ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Thursday 27 March 2014

Cardinal George Pell read out a formal apology to the victim of a paedophile priest at the royal commission into child sexual abuse on Thursday.

Pell marked the end of his appearance before the commission with a public apology for the suffering endured by former altar boy John Ellis as a result of his treatment by the church.

Reading from a statement, Pell said that, as the former archbishop of Sydney and speaking personally, the church had failed Ellis and that as archbishop he took ultimate responsibility for the suffering and the terrible impact on his life.

“At the end of this gruelling appearance for both of us at this royal commission, I want to publicly say sorry to him for the hurt caused him by the mistakes made,” Pell said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Thomas Oriti

Cardinal George Pell has publicly apologised to a victim of child sexual abuse, saying the Catholic Church failed in its moral and pastoral responsibilities.

The former Archbishop of Sydney was called back to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney, to answer more questions about his role in the case of former altar boy John Ellis.

Mr Ellis sued the Church after he was abused by a priest in the 1970s, but lost the case on a technicality in 2007.

Cardinal Pell has previously apologised to the victim in a statement tendered to the royal commission, and today he conveyed that in the hearing room.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Frank Brennan | 27 March 2014

Prior to Cardinal Pell’s appearance before Justice McClellan at the Child Abuse Royal Commission, I wrote in the Fairfax press: ‘The spotlight on the Ellis case should lead to better church administration for the good of everyone, especially those abused or wronged by those in authority. Together, Pell and McClellan can provide us with a better-lit path through the thickets of past abuse and maladministration.’

It has been an excruciating week or two. But there can be no doubt that the Australian Catholic Church with the forced scrutinies of the State has been assisted in getting back to its mission and basic values, espousing truth, justice, compassion and transparency.

As an institution, we have been dragged kicking and screaming. Cardinal Pell has been put through the wringer, though admittedly nowhere near to the same extent as was John Ellis when the Church decided to unleash the legal attack dogs on him in litigation which was euphemistically described as vigorous and strenuous.

In his written statement to the Commission, Cardinal Pell was upfront in apologising again for the sexual abuse which Ellis had undoubtedly suffered at the hands of a priest. Pell wrote, ‘I acknowledge and apologise to Mr Ellis for the gross violation and abuse committed by Aidan Duggan, a now deceased priest of the Sydney Archdiocese. I deeply regret the pain, trauma and emotional damage that this abuse caused to Mr Ellis.’

Under cross examination on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell had to admit that he, his advisers and his staff had fallen well short of the standards expected of a model litigant, let alone a Christian organisation. He finally admitted to the vast chasm between Christian decency and the tactics employed in pursuing Ellis in the courts.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

CARDINAL George Pell has ended his time before the royal commission into child sexual abuse with a public acknowledgement of the wrongs done to John Ellis, a former altar boy preyed upon by a paedophile priest.

But acknowledging Mr Ellis himself, when he was sitting just metres away, seemed to prove too hard for the cardinal.

Dr Pell concluded two-and-a-half days of evidence to the commission by apologising for what he had described as regrettable mistakes and misunderstandings over years of dealing with Mr Ellis.

Reading from a statement, Dr Pell said that as the former archbishop of Sydney and speaking personally, the Church had failed Mr Ellis in many ways.

“I want to acknowledge his suffering and the impact of this terrible affair on his life,” Dr Pell told the commission.

“As the then archbishop, I have to take ultimate responsibility, and this I do.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Sasha Aslanian St. Paul, Minn. Mar 26, 2014

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has asked the St. Paul Police Department to reopen two cases related to its investigation into the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

A St. Paul police spokesman confirmed the cases pertain to Archbishop John Nienstedt, and Curtis Wehmeyer, a St. Paul priest serving time in prison for child sexual abuse.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced earlier this month there was insufficient evidence to charge the archbishop, who in December was accused of groping a boy several years ago at a public event.

Nienstedt has denied any wrongdoing.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 03/26/2014

A Ramsey County judge reasserted Wednesday that the Archbishop John Nienstedt’s deposition in a case involving former priest Thomas Adamson not be sealed.

“I had no intention of providing a protection order to the depositions coming up … I thought that was pretty clear,” he told attorneys in court for another priest sexual abuse lawsuit.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis had asked District Judge John Van de North to prevent a plaintiff’s attorneys from questioning Nienstedt and his former deputy, Rev. Kevin McDonough. Van de North denied that request.

In a memorandum filed Monday, the archdiocese asked that those depositions be sealed once completed unless the plaintiff “bring(s) a motion to show good cause as to why such information should be publicly disclosed.”

Van de North made it clear that he hoped the issue would not be rehashed Thursday morning, when attorneys in the Adamson case return to court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

David Marr
theguardian.com, Wednesday 26 March 2014

Amazing claims are fine in the pulpit. You expect to hear them any time in a cathedral. But not at a royal commission.

George Pell was being asked to explain how his absolute conviction that John Ellis was abused as a boy by Father Aidan Duggan – a belief based on a five-month investigation by a church assessor – squared with the instructions he gave to contest the abuse in the New South Wales supreme court.

His claim: to dispute is not to deny. “I made it quite clear to the lawyers that we could not deny that an offence had taken place,” he explained. All they did in court was dispute Ellis’s claims, “put the plaintiff to proof”.

So Ellis was cross-examined for four days about the most private details of his life: the abuse, his marriage breakdown and his humiliating sacking by the law firm Baker & McKenzie.

Would it feel any different to Ellis whether his abuse was denied or disputed, wondered the commissioner, Justice Peter McClellan. “We were dealing with Mr Ellis as a senior and brilliant lawyer,” replied the cardinal. “I think he, as a lawyer, would have understood the distinction.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 27, 2014

Damien Murphy

”Do you understand now from your learning in the area of the effect and impact of child sexual abuse that the impact it had on John Ellis to have the very church he had gone back to dispute that he had ever been abused?”

The rain outside had streaked the windows with tears when Gail Furness, senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse suddenly turned the Catholic Church into a perpetrator.

In the public gallery, Mr Ellis, a man who long ago had been abused by his parish priest, raised a hand to his face like a shield and watched Cardinal George Pell start his penance without reconciliation.

Cardinal Pell, as the former Catholic archbishop of Sydney, had sanctioned a legal strategy that refused to recognise Mr Ellis had been abused, offered him derisory financial compensation, refused his offers of a settlement in the belief it would cause a rush of litigants demanding massive compensation payouts, and subjected him to a long demeaning legal case that eventually left him bankrupt.

Cardinal Pell: ”I regret that.”

Ms Furness: ”Only regret, Cardinal?”

Cardinal Pell: ”What else could I say. It was wrong that it [the court cross-examination of Mr Ellis] went to such an extent. I was told it was a legally proper tactic, strategy.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Religion Reporter March 26, 2014

The Archdiocese of Chicago agreed to pay $1.68 to $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged former priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack sexually abused a former fifth grade student at Our Lady of the Westside School, the plaintiff’s attorney announced Wednesday.

The agreement settles a suit brought against the archdiocese and Cardinal Francis George in December, 2011.

The suit was filed by a male Chicago plaintiff, now 23, who chose to remain anonymous and is identified as John Doe.

It alleged that at various times in the 2000 to 2001 school year, McCormack “inappropriately sexually touched, hugged, rubbed and/or abused” the plaintiff and “maintained a sexually abusive relationship with Doe, under the guise of counseling” him.

It also alleged that the archdiocese was aware of McCormack’s past history of sexual misconduct stemming back to his time in a seminary but chose to place him in ministry service among youth.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By David Gibson | Religion News Service, Updated: Wednesday, March 26

The news that Pope Francis fired — or “accepted the resignation of” — the German churchman known as “Bishop Bling” because of his big-spending ways has touched off speculation among Catholics that other dismissals could be in the offing.

Here’s the answer in four words: Perhaps, but probably not.

Recent history shows why: Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., remains in office 18 months after his conviction — and $1.4 million spent on his defense — for failing to report a priest suspected of abuse. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony enjoys a high-profile retirement in spite of the disapproval of his own successor over Mahony’s abuse record. Similarly, Cardinal Bernard Law, formerly of Boston, is still living a gilded existence in Rome years after he was plucked from the U.S. amid the clergy abuse scandal.

Not to mention Newark, N.J., Archbishop John Myers, who heads his diocese amid questions about his handling of abuse cases as well as pricey additions to his upscale retirement home.

Financially speaking, “Bishop Bling,” Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, Germany, was in a league of his own: He spent some $43 million on a luxurious new residence and office complex while cutting staff.

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GERMANY
Los Angeles Times

By Amy Hubbard
March 26, 2014

The cleric who became known as the “bishop of bling” has been removed from his ministry in Limburg, Germany, thanks to the conspicuously frugal Pope Francis.

The Vatican has accepted Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst’s resignation, according to news reports. The announcement caps off the controversy swirling around the bishop over the $43 million spent on his residence complex in Limburg.

As the Los Angeles Times’ Carol Williams reported in November, Tebartz-van Elst broke the budget for renovations, overspending by 800% on items including a $20,000 bathtub, $620,000 in artwork and $1.1 million for landscaping.

He was placed on indefinite leave in October as a church inquiry was launched. Tebartz-van Elst said the hefty expenditures were actually for 10 projects and there were additional costs because the buildings were under historical protection.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Europe Online

Rom/Limburg (dpa) – Ob sexueller Missbrauch oder Geheimdienstkontakte – mehrere katholische Kirchenführer mussten nach heftiger Kritik auf ihr Amt verzichten. Beispiele:

Keith O‘Brien, Edinburgh (Schottland): Er legte das Amt des Erzbischofs von St. Andrews und Edinburgh im Februar 2013 nieder. Vorausgegangen waren Vorwürfe, O‘Brien habe sich jungen Priestern in «unangemessener» Weise genähert.

Walter Mixa, Augsburg: Nach wochenlanger Kritik bot er Papst Benedikt XVI. seinen Rücktritt im April 2010 an. Frühere Heimkinder hatten ihm körperliche Misshandlung vorgeworfen, zudem soll er Stiftungsgelder zweckentfremdet haben. Der Vatikan akzeptierte das Gesuch im Mai.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sol

Rom/Limburg. Nach monatelangen scharfen Debatten um Amtsführung und Verschwendung des Limburger Bischofs Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst hat der Papst entschieden: Der beurlaubte Bischof darf nicht in sein Amt zurückkehren.

Franziskus stützte sich auf den Prüfbericht einer Expertenkommission, der am Mittwoch veröffentlicht wurde. Demnach trägt der 54-jährige Oberhirte maßgeblich Verantwortung für die Versechsfachung der Kosten für den millionenschweren Um- und Ausbau der Bischofsresidenz in Limburg, weil er kirchliche Vorschriften und Kontrollgremien umging und immer wieder Sonderwünsche hatte.

In der katholischen Kirche wurde die seit langem mit Spannung erwartete Entscheidung des Papstes mit Erleichterung aufgenommen und als Signal für einen Neuanfang gewertet. Der Skandal um Tebartz-van Elst hatte das Bistum zerrüttet und die katholische Kirche in ganz Deutschland in eine tiefe Vertrauenskrise gestürzt, in einigen Regionen traten mehr Gläubige als üblich aus der Kirche aus.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch-lutherische Landeskirche Hannoversc

[Summary: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hannovesr has adopted a policy of zero tolerance of sexual abuse.]

Hannover (epd). Die Evangelisch-lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers verfolgt nach eigenen Angaben im Blick auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen weiterhin eine “Null-Toleranz-Strategie”. Die Kirche habe das Ausmaß der Prävention in jüngster Zeit erweitert, um einen größtmöglichen Schutz zu erzielen, sagte Oberlandeskirchenrätin Kerstin Gäfgen-Track dem epd. Am Montag hatte die katholische Deutsche Bischofskonferenz bekanntgegeben, Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche durch ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsteam aufarbeiten zu lassen.

In der evangelischen Landeskirche sei es in den vergangenen Jahren in der Arbeit mit Kindern und Jugendlichen nur in wenigen Fällen zu sexuellem Missbrauch gekommen, sagte Gäfgen-Track. Inzwischen müssten Mitarbeiter über 18 Jahre, die eine Jugendfreizeit mit Übernachtung leiten, nach Art, Umfang und Dauer der Freizeit ein erweitertes Führungszeugnis vorlegen. “Wir verfolgen die Devise: Lieber ein Führungszeugnis zu viel als ein halbes zu wenig.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Sieben Professoren sollen Missbrauch in katholischer Kirche aufarbeiten

[Summary: Although the German bishops are going ahead with a second study of causes of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, members of We Are Church, a reform movement, said although they welcome the research project they are not sure a study funded by the episcopal conference can filter out the basic causes of abuse that arise of the hierarchical structure and celibate clergy of the church.]

Die katholische Kirche nimmt einen zweiten Anlauf, um den sexuellen Missbrauch in den eigenen Reihen wissenschaftlich aufzuarbeiten. Das hat der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Triers Bischof Stephan Ackermann, verkündet.

Bonn. Der erste Versuch, den 2010 hochgekochten Missbrauchsskandal in der katholischen Kirche wissenschaftlich aufzuarbeiten, war Anfang 2013 unter gegenseitigen Vorwürfen des damaligen Projektleiters Christian Pfeiffer und der Bischöfe gescheitert. Im zweiten Anlauf haben die Bischöfe nun ein Team aus sieben Professoren mit einem neuen Forschungsprojekt zum sexuellen Missbrauch durch Priester und andere Kirchenverantwortliche beauftragt. Triers Bischof Stephan Ackermann stellte gestern in Bonn das Forscherteam um den Neurowissenschaftler Harald Dreßing vom Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit in Mannheim vor.

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VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe

By John L. Allen Jr. | GLOBE STAFF MARCH 26, 2014

Though at first glance the two things may seem utterly unrelated, there’s something oddly fitting about the fact that Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the controversial bishop of Limburg, Germany, just 24 hours before his much-anticipated first meeting with President Barack Obama of the United States.

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst became infamous last fall as the “bling bishop” who spent more than $40 million remodeling his own residence. When Francis ousted him in October it was a shot heard round the Catholic world, signifying that the new pope’s call for a “poor church for the poor” was more than mere rhetoric. Today’s formal denouement to the Limburg saga cements that impression.

The impression of a grand alliance on behalf of the world’s poor is, of course, very much at the heart of what Obama would like to get out of tomorrow’s session – both as part of his eventual legacy, and with an eye towards the mid-term elections looming this fall.

It’s tempting to augur that Obama and Francis ought to be able to do business, since both are identified with what Christians call the “social gospel,” meaning concern for the poor and for peace. Obama, who began his career as a community organizer with a group founded with the support of some Chicago Catholic parishes, is a great admirer of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, who had a passion for the kind of Catholic social teaching enjoying a renaissance on Francis’ watch.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

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

Another settlement has been reached in a clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit involving the now-defrocked Fr. Daniel McCormack and the Chicago Catholic archdiocese.

[Digital Journal]

It’s time for Cardinal Francis George to show real leadership and disclose all his files about the McCormack case. It’s time for George to settle these cases quickly so that all of those who were hurt by McCormack can begin moving forward. And it’s time for every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by McCormack or cover ups by church officials to step forward, expose wrongdoers, and deter more cover ups.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

The Salvation Army is set to come under public scrutiny for a second time at the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

The second public hearing by a royal commission into how the Salvation Army handled allegations of child sexual abuse opens in Sydney on Thursday.

The inquiry follows one in January, which revealed extensive abuse at four homes run by the Christian organisation in NSW and Queensland.

Thursday’s public hearing will inquire into the policies, practices and procedures of the Salvos eastern territory division between 1993 and 2014, for responding to claims of child sexual abuse at children’s homes it operated.

The experience of people who made complaints to The Salvation Army between 1993 and 2014 will be examined in the hearing, which may run for two weeks.

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IRELAND
Herald

BY SAM GRIFFIN – 26 MARCH 2014 03:30 PM

THE former Magdalene Laundry in Donnybrook has been placed on sale with a starting price tag of €3m slapped onto the D4 property.

Also on sale is part of an original wing of the Sister’s of Charity Convent, who ran the laundry from 1883 until 1992, as well as another adjoining building meaning the total area for sale extends to 0.615 of an acre.

It is expected the laundry and other buildings will be entirely demolished and replaced with high-spec apartments with a huge demand for residences in the Dublin 4 area.

The property was sold to a businessman in 1992 but was operated for over a century by the Sisters of Charity who were gifted the site in 1883 by two lay people. Up to 120 women were accommodated at any one in point in the facility.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sam Wollaston
The Guardian, Tuesday 25 March 2014
…

Secrets of the Vatican (Channel 4) are more sinister ones. When a puff of white smoke signalled that the reforming Pope Francis had been chosen last year it was barely discernable through the black cloud that hung heavily over the Vatican. A cloud of paedophilia and child abuse, corruption, lying and cheating, financial scandal, cover-ups and hypocrisy: the cloud that saw the eventual resignation of Pope Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, the first pope to do so for 600 years.

This documentary isn’t really breaking anything new. But still, presented and packaged like this, with firsthand testimony – from insiders, victims, investigative journalists and police – it paints an extraordinary and damning picture of a rotten institution. Basically it’s The Borgias, Neil Jordan’s drama series with Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander, only in the 21st century and all real. The Church of the Poisoned Mind by Culture Club, if we’re still playing suitable soundtracks … We’re not? OK, and I’m giving away my enormous age.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by EDWARD PENTIN 03/26/2014

VATICAN CITY — A woman who was sexually abused by a clergyman when she was a child is now in a position to prevent similar crimes against the young.

Marie Collins, who was sexually abused by a hospital chaplain in her native Ireland when she was 13, is one of eight experts from eight countries that Pope Francis has chosen to make up the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

“My appointment to the commission came as a complete surprise,” said Collins. “I felt strongly that survivors should have a voice on this commission, but had no idea I would be asked.”

The newly appointed members, who include Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, four women and two Jesuit priests, will now be tasked with drawing up the commission’s final structure. In a March 22 statement announcing the establishment of the commission, the Vatican said other members will be added from “various geographical areas of the world.”

Giving more details, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the new anti-abuse body would take “a multipronged approach” to promoting the protection of minors, including “education regarding the exploitation of children; discipline of offenders; civil and canonical duties and responsibilities; and the development of best practices as they have emerged in society at large.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

Channel Four’s latest documentary on the Vatican presents the Church as the scarlet woman of ancient propaganda

By FRANCIS PHILLIPS on Wednesday, 26 March 2014

If you put together the words “Secrets”, “Vatican” and “Channel 4”, what do you get? A late night programme heavy on “crime, corruption and cover-ups” as the narrator put it, in which any attempt at objectivity has largely gone out the window. For an hour last night viewers were treated to shots of the majestic interior of St Peter’s and flash pictures of Pope Emeritus Benedict, wearing red vestments, processing wearily down a long corridor, flanked by a posse of senior churchmen. Naturally enough, the subliminal message of this “docudrama” was the Church as the scarlet woman of ancient propaganda, flaunting her pomp and power like a Renaissance court.

Channel 4 built its investigation around three main indictments: the paedophile sex abuse scandal in the Church, in which it focused on the record of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Fr Marcial Maciel; homosexual behaviour among Vatican clergy; and the activities of the Vatican Bank. Of the first, it is worth pointing out that the scandal was real enough – the secret double life of a man publicly revered, who was also unfortunately trusted by the late Pope John Paul II – but it is not a new story. As soon as he was elected pope in 2005, Benedict XVI investigated the rumours of scandal surrounding Maciel and as a result ordered him to “embrace a life of prayer and penance”. Channel 4 thought this was letting Maciel off the hook. Actually his fall from grace and public punishment was absolute and the Order he began has been struggling to cope with its founder’s heavy shadow ever since.

Although the programme showed that in this case the Pope acted swiftly to sort out an appalling scandal when he had the power to do so, it did not commend the Church for putting its house in order. It was keen to move on to its second charge: that the Vatican’s personnel is rife with homosexuality. This was the weakest link in Channel 4’s case. It seemed to be based on a single, undercover, rather blurred and grainy film taken at a gay night club in Rome in which we were informed that “half the people at the party were priests.” Unlike the Maciel case no hard evidence was produced; just unsubstantiated insinuations, allegations and sweeping statements such as “many bishops and archbishops are gay” of the kind that would appeal to an evening audience of hostile Rome-bashers.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho March 26, 2014

Today the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, Germany. The bishop was suspended in October, after it came to light that the new residential complex he was building for himself would cost a cool $43 million, including a $20,000 bathtub (cheaper than the $27,000 fine he had to pay for lying under oath), a $35,000 table, and $500,000 wardrobes. Nothing but the best for the man who flew first class to visit the poor of India.

To be sure, $43 million is a lot more than the $500,000 the outgoing Archbishop of Newark is spending to renovate his retirement home. (Take comfort, Newark Catholics, your new bishop is on this. Try to focus on the fact that for a long time Myers was willing to live in the actual city of Newark, which, is, you know, Newark.) And it’s still a lot more than the $2.2 million Archbiship of Atlanta is reportedly shelling out for his own residence, on top of another $2.2 million to renovate a rectory (all paid for with a $15 million bequest from the nephew of the author of Gone with the Wind). Newark and Atlanta Catholics may not be quite as offended by their archbishops’ reno bills as are their co-religionists in Limburg, but it looks like the pope is really not kidding about wanting a church that is poor and for the poor.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 27, 2014

Damien Murphy

”Do you understand now from your learning in the area of the effect and impact of child sexual abuse that the impact it had on John Ellis to have the very church he had gone back to dispute that he had ever been abused?”

The rain outside had streaked the windows with tears when Gail Furness, senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse suddenly turned the Catholic Church into a perpetrator.

In the front row of the public gallery, John Ellis, a man long ago abused by his parish priest, raised his left hand to his face like a shield as Cardinal George Pell began.

Cardinal Pell, as Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, had sanctioned a legal strategy that refused to recognise Mr Ellis had been abused, offered him derisory financial compensation and refused his offers of a settlement in the belief it would cause a rush of litigants demanding compensation payouts and subjected him to a long, demeaning legal case that left him bankrupt.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 26, 2014 NCR Today

Pope Francis on Tuesday effectively fired a German bishop who had attracted controversy for extraordinary expenses on a new diocesan center, sending a signal that he is willing to oust bishops who do not align with his vision of a “poor church for the poor.”

The Vatican announced Wednesday the pontiff had accepted the resignation of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who had reportedly spent some 31 million euro ($43 million) on a new residence and complex in his Limburg diocese in western Germany while at the same time reducing salaries for staff in the name of financial austerity.

Francis had suspended Tebartz-van Elst from his role in October while the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops studied the matter. Wednesday’s statement says the pope on Tuesday decided that the German diocese had “come to a situation that prevents a fruitful exercise of the ministry” of the bishop.

The statement said Tebartz-van Elst will receive another assignment in a “timely manner” and asks the German diocese to “accept the decisions of the Holy See with docility and wanting to commit to finding a climate of love and reconciliation.”

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Cardinal George Pell’s sex abuse peace offer: the Catholic Church should pay for bad priests

VICTIMS of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church should be able to sue priests, or their estates if they have died, and the church should pick up the bill, Cardinal George Pell said yesterday in a major shift of attitude.

He told the royal commission he would like some legal clarification on whether that could operate retrospectively, in a move that would finally open up the church’s billions for court-ordered verdicts.

He also pledged to put up as much of the church’s wealth as was needed to fund any government-sponsored compensation scheme that may be set up in the wake of the commission, even if individual sums of $2 million were handed out.

It has been revealed in the commission this week that the Sydney Archdiocese alone controls funds of more than $1.238 billion.

The country’s highest-ranking Catholic, Cardinal Pell has consistently said he believed the church could be held legally liable by the courts for sex abuse claims — despite winning a landmark 2004 case in Sydney that ruled the church was not a legal entity and therefore could not sued.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN MARCH 27, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell fought a child sex-abuse victim through the courts in order to encourage other victims to “think clearly” about suing the Catholic Church, a royal commission has heard.

The former archbishop of Sydney said yesterday he regrets the way the litigation was handled and had been motivated by a desire to protect the church’s trustees, who control its wealth.

During his second full day in the witness box, the cardinal said he had long been concerned that the Australian church might face similar abuse claims to those that had bankrupted several dioceses in North America.

In 2004, he endorsed his lawyers’ decision to dispute whether the victim, John Ellis, had ever been abused by a Sydney priest, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard. This was done despite the cardinal having accepted the fact of the abuse, and the resulting court case was “harmful and painful” to Mr Ellis, he said.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Mar. 26 2014

The buzz going around the Diocese of Orange is that California governor Jerry Brown is considering general counsel Maria Rullo Schinderle as a judge. And if ever you needed a laugh, it’s in that possibility.

Schinderle has worked for the Orange diocese since 1998, basically at the beginning of the regime of former Bishop Tod D. Brown. She was his point person on how to confront legally pedophilia among his priests, and what to do with all those pesky survivors who wanted justice–and we all saw how good THAT went for county Catholics.

Schinderle is about as qualified to be a judge as I’d be qualified to be John Holmes’ stunt double, and Schinderle’s foes are righteously up in arms about it. Famed sex-abuse survivor’s advocate Joelle Casteix has a lengthy post on the subject enumerating the many reasons why Brown should throw Schinderle’s resume in his compost bin, which y’all should read over here. Meanwhile, here’s what famed attorney John Manly posted on his Facebook page:

Governor Jerry Brown is trying to appoint Maria Rullo Schinderle, the General Counsel/Human Resorces Director of the Diocese of Orange (1998-2014) as a Superior Court Judge in Orange County. Her name has been submitted to JNE Commission as a nominee by him for consideration. Ms. Schinderle was one of only 2 or 3 individuals in the Diocese of Orange who had access to what the Church called its “secret archives”. These files documented the victimization of countless children by priests and worse that many of these pedophile priests were allowed to remain in ministry through 2002 until our clients forced them out through lawsuits. She was actively involved in efforts to dismiss or minimize our clients claims and I have numerous troubling stories about her views on child protection. This is a stunning development and I urge all my friends to call the Governors office and protest this appointment. The number is 916 445 2841. Tell the Governor and his staff that an attorney involved in this type of activity has no business being a judge.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Posted on March 25, 2014 by lewisblayse

Hi,

I was informed by the Royal Commission today that I will not be required to appear as a witness in the up-coming Salvation Army Case Study 10 hearings.

I’m quite okay with that for a number of reasons.

The first reason is that the Commission’s decision that they don’t need me to appear as a witness indicates to me that the story I have to tell of how my father and my family were treated by the Salvation Army is perhaps nothing particularly new to the Commission. It may even indicate that as badly as we were treated, others were treated even worse and rightfully have priority; if this is the case, it’s more important that these people’s stories be told to the public.

The second is that I have been granted “leave to appear”, even though I don’t actually appear. What this means is that the statement that I wrote for the Commission will be on the public record, so our family’s story (or part of it, anyway) still gets to be told. It’s my understanding that this statement will be available publicly at some point in the future, although perhaps not for a long time – I’m not sure. I’m a little disappointed about the quality of what I wrote, as I was very emotional when I wrote it and it’s a bit incoherent in places. It’s also not as comprehensive an account as I would like to have made, but I was focussing on matters the Commission seemed to be most interested in hearing about when I wrote it. But that doesn’t really matter, as I can write further about such matters whenever I like.

This leads into the third reason that I’m okay with not appearing as a witness. And that is that by being granted “leave to appear”, I get the right to make a formal, written submission to the Commission at the end of the Case Study 10 hearings. This I can write better, and I’m pleased to have the opportunity to make a written submission. I’ve decided to leave off on finishing the “deconstruction” of the Salvation Army response to the first lot of Salvation Army hearings I keep talking about until the conclusion of the Case Study 10 hearings. It will be better informed by what I learn from these hearings.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Preists

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A judge has ruled that a lawsuit against a predator priest and his church supervisors may move ahead.

[Courier-Post]

We applaud Lisa Syvertson Shanahan, a courageous child sex abuse victims, for continuing to seek justice and winning this important ruling that will help child sex abuse victims across all of New Jersey.

Shame on Camden Bishop Dennis Sullivan for trying to hide behind a legal technicality and deny dozens or even hundreds of child sex abuse victims a chance to expose their predators by attacking the constitutionality of New Jersey’s statute of limitations law.

If the bishop thinks that he and his predecessors are innocent – and did not hide or enable the child sex crimes of Fr. Thomas M. Harkins, then let the bishop fight on the merits, not on the technicalities.

Just once it would be so refreshing to see a Catholic official directly address allegations of hiding child sex crimes, and not duck and dodge, using every self-serving legal maneuver imaginable.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Francis’ new pick to head his financial team admits he tried to discourage victims from suing church officials.

[The Guardian]

Here’s how a Guardian article begins today:

The “vigorous” defense against abuse victim John Ellis was seen as an opportunity to show future claimants they should think twice before litigating against the Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell has admitted.

The full article is worth reading.

To many clergy sex abuse victims, Pell’s promotion feels like a kick in the gut and another case in which an obvious and egregious church wrongdoer gets rewarded instead of getting punished.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 26 March 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

– appointed Bishop Manoel Joao Francisco of Chapeco, Brazil, as bishop of Cornelio Procopio (area 6,715, population 216,000, Catholics 183,000, priests 38, religious 40), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Getulio Teixeira Guimaraes, S.V.D., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, upon reaching the age limit, was accepted by the Holy Father.

– accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Limburg, Germany, presented by Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

Yesterday, Tuesday 25 March, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Nunzio Galantino of Cassano all’Jonio as secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 26 March 2014 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office today issued the following communique:

“With reference to the administration of the diocese of Limburg in Germany, the Congregation for Bishops has carefully studied the report of the Commission instituted by the bishop and by the Cathedral Chapter to undertake further investigations in relation to the responsibility for the construction of the ‘St. Nikolaus’ diocesan centre.

Awaiting the diocese of Limburg to ascertain a situation that impedes the fruitful exercise of his ministry on the part of Msgr. Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the Holy See has accepted the resignation presented by the prelate on 20 October 2013 and has appointed Msgr. Manfred Grothe as apostolic administrator “sede vacante”.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

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

The pope has ousted an extravagant German bishop. He continues to act to protect church funds but refuses to act to protect vulnerable kids. That may sound harsh but it’s true.

[CTV]

One must assume Francis is ousting the “Bishop of Bling” to deter future financial waste. But he does nothing to deter future abuse cover ups.

He’s sending a signal to prelates, basically saying “Don’t selfishly misuse your power by using church resources to enhance your comfort by building fancy homes.” But he sends no signal to prelates basically saying “Don’t selfishly misuse your power by using church resources to enhance your reputation – by hiding clergy sex crimes.”

When it comes to finances and governance, Francis moves quickly and boldly. When it comes to children and crimes, Francis most slowly and timidly.

Every single step Francis takes towards improving the health of church’s finances is a painful reminder that he’s taking no steps to improve the safety of the church’s children.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

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

Now that a Life Teen International youth director has been sentenced for child porn, the attention shifts from the offender to his employer. What, if anything, is Life Teen International doing to seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Kevin Hickey?

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

It’s not enough for church officials to let law enforcement do its job and then pretend it’s all over. Life Teen International hired Hickey. By doing so, they gave him access to children. And they gave him respect and credibility. Some of the participants, volunteers and staff in Life Teen International may have been hurt or their loved ones may have been hurt.

And some of the participants, volunteers and staff in Life Teen International may have ignored or concealed some of Hickey’s crimes.

Life Teen officials must take aggressive action now to reach out to others who may be in pain and to help police and prosecutors by determining whether any current or former staff might be prosecuted for failure to report suspected abuse, destruction of evidence, intimidation of witnesses, or similar offenses.

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UNITED STATES
The Kansas City Star

March 25
BY MIKE HUNTER AND DAVID CLOHESSY
Special to The Star

The recent first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis provides an occasion for us to reflect on what he has accomplished in the past year.

Francis has captivated the imagination and inspired the hopes of millions. He has done so by making moves that are more than symbolic — carrying his luggage, washing others’ feet, making “cold calls.” He’s also taken real steps to improve Vatican governance and finances.

And so it’s difficult for us as members of the community of survivors to write: On the church’s central crisis — the cover-up of clergy sex crimes, Pope Francis is moving backward.

It stirs great sadness in us to come to this conclusion, but the facts speak for themselves.

Last August, the pope named a prominent member of the bizarre, scandal-ridden, and cultlike Legion of Christ to the number two position in the Vatican City State.

Pope Francis reappointed Cardinal Gerhard Müller, a known enabler of a convicted pedophile priest, to head the powerful Vatican watchdog office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which oversees the handling of abuse cases for the entire church.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Germany’s Bishop of Limburg, Tebartz von Elst, the notorious ‘bling bishop’ who squandered millions in church funds on an extravagant residence. DW looks back at the case.

What are the allegations?

As early as the beginning of 2012, Limburg Bishop Tebartz van Elst made headlines with a flight to India. He had said that he had flown there to support charity projects to help children in Bangalore, working in quarries. A noble cause, but “Spiegel” magazine soon found some interesting details about the trip: The bishop flew first class. “First class to the slums” was the headline the magazine ran. A trip to the tune of 7,000 euros ($9580), partly paid through bonus miles and the bishops private coffers.

In summer 2013, however, it was the details about the bishop’s new residence in Limburg that got him into hot water. Instead of the initial 5.5 million euros, the price tag was rumored to be around 10 million. Several German media began to investigate and came to the conclusion that, in fact, the cost must be even higher than that.

Mass-circulation tabloid Bild revealed the pricelist of a number of special requests by the bishop: 15,000 euros for a freestanding bathtub, 100,000 for a chandelier advent wreath, 450,000 for art objects, 800,000 for a garden and 2.3 million for an atrium. A number of those things, Elst had only asked for late in the construction process so that floors and ceilings that had already been finished had to be torn up again. By now, the cost was estimated to be around 31 million euros, though even this doesn’t seem to be the final bill quite yet.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of a senior German Church leader suspended over his alleged lavish spending.

The Vatican made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday.

Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst has been accused of spending more than 31m euros (£26m) on renovating his official residence.

The cleric, dubbed the “bishop of bling” by the media, offered to resign when the scandal broke last October.

In response, Pope Francis temporarily suspended Bishop Tebartz-van Elst and instructed a Church commission to investigate the matter.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bistum Limburg

Papst nimmt Amtsverzicht von Bischof Dr. Tebartz-van Elst an

LIMBURG – Weihbischof Manfred Grothe ist Apostolischer Administrator im Bistum Limburg. Diese Entscheidung hat der Heilige Stuhl am Mittwoch, 26. März 2014, bekannt gegeben. Der 74-jährige Weihbischof in Paderborn tritt mit sofortiger Wirkung die Leitung der Diözese Limburg an. Gleichzeitig wurde bekannt, dass Papst Franziskus den Amtsverzicht von Bischof Dr. Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst angenommen hat. Damit beginnt im Bistum Limburg die Sedisvakanz, die Zeit, in der der Bischofsstuhl in einer Diözese nicht besetzt ist. Damit endet auch die Amtszeit von Wolfgang Rösch als Generalvikar und der beiden Bischofsvikare Prälat Dr. Dr. Franz Kaspar und Prälat Dr. Günther Geis. Weihbischof Grothe wird Wolfgang Rösch zu seinem Ständigen Vertreter ernennen. Laut der Mitteilung des Heiligen Stuhls wird Tebartz-van Elst zu gegebener Zeit mit einer anderen Aufgabe betraut.

Gemeinsamen Weg für einen Neuanfang gehen

“Ich danke dem Heiligen Vater für das Vertrauen, das er in mich setzt. Mit der Entscheidung ist eine Phase der Unsicherheit für das Bistum Limburg beendet. Jetzt gilt es im Geist der Offenheit, in Aufrichtigkeit und Barmherzigkeit einen gemeinsamen Weg für einen Neubeginn zu gehen”, so Manfred Grothe in einer ersten Reaktion. Die Geschehnisse der vergangenen Monate hätten viele Menschen verletzt. “Als Diözese sind wir nun gefordert, auf das Wort Gottes zu hören und daraus Kraft zu gewinnen, um Verletzungen zu heilen und die Herausforderungen, vor denen wir stehen, anzupacken. Wir werden das Geschehene sorgfältig und umsichtig aufarbeiten und uns dabei natürlich auch auf den Prüfbericht zum Bauvorhaben auf dem Domberg stützen, den eine Kommission unter meinem Vorsitz in den vergangenen Monaten erarbeitet hat”, so Grothe.

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VATICAN CITY
Evening Telegraph (UK)

By PRESS ASSOCIATION, 26 March 2014

Pope Francis has permanently removed a German bishop from his Limburg diocese after his 31 million euro (£26 million) new residence complex caused an uproar among the faithful.

Francis had temporarily expelled Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst from Limburg in October pending a church inquiry into the affair.

The Vatican has said that the inquiry found that he could no longer exercise his ministry and that Francis had accepted his resignation, which was originally offered on October 20.

A replacement, Monsignor Manfred Grothe, will take over for now, the Vatican said citing a statement from the diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

26 March 2014 12:27 by Abigail Frymann

Pope Francis has permanently removed the high-spending Bishop of Limburg following an investigation by the German bishops’ conference.

Rome said on Wednesday that the inquiry found that Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst could no longer exercise his ministry and Francis had accepted his resignation, which he had offered in October.

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst was dubbed the “bishop of bling” in the media after details of the €31m refurbishment of his residence were reported, sparking outrage from the faithful.

Francis ordered him to take time out from his diocese in October pending the inquiry. In November he admitted to two counts of perjury. He had hoped to return to Limburg.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY Wed Mar 26, 2014

(Reuters) – The Vatican on Wednesday said it had accepted the resignation of a German Roman Catholic prelate known as the “bishop of bling” because he spent 31 million euros ($43 million) of Church funds on his residence.

Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg was ordered to leave his diocese last October while an investigation and audit into cost over-runs was made. He offered his resignation at the time.

The Vatican said the investigation was completed and that an apostolic administrator, Mons. Manfred Grothe, had been appointed to run the diocese for the time being. Another position would be found for Tebartz-van Elst eventually.

A statement said Pope Francis was asking the faithful of the diocese of Limburg to accept the decision “with docility” and to work to restore what it called a “climate of charity and reconciliation”.

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GERMANY
The Local

Germany’s most controversial clergyman, who earned the nickname the “bling bishop” for spending €31 million on a new headquarters, has resigned from his post.

A statement posted on the Vatican website at midday on Wednesday confirmed the Pope had accepted a letter of resignation from the Bishop of Limburg, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst.

Tebartz-van Elst was summoned to see Pope Francis in Rome in October last year and was then sent on leave.

But at the time it was unclear how long the 54-year-old would be relieved of his duties for and if he would return.

The bishop caused controversy for spending millions of euros on his new headquarters in Limburg, central Germany, which included a bath that cost €15,000 euros, a conference table for €25,000 and a private chapel that cost €2.9m.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Gianluca Mezzofiore March 26, 2014

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, dubbed the “Bishop of Bling”, over a scandal regarding his €31m (£26m, $40m) project to renew a sumptuous diocesan residence in the western small city of Limburg.

Tebartz-van Elst, whose resignation the Pope has accepted, will be given another assignment in due course according to Vatican sources.

The Vatican said an inquiry found that he could no longer exercise his ministry. The pope reportedly said that he hoped that the faithful of Limburg would accept the decision with “docility and willingness to rediscover a climate of charity and reconciliation”.

The 53-year-old bishop, who will be replaced by Monsignor Manfred Grothe, indulged on £30,000 for built-in cupboards and carpentry, £83,000 for the windows of the chapel and more than £371,000 on works of art, using revenue from a religious tax in Germany. He even splurged £12,000 for a bathtub, causing indignation in Germany.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See has accepted the resignation of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebarts van Elst of the diocese of Limburg, Germany. A statement issued Wednesday by the Vatican Press office to the administration of the diocese of Limburg , Germany said the Congregation for Bishops has “carefully studied the report of the Commission requested by the Bishop and by the Cathedral Chapter, to undertake thorough investigations about the responsibilities involved in the construction of the Diocesan Centre ‘St. Nikolaus.’”

The statement further acknowledges that the diocese of Limburg has come to “a situation that prevents a fruitful exercise of the ministry of Bishop Franz -Peter Tebartz -van Elst.” The statement says the Holy See has accepted the resignation presented by the Bishop on October 20, 2013, and has appointed a sede vacante Apostolic Administrator in the person of Bishop Manfred Grothe .

The Vatican Press Office states that Bishop Tebartz -van Elst , “in due course will receive another
assignment.”

The statement also says the Holy Father asks the clergy and faithful of the diocese of Limburg to accept the decisions of the Holy See and to commit themselves to rediscovering a spirit of charity and reconciliation.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazetta del Sud

Vatican City, March 26 – The Holy See on Wednesday announced it had accepted the resignation of German Bishop Franz Peter Tebartz-van Elst from the Limburg diocese. Dubbed the ‘gold-plated bishop’ for allegedly spending 31 million euros to remodel his residence next to the cathedral, Tebartz-van Elst was suspended by the Vatican in October, when he tendered his resignation. The Vatican said he is to be assigned a new post. According to some reports, the so-called ‘bishop of bling’ outfitted his residence with a $20,000 bathtub, $500,000 built-in closets and a $35,000 conference table.

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GERMANY
New York Times

By MELISSA EDDY
MARCH 26, 2014

BERLIN — Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the bishop of Limburg, whose extravagant spending on renovations for his personal residence angered his congregation and ran afoul of the pontiff’s message of humility and modesty for the Roman Catholic Church.

The Holy See accepted the bishop’s offer to resign “given that it has come to a situation in the Limburg diocese that prevents Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst from fruitfully carrying out his duties,” the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday.

German news reports said that Tebartz-van Elst, 54, poured more than 31 million euros, or about $43 million, into the renovation of his residence and other church buildings, including spending €15,000, or about $20,000, on a bathtub, and ordering an expensive reopening of the roof of his personal chapel to allow for the suspension of a cross.

As the allegations and the discontent mounted last fall, the bishop travelled to the Vatican in October and offered the pope his resignation. Francis only suspended him at the time, pending the outcome of an investigation by Germany’s conference of bishops.

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VATICAN CITY
TIME

Sam Frizell @Sam_Frizell

An inquiry into Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst’s $43 million residence has ended with the Vatican demanding his resignation

Pope Francis has replaced a German bishop whose $43 million new residence complex sparked outrage among Catholics.

The so-called ‘Bishop of Bling,’ Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst from Limburg was temporarily expelled during a church inquiry in October, the Associated Press reports. Tebartz-van Elst spent lavishly renovating his residence, including a reported $20,000 on a bathtub and $620,000 on artwork.

That inquiry has now found him incapable of holding his diocese and demanded his resignation, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Tebartz-van Elst will be replaced by Monsignor Manfred Grothe. Tebartz-van Elst will get a new job, said the Vatican, adding that the pope hoped that residents of Limburg would accept the decision with “docility and willingness to rediscover a climate of charity and reconciliation.”

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GERMANY
Expatica

Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of Germany’s controversial bishop of Limburg, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday.

Franz-Peter Terbartz-van Elst, nicknamed the “bling bishop” by the international media, had been under fire for his luxury lifestyle and was indefinitely relieved of his clerical duties by Francis last year.

The Roman Catholic bishop had faced outrage over an ostentatious building project at his official residence, which included a museum, conference halls, a chapel and private apartments, in the ancient town of Limburg in central Hesse state.

The project was initially valued at 5.5 million euros ($7.5 million) but the cost ballooned to 31 million euros, including a 783,000 euro garden and a 15,000 euro bathtub — using the revenue from a religious tax in Germany.

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VATICAN CITY
Rappler

BY ELLA IDE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
POSTED ON 03/26/2014

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of Germany’s controversial bishop of Limburg, who had come under fire for his luxury lifestyle.

Franz-Peter Terbartz-van Elst, nicknamed the “bling bishop” by the international media, had been indefinitely relieved of his clerical duties by Francis last year after details emerged of his high-roller lifestyle.

The Roman Catholic bishop had faced outrage over an ostentatious building project at his official residence, which included a museum, conference halls, a chapel and private apartments, in the ancient town of Limburg in central Hesse state.

The project was initially valued at 5.5 million euros ($7.5 million) but the cost ballooned to 31 million euros, including a 783,000 euro garden and a 15,000 euro bathtub – using the revenue from a religious tax in Germany.

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VATICAN CITY
CTV

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, March 26, 2014

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Wednesday permanently removed a German bishop from his Limburg diocese after his $43-million new residence complex caused an uproar among the faithful.

Francis had temporarily expelled Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst from Limburg in October pending a church inquiry.

At the centre of the controversy was the price tag for the construction of a new bishop’s residence complex and related renovations. Tebartz-van Elst defended the expenditures, saying the bill was actually for 10 projects and there were additional costs because the buildings were under historical protection.

But in a country where Martin Luther launched the Reformation five centuries ago in response to what he said were excesses and abuses within the church, the outcry was enormous. The perceived lack of financial transparency also struck a chord since a church tax in Germany brings in billions a year to the German church.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

[Francis: “A bishop who does not serve his community, is wrong”]

Ein Bischof, Priester oder Diakon, der seine Herde nicht mit Liebe führt, ist nicht hilfreich. Das hat Papst Franziskus an diesem Mittwoch bei der Generalaudienz gesagt. In seiner Katechesenreihe zu den sieben Sakramenten ging es diesmal um die Weihe. Diese sei in ihren drei Graden Bischof, Priester und Diakon das Sakrament, das zur Ausübung des Amtes befähige, welches Jesus den Aposteln anvertraut habe. „In diesem Sinn tragen die ausgewählten und geweihten Männer die Gegenwart und das Wirken Christi in der Welt fort“, sagte Franziskus. Was das für das Leben des Geweihten bedeutet, fasste der Papst in drei Punkten zusammen: Dienst, Liebe zur Kirche und Gebet.

„Jene, die geweiht werden, sind an die Spitze der Gemeinde gestellt. Ah, ich bin ein Chef! Ja, aber an der Spitze stehen bedeutet für Jesus, die eigene Autorität in den Dienst zu stellen, so wie er selbst es seine Schüler gelehrt hat: Der Menschensohn ist nicht gekommen, um sich dienen zu lassen, sondern um zu dienen und sein Leben hinzugeben als Lösegeld für viele. Ein Bischof, der seiner Gemeinde nicht dient, handelt falsch. Ein Priester, der seiner Gemeinde nicht dient, handelt falsch.“

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Papst Franziskus hat seine Entscheidung zur Causa Limburg getroffen: Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst kehrt nicht in seine Diözese zurück. Das gab der vatikanische Pressesaal an diesem Mittwoch bekannt. Franziskus nahm ein Rücktrittsgesuch des Bischofs an, das dieser den Vatikanangaben zufolge bereits vor fünf Monaten eingereicht hatte. Zugleich entsandte der Papst den Paderborner Weihbischof Manfred Grothe als Apostolischen Administrator nach Limburg. Zur Begründung hieß es, in der Diözese sei es zu einer Situation gekommen, die „eine fruchtbare Ausübung des bischöflichen Amtes“ durch Bischof Tebartz-van Elst verhindere.

Franziskus traf seinen Entschluss nach eingehenden Beratungen mit der Bischofskongregation und der Lektüre eines – noch nicht veröffentlichten – Prüfberichtes einer Kommission der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz. Die Erstellung dieses Berichtes hatte Weihbischof Grothe geleitet. Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch, der damalige Vorsitzende der Bischofskonferenz, hatte das Papier Anfang März im Vatikan überreicht. Der neue Vorsitzende der Bischofskonferenz, Kardinal Reinhard Marx von München, wird sich am frühen Nachmittag von Berlin aus zur römischen Entscheidung äußern. In Limburg selbst treten im Lauf des Nachmittags der Administrator Weihbischof Grothe und Generalvikar Wolfgang Rösch vor die Presse.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[Summary: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst as so-called “bling bishop” of Limburg. In due time he will get a new task.]

Der umstrittene Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst wird nicht wieder in Limburg als Bischof tätig sein. In der Diözese Limburg sei es zu einer Situation gekommen, die eine fruchtbare Ausübung des bischöflichen Amtes durch Tebartz-van Elst verhindere, teilte der Vatikan mit. Deshalb habe der Heilige Stuhl den im Oktober 2013 angebotenen Amtsverzicht angenommen, hieß es. Damit bestätigten sich Informationen der ZEIT.

Im Vatikan stand nach Informationen der ZEIT bereits seit Wochen fest, dass Franziskus eine Rückkehr des umstrittenen Bischofs ablehnt. Franziskus ist verärgert über die Uneinsichtigkeit von Tebartz angesichts des luxuriös sanierten Bischofssitzes. Er hoffte, keine harte Absetzung des Bischofs durchsetzen zu müssen.

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AUSTRALIA
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal George Pell on Wednesday testified before an Australian commission on child sexual abuse, and said Church institutions did not deal fairly, from “a Christian point of view,” in dealing with a sexual abuse victim.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been working in Australia since last year to examine the history of abuse in educational institutions, religious groups, sporting organizations, state institutions and youth organizations. The Commission has been for the past two weeks looking at Case Study #8, which deals with the case of John Ellis, who was abused in the 1970’s by Father Aidan Duggan.

Cardinal George Pell testified before the Commission for a second day on Wednesday. He said, under the advice of his lawyers, he endorsed a decision not to enter mediation when the legal action in 2004, but now says that was a mistake.

“From a Christian point of view, leaving aside the legal dimension, I don’t think that we did deal fairly [with Mr. Ellis],” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The child abuse Royal Commission has exposed the moral failings of the Sydney Archdiocese in fighting the case brought by former altar boy and abuse victim John Ellis. The outgoing Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, has conceded that he endorsed the overall strategy of the church’s legal team, but he admitted that Mr Ellis was not treated fairly from a Christian point of view and the compensation offers to Mr Ellis were mean and grotesque.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The Catholic Church has admitted that a conflict between its own moral values and its legal and financial interests was at the heart of its battle with abuse victim John Ellis, and in the fight between secular and Christian values, it was the law and the money that won.

The Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, told the Royal Commission today that he overcame his own moral doubts to endorse the strategy of the church’s legal team.

That included the tactic of disputing Mr Ellis’s story of abuse in court.

While preparing his departure for the Vatican, Cardinal Pell has spent a second day in the witness box defending the church’s legal position when Mr Ellis tried to sue.

Cardinal Pell admitted that Mr Ellis was not treated fairly from a “Christian point of view” and the compensation offers to him were mean and grotesque.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: The moral and the legal positions taken by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney came into sharp focus and then collided at the Royal Commission today.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON Christ

[7 MUST DO’s for President Obama and Michelle Obama for their visit to Pope Francis in the Vatican.]

Paris Arrow

John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis are the worst pathological liars on the planet that they surpass the Devil! The new Commission for Protection of Minors is founded on specific citations from these three popes whose words are total contradictions of their actions.

Today is the feast of the Annunciation of Mary. In the Angelus, it is robotically recited: “The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit”. Jesuit priest Mr. Lombardi is making these three popes resemble angels by using the same word “declared” as in the Angelus – especially for John Paul II’s few 41 words about pedophile priests in 2002 which is an irony coming from the pope who has written the most number of books, encyclicals and speeches more than all popes combined. The main reason for JP2’s hasty canonization is because all priests are now required to preach on their Sunday homilies only what John Paul II wrote and said. When the UN condemned the Vatican for its crimes against children, they indirectly condemned John Paul II who was the pope most responsible for its cover-up for more than a quarter of a century.

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY MARK BOWES
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A once-popular youth minister for the now-defunct Trinity Assembly of God in Chesterfield County pleaded no contest Monday to taking indecent liberties with two teenage female parishioners in the 1990s after gaining their trust and affection as a father figure and spiritual counselor.

The years-long sexual abuse began when both girls were just 14, and Troy A. Mitten, now 53, was an engaging youth minister who a former pastor told authorities “seemed to reach out to the young ladies who had no father figure” in their lives, according to a prosecutor’s summary of evidence in Chesterfield Circuit Court.

The victims, now 32 and 35, only recently came forward to police, and one of them was so attached to Mitten and his family that she initially destroyed evidence and helped him develop a defense involving the other victim.

But on the eve of Mitten’s scheduled trial last year, the woman emailed Chesterfield prosecutor B.J. McGee to talk and later told a detective that Mitten had, in fact, also molested her.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

[Summary: Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati said priest Fernando Karadima is guilty of abuse and that all bishops have acknowledged theoffenses for which the Vatican has condomned as being a reality.]

El arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati, investido cardenal por el papa Francisco, aseguró que el cura Fernando Karadima es “culpable de abusos” y que todos los obispos han reconocido que los delitos por los que el Vaticano lo condenó son “una realidad”.

Consultado durante una entrevista en “El informante” de TVN si es que pertenece a los sacerdotes que están convencidos de la culpabilidad de Karadima, Ezzati respondió: “Totalmente, porque estoy convencido de lo que se hizo en la investigación, lo que determinó la Santa Sede”.

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CANADA
Vermilion Standard

Bryan Myers
Tuesday, March 25, 2014

For days, four people made their way on foot across the prairies from Stony Knoll, Saskatchewan to Edmonton, Alberta, a 500-kilometer journey to honour the memories of indigenous children who fled from residential schools but never returned home.

Last Thursday, the group stopped at the United Church in Vermilion for the night.

The group originally met in Winnipeg has decided to traverse the prairies by foot for the National Truth and Reconciliation Event on Residential Schools in Edmonton. Along they way, they’ve been taken in by various groups both First Nation and Christian.

“We’ve been hosted by a number of First Nations communities,” said Laurens Van Esch, originally from the Netherlands, has taken on the journey after having lived in Canada for only three months. “Their survivors share their stories with us, it’s incredibly powerful. It’s unimaginable to be taken away from your parents, and everything you know and have your identity taken away by priests in these very loveless environments.”

The group walks five to 10 hours each day and roughly 30 kilometers on average.

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CANADA
BC Local News

by Karl Yu – Nanaimo News Bulletin
posted Mar 25, 2014

The Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre is hosting a pair of reconciliation sessions Thursday and Friday (March 27-28).

The reconciliation process in Canada stems from physical, mental and sexual abuse committed against aboriginal students in residential schools, and workshops will include videos, testimony from survivors and discussion.

“It’s to bring and share awareness and acknowledgement to the many aspects of residential schools experienced and how it’s currently impacting people within our community,” said Claudio Aguilera, part of the Tillicum Lelum centre management team.

According to organizer Randy Fred, himself a survivor of Alberni Indian Residential School, the sessions will pose some basic questions to participants: What are our expectations of reconciliation? What does reconciliation mean to us? What can I do to help work towards true reconciliation in central Vancouver Island?

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times-Tribune

BY DAVID FALCHEK (STAFF WRITER)
Published: March 26, 2014

A group representing abuse victims demands Bishop Joseph Bambera release documents about an accused former Diocese of Scranton priest who is now second-in-command at a South American diocese.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, asked Bishop Bambera to release diocesan documentation concerning Monsignor Carlos Urrutigoity, accused more than a decade ago of abusing children when he worked at the St. Gregory’s Academy in Elmhurst, a residential school sponsored by the Society of St. John, a religious order.

“Scranton’s bishop must take action now to protect kids in Paraguay,” said David Clohessy, director of the Chicago-based SNAP. “I can’t think of a case where a priest, after these sorts of accusations, went on to rise through the church hierarchy as this one has.”

Monsignor Urrutigoity in February was named the vicar general of the Diocesis de Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. That diocese’s bishop, the Rev. Rogelio Livieres, said Monsignor Urrutigoity was never found guilty of a crime and was a victim of a “campaign of defamation … orchestrated by one source.”

By releasing documents, Bishop Bambera could provide clear and convincing evidence that Monsignor Urrutigoity is unfit for priesthood or service in the church, Mr. Clohessy said.

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GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Alexis Stevens

A former director of a youth outreach program was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Kevin Hickey, 39, of Atlanta, was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. Hickey is a former church youth director and director of parish outreach for Life Teen International, a group focused on “leading teens closer to Christ,” according to its website.

“This defendant was entrusted with counseling and protecting children, but instead collected and distributed highly graphic images portraying their sexual exploitation and abuse,” Yates said in an emailed statement. “We will to continue to aggressively prosecute those who pose such a great threat to our children.”

In June 2013, using his online screen name “funguyatl77,” Hickey engaged in an online communication in which he stated that he was watching “perving vids” and offered to share child pornography, Yates’ office said. Federal agents monitored the communication of Hickey, she said.

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UTAH
The Spectrum

Written by
Kevin Jenkins

ST. GEORGE — A child custody battle between an exiled member of a Southern Utah polygamous church and his church-faithful wives took a turn during the first day of a trial Tuesday when the father was allowed to introduce testimony about alleged sexual abuse by the church’s prophet.

Colorado City resident Lorin Holm filed the civil action in September 2011, eight months after he was informed he had been judged unfaithful by the leadership of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and would have to leave his home and family, which included three wives and more than a dozen children.

Holm is seeking sole custody of his underage children out of concern that his estranged “spiritual wives” could be influenced by religious leaders to allow the children to experience sexual abuse, forced labor or forced exile.

His ex-wives have stated they would not allow harm to come to their children. Court proceedings during the past two years have focused on whether Holm and the women could cooperate in raising Holm’s minor children despite the perception by the FLDS ex-wives that Holm had become a bad influence as an apostate.

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GEORGIA
Patch

By Kristal Dixon

A former youth church director and has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography.

Kevin Hickey, former church youth director and director of parish outreach for Sandy Springs-based Life Teen International, on Tuesday, March 25 was sentenced to 10 years followed by a lifetime of supervised by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr., according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office.

Hickey, 39 of Atlanta, was also ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. Once he’s released from prison, Hickey will be required to register as a sex offender.

“This defendant was entrusted with counseling and protecting children, but instead collected and distributed highly graphic images portraying their sexual exploitation and abuse,” said United States Attorney Yates. “We will to continue to aggressively prosecute those who pose such a great threat to our children.”

According to Yates, information presented in court identified Hickey as a man “with a sexual interest in children and who collected and distributed child pornography.”

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CALIFORNIA
Escalon Times

A grand jury in Fresno returned three separate indictments on Thursday, March 20 alleging offenses involving the sexual exploitation of minors, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

One of those indictments was handed up against an Escalon man. …

In another indictment, Tyler Bliss, 26, of Oakdale, was charged with one count of receiving and distributing child pornography from October 2013 through February 2014. According to a previously filed criminal complaint, Google reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) that on December 3, 2013, an image of suspected child pornography had been uploaded to a Google account. NCMEC referred the matter to law enforcement, and a detective with the Ceres Police Department discovered that the same Google account had been connected with the transmission of hundreds of other images of suspected child pornography. Additional investigation revealed that the account had been accessed from a residence in Oakdale as well as from a church (Bethel Assembly of God) in Oakdale. Computers and a cellphone were obtained through search warrants for both locations, and investigators found images related to the sexual exploitation of minors on these items. Bliss had been serving as Supervisor of Student Ministries at the church.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

WENDY TUOHY HERALD SUN MARCH 26, 2014

HEARING and reading Cardinal George Pell’s words in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, you may wonder where his lofty role as His Eminence Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and his day-to-day vocation as a caring leader of children, adults and families intersected — if at all.

He held responsibility for the spiritual wellbeing of millions of Australians, yet his demeanour when discussing the devastation of the victims of paedophile priests — and also by church legal action — has been nothing more than clinical.

In all of his defence of the “strenuous” and “vigorous” action by his hierarchy aimed at dissuading childhood sex abuse victims from going to court, Pell has appeared via his own testimony and that of other church officials as a hard-headed strategist, an unyielding tactician and an aggressive protector of the church’s wealth. He seems to have excelled at all of those; on Tuesday the inquiry revealed that Sydney’s Catholic archdiocese is sitting on assets worth $1 billion.

But victims and their families have every right to ask, as they are doing, where is George Pell’s compassion? Where is his human empathy and, even more importantly, when will they hear his sincere and believable expression of remorse.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Mar. 26, 2014

MILWAUKEE For 30 years, the Milwaukee archdiocese has provided therapy for the victims of clergy sex abuse. The plan it released as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan is a continuation of that program.

“The protocols have their roots back to Project Benjamin days and have proven to be an effective and responsible way to administer the therapy program which abuse survivors have benefited for decades and which remains a priority for the archdiocese,” Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for the archbishop, said in an email.

The archdiocese established Project Benjamin in 1989 to deal with the growing sex abuse scandal. While the Milwaukee archdiocese said it served as a template of providing therapy for victims, it fell under heavy criticism by survivors who maintain that any program should not be run by the church.

Survivors of clergy sex abuse and their supporters point out parts of the bankruptcy plan that give the Milwaukee archdiocese unilateral control over how much therapy is provided, who will get it, and which therapists to use, as well as requiring victims to turn over treatment records to the archdiocese. It also provides that the archdiocese can change the plan without court permission or oversight.

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MINNESOTA
Bring Me The News

March 26, 2014 By Ben Grove

With a court deadline looming Thursday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked for an extra 90 days its effort to gather and disclose new documents related to priests suspected of sexual abuse.

The archdiocese is also seeking new protections that would limit public access to the documents, the Star Tribune reports.

At issue are documents on about 40 priests who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children from 1970 to the present.

“This is an exhaustive, time consuming and extremely expensive and burdensome process,” lawyers for the archdiocese said a court document filed this week.

A Ramsey County District Court judge on Thursday is expected to hear arguments from archdiocese lawyers about why they need more time, and why they seek to keep under wraps the sworn testimonies of Archbishop John Nienstedt and former vicar general Kevin McDonough, the archdiocese’s point person on priest abuse, the Star Tribune reports.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. Mar 25, 2014

Ramsey County Judge John Van de North has selected a retired jurist to serve as special master in a contentious legal battle over the release of internal church documents on Catholic priests accused of child sexual abuse.

Retired Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Robert Schumacher has accepted the appointment, Van de North said in a letter to attorneys.

Schumacher will preside over discovery disputes in a lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona by a man who claims that the Rev. Thomas Adamson sexually abused him when he was a boy. The lawsuit has already led to the release of names of priests deemed credibly accused of child sexual abuse by church officials.

Van de North recommended the appointment because of lengthy and complicated disputes between lawyers about the church’s internal files.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

Ross Guidotti

UNIONTOWN (KDKA) – A preliminary hearing for a local church pastor, charged with molesting a girl in his congregation, was continued Tuesday because new alleged victims came forward.

Ray Teets, 66, is the pastor of Fallen Timbers Community Chapel in Fayette County.

Teets was originally charged with molesting an 11-year-old girl that was a member of his congregation.
Today, two more female victims came forward and are relatives of Teets.

He allegedly started molesting them sometime in 1999, when they were around 7 or 8-years-old. They also claimed the alleged abuse continued for several years.

Police said the original victim’s family left the church last November after her mother said Teets became fixated on her daughter.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

[with video]

POINT MARION, Pa. — Ray Teets, a pastor at Fallen Timbers Church outside of Point Marion, was about to face two girls police said he had inappropriate sexual contact with when he decided to pass on having a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Police said the latest two accusers claim the inappropriate contact with Teets happened over the course of several years. Some of the alleged abuse is said to have happened more than 15 years ago.

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CALIFORNIA
San Bernardino Sun

By Lori Fowler, The Sun
POSTED: 03/25/14

SAN BERNARDINO >> The Muscoy pastor accused of child molestation is scheduled to return to court in May.

Stephen James Howard, 54, of Fontana was present and in custody Tuesday at the San Bernardino Superior Courthouse for a pre-preliminary hearing, which was continued until May 16, according to court records.

Howard, the pastor at Muscoy United Methodist Church, was arrested March 13 on suspicion of molesting two boys who at one time attended the church, San Bernardino County sheriff’s detectives said.

He was originally booked into the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino for suspicion of lewd acts with a child under 14, oral copulation with a person under 18, and sodomy with a person under 18.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: March 25, 2014

Facing a key court hearing Thursday, the Twin Cities archdiocese has asked the court to give it more time to turn over its church files on sexually abusive priests and to limit the files’ public disclosure.

“This is an exhaustive, time consuming and extremely expensive and burdensome process,” said a memorandum filed Monday by archdiocese attorneys in Ramsey County District Court.

The archdiocese was ordered in February to give the court its records on about 40 priests who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children from 1970 to the present. It was given a March 31 deadline.

The church has asked Judge John Van de North to extend the deadline by 90 days. On Thursday, Van de North will hear their arguments in court, along with renewed requests to seal the sworn testimonies of Archbishop John Nienstedt and former vicar general Kevin McDonough, the archdiocese’s point person on abuse for decades.

Meanwhile, Van de North on Tuesday appointed retired Judge Robert H. Schumacher as a special master for the case, to address disputes over the likely hundreds of documents and depositions, as well as to make recommendations about unsealing information. Schumacher served 12 years in Hennepin County District Court and 18 years on the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

Written by
Jim Walsh
Courier-Post

A federal judge won’t change his ruling in favor of a woman alleging childhood sex abuse by a South Jersey priest.

U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman Friday denied a request for reconsideration by the Diocese of Camden, which is being sued over alleged abuse by a former priest, Thomas Harkins.

The suit was filed by Lisa Syvertson Shanahan, a North Carolina woman who says she was molested in the early 1980s by Harkins, then her parish priest at St. Anthony of Padua in Hammonton.

Hillman initially ruled in June 2013 the lawsuit could continue under the state’s Child Sex Abuse Act, which can delay for decades the normal two-year statute of limitations.

He accepted Shanahan’s argument the clock began ticking on her claim in October 2009, when she says she realized she had a legal basis for a lawsuit.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

BY PETER TRUTE
March 26, 2014

Cardinal George Pell insists he acted truthfully when he instructed lawyers to vigorously dispute the claims of a sexually abused former altar boy in court, even though he knew the claims were true.

Dr Pell, appearing before the royal commission into child sexual abuse, admitted the Catholic church did not deal fairly with victim John Ellis “from a Christian point of view”, but in a legal sense it did nothing improper.

He said he defended the Ellis case vigorously to discourage other complainants from going to court, revealing he was worried that payments for abuse cases in the US sent some churches bankrupt and he wanted to ensure similar situations could not occur in Australia.

At the end of his second day of evidence to the commission, Dr Pell’s admissions were condemned by victims’ families.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

26 MARCH 2014

A former Church of England priest jailed for child sex abuse dating back more than 25 years has been banned from ministerial practice for life.

The Diocese of Chichester in West Sussex confirmed it had imposed the most severe sanction on 78-year-old Keith Wilkie Denford.

He was jailed for 18 months after prosecutors said he used the respectability of the cassock to groom and abuse two boys over an 18-month period from when they were around 13.

On one occasion he got into a bath with one of the boys while aroused. On another he pressed himself up against a boy intimately with the words: “How nice it is to have a cuddle.”

Denford, of Broad Reach Mews, Shoreham-by-Sea, was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault against two boys between January 1987 and January 1990.

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GERMANY
Irish Times

Derek Scally

German bishops have launched a second attempt to investigate clerical sex abuse allegations after the original effort collapsed last year.

Researchers walked away from the project in January 2013, alleging the Catholic Church was trying to influence their research and censor their findings – claims the church denied.

Four new research institutes have come on board the project to investigate what Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, appointed by his peers as official abuse commissioner, called “this dark side of our church”.

Bishop Ackermann said the research effort, set to take more than three years with a budget of €1 million, would explore the prevalence of sexual and physical abuse committed by clergy towards young people.

“This is for the sake of the victims but also in order to see the mistakes for ourselves,” said Bishop Ackermann. “We must do everything we can to ensure this is not repeated.”

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IRELAND
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | March 26, 2014

It’s a systematic cover-up, Irish activist and sex abuse survivor Marie Collins said of the rampant sex abuse cases proliferating within the confines of the walls of the Catholic church. But she highly believed child sex abuse cases would not have multiplied and priests would not have summoned the courage to continue doing it had their bishops immediately sanctioned them against it.

For the evil custom to end, Ms Collins said bishops should also be made accountable when they decide to sanction their priest or not.

“There’s no point in my mind of having gold-plated child-protection programs in place if there’s no sanction for a bishop who decides to ignore them,” Ms Collins told AP. The Irish activist was just recently named to be included in an eight-people commission who will advise Pope Francis on church policy regarding sex abuse.

Ms Collins, sick at 13 years old, was abused by a chaplain at Crumlin hospital in Dublin in the 1960s.

“The reason everyone is so angry is not because they have abusers in their ranks. Abusers are in every rank of society. It’s because of the systemic cover-up.”

The commission, according to Hans Zollner, vice-rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University and Chair of the Centre for Child Protection at the University’s Institute of Psychology and one of the members of the panel, will aim to put the victims first.

“The commission will look into the legislation of the Church, the Canon Law and will try to find out whether this is effective or not and then recommend to the Holy See if there is something to change and what to change,” Fr Zollner told Vatican Radio.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

An inquiry has heard Cardinal George Pell was worried by sexual abuse case payouts that had bankrupted some US churches and wanted to prevent similar payouts in Australia.

The former archbishop of Sydney has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse he’d been concerned by US court decisions that had sent some dioceses broke.

But he denied he wanted sexual abuse victims to go through the Catholic church’s internal system, Towards Healing, rather than the courts, so the church could control the size of payouts.

The commission was shown a 2007 letter to the archdiocese from its lawyers that described a court ruling that the church’s trustees could not be sued as a significant and favourable outcome.

The lawyers said the court’s ruling “places a significant number of obstacles” that would have to be overcome by claimants pursuing abuse cases through the courts rather than through Towards Healing.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Digital Journal

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) March 26, 2014

Mark A. Brown, an attorney at Lane & Lane, LLC, has reached a settlement with the Chicago Archdiocese in a sexual abuse case involving a now 24-year-old male and a former priest and school teacher (1). As stated in the case, the victim was a student at Our Lady of the Westside School where the former priest, Father Daniel McCormack, was a teacher during the 2000–2001 school year (1). Now 24 years old, the “John Doe” client received between $1.68 and $2.1 million in a settlement that was reached before the case could go to trial in September 2014 (1).

Father McCormack served as pastor of Saint Agatha’s Catholic Church and Our Lady of the Westside School from 2000-2006 (2). However, the lawsuit alleged that the Archdiocese was aware of McCormack’s past history of sexual misconduct stemming back to his time in seminary years before–yet still chose to place him in ministry service among youth (1).

In 2007, McCormack pleaded guilty to sexually molesting five other boys, and served time in prison for those crimes (3). He continues to be confined while a petition to keep him committed to state custody under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act is considered by a Cook County judge (4).

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CANADA
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • March 26, 2014, 6:29 AM

A Canadian court has convicted a Canadian Orthodox archbishop in a 30-year-old child molestation case. I was a little skeptical of a case brought so many years after the fact, but this testimony is not quite what you would call exculpatory:

Storheim admits he talked to the 11-year-old twin boys about puberty and body development, which included specific comments about ejaculation and pubic hair. He said the topic only came up during Bible study when the boys began asking questions. He said he regrets not quickly changing the subject.

But he repeatedly denied he ever touched the boys or repeatedly exposed himself to them, as they claimed on the witness stand. He said any touching that occurred was “certainly by accident.”

Storheim conceded it’s possible the boys might have seen him walking around in the nude during sleepovers at his home, but added, “there was never an intentional display.”

“I overstepped a sense of compassion,” said Storheim, now an archbishop with the Orthodox Church in America, which has historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.

He admits writing a letter of apology to the family years later in which he said, “I probably stepped over a pastoral line.” But he claims those remarks were for the talk about puberty and nothing more sinister.

He accidentally walked around naked during slumber parties with the boys? What kind of sane, reasonable, innocent priest sleeps naked when little boys are spending the night at their house? “I overstepped a sense of compassion,” he says. Hoo boy.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell says the Catholic church didn’t deal fairly with the victim of a pedophile priest ‘from a Christian point of view’, but in a legal sense it did nothing improper.

The church’s most senior cleric in Australia has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse that while mistakes were made in defending a court case brought by former altar boy John Ellis, he was consoled by a legal ruling protecting the church’s property trustees from being sued.

‘From a Christian point of view, leaving aside the legal dominion, I don’t think we did deal fairly,’ the former Archbishop of Sydney told the commission in Sydney on Wednesday.

‘One of the few consolations, if that’s what I’ve got from this sorry mess, is that the court of appeal unanimously endorsed the view that the trustees were not responsible in this case.’

The commission has heard the archdiocese of Sydney has property and cash worth $1.2 billion.

Mr Ellis was abused by a priest from the age of 13-to-17.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Cardinal George Pell tells Royal Commission he never told church lawyers to deny sex abuse of altar boy John Ellis

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 26, 2014

WHAT is the difference between disputing and denying? Quite a lot, according to Cardinal George Pell today.

He said that he had never told the church’s lawyers to deny that former altar boy John Ellis has been sexually abused by a priest when he sued the Sydney Archdiocese. He only accepted legal advice that they make Mr Elllis “prove” it.

Cardinal Pell said he had already accepted a Catholic Church report that Mr Ellis was telling the truth about his abuse as a teenager but Mr Ellis was questioned for four days about it during the case in 2004.

The cardinal said it had been a legal strategy suggested to him by the church’s lawyers, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, to “put Mr Ellis to the proof” of his claims of sexual abuse.

Counsel assisting the royal commission, Gail Furness SC, said: “The effect of disputing the abuse occurred was precisely the same on Mr Ellis, was it not, as denying the abuse occurred?”

Cardinal Pell: “I would not draw that conclusion.”

Ms Furness; “You are making a distinction, are you, between disputing that something occurred and denying it?”

Cardinal Pell: “Yes, very definitely.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 26, 2014
Catherine Armitage

Cardinal George Pell’s morality has come under sustained challenge at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Pell said his instructions to “vigorously” and “strenuously” defend claims by John Ellis that he was abused were intended to discourage claimants, so they would “think clearly” before litigating against the church.

The Cardinal has defended disputing in court whether Mr Ellis was really abused. Pell said his lawyers assured him it was a “proper” legal tactic and Mr Ellis was a senior lawyer who would have understood he was not disbelieved.

Pell admitted he accepted Mr Ellis’ allegations, just as the church’s own review had done, but even so he gave the instructions which resulted in Mr Ellis being subject to four days of gruelling cross-examination in court on whether and how he had been abused.

Gail Furness, SC, counsel for the Royal Commission, asked: “Do you understand now the impact it had on John Ellis, to have the very church that he had gone back to … to dispute that he had been abused?”

“I do”, Cardinal Pell responded.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

CARDINAL George Pell personally endorsed his lawyers’ decision to dispute in court that a child victim had been sexually abused by a priest, despite himself believing the abuse had taken place, a royal commission has heard.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the former Archbishop of Sydney said the decision was a legal “tactic” that he had been told was appropriate at the time.

The commission is currently investigating the case of a former altar boy, John Ellis, who unsuccessfully attempted to sue the church over his sexual abuse at the hands of a Sydney priest.

By defending the case, Cardinal Pell said he had wanted to discourage other abuse victims from taking legal action against the church’s trustees, which control much of the church’s wealth.

“So by having a vigorous defence, that would slow potential plaintiffs that they should think twice before litigating against the church?” senior counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, asked.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric has told the child abuse Royal Commission that, from what he called a “Christian point of view”, the Church did not deal fairly with former altar boy and abuse victim, John Ellis.

Cardinal George Pell conceded that it was a mistake to not enter into mediation at the start of the legal process which was so damaging for Mr Ellis, but he maintained he was not responsible for making that decision.

The World Today’s Emily Bourke has been monitoring the hearing and joins us now.

Emily, it’s the second day in the witness box for Cardinal Pell. What was the focus of the counsel assisting’s questioning today?

EMILY BOURKE: Well the inquiry is really drilling down into just how closely involved Cardinal Pell was in directing the course of the litigation when Mr Ellis tried to sue the Church.

While Cardinal Pell endorsed the overall strategy, he says he wasn’t involved in each and every legal manoeuvre.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 26, 2014

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

Cardinal George Pell has admitted he wanted to avoid big damages verdicts such as those made against the Catholic Church in America when he set up the Melbourne Response to deal with child sex abuse complaints with a $50,000 cap on payouts in the 1990s.

The Melbourne Response gave the church control over how much compensation a victim could receive when its liability could not be established, the Cardinal agreed.

In response to a succession of questions from the chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, Justice Peter McClellan, Pell said he had not wanted the church in Australia to be subject to damages higher than other Australian institutions. He said he had set up the Melbourne Response in 1996 after the Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, told him “Now you clean this thing up and there won’t be a Royal Commission”.

The Cardinal’s moral choices in dealing with sex abuse cases have come under sustained challenge at the Royal Commission.

Pell said his instructions to “vigorously” and “strenuously” defend claims by John Ellis that he was abused were intended to discourage claimants, so they would “think clearly” before litigating against the church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Thomas Oriti

Cardinal George Pell says that from a “Christian point of view”, the Church did not deal fairly with former altar boy and sex abuse victim John Ellis.

Mr Ellis was abused by a priest in the 1970s, but lost a legal battle in 2007 when the Court of Appeal ruled the Catholic Church was not an entity that could be sued.

Cardinal Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, is giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney.

He said although lawyers never acted improperly, he had “moral doubts” and believed the case was mishandled from a spiritual perspective.

“Any reservations I might have about particular stands of our lawyers, I would not want to suggest that they did anything improper,” he told the hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 March 2014

The “vigorous” defence against abuse victim John Ellis was seen as an opportunity to show future claimants they should think twice before litigating against the Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell has admitted.

Ellis’s claim was an “attack” on the trustees of the Catholic Church by people who were not “entirely reasonable”, Pell told the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Ellis was treated differently to other claimants because he was a “brilliant” lawyer.

Pell is appearing before the commission’s eighth public hearing for a second day of questioning on the handling of the Ellis case. Ellis was sexually abused by a priest, Father Aiden Duggan, beginning when Ellis was a 13-year-old altar boy. The church won the civil case brought against it in 2007, establishing the so called “Ellis Defence” that the church as an entity cannot be sued.

Law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth ran a “vigorous” defence against Ellis’s claims, which Pell said was simply putting Ellis’s claims “to the proof” rather than denying the truthfulness of them. Ellis, as a lawyer, should have been able to make the distinction, said Pell.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell was worried by sexual abuse case payouts that had bankrupted some US churches and wanted to prevent similar payouts in Australia, an inquiry has heard.

Dr Pell, the former archbishop of Sydney, told the royal commission into child sexual abuse that he had been concerned by verdicts in US courts where large payouts to victims had bankrupted some dioceses.

He denied, however, that he wanted sexual abuse victims to go through the Catholic church’s internal system, Towards Healing, rather than the courts, so that the church could control the size of payouts.

Under questioning from Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan, Dr Pell agreed that, since his time as archbishop of Melbourne, he had been concerned about the US payouts to victims.

He did not want a similar situation in Australia because ‘Australia is not America’ where there are ‘an enormous number of lawyers’.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | March 26, 2014

Australian Cardinal George Pell, who is set to become Vatican’s keeper of finances, on Wednesday admitted limiting compensation to victims of sex abuse because of fears the Archdiocese of Sydney will go bankrupt.

Since creating the Melbourne Response in the 1990s, a victim may only receive a compensation of a maximum $50,000. That was the Australian church’s cap on payouts.

He said he does not want the Australian Catholic church suffering the fate of dioceses in America because “Australia is not America” where there are “an enormous number of lawyers.”

Cardinal Pell also said he could not accept that the church will issue payouts to its victims more than any other institution in Australia.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By CATHERINE ARMITAGE March 26, 2014

Sydney’s Catholic archdiocese has been forced to open its books for the first time, revealing assets worth more than $1 billion and raising questions about why it has failed to spend more on compensating victims of church sex abuse.

WATCH CARDINAL PELL AT THE COMMISSION

Accounts tendered to the child sex abuse royal commission on Tuesday show the archdiocese’s total assets have nearly doubled since 2004 to more than $1 billion at the end of last year. Over the same period, its net assets grew from $137 million to $192 million.

The healthy annual net surpluses caught the attention of commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan as he quizzed archdiocesan business manager Danny Casey on payouts to victims since 2001 of just less than $8 million.

Justice McClellan described the accounts as ”commendable from your point of view” because of the surpluses that ran as high as $44 million in 2007. Last year, the net surplus was $9 million.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on March 25, 2014

Just when I thought things couldn’t get stranger, this happened:

The leading hench(wo)man in the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Orange may be a judicial nominee.

When I first got word that California Governor Jerry Brown had thrown Maria Rullo Schinderle’s name in the hat of potential nominees for superior court judge, I was floored. Directly on the heels of his church-influenced veto of SB 131, Brown is nominating one of the most questionable Catholic church attorneys in California for a judgeship.

Victims and those who support victims should be outraged.

This woman must never become a judge

Let’s go through some of the reason why Brown should immediately remove Schinderle’s name from consideration:

1) She’s actively escaping her own bad press
In nominating forms, Schinderle is listed by her bar name “Maria M. Rullo.” In her workings with the Diocese of Orange, including all of her work fighting victims and acting as a spokesperson, she goes by her married name, “Maria R. Schinderle.” That is reason enough to question her veracity.
Her bar information also lists her as a member of the Busch Law Firm, but there is no listing of her on their website. The Diocese of Orange lists her as General Counsel under the name Maria Rullo Schinderle. So I have to ask: What is her name and where exactly does she work?

Perhaps her name interchangeability is due to the fact that a Google search of Maria Rullo is far more sanitized than the scandalous information that a search for “Maria Schinderle” unearths.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas P. Doyle | Mar. 25, 2014 Examining the Crisis

The countless victims of clergy sex abuse have been waiting for 30 years for the Vatican to show it really understands the depth of the problem and is willing to do something real about it. Judging by the latest move, naming members of a pontifical commission, victims will have to keep on waiting. Those who have been deeply involved in this issue for the long haul had little hope the promised commission would make a difference, and we probably won’t be disappointed.

Putting Marie Collins on the commission was a brilliant decision. She is probably the only one with true credibility among the victims, who are clearly the most important people in this equation, not the bishops. She is also probably the only member who is independent and courageous enough to call out the real issues. Child protection in the future and seminary training are peripheral. Compassionate care for the countless victims should be the foremost concern, followed by drawing up an expeditious plan to fire the more egregious offenders from among the cardinals, archbishops and bishops who have enabled and continue to enable perpetrators.

While it is not totally clear what the commission’s mission is, a recent interview with Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner, one of the members, gives some clues. He said some nice things about putting victims first, but the victims have been hearing that from the last pope and from cardinals and bishops for years. They still aren’t first. In fact, they aren’t even in the lineup.

However, later in the interview, Zollner said the commission will look into church law to see what has worked then make recommendations. That says it all. The pope and the commission could save a lot of time and effort because this has already been figured out, and the answer is short: Not much has worked. Elsewhere, media stories said the commission will advise the church on best policies to protect children and keep abusers out of the clergy. So it seems that to avoid having to confront and do something about the real issues facing the church, the commission will be asked to reinvent the wheel.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus ordained in 1951, Leary spent his career in higher education, founding several schools and establishing a reputation as a brilliant and charismatic innovator. Allegations that he was sexually abusing boys and young men began to surface in 1965 or 1966. Leary was president of Gonzaga University at the time; he was allowed to keep his post. In 1969 Spokane police were receiving reports of Leary’s sexual abuse. They went to the Jesuits with the offer that Leary would be spared arrest if he left town within 24 hours; Leary was quietly sent away to a Jesuit boys’ school in Lenox, MA to “recuperate.” He went on to live and work in Logan, UT, Santa Clara, CA, San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Reno, NV and Portland, OR. The Oregon Province Jesuits in 2006 claimed they didn’t learn the details of allegations against Leary until 2006; they said documents show he may have abused “as many as” 12 youths.

Ordained: 1951
Died: Dec. 21, 1993

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Church of England priest who was jailed for 18 months for abusing teenage boys has been banned from ministerial practice for life.

Keith Wilkie Denford, of Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, was found guilty of indecently assaulting two teenage boys in April 2013 after a trial.

Police were alerted in 2012 when one of Denford’s victims discovered he was still in contact with children.

The Diocese of Chichester said the most severe sanction possible was imposed.

Denford had denied abusing the boys between 1987 and 1990, while he was vicar at St John the Evangelist Church in Burgess Hill.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

[with video]

Royal commission into child sex abuse told of incredible wealth of Sydney’s Catholic Church, but no cash for alleged victims of sex abuse

THE Catholic Church’s Sydney Archdiocese controls an incredible $1.238 billion in funds — most of it tax free.

It was the first time the wealth of the church has been revealed as the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse delved into its finances and examined the church’s response to victims.

The archdiocese’s cash reserves are $321 million and the church has been making a profit of up to $43 million a year through investments since 2001.

But the commission has been told that, instead of settling former altar boy John Ellis’s sexual abuse claim for the $100,000 he asked for, it offered him just $30,000 and then spent $1.5 million fighting him in court. Most claims are settled for between $50,000 and $70,000.

The money maze was unveiled as the archdiocese’s business manager, Danny Casey, gave evidence to the commission yesterday.

The funds are ultimately controlled by the archbishop, who since 2001 has been Cardinal George Pell.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 26, 2014

Kieran Tapsell

Remember Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? Ebenezer Scrooge is a cantankerous miser who thinks Christmas is all humbug. He is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, and, as a result of a series of apparitions, he has a change of heart. He decides to spend the rest of his life being generous.

Cardinal George Pell never thought that the claims of clergy sexual abuse victims were humbug, although a number of his colleagues in the Vatican certainly did. In October 1996, as archbishop of Melbourne, Pell set up the Melbourne Response for dealing with the victims of sexual abuse by clergy and others. It provided for an independent tribunal to determine the amount payable to victims, but it had a cap of $50,000. The other scheme, Towards Healing, set up by his fellow bishops, had a provision for negotiating and mediating compensation, but with no cap. In 2001, Pell became the archbishop of Sydney, where he decided to continue the Towards Healing system.

John Ellis was an altar boy at the Bass Hill parish where he was sexually abused from the age of 13 by Father Aidan Duggan. Ellis became a gifted lawyer and a partner in a prestigious Sydney law firm. As a result of psychological problems, he lost his job, and in 2002 he approached the Sydney Archdiocese through its Towards Healing program about his difficulties. An assessor, Michael Eccleston, was appointed to look into the claim, and in a report that Justice Peter McLellan, heading the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, described as ”legally perfect”, Eccleston found that on the balance of probabilities, Ellis had been abused by Duggan, and his psychological difficulties could be traced to the abuse.

Ellis offered to settle the claim for $100,000 in the Towards Healing process, but that was rejected.

He started proceedings to extend the limitation period, naming Pell, the trustees of the archdiocese and Duggan as defendants. He made a formal offer to settle for $750,000, which was also rejected. Duggan in the meantime died, and the case against the other two went all the way to the High Court. Pell and the trustees of the archdiocese won the case – after spending $756,000 on lawyers’ fees – with findings that the ”Catholic Church” did not exist in law, that Pell was not liable for any negligence of his predecessors, and as the trustees had no role in the appointment of priests, they were not liable either. Ellis was ordered to pay costs, estimated on a party/party basis at $500,000.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

The Chancellor of the Sydney Archdiocese of the Catholic Church has told the Royal Commission into the institutional response to child abuse that the Archdiocese controls 1.2 billion dollars and turns a multi-million dollar profit every year.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse has heard that the Catholic Church in Sydney is worth more than $1.2 billion. The Commission also learned that the Church spent more than $1 million fighting a man molested as a child by his local priest. It was a decision that was today described by a senior Church official as a case of defending the institution before the victim.

Lucy Carter reports.

LUCY CARTER, REPORTER: Reverend Monsignor John Joseph Usher has been trying to mend the Church’s ways since he took over as chancellor of the Sydney archdiocese.

JOHN JOSEPH USHER: We’re very clear about the fact that the victim is the one we should be most concerned about.

LUCY CARTER: He streamlined the way victims’ access pastoral and financial help and won back the trust of abuse survivor John Ellis.

JOHN JOSEPH USHER: The victim is the prime responsibility of the Church, not the good name of the Church and certainly not the perpetrator.

LUCY CARTER: Monsignor Usher’s new approach is a stark contrast to what the Church has done in the past. A former altar boy, Mr Ellis was abused by his local priest, then he endured years of aggressive litigation when he tried to sue the Church. A legal technicality saw his claim thrown out and for three years he was threatened with paying the Church’s legal costs.

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