ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON—The 2014 Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore will be live streamed on the Internet, November 10-11, and will also be available via satellite feed for broadcasters wishing to air it. The feed will run Monday, November 10, from 9:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Eastern, and Tuesday, November 11, from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern, covering both the open sessions of the meeting and media conferences.

The live stream will be available at www.usccb.org/about/leadership/usccb-general-assembly/index.cfm. News updates, vote totals, addresses and other materials will be posted to this page. Those wishing to follow the meeting on social media can do so at http://twitter.com/USCCBLive with the hashtag #usccb14. Updates will also be posted to www.facebook.com/usccb.

The meeting will include the first presidential address of Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of USCCB, and an address by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The bishops will vote for the secretary-elect of the Conference and the chairmen-elect of five USCCB committees, as well as members of the boards of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). They will also vote on liturgical action items and whether to proceed with a possible revision to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.”

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Liturgical matters will take center stage on the agenda of action items at the fall general meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to be held Nov. 10-13 in Baltimore.

There will be five liturgical items up for consideration. All are subject to amendments from bishops. All but one require approval of two-thirds of the bishops, followed by final approval from the Vatican.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who is president of the USCCB, will deliver his first presidential address. He was elected to a three-year term last November. As is customary, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, also will address the assembly.

During the meeting, the bishops will choose a new secretary-elect for the USCCB, and vote for the chairmen-elect of five committees.

A number of presentations will be made, including one on underserved communities and Catholic schools, and another on a recent pilgrimage of prayer for peace in the Holy Land.

The bishops also will conduct the canonical consultation on the sainthood cause of Father Paul Wattson. Father Wattson was an Episcopal priest who co-founded the Society of the Atonement, also known as the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, to further Christian unity. He was received into the Catholic Church as were all men and women in the society at the time, and devised the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, still observed each January.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jonathan Pitts,
The Baltimore Sun

Nearly 300 bishops from across the nation will determine the coming year’s agenda for the American Roman Catholic church when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops begins its annual fall meeting Monday in Baltimore.

The bishops will spend four days at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Harbor East, where they will hammer out organizational positions and courses of action on matters ranging from schooling and medical care to liturgy and exorcism.

The Baltimore archdiocese, the oldest in the United States, is marking its 225th anniversary this year, a milestone the conference will celebrate with a Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption Monday evening.

To Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, it will be a highlight of the conference.

“The practice of bishops gathering together to discuss important matters in the life of the church began at the Basilica many, many years ago,” Lori said. “It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the anniversary, but also to celebrate our efforts to work together as a conference. It will be a homecoming.”

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Megan Stewart

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is anticipating a 20 percent cut in budget for the central offices, and it will include job cuts.

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

“Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” 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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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — After a year filled with scrutiny and scandal, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says cuts are coming.

The archdiocese will cut more than $5 million, or about 20 percent from its budget.

That will include job layoffs, starting this month.

Church officials say their current operational budget wasn’t sustainable on top of the legal fees surrounding dozens of allegations of child abuse by clergy members.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By CARLA RIVERA

A former high-ranking member of the Los Angeles Archdiocese was cleared of sexual misconduct charges after a 10-year investigation by the Catholic Church, officials announced.

Monsignor Richard Loomis had been accused in a 2003 lawsuit of sexually abusing a teenage boy while teaching at a Los Angeles area Catholic high school. A second person claiming to have been abused had also been identified by archdiocesan investigators.

The abuse allegedly took place between 1969 and 1971, while Loomis was a seminarian before being ordained as a priest.

Loomis had been serving as pastor of Saints Felicitas and Perpetua Parish in San Marino at the time of the accusations and was placed on temporary inactive ministry pending the investigation.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Saturday released a statement on the resolution of the case.

“After ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial, a tribunal of the Holy See has definitively determined and ruled that no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven. Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations,” the statement said.

“Now that the allegations against him have been conclusively resolved, Canon Law provides that the temporary restrictions on Monsignor Loomis’ public exercise of his priesthood have ceased.”

Loomis, 68, the former vicar for clergy of the Archdiocese who oversaw allegations of misconduct against priests, was a top aide to former head of the Archdiocese, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.

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CALIFORNIA
KPCC

[full statement from the archdiocese]

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has cleared a Monsignor of charges of sexual misconduct, the Office of the Vicar for Clergy announced Saturday.

Msgr. Richard Loomis was acquitted of charges of sexual misconduct that were made in 2003, the archdiocese said. A report posted on the archdiocese’s website suggests Loomis was accused of making lewd remarks and attempting to grope a student from his Bible study class, as well as abusing students at a high school when he was a teacher, prior to being ordained.

In a statement posted Saturday, the archdiocese said:

After ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial, a Tribunal of the Holy See has definitively determined and ruled that no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven. Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

ANNA WILLIAMS

Last updated 10/11/2014

A Blenheim priest charged with indecent assault is being sentenced in the Blenheim District Court today.

St Mary’s priest Father Aidan Kay, 71, was stood down from St Mary’s parish in Blenheim after a complaint was made to police about an incident on July 15.

On his first appearance in court, Kay admitted the charge of indecent assault on a male over aged 16.

The summary of facts, released by Judge Peter Hobbs, shows the assault happened at the parish presbytery and that Kay slid his hands down the man’s back, into his trousers and groped his buttocks. He also attempted to kiss him.

The summary shows the victim was not a member of the clergy and was a guest at the presbytery when the victim and Kay had a meal together and drank some wine.

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OSTERREICH
kath.net

Orden bedauert kurze intime Beziehung eines Priesters zu der Betroffenen und weist allgemeine Beschuldigungen “entschieden zurück” – Vorwürfe wurden im Rahmen einer Apostolischen Visitation geprüft.

Feldkirch (kath.net/KAP) Die geistliche Familie “Das Werk” hat auf Vorwürfe reagiert, die eine ehemalige Schwester des Ordens in einer am Samstag erschienenen Biografie geäußert hat. Das Erscheinen des Buches nehme der Orden “mit Betroffenheit” zur Kenntnis, heißt es in einer Stellungnahme des Regionalverantwortlichen der Gemeinschaft, Pater Georg Gantioler, vom Samstag. Er bedauere es sehr, dass die ehemalige Mitschwester “in einer derartig negativen Weise auf die Jahre in unserer Gemeinschaft zurückblickt und viele positive Dinge, die sie erlebt hat, ausblendet”. Gleichzeitig bestätigt der Orden, dass die Vorwürfe im Rahmen einer bereits abgeschlossen Apostolischen Visitation geprüft wurden, deren Ergebnis noch nicht bekannt ist.

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OSTERREICH
Vorarlberg.orf

Mehrere ehemalige Mitglieder der katholischen Gemeinschaft Das Werk in Bregenz berichten von Einschränkung der persönlichen Freiheit und sexuellen Übergriffen. Ein Sprecher räumt jetzt Fehler ein, die gehörten aber der Vergangenheit an.

Georg Gantioler, Sprecher des Ordens, bestätigt zwar, dass es früher durchaus üblich gewesen sei, dass die Leitung zum Beispiel persönliche Briefe vorab gelesen und abgefangen habe. Auch sei es vorgekommen, dass dem geistlichen Begleiter persönlich Anvertrautes weitererzählt wurde. „Da sind die Grenzen manchmal fließend gewesen“, so Gantioler gegenüber dem ORF. Diese Praktiken gehörten aber der Vergangenheit an. „Man kann das jetzt Fehler nennen. Ich würde sagen, dass waren Entwicklungsschritte“, so der Geistliche. Diese Entwicklungschritte hätten aus der „pubertären“ Gemeinschaft eine „reife“ Gemeinschaft gemacht, „auch durch schmerzliche Erfahrungen hindurch.“

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

[Two people who have dropped out of a religious community called The Work in Bregenz said the Vatican should investigate the group. They allege sexual assaults and restriction of freedom.

One of the dropouts, a 35-year-old Briton, lived in the former Dominican convent at Bregenz-Thai Bach since age 18 and since 1983 the person has been living at the headquarters which has about 100 sisters and 30 brothers and priests. He described the group as being like a sect where they were constantly monitored. He was not allowed to leave to attend the funeral of his grandfather.

Women who raised allegations of sexual abuse were always presented to be temptresses.]

9. November 2014

Zwei Aussteiger berichteten von sexuellen Übergriffen und Einschränkung der Freiheit – Vatikan soll ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben – Sprecher: “Man kann das jetzt Fehler nennen. Ich würde sagen, das waren Entwicklungsschritte”

Bregenz – Zwei ehemalige Mitglieder der direkt dem Papst unterstellten katholischen Gemeinschaft “Das Werk” in Bregenz haben schwere Vorwürfe gegen die geistliche Familie erhoben. Sie sprachen von Missbrauchsfällen und der Einschränkung der persönlichen Freiheit innerhalb der Gemeinschaft, berichtete der ORF Radio Vorarlberg. Der Vatikan soll “Das Werk” ein Jahr lang intensiv untersucht haben.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Nov 8, 2014

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, sometime archbishop of St. Louis, once bestrode the Vatican like a bedecked colossus. Trailing his cappa magna behind him, he presided over the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See’s highest court, and, as a member of the Congregation for Bishops, had a major hand in deciding who would rise to the top of the American church and who would not.

But that was then, under Pope Benedict XVI. Under Pope Francis, Burke was first kicked off the bishops congregation and has now been removed from the Signatura. His new position is Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, with the task of promoting the Maltese knights’ spiritual interests.

The appointment has a certain appropriateness, if you have a taste for Jesuitical irony. Although originally established to care for sick pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Knights Hospitallers (as they were called) soon became a major crusader militia, and through the centuries served the Church as one of its fiercer fighting forces.

In recent years, Roman Catholicism has had no fiercer culture warrior than Raymond Burke. He led the way in arguing that Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights should be denied Communion, going so far as to allow himself to be videotaped criticizing fellow bishops who failed to do so as “weakening the faith of everyone.” Recently, he’s called the Church under Pope Francis “a ship without a rudder” and attacked the pope’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family for sowing confusion.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Bill Catlin St. Paul, Minn. Nov 9, 2014

The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is planning a 20 percent budget cut and layoffs in its central office.

A statement on the archdiocese website states that centralization of services in recent years led to unsustainable growth in spending, and that its budget is unsustainable regardless of unexpected legal and outside professional fees.

Last month the archdiocese settled a major clergy sex abuse lawsuit with undisclosed financial terms.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

11/08/2014

Sometime this afternoon, the Archdiocese released a statement confirming what I reported this morning: the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis plans to reduce its overall budget by 20%, through ‘staff and other expense reductions’. …

Is the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Planning to Layoff 20% of its Lay Employees?

11/08/2014

I am hearing rumors that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is planning a reorganization that will result in layoffs for 20% of the lay employees serving the Archdiocese in offices and ministries in the Chancery and Hayden Center (Pastoral Center).

Such a move would not be a surprise. You may recall that in 2012 the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which has been rocked by similar scandals involving employee embezzlement and mishandling of accusations of sexual abuse, announced a similar shake-up. In Philadelphia, 45 lay employees lost their jobs, several offices and ministries were consolidated, and the Archdiocese eliminated its print newspaper.

In Saint Paul and Minneapolis, an attempt at reorganization has already been undertaken in the last ten years (2006-2008, if I remember correctly), mainly by offering voluntary buyouts. This effort was successful in reducing the number of overall employees, but as a reorganization plan it largely failed, because the Archdiocese was unable to control who accepted the VBO. High performing employees often took the buyout and moved on to other things, meaning the Archdiocese was forced to reorganize with a less skilled and less motivated workforce. And, when particular individuals were targeted, the consequence was the elimination of a critical department. I think most are in agreement that doing away with the Human Resources department was a mistake.

As for the Archdiocesan newspaper, well, that battle has already been fought and lost.

Speaking from experience, and from an organizational perspective, an effective reorganization is necessary and long overdue. The Archdiocese has long been hampered in making effective personnel decisions by its employment policy, Justice in Employment, in which the Archdiocese gives up its status as an at-will employer. The requirement that terminations only occur for cause means that ineffective employees are often retained at the expense of the services Archdiocesan offices provide.

However, the human cost of reducing 20% of lay employees is significant and should give us pause. If those reductions were to occur from amongst the ranks of those who are most responsible for the current crisis, I would celebrate such an announcement (should it occur). It is far more likely though that those individuals will be the architects and implementers of any proposed organization, and that the negative consequences will fall most strongly on the innocent and goodhearted people who have tried to be of service to the people of God.

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LEBANON
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Mansour Labaki, a Lebanese priest convicted of pedophilia in 2012 by the Vatican, broke his silence on the affair Sunday, denying any crime and accusing the top Catholic authority of corruption.

“People in the church were bribed and I have proof of this,” he told Voice of Lebanon radio station, insisting that the charges against him were fabricated.

Labaki said that he was expecting a fair trial when he arrive to Rome, but was surprised to learn that he was not allowed to respond to the accusations made against him.

He said he wished the court would listen to the testimonies of people who have worked with him and several students that he “raised” who, according to him, would attest his innocence.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

An irate pensioner is threatening to chain herself to railings in protest at the shock closure of an historic city centre church.

Moira Cardwell will join other angry parishioners demonstrating outside the doomed St Ignatius RC in Preston tomorrow to condemn the “disgraceful” decision to shut it down after 178 years of worship.

The rare, pre-Victorian church, with a spectacular interior reputedly designed by world-renowned architect Augustus Pugin, has been earmarked for closure at the end of the month because of a shortage of priests.

The 140-strong congregation has been asked to relocate to sister church English Martyrs, almost a mile away.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor November 9, 2014

Just by reading the news, one has the impression that religious freedom is under threat today. From the carnage unleashed by the self-declared Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to church/state tensions across the West, the picture seems to grow murkier and grimmer by the day.

Thankfully, we don’t have to remain at an anecdotal level. “Aid to the Church in Need,” a global Catholic charity based in Germany, puts out an annual report on the state of religious freedom around the world, and its new 2014 edition contains sobering results, indeed. …

Burke out, but English-speakers get a boost

In one of the most anti-climactic personnel moves in recent history, the Vatican yesterday officially confirmed that American Cardinal Raymond Burke has been removed as head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s Supreme Court, and assigned as patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta, which functions as a Catholic charitable group.

Burke, of course, is a strong theological and liturgical conservative who emerged as the leader of the traditionalist camp at the recent Synod of Bishops on the family. His demotion will likely be seen in those circles as another sign of disfavor from Francis. It may also be seen as slightly punitive, given that whatever one makes of Burke’s political views, he’s long had a stellar reputation as a church lawyer.

Italian media had reported Burke’s impending exit as early as September, and the cardinal himself confirmed it in comments to reporters during the recent synod. As a result, the only question about the move was “when,” not “if,” and clearly Francis decided to pull the trigger sooner rather than later.

Going forward, perhaps the key question about Burke’s removal is how he’ll settle into his new role.

Will the 66-year-old go quietly, deciding to step out of the public spotlight? Or will he decide that since he no longer has any real Vatican responsibilities, he’s free to speak his mind even more forcefully — hitting the lecture circuit, writing essays, giving media interviews, and in general emerging as the face and voice of what might be called the conservative “loyal opposition” to Francis?

The old wisdom holds, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Though “enemy” may not be quite the best word to describe the relationship between Burke and the pope, Francis has clearly opted to go a different direction, in this case sending Burke into a sort of ecclesiastical exile.

It remains to be seen whether, from the pope’s point of view, the transfer simply solves one problem while creating another.

As a footnote, with Burke’s departure, there is now no American heading any significant decision-making Vatican department. Traditionally, at least one American is asked to fill such a role, so from this point forward, speculation will likely mount as to which American prelate may be summoned to Rome to take up a Vatican post.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Radio Gong

[A priest from the Wurzburg district must face accusations of sexual abuse of a minor. Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann has relieved him of duties.This action does not constitute prejudice but the priest is on leave until final clarification of the accusations, the bishop said.]

Ein Priester aus dem Landkreis Würzburg muss sich dem Vorwurf des sexuellen Missbrauchs stellen. Bischof Friedhelm Hofmann hat ihn deshalb mit sofortiger Wirkung von seinen Tätigkeiten entbunden. Der Bischof traf die Entscheidung, nachdem gegenüber dem Priester der Vorwurf einer “sexualbezogenen Grenzüberschreitung gegenüber einer minderjährigen Person“ erhoben wurde. Wie das Bistum betonte, erfolge diese Maßnahme in erster Linie aus Präventionsgründen und stelle keine Vorverurteilung dar. Der Priester ist bis zur endgültigen Klärung des Vorwurfs beurlaubt.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

A single sentence in a papal document issued today may signal that Pope Francis is willing take a stronger hand in removing some bishops from office.

The one-page document deals primarily with the age of a bishop’s retirement. But it also states: “In some particular circumstances, the competent Authority (the pope) may consider it necessary to ask a bishop to present the resignation of his pastoral office, after letting him know the motives for such a request and after listening attentively to his justifications, in fraternal dialogue.”

The power of a pope to sack a bishop has always been presumed, but here it is spelled out. It comes after Pope Francis has already removed a Paraguayan bishop from office over pastoral controversies, and accepted the resignation of a German bishop in the wake of a spending scandal. The Vatican is actively investigating the pastoral leadership of at least two other prelates, including Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City, Mo., who was convicted two years ago by a civil court on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse by a diocesan priest.

A Vatican spokesman quickly underlined that today’s document contained “nothing truly new,” but was a forceful restatement of existing norms. But surely there was a reason it was issued.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Saturday, November 8, 2014

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, Moderator of the Curia

“In order to balance the budget for the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation, leaders are reducing the budget by 20 percent (over $5 million) with staff and other expense reductions beginning this month.

Over the past several years, the archdiocesan Chancery Corporation has implemented budgets that included the development of needed resources for parishes and Catholic schools and archdiocesan initiatives. This strategic centralization of services and expansion of our resources meant that department budgets were expanded and staffing increased.

Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable. We are called to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted us.

This budget revision is collaborative and will require that each department reorder its services to provide that which is of proven benefit to the people, parishes and Catholic schools within the archdiocese and, most important, is of greatest value to the mission of the Church.

Personnel and program expense cuts will be identified and a comprehensive plan will be presented to the Archbishop for his final approval and immediate

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Los Angeles

Church Says They’ve Cleared Monsignor Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations After Decade-Long Investigation

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Office of the Vicar for Clergy of the LA Archdiocese on Saturday released a statement regarding sexual misconduct allegations made against Monignor Richard Loomis.

Allegations against Loomis first surfaced, according the statement, in late 2003.

On Saturday, the church wrote, in part, “After ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial, a Tribunal of the Holy See has definitively determined and ruled that no allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind alleged against Monsignor Richard Loomis have been proven. Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations.”

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TENNESSEE
Fox 6

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) –
The most progressive Catholics in America are in Memphis this weekend to argue for more gender equality in the Catholic Church.

Many of the people attending the Call To Action gathering at Cook Convention Center downtown want to see women in higher church roles. One of the speakers is an Irish priest named Tony Flannery.

The Vatican suspended Flannery from ministry after he refused to sign a document saying that women would never be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church:

“I believe women should have full equality in the Catholic Church and that’s a matter of justice.That’s a much broader question than ordination,” said Flannery. “And in fact, having women’s voices heard in decision making and policy making in the church is actually much more important than whether or not women are ordained.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein November 8

Once Stephanie Doucette decided to convert to Orthodox Judaism, the choice of a rabbi to guide her was obvious: Barry Freundel.

Freundel, leader of the prestigious Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown, was a trusted adviser to the likes of retired U.S. senator Joseph I. Lieberman and literary figure Leon Wieseltier on the endless legal and ethical details Orthodox Jews live by: Is a chicken kosher if its leg is broken? Can infertile couples use donor eggs? What percentage of the mikvah, or ritual bath, must be rainwater?

More important for a convert such as Doucette, Freundel’s judgment was respected by rabbis around the world — no small feat in the divided world of Orthodox Judaism. So highly regarded was the rabbi that Eli’s Restaurant, a gathering spot for Washington’s kosher power players, named a pastrami and smoked turkey sandwich after him.

But Doucette, a George Washington University graduate student, says she started to feel uncomfortable soon after she began meeting with the husky, bearded New Yorker in early 2013. She said he commented regularly about the dating habits or sex lives of women in the congregation and about her own appearance. Earlier this year, the 22-year-old said, she asked to meet Freundel in the sanctuary of tiny Kesher Israel to complain that some men at the synagogue were staring at her and making suggestive comments.

She says that Freundel, now 62, told her: You have to understand, you’re an attractive young woman; this will happen in whatever community you’re in. “If I was younger and single,” she recalled him saying, “I would be interested in you, too.”

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

By Tom Hillen

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former Cadet leader at a Muskegon church has been accused of sexually assaulting young boys back in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office said Randall Doctor is being investigated for the alleged crimes but so far is not being charged.

“He would take us out in the woods after the driving of the semi and he would do terrible and horrendous things to us,” said Brad White, one of Doctors alleged victims.

The reason he isn’t being charged is because the alleged abuse happened at a time where Michigan had a statute of limitations on first degree criminal sexual conduct against a child.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Sunday, November 9, 2014, 00:01 by Michael Falzon

A section of the Maltese press went to town the other week with reports on the alleged sexual misadventures of a Dominican friar accused of abusing of a woman who was in a vulnerable situation. Many lurid details were exposed for all to see, although I understand that the newspaper that published excerpts from the woman’s sworn statement actually left out certain parts because of their explicit nature.

There are many interesting observations one can make from this episode.

First and foremost is the role of the free press in all this. When The Sunday Times of Malta broke the story two weeks ago by reporting that the case had ended in the courts – and it was therefore in the public domain – it refrained from mentioning the name of the renowned Dominican concerned. I’m sure that this was a conscious decision on the part of the paper. A few days later, another newspaper decided to publish the name, and the floodgates were opened.

The decision to publish the name was also a conscious one: it defied the traditional omertá that the press used to observe in connection with such stories, even though there were no such qualms recently in the reporting of the court case concerning the abuse of young boys in a Church institute.

This, of course, indicates that the Church and the members of the priesthood no longer enjoy the privilege of being above the scrutiny of the media.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

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.

The Sunday Times says that Fr Montebello passed on the offer during a telephone conversation with Edgar Bonnici Cachia, who is assisting the female victim.

Recounting the conversation, Mr Bonnici Cachia said Fr Montebello offered the six-figure sum in exchange for the victim’s silence.

Mr Bonnici Cachia reportedly rebutted that neither he nor the victim are for sale.

Fr Montebello confirmed to The Sunday Times that the conversation did take place, but he was passing on a message “on behalf of a married person” whom he declined to name.

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

The case regarding sexual abuse on vulnerable women by the Dominican priest has been before the Curia Response Team for at least eight years.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Fox 11

Months after documents showed it had concealed the sexual abuse of children by priests for decades, the Archdiocese of Chicago released files Thursday on about three dozen more abusive clergy members to fulfill Cardinal Francis George’s pledge to do so before he retires.

One of the case files is that of Norbert Maday, a former priest who was convicted in Winnebago County in 1994 for assaulting boys at a retreat center. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and served 13 years before being paroled.

The Maday file includes 507 pages of documents, covering a wide range of topics. Those include complaints to the Chicago diocese about Maday, letters about housing arrangements after his prison release, Wisconsin court documents, and official letters regarding Maday’s status as a priest.

Some of the documents have been disclosed previously, such as a 2002 letter from Chicago Cardinal Francis George to Maday in prison, saying the diocese was trying to reduce Maday’s sentence, but without success.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Anne Jarvis
Nov 06, 2014

The Paul Martin Building in the heart of Windsor’s downtown, the old post office in historic Sandwich, the old jail in Sandwich — they’re all stately, heritage buildings.

But if there is one building around which this city must unite, if there is one building that we must save, it is Our Lady of Assumption Church. There is none more important, not only for its grandeur, which is magnificent, but for its role in the very formation of this community. We must do whatever it takes.

Undoubtedly, you can question the role of the Diocese of London in the seemingly doomed attempts to raise money to restore the 169-year-old icon.

Parishioners reportedly gasped when the diocese — which says it’s committed to preserving the landmark that towers over University Avenue and Huron Church Road, which talks about the historical, cultural and architectural significance of Assumption, the oldest Catholic parish in Canada west of Montreal – announced that it wouldn’t contribute a cent to the $10-million project.

“Are you kidding me?” some people have asked fundraisers. “If the diocese isn’t giving any, why should I give?” …

You can wonder, as Kim Spirou, one of the volunteer fundraisers does, if the diocese really has the will to save Assumption.

This is a tarnished brand, for sure, $10 million in debt because of settlements, legal costs and counselling for victims of its priests’ sexual abuse. Its parishioners have been shunted from Holy Name of Mary Church to Assumption and back to Holy Name of Mary.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By EMMA SPILLETT Nov. 9, 2014

A Wollongong lawyer, whose client was embroiled in a battle with the Catholic Church, claims new measures to help survivors of institutionalised child sex abuse fail to address fundamental legal problems with the church.

Mark Johnston spent nearly a year trying to get a fair settlement for a man who had allegedly been repeatedly abused by a Christian Brother at Edmund Rice College.

No criminal charges have ever been laid against the brother over the alleged abuse.

Mr Johnston claims the man’s case exposed the failings of the church’s “Towards Healing” program, its internal settlement regime used to allegedly steer people away from legal action, in exchange for compensation.

While Mr Johnston welcomed initiatives introduced by the state government last week in light of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, he believes more work needs to be done.

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FLORIDA
Truthout

Saturday, 08 November 2014
By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout | News Analysis

It bills itself as “southwest Florida’s newest hometown . . . A town where children can ride their bikes to school, walk to the candy store and scoot their way to the ice cream shop. Where neighbors are friends and life is good. Where everyone enjoys life as it is meant to be lived.”

Yes, it sounds like Mayberry, USA, but this is not the description of a made-for-TV utopia. Indeed, it’s a very real place created by Domino’s Pizza founder and former Detroit Tigers’ owner Tom Monahan, in partnership with the Florida-based Barron Collier companies.

Indeed, Ave Maria, Florida, was founded as an unincorporated “stewardship community district” in 2005. Florida’s then-governor Jeb Bush attended Ave Maria’s groundbreaking and dubbed it “a new kind of town where like-minded people live in harmony between faith and freedom.”

Faith? Freedom? For Monahan, the two are inseparable, and he has trumpeted his intention of creating a city “according to strict Roman Catholic principles.” As he sees it, this means that stores will be unable to sell pornography, pharmacies will be barred from selling condoms or other forms of birth control, and cable TV will not be allowed to carry X-rated channels.

Small wonder that civil libertarians, secular humanists and those who believe in religious pluralism have a host of questions about church-state separation in Ave Maria.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Nov. 8, 2014

One of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s insurance companies should have been allowed to ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on whether it is liable for the church’s actions in its handling of child sexual abuse cases, U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa has ruled.

However, the ruling may be moot because OneBeacon Insurance Co. has negotiated a tentative settlement with the archdiocese, church spokesman Jerry Topczewski said.

Randa said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley erred earlier this year when she refused to lift an automatic stay so OneBeacon could pursue the liability question. He remanded the case back to Kelley for further action.

Before the archdiocese entered bankruptcy in January 2011, lower courts had ruled that OneBeacon was not liable for its sex abuse claims because they involved intentional acts rather than accidents. The archdiocese had appealed to the state Supreme Court, but the case was automatically stayed when it entered bankruptcy.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Will Ashenmacher
washenmacher@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 11/08/2014

The centralized offices of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will see their budget cut by 20 percent, starting this month. That will include at least some cuts to lay staff.

A statement from the archdiocese issued Saturday afternoon avoided any implication that the settlement the archdiocese recently struck with sex abuse victims was responsible for the move, which the archdiocese hopes will save its Chancery Corporation $5 million. Both the attorney for the sex abuse victims and the archdiocese have said the financial terms of the settlement, which was announced Oct. 13, will remain confidential.

In the statement, the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer said budgets and staff had grown over the past several years and needed to be cut back.

“Even without including unanticipated legal and other outside professional fees, our current operational budget is unsustainable,” Lachowitzer said.

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ALASKA
Alaska Dispatch

The Diocese of Fairbanks has a new bishop — a priest who may be uniquely qualified to serve the members of the military in the Roman Catholic diocese that spans more than 400,000 square miles, from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the west to the Canadian border in the east and all the way to the North Slope.

Rev. Chad W. Zielinski, named Saturday as the new leader of the diocese, is currently an active-duty chaplain at Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks, according to the Catholic Anchor, the newspaper published by the Archdiocese of Anchorage.

The Catholic Anchor reports that “Bishop Elect Zielinski was ordained a priest for the Catholic Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan, in 1996. Before becoming a priest, he was an active duty Air Force serviceman for four years, before feeling called to the priesthood.

“Bishop Elect Zielinski has seen three tours of duties in war zones. His last assignment was in Afghanistan where he served 18 forward combat positions. Often his prayer services and Masses were punctuated by the sound of live fire. On one occasion he was travelling in a military convoy that came under attack and the truck in front of his was destroyed by a rocket. One of his parishioners was driving that truck and died in the attack. He ended that day conducting a funeral service.”

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BELGIE
HLN

[That priest Tom F., who sexual assaulted a minor and yet was able to work as a priest in Middelkerke, shows that the church feels more empthy for the perpetrators than for the victims, according to church lawyer Kurt Martens. In an opinion piece in The Standard, Martens said Pope Francis should thoroughly investigate the Bruges diocese.]

De affaire rond priester Tom F., die een minderjarige aanrandde en toch aan de slag kon als pastoor in Middelkerke, toont aan dat de Kerk meer empathie voelt voor de daders dan voor de slachtoffers. Dat zegt kerkjurist Kurt Martens in een opiniestuk in De Standaard. Martens vindt dat paus Franciscus het bisdom Brugge grondig moet onderzoeken.

Martens, professor aan The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., vroeg zich vrijdag in De Morgen en Het Laatste Nieuws al af of het bisdom van Brugge de zaak ooit naar Rome stuurde, en welke informatie dan overhandigd werd, omdat het hem erg zou verbazen dat Rome zou aanbevelen de priester een nieuwe benoeming te geven. In De Standaard maandag bevestigt het bisdom dat alle nodige informatie werd doorgestuurd naar de Congregatie van de Geloofsleer.

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UNITED STATES
ABC News

Nov 8, 2014

By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are gathering at a moment of turbulence for them and the American church, as Pope Francis moves toward crafting new policies for carrying out his mission of mercy — a prospect that has conservative Catholics and some bishops in an uproar.

The assembly, which starts Monday in Baltimore, comes less than a month after Francis ended a dramatic Vatican meeting on how the church can more compassionately minister to Catholic families.

The gathering in Rome was only a prelude to a larger meeting next year which will more concretely advise Francis on church practice. Still, the open debate at the event, and the back and forth among bishops over welcoming gays and divorced Catholics who remarry, prompted stunning criticism from some U.S. bishops.

“Many of the U.S. bishops have been disoriented by what this new pope is saying and I don’t see them really as embracing the pope’s agenda,” said John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service. “To a large degree, the U.S. bishops have lost their bearings. I think up until now, they felt Rome had their back, and what they were saying — especially politically — would eventually be supported in Rome. They can’t count on that now.”

Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis archbishop and leading voice for conservative Catholics, said the church “is like a ship without a rudder” under Francis. Burke made the comments before the pope demoted him from his position as head of the Vatican high court, a move he had anticipated.

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, said the debate and vote on a document summing up the discussion in Rome, which laid bare divisions among church leaders, struck him as “rather Protestant.” Tobin referenced a remark Francis had made to young Catholics last year that they shake up the church and make a “mess” in their dioceses.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis removed U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, 66, as head of the Vatican’s highest court and named him to a largely ceremonial post for a chivalric religious order.

Cardinal Burke, formerly prefect of the Apostolic Signature, will now serve as cardinal patron of the Knights and Dames of Malta, the Vatican announced Nov. 8.

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, then-prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, leaves the concluding session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican Oct. 18. (CNS/Paul Haring)

The move had been widely expected since an Italian journalist reported it in September, and the cardinal himself confirmed it to reporters the following month.

It is highly unusual for a pope to remove an official of Cardinal Burke’s stature and age without assigning him comparable responsibilities elsewhere. By church law, cardinals in the Vatican must offer to resign at 75, but often continue in office for several more years. As usual when announcing personnel changes other than retirements for reasons of age, the Vatican did not give a reason for the cardinal’s reassignment.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Times

By JIM YARDLEY
NOV. 8, 2014

ROME — Pope Francis on Saturday sidelined a powerful American cardinal who has emerged as an unabashed conservative critic of the reform agenda and the leadership style that the Argentine pontiff has brought to the Roman Catholic Church.

In an expected move, Cardinal Raymond L. Burke was officially removed as head of the Vatican’s highest judicial authority, known as the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He was demoted to the ceremonial position of chaplain for the Knights of Malta, a charity group.

The Vatican made no comment in announcing the change, but Cardinal Burke is hardly one of the pope’s favorites. Last December, Francis removed the cardinal from a position that gave him great influence in appointing new American bishops. In return, Cardinal Burke has questioned Francis’s leadership and has been a stern opponent of proposals to allow divorced or remarried Catholics to receive communion.

In a contentious October meeting of church leaders, known as a synod, Cardinal Burke also rejected positive, more welcoming language about gay people in a draft document that was released at the halfway point of the gathering. He and other conservative bishops forced the language to be watered down in the synod’s concluding summary document.

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ALASKA
San Antonio Express-News

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A diocese official says Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks.

Diocese spokesman Robert Hannon says in a statement Saturday the pope asked the Rev. Chad Zielinski to lead the United States’ northernmost diocese. Zielinski is an active military chaplain at Eielson Air Force Base. According to Hannon, it’s the first time in recent history an active military chaplain has been named spiritual head of a diocese.

Zielinski’s ordination and installation is scheduled for Dec. 15.

He replaces Bishop Donald Kettler, who was reassigned to Minnesota last year. Archbishop Roger Schwietz has been leading the diocese in the interim.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

07 November 2014 17:09 by Christopher Lamb

Pope Francis today announced that Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading conservative voice in the Church, would be moved from a senior position in the Vatican to become Patron of the Order of Malta.

In a widely expected move, Cardinal Burke will no longer be Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura – the Church’s supreme court – but instead take on a largely ceremonial role for the ancient order which undertakes charitable initiatives across the world.

The 66-year-old American cardinal has been an outspoken critic of the recent Synod on the Family in Rome where many participants called for the Church to adopt less harsh language when talking about homosexuality, the divorced and remarried, and cohabiting couples.

Burke has also contributed to a book opposing proposals by Cardinal Walter Kasper, who suggested the Church permit divorced and remarried couples to receive Communion in certain circumstances. Cardinal Kasper’s theology has been publicly praised by Pope Francis.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 3, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

Next week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather for their annual fall plenary in Baltimore. This will be their second full meeting since the election of Pope Francis and their first full meeting since the Holy Father gave us a particular glimpse of his vision for the Church in Evangelii Gaudium, as well as the first meeting since the recently concluded Synod on the Family.

The Holy Father has called the Church to become less self-referential, to go out to the peripheries of life, especially to the poor and the marginalized, so as to encounter Christ. His simplicity of life and the sheer authenticity of his words and gestures have electrified the world. Yet, the response to the exciting moment in the life of the Church from the staff at the USCCB might charitably be described as underwhelming.

Today, however, I wish to discuss what I perceive as the internal problems of the USCCB. This might seem in conflict with the pope’s vision, a bit too self-referential, but I would point out that Pope Francis is also setting about to reform the curia, which is a self-referential task as well. In the event, reforms in both organizations are badly needed.

In February 2011, George Weigel published an article in First Things entitled “The End of the Bernardin Era.” The article followed the unprecedented defeat of the incumbent Vice President of the USCCB, Bishop Gerald Kicanas, in his bid for the conference presidency. Cardinal Timothy Dolan was elected to the top spot. And, the bishops selected Msgr. Ronny Jenkins as the new conference General Secretary. At the time, many people at the USCCB were hopeful about Jenkins’ selection.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 4, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

Yesterday, I looked at the internal, managerial, staff-related issues that face the USCCB in advance of their plenary next week. Today, I would like to look at the attitudinal, dare one say ideological, challenges facing the conference. And, to be clear, while I think the bishops must take the lead in resolving the managerial issues, the bishops need to take some long looks in the mirror if they wish to address the attitudinal issues I will discuss today.

I write “issues” and, indeed, there are discrete issues in play, but I think the basic challenge facing the USCCB at this moment is singular. For years, they have been acting on a model of the Church as a bastion or redoubt, confronted by a secular culture that only seems to grow more secular, and more hostile, by the day, bringing the faithful elect within the walls of the redoubt, drawing clear boundaries between the Church and the ambient culture, the washed and the unwashed, with clear sets of propositions to which all are expected to sign on without any troubling questioning, hurling anathemas, nurturing a sense of grievance, perplexed as much as anything by the speed and the comprehensiveness of the cultural changes all around them. It is the culture warrior vision at the heart of the essay by George Weigel that I called attention to yesterday.

Now, Pope Francis has proposed a different model for the Church. He sees the Church as a field hospital. Those who fault Pope Francis for his sunny personality and cheerful, joyful approach to evangelization sometimes mistake that joy for naivete, although the metaphor of a field hospital assumes a battle has been fought or is being fought, but it casts the Church not as a combatant, but as the mender, the healer. More to the point – and this may be the key point – for this pope, the Church as field hospital is not only a metaphor, there is more substance and reality to his vision than that. He actually wants the Church tending to the wounded, the scarred, the embittered, the lost, and tending with all the care of a good nurse. For Francis, as for Benedict, the Church is not a proposition, still less a checklist of propositions, but a way of life that embodies the beliefs we hold and, unlike Benedict, Francis has a knack for using gestures and simple language to communicate his vision to the unlettered, indeed to all. He leads with pastoral care, not with theology or philosophy and bids the Church to do the same, rooting our theology in our experience, not the other way round and giving preferential attention in all our experiences to the poor, not because they need our help but because we need theirs, for it is the poor who are closest to the Lord.

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VATICAN CITY
Buenos Aires Herald

Pope Francis today demoted an outspoken conservative American cardinal who has been highly critical of the pontiff’s reformist leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, 66, was removed as head of the Vatican’s highest court and appointed to the ceremonial post of chaplain of the charity group Knights of Malta.

The move, which the Vatican announced on Saturday without comment, had been expected. Burke said last month he had been told he would move to a new job but did not know when.

Burke, who until today was the highest-ranking American in the Vatican, gave a series of recent interviews criticizing the pope and had emerged as the face of conservative opposition to Francis’ reform agenda.

In an interview with a Spanish magazine last month, Burke, known for his unbending interpretation of doctrine, compared the Catholic Church under Francis to “a ship without a rudder”.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent November 8, 2014

ROME — The Vatican officially confirmed Saturday that American Cardinal Raymond Burke has been removed as head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s Supreme Court, in order to become the patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta.

The move had been widely expected, and was confirmed by Burke himself in comments to reporters during a recent Synod of Bishops.

The Vatican also announced two other important personnel moves: Burke’s position at the Apostolic Signatura will be taken over by French Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, currently the pope’s foreign minister; and Mamberti’s old job, in turn, will be filled by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, currently the papal ambassador in Australia.

The Order of the Knights of Malta is a chivalric organization for distinguished Catholics from around the world whose mission is to assist the elderly, the handicapped, refugees, children, the homeless, and those with terminal illnesses and leprosy.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

VATICAN CITY (AP) — American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a fervent opponent of abortion and gay marriage, has been removed by Pope Francis from another top Vatican post.

Burke’s removal as head of the Holy See’s supreme court was expected. Last year Francis took Burke off the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for Bishops. While previously leading the St. Louis diocese, Burke was a vocal hardliner in a campaign which included calls for Catholic politicians supporting legalized abortion to be denied Communion.

Francis on Saturday transferred Burke from the Vatican court job to the largely ceremonial post as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a charity.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Saturday, November 08, 2014

Pope Francis today appointed Cardinal Raymond Burke, hitherto prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, replacing Cardinal Paolo Sardi who has served in the position since 2009.

Confirmation of the appointment was widely awaited: rumors had been circulating for some time, and Cardinal Burke disclosed the Pope’s decision himself in an interview last month.

The move means that Cardinal Burke, 66, is completely removed from the Curia and holds a purely honorary position without any influence in the governance of the universal Church. Given his age and seniority, such a move is unprecedented and many therefore view it as a demotion.

He will be replaced by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States – effectively the Holy See’s foreign minister.

Some have speculated whether Cardinal Burke’s appointment is a result of his outspoken criticisms during the synod. But rumors of the transfer, first circulated by veteran Vatican watcher Sandro Magister, began in mid-September, considerably earlier than the meeting.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Paul Gallagher is currently Nuncio to Australia. The current secretary for Relations with States now becomes Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, replacing the conservative American acrdinal who will go on to lead the Knights of Malta

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

Following Parolin’s appointment a year ago, Francis has made another key change to the structure of the Vatican Secretary of State: the current Secretary for Relations with States, Corsican Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, is being promoted as head of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura: he replaces Cardinal Raymond Burke who in turn is being transferred to the Order of the Knights of Malta. Burke himself confirmed his nomination in an interview given during the recent Synod.

The new Vatican “foreign affairs minister” who succeeds Mamberti is Paul Richard Gallagher, Titular Archbishop of Hodelm (an old Scottish diocese that was closed down), was born in Liverpool on 23 January 1954 and is currently Apostolic Nuncio to Australia. Gallagher was appointed Nuncio in Burundi and consecrated as a Bishop in 2004. From 2009 to the end of 2012 – before he took over his post in Australia – he was Papal Representative in Guatemala.

Gallagher was born in the same neighbourhood where the Beatles kick-started their career. He was a priest in the Diocese of Liverpool in 1977, began by serving as an assistant to the parish priest in the Holy Name Church and was chaplain at Fazakerley hospital. He graduated with a degree in Canon Law and entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1984. Before being appointed Apostolic Nuncio he served the Vatican diplomatic missions in Tanzania, Uruguay, the Philippines and soon the Council of Europe.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Saturday demoted an outspoken conservative American cardinal who has been highly critical of the pontiff’s reformist leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, 66, was removed as head of the Vatican’s highest court and appointed to the ceremonial post of chaplain of the charity group Knights of Malta.

The move, which the Vatican announced on Saturday without comment, had been expected. Burke said last month he had been told he would move to a new job but did not know when.

Burke, who until Saturday was the highest-ranking American in the Vatican, gave a series of recent interviews criticising the pope and had emerged as the face of conservative opposition to Francis’ reform agenda.

In an interview with a Spanish magazine last month, Burke, known for his unbending interpretation of doctrine, compared the Catholic Church under Francis to “a ship without a rudder”.

At a meeting of bishops from around the world last month, Burke was the flag-bearer for conservatives opposed to the Church adopting a more welcoming attitude towards homosexuals.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha nominato Vescovo della diocesi di Fairbanks (Stati Uniti d’America) il Rev.do Chad Zielinski, del clero di Gaylord, Cappellano dell’Aviazione Militare degli Stati Uniti, attualmente di base a Fairbanks.

Rev.do Chad Zielinski

Il Rev.do Chad Zielinski è nato a Detroit, Michigan, negli Stati Uniti, l’8 settembre 1964. La sua famiglia si è trasferita nella parte settentrionale dello Stato del Michigan. Nel 1982, dopo aver terminato il liceo, si è arruolato nell’Aviazione, dove ha svolto il servizio militare dal 1983 al 1986. Nel 1986, stanziato nella Diocesi di Boise, nello Stato dell’Idaho, ha deciso di seguire la vocazione sacerdotale in quella Circoscrizione ed è entrato nel Seminario Maggiore di Mount Saint Angel. Nel 1989 si è diplomato in Filosofia (BachelorDegree) e ha deciso di interrompere la formazione. Nel 1992 è rientrato nel medesimo Seminario Maggiore e, nel corso degli studi teologici, ha deciso di ritornare alla diocesi della sua giovinezza, Gaylord. Il Vescovo di quella Sede lo ha inviato nel Seminario Maggiore Sacred Heart a Detroit, dove nel 1996 egli ha completato la formazione ecclesiastica, ottenendo un Master of Divinity. L’8 giugno 1996 è stato ordinato sacerdote per la Diocesi di Gaylord.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Nomina del Patrono del Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta

Il Santo Padre ha nominato Patrono del Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta l’Em.mo Card. Raymond Leo Burke, finora Prefetto del Supremo Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica.

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Nomina del Prefetto del Supremo Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica

Il Papa ha nominato Prefetto del Supremo Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica S.E. Mons. Dominique Mamberti, Arcivescovo titolare di Sagona, finora Segretario per i Rapporti con gli Stati.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 8, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

In this morning’s Bolletino, the announcement makes it official: Cardinal Raymond Burke has been named Patron of the Order of Malta. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, currently the Vatican’s “foreign minister,” will replace +Burke as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. The position of Patron of the the Order of Malta is usually given to a retired cardinal, or as a second task to an active cardinal. It has almost no responsibilities. The demotion is unprecedented, and completely warranted: Cardinal Burke’s influence at the Vatican has been crushingly backward looking, and that influence has resulted in some unhappy appointments. The downside of the appointment? By giving him a job with no real duties, +Burke will be free to make more speeches and give more interviews.

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UNITED STATES
Pew Research Center

BY MICHAEL LIPKA

The recent decision by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York to effectively close dozens of churches in the coming months falls in line with a larger nationwide trend of Catholic parish closures.

The number of Catholic parishes is on the decline.The downsizing in New York was described by The New York Times as the largest reorganization in the diocese’s history. The archdiocese, which stretches from Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx through the seven suburban counties in the state that are immediately north of New York City, will merge 112 of its parishes into 55 new parishes.

In 1988, there were 19,705 parishes in the U.S., while there are now 17,483, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.

The current number of parishes is about equal to the number that existed in 1965, even as the number of self-identified U.S. Catholics has risen in the past half-century, from 48.5 million to 76.7 million between 1965 and 2014, according to CARA’s data.

However, the share of U.S. Catholics who reported attending Mass at least weekly fell by nearly half – from 47% to 24% – between 1974 and 2012, according to the General Social Survey (GSS). And the Times reported that as of last year, according to the New York Archdiocese, only 12% of its members regularly attended Sunday Mass.

The number of Catholic priests and nuns is declining.There are a few other possible explanations for the apparent paradox of the growing number of Catholics and the now shrinking number of parishes. For one, the number of priests (as well as nuns) has declined steadily over the past 50 years, potentially leading to staff shortages at parishes. In fact, according to CARA, there are now 3,496 parishes without a resident priest, more than six times as many as there were 50 years ago. Also, the financial ramifications of the clergy sex abuse scandal – including legal costs, settlements and declining donations – have caused economic problems for some dioceses.

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CANADA
The Telegram

[with video]

Tara Bradbury
Published on November 08, 2014

One by one, local celebrities enter the production studio — musicians like Mark Hiscock and Duane Andrews, actors like Pete Soucy, writers like Bernice Morgan.

Each comes with no expectations and perhaps not even a clear idea of what they’ll be asked to do, but all motivated by the opportunity to contribute to a cause they deem worthy.

They’re taking part in a music video for the Pathways Foundation, a non-profit organization established this summer by well-known St. John’s activist Gemma Hickey, with the goal of helping victims of abuse within religious institutions.

Hickey has made no secret of her inspiration for starting the organization, which she says will provide support groups, educational resources and referrals, among other services: she was a victim when she was younger.

“I was assaulted by a Roman Catholic priest and I’ve come out on the other side of that and I’ve worked through it in therapy,” Hickey explains.

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MARYLAND
NBC Washington

By Scott MacFarlane

Concern spread quickly among students and administrators at Towson University after a rabbi was accused of secretly recording naked women at a D.C. synagogue, emails obtained by the News4 I-Team revealed.

According to search warrants, after Rabbi Barry Freundel was accused of recording at least six women in the ritual bath at Kesher Israel in Georgetown, police found micro cameras inside regular objects including a tissue box and a clock at Freundel’s office at Towson University, where he was an associate professor.

Just hours after the news about Freundel broke, a Towson University student wrote to a school administrator that she’d been to Kesher Israel

“I am inquiring to see if I was at risk by being there,” she wrote.

Another wrote, “I went there on a field trip to his synagogue that included this ritual bathing (mikvah) as a cultural experience. I believe he has been taking students on these field trips for quite some time.”

Emails sent among Towson University administrators — obtained by the I-Team under the Freedom of Information Act — revealed how the school’s top brass responded to their employee’s arrest.
Claim: Rabbi Accused of Voyeurism Took Students to Bath

The emails show administrators asked staff to conduct a midnight search of the ladies bathrooms inside the school’s College of Liberal Arts Building for cameras and that none was found.

One administrator wrote to another, “Have the night shift personnel check all the ladies rooms in campus (excluding residence halls) during the midnight shift so we can confirm that we checked all publicly accessible ones and found nothing. As a parent that is something I would want done.”

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MONTANA
Montana Standard

Angela Brandt angela.brandt@mtstandard.com

A court hearing scheduled for this week and the federal lawsuit of a former teacher against Butte Central Catholic Schools have been postponed pending bankruptcy hearings for the Diocese of Helena.

Shaela Evenson filed the suit in August alleging discrimination. She has already filed documents in the case alleging gender and pregnancy discrimination. She is asking for $500,000 in that claim.

Evenson contends the district breached its contract with her and discriminated against her because she was pregnant and because she is female. This broke both federal and state laws, her suit claims.

The case could be subject to the pending bankruptcy of the Diocese of Helena, her attorneys wrote in a request for the delay. Evenson plans to add the diocese to the lawsuit once the bankruptcy is resolved.

As a result of the firing, Evenson says she has incurred damages including lost wages, benefits and emotional distress. She is asking for back pay, compensatory and punitive damages — and a jury trial.

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UTAH
Standard-Examiner

Ben Lockhart
Multimedia Reporter

WASHINGTON TERRACE — A registered sex offender used an alias without permission while holding leadership positions and working with minors in his LDS ward, police say.

51-year-old Adam Wolfe, who formerly went by the legal name of David Michael Blackner, is charged with two counts of violating his sex offender registry, both third-degree felonies. An investigation by the Weber County Sheriff’s Office led to Wolfe’s arrest Oct. 27. He posted $10,000 bondable bail the next day.

Wolfe legally changed his name in December 2011, shortly after his 10-year sex offender status expired. But he violated the terms of his sex offender status, according to court documents, when he started using the alias Adam Wolfe in his local congregation in 2007 without telling authorities.

That was the year Wolfe was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to police. He quickly gained leadership positions in his new church, sheriff’s office Lt. Lane Findlay told the Standard-Examiner. Wolfe reportedly began working with teenagers in 2008 as part of his church responsibilities.

“While in that (ward), he was involved in several programs where he had access to minors,” Findlay said. “Because this person had access to children, there’s some concern there may be victims out there that haven’t been identified.”

Findlay is asking anyone with knowledge about Wolfe’s possible involvement with minors to call sheriff’s Sgt. Stephanie Tatton at 801-778-6639. Tatton is the detective who headed up the investigation into Wolfe’s alleged deception.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

By Tom Hillen and 24 Hour News 8 web staff

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — A Muskegon County man is accused of sexually assaulting several boys three decades ago.

A 24 Hour News 8 crew was in court Friday morning as 60-year-old Randall Doctor was brought in.

24 Hour News 8’s sources say Doctor met his alleged victims as the leader of the Cadets program at Fifth Reformed Church. He may have molested anywhere from five to 10 boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Doctor is not currently facing sexual assault charges — but rather manufacturing marijuana charges. As police executed a search warrant in the sexual assault investigation, they found pot plants at Doctor’s home.

Doctor’s defense attorney told 24 Hour News 8 his client cannot be charged with the alleged sexual assaults because the statute of limitations has run out.

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MICHIGAN
WZZM

Jon Mills, WZZM November 7, 2014

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) — Michigan State Police are investigating a Muskegon County man who may have molested five to 10 boys he meet through his position as a volunteer church youth leader.

Detectives began investigating Randall Doctor, 60, in August after a man, who is now in his 40s, reported the alleged sexual abuse. The man told detectives he was in his teens at the time.

Doctor was a volunteer youth leader at a church police have not yet identified. He has not been affiliated with the church for 25 years.

When investigators searched Doctors’ Muskegon area home looking for possible evidence of the sexual assault, they found a marijuana grow operation. Friday morning Doctor was in court for a hearing on the manufacturing marijuana charge. He has not been charged with sexual assault.

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MASSACHUSETTS
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: November 07, 2014

ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts — The former assistant pastor of an Attleboro church who was also the principal of the church school has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing a student.

The Sun Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1orKb4D ) reports that The Rev. Jeffrey Nichols was sentenced Thursday in Fall River Superior Court.

Prosecutors say the 48-year-old Nichols was assistant pastor of Grace Baptist Church and principal of Grace Baptist Christian Academy sexually molested a seventh-grade student beginning in 2008 when she was 13. The abuse continued until the end of the school year in June 2013.

Authorities say Nichols inappropriately touched the girl and also made sexual comments to her. He asked her to expose herself to him and exposed himself to her.

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MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

The former assistant pastor of an Attleboro church who was also the principal of the church school has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing a student.

The Sun Chronicle reports that The Rev. Jeffrey Nichols was sentenced Thursday in Fall River Superior Court.

Prosecutors say the 48-year-old Nichols was assistant pastor of Grace Baptist Church and principal of Grace Baptist Christian Academy sexually molested a seventh-grade student beginning in 2008 when she was 13. The abuse continued until the end of the school year in June 2013.

Authorities say Nichols inappropriately touched the girl and also made sexual comments to her. He asked her to expose herself to him and exposed himself to her.

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TENNESSEE
Jackson Sun

David Thomas, dgthomas@jacksonsun.com November 8, 2014

A St. Louis organization is seeking an investigation into discrepancies in statements made by Mark McSwain, the former pastor of First Baptist Church of Bemis, during a sex abuse case involving the church.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said Friday at a news conference in Jackson that McSwain should possibly be charged with filing a false report with the Jackson Police Department.

“Nobody should be able to lie to the police,” Clohessy said. “(McSwain) either lied the first time or the second time, and he should not get away with that.”

Clohessy held his news conference inside the lobby of the office building at 225 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, where District Attorney General Jerry Woodall has his office.

Asked about Clohessy’s statements, Woodall said, “I’m not in position to comment on something I need to refresh myself on.”

Neither McSwain, who is not listed with the past ministers on First Baptist Bemis’ website, nor associate pastor John Norvell could be reached for comment.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Juncalito, Dominican Republic.- Residents in the highland community of Juncalito, central Santiago province, are happy with the decision by the authorities in Warsaw, Poland, to indict the priest Wojciech Gil (Padre) Alberto of several crimes, including for the alleged sexual abuse of six boys.

“Finally it seems justice will be served,” said Pedro Tomas Espinal, who worked in Juncalito’s church of when Gil was the priest in the town near Jánico.

Espinal, who accompanied Gil twice to Poland, said everyone in Juncalito was shocked and outraged when the scandal erupted.

“The one who does it has to pay and we’re glad that Poland wants to make justice to the priest for sex abuse against minors committed here and in his country,” he said quoted by listin.com.do.

He revealed that before Gil arrived the parish had only eight altar boys, but then rose to 177, all teenagers at masses had to dress formally and that the priest would give them the garments. “While he was in the parish we never realized his actions because he was very reserved, it seems he did his thing with great discretion.”

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ILLINOIS
Suburban Life

By SUBURBAN LIFE MEDIA

The Archdiocese of Chicago released additional documents Thursday detailing cases of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The documents come in addition to those released in January by the Archdiocese that detailed sexual misconduct with minors by 30 priests. The documents released Thursday name 36 Archdiocesan priests who had at least one substantiated allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor, according to a statement on the Archdiocese’s website. At least some of them have previously been named by the Archdiocese.

The Archdiocese said they withheld documents related to two additional priests – former Rev. Daniel J. McCormack and Rev. Edward J. Malohney – due to “ongoing processes that do not permit release.

All of the named priests are no longer serving, according to the release.

Within the documents released today are 18 priests who served in Suburban Life communities at the time of the allegations, or at some time before or after.

Full documents on each priest listed below and more details can before online at docinfo.archchicago.org.

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ILLINOIS
Suburban Life

By SUBURBAN LIFE MEDIA

LEMONT – The Archdiocese of Chicago this week released documents related to priests accused of sexual misconduct, including one who worked at a Lemont parish for six months.

Rev. John Hefferan served as parochial administrator for St. Alphonsus Parish in Lemont from July 2002 to January 2003 while the parish was in between pastors.

The documents show official meetings and discussions the archdiocese and review boards had about the accused priests. None of the accused priests whose documents were released are currently in the ministry. Several of the accused priests live in a facility for retired priests in Lemont.

Hefferan was first accused of sexual misconduct in 1993, stemming from an incident that allegedly took place between 1977 and 1978 while at St. Vianney Parish in Northlake.

A review board allowed him to stay in the ministry under observation and later discontinued the monitoring because it believed he was unlikely to repeat the sexual misconduct.

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UNITED STATES
Aleteia

GREG DALY

When the “silenced” Irish Redemptorist Father Tony Flannery set out in January on a speaking tour of his homeland, he said he would be “deliberately staying away from Church premises, so as not to cause embarrassment to anyone.”

As recent events in Minneapolis have shown, it seems this was a prudent decision. Father Flannery’s sole engagement on Church property in his current 18-city speaking tour of the United States led to his host, Father Michael Tegeder, being personally asked by Archbishop John Nienstedt to change the location of Wednesday’s talk so as “not to cause scandal.”

After Father Tegeder refused to comply, the archbishop wrote to him, stating that Father Flannery, keynote speaker at this weekend’s Call to Action National Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, “attacks the teaching of the Church.” Pointing out how he had stipulated that Father Flannery “not be permitted to speak on any Catholic premises in the archdiocese,” he asked that it be made clear that Father Flannery’s visit was not supported by the Church. Father Tegeder agreed “to announce this publicly.”

Born in County Galway in 1948, Father Flannery entered the Redemptorists’ minor seminary in Limerick when he was 12 years old, going to the major seminary at 17 and being ordained in 1974. The author of several books, in September 2010 he and a handful of others founded Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), which now boasts more than 1,000 members.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Two members of staff at St Ambrose College have been suspended over allegations they knew about abuse by former teacher Alan Morris.

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.

– ST AMBROSE COLLEGE SPOKESPERSON

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Christy Gutowski, Cynthia Dizikes, Todd Lighty,
Chicago Tribune

The release Thursday of once-secret files of priests accused of child sex abuse offered a chance for victims like David Lasley to finally learn how the Archdiocese of Chicago had handled their allegations.

Lasley was a 12-year-old altar boy at St. Ailbe’s Catholic Church on the South Side in the 1970s when he says John Calicott, the church’s popular associate pastor, sexually abused him. He first reported the abuse to the church in 1994, having kept it secret for years out of shame and fear that no one would believe him.

Now 51, Lasley said he planned to read all 2,398 pages in Calicott’s file.

“The truth is always better in the light,” Lasley said. “It’s because of the courage of the victims who came forward that this day has come. We know we have to immortalize this history in some way.”

Lasley and victims’ advocates said the release of the files was long overdue.

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UNITED STATES
Seattle PI

By Joel Connelly

He is the supreme pontiff and ultimate authority in the Roman Catholic Church, but Pope Francis has formalized his firing power.

Under a new Vatican edict, when he considers it “necessary,” the pope can ask a bishop to resign.

Pope Francis has already removed bishop.

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was sent packing from his post in Limberg, Germany, after spending millions in luxury renovations to his residence and diocesan headquarters. He was nicknamed the “bishop of Bling.”

Paraguayan Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano was removed after offering a pastoral home to a Pennsylvania priest accused of sexual abuse and delivering personal denunciations of his fellow bishops in the South American nation.

Francis has also taken ultraconservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke off the Congregation of Bishops, which recommends new appointments to the hierarchy and is apparently getting ready to send Burke packing from his job as head of the Vatican’s highest court.

Burke has fired back with critical statements. “At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder,” he said last month.

In Vatican-ese, the new edict defines the Holy See’s firing power:

“In some particular circumstances, the competent authority can consider it necessary to ask a bishop to present his resignation from pastoral office, after having made known the reasons for the request and listening carefully to the reasons, in fraternal dialogues.”

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
November 7, 2014

The main story on the Daily Beast right now has a headline worthy of a supermarket checkout lane: “Chicago Priests Raped & Pillaged for 50 Years.” The author, Barbie Latza Nadeau, gives the impression that she has examined a good portion of the fifteen thousand pages of files released by the Archdiocese of Chicago yesterday morning. She has read all about “accusations against perverted priests.” She’s seen “handwritten letters penned by worried mothers,” and “emails sent decades after the abuses occurred.” She’s squinted at “letters so old the mimeographed typewriting is smudged.” She’s even read “emails so recent, they call into question just how much of the clerical abuse is still going on.” This careful research has provided Nadeau with the following insight:

The allegations include accusations of priests plying young victims with alcohol and cigarettes, of fondling, masturbating, and performing oral sex on minors, and a strong current of denial and well-documented coverup by the church that can be traced all the way to Rome.

Her proof? “Take the case of Father Gregory Miller, whose 275-page dossier is filled with congratulatory letters of advancement within the archdiocese,” Nadeau writes, noting that the file is also “dotted with frequent warnings of misconduct.” She details the first accusation, then reports, “A few years later, Miller’s assignment as a parish priest was renewed.” And “in 2012,” according to Nadeau, “a new complainant wrote an email to Leah McCluskey of the Chicago Archdiocese’s abuse committee.” She continues: “More disturbing still, despite what were clearly repeat allegations, the archdiocese’s vicar general, John Canary, wrote the errant priest to tell him that he was not to be alone with anyone under age 18, seemingly apologizing for the trouble.”

It all sounds so familiar, doesn’t it? Victims’ alegations falling on deaf ears. Church officials protecting, even promoting, priests they knew posed a threat to children. Tone-deaf churchmen praising a man who deserved jail time instead of congratulations. And this story would certainly merit the outrage it is meant to inspire, if Nadeau’s narrative were true. But, as a review of the Miller file makes clear, her version of events is about as valuable as the paper it isn’t printed on.

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TENNESEE
WCMA

By Nick Kenney

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) –
A former Mid-South preacher was sentenced to five years in prison for knowingly spreading HIV. One day after the sentencing, Rodney Carr filed a motion for a new trial.

For the pastor who, while spreading the good word, was also spreading a potentially deadly virus, was his sentence tough enough?

“I believe he should be severely punished for hurting people’s lives,” said Frederick Delbridge, who lives in Memphis. “You don’t never do bad when you got a chance and an opportunity to do good. You know, that was very evil of him and selfish.”

Carr was once an ordained minister at Fellowship of Believers in Christ Church. He was notified he had HIV in 2005, but during a relationship in 2010 and 2011, he never told his girlfriend. She, as a result, is also HIV positive.

After his 2012 arrest, prosecutors say he set up a profile on an online dating website.

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TENNESSEE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Sex abuse victims blast Baptist ministers
They “change their tune” in child abuse case
Group says they should be investigated & charged
It says one preacher “clearly filed false police report”
SNAP: “Now law enforcement must act to deter deceit”
In new court document, minister radically contradicts himself & police

WHAT
Holding a sign and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, a nationally-known clergy sex abuse victim and advocate will

–disclose a new 15 page court record of sworn answers by a Jackson area minister,
— urge law enforcement to investigate and prosecute he and an ex-pastor, and
— prod anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by a convicted sex offender and church member who is accused of more crimes to call police, protect others, expose wrongdoers, deter deceit and start healing.”

WHEN
TODAY, Friday, Nov. 7 at 2:45 pm

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Madison County DA’s office, 225 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Jackson, TN

WHO
A Missouri man who is the long-time leader of an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). He and his brothers were molested as a child by a priest. One of them grew up to become a priest and molested children himself.

WHY
In an unusual and controversial move, three years after he reported suspected child sex crimes by a church volunteer to police, a Jackson minister went back and tried to “water down” his formal report. SNAP calls the move “an apparent, clumsy and likely illegal effort to protect himself and his congregation from a civil child sex abuse and cover up case” which was filed against him and his church weeks earlier.” …

SNAP is urging Madison County DA Jerry Woodall to investigate the two very different accounts and possibly charge the minister for making a false police report.

(Read the police report here:

[police report]

In 2006, Pastor Mark McSwain of First Church in Bemis reported to police that a church volunteer, Chad Lutrell, was inappropriately touching young girls and kissing one on the mouth. He also said that Lutrell was stalking and harassing adult women.

Three years later, however, in 2009, McSwain backtracked from his original statement. McSwain approached police again, this time telling an officer that Lutrell kissed a child on the cheek, not on the mouth. McSwain also denied that Lutrell had inappropriately touched children, and claimed that Lutrell only sent one adult woman an inappropriate email and follower her home.

“It seems suspicious that Rev. McSwain changed his tune so dramatically, especially after three years, and in such self-serving ways,” said David Clohessy director of SNAP. “We hope prosecutors will consider filing charges against McSwain for making a false police report.”

“The pastor clearly is trying hard to protect his reputation and his church’s reputation from negative news coverage and civil lawsuits,” said Clohessy. “There’s really no other possible explanation for his bizarre behavior.”

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ARKANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Group challenges bishop on abuse
They’re worried about recently ousted priest
SNAP: Catholic officials should seek out other victims
Predator’s whereabouts should be disclosed, group says
And victims want diocese to post predators’ names on websites

What:
Holding signs and children’s photos at a sidewalk news conference, leaders of a support group for clergy sex abuse victims will prod Arkansas’ top Catholic official to take more action about a recently-ousted priest who engaged in sexual misconduct. Specifically, the group wants Arkansas’ bishop to use church resources to

— more aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s misdeeds,
— warn prospective employers and others about him,
— educate parishioners about adult clergy sexual misconduct, and
— permanently post on his church websites the names of all proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics.

When:
Saturday, November 8, at 2:00 p.m.

Where:
On the sidewalk outside the Little Rock Catholic diocese headquarters (“chancery office”), 2500 N. Tyler St. (near Hawthorne Road) in Little Rock (501-664-0340)

Who:
Two-three members of an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri man who is the organization’s long time director. (He and his brothers were molested as a child by a priest. One of them grew up to become a priest and molested children himself.)

Visuals:
Copies of a bishop’s message about the case & an Arkansas Democrat story about it will be available.

Why:
Five weeks ago, Arkansas’ top Catholic official disclosed that a priest would be permanently defrocked because he committed “predatory” sexual misconduct with several adults and violated the sanctity of the confessional.

[Arkansas Catholic]

On Sept. 27-28, at churches in Russellville, Dardanelle and Danville, Bishop Anthony Taylor announced that Fr. James Melnick would be “laicized” or kicked out of the priesthood. Taylor said that Fr. faces “credible allegations of sexual misconduct” by “multiple adult victims” and that his actions seem “predatory.”

But that’s not enough, SNAP says. Taylor should give more details about when abuse reports first surfaced against Fr. Melnick, so parishioners and the public know whether church officials addressed the matter promptly or tried to keep it quiet for weeks or months, the group says.

And Taylor should disclose where Fr. Melnick is now, SNAP says. Since he has not yet been defrocked, church law and practice dictates that Taylor must keep paying Fr. Melnick, the group asserts, so Taylor knows where Fr. Melnick is now and should make that information public.

In 17 states, it’s illegal for any clergy to have any sexual contact with congregants (adults or children). If Fr. Melnick cannot be criminally charged, SNAP says it’s possible that other Catholic employees might be prosecuted on charges of witness tampering, destruction of evidence, intimidation of victims, obstruction of justice, etc.

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CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Nov. 7, 2014

The Chicago archdiocese on Thursday voluntarily released nearly 15,000 pages of documents related to 36 priests with substantiated claims of sexual abuse of minors brought against them.

All 36 priests are no longer active in ministry and had been listed on the archdiocese’s website prior to the release; 14 have died and nine have been laicized. The archdiocese stated in a press release that 92 percent of the cases predate 1988 and that no priests with a substantiated allegation of child sexual abuse is currently in ministry. The files are available on its website.

Jan Slattery, director of the archdiocese’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth, told NCR that the release of the files was important because it provides “a full story.”

“We didn’t do everything perfectly. It got better as you come through time,” she said. She said she anticipates the documents will encourage additional victims to come forward “and to try to reach some healing and some appropriate settlement within themselves.”

The Thursday release comes roughly nine months since the archdiocese made public 6,000 pages of documents related to another 30 priests. Those files came as part of a 2008 settlement with alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse. Slattery said the January release led survivors of sexual abuse to come forward, but they named no priests not already listed by the archdiocese. …

Despite the release coming without legal force, as did the January disclosure, it nonetheless garnered criticism.

“I’m comforted that they put some information out. I’m disturbed that they chose not to engage us in the process so we could be sure it’s all it has to be and should be,” attorney Jeff Anderson told NCR. “And having reviewed it, it raises more questions than it does give answers.”

Anderson, who represented claims in the settlement that brought the January release, said “at that time, it was our intention to continue that process” that brought about the first 30 disclosures, but that they were ultimately denied access. He attributed that in part to critical statements he made about George’s handling of the McCormack case.

John O’Malley, director of legal services for the archdiocese, told NCR that while Anderson, following the January release, made known his interest in being a part of further disclosures, “we never, ever told him that we were entertaining that thought or that that was a possibility, as far as I know.”

“I’m frankly disappointed that he’s making these points because I would have hoped he would have supported our decision to do this voluntarily, on our own, because he’s been calling for that for a long time,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Nov. 7, 2014

EDITORIAL

It is difficult to imagine why any pope would want to engage in the synodal process if it were not to discuss compelling issues of the day. It is equally difficult to imagine a gathering of bishops called to discuss important issues of the day with the expectation that they would not pose difficult questions or generate disagreement among themselves.

Perhaps it is because the Catholic world has come to presume the unreasonable — that discussions can occur with no “dissenting” positions permitted and no forbidden questions allowed — that the most recent phase of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family would cause such strong reactions across the spectrum of expectations.

For more than 30 years and two papacies, Catholics have been conditioned to accept, many grudgingly, that it had become an unalterable fact of life that discussion of certain topics, certain pastoral approaches, certain questions related to contemporary life and, especially, to sexuality were forever forbidden in the community and would surely never occur among church leaders.

And then along came Pope Francis. He said those rules and presumptions no longer apply, that discussion was not to be censored, that no topics or questions were to be off the table. He wanted full, robust debate. The bishops of the world apparently delivered. The debate was worth the effort, if only so that Catholics can understand their leaders actually do disagree on important matters. However, it is essential to keep in mind that it is still a discussion among a tiny sampling of humanity, removed from the ordinary circumstances of life, and exclusively male and celibate.

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WISCONSIN
Post-Bulletin

Posted: Friday, November 7, 2014
Kay Fate, kfate@postbulletin.com

BARRON, Wis. — Jack Krough, a former priest in Rochester and one of the priests from the Winona Diocese who was accused of molesting children, has died.

A death notice for Krough, 65, appeared on an Eau Claire, Wis., funeral home website, stating his date of death was Oct. 12, and that arrangements were pending. No further information has been published.

Krough served several parishes in the area, including: St. Pius X, Lourdes High School and St. Francis of Assisi, Assisi Heights in Rochester; St. Augustine, Pacelli High School and St. Edward in Austin; Brownsdale’s Our Lady of Loretto; and Winona Cotter High School.

In 1993, he was confronted with the discovery of a photo of a naked child found in his residence. He admitted taking the photo in about 1978, when the boy was 16, but denied other actions.

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POLSKA/POLAND
Ocaleni

English – scroll down

Powstała około pięciu lat temu jako grupa terapeutyczna, prowadzona przez dwóch psychologów, a następnie przekształciła się w grupę samopomocową. Jej liderką jest nasza niezastąpiona wolontariuszka i Ocalona – Agnieszka Popławska.

/ It has been created five years ago as a therapeutic group lead by two psychologists. Then it turned into a self-help group. Its leader is an irreplaceable volunteer and Survivor – Agnieszka Popławska.

Agnieszka tłumaczy mi, że wyróżniamy dwa rodzaje grup pomocowych dla Ocalonych:

1. Grupy terapeutyczne – tu mentorem jest psycholog oraz

2. Grupy wsparcia (samopomocowe), w których każdy Ocalony jest równy i ma swój wkład w rozwój grupy. Liderem takiej grupy wsparcia jest osoba, która taką grupę organizuje, ale już podczas samych spotkań nie ma liderów.

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VATIKAN
Vatican History

[The pope has approved new rules regarding resignation of bishops.]

Leiter von vatikanischen Kurienbehörden sind ab sofort gehalten, mit dem Erreichen des 75. Lebensjahres dem Papst ihren Rücktritt anzubieten. Diese Regelung ist Teil einer Neugestaltung des Rechtes zu Bischofs- und Kardinalsrücktritten, die der Vatikan an diesem Mittwoch veröffentlicht hat. Im Allgemeinen wird darin die im Kirchenrecht festgelegte Praxis bestätigt, dass Ortsbischöfe mit 75 Jahren ihren Rücktritt anbieten müssen. Es wird aber ein Artikel angefügt, der besagt, dass es unter besonderen Umständen der zuständigen Autorität – in der lateinischen Kirche also dem Papst – erlaubt ist, einen Bischof zum Einreichen der Rücktrittsbitte aufzufordern.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kritisches Netzwek

[Documentation Sexual violence in the Catholic Church]

Wir sind Frauen, die in der Kindheit, Jugend oder im Erwachsenenalter Gewalt erlebt haben. Diese Gewalt erfuhren wir körperlich, seelisch, sexuell oder als Kombination dieser Gewaltformen. Sie war einmalig, mehrmalig oder auch langjährig. Sie konnte in der Familie, einer Beziehung oder Ehe, in einer Schule, in der Jugendarbeit, aber auch in Therapie oder Seelsorge geschehen. Sie ging von Menschen aus.

Jede von uns hat ihre eigene Geschichte und ihre eigenen Bewältigungsstrategien. Von unserer Verschiedenheit können wir lernen – die Gemeinsamkeit der Traumatisierung jedoch ist es, die uns verbinden kann.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Vatican City, Nov 6, 2014 / 09:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s new financial management policies focused on accountability are described in a handbook delivered by the Secretariat for the Economy last week, an internal bulletin of the secretariat announced on Wednesday.

“Having sound and consistent financial management practices and reporting helps provide a clear framework of accountability for all those entrusted with the resources of the Church,” said Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, according to the Nov. 5 bulletin.

The new policies will come into effect Jan. 1, 2015. In the run-up, the Secretariat for the Economy will provide training and support to Vatican and Holy See offices to help implement the new policies.

The manual on the new policies was endorsed by the Council for the Economy, and approved by Pope Francis. Its delivery was accompanied with a leader bearing headings from both the Secretariat and the Council for the Economy.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, Nov 6 (Reuters) – The Vatican has issued staff with a manual on economic ethics and accountability, as part of Pope Francis’ effort to clean up the Holy See’s finances after a rash of scandals.

The 45-page Financial Management Policies was sent to all Vatican departments this week by the Secretariat for the Economy, a special unit set up earlier this year, according to an internal cover letter seen by Reuters.

The letter, signed by two cardinals, said the manual contained guidelines “that are an essential first step in the reforms of the economic and administrative practices of the Holy See, being requested by the Holy Father”.

From Jan. 1, all departments will have to enact “sound and efficient financial management policies” and prepare financial information and reports in a “consistent and transparent manner” that adhere to international accounting standards.

The manual provides “a clear framework for accountability of those entrusted with the resources of the church,” the letter declares.

The letter, and a separate, internal announcement from the Secretariat of the Economy, both say that each department’s financial statements will be reviewed by one of the world’s major international auditing firms.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Australia’s Cardinal George Pell has made the first significant move in Pope Francis’s drive to clean up the Vatican’s finances, issuing a financial management manual to church officials.

The rule book, which will be binding on all members of the Vatican bureaucracy from 1 January, is part of Pell’s work to bring the church’s financial management into line with international accounting standards.

The manual was sent to all Vatican departments this week by the secretariat for the economy, a special unit set up earlier this year, according to an internal cover letter seen by Reuters.

The letter said the manual contained guidelines “that are an essential first step in the reforms of the economic and administrative practices of the Holy See, being requested by the Holy Father”.

All departments will have to enact “sound and efficient financial management policies” and prepare financial information and reports in a “consistent and transparent manner” that adheres to international accounting standards.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Charles Keeshan

It was a high-profile scandal involving a college football coach that brought an end to the 40-year ministry of former Catholic priest Gary Miller over sex abuse allegations.

Days after former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky went to trial in June 2012 on 52 charges of sex crimes against children, the Archdiocese of Chicago received an email from a man who said he had “a story to tell” about what occurred at a parish in West suburban Berwyn. The email’s writer said he came forward “after having watched, and been wrenched” by the Sandusky case, according to a 275-page report released Thursday by the archdiocese.

The man later told church investigators that in 1973 or 1974, when he was 13 or 14 years old, he was molested by a young priest named Gary Miller at St. Leonard Parish in Berwyn. According to church documents, the boy reported that after serving Mass as an altar boy, Miller invited him back to his residence, where the priest removed his clothes, told him to undress and touched him.

The boy wouldn’t report the allegations until nearly 40 years later, by which time Miller had moved on to five other city and suburban parishes, including Queen of the Rosary in Elk Grove Village between 1983 and 1988. When the man did come forward, Miller was pastor at St. Bernadette Parish in Evergreen Park.

Unlike many accused priests, Miller chose not to fight the allegations. Instead, he agreed to leave active ministry in July 2012 and then, in September of that year, wrote a letter to Cardinal Francis George asking for early retirement.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Christopher Placek

Jack Keough left the priesthood in the 1980s to marry an airline stewardess in Las Vegas, and has been living in the Seattle area since then.

It wasn’t until 2002 that child sex abuse allegations surfaced from his tenure as associate pastor at Our Lady of Hope Parish in Des Plaines, according to documents released Thursday.

The victim wrote in a letter to Cardinal Francis George that during frequent visits to the rectory in the 1960s, Keough kissed and fondled her as early as age 11, and that led to sex after she graduated high school. In a letter the victim provided the archdiocese, he expresses his love to her.

The victim said she reported the abuse to another priest, but documents show archdiocese officials were unable to locate that priest during an investigation.

The archdiocese’s review board found there to be “reasonable cause” to the allegations in 2003.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Core operational deficit shrinks by $1.8 million as compared to fiscal year 2013.
Significant progress is being made in regard to balance sheet liabilities.

Contextual Background

In December 2013, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia published audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013. Those financial statements disclosed a $4.9 million core operating deficit for that period exclusive of non-recurring credits and charges. That figure compared very favorably to the $17.6 million core operating deficit experienced for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012. Additionally, several very significant and ongoing balance sheet liabilities that measure in the hundreds of millions of dollars were detailed.

These financial statements were for the entity designated as the “Office for Financial Services (OFS),” which is the official title for the majority of administrative offices and ministries located at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. OFS provides administrative and programmatic support to the parishes, schools and other related ecclesiastical entities of the Archdiocese. For financial reporting purposes, it is considered a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Archdiocese.

Comparative Operating Results: Fiscal Year 2014 Versus Fiscal Year 2013

The analysis presented below compares the “Change in Net Assets Before Other Items” for fiscal years 2014 and 2013. The “as reported” deficit of $ .7 million in FY 2014 compares to an “as reported” surplus of $3.9 million in FY 2013. These amounts can be found in the Statements of Activities and Changes in Net Assets under the caption “Change in Net Assets Before Other Items” in the “Unrestricted” column. This analysis provides a meaningful comparison of each fiscal year after adjusting for the impact of items that are non-recurring in nature. All figures are in millions of dollars. Endnotes are provided with additional information on selected line items.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reading Eagle

Harold Brubaker, The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

It’s too soon to say that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has recovered from the deep financial distress it was mired in three years ago, but financial statements released Thursday show positive momentum continued in the fiscal year ended June 30.

On an operating basis, the archdiocese’s central financial office posted a loss of $3.1 million in fiscal 2014, down from $4.9 million the year before and well below the $17.6 million loss in fiscal 2012.

That was when Archbishop Charles J. Chaput arrived to find the finances of the Catholic Church in Southeastern Pennsylvania in shambles after years of mismanagement, compelling him to embark on a major campaign to convert assets into cash.

In one sign of progress, the archdiocese collected 94 percent of parish assessments due in fiscal 2014, up from an estimated 88 percent or 89 percent the previous year. Parish assessments yield money that the Office of Financial Services uses to pay for its operations and certain archdiocese-wide programs

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

AARON CARTER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER CARTERA@PHILLYNEWS.COM
POSTED: Friday, November 7, 2014

THE CARDINAL O’HARA football program will be without its interim head coach today when the Lions face top-seeded Archbishop Wood in the Catholic League AAA semifinals.

Paul Strus, who took over after longtime O’Hara coach Danny Algeo died from a heart attack in July, has been placed on administrative leave, according to an email sent to the Daily News from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“The interim head football coach at Cardinal O’Hara High School was placed on leave based on concerns that were voiced to school administration regarding his professional behavior,” Ken Gavin, director of communications for the Archdiocese wrote in an email. “That matter is being looked into at this time and his status is pending the outcome.”

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By SHANNON TONKIN Nov. 7, 2014

A former teacher at Bellambi’s Holy Spirit College sacked after sexually abusing a student in the early 1990s has pleaded guilty to molestation charges involving another student years earlier.

Gregory Allan Cain’s seven-year employment at the school as a sports and physical education teacher was terminated in August 1992 after allegations emerged he had sexually and indecently assaulted a 15-year-old student a few months earlier.

Cain avoided jail at the time, instead being ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.

However, in Campbelltown District Court on Friday, Cain admitted that the student was not the first he had interfered with, confessing to having sexually abused a male student who slept over at his house on three occasions in the 1980s.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Christopher Placek

Bishop John Keating already had concerns with former priest Bob Friese before Friese was hired to work with at-risk youths at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines.

When he learned years later of his hiring, Keating, the archdiocese’s chancellor, “hit the ceiling,” according to an internal memo contained in a 161-page file detailing sex abuse allegations involving Friese.

In 1984, Friese, then 33, was charged with sexually abusing a teen whom he met at Maryville, but the teen later ran away. The victim, who was 13 when he met Friese, testified in court the abuse occurred from 1982 to 1984 and involved genital fondling and oral sex.

Friese, who formally resigned from the priesthood in 1985, was convicted and sentenced to probation by a Cook County judge.

A 1985 archdiocese memo reveals that Keating believed Friese was a “severely disturbed individual,” even though Keating emphasized there was no evidence of pedophilia when he spoke with him in 1980.

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ARGENTINA
Pagina 12

[A priest who was prosecuted for corruption of minors was removed from the church of San Juan Bautista, in Tigre in 2005. Now, his replacement was denounced in court for sexual abuse.]

Por Carlos Rodríguez

Una nueva denuncia, por supuesto abuso sexual, involucra al sacerdote que está al frente de la parroquia San Juan Bautista, del barrio Ricardo Rojas, en General Pacheco, partido de Tigre. La iglesia, que depende del Obispado de San Isidro, había tenido un primer caso de abuso que salió a la luz en mayo de 2005, cuando fue separado de su cargo el entonces párroco José Antonio Mercau, ahora procesado por los delitos de “corrupción de menores reiterada, en concurso real con abuso sexual mediante acceso carnal agravado”. Mercau había sido acusado por cuatro adolescentes que tenían entonces entre 14 y 17 años. Ahora se presentó ante la Justicia uno de esos chicos, que ya tiene 18 años, para asegurar que había sido víctima de abuso sexual por parte del actual párroco, Mario Yulan, según informó a Página/12 el abogado Tomás Ojea Quintana, que representa al joven que hizo la imputación. La causa fue presentada ante el juez de San Isidro Rafael Sal Lari. Se adjuntaron cartas de puño y letra, más algunos mensajes vía e-mail (ver nota aparte), que habrían sido dirigidos al joven por el sacerdote, con expresiones de amor exaltado, aunque sin alusiones explícitas de índole sexual.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Christian Brother will spend his first night behind bars for indecently assaulting four boys at NSW schools more than 30 years ago.

Desmond Eric Richards had his bail revoked at the Downing Centre District Court on Friday ahead of his sentencing on November 27.

The 75-year-old has pleaded guilty to abusing four boys between 1972 and 1982 in Albury, Wagga Wagga and Strathfield in Sydney’s inner west.

Although the court was told that Richards claimed to have no memory of the incidents, the former brother had said he was “very concerned” about the impact his behaviour has had.

In arguing against a jail sentence, his lawyer Greg Walsh said his client had admitted his wrongdoing as far back as 1997.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Hrald

Ex- Christian Brothers headmaster Desmond Richards taken into custody pending likely jail term for assaulting boys

November 7, 2014

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

A former Chistian Brothers headmaster has been taken into custody ahead of a likely jail sentence for indecent assaulting young boys in the 1970s and ’80s.

Desmond Eric Richards, also known as Brother Neil Richards, pleaded guilty this year to assaulting four young boys aged between 11 and 13 while working at Christian Brothers schools in Albury, Wagga Wagga and Strathfield.

During a sentencing hearing on Friday, the District Court heard that, after assaulting the boys, Richards, now 75, whipped them repeatedly with a strap.

This was an attempt to “dominate and control” the victims to ensure they did not talk about what had happened to them, the court heard.

“This matter needs to be considered in light of the violence shown to the victims at the time,” sentencing Judge Peter Zahra said.

“They needed to go to school – they had no alternative. But when they did go they were subjected not only to sexual but also physical abuse.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Thomas Oriti

A Christian Brother who pleaded guilty to assaulting boys at schools across New South Wales has had his bail revoked in a Sydney court.

Desmond Eric Richards, also known as Brother Neil, taught at numerous schools run by the Christian Brothers Catholic order.

He spent the later years of his career at the Vatican, but was arrested when he visited Australia a year ago.

Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting four boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

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ILLINOIS
Lake County News-Sun

The Archdiocese of Chicago has released thousands of pages of internal documents pertaining to how it dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse by 36 priests going back decades.

The archdiocese posted the documents on its website Thursday. They’re in addition to records related to 32 other abusive priests that it released as part of a legal settlement in January, when the archdiocese revealed it had concealed the abuse for decades.

Together with documents released in January, the new files represent the archdiocese’s fullest public accounting of 68 priests, who church officials found abused at least 352 children since 1950, according to the Chicago Tribune. Of those 68, two had no documents released; Rev. Daniel J. McCormack and Rev. Edward J. Maloney, are not included, “due to ongoing processes that do not permit release,” according to the Archdiocese.

Based on a comparison, these additional files pertain to priests already named in the January release. No new priests were named in Thursday’s documents.

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ILLINOIS
The Doings La Grange

The Archdiocese of Chicago has released thousands of pages of internal documents pertaining to how it dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse by 36 priests going back decades.

The archdiocese posted the documents on its website Thursday, Nov. 6. Based on a comparison, these additional files pertain to priests already named in the January release. No new priests were named in Thursday’s documents.

They’re in addition to records related to other abusive priests that it released as part of a legal settlement in January, when the archdiocese revealed it had concealed the abuse for decades.

Together with documents released in January, the new files represent the archdiocese’s fullest public accounting of 68 priests, who church officials found abused 352 children since 1950, according to the Chicago Tribune. Of those 68, two had no documents released; Rev. Daniel J. McCormack and Rev. Edward J. Maloney, are not included, “due to ongoing processes that do not permit release,” according to the Archdiocese.

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Ewan Palmer
November 7, 2014

A review into how the Home Office handled allegations of historical child abuse has not been able to recover missing documents said to include the names of paedophiles with links to the British establishment.

The secret files, named the Dickens Dossier, were passed on to the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983.

The review of how the government handled these allegations, set up and by led by NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless, was called after the Home office revealed they had “lost or destroyed” 114 documents concerning child abuse allegations.

It is believed the documents handed onto Brittan contained the names of politicians and senior policemen who were suspected of being child abusers

A source close to the Wanless report told BBC’s Newsnight they have not been able to find the documents despite looking “inside and behind every single cupboard in the department”.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 7 November 2014)

Helped by Broken Rites, victims of Christian Brother “Neil” Richards have achieved justice. On 7 November 2014, a Sydney court ordered Richards to be taken into custody to await his sentence for indecently assaulting young boys in the 1970s and ’80s. The church had known for years about Richards offending but the crimes were concealed from the police (and from the public) — until now.

Brother “Neil” Richards has had a long career as a Christian Brother, including as a headmaster, in Catholic schools in New South Wales.

Originally, one victim contacted Broken Rites, which advised him to have a private interview with a Detectives Office of the NSW Police. Later, another victim from a different school came forward. Detectives then investigated and found more victims.

In 2013 the detectives learned that Richards was working at the Catholic Church headquarters in Rome. When he re-visited Australia, police arrested him in November 2013.

During early and mid-2014, Richards appeared in court, charged (under his birth name, Desmond Eric Richards), regarding four victims who had spoken to the police. The court was told that, after the boys had been sexually assaulted by Brother Richards, they were regularly beaten with a strap.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Sun Chronicle

BY DAVID LINTON SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

ATTLEBORO – The former assistant pastor of Grace Baptist Church and principal of Grace Baptist Christian Academy was sentenced to prison Thursday after pleading guilty to molesting one of his female students.

The Rev. Jeffrey A. Nichols, 48, was sentenced to a maximum five years in prison after pleading guilty in Fall River Superior Court, according to a spokeswoman for the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.

Nichols, who was a trusted assistant to church Pastor Jeff Bailey for 23 years, admitted to molesting one of his seventh-grade students beginning in 2008 when she was 13. The abuse continued until the end of the school year in June 2013.

Nichols repeatedly indecently touched the girl and also made sexual comments to her. He asked her to expose herself to him and exposed himself to her, prosecutors said after his arrest.

His arrest shocked Bailey and the church, where Nichols had been a respected married father of three children. His wife was also a teacher at the school.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WUWM

[with audio]

By DAVID SCHAPER
Originally published on Thu November 6, 2014

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Chicago’s Catholic Archdiocese released thousands of pages of documents today detailing allegations of sexual abuse by three dozen priests. It is the second group of such documents the church in Chicago has made public this year. It fulfills a pledge by Chicago Cardinal Francis George to do so before he retires in two weeks. From Chicago, NPR’s David Schaper reports.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: The newly released documents contain the stories of victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back to the 1950s and continuing into the 1990s. They show how 36 priests in the Chicago Archdiocese took advantage of children in their parishes and the trust of their parents. The documents show how higher-ups in the Chicago Archdiocese – bishops, vicars and even cardinals – often mishandled the allegations – sometimes ignoring the accusers, often just shuttling predatory priests to other parishes where they could abuse again.

JAN SLATTERY: We acknowledge that what has happened is – it’s horrible.

SCHAPER: Jan Slattery is director of the Chicago Archdiocese Office for the Protection of Children and Youth. And she says, the church cannot change the sins of the past.

SLATTERY: All we can do now is work to rebuild trust, and we’re doing that through what we hope is – with you – honest dialogue. We’re trying to establish the truths so that we can begin to move forward in healing and reconciliation.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The New York Times

By MITCH SMITH and MICHAEL PAULSON
NOV. 6, 2014

CHICAGO — The Roman Catholic archdiocese here released thousands of internal documents on Thursday that detailed decades of sexual abuse by its priests, a disclosure timed just days before the retirement of the current archbishop.

The files, some of which show past church leaders permitting clergy accused of abuse to continue working, describe complaints against 36 priests, many of whom are now dead and none of whom remain in active ministry. Nearly all of the alleged abuse occurred decades ago, though in several cases the accusers waited years to come forward.

Cardinal Francis E. George, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s current leader, had promised to make the documents public. That pledge became more urgent when Pope Francis accepted the cardinal’s retirement and appointed Blase Cupich, currently the bishop of Spokane, Wash., to replace him later this month.

The priests whose personnel files were posted online Thursday have long been publicly identified by the Chicago archdiocese as having credible complaints of sexual misconduct against them.

In a statement, David Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, criticized the archdiocese for not releasing the documents earlier. The roughly 15,000 pages published Thursday included graphic descriptions of abuse and, in some cases, evidence of a less-than-swift response from church leaders.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Pilot

CHICAGO (CNS) — The Archdiocese of Chicago Nov. 6 released approximately 15,000 pages of documents related to 36 archdiocesan priests who have substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.

The documents are posted on the archdiocesan website, www.archchicago.org.

All of the records pertain to incidents that took place years or decades ago, and the names of all of the priests involved have been posted on the website for years. Fourteen of the 36 priests have died; none of them are in ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

John O’Malley, special counsel to the archbishop for misconduct issues, said the documents answer several questions: what the abuse was and when it happened; when the archdiocese learned about it; and what the archdiocese did about it.

The archdiocese released similar records pertaining to 30 other priests in January. The two sets of documents released cover all of the archdiocesan priests with substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors who are identified on the archdiocesan website except for two, who have ongoing civil or canonical legal cases.

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

NEW MEXICO
KRQE

By Tina Jensen
Published: November 6, 2014

GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) – A New Mexico priest has bolted from his parish. Now people have questions: Where did he go, and did he take some of the church’s money with him?

When Father Ravi Kiran transferred from a Catholic Diocese in India to the Gallup Diocese in 2009, he started making changes to Saint Anthony Zuni Mission and School.

Parishoners said he upgraded the parsonage, school and convent, which were all in desperate need of repair.

“Father Ravi was a wonderful priest,” said parishoner Joseph Sweeney. “He increased church attendance. He’s improved the campus tremendously.”

Sources tell KRQE News 13 the way he spent money divided the congregation and some left altogether.

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