2010, precisa quali sono i delitti riservati alla competenza della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede (cfr. artt. 1-6), a norma dell’art. 52 della Costituzione apostolica Pastor Bonus.

Nel giudicare i delitti sopra indicati, la Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede procede tramite processo penale, giudiziale o amministrativo (cfr. art. 21 § 1 e § 2, n. 1 SST), salva la possibilità di sottoporre direttamente la decisione al Sommo Pontefice per i casi gravissimi (cfr. art. 21 § 2, n. 2 SST). Resta inteso, relativamente ai delitti contro la fede, che la competenza in prima istanza è dell’Ordinario o del Gerarca (cfr. art. 2 § 2 SST).

A motivo del numero dei ricorsi e della necessità di garantire un più rapido esame degli stessi, dopo approfondita riflessione, nell’Udienza concessa al sottoscritto Cardinale Segretario di Stato il 3 novembre 2014,

il Sommo Pontefice Francesco

ha decretato quanto segue:

1. è istituito all’interno della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede uno speciale Collegio, formato da sette Cardinali o Vescovi, che possono essere sia membri del Dicastero, sia esterni ad esso;

2. il Presidente e i membri di detto Collegio sono nominati dal Papa;

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times

PUBLISHED ON NOV 11, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis has created a new commission to speed up the appeal process for priests found guilty by the Church of child sex abuse, the Vatican said Tuesday.

“The number of appeals has lead to a backlog of work,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists, without specifying how many cases are currently being examined.

Speeding up the process would see sex abusers handed a definitive conviction more quickly, as well as helping innocent priests eager to clear their names.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[The Regensburg diocese has paid 150,000 euros to 30 victims of abuse. Thirteen clergy were convicted of abuse since 1945. These included 77 minor sexual offenses. Two priests possessed child pornography. Eight of the 13 priests are still alive and two were released from the clerical state. Six were suspended from priestly functions.]

Das Bistum Regensburg hat bislang 30 Missbrauchsopfer finanziell entschädigt – mit insgesamt rund 159.000 Euro. Das geht aus dem ersten Tätigkeitsbericht hervor, den der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Diözese vorgelegt hat.

Von 2011 bis heute hat das Bistum Regensburg 158.500 Euro an Missbrauchsopfer ausgezahlt. Unter den 30 entschädigten Personen sind sowohl Opfer von verurteilten Straftaten als auch Antragssteller, deren Vorwürfe nicht mehr juristisch geklärt werden konnten. Nur vereinzelt hätten sich die erhobenen Vorwürfe nicht als plausibel erwiesen, bilanziert Martin Linder, der Missbrauchsbeauftragte des Bistums Regensburg, in seinem Tätigkeitsbericht.

13 Geistliche seit 1945 verurteilt

Er gehe davon aus, dass “nur eine Minderzahl der Opfer” einen Entschädigungsantrag gestellt habe, so Linder. Die Zahl der von Geistlichen missbrauchten Menschen in der Diözese Regensburg dürfte um ein Vielfaches größer sein als die Zahl der entschädigten Personen.

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DEUTCHLAND
NetzwerkB

[Norbert Denef, a clergy abuse survivor, has written an open letter to Heiko Maas, federal justice minister. He said victims of sexual violence can often not talk about abuse for decades out of fear, shame and guilt. He questions why Germany has taken no steps toward having an inquiry into abuse and cover-ups.]

Offenen Brief an Bundesjustizminister Heiko Maas, 6. November 2014, als PDF herunterladen

Sehr geehrter Herr Bundesjustizminister Maas,

Opfer von sexualisierter Gewalt können oft viele Jahrzehnte nicht über die Verbrechen, die ihnen angetan wurden, reden – aus Angst, Scham und aufgrund von Schuldgefühlen.

Erst mit 65 Jahren ist Norbert Denef in der Lage, den sexuellen Missbrauch durch seinen Schwager, den Organisten Rolf Henry Kunz, strafrechtlich anzuzeigen. In Deutschland ist das nicht – erfolgreich – möglich, weil die Verbrechen verjährt sind.

Warum gelingt es Großbritannien, Missbrauchstaten noch nach vielen Jahrzehnten anzuklagen und in Deutschland ist das nicht möglich? Wieso schafft es das Königreich, Missbrauchs-Berichte zu recherchieren und zu schreiben und dabei die Mitwisser zu befragen und zu demaskieren – aber in Deutschland hat bislang keine Behörde auch nur ein Verbrechen von damals peinlich hinterfragt?

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CHICAGO (IL)
Rete L’Abuso (Italia)

La mole di documenti inquietanti, pubblicati a Chicago sugli abusi commessi dal clero tra gli anni 1950 e 2010, è un campanello di allarme per il Vaticano. Al di là dell’impegno personale di papa Francesco – evidenziato dalla decisione di sottoporre a processo penale il pedofilo ex nunzio nella Repubblica dominicana Jozef Wesolowski – la vicenda ripropone la questione della grande disparità esistente da una nazione all’altra, più precisamente da una conferenza episcopale all’altra, nelle strutture per contrastare le violenze contro ragazzi e ragazze.

La speciale commissione anti-abusi, formata dal Papa va a rilento. C’è stata qualche riunione, ma finora non sono state elaborate linee-guida, che organizzino a livello planetario le modalità per accogliere le denunce, indagare sui misfatti e risarcire le vittime. LA CHIESA ha molto da recuperare. Perché gli Stati in quanto tali non hanno praticato sistematicamente una politica di insabbiamento quando un insegnante o un allenatore compivano atti di pedofilia.

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ITALY
The Local

Published: 11 Nov 2014

A priest has abandoned his parish in a small town on the outskirts of the northern Italian province of Rovigo following revelations of an affair with a parishioner.

The 40-year-old decided to leave the parish in the Medio Polesine for a period of “reflection” after the affair was exposed last week, Il Gazzettino reported.

The relationship was discovered by a private investigator hired by the woman’s suspicious husband, who heads the church’s choir.

The priest reportedly told Bishop Lucio De Franceschi that he intended to use the time to “reflect on his future”.

The husband has since separated from his wife.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: November 11, 2014

$5 milllion in cuts to chancery’s operating budget linked to abuse cases, other spending.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will cut 20 percent of the chancery’s operating budget, or more than $5 million, in response to growing financial pressures resulting from clergy sex abuse lawsuits and other spending.

Staff layoffs in the central office as well as a reduction in some parish support services are expected in the move, which may be followed by the sale of some church assets.

Minnesota’s roughly 200 Catholic parishes and 90 Catholic schools are incorporated separately from the chancery and not directly subject to the budget cuts.

“Even without including unanticipated legal … fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” said vicar general Charles Lachowitzer in a statement posted on the archdiocese’s website.

Lachowitzer said budgets and staffing in chancery departments had expanded in the past several years, to provide “needed resources for parishes and Catholic schools and archdiocesan initiatives.”
The archdiocese has faced unprecedented expenses related to its handling of clergy sex abuse cases over the past year. Last month, it reached a comprehensive settlement with the more than 16 victims represented by St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson who have filed sex abuse lawsuits. It now must reach financial settlements expected to reach millions of dollars in those lawsuits and future litigation.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Washington Post

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves’ is U.S. Catholic bishops’ outlook as they meet

By Michelle Boorstein November 10

In their first meeting since a closely watched Vatican synod on family issues last month, U.S. bishops emphasized Monday that the gathering in Rome was merely the beginning of a process to examine church practices concerning matters such as remarriage and the place of gay families.

Catholics around the world have been intently analyzing last month’s synod on the family, which Pope Francis called in order to have frank talks on teachings many Catholics ignore, such as those against divorce, cohabitation and same-sex relationships. The meeting ended with what appeared to be no consensus, but on Monday, top U.S. bishops said pastoral changes were not planned to take place, if they happen at all, until a follow-up meeting in fall 2015.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We are Americans, we want answers now,” said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, head of the Louisville archdiocese and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opened its annual meeting Monday in Baltimore. “Abstractly, while the teachings of the church remain timeless, the opportunities to reach out creatively have changed with each age because the circumstances change. . . . So let’s give ourselves a chance to let that unfold so that creative ways . . . can bubble up.”

Kurtz was speaking on a panel in which some of the bishops who had attended the synod shared their experiences with the entire group.

The pope has opened dialogue on Catholic teachings and practices in a way that has thrilled many Catholics and alarmed many others. Experts say this has created a challenging environment for Catholic leaders as they shape their own priorities.

The U.S. bishops stressed Monday that they would be focusing largely on their pre-Francis agendas, including religious freedom (and their fight against the White House health plan’s mandate that employers offer birth control coverage), protecting traditional marriage and promoting natural family planning.

The tension over how rigidly to emphasize doctrine was on display this past weekend, when the Vatican confirmed long-standing rumors that Francis was removing leading conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke of the St. Louis archdiocese as head of the Vatican’s high court. The pope didn’t say why, but Burke is known for actions that run contrary to Francis’s welcoming tone, such as pushing for the denial of Communion to Catholic politicians and others who support abortion rights, and other efforts to emphasize doctrine explicitly. He also criticized Francis for suggesting that the church was overly focused on abortion and homosexuality.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Oliver Moody and Tom Kington Rome

November 11 2014

A Catholic archbishop from Liverpool who has been appointed to one of the most powerful posts in the Vatican tried to withhold church documents from an inquiry into child sex abuse last year by citing diplomatic immunity.

The Most Reverend Paul Gallagher, 60, was named the church’s first English foreign minister by the Pope on Saturday, and is expected to take up the post early in 2015. He will be responsible for dealing with requests from foreign governments for documents relating to sex abuse investigations.

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UNITED STATES
PR Web

Front Royal, VA (PRWEB) November 11, 2014

Nearly 20,000 Catholics have signed a petition in support of outspoken Cardinal Raymond Burke, just days after Pope Francis removed him from his influential Vatican post.

Launched by LifeSiteNews, a pro-life news agency, the petition thanks Burke “for being a strong and uncompromising voice in defense of the truths of life and the family.”

“Many have tried to paint Cardinal Burke as a heartless conservative ‘villain,’” said LifeSiteNews managing director Steve Jalsevac. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Cardinal Burke is humble, gentle, and deeply compassionate, but – because he stands uncompromisingly for unpopular truths – he has often been ill-treated.”

“The overwhelming response to our petition shows, however, that despite the best efforts of his enemies, Cardinal Burke remains a much-beloved figure to many everyday Catholics in the pews.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

11 November, 2014

The Royal Commission is holding a public hearing in Sydney from 2 December 2014 at 10:00am.

The public hearing will inquire into the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram located at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, to allegations of child sexual abuse by the Ashram’s former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. The response between 1974 and 2014 of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, to allegations or reports of child sexual abuse made against Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

2. The operation of the Ashram between 1974 and 1989 in relation to matters of child sexual abuse.

3. The systems, policies and procedures in place at the Ashram between 1974 and 1989, and currently, in relation to raising and responding to allegations of or concerns about child sexual abuse.

4. Any related matters.

Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by 21 November 2014.

Applications for leave to appear should be made using the form available on the Royal Commission website entitled ‘Application for Leave to Appear at the Royal Commission’ and include a short submission setting out the basis on which it is said the applicant has a substantial and direct interest in appearing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

November 10, 2014
By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson will hear prosecution arguments this week that a Roman Catholic priest from Somerset County remain in prison pending that outcome of child sexual abuse charges filed against him by federal authorities.

Gibson, presiding in Johnstown, will hear an appeal from a decision made last week by Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto ordering the release of Father Joseph D. Maurizio Jr. to home detention.

Pesto, after three hearings on the detention issue, ruled that Maurizio could leave the Cambria County Prison to reside with a sister in Somerset County.

He ordered Maurizio’s financial accounts frozen and ruled that the priest, relieved of his pastoral duties at Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish in Central City, not have minors in the residence and that other visitors be screened by authorities.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Haines immediately appealed Pesto’s decision to the district judge, asking that a new hearing be held.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Justin Moyer
November 10

Just a few years ago, former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke was riding high. A conservative leader in a conservative Catholic Church under a conservative pope, he seemed to fall into the Vatican’s favor after taking a few high-profile stands against the godless.

The fights he picked always managed to make headlines. In 2004, the Wisconsin native said he would refuse to give pro-choice Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) communion. In 2007, he resigned from the board of a Catholic hospital after it invited Sheryl Crow, who is pro-choice, to play a benefit concert. And in 2009, he let the University of Notre Dame have it for giving President Obama an honorary degree.

“The proposed granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to our president, who is so aggressively advancing an anti-life and anti-family agenda, is rightly the source of the greatest scandal,” Burke said.

The reward for this holy work? In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI made Burke head of the Vatican’s supreme court. In 2010, he made Burke a cardinal.

These were the good times. Then along came Francis — the freewheeling Argentine pope who loves gays, loves divorcees and hates income inequality. After a few high-profile disagreements with Burke, Francis made him patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a charity. The Associated Press called the office “largely ceremonial.”

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AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
SBS

Source: AAP
11 NOV 2014

A UN committee has asked the Australian government to explain its response when Cardinal George Pell backed a Vatican refusal to hand over documents to the child abuse royal commission.

The committee meeting in Geneva this week is considering Australia’s fourth report on human rights and the country’s implementation of the Convention against Torture.

It has received several submissions from non-government organisations in Australia including two from networks representing survivors of institutional and clerical child abuse.

Geneva members of the Committee Against Torture raised the issue of Cardinal Pell’s defence of a Vatican decision not to hand over all documents relating to child sex abuse by clerics in Australia.

At a public hearing of The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in August, Cardinal Pell told commission chair Peter McClellan his request for all papal documents relating to every abuse case involving an Australian cleric was “unreasonable”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Survivors of historical institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland should receive reparations, a junior minister in the powersharing administration said.

A public inquiry has received harrowing testimony from those who lived in residential homes run by Catholic religious orders.

A panel headed by a retired judge is holding an extensive investigation into claims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against young children made by hundreds of former residents who have contacted the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Stormont junior minister Jennifer McCann said: “I would certainly like to see some sort of reparations made in terms of those people that have went through the inquiry.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Messenger

by Matthew Taylor

AN Altrincham school has suspended two members of staff over allegations they knew about the sexual abuse carried out by disgraced former teacher, Alan Morris.

Morris, 64, of Rivington Road, Hale, was jailed for nine years in August after being found guilty of committing a string of sexual offences at St Ambrose Catholic College, Hale Barns.

The former Chemistry and RE teacher was convicted of 19 offences of indecent assault and inciting a child to perform an act of gross indecency.

The offences were committed against ten boys between 1973 and 1990.

On Friday, a St Ambrose College spokesman said: “Following allegations from a former pupil that two members of staff may have been aware of Alan Morris’s activities, on the advice of the police and local authority the school has suspended those two members of staff pending an independent inquiry.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A high profile promotion of a senior Catholic figure in Rome has outraged some Hunter Valley clergy abuse survivors still reeling from a diplomatic stoush involving the clergyman.

In May the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticised the Vatican’s representative in Australia Archbishop Paul Gallagher for claiming diplomatic immunity in refusing to hand over documents.

Those documents related to child sexual abuse in the Maitland/Newcastle Catholic Diocese committed by the now dead priests Dennis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

Archbishop Gallagher who is the former Papal Envoy to Australia has now been promoted to the third highest position in the Catholic Church.

Bob O’Toole from the Clergy Abuse Network says it is a disgrace.

“I’m appalled,” he said.

“You do the wrong thing by the people and perhaps the right thing in the eyes of the church and you get a promotion.

“It’s just totally wrong.”

Archbishop Gallagher was promoted as part of a reshuffle by Pope Francis.

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CALIFORNIA
DFW Catholic

Los Angeles, Calif., Nov 10, 2014 / 02:03 pm (CNA).- A Vatican tribunal has “definitively determined” that there is no proof of sexual misconduct by Monsignor Richard Loomis, a prominent Los Angeles archdiocese priest.

“Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations,” the Los Angeles archdiocese said Nov. 8, saying the tribunal’s determination followed “ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial.”

The tribunal’s ruling means that the allegations against the monsignor have been “conclusively resolved” and that he can return to public ministry.

“He remains a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in good standing,” the archdiocese said.

Msgr. Loomis, 68, first faced accusations of sexual misconduct allegations in 2003. The accusations concerned alleged misconduct between 1969 and 1971, when he was a seminarian. A 2003 lawsuit claimed that he had abused a teenage boy while teaching at a Catholic high school in the L.A. area, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Gillian Flaccus

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A high-ranking Roman Catholic official has been exonerated of clergy sex abuse allegations by a Vatican tribunal after a decade of investigation and is once more considered a priest in good standing with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, church officials said Monday.

The decision to reinstate Msgr. Richard Loomis is rare — particularly after so many years — and the move drew immediate condemnation from an attorney for the alleged victim and church critics who say the tribunal never reached out to the accusers of Loomis after they gave an initial account and didn’t inform them of the decision.

Loomis, 68, has been on inactive leave and living outside the church since allegations surfaced in 2003 that he molested a boy between 1968 and 1971 at a Catholic high school where he taught.

Another boy told his parents in 1974 that he had been molested by Loomis, and the family reported it to a parish priest, according to church documents.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

IPSWICH — The lawyer for a priest charged with raping a boy at an Ipswich summer camp more than three decades ago suggested to jurors Monday that the accusations are motivated by one thing: money.

“What’s the motive here?” Steve Neyman, who is the Rev. Richard McCormick’s attorney, asked the Lawrence Superior Court jury during closing arguments. He recalled testimony about the accuser first speaking with a civil attorney. “The motive is money.”

But if that was the motive, argued prosecutor Kate MacDougall, wouldn’t the accuser’s story have been more complete, his gaps in memory filled in? “Why isn’t it better? Why didn’t he fill in all these gaps if it was about money?” she asked the jury.

McCormick, 73, is facing five counts of child rape stemming from incidents that prosecutors say took place during the summers of 1981 and 1982 at the camp operated by the Salesian Society of North America, a religious order in which he held a position equivalent to a bishop.

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WALTHAM (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

BishopAccountability.org has prepared searchable versions of the files released by the Archdiocese of Chicago on November 6, 2014. Download these searchable PDFs to your computer for best performance. Some of the files are very large. We have split those files into smaller pieces for easier download at this page.

– Alexander S. Baranowski
– Richard B. Bartz
– Leonard A. Bogdan

– R. Peter Bowman (large file)
– David F. Braun
– Daniel P. Buck (large file)

– Eugene P. Burns
– John W. Calicott (very large file)
– Norman J. Czajka

– Walter G. DeRoeck (large file)
– Francis E. Dilla
– Richard W. Fassbinder

– James V. Flosi
– Robert D. Friese
– Jesus P. Garza

– John E. Hefferan
– James Hoder
– Michael J. Hogan

– Walter E. Huppenbauer
– Robert L. Kealy (very large file)
– John J. Keehan

– John J. Keough
– Leonard P. Kmak
– William L. Lupo

– Robert J. McDonald
– Peter J. McNamara
– Gary M. Miller

– Donald J. Mulsoff
– James M. Ray (large file)
– John A. Robinson

– John F. Rohrich
– Joseph E. Savage
– Albert(o) Tanghal

– Richard G. Theisen
– Joseph S. Thomas
– Anthony J. Vader (large file)

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AUSTRALIA
Cootamundra Herald

Police have charged a former Christian Brother in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon a number of children in the Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Initial reports from NSW Police Media had incorrectly described the person charged as a former Catholic priest.

In May, investigators from Northern Beaches Local Area Command received information about alleged indecent assault matters involving five boys and commenced an investigation.

Officers will allege that the offences occurred between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

About 9am today (Monday 10 November 2014), officers attended a home in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Nov 10, 2014 By Todd Fitzgerald

Two teachers at St Ambrose RC College in Altrincham have been suspended after a former student alleged they knew about the actions of disgraced Alan Morris

A school has suspended two members of staff over allegations they knew about the sexual abuse carried out by a disgraced former teacher.

Pervert Alan Morris was jailed for nine years for an horrific 17-year campaign of abuse against boys at St Ambrose RC College in Altrincham.

Morris, 64, of Hale, was found guilty of spanking and groping pupils for his own gratification while he was a teacher at the all-boys grammar school.

The M.E.N. understands the two long-serving teachers, who both hold senior positions, were suspended in September after allegations were made by a former pupil. An investigation is under way.

A school spokesman said: “Following allegations from a former pupil that two members of staff may have been aware of Alan Morris’ activities, on the advice of the police and local authority, the school has suspended those two members of staff pending an independent inquiry.”

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

Rev. Stan Archie of Kansas City is a prominent Kansas City pastor. He says a recent trial shows that he’s been “exonerated” of wrongdoing. But here’s the truth:

–He’s been sued twice.

–One was a young woman who said he sexually violated her when she was a girl.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/Sexual-misconduct-suit-names-Mo-education-board-chief/18273274

–The other was a woman who said he “sexually exploited” her as a church staffer by using his position as a pastoral counselor.”

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article1161589.html#storylink=cpy

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

A former West Michigan radio host who pleaded guilty in August to raping an 11-year-old boy has been sentenced.

John Balyo, 35, was sentenced Monday afternoon in Calhoun County to 25 to 50 years in prison on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

During the sentencing, Balyo said he suffers “deep and constant remorse” for his actions.

The former host at WCSG in Grand Rapids still has to be sentenced in federal court in a separate case. In that case, he pleaded guilty in July to child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child in Kalamazoo County.

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MICHIGAN
Battle Creek Enquirer

Trace Christenson tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com
November 10, 2014

A former Grand Rapids Christian radio host was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping an 11-year-old Battle Creek boy.

“I just want to take this opportunity to say I am feeling very deep and constant remorse for my actions,” said John Balyo, 35. “And I want the family to know I am very sorry and wish I could do something to correct what has been done.”

Balyo pleaded guilty in September to first-degree criminal sexual in a May 17 assault in a Beckley Road motel room.

Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt sentenced him Monday to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of 50 years. He also must register for the sex offenders list and wear an electronic monitor for the rest of his life if he is ever released from prison.

Balyo still faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in December in U.S. District Court on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography. The sentences will be served together.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By John Agar | jagar@mlive.com
on November 10, 2014

CALHOUN COUNTY, MI – John Balyo, the former Christian radio host who molested young boys, was sentenced Monday, Nov. 10, to 25 to 50 years in state prison.

He had pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal-sexual conduct in Calhoun County Circuit Court after paying a man to set up the sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy.

Circuit Judge Conrad Sindt ordered that Balyo, 35, the former morning show host for WCSG in Grand Rapids, spend the rest of his life on electronic monitoring once his prison sentences end.

He also awaits sentencing in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids for photographing sex acts with a 12-year-old boy in a Kalamazoo-area hotel.

Sentencing in that case is Dec. 5 in Grand Rapids.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fond du Lac Reporter

AP

MILWAUKEE – A federal judge has ruled in favor of an insurance company for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee that challenged whether it was liable for the church’s handling of child sexual abuse cases.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa says U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley erred earlier this year when she refused to let OneBeacon Insurance Co. pursue the liability question with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He sent the case back to bankruptcy court for further action.

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1EthJ69 ) the ruling may be moot. Church spokesman Jerry Topczewski says OneBeacon has negotiated a tentative settlement with the archdiocese.

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ILLINOIS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest of the Chicago Province ordained in 1971, Rev. Larry Reuter taught and served as president at Loyola Academy in Wilmette IL for many years, ministered at Chicago’s Loyola University and at its medical center in Maywood IL, and was a long-time weekend assistant at an Oak Park IL parish. Reuter was removed from active ministry in March 2010 after Province officials discovered that he had at some point admitted to an “inappropriate relationship” with an 18-year-old Loyola Academy student during the time he was president. His victim received a settlement in the 1990s. A second former Loyola Academy student came forward in May 2010 alleging he was sexually abused by Reuter in the late 1980s, beginning when the former student was a junior and occurring over a two-year period.

Ordained: 1971

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 10, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

Team NCR arrived in Baltimore for the USCCB meeting last night and this morning. As I mentioned last week, the agenda appears pretty sleep-inducing, but already, one has the sense that the bishops are not thrilled about the public perception that they are hostile to Pope Francis or, at least, not able to grasp the direction in which he wants to lead the Church or, in any event, not doing much to implement that vision.

I am sure we will hear a lot of prelates blaming this perception that the U.S. bishops are at odds with the pope on the press. It would be a mistake to do so, as blaming the media will only give us in the media the chance to recount all the many instances when bishops have dissed or diminished or otherwise stepped away from what Pope Francis has been saying, at the very least, and with the most generous interpretation, saying things that are not helpful to the goal supporting the pope as he sets a new course for the Church.

The record is not limited to Bishop Thomas Tobin’s and Archbishop Charles Chaput’s recent comments about the synod. There is the USCCB statement about President Barack Obama’s plans for an executive order on nondiscrimination against LGBT Americans, which is neither “welcoming” nor “providing for” fellow human beings. There are the recent statements from Archbishop George Lucas and Bishop Kevin Rhoades about Catholic universities in their dioceses extending health care benefits to same-sex partners of university employees. Again, not welcoming or providing for fellow human beings. There is the relative indifference to the positive aspects of the Affordable Care Act compared to all the time and money spent confronting the HHS contraception mandate. There was the failure of the bishops to even pass a statement on poverty a couple years back. Shall I go on?

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter November 10, 2014

BALTIMORE — In his first address to the full slate of American bishops as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville praised Pope Francis’ tone and style, but avoided specific mention of the hot-button cultural issues that roiled the Synod of Bishops meeting at the Vatican last month.

Kurtz defended the pope’s emerging “culture of encounter,” with its emphasis on mercy over judgment, embracing those not living in accord with Church teaching, and more directly assisting the poor and disadvantaged. He likened Francis’ philosophy to his own visits to the homes of parishioners when he was a pastor.

“When I’d come to someone’s home, I wouldn’t start by telling them how I’d rearrange their furniture. In the same way, I wouldn’t begin by giving them a list of rules to follow,” Kurtz told the nearly 400 bishops gathered in Baltimore.

During the synod last month in Rome, conservative and liberal bishops battled, sometimes publicly, over how the Church should promote its sometimes-controversial teachings. Liberal Catholics have praised what they say is Francis’ more open, welcoming tone, while conservatives fret that the pope is not placing enough emphasis on opposition to issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

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WASHINGTON
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Paul F. Corkery was a Jesuit priest of the Oregon Province, ordained in 1923. His early career was spent at St. Ignatius College in San Francisco CA, followed thereafter by school and parish assignments in Washington state. For many years he was assigned to Indian missions, where he was pastor and superior. He died in 1959. Corkery’s name was included on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1923
Died: May 10, 1959

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | November 10, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In demoting American Cardinal Raymond Burke from his powerful perch at the Vatican, Pope Francis has sidelined an outspoken conservative agitator — for now.

The pope moved the feisty former archbishop of St. Louis from his role as head of the Vatican’s highest court to the largely ceremonial position of patron of the Knights of Malta on Saturday (Nov. 8).

Francis has effectively exiled one of his loudest critics, but Burke’s supporters — and his opponents — warn that his position at the Catholic charity may actually give him more freedom to exercise greater influence and even rally opposition to papal reforms.

In other words, the stunning demotion may remake Burke into St. Raymond the Martyr, the patron saint of Catholic conservatives.

“His position as patron of the Knights of Malta is Rome-based and mostly ceremonial,” wrote Edward Pentin for the conservative National Catholic Register.

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UNITED STATES
Mic

By Coleen Jose

The news: In a move that’s elicited applause from the victims of clerical abuse, Pope Francis has officially excommunicated a Argentine priest who confessed to pedophilia. While it’s a major step in the right direction, some are still calling it a lax effort considering the church’s supposed “zero tolerance” policy for crimes against children.

In 2011, Argentine priest Jose Mercau received a 14-year prison sentence after admitting to sexually abusing four teenagers but spent only 15 days in jail before spending the rest of his sentence in a monastery in Buenos Aires until his release last March.

Mercau’s excommunication, which was announced Wednesday by the bishopric of San Isidro on the outskirts of the Argentine capital, signals a pivot toward Francis’ zero tolerance policy, which he introduced last year with the hope of bringing abusers to justice and protecting victims of past abuse.

“The church still has a long way to go,” Sebastian Cuattromo, director of the advocacy group Adults for the Rights of Infancy, told the Associated Press. Francis’ policies “are being carried out because of the long fight by the victims,” said Cuattromo, who was sexually abused by a priest at age 13.

A sordid history: While this might seem like a step in the right direction, Mercau’s excommunication and past similar moves having been derided as nothing more than publicity stunts.

In July, victims groups criticized the pope for waiting 16 months before holding a meeting with six victims of abuse from Ireland, Germany and Britain. Francis begged forgiveness for the church in his homily during a private mass with the victims. The pontiff called the abuse a “grave sin,” decrying how it was “camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained.” Though Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi defended the pope for his “positive intentions,” critics were quick to highlight the tardiness of the meeting.

Regardless, many still view this “progressive pope” as just more of the same old guard that won’t do much to correct the church’s various wrongs.

“Over the past 2,000 years, two popes have met with about two dozen clergy sex abuse victims. Very little has changed,” Mary Caplan, the leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement sent to NBC News. “A dozen popes could meet with 100 victims, and very little will change. These meetings are public relations coups for the Vatican and a distracting placebo for others.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory

November 10, 2014

Deficiencies in Archdiocese of Chicago Document Release to be Revealed Tomorrow

Survivors’ Attorneys to Provide Complete Picture of Institutional Practices in the Handling of Child Sexual Abuse

WHAT: At a news conference on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 in Chicago, sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman will:

· Discuss the gaps and deficiencies in the documents recently released by the Archdiocese of Chicago pertaining to 36 priests accused of child sexual abuse.

· Provide summaries, timelines, photographs and key documents detailing individual offenders’ files.

· Identify the enablers in official positions who failed to take action against these offenders.

WHEN: Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at 1:00PM CST

WHERE: Kerns, Frost & Pearlman and Jeff Anderson & Associates
30 West Monroe, Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60603

NOTES:
· All documents will be available prior to the press event at www.andersonadvocates.com.

· Press packets will be available at the press conference Tuesday.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.227.9990 Mobile: 612.817.8665
Contact Marc Pearlman: Office: 312.261.4550 Mobile: 773.368.0142

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Barton Deiters | bdeiters@mlive.com
on November 10, 2014

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A former Catholic school tutor faces life in prison if convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

But the attorney for Abigail Marie Simon says it is the teen whom police are portraying as the victim who should face charges — not his client.

Simon, of Grand Blanc, is represented by Michael Manley, a high-profile attorney from the Flint area.

Simon is facing trial starting Monday, Nov. 10, in Kent County Circuit Court.

Manley has said he feels he has switched roles with the prosecutor since the beginning of court proceedings in Grand Rapids District Court more than 19 months ago, when the accusations gained national attention as an alleged example of teachers preying on teen students.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Documents given to James Reilly show Galway City Council were aware of burials

Lorna Siggins

Mon, Nov 10, 2014

Evidence on the Tuam mother and babies home recently presented to Minister for Children James Reilly points to a far more extensive burial site, local historian Catherine Corless has said.

Ms Corless, who is due to speak at a conference at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in NUI Galway (NUIG) this evening, has obtained maps and minutes of meetings from Galway County Council which confirm that the local authority was aware of the burials.

Ms Corless, who conducted the research into the deaths of 796 infants at the Bon Secours home in Tuam between 1925 and 1961, says that minutes of a Galway County Council meeting of December 11th 1979 refer to a proposal to build a children’s playground close to new local authority housing on

The draft terms of reference for the commission of inquiry into the mother and baby homes have now been circulated among all the relevant departments, Minister for Children James Reilly has said. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times.Draft mother and baby homes inquiry terms circulated
Legal advice sought by mothers who gave birth in mother and baby homes

The motion refers to a “children’s burial ground” on the site and the “sensitive nature of the area”.
The maps from the Galway County Council archive show the irregular nature of back gardens attached to the local authority housing, built after the home was demolished.

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AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

THE FAILURES OF AUSTRALIA TO PROTECT AGAINST AND PROVIDE REDRESS FOR THE SYSTEMIC SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIALS

Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture In Connection with its Review of Australia

53rd Session, November 2014

I. Reporting Organisation

This report is submitted by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – Australia (SNAP) which has provided support to and sought justice and healing for Australian survivors of clergy sexual abuse for the past five years. SNAP Australia is part of an international network that was founded 25 years ago by a small group of survivors of rape and sexual violence committed by clergy within the Catholic Church. Today, the Network has over 20,000 members in 79 countries with support groups in 65 cities.1

Since 2011, SNAP has been working for accountability in international legal mechanisms for the widespread and systemic rape and sexual violence within the Catholic Church.2

Further to that effort, SNAP, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, submitted a Shadow
Report and Supplemental Report to this Committee during its 52nd session in connection with
its review of the Holy See.

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AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

THE FAILURES OF AUSTRALIA TO PROTECT AGAINST AND PROVIDE REDRESS FOR THE SYSTEMIC SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIALS

For Immediate Release Monday Nov 10, 2014

Statement by Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) +61 0422 538 440

The UN Committee Against Torture, meeting in Geneva this week, questioned Australian Government officials. They want answers regarding Cardinal George Pell’s refusal to hand over documents about child sex crimes by Catholic officials, to the Royal Commission.

Committee members raised the issue of Cardinal Pell’s response to Justice Peter McClellan, Chair of the Royal Commission, that his request for files held by the Vatican was “unreasonable” as they were “the internal workings of a sovereign state”.

Australian Government representatives were asked by the Committee for their response to this refusal to comply with legal requests for information necessary for the Royal Commission to do its job.

While Cardinal Pell promotes himself as being prepared to “co-operate fully” with the Royal Commission, his actions tell a different story.

Committee Vice-Chairperson, Felice Gaer, described the Australia’s Government’s refusal to investigate these crimes as “compliant or wilfully inactive.”

Survivors complained that Australian politicians seem unconcerned about the Vatican’s blocking of the investigations and call for Government action to ensure all requested documents are turned over to the Royal Commission.

UN Questions Australia’s Commitment to Criminally Investigate Child Sexual Violence

A further question from Felice Gaer, asked whether the Royal Commission was merely an information collecting exercise, or would involve criminal investigations.

The Committee also asked for a response to two individual cases, supplied to them by NGOs (Non Government Organisations). One of those is my own case, which involves dozens of known survivors who have never received any recognition. All charges were dropped despite multiple eyewitnesses to the many crimes. I was present in the Committee meeting in Geneva today when the question about my case was asked and will be present tomorrow (1 am Thu Sydney time) when Australia responds.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

That’s our town’s Lyn Woolfolk in the latest issue of Ebony, discussing his abuse as a boy at the hands of Fr. Thomas Graham. “The archdiocese paid half a million dollars to bail him out of jail on the very day that the jury convicted him of child sex crimes against me,” Woolfolk said.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 10

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach CA, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com )

A twice-accused priest who helped conceal child sex crimes under Cardinal Roger Mahony has reportedly been “cleared” of child sex charges by Vatican officials, despite at least two allegations. We are deeply worried by this bizarre decision.

[Los Angeles Times]

Does anyone really believe that Vatican bureaucrats, as Catholic officials claim, really spent more than ten years investigating the child sex abuse allegations against Msgr. Richard Loomis?

Does anyone really believe that a long-time aide to the widely-discredited Mahony who helped protect predators and endanger kids, deserves to be restored to a position of trust and authority, regardless of whether he himself committed heinous crimes against children.

We call on Archbishop Jose Gomez to use his vast resources – church bulletins, parish websites, pulpit announcements, and archdiocesan publications – to prod anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups by Loomis to come forward, expose wrongdoers, and protect kids.

We also call on Gomez to put Loomis in a desk job far away from families and to be completely honest with his colleagues and supervisors about Loomis’ past.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Nov. 7, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ZUNI — Officials with the Diocese of Gallup are investigating the sudden disappearance of one of its foreign priests, as well as allegations surrounding his abrupt departure.

The Rev. Ravi Kiran, aka Ravi Kiran Dasari or Ravikiran Dasari, a native of India, reportedly left his assignment at St. Anthony’s Indian Mission on the Pueblo of Zuni Oct. 9, according to Zuni parishioners. A multitude of allegations surround the priest, including allegations of possible misuse of parish funds.

Questions emailed Tuesday to Bishop James S. Wall and his chancellor, the Rev. Kevin Finnegan, have not yet been answered. Questions were left Thursday for Zuni Gov. Arlen P. Quetawki Sr., who was out of his office.

A request for comment from Kiran’s provincial superior in India has gone unanswered.

Suzanne Hammons, the media coordinator for the Diocese of Gallup, confirmed Kiran left his priestly assignment without notifying the diocese.

Kiran, who was recruited to the Gallup Diocese by Wall, had served briefly as the diocese’s superintendent of Catholic schools. Wall assigned him to St. Anthony’s after the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had a longtime ministry in the Pueblo of Zuni, withdrew from the mission in 2011. Financial accounts established by the Franciscans are at the center of some of the allegations.

Interviews with parishioners from St. Anthony’s reveal Kiran’s tenure at the mission has left the parish deeply divided. A number of Zuni church members have left, claiming Kiran pushed them out of their own parish. Other Zuni church members continue to support Kiran and believe the allegations against him are untrue.

Hammons said the Diocese of Gallup’s investigation into Kiran is still in its preliminary stage.

Wall’s chancery officials reportedly conducted an audit of St. Anthony’s financial accounts soon after Kiran’s departure. According to parishioners, Finnegan read a letter from Wall during a Mass at St. Anthony’s Oct. 26, but that letter did not explain Kiran’s disappearance nor did it address any of the allegations. Diocesan officials have not released a copy of that letter to Kiran’s supporters, his detractors or to the Independent.

—Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at 505- 870-0745.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Nov. 8, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup has refused to answer any questions about allegations surrounding the mysterious disappearance of one of his foreign priests.

Instead, Susan G. Boswell, his lead bankruptcy attorney, released a short announcement Wall had sent to be read to the St. Anthony Indian Mission parishioners Oct. 26.

The Rev. Ravi Kiran, aka Ravi Kiran Dasari or Ravikiran Dasari, a native of India, “abandoned his assignment” at the mission church on the Pueblo of Zuni, according to Wall’s announcement.

A list of questions about Kiran’s disappearance, allegations of possible misuse of church funds, and a subsequent audit of the mission’s financial accounts were submitted to Wall and to the Rev. Kevin Finnegan, the diocesan chancellor, on Tuesday. As is the bishop’s usual practice, he turned over the responsibility of responding to the media’s questions to his bankruptcy attorney.

“With respect to your questions regarding Fr. Ravi and his departure from St. Anthony Parish,” Boswell said in an email Friday, “attached is the announcement that was provided to parishioners in St. Anthony upon Fr. Ravi’s departure. Neither Bishop Wall nor the Diocese of Gallup has any additional comment beyond what is attached.”

Boswell instructed any further questions be directed to her rather than the bishop.

According to Zuni parishioners at St. Anthony’s, the following three-paragraph announcement was read to them by Finnegan, but they were not provided a copy.

“On Sunday October 11, 2014, the Diocese of Gallup was informed that Father Ravi Kiran former Administrator of Saint. (sic) Anthony Parish in Zuni, New Mexico abandoned his assignment and returned to India. He did this without notifying the diocese or requesting permission for a leave of absence. His actions were found to be unprovoked and a surprise to everyone. Fr. Kiran is a member of the Heralds of the Good News, of which he has been on leave for the past three years. The permission to be on leave from his Order in India expired this last June.”

“It is important to remember that Fr. Kiran did this without any consultation with others and acted on his own accord. Due to his actions, he is no longer the Administrator of Saint Anthony Parish in Zuni. The Diocese is in the process of assigning a Pastor to the Parish and School. As soon as a decision is made the community at St. Anthony’s will be informed of the Pastoral appointment.”

“During this process let us keep faith, maintain hope and in charity pray for Saint Anthony’s to the Glory of the Father and His Son Jesus the Christ. May we all continue to grow in rich Catholic faith, and express it through our daily love of God and our neighbor.”

— Reporter Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at 505-870-0745.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

10 NOVEMBER 2014

Victims of historical institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland should receive reparations, a minister in the powersharing administration said.

A public inquiry has received harrowing testimony from those who lived in residential homes run by Catholic religious orders.

A panel headed by a retired judge is holding an extensive probe into claims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against young children made by hundreds of former residents who have contacted the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Stormont junior minister Jennifer McCann said: “I would certainly like to see some sort of reparations made in terms of those people that have went through the inquiry.”

Memorials, compensation and measures to prevent a repeat of abuse have been discussed by witnesses to the inquiry chaired by Sir Anthony Hart.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Victims of historic child sex abuse speak out, after Catholic Church refuses to accept “liability” for the crimes of their priests

The Catholic Church is refusing to accept “liability” for long-term sex abuse that went on at the Mirfield Junior Seminary, despite paying out £120,000 to eleven victims of child sex abuse.

The seminary, which closed down in 1984, was run by the Verona Fathers (now known as the Comboni Missionaries) and saw sexual abuse perpetrated by priests against children as young as 11.

Three Catholic priests of the Verona Fathers are said to have repeatedly abused boys in their care. Now twelve of their victims have joined together to campaign for justice. The former pupils have launched a website to share their experiences of the seminary, called Mirfield Memories, and to offer support for their fellow victims.

The men’s efforts have led to many of their fellow pupils coming forward to describe their own experiences of abuse at the Mirfield Seminary.

In a press release the “Mirfield 12” describe some of the abuse they suffered at the hands of the Verona Fathers. One of three priests accused of abuse, Fr Pinkman, “used to bring boys, as young as 11 to his bedroom, to explain the facts of life to them and ask them to remove their clothes so that he could explain further. He went on to abuse many of them”.

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INDIA
Zee News

Monday, November 10, 2014

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that there is a “prima facie” case against Indian Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl during his stay in USA in 2004, warranting his extradition.

The submission made before Justice Pratibha Rani against accused Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul also states that the present “petition being without merits and deserves to be dismissed at the threshold”.

“The contention raised by the fugitive criminal (FC) that the requesting state (USA) has sought extradition of the FC on the basis of second amended complaint and the first complaint is not there, so it is irrelevant for the purpose of present proceedings…

“The fact of the matter is that USA has sent all relevant documents in accordance with treaty and therefore, Extradition Magistrate is not obliged to go into other extraneous details for ascertaining the existence of a prima facie case against the FC warranting his extradition,” the central government’s Standing Counsel said in its reply.

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GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims testify to UN Panel on torture

Clergy abuse victims seek government intervention by US and Australia

This week a panel at the United Nations is reviewing compliance with meeting treaty obligations for, among other State parties, the United States and Australia. The review is being conducted by independent human rights experts from ten nations who make up the Committee Against Torture. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, has partnered with the Center for Constitutional Rights in submitting a Shadow Report outlining failures of the United States to protect against and provide redress for the nationwide and systemic sexual violence and cover-up by Catholic clergy. SNAP submitted a similar report outlining the same failures by the government of Australia. (Both reports are available at SNAPnetwork.org)

The review is being conducted by independent human rights experts from ten nations at the High Commission for Human Rights of the United Nations in Geneva. The actual proceedings are available on the internet via live webcast. Representatives from SNAP from both the United States and Australia are providing testimony and reports to the Committee which will review Australia on Monday and Tuesday followed by the United States on Wednesday and Thursday.

[United Nations Human Rights]

The Committee Against Torture reviewed the Holy See earlier in 2014 and explicitly recognized cases of rape and sexual violence committed by clergy as within the purview of the treaty which both the United States and Australia have adopted. The Committee and other sources of international law view rape and sexual violence as amounting to torture.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Die Welt

Als im Jahr 2002 die ersten Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs minderjähriger Jungen und Mädchen innerhalb der katholischen Kirche bekannt wurden, ahnte vermutlich kaum jemand in den USA, zu welchem Skandal sich die Vorwürfe ausweiten sollten. Mittlerweile ist bekannt, dass in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten mehrere Tausend Jugendliche Opfer von Priestern wurden. Allein die amerikanische Bischofskonferenz listet in einem Bericht 6700 Missbrauchfälle auf und klagte 4392 Priester an. Viele der Opfer waren dabei erst elf oder zwölf Jahre alt, keiner über 17.

Die Fälle reichten dabei so weit in die Vergangenheit zurück, dass eine Aufbereitung nur schwer möglich war. Der größte Teil der Täter (etwa 3300) war nach der Aufdeckung bereits gestorben. Nur gegen einen Bruchteil der Beschuldigten (384) wurde ermittelt, und noch weniger, gerade einmal 252 Priester, wurden auch verurteilt. Von den durch die Bischofskonferenz identifizierten Tätern waren das knapp fünf Prozent.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Paul Collins | 10 November 2014

Archbishop Gallagher with ABC religious broadcaster Noel Debien

An important power shift has just occurred in Rome, and it has a genuine Australian connection.

The long-rumoured removal of US Cardinal Raymond Burke as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the top tribunal in the Vatican’s judicial system, and effectively the appeals court for all other tribunals in the church, occurred at midday on Saturday.

Burke has been made Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta. His replacement at the Signatura is Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States, effectively the Vatican’s foreign minister. Mamberti’s replacement is Liverpool-born Archbishop Paul Gallagher, currently papal nuncio to Australia.

The sidelining of the 66 year old Burke signifies an important power shift. A bluntly outspoken conservative critic of Pope Francis’ pastoral approach to difficult moral issues, his rejection of a hierarchy of truths (the notion that some teachings are more important than others) has placed him at the far right of the Catholic spectrum. Burke has said that Catholicism risks schism if bishops at the Family Synod next year ‘go contrary’ to the Church’s established dogmas.

A ‘folk hero’ for some Catholics, Burke was appointed bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1994, and promoted to Archbishop of St Louis in late 2004. He was appointed Prefect of the Signatura in 2008 and was made a cardinal in November 2010.

He exercised considerable influence on the appointment of new bishops in the US as a member of the Congregation of Bishops. He was removed from the Congregation by Pope Francis in December 2013. His dismissal from the Signatura was certainly brutal by Vatican standards. The Roman saying is ‘Let him be promoted that he may be removed’, but with Burke they didn’t even pretended he was being ‘promoted’. Perhaps it is because he had ‘leaked’ his own demotion some weeks earlier.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

Dennis Shanahan
Political Editor

THE Vatican’s Ambassador to Australia, British archbishop Paul Gallagher, has been appointed the Holy See’s Foreign Minister, joining Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell as another new broom in a top papal post.

The 60-year-old Archbishop Gallagher was born in Liverpool and became the first English-born ambassador for the Holy See when he was appointed to Guatemala in 2009. He became the Apostolic Nuncio to Australia in April last year.

As well as Australia, he has served in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, often in countries torn by civil war.

Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Gallagher, the first Briton to serve as Secretary for Relations with States, to replace one of his conservative critics, US cardinal Raymond Burke, in a continuing shake-up of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Foreign Minister for the Holy See is considered the third-highest position in the Vatican, which has diplomatic relations with more than 150 countries.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 November 2014 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of San Carlos de Venezuela, Venezuela, presented by Bishop Tomas Jesus Zarraga Colmenares, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

– appointed the following members of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA): Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, U.S.A.; Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

On Saturday, 8 November, the Holy Father appointed:

– Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, U.S.A., as patron of the Order of Malta. Cardinal Burke is currently prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura;

– Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, France, as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Archbishop Mamberti is currently secretary for Relations with States;

– Rev. Chad Zielinski as bishop of Fairbanks (area 1,061,508, population 164,355, Catholics 13,939, priests 20, permanent deacons 25, religious 17), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1996. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1983 to 1986 and subsequently obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master of divinity from the Sacred Heart major seminary in Detroit. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish priest of St. Philip Neri, Empire and of St. Rita and St. Joseph, Maple City. He is currently Air Force chaplain at the military based of Eielson, Fairbanks.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

British archbishop who claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid handing documents to paedophile investigators is promoted to third highest role in Vatican by the Pope

By JENNY AWFORD FOR MAILONLINE

A British archbishop, appointed by Pope Francis as his new foreign minister, claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid handing over Vatican documents to prosecutors investigating two paedophile priests.

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, 60, from Liverpool was promoted on Saturday to the third highest position in the Vatican as part of a reshuffle by Francis.

But the appointment of the former papal envoy to Australia to the Vatican’s most senior hierarchy will be a blow for campaigners against clerical sex abuse.

Earlier this year the United Nations said it was ‘concerned’ after Mr Gallagher cited diplomatic immunity in response to repeated requests by prosecutors for documents on two priests that abused more than 100 children over 40 years.

A report by the UN Committee against Torture reported that the Holy See was still ‘resisting the principle of mandatory reporting of allegations to civil authorities’, and withholding information, citing Gallagher by name.

Only after months of bureaucratic wrangling and an embarrassing diplomatic standoff did the Archbishop eventually agree to turn over some of the documents which were wanted as part of an inquiry into Australia’s worst abuse scandal.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Mitch Keegan, Anchor, KEYC News 12

The central office of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is planning to cut its budget by 20 percent, including unspecified staff reductions.

The archdiocese issued a statement Saturday saying the cuts will exceed $5 million. Vicar General Charles Lachowitzer says budgets and staff have grown over the past several years and need to be cut back.

The statement did not cite the archdiocese’s recent settlement with victims of clerical sexual misconduct. But it said that even without “unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees,” the operational budget was unsustainable.

Whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger says she thinks the cuts are less a consequence of the settlement than of declining contributions from parishioners who object to how the archdiocese has handled the clergy misconduct crisis.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By JAMES CARROLL
NOV. 7, 2014

SOMETIMES, when I kneel alone in a pew in the far back shadows of a church, face buried in my hands, a forbidden thought intrudes: You should have left all this behind a long time ago. The joyful new pope has quickened the affection even of the disaffected, including me, but, oddly, I sense the coming of a strange reversal in the Francis effect. The more universal the appeal of his spacious witness, the more cramped and afraid most of his colleagues in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church have come to seem.

It is easy to love Pope Francis for his resounding defense of the poor, his simplicity, his evident large heart. But the moral grandeur of his personal triumph throws into stark relief the continuing pettiness of the institution over which he presides, a pettiness that inevitably seeks to impose itself on him. What magic, actually, can Francis’s singular magnanimity work on the church’s iron triangle of bureaucracy, dogma and male power?

The intruding voice in my head keeps asking, for example, why has Francis, too, joined in the denigration of American nuns?

Why is the culture of clerical immunity that unleashed a legion of priest-rapists being protected instead of dismantled?

Why in the world beatify, or advance toward sainthood, Pope Paul VI? With his solemn reiteration, in 1968, of the ban on contraception, that pontiff, whatever counterbalancing virtues he displayed, single-handedly made Roman Catholicism a church of bad conscience.

Is an awful truth about dogged church backlash on display here?

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Rachel Attard
Monday, 10 November 2014

A criminal complaint was filed this morning against Dominican priest Fr Mark Montebello, the accusation being that he tried to bribe a witness in a case involving alleged sexual abuse by Fr Charles Fenech.

The criminal complaint was filed at the Birkirkara police station by Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is claiming that Fr Mark phoned him on 1 April 2014 at 10.18pm and offered him a six-figure sum for the woman who is alleging that Fr Fenech sexually abused her to withdraw her allegations.

Mr Bonnici Cachia said that his answer was that “we are not for sale”. It is not true, as Fr Mark is saying in The Times, that it was Mr Bonnici Cachia who called. “I did not even have Fr Mark’s number,” he told The Malta Independent.

This newsroom is also informed by a number of sources that Fr Mark knew about this case long before it surfaced in the media, so much so that 10 years ago he had taken the alleged victim to a particular media house for her to tell the story involving Fr Fenech.

Fr Mark has said that he did not act as an intermediary in the Fr Fenech case.

Fr Charles Fenech is charged with sexually abusing a number of women, with his case due to be heard on 17 December. He has so far not turned up for three sittings. He has since been removed from the post of Kerygma Movement director and stopped from administering Holy Sacraments.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Fr Mark Montebello has denied acting as an intermediary between a victim’s lawyer and an unidentified person who was ready to pay a six-figure sum in exchange for the woman’s silence.

The woman is one of the complainants in the clerical sex abuse case involving the former Kergyma Movement director.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times of Malta reported that the offer had been communicated by Fr Montebello to Edgar Bonnici Cachia, the victim’s lawyer.

Bonnici Cachia told the newspaper that it was Montebello who called him, informing him of the offer. According to the same newspaper, Montebello had passed on a message on behalf of a married person.

But in reply to the news report, Montebello denied having ever acted an intermediary.

“I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Lawrence, MA criminal trial of priest pedophile, Fr. Richard McCormick, former Provincial of the Salesian Father and Brothers, set for closing arguments on Monday, November 10, 2014 and then jury deliberations

Fr. Richard McCormick’s sexual abuse victim is to be congratulated for his bravery and perseverance in bringing the clergy sexual abuse case to trial

One more clergy sexual abuse victim whose abuser lived in Methuen, MA, will attend closing arguments in Fr. Richard McCormick case and then speak about the Catholic Church’s tactics

What: A press conference by a clergy sexual abuse victim of a Methuen, MA priest.

When: Monday, November 10, 2014 immediately after closing arguments in the Fr. Richard McCormick criminal trial.

Where: On the public sidewalk in front of Lawrence Superior Courthouse at 2 Appleton Street, Lawrence, MA 01840

Who: Bassam Haddad, a sexual abuse victim of Fr. Ross S. Frey, B.S.O, recently deceased Melkite Greek Catholic priest from Methuen, MA; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that provides assistance to sexual abuse victims and their families.

Why: Bassam Haddad was a minor child when he was sexually abused at St. Joseph’s Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Lawrence, MA by serial pedophile Fr. Ross S. Frey, a priest of the Basilian Salvatorian Religious Order centered in Methuen, MA. Fr. Ross Frey, recently deceased, was allowed to flee to Lebanon and his religious order has wrongfully treated Bassam Haddad.

Contact: Dr. Robert M. Hoatson
Road to Recovery, Inc.,
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ, 07039
roberthoatson@gmail.com

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Beth McDonough

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced 20 percent in spending cuts over the weekend. That’s about $5 million worth of reductions in jobs and programs.

Archdiocese officials say these cuts don’t directly affect the budgets of parishes, Catholic schools and other local Catholic groups, because they operate independently.

“Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” the Reverend Charles Lackowitzer of the Archdiocese said in a statement.

The archdiocese, along with the Diocese of Winona, says they’re considering all options to help pay for a historic settlement

Although the exact amount of the settlement is confidential, experts say it will likely cost the Archdiocese tens of millions of dollars – perhaps more money than the Catholic church can afford.

A Minnesota judge signed off on the settlement Monday in a groundbreaking case that accused Catholic church leaders in Minnesota of creating a public nuisance by failing to warn parishioners about an abusive priest.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

A Marlborough priest will face internal disciplinary action from the Catholic Church after he was discharged without conviction for indecently assaulting a teenage boy.

Alastair Aidan Kay, 71, appeared in the Blenheim District Court today after pleading guilty at an earlier appearance.

Judge Bruce Davidson told the court his decision was a close call.

“In my view, the offence in itself is of lowish-level seriousness. By the narrowest of margins, I am prepared to exercise my discretion,” he said.

“I find that the consequences of conviction are out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence and I exercise my residual discretion to discharge you without conviction.”

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NEW ZEALAND
Otago Daily Times

A Blenheim priest has been discharged without conviction over an indecent assault.

Father Aidan Kay, 71, formerly of St Mary’s Catholic church, pleaded guilty in September to a charge of indecently assaulting a male over the age of 16.

He appeared in the Blenheim District Court today, where he was ordered to pay $1500 reparation to his victim, who has name suppression, and discharged without conviction.

Kay had been the parish priest at St Frances Xavier in south Hobart, Australia, for five years before his appointment to St Mary’s.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Nov 10, 2014 By Cathal McMahon

Fr Shay Cullen says traffickers have lured kids out of the ravaged city of Tacloban and forced them to work as sex slaves

An Irish priest told yesterday how dangerous traffickers have lured children out of a typhoon ravaged city and forced them to work in brothels.

Fr Shay Cullen revealed many of the Filipino children are then pimped out to Irish and other westerners as sex slaves.

The Dublin priest, who set up the Preda Foundation in 1974, has devoted his life to rescuing child sex victims and bringing their abusers to court.

And now, in an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror, the 71-year-old cleric has revealed how dangerous predators have exploited children orphaned by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago.

He said: “We travelled to Tacloban after the typhoon like every other charity to help with the emergency.

“But very soon it was reported to us about the trafficking of the orphans. Immediately I got information about the orphans of the dead people – 6,000 people died overnight in that terrible storm.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Advertiser

A FORMER Catholic priest living in Cootamundra has been charged with alleged historic sex offences in Sydney and Goulburn.

About 9am on Monday, police went to a house in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

A search warrant was executed at the house and a number of items were seized, including documents and computers.

The items will be undergo forensic examination.

The man was taken to Cootamundra police station and charged with nine counts of indecent assault of a male and one count of committing an act of indecency.

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

Police have charged a former Catholic Priest in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon a number of children in Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Goulburn.

In May, investigators from Northern Beaches Local Area Command received information about alleged indecent assault matters involving five boys and commenced an investigation.

Officers will allege that the offences occurred between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

About 9am today (Monday 10 November 2014), officers attended a home in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

A search warrant was executed at the man’s home and a number of items were seized including documents and computers, which will now undergo further examination.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Catholic priest has been charged with indecently assaulting boys in New South Wales schools in the 1970s.

Police arrested the 75-year-old man at his home in Cootamundra, in the state’s south, on Monday morning.

They allege the man assaulted the boys at schools in the northern Sydney suburb of Manly, and at Goulburn on the state’s southern Tablelands.

The assaults allegedly took place between 1973 and 1976.

Police said they began investigating in May after receiving information about incidents involving five victims.

They said documents and computers had been seized from the man’s home for examination.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former Catholic priest has been charged with historical indecent assaults on a number of children in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The 75-year-old was arrested at his Cootamundra home on Monday after police seized a number of documents and computers from the premises.

In May, investigators information about alleged a series of alleged indecent assaults involving five boys between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

The man was charged with nine counts of indecent assault of a male and one count of act of indecency.

He was given conditional bail to appear at Cootamundra Local Court on December 5.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Monday, 10 November 2014

Police have charged a former Catholic Priest in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon a number of children in the Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

In May, investigators from Northern Beaches Local Area Command received information about alleged indecent assault matters involving five boys and commenced an investigation.

Officers will allege that the offences occurred between 1973 and 1976, at schools in Manly and Goulburn.

About 9am today (Monday 10 November 2014), officers attended a home in Cootamundra and arrested a 75-year-old man.

A search warrant was executed at the man’s home and a number of items were seized including documents and computers, which will now undergo further examination.

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NEW ZEALAND
TVNZ

[with video]

An elderly Blenheim priest who pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault has been discharged without conviction and ordered to pay $1500 in reparations for emotional harm.

Father Aidan Kay must pay $1000 today and the rest by December.

Judge Bruce Davidson said Kay’s offence was at the low level of offending and the former priest was discharged without conviction by a narrow margin.

The court heard on the July 15 2014, the 17-year-old male victim was staying at the local Catholic presbytery. Kay, 71, was helping the teen and his family deal with issues.

In the evening, Kay and the victim had dinner together. At the end of the evening, Kay stood up and hugged him. He then slid his hands down his trousers to the back of his underwear and kissed the victim.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Sunday, November 9, 2014 by Fr Joe Borg

This newspaper was the first to prudently but professionally break the story about the pending court case against Fr Charles Fenech, who stands accused of sexually abusing a vulnerable person. This report was followed by other newspapers and other media which sometimes preferred to give a sensationalist bend.

The accusations against him are very serious, even horrible. This piece is not intentioned to diminish in any way or manner the seriousness of what is alleged.

It is not meant to defend Fenech in any way as I have no brief or interest to do so. But it interests me to analyse whether its reportage in the media is or is not another example of the state of unbearable shambles of public discourse in Malta.

Many media outlets lost their sense of proportion. I believe that journalistically and objectively the disgraceful revelations of the mass exploitation of foreign workers at the Chinese-owned company, Leisure Clothing, should have been given much more importance by our media outlets than the allegations against Fenech. The sense of proportion was lost in the enormous hullabaloo that ensued on Facebook. The comments of genuinely concerned people were mixed with comments of those grossly misinformed about the story. Naked hatred of the Church oscillated with genuine concern for it. This is to be expected as the allegations are serious enough for the police to press criminal charges.

Reneging on celibacy vows is as morally reprehensible as reneging on marriage vows, but both are only criminally relevant if they involve violence or minors or lack of consent resulting from vulnerability, as this case is alleged to be.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Dominican priest Mark Montebello is denying that he acted as an intermediary in the money offer made to a complainant in the clerical sex abuse case involving the former Kerygma Movement director Fr Charles Fenech, in return for her silence.

Following a telephone interview with him on Saturday ahead of the story in The Sunday Times of Malta, Fr Montebello is now saying that he had not acted as an intermediary in the matter.
Times of Malta is publishing Fr Montebello’s statement and, in view of his comments, it is also publishing the transcript of the phone call made before the Sunday Times of Malta story was published.

FR MONTEBELLO’S STATEMENT

“There must have been some misunderstanding with regard to the report by Matthew Xuereb in today’s Sunday Times on the cash offered to silence the alleged victim of Fr. Charles Fenech.

“May I make it clear that I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused.

“Mr Bonnici Cachia told me that he was aware of such cases and that neither he nor the alleged victim were for sale. I vouch that I had not passed on to him or to someone else any message on behalf of anyone. May I add that I consider such money offering to be unethical and immoral, and that I would never accept to be part of such dealings.”

PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT

(MX is the journalist Matthew Xuereb, MM is Fr Montebello)
MX​​ Fr Mark?
MM​​ Yes
MX​ Good afternoon. It’s Matthew Xuereb from The Times. How are you?
MM​​ OK, thank God
MX​ I’m working on a story on Fr Charles Fenech and you were brought into the picture as the person who offered the victim money?
MM​ I offered the victim money? This is good. I don’t even know the person.
MX​​ We were told you spoke to Edgar Bonnici Cachia…
MM​ Ah, wait. Yes. Rephrase because I think I’m misunderstanding you. Not I gave…
MX​ No, you called him and told him: “Hemm sinjur li lest joffrilkom sitt figuri basta tirtiraw kollox.” That is what they are saying you said.
MM​​ No, it’s not that. They offered me money?
MX​ They offered you money? Why should they offer you money? They are saying that you called Edgar Cachia…
MM. ​I did not call Edgar Bonnici Cachia…he called me. That’s number one.
MX​ OK, and you told him: “Hemm sinjur li lest joffrilkom sitt figuri basta tirtiraw kollox.”
MM​ To the police? To Edgar? I don’t think we are understanding each other. What I told Edgar is that I know of people who are saying…it’s complicated…I know people who told me that someone told them to call the victim because they know them and tell her that there will be this exchange of money. Am I getting through?

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

By JACINTA CARROLL Nov. 8, 2014

RELIGIOUS leaders have shown their support for reform within the Catholic Church in its efforts to prevent future child sexual abuse within the organisation.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive officer Francis Sullivan was in Bathurst yesterday to speak with a group of 40 local church officials including Bishop Michael McKenna, priests and representatives from Catholic welfare and health organisations about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and the church’s response to it.

The Catholic Church established TJH to help it fully embrace the Royal Commission.

The council helps the church deal with the tragic legacy of child sexual abuse and to help victims and survivors be heard and supported.

Mr Sullivan told the Western Advocate that he spoke to yesterday’s conference about the Royal Commission and what the council is doing.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Dominican priest Fr Mark Montebello said that contrary to what The Sunday Times reported yesterday, he did not serve as an intermediary to offer money to one of the victims allegedly sexually abused by Fr Charles Fenech.

Fr Montebello wrote to the newspaper as a right of reply following yesterday’s report, saying that he had been misunderstood.

A copy of the letter was sent to other media, including The Malta Independent. It is being reproduced below.

“Dear Sir, there must have been some misunderstanding with regard to the report by Matthew Xuereb in today’s Sunday Times on the cash offered to silence the alleged victim of Fr. Charles Fenech. May I make it clear that I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused. Mr Bonnici Cachia told me that he was aware of such cases and that neither he nor the alleged victim were for sale. I vouch that I had not passed on to him or to someone else any message on behalf of anyone. May I add that I consider such money offering to be unethical and immoral, and that I would never accept to be part of such dealings.”

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on November 08, 2014

The RCMP and social services agencies of the day did not do enough to pursue the investigation of Dr. Stephen James Collins, who was convicted in the 1980s of sexually abusing children, says a lawyer who’s been on the case for several years on behalf of people who say they were Collins’ victims.

St. John’s lawyer Bob Buckingham launched two civil cases. One was settled and the other is still before the courts. He also has several other clients and thinks Collins should face the criminal justice system again.

“(The RCMP) should have gone after him. They should have continued the investigation,” Buckingham said. “And then he does minimal amount of time in jail.”

He said Collins was able to manipulate adults and children into a level of trust in rural Newfoundland because he was a “double god” — both a doctor and an ordained minister. …

The United Church of Canada, named as a second defendant in three civil cases against Collins, has denied liability or responsibility for Collins’ actions in a statement of defence in Buckingham’s civil case that is still before the courts.

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Los Angeles

By Jakcie Giordano

A high-ranking clergyman has been cleared of sexual misconduct charges after an investigation spanning 10 years, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced this weekend.

In 2003, Monsignor Richard Loomis was accused of making lewd remarks and attempting to grope a student from his Bible study class, according to a report posted on the archdiocese website.

The abuse allegedly occurred between 1969 and 1979, while Loomis was still a seminarian – before he had been ordained as a priest.

“Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence against these allegations,” the archdiocese said in a statement posted Saturday.

The investigation determined that “no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven,” the statement said.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Bishop Charles Scicluna yesterday told The Malta Independent that he deplores all offers of monetary compensation to alleged victims of sexual abuse by members of the church.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times reported that Dominican priest Mark Montebello served as a go-between to offer a “six-figure sum” to the alleged victim of sex abuse by fellow Dominican priest Charles Fenech. Fr Montebello reportedly passed on the offer during a telephone conversation with Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is assisting the female victim.

Last week, The Malta Independent made attempts to contact the Dominican Provicen’s Fr Frans Micallef for clarifications regarding Fr Montebello’s involvement in this case but to no avail. The Malta Independent also requested an interview with Fr Micallef regarding Fr Fenech’s case, which the former refused.

In October, The Malta Independent broke the story that the offer had been made by a member of the Dominican Order.

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AUSTRIA
The Local

Published: 10 Nov 2014

Defectors from a Catholic community called The Work (Das Werk), which is based in Bregenz in the west of Austria, have spoken out about abuse in the community.

Darren Canning, originally from England, told Austrian state broadcaster ORF that he spent six years as a member of The Work and cried every day. “It was hell, I hoped and prayed that I would die,” he said.

He left in 2003, with no money and no education, and said he had to start a new life from scratch in England.

The Work was founded in 1938 in Belgium by a woman called Julia Verhaeghe, and was given papal approval in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Both nuns and priests belong to the community, as well as non-ordained male and female members.

The Work’s headquarters are in Bregenz but it also has communities in several European countries, the US and Jerusalem.

‘Temptresses’

Canning said that it operated a “system of religious mania, surveillance and oppression that must be stopped”. He said contacts with people outside ‘the family’ were discouraged and that all telephone conversations and letters had to be screened by a religious superior.

Canning said that when his grandfather died he wasn’t even allowed to travel to England for his funeral – the reason given was that his grandfather hadn’t been a Christian.

A spokesman for The Work told the ORF that although these rules had been in place, they had now been abolished – and said that if Canning had insisted, he would have course have been allowed to attend the funeral.

A former priest who was part of The Work has also spoken out, although he wished to remain anonymous.

He said that he knows of cases of abuse in the community and that even in confession priests typically viewed women as “temptresses”. “Even if a woman had been sexually abused, she was seen as being complicit, just because she was a woman,” he said.

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NEW ZEALAND
3 News

By 3 News online staff

A Blenheim priest who admitted indecently assaulting a man at a parish presbytery believes a conviction for the crime would stop him entering Australia.

Former St Mary’s parish priest Alastair Aidan Kay appeared in the Blenheim District Court today for sentencing, but was adjourned so his lawyer could prove the consequences of a conviction.

Kay previously pleaded guilty to the charge, in which he slid his hands down a man’s trousers and groped his buttocks while trying to kiss him on the lips.

Defence lawyer Rob Harrison said the conviction would impact the 71-year-old returning to Australia.
He had already been banned from working in the Marlborough district, and a conviction would stop him returning to his former order, he said.

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