ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
25 Feb 2014

Pope Francis has appointed the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell to a new senior role in the Vatican.

Cardinal Pell will be the Prefect for the Economy of the Holy See and will be based in Rome.

It is the most senior role to which an Australian cardinal has been appointed and people from business, welfare groups, politics as well as church leaders have applauded the appointment.

Australia’s first ambassador to the Holy See, Tim Fischer said today it is a wise move by Pope Francis and “long overdue”.

Speaking from Rome Cardinal Pell said he was deeply honoured to have been appointed by the Holy Father as the Prefect of the new Secretariat for the Economy. …

It is expected an Administrator will soon be appointed to the Archdiocese until a new Archbishop is named.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

25 February 2014

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal George Pell to the new role of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a decision announced as part of the Pope’s reforms to the Vatican’s financial administration. Cardinal Pell will leave his position as Archbishop of Sydney to take up the role, in which he will oversee the annual budget and financial planning for the Holy See and Vatican.

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UNITED STATES
Las Vegas Informer

By Victoria Alexander
Las Vegas Informer

Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, made a startling statement regarding the Roman Curia, the Church’s all-powerful civil service. He said: “The court is the leprosy of the papacy.” He has described the Curia as “narcissistic” and “self-referential.” This FRONTLINE program explores the church he is now head of.

Secrets of the Vatican premiers Tuesday, February 25 at 10 p.m. on PBS and online at pbs.org/frontline. It examines the crisis the Catholic Church faces in light of the devastating charges of financial and sexual corruption.

Secrets of the Vatican is a special, 90-minute FRONTLINE presentation that tells the inside story of the collapse of the Benedict Papacy—and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers.

Sex, power and money are all fundamental ingredients of many best-selling novels. In Secrets of the Vatican the factual basis for each is well established. While much has been written about the Vatican’s institutionally sanctioned abuse of power, FRONTLINE has produced one of the most comprehensive television documentaries on the topic ever seen in the United States.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Feb. 24, 2014 NCR Today

Pope Francis continues to move ahead with his reform of the Curia by appointing Cardinal George Pell of Sydney as a financial watchdog in the Vatican. His title will be cardinal prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a new office that will “undertake the economic audit and supervision” of offices of the Roman Curia, the Vatican City State and institutions connected to the Holy See. The secretariat will also establish “policies and procedures regarding procurement and the allocation of human resources” for the Curia and Vatican City State.

What is not specifically mentioned in Fidelis et dispensator prudens, the motu proprio establishing this new office, is the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, although it may be included among “institutions connected to the Holy See.”

Pell will report directly to the pope rather than to the secretary of state, through whom almost everything goes to the pope.

Pope Francis is not the first pope to try to clean up Vatican finances. In 1967, the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See was established. According to Pastor Bonus, it is in charge “of supervising and governing the temporal goods of the administrations that are dependent on the Holy See.” It is responsible for publishing annual financial statements for the Holy See and Vatican City and for producing budget estimates and “inspecting books and documents, if need be.” It had no authority over the Vatican bank.

Sounds a lot like the new office, doesn’t it?

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

CONTACT:
Peter Isely: 414.429.7259
Monica Barrett: 414-704-6074

In a unique collaboration between the BBC and PBS a 90 minute FRONTLINE documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican: Inside the Scandals that Rocked Benedict’s Papacy,” by award winning British filmmaker Antony Thomas, will be airing across the US and the United Kingdom tomorrow, Tuesday, February 25 (8:00 p.m. CST time in Milwaukee on MPTV channel 10.)

A year in the making, a section of the film will explore the struggle of clergy sexual abuse survivors in Milwaukee and the financial corruption of the archdiocese. Several Milwaukee survivors were extensively interviewed as well as local priests who are members of the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA), a group founded in Milwaukee.

Thomas’ other current film, which is receiving considerable critical acclaim, “Questioning Darwin”, is now running on HBO.

For a full description of the FRONTLINE film, the trailer, and local PBS broadcast dates go here.
“Secrets of the Vatican” is only one of three films airing worldwide in the upcoming weeks that includes interviews and stories of Milwaukee survivors.

On March 9, Al Jazeera America is airing a film by Italian filmmakers on the worldwide financial corruption of the Catholic Church. And on April 1st French television is airing a documentary on the church that features Milwaukee survivors and clergy. Both films are then scheduled to air across Europe.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY JUDY BERGERON
jbergeron@theadvocate.com
February 24, 2014

New Orleans author and journalist Jason Berry worked in front of and behind the camera for PBS’ “Frontline” special, “Secrets of the Vatican.”

The 90-minute segment airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WLPB, Channel 27 (cable Channel 12 in Baton Rouge and Lafayette) and WYES, Channel 12 (cable Channel 12 in New Orleans).

The program takes an in-depth look at the collapse of Benedict XVI’s papacy, covering the clergy sex abuse crisis; money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank; and Vatileaks, the release of internal documents which included alleged blackmail within the Holy See.

Berry will be seen in an early part of the program focusing on Marcial Maciel, the leader of the powerful Legionaires of Christ order, who, despite allegations of sexually abusing boys and misappropriating money, was supported by the Vatican for years.

Berry talked to the priest’s son in 2011, and part of that interview will be featured.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Allison Jackson
February 24, 2014

Just when you thought Pope Francis couldn’t get any more popular, he goes and announces what has been described as his “boldest” move yet to clean up the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system.

The pope, who was appointed nearly a year ago with a mandate to overhaul the Catholic Church, said Monday he would invite outside experts to scrutinize the Vatican’s often-murky finances.

The yet-to-be-appointed auditor general will “be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope Francis also announced the creation of a new body to oversee the Holy See’s budgets and financial planning, as well as a central bank.

The new agency will be called the “Secretariat of the Economy” and will be headed by Cardinal George Pell, who is currently the Archbishop of Sydney and who was a vocal critic of the Vatican’s poor accounting standards under Pope Benedict XVI.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Monday, February 24, 2014

The former principal of Cardinal O’Hara High School has sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for suddenly firing her last November, just five months after she was asked to be associate superintendent.

The suit maintains that Marie Rogai was a distinguished Catholic school educator who was told she did not smile enough and was too direct in a meeting with her bosses on Nov. 8 in which she was asked to resign.

When Rogai refused to step down, she was fired three days later with no explanation to her or the school community, the lawsuit says.

The sudden mid-year termination of a principal implies there was “misconduct, generally of a sexual, criminal, fraudulent or similar basis,” according to the suit, which was filed Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

EDMONTON – Catholic bishops in Alberta and the Northwest Territories have apologized for abuse that aboriginal children suffered in residential schools.

Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith said Monday the group is the last one in the country representing Catholic bishops to make a public offer of regret.

Others have issued formal apology letters as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission held events in their regions, he said. The commission is to hold its final national event in Edmonton next month.

“We are adding our voice to those of the Catholic bishops and leaders of religious communities across Canada,” Smith told several dozen junior high students at Edmonton’s Ben Calf Robe School.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Feb. 24, 2014

Local victims of clergy sexual abuse and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy are featured in a Frontline documentary that will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Tuesday on local PBS station Channel 10.

“Secrets of the Vatican,” recounts the transition from the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI and “illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers,” according to the Frontline web site.

The film explores a number of issues, including the global sex abuse crisis, Francis’ efforts to reform the Vatican bank and bureaucracy; and the Vatileaks scandal that resulted in the theft conviction of Benedict’s butler.

The film features interviews with Milwaukee-area sex abuse survivors Peter Isely, who was molested by a Capuchin priest at St. Lawrence Seminary in Fond du Lac County and Monica Barrett, who was raped by the late Father William Effinger. Both would be excluded from the archdiocese’s compensation for victims under its proposed reorganization plan.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell is the Vatican’s new ‘budget supremo’, saying he is honoured to take up the role to modernise the church bureaucracy to better help the poor and disadvantaged.

Pope Francis on Monday revealed that Australia’s most senior Catholic would become one of the most powerful men in the church, working in a new body with authority over economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and Vatican.

The shake-up – following a wave of scandals at the Vatican bank – is the first major overhaul of the church’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in 25 years.

The Vatican said in a statement that Cardinal Pell ‘has been asked to start work as soon as possible’ as head of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Cardinal Pell said in a statement he was ‘deeply honoured’ to have been appointed to the role.

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VATICAN CITY
PRI

When Pope Francis became head of the Roman Catholic Church nearly a year ago, many Catholics around the world were expecting change. Pope Francis was even named Time Magazine’s 2013 Person of the Year.

Last week, Pope Francis announced a major overhaul of the Vatican’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy, including a package of reforms and economic policies to monitor the Vatican Bank, long seen as an institution wrought with corruption and scandal.

A new Frontline documentary exposes just how bad things had gotten in Rome. “Secrets of the Vatican,” which airs Tuesday night, looks in depth at Pope Benedict’s papacy.

The documentary examines the years of scandal over clergy sex abuse, corruption at the Vatican Bank, power struggles, and cronyism within the Holy See. It finds that clergy in Rome were frequenting gay bars.

The director, writer, and producer of the documentary, Antony Thomas, spent a year investigating the secrets of the Vatican. He believes the mounting problems, combined with the ailing health of Pope Benedict, led to Benedict’s dramatic resignation — an action not taken by a pope in 600 years.

“They happened on his watch, and it was very unfortunate,” Thomas explained. “He just couldn’t cope with it anymore.”

According to Thomas, Pope Benedict had considered resigning in early 2012, but was pressured into postponing his resignation by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. That decision, Thomas said, was “before the ‘Vatileaks’ thing got really serious and before these scandals came out.”

Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi received the classified documents now known as Vatileaks. His book, “Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI” was released in mid-2012, and revealed extensive confidential information, including documents from the pope’s personal office.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

Dave Battagello

A former Windsor priest accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen early-adolescent girls in the late 1980s and early 1990s was found guilty Monday of three of 18 sex charges he was facing in Sarnia.

Gabriele Del Bianco, 57, will be sentenced in Superior Court May 14 and will remain out of custody until then.

The trial began in October with four of Del Bianco’s alleged victims testifying in court. Del Bianco was represented by Windsor lawyer Andrew Bradie.

The former priest was acquitted of sexual misconduct charges involving two women, but found guilty by Justice Joseph Donohue for his actions involving the other two. He was guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and counts of sexual assault against the other.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 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)

A Chilean archbishop who is accused of hiding evidence of child sex crimes from civil authorities, was promoted to cardinal this past weekend. We are disappointed Pope Francis did this.

[Santiago Times]

Santiago’s Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati allegedly concealed evidence of child sexual abuse by a Salesian priest, Rimsky Rojas.

This weekend Pope Francis urged his newly promoted cardinals to avoid misconduct and “May all of us avoid, and help others to avoid, habits and ways of acting typical of a court: intrigue, gossip, cliques, favoritism and partiality.”

The Pope should take his own advice. Ezzati should have been fired, not promoted. Hiding evidence is not only a crime, but it is a dangerous, callous and selfish move that puts the reputations of predators over the safety of kids.

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CANADA
Chatham Daily News

By Neil Bowen, Sarnia Observer
Monday, February 24, 2014

SARNIA – Former Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco, 57, was convicted Monday on three of 18 charges related to sexual misconduct involving four teenage girls.

Sentencing has been set for May 14. The convictions relate to two of the women, now in their 40s.

Superior Court Justice Jospeh Donohue found DelBianco guilty of one count of gross indecency against one victim and counts of sexual assault against the other victim.

A pre-sentence report was ordered and DelBianco remains out of custody.

The key issues were possible consent to sexual activity and the reliability of the evidence, Donohue said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Feb. 24, 2014 NCR Today

PBS’ award winning news and documentary program, “Frontline,” is to air tomorrow night (Feb. 25) “Secrets of the Vatican,” from British director Antony Thomas and co-producer Jason Berry, a name that should be well-known to NCR readers.

Most PBS stations will broadcast the show Tuesday, February 25, at 9 p.m. eastern time, but check your local TV listings to get the correct time.

Here’s how a press release I got describes the show:

“Secrets of the Vatican” illuminates the challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the Church.

“The documentary tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy, from a far-reaching clergy sex abuse scandal, to money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank, to power struggles and cronyism within the Holy See, to hypocrisy within the Vatican when it comes to homosexuality.”

Work on the film began more than a year ago. Berry talks about his involvement with the project in an interview with his hometown newspaper, New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune. Here’s Berry’s synopsis of the film:

“The film takes viewers into the Vatican’s baroque internal dynamics”

“The infighting under Pope Benedict that exploded in the Vatican Bank and Vatileaks scandals”

“Viewers will get a clear story of the last pope betrayed by his own bureaucracy.

“Antony’s treatment of the gay priest culture in the Vatican — an explosive topic to be sure — is nuanced and even-handed, certainly not homophobic.”

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CANADA
Blackburn News

By Chelsea Vella on February 24, 2014

A former Catholic priest has been acquitted of all but three of 18 sex-related charges in Sarnia’s Superior Court.

Justice Joseph Donohue found 57-year-old Gabriele DelBianco guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges including threatening death/bodily harm.

The charges relate to incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980′s.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: The Canadian Press
Monday, Feb. 24, 2014

SARNIA, Ont. – A Sarnia, Ont., judge has acquitted a former Catholic priest of all but three of 18 sex-related charges he faced.

Justice Joseph Donohue found Gabriele DelBianco, 57, guilty of one count of gross indecency and two counts of sexual assault.

He found DelBianco not guilty of various other charges — including threatening death or bodily harm — arising from incidents involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

Donohue says the historical nature of the case made it difficult and he cited reliability of evidence as reasoning for acquitting DelBianco on several charges.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Two sisters who claim they suffered physical and mental abuse while at St Joseph’s home at Termonbacca in Derry have rejected claims by a nun that the abuse never took place.

The sisters were among five children from a large family who were placed in the home in the late 1960s.
The girls were also placed there as their mother thought they would be together. However two of the girls who gave evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry said she did not know that they were separated once at the home.

A series of claims by the sisters involving physical abuse, forced work and hunger were all denied by a named nun whose statement was detailed to the witnesses.

The nun said she could not recall the girls and she denies that any child was forced to work in the nursery at the home which would have housed up to 24 babies and infants.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 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 )

As a trial begins against an accused Philly predator priest (Fr. Andrew McCormick), we remind citizens and Catholics that it’s never too late to speak up with information or suspicions about known or alleged child sex crimes.

[Enquirer-Herald]

Sooner beats later. But speaking up always beats staying silent.

It’s our civic and moral duty to help police and prosecutors convict child molesters by sharing what we know and have seen and have heard with them, even if we think it’s small, old or “second hand.”

So we hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by Fr. McCormick will find the courage to pick up the phone and call law enforcement officials immediately. That’s the very least we should do if we care at all about kids.

We especially appeal to current and former parish and archdiocesan staff – from bookkeepers to bishops – to find the strength to break your silence if you know or suspect something that might help prosecutors in this case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 25, 2014

THE former head of a Catholic body handling child abuse allegations has criticised the church’s flagship Towards Healing protocol.

Retired Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a new national independent body should be established to deal with all institutional abuse allegations and subsequent out-of-court financial settlements.

“Where (Towards Healing) fell down was where the communication wasn’t there and (the victims) were left hanging, in a vacuum,” Bishop Morris said. “That was my experience.”

Bishop Morris was at the helm of the Toowoomba Catholic diocese when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested and raped 13 girls in his classroom in 2007 and 2008. Bishop Morris sacked a school principal and two Catholic Education officials when it was revealed they failed to report sexual assault allegations against Byrnes to police in September 2007.

Until he was forced into early retirement by the Vatican in 2011, Bishop Morris was also the co-chairman of the National Committee for Professional Standards, which founded Towards Healing as the Catholic Church’s pastoral response to child abuse within its ranks.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Andy Parks 25th Feb 2014

A VICTIM of abuse at the Anglican Church’s North Coast Children’s Home has said the offer of compensation made to him was an insult.

Mr S (to protect his identity) said the offer of $3000 was for years of abuse that had left him “a total wreck”.

“The Church is saying ‘take it or leave it, that’s the offer’… It’s like they’re saying ‘that’s all you’re worth’. That’s what they said to us when we were in the home; that we were worth nothing.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last year heard evidence of brutal physical and sexual abuse at the Lismore home from the 1940s to the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

Adam Davies 25th Feb 2014

FORMER Bishop William Morris said he cannot believe the principal at the centre of the child sexual abuse scandal at a Toowoomba primary school is still teaching in the Catholic education system.

Bishop Morris was highly critical of the school’s then principal Terence Michael Hayes and his handling of the scandal which allowed teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes to sexually abuse 13 girls in his class.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Mr Hayes was first made aware of allegations against Byrnes in September, 2007, some 14 months prior to his eventual arrest.

“I think the Catholic Education Office in Brisbane has to review that,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Raymond A. Schroth | Feb 21 2014

In one sense there are few surprises in Tuesday evening’s broadcast of Frontline’s latest documentary on the scandals that continue to rock the Catholic Church. Few surprises, that is, if you have been following the story for the last ten years: though this is not about birth control, abortion, women’s ordination, liberal nuns or health care’s alleged anti-Catholicism. It is about the corruption of a local culture, where the combination of lust for power, sex and money has undermined the credibility of an institution originally modeled on the body of Christ.

The scandals are familiar—the plague of sex abuse, the victims’ demand for justice, the disgrace of the Legion of Christ and its founder, the Vatican Bank scandal, the charges of homosexual cliques among the priests and hierarchy, the leak of documents by the pope’s butler—as is the scramble of the investigative reporters to make all this public.

Frontline’s documentaries remind me of the old Edward R. Murrow radio and TV dramas, “You Are There,” where the reporters grab Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson after a meeting of the Continental Congress. Except that the Frontline cameras and researchers are really there to show us the young Marcial Maciel Degollado, of a powerful conservative elite Mexican family, as he founds the Legion of Christ in 1941, rises in Vatican influence by raising money and collecting vocations and wins the favor of Pope John Paul II as he enjoys his double life. We see the faces and hear the voices of former seminarian Juan Vaca, abused at 10, from 1949 to 1961, and of Raul Gonzales, one of Maciel’s two sons, both of whom were abused on every visit. As Raul weeps, so do we.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Monday, February 24, 2014

A Philadelphia judge imposed a gag order Monday barring prosecution and defense attorneys from making public comments during the trial of the Rev. Andrew McCormick, charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at a Northeast church in 1997.

Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright issued the order after a pretrial motions hearing began dealing with some sensitive evidentiary issues and Bright granted a defense motion to take the hearing behind closed doors.

Jury selection is to begin Tuesday in the trial of the 57-year-old priest on five counts involving sexual assault, child endangerment and corruption of minors in an incident that allegedly occurred when McCormick was a priest at the St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.

McCormick, then pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, was one of 26 Roman Catholic priests suspended in March 2011 for possible inappropriate conduct with children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Enquirer-Herald

The Associated Press
February 24, 2014

PHILADELPHIA — A judge has issued a gag order in the latest priest-abuse case going to trial in Philadelphia.

A former altar boy accuses the Rev. Andrew McCormick of sexually assaulting him at a northeast Philadelphia rectory in 1997.

The 57-year-old McCormick is fighting the charges. The trial is expected to take about three days, after jury selection this week.

The accuser says he contacted police in 2012 after seeing news accounts of the Penn State and Philadelphia archdiocese sex-abuse trials.

McCormick is one of about 25 priests suspended in 2011 after a grand jury report found many accused priests still in ministry.

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UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
February 23, 2014

The special “Secrets of the Vatican,” from PBS Frontline/BBC can be seen this week> The story features Milwaukee survivors and the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance (SCLA).

The Frontline documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican: Inside the Scandals that Rocked Benedict’s Papacy” by award winning British filmmaker Antony Thomas will be airing across the US. A year in the making, a section of the film will explore the struggle of survivors in Milwaukee and the financial dealings of the archdiocese.

Included in the film is Monica Barrett of the Survivors and Clergy Alliance (SCLA). Filmmaker Thomas was in Milwaukee filming for several days last fall, interviewing clergy and survivors from the group, as well as the group itself. Thomas other current film, “Questioning Darwin”, is now running on HBO.

For a full description of the film, the trailer, and local PBS broadcast dates. The film airs Tuesday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.

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UNITED STATES
Frontline

[with video]

February 24, 2014 by Jason M. Breslow

Pope Francis announced a sweeping set of reforms for the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system on Monday, establishing a new central office with broad authority over the Vatican’s economic and administrative affairs.

Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, will head the new office, which is being called the Secretariat for the Economy. Pell will work with a council of eight bishops and seven lay financial experts to prepare an annual budget, conduct financial planning and oversee various support functions, such as human resources and procurement. The pope will also name an auditor general who, according to a Vatican news release, “will be empowered to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican city state at any time.”

The changes come as Pope Francis continues to weigh the future of the Vatican bank — otherwise known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) — amid ongoing criticism over its struggles to adhere to international financial transparency standards. Those struggles reached a tipping point in 2010, when Italian investigators froze 23 million euros held by the IOR in two Italian banks on suspicion of possible money laundering violations. Lacking confidence in the IOR, Italy’s central bank shut down electronic payments in and around St. Peter’s Square, effectively turning the Vatican into a cash-only city-state.

In the following scene from tomorrow night’s FRONTLINE investigation, Secrets of the Vatican, award-winning director Antony Thomas traces what happened next: a power struggle within the Vatican administration; resistance to opening the bank’s books; and ultimately the resignation of the man Pope Benedict brought in to clean up the IOR, Italian economist Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

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UNITED STATES
Variety

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Brian Lowry
TV Columnist
@blowryontv

Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented retirement and subsequent enthusiasm surrounding Pope Francis has certainly stoked interest in the Catholic Church, an organization (with apologies to Dan Brown’s readers) that remains shrouded in mystery. Yet PBS’ “Frontline” provides the documentary version of a page-turner with “Secrets of the Vatican,” a look at scandals that may have led to Benedict’s departure and could provide formidable challenges to Francis’ reform attempts. For all the coverage pertaining to pedophile priests, writer-producer-director Antony Thomas unearths fresh material, painting a portrait of an institution that still mightily endeavors to keep its secrets buried.

Because so much has been done about the clergy abuse story – including HBO’s stomach-turning “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” from filmmaker Alex Gibney — one might think there’s relatively little new to say. Yet Thomas’ multi-pronged report covers not just sexual abuse and the manner in which the Vatican protected such predators, but also corruption and hypocrisy that goes well beyond that, including a “don’t ask, don’t tell” culture consisting of illicit liaisons and wild parties.

The documentary also makes a reasonably compelling inference that Benedict’s decision to leave when he did stemmed in part from knowledge of the pending investigation into misdeeds ranging from the abuse scandals to Vatican finances, as well as the impediment an apparatus within the church, the Roman Curia, presents to any attempt to alter how the institution operates.

Given how adept the Vatican’s defenders have been at circling the wagons, there will undoubtedly be an effort to dismiss this as simply more piling on by the religion-hating media hordes. Thomas, however, builds such a persuasive case as to raise questions about how the Vatican, as a sovereign entity, can ever be changed if the onslaught of bad publicity hasn’t led to greater soul-searching already.

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MINNESOTA
kathweb

[Summary: An American priest convicted of abuse will receive a pension from the diocese because his pedophilic inclination for years was due to disability.]

.Washington, 23.02.2014 (KAP) Ein wegen Missbrauchs verurteilter US-Priester soll aufgrund einer Berufsunfähigkeit wegen seiner pädophilen Neigung seit Jahren eine Pension seiner Diözese beziehen. Das berichtete die Zeitung “Star Tribune” am Sonntag unter Berufung auf eigene Recherchen. Demnach wurde der heute 62-jährige Geistliche, der bereits 1983 wegen sexueller Vergehen an Minderjährigen aus dem Dienst entfernt wurde und inzwischen als Berater für Führungskräfte arbeitet, im Juli 2006 von der Erzdiözese St. Paul and Minneapolis als berufsunfähig mit entsprechenden Versorgungsrechten eingestuft. Die Erzdiözese habe dies bestätigt und gerechtfertigt.

Dem Bericht zufolge hatte der Priester zwischen 1977 und 1982 mehrere Jungen missbraucht. Ein Gericht habe ihn neben anderen Sanktionen zu einer Haftstrafe von sechs Monaten verurteilt, von denen er viereinhalb verbüßte. Bis 2002 sei er als Geistlicher in einem Frauenkloster eingesetzt worden. Dann verabschiedeten die US-Bischöfe eine Null-Toleranz-Linie. Der Priester wurde daraufhin laut der Zeitung vom Vatikan dienstenthoben. Die Kirche habe ihn bei einer Therapie und einem beruflichen Neuanfang unterstützt.

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SCHOTTLAND
Religion@ORF

[Summary: Leo Cushley, archbishop of Edinburgh, has filed a complain with the Vatican against Cardinal Keith O’Brien because of alleged sexual assault. Three priests alleged the cardinal used his position as former seminary head to force them into inappropriate sexual relationships.]

Der katholische Erzbischof von Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, hat im Vatikan Anzeige gegen seinen Vorgänger Kardinal Keith O’Brien wegen sexueller Übergriffe eingereicht. O’Brien war 2013 altersbedingt zurückgetreten.

Laut Berichten mehrerer britischer Zeitungen am Montag werfen drei Priester dem heutigen Kardinal vor, seine frühere Position als Leiter eines Priesterseminars in den 1980er Jahren zu „erzwungenen“ und „missbräuchlichen“ sexuellen Beziehungen genutzt zu haben. Der 75-jährige O’Brien lebt nach seinem altersbedingten Rücktritt im Februar 2013 in einem Ordenshaus in der nordwestenglischen Grafschaft Cumbria.

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GROSSBRITANNIEN
stol

Derby dpa Ein 85 Jahre alter Priester der katholischen Kirche hat zugegeben, während seines Pfarrdienstes in Großbritannien über Jahre hinweg Kinder sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

Insgesamt räumte der Mann am Montag vor einem Gericht in Derby 21 Fälle ein, in denen er sich in den Jahren zwischen 1957 und 1991 an sieben Kindern vergangen hat.

Ein Sprecher des Bistums Nottingham zeigte sich zufrieden, dass der Priester „Verantwortung für seine furchtbaren Straftaten übernommen“ habe.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

FEBRUARY 24, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Click here to read: “Phila. archdiocese removes two priests,” by Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 23, 2014

Excerpt: “As has been their practice, church officials offered no further details of the allegations against the men, except to say both involved 17-year-old victims and occurred decades ago. In both cases, local authorities had declined to pursue criminal charges because the statute of limitations had expired.”

Editor’s note: Kathy noticed this was the very first time the archdiocese released the ages of victims. Was this a public relations move? Perhaps archdiocesan officials wanted to “soften” the abuse story. When victims in previous cases were much younger, such as age 10, the archdiocese opted not to list the age. They also like to stress that this abuse took place a long time ago. With that realization, you would think Archbishop Chaput would seek window legislation in the name of social justice and the protection of children. At what age do abusers stop abusing? Do they ever stop? We do know that statistically victims don’t come forward until much later in life. It seems the Church is very comfortable in its hiding place behind the statute of limitations.

Excerpt: “The parish learned in early 2013 that Paul had been accused of abusing minors as a seminary student at St. Charles Borromeo. However, he was allowed to continue preaching while local law enforcement investigated the claims. During that time, he was barred from unsupervised contact with children, said Ken Gavin, an archdiocesan spokesman.

But that decision marked a departure from practice. After a scathing 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, the archdiocese suspended 26 priests while the law enforcement investigations of their individual cases proceeded.”

Editor’s Note: The Archdiocese knew of at least one allegation against Father Paul yet opted to leave him as pastor at Our Lady of Calvary while being investigated. Pastors are ultimately responsible for parish school students, parish children and C.Y.O. activities. They are also the top line for mandatory reporting on the parish level. The archdiocese stated “pertinent” people had been informed of his status. That did not include parents and teachers. Who could be more pertinent when it comes to safety? It was only when Father Paul resigned with a bizarre parting letter that social media and news sites were deluged with commentary on various incidents over the course of his priesthood. This highlights the importance of public assistance in these cases.

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CHILE
Santiago Times

By Joel Keep
Published On: Mon, Feb 24th, 2014

Ricardo Ezzati receives promotion to Vatican, just days after being the subject of a criminal complaint for obstructing the course of a sexual abuse case.

Santiago’s outgoing Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati was among 16 new cardinals sworn in by papal authorities at a ceremony in the Vatican on Saturday despite being implicated in an ongoing inquiry into sexual abuse committed by a member of the Chilean clergy, as another disgraced priest accused of child molestation was spotted breaching canonical restrictions.

Ezzati joins 19 new “princes of the church,” who will be granted the authority to vote on the election of future popes in papal conclaves.

Speaking at a mass held at St. Peter’s basilica at the Vatican, Pope Francis urged the newly elevated clergymen to avoid engaging in cronyism and misconduct, as the Catholic Church attempts to recover from scandals relating to child sex abuse and financial largesse.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 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 )

An Ontario judge says he believes two women may have consented in a sexual misconduct charge against a former priest. The priest has been acquitted.

[Sun News]

Gabriele DelBianco pled guilty to 16 offenses involving teenage girls in the 1980s. He has a long track record of sexual misconduct. We do not believe these women consented. It is inherently problematic – and in some places, illegal – when clergy have any sexual contact with congregants. There can be no true “consent” given the power difference between the individuals.

Even though this ruling came out in favor of the former priest, we hope this case will help others who were hurt by what may have initially seemed like “affairs” but were in fact crimes. We hope those victimized by clergy at any age will find the courage to step forward, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing.

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CANADA
CBC News

A New Brunswick priest who is facing eight sex abuse charges dating back to the 1970s has elected to be tried by judge and jury.

Father Yvon Arsenault, 71, of Aldouane, is charged with four counts of gross indecency, three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.

The four alleged victims were boys under the age of 18 at the time, RCMP have said.

Arsenault, who was removed from service by the Archdiocese of Moncton in July 2012, was not present in Moncton court on Monday.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers have said a forum should be established to acknowledge the alleged mistreatment of young women at Catholic-run Magdalene workhouses.

Victims have been campaigning for an inquiry after investigations in the Republic of Ireland uncovered evidence of harsh conditions and callous treatment.

The laundries were institutions for single mothers detained through the courts or for teenage girls and young women deemed by their family or clergy for being sexually active and were run by Catholic religious orders.

A statement from OFMDFM said: “We recognise that there are women who were over the age of 18 when they entered the Magdalene laundry-type institutions and there is a need to provide them with a forum where their issues can be addressed and their experiences acknowledged.”

The Good Shepherd Sisters ran a laundry and home in Belfast from the late 19th century until 1977 and 1990 respectively.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

Northern Ireland’s Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard a Derry woman allege that as a ten-year-old in the care of the Nazareth Sisters, she had to change and wash the nappies of 20 younger children before she got her breakfast each day.

Patricia Browne, 55, and four of her 13 siblings spent two years in a Nazareth home before she returned to the care of her family.

Patricia and Caroline Browne gave their testimony to the inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down this morning.

From a family of 14 in Derry City, they and three of their siblings were taken into care at the Termonbaca Naazareth Home in Derry for a two-year period.

Both women claimed they were regularly physically and emotionally abused by a nun.

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CANADA
Sun News

NEIL BOWEN | QMI AGENCY

SARNIA, Ont. – Former Ontario Catholic priest Gabriele DelBianco, 57, was acquitted Monday morning of sexual misconduct charges involving two women, but rulings on charges involving two other women were to be made later in the day.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Donobue said he was concerned about the evidence and believed the women could have consented to the sexual activity.

DelBianco had pleaded not guilty to 16 offences involving four teenage girls during the 1980s.

The trial started Oct. 16 , 2013 and testimony from four women, now in their 40s, ended in October. DelBianco chose not to testify.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Many assume or believe that Pope Francis is making significant changes in the church. We’re pretty skeptical of this claim.

Last week, he installed new cardinals. As he did, it was clear that one important part of the Catholic culture is NOT changing, according to the National Catholic Reporter:

“When making the oath, the cardinals also pledge ‘not to make known to anyone matters entrusted to me in confidence, the disclosure of which could bring damage or dishonor to Holy Church.’”

[National Catholic Reporter]

This is, of course, the requirement and mindset that enables bishops to continue to stonewall prosecutors, destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses and hide and transfer predators from city to city and from nation to nation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The Diocese of Nottingham… is pleased that he has taken responsibility for his terrible crimes and pleaded guilty to the 21 offences with which he was charged.

I would like to offer our sympathy to those who have been affected by this tragedy in any way and assure them that we will do whatever we can to support them. I also wish to thank Cullen’s victims for their bravery in coming forward after many years of silence; it is due to them that Cullen has pleaded guilty today.

The Catholic Church takes the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults extremely seriously, and it is our hope and expectation that no child or vulnerable adult should ever suffer at the hands of others.

– FATHER ANDREW COLE, SPOKESMAN FOR THE DIOCESE OF NOTTINGHAM

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

FORMER Derby Catholic priest Francis Paul Cullen – who was on the run for 20 years – has today admitted sexually abusing seven children – four of them in Derby.

Ross Browning is the editor of Canarian Weekly, an English language newspaper in Tenerife, where Cullen lived until his extradition last year.

He said he looked into Cullen’s life following his arrest last year.

Mr Browning said: “Tenerife, especially when this man came to live here 20 years ago, is the sort of place that your can keep your head down and remain pretty much anonymous if you want to.

“People have told me he was the sort of man who very much kept himself to himself who you might see having an occasional drink or going for a walk.

“But people did not get to know him.”

Mr Browning said he discovered that Cullen used an alias – Raul Martin – and lived, until 2007, in an apartment in Los Cristianos.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Beaumont Enterprise

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jury selection is getting under way in a priest-abuse case prompted by news accounts of the Penn State and Philadelphia archdiocese sex-abuse trials.

The accuser says he contacted authorities in 2012 after seeing those child sex-abuse cases in the news.

He says that the Rev. Andrew McCormick fondled him and performed a sex act when he was an altar boy in northeast Philadelphia in 1997.

A judge had thrown out the most serious felony charges — sexual assault and deviant intercourse — after finding the accuser’s pretrial testimony did not match those crimes.

But prosecutors successfully appealed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Beaumont Enterprise

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press
Updated 10:08 am, Monday, February 24, 2014

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pennsylvania appeals court has upheld an ex-priest’s conviction on a charge that he corrupted a 15-year-old boy by encouraging the teen to disobey his mother, but one judge argues they may have illegally broadened the statute in the process.

Friday’s Superior Court ruling concerns the 2012 conviction of Samuel Slocum, a suspended Bradford priest accused of encouraging the teen to visit him even after his mother forbade that. Slocum wasn’t accused of sexually abusing the boy, though McKean County prosecutors argued some comments by the priest were flirtatious.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Feb 24, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Monday (Feb. 24) launched a sweeping reform of the Vatican’s scandal-plagued financial system by naming one of his closest advisers on reform, Australian Cardinal George Pell, to head a powerful new department that will oversee the entire management of the Holy See.

The new Secretariat for the Economy, with Pell acting as a unique kind of Vatican comptroller, will have “authority over all economic and administrative activities” in the Vatican, according to a statement summarizing Francis’ decree.

The aim is to streamline a famously byzantine system of governance by eliminating redundant offices, increasing accountability and financial safeguards, and generally bringing the Vatican into line with accepted accounting and procurement practices.

The changes also provide for an official who will be empowered “to conduct audits of any agency of the Holy See and Vatican City State at any time” — a remarkable degree of authority in a bureaucracy where offices are known for zealously guarding their own turf.

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SCOTLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, February 24, 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 Scottish cardinal may face a Vatican trail, in which he could lose his cardinal title. We think this is long overdue.

[Edinburgh Evening News]

Cardinal Keith O’Brien should lose his red hat. Simply being asked to step down and retire is not enough when sexual abuse allegations are found credible. At the very least, he should lose his title and ideally, he should be tried in a secular court. After all sexually abusing someone – of any age – is illegal.

Cardinal O’Brien was forced to stand down last year, after several priests and a former priest came forward with allegations that O’Brien sexually abused them. Now, three of the priests have asked the new head of the Scottish Catholic Church, Archbishop Leo Cushley, to pass on their complaints calling O’Brien a ‘sexual predator” to Rome. We applaud these brave priests for seeking justice.

Cushley stated that he will do everything he can “to help bring a just and ­equitable conclusion to the matter for all involved.” We hope that Cushley will stand by his words. Only the Vatican can discipline a cardinal, but Cushley can still reach out to any other victims. He can condemn the actions of O’Brien and all other abusive Catholic officials and those who protect them.

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BRASIL
G1

[Summary: A police investigation was opened on Thursday, Feb. 20, to investigate the complaint of a sexual assault committed in 2008 by a priest in the parish of Pitimbu County on the south coast of Paraiba. The complaint was made by the victim’s mother, now 21. According to testimony giving to police, the victim was 15 at the time of the abuse. The priest offerred gifts, money and travel invitations in exchange for sexual favors.]

Um inquérito policial foi aberto na quinta-feira (20) para apurar a denúncia de um abuso sexual cometido em 2008 por um padre da paróquia de Pitimbu, município do Litoral Sul da Paraíba. De acordo com delegado regional do Litoral Sul e responsável pela investigação, Aneílton Castro, a denúncia foi feita pela mãe da vítima, hoje com 21 anos.

Segundo depoimento prestado à polícia pelo jovem, na época do abuso ele tinha 15 anos e o padre oferecia presentes, dinheiro e convites para viagens em troca de favores sexuais. Ainda segundo a denúncia, os abusos aconteciam em moteis em cidades vizinhas à Pitimbu e na própria paróquia.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Sex abuse case vs. TX priest settles
Pedophile priest worked in Beaumont & Wash. State

A child sex abuse lawsuit against a Catholic priest who worked in Beaumont and may still live in Texas has been settled.

[Beaumont Enterprise]

Last week, the diocese of Yakima, Washington confirmed that it has resolved a molestation case against Fr. Ernest Dale Calhoun. The diocese agreed to pay the victim $75,000.

[KOMO]

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Beaumont’s Catholic bishop to “aggressively reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Calhoun’s crimes.”

Fr. Calhoun was ordained by the Beaumont Diocese and he faced his first child sex abuse lawsuit in 1988.

According to BishopAccountability.org, Fr. Calhoun’s personnel file “shows he should never have been ordained.” In 1969, he raped a 15 year old and was transferred to the Yakima Diocese where he continued to abuse.

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CALIFORNIA
Deep Thoughts

Youth pastor Tyler Bliss of Bethel Church in Oakdale was arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

Ceres police spokeswoman Carissa Higginbotham said that while pornography was located on the computer Bliss uses at the church, no other church employees or parishioners are suspected to be involved.

Higginbotham said detectives are trying to determine where the images originated.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 24, 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 )

Pay close attention to the chronology of Fr. John P. Paul, whose status as a credibly accused child molester was finally disclosed last weekend.

[Philadelphia Daily News]

In October or November of last year (perhaps even earlier), Philly Catholic officials received reports of alleged child sex crimes against Fr. Paul.

They kept quiet. And on November 6, Fr. Paul resigned (“He came to that decision of his own accord during the course of the Archdiocesan investigation regarding this alleged abuse,” Chaput claims.)

Fr. Paul claimed “considering a serious road trip for ‘renewal’ purposes.”

Again, Philly church officials kept silent. They let this lie stand.

Finally, earlier this month, Philly church officials admitted, to one parish, that Fr. Paul was suspended for credible allegations of child sex abuse crimes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

A former Derby Catholic priest Paul Cullen – who was on the run for 20 years – has today admitted sexually abusing seven children – four of them in Derby.

Following Cullen’s appearance at Derby Crown Court today, Father Andrew Cole, spokesman for the Diocese of Nottingham, said: “The Diocese of Nottingham, which covers the areas where Francis Paul Cullen worked as a priest, is pleased that he has taken responsibility for his terrible crimes and pleaded guilty to the 21 offences with which he was charged.

“We have been working closely with the police throughout the preparation of this case, both before and after Cullen’s arrest in Spain and return to the United Kingdom, have encouraged them to bring him to justice and are grateful to them.

“I would like to offer our sympathy to those who have been affected by this tragedy in any way and assure them that we will do whatever we can to support them.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has decided to establish a new structure for the coordination of the economic and administrative matters of the Holy See and Vatican City State, according to a communique issued today by the Holy See Press Office, the full text of which is published below:

“The Holy Father today announced a new coordination structure for economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See and the Vatican State.

Today’s announcement comes after the recommendations of the rigorous review conducted by the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic- Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) were considered and endorsed by both the Council of 8 Cardinals established to advise the Holy Father on governance and the Committee of 15 Cardinals which oversees the financial affairs of the Holy See.

COSEA recommended changes to simplify and consolidate existing management structures and improve coordination and oversight across the Holy See and Vatican City State. COSEA also recommended more formal commitment to adopting accounting standards and generally accepted financial management and reporting practices as well as enhanced internal controls, transparency and governance.

The changes will enable more formal involvement of senior and experienced experts in financial administration, planning and reporting and will ensure better use of resources, improving the support available for various programs, particularly our works with the poor and marginalized.

The changes announced by the Holy Father include:

1. Establishment of a new Secretariat for the Economy which will have authority over all economic and administrative activities within the Holy See and the Vatican City State. The Secretariat will be responsible, among other things, for preparing an annual budget for the Holy See and Vatican City State as well as financial planning and various support functions such as human resources and procurement. The Secretariat will also be required to prepare detailed financial statements of the Holy See and Vatican State.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 February 2014 (VIS) – We publish below the full text of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter issued Motu proprio, “Fidelis et dispensator Prudens”, and dated today, 24 February.

“Like a faithful and prudent manager who has the task of carefully looking after what has been entrusted to him, the Church is aware of her responsibility to protect and manage her assets, in the light of her mission of evangelisation and with particular care for those in need. In a special way, the management of the economic and financial sectors of the Holy See is intimately linked to its specific mission, not only in the service of the universal ministry of the Holy Father, but also in relation to the common good, with a view to the full development of the human person.

After having carefully consulted the results of the work of the Commission for Reference on the the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (cf. Chirograph of 18 July 2013), and after consultation with the Council of Cardinals for the reform of the Apostolic Constitution ‘Pastor Bonus’ and with the Council of Cardinals for the study of economic and administrative problems of the Holy See, by this Apostolic Letter issued Motu proprio, I adopt the following measures:

COUNCIL FOR THE ECONOMY

1. The Council for the Economy is hereby instituted, with the task of offering guidance on economic management and supervising the structures and the administrative and financial activities of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, of the Institutions connected to the Holy See, and of Vatican City State.
2. The Council for the Economy is composed of fifteen members, eight of whom are nominated from among the Cardinals and Bishops in order to reflect the universality of the Church, and seven of whom are lay experts of various nationalities, with recognised professional financial competences.
3. The Council for the Economy shall be presided over by a Cardinal coordinator.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Australian Cardinal George Pell has been named head of a new Vatican department that will supervise the Holy See’s economic affairs.

In the new role, the 72-year-old currently archbishop of Sydney will be responsible for preparing the Holy See and Vatican’s annual budget, as well as financial planning and enhanced internal controls.

The new ministry is the first decisive action by Pope Francis in the wake of scandals at the Vatican bank.

“The Holy Father today announced a new coordination structure for economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See and the Vatican State,” it said in a statement.

The Vatican said the move followed recommendations made by cardinals advising the pope including for a “more formal commitment” to international standards.

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VATICAN CITY
Buffalo News

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday announced the first major overhaul of the Vatican’s outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in a quarter-century, creating an economics secretariat to control all economic, administrative, personnel and procurement functions of the Holy See.

Australian Cardinal George Pell was named prefect of the new economics secretariat. He reports to a new 15-member economy council made up of eight cardinals reflecting various parts of the world and seven lay experts. The aim of the new structure, the Vatican said, is to simplify and consolidate the existing management structures, improve oversight, internal controls and transparency — and provide more support for the Vatican’s works for the poor.

The change, announced in a press release, represents the biggest reshuffling of the Vatican’s organization since Pope John Paul II in 1988 issued the apostolic constitution, Pastor Bonus, the blueprint for the Holy See’s various congregations, pontifical councils and offices.

The change appears to significantly weaken the Vatican’s powerful Secretariat of State, which previously had administrative control over the Holy See while also handling diplomatic relations. That the new entity is called the Secretariat of the Economy would suggest some sort of hierarchical parity with the Secretariat of State.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 25, 2014

POPE Francis has appointed Australia’s Cardinal George Pell to one of the church’s most senior jobs in Rome.

Cardinal Pell’s new position, as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican, ranks on a par with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, an Italian, second behind the Pope in the church’s hierarchy.

Cardinal Pell, who has been spending increasing amounts of time in Rome, will relocate there before the end of next month. All sections of the Vatican curia will be answerable to him for financial and administrative matters, regardless of which other cardinal prefects they report to on other matters.

No Australian cardinal has been appointed to such a senior Vatican role before. Cardinal Pell’s departure will leave a vast gap in Australian public life, to which he has been a major contributor for decades and for which he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia in 2005.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 24, 2014

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has approved a set of sweeping moves to reorganize the financial and administrative structures of the Catholic church’s central bureaucracy, creating a new central office with wide control particularly of economic issues, the Vatican announced Monday.

Sydney Cardinal George Pell will head the new office, known as the Secretariat for the Economy. Announcing the news in a statement, the Vatican said Pell would have “authority of all the economic and administrative activity within the Holy See and the Vatican City State.”

Francis’ decision to reorganize the Vatican’s economic and administrative structures comes after criticism in recent years that its operations, especially in financial matters, occur in secret and with little public accountability.

Last week, Francis and the Council of Cardinals met with three separate groups appointed by Francis to investigate the Vatican’s various financial operations.

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IRELAND
Kildare Nationalist

An 85-year-old former Catholic priest from Dublin today admitted sexually assaulting seven children, including altar boys, after spending more than 20 years on the run in Spain.

Francis Paul Cullen was extradited back to the UK last year to face the charges after being traced to Tenerife.

The Catholic Church and its safeguarding board helped police to trace Cullen who was found to have attended mass at a church in Playa de las Americas every Sunday.

Today Dublin-born Cullen, looking frail in the dock, pleaded guilty to 21 charges at Derby Crown Court committed between 1957 and 1991.

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TENNESSEE
Chattanooga Times Free Press

by Todd South

A former Shelbyville, Tenn., youth minister has admitted in a plea agreement to possessing “violent” and “sadistic” child pornography on his cellphone.

Former North Fork Baptist Church youth minister Joseph Todd Neill, 37, agreed to plead guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography on Feb. 13. The plea agreement was filed Thursday.

Neill faces up to 20 years in prison. There has not yet been a plea hearing scheduled.

The child porn images were discovered when Shelbyville police began investigating charges that Neill had seduced and had sexual contact at least twice with a 17-year-old female church member

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TENNESSEE
Shelbyville Times-Gazette

Sunday, February 23, 2014
By BRIAN MOSELY ~ bmosely@t-g.com

A former Bedford County youth minister has admitted in federal court to possessing child pornography described as “sadistic” and “violent.”

Joseph Todd Neill, 37, made a plea agreement on charges of possession of the images found on his cell phone last year. He could face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

No plea hearing has been set in the federal case. A court date of April 3 is set in Bedford County.

According to the federal plea deal, Neill admitted to initiating a sexual relationship on more than two occasions with a minor who was a member of the church.

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TENNESSEE
Deep Thoughts

Former Baptist youth pastor Joseph Todd Neill, of North Fork Baptist Church in Shelbyville, admitted to possessing violent and sadistic images of child pornography in a plea deal. He faces 20 years in prison. Neil still faces trail for the sexual exploitation of a minor and statuary rape by an authority figure.

Former North Fork Baptist Church youth minister Joseph Todd Neill, 37, agreed to plead guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography on Feb. 13. The plea agreement was filed Thursday.

Neill faces up to 20 years in prison. There has not yet been a plea hearing scheduled.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

24 FEBRUARY 2014

Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers have said a forum should be established to acknowledge alleged mistreatment of young women at Catholic-run Magdalene workhouses.

Victims have been campaigning for an inquiry after investigations in the Republic of Ireland uncovered evidence of harsh conditions and callous treatment.

The laundries – institutions for single mothers detained through the courts or often moved in by their family or clergy for being sexually active – were run by Catholic religious orders.

A statement from OFMDFM said: “We recognise that there are women who were over the age of 18 when they entered the Magdalene laundry-type institutions and there is a need to provide them with a forum where their issues can be addressed and their experiences acknowledged.”

The Good Shepherd Sisters ran a laundry and home in Belfast from the late 19th century until 1977 and 1990 respectively. Thousands of girls and women passed through its doors. The same order of nuns ran two other laundries, one in Newry in Co Down which operated into the 1980s, and another in Derry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Toowoomba child protection officer’s words at sex abuse royal commission speak volumes

KAREN BROOKS THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 25, 2014

OUT of all the evidence so far given to the child sexual abuse royal commission by senior staff at a Toowoomba Catholic primary school, I was struck by the words of the school’s child protection officer.

In giving her evidence to the commission in Brisbane last week, Catherine Long wondered why more of the children didn’t have the courage to come forward.

Let me explain this apparent “lack” by offering a first-hand account of what it’s like to be the target of a pedophile.

It’s my hope this helps shed understanding on why kids don’t come forward or why, when they do, it’s important the immediate default position is to believe them and act – which then takes courage of a different kind.

My abuse began when I was eight years old and continued for three long years.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

Former Bishop William Morris tells child sex abuse inquiry the Catholic church had a culture of denial

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 25, 2014

FORMER Toowoomba bishop William Morris has declared the Catholic Church was plagued by a culture of believing child sex abuse victims were “just making it up”.

Bishop Morris has also told the royal commission into sexual abuse he was personally sacked by Pope Benedict in 2011.

The bishop was the first person to apologise over the sexual abuse of 13 schoolgirls at the hands of former teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes, meeting with the victims and opening the way for them to be paid compensation.

The commission heard after Byrnes was arrested, Bishop Morris sacked a principal and two education officers, who knew about the allegations but did not tell police.

Yesterday he called for the Church to set up a national body to oversee its handling of sex abuse complaints

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The fugitive paedophile priest Paul Cullen evaded capture by the police for more than 20 years living on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

But the 85-year-old was not living under an alias – he was using his own name in the resort of Los Cristianos.

Cullen has admitted dozens of charges of historical sex abuse against seven children in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, dating back to 1957.

He is due to be sentenced at the same court next month.

Cullen’s victims, were all children, some of them only six-years-old.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

By PMBlackburn | Posted: February 24, 2014

A FORMER Catholic priest who was on the run for 20 years has admitted sexually abusing seven children – one of them in Notts.

Francis Paul Cullen, who spent three years working at the Parish Priest of St Mary in Hyson Green from 1988 to 1991, this morning pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court this morning.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

PHILADELPHIA – February 23, 2014 (WPVI) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has removed two priests from ministry after an investigation into allegations that they sexually abused minors over 40 years ago.

Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Sunday that separate investigations found that Reverend James J. Collins and Reverend John P. Paul are unsuitable for ministry.

Reverend Collins last served at Holy Family University and Reverend Paul served at Our Lady of Calvary for 13 years before being placed on administrative leave.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255

POSTED: Monday, February 24, 2014

WHEN THE REV. John P. Paul resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Parish in November, the 67-year-old priest told his congregation that he was considering a serious road trip for “renewal” purposes.

“If possible, I would like to study spirituality at Bellarmine University, in Louisville, KY . . . make a retreat in Assisi, Italy, and work with Fr. Mike in Malawi, Africa,” Paul wrote in the church bulletin.

He might have more time on his hands than he’d first anticipated.

Yesterday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that Archbishop Charles Chaput has found Paul unsuitable for ministry because of at least one substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year-old more than 40 years ago.

The Rev. James J. Collins also was deemed unsuitable for ministry based on a similar substantiated allegation. Collins, 75, a faculty member at Holy Family University from 1976 until last year, was placed on administrative leave in May.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic Culture

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, has admitted mishandling the case of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera.

In a deposition that was recently unsealed, the prelate admitting directing his vicar of clergy not to give police a list of altar boys who worked with priest following abuse accusations.

The visiting priest returned to Mexico in 1988 after Father Thomas Curry, then vicar for clergy and now an auxiliary bishop, informed him of impending charges. The priest remains at large.

“It was in early 1988– some 26 years ago– that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles became aware of the terrible sexual abuse which the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera had been inflicting upon young people in Los Angeles,” Cardinal Mahony wrote on his blog following the release of the deposition. “This case highlighted errors made by us in the Archdiocese in those early years, and for those errors I apologize once again. But this case also led to several major changes in procedures used by the Archdiocese, and these were improved upon over the years.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

A former Catholic priest has been found guilty of sexually assaulting boys while he was their dorm master at a Victorian boarding school.

A jury on Monday found James Patrick Jennings, 80, guilty of indecently assaulting three boys at St Vincent’s College in Bendigo in the 1960s.

The victims were students in their early teens at the time.

The Victorian County Court jury found Jennings guilty of five counts of indecent assault.

He was cleared of a sixth indecent assault charge.

Jennings had pleaded not guilty to all six charges.

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SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien could face a “trial” by the Vatican after three priests asked the new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley to pass on their complaints branding the disgraced churchman as a “sexual predator” who used his authority to compel them into “coercive” and “abusive” sexual relationships.

If the complaints are upheld by the Vatican investigation, he could lose his red hat.

Last year, Pope Francis ordered Cardinal O’Brien to remain in a religious house in England for three months of “prayer and penance”. He is still based at the house, but has returned to Scotland several times to visit friends.

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SCOTLAND
Express

Cardinal O’Brien faces Vatican ‘trial’ over sex claims

By: Rod MillsPublished: Mon, February 24, 2014

The new investigation under canon law could lead to the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh losing his Biretta, the red hat that is the symbol of a cardinal.

Three priests in his former diocese have asked Leo Cushley, the new archbishop, to pass on their written complaints to officials in Rome.

The allegations characterise O’Brien as a “sexual predator” who used his authority to compel them into “coercive” and “abusive” sexual relationships.

The priests, whose accusations led to the cardinal’s enforced retirement and disgrace last February, appear determined to force Pope Francis to make a final judgment.

It is now understood that O’Brien’s sexual relationships continued until at least 2009, six years after he was made a cardinal.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Feb 24, 2014
By Jack Mathieson

THE Catholic Church are probing allegations that O’Brien, who now lives at a retreat in Cumbria, made unwanted sexual advances towards young priests.

DISGRACED cardinal Keith O’Brien may face a trial under internal Catholic Church law which could see him stripped of his red hat.

The church hierarchy are probing allegations O’Brien – now living at a retreat in Cumbria – made unwanted sexual advances towards young priests.

Three priests whose accusations forced O’Brien to stand down from his role a year ago have held talks with Archbishop Leo Cushley, the new head of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

They have asked him to pass on written complaints characterising O’Brien as a “sexual predator” to Rome.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (FIA) has signed a working agreement with its Austrian and Cypriot counterparts, establishing formal procedures for cooperation in efforts to fight money-laundering and the financing of terrorist organizations.

The agreements with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Cyprus’s Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS), cover issues of exchanging information, preserving confidentiality, and reciprocity. It is based on a model agreement drafted by the Egmont Group, an international body for national financial authorities.

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UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By JOHN ZMIRAK • February 24, 2014

The healthy human reaction whenever the United Nations says something is to ignore it, and hope that, like a singing drunk outside your window, it will simply go away. The normal Catholic’s reaction to a UN attack on the Church ought to be to rally ’round, to refute the thing point by point, and to lobby Congress to cut off U.S. funding. But after reading the UN’s recent report on the Church and the protection of children’s rights, I simply can’t do that. Not on this topic.

Yes, it’s true that the UN report on the Holy See is an instance of an unaccountable global bureaucracy trying to impose its own views on the free institutions of civil society, using the coercive power of government(s). Inside the velvet glove of happy talk about human dignity and children’s rights is the steel fist of radical feminism and homosexual activism, whose central tenets reject the traditional family, religious freedom, and other goods that reason tells us are essential for man to flourish. The report demands that the Church reach in and revise its Canon Law, its schools, and even its doctrine, wherever the UN sees those things as conflicting with its goals of “gender equality” and the sexual “freedom” of children. This use of the UN’s “soft power” can lead to the use of “hard power,” providing governments the pretext for penalizing the Church and its institutions, as the Obama administration is already doing through the HHS mandate.

The totalitarian implications of a world-wide body imposing its norms across the planet are precisely what worried those of us who criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s call for an international legislative authority that would supervene all national governments on earth—and from which there could be no escape.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Thirteen young Catholic girls were raped and molested by their teacher because five adults remained silent to protect the Church.

But the bishop they were trying to protect says he finds it “stunning” they didn’t report the claims.

Principal Terry Hayes, assistant principal Megan Wagstaff, student protection officer Catherine Long and senior Catholic Education Office staff Chris Fry and Ian Hunter first heard pedophilia allegations against a Toowoomba primary school teacher Gerry Byrnes in September 2007.

None of them ever told police or parents.

The former bishop of Toowoomba, Bill Morris, who didn’t hear about the abuse until after Byrnes’ 2008 arrest, can’t understand why all five failed to report him.

“It’s stunning, I know. I can’t get my head around it. Like I said to someone – well, we spoke about it recently. It’s not rocket science,” the bishop told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

[with audio]

MARK COLVIN: The former bishop of Toowoomba says he’s still stunned by the failure of senior Catholic Education staff to report allegations that a teacher was sexually abusing his students.

Emeritus Bishop William Morris was the head of the Toowoomba Archdiocese when Gerard Byrnes sexually abused 13 girls at a primary school in 2007 and 2008.

Today he told the child abuse royal commission that a culture of doubting allegations needs to be stamped out and a national approach was needed to make that happen.

Stephanie Smail reports.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: The child abuse royal commission has been investigating how staff and Catholic Church officials dealt with allegations of sexual offences against veteran teacher Gerard Byrnes.

The former bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris, told the inquiry he was unaware of complaints against Byrnes until his arrest in late 2008.

Bishop Morris was asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Gail Furness, about the string of failures that allowed Byrnes to keep teaching.

GAIL FURNESS: Byrnes was not removed as a student protection officer, notwithstanding the allegations made?

WILLIAM MORRIS: Failure.

GAIL FURNESS: Nor was he adequately monitored following the allegations in September 2007?

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

A culture of not believing child sex abuse victims has existed in the Catholic Church, based on suspicions “they were just making it up”, a bishop says.

Bishop Bill Morris, former bishop of Toowoomba, gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Monday.

He said he also considered Catholic education officials’ failure to report abuse to police to be a systemic failure.

Bishop Morris described as “stunning” the dithering over allegations about girls being touched inside their pants and shirts, saying such determination “is not rocket science”.

The hearing is looking into the case of former teacher Gerry Byrnes, who sexually abused school girls in his classroom in 2007 and 2008.

After Byrnes was arrested in 2008, Bishop Morris sacked a principal and two education officers, who knew about the allegations against him in September 2007 but did not tell police.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Former Catholic priest James Jennings, 80, jailed for sustained sex attacks at Bendigo in the 1960s

SHANNON DEERY, PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN FEBRUARY 24, 2014

A FORMER Catholic priest has been jailed for the sustained sexual abuse of teen boarders at a regional Victorian college.

James Jennings, 80, was today found guilty by a jury of five counts of assault for the attacks on three young boarders in the mid 1960s.

He was found not guilty of one count of assault.

The attacks, on the boys aged 12 and 13, started shortly after Jennings was appointed to teach at St Vincent’s College, Bendigo in 1963.

The students were all in Year 7 or 8 when they were abused in similar ways between 1964 and 1968.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Former Toowoomba Catholic bishop William Morris spoke with Pope Benedict in attempt to keep job

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 24, 2014

THE Catholic Church has tried to silence a Toowoomba bishop who has revealed intimate details of his battle with the Vatican to keep his job after a pedophilia crisis erupted in one of his schools.

Former bishop William Martin Morris, describing himself as Emeritus Bishop of Toowoomba, has revealed details of a meeting with Pope Benedict in 2009 as he tried to hold on to the office he had occupied for nearly two decades.

Bishop Morris has not alleged his sacking was connected with the pedophilia case involving Gerard Vincent Byrnes, who raped and abused 13 girls at a Toowoomba Catholic primary school.

But Brisbane’s Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been told of speculation that Rome wanted to get rid of Bishop Morris because of his response to the Byrnes matter.

That response included admissions of responsibility and a subsequent $3 million payout to some of the victims in the civil courts.

Jane Needham, SC, for the Church, tried to stop Bishop Morris detailed exposure of how the Church went about removing him because of his liberal views on women’s ordination, and allowing confessions without direct contact with priests for sexual abuse victims.

“This is fascinating, but I have to query the relevance that it has to the subject matter that is before the royal commission as to the relevance of the conduct of Mr Byrnes,’’ Ms Needham said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 24, 2014

THE Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba says he was forced into early retirement by Pope Benedict and the Vatican, denying his request for more time to support child sex abuse victims.

Former Toowoomba Bishop Bill Morris has today frankly described to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse his battle with the Vatican between 2006 and 2011.

Bishop Morris was at the helm of the southern Queensland diocese when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes abused and raped 13 eight to ten-year-old girls at a Toowoomba primary school in 2007 and 2008.

The Royal Commission is investigating the “catastrophic” abuse at the school, most of which occurred after principal Terence Hayes failed to report an initial sexual abuse complaint against Byrnes to the police in September 2007.

Bishop Morris said his dispute with the Vatican and the Pope had earlier roots and was unrelated to the child sex abuse scandal. He said he drew ire in November 2006 when he wrote an open letter about priest shortages, discussing the possibility of the ordination of women and married or widowed men — practices that are not allowed under Catholic canon law.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a priest of the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus in 1952, Hatrel taught high school in Louisiana and, for many years, in Tampa, Florida. In 1979 he was transferred to Alaska, where he taught math in a parish grade school in Fairbanks, then pastored a parish in Alakanuk. He died in 1988. In a 2007 lawsuit Hatrel was accused of engaging in abuse during his time in Alakanuk.

Ordained: 1952
Died: May 7, 1988

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ESTADOS UNIDOS
El Pais

[Summary: For Mark Crawford the nightmare began 37 years ago during an overnight train journey to Colorado. He was 13 when Father Kenneth Martin, parish priest in Bayonne, N.J., and a close friend of the family, abused him. The abuse continued several days a week for seven years.]

Para Mark Crawford la pesadilla comenzó hace 37 años en el vagón de un tren nocturno camino a Colorado. Tenía 13 años cuando el padre Kenneth Martin, sacerdote de la parroquia de San Andrés en Bayonne, Nueva Jersey, y amigo íntimo de la familia, abusó de él. Desde entonces, y durante siete años, el cura repitió sus prácticas incesantemente varios días a la semana.

El calvario de acusaciones, silencios, connivencias y frustraciones en el que se tornó su vida desde entonces es un calco de las denuncias que contiene el informe sobre abusos a menores en el seno de la Iglesia católica que Naciones Unidas dio a conocer a comienzos de este mes. “Un día le confesé todo al diácono de mi parroquia, quien me dirigió al obispo que debería haber informado a la policía, como le obligaba la ley. En lugar de eso, me dijo que fuera a un psicoterapeuta, que, en realidad, era el responsable de los sacerdotes de la diócesis. A quien abusó de mí lo ascendieron a secretario personal del obispo Theodor McCarrick, a pesar de saber lo que me había hecho”, relata Crawford en conversación telefónica desde Newark.

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MINNESOTA
The Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
February 23, 2014

The John Doe 1 case in Ramsey county continues to garner headlines as it seems like there is a new fight every week. Recently, it was reported by the Pioneer Press that Archbishop John Nienstedt and (Rev.) Kevin McDonough asked Judge Van de North to block the taking of their depositions. Deposition are court proceedings where people are questioned under oath and in front of a court reporter. The claim is :

argued that Nienstedt and McDonough should not have to be deposed. Neither should Rev. John T. Brown, who is accused of abuse in a separate lawsuit, the archdiocese said.

None of them “had any involvement with Father Adamson, St. Thomas Aquinas, the alleged abuse of plaintiff in 1976 or 1977, the archdiocese’s involvement in the transfer of Father Adamson from the (Winona) diocese, or the archdiocese’s retention of supervision of Father Adamson during this time period,” attorney Daniel Haws wrote in a Tuesday motion filed with the court.

I have seen very few situations where it has ever been questioned about the right to conduct discovery. My situations were motions to quash (stop) the deposition because of unavailability or witnesses trying to get paid as experts. Here the issue seems to be that the witnesses claim to know nothing about the cases.

It seems if that is really the case, it should be a very short and easy deposition. Of interest, the list that was released by The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did include Adamson. And right before the list came out Nienstedt was in the forefront talking about how the list was put together and all the parishes that would be named. Sounds like he knows something.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Guests

Madeleine Baran: Reporter, MPR News
Patrick Wall: Advocate, Jeff Anderson and Associates law firm

MPR News published a list Wednesday of 70 Catholic clergy in the Twin Cities archdiocese who have been accused or suspected of sexually abusing children. The list contains more names than the archdiocese had revealed publicly.

The material published Wednesday was the latest installment in a months-long investigation by MPR News, led by reporter Madeleine Baran.

Scroll down to read a response from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Baran and Patrick Wall, a victims’ advocate working on sexual abuse cases, joined The Daily Circuit Thursday to talk about the MPR series and the issues it raises. Highlights of their conversation:

Madeleine Baran, reporter, on the goal of her series:

“We’re not trying to say whether or not a priest is guilty. It’s not our job to say whether a crime has been committed. But what we did want to do is look at where there was information that there were allegations, that they were investigated by either the police or the archdiocese, or found in a court record or court exhibits – those were the cases we were interested in. … There are cases, a couple we report on, where the investigation by the archdiocese is fascinating in terms of the parameters they’re using. They’re basically looking at, ‘Can we substantiate this or not?’ In a lot of cases of child sexual abuse, whether it’s within the church or elsewhere, if someone comes forward decades later, there is not often direct evidence of that. It’s not like there’s a crime scene, video, or DNA, or fingerprints. So it’s a very difficult standard for these victims to meet when they come forward. What I found at least in the last 10 years is the archdiocese will say, ‘Go to the police.’ That’s their policy. And if the police determine that they can’t charge it, then that’s very important to the archdiocese. But it doesn’t really address this issue of whether or not the archdiocese should be concerned.”

Patrick Wall, former monk, on secret church records:

“The directives from Rome are very clear, both through motu proprio from the holy father and the code of canon law, that these documents are to be kept in perpetuity, especially the most important files, the files on the priests. And the idea behind that is that the next bishop who comes into office, the next vicar general who comes into office, can get a quick read as to what that priest was all about, and so they can have access to what that bishop at the time knew and what they decided to do on that particular issue. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Archdiocese of St. Paul, or Bogota, or Buenos Aires, it’s the same standard of how they keep records around the world. This is a management technique that Rome has developed over a couple of thousand years. … This is never to be accessible to the public. The code is very clear. That’s why they call this a secret archive. Only the bishop and the chancellor have access to this …. Under no circumstances ever are bishops to turn over documents to prosecutors and/or lawyers.”

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AUSTRALIA
Queensland Times

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane has spent a full week probing deeply into what went so terribly wrong at a Catholic primary school in Toowoomba.

Convicted pedophile Gerard Byrnes is serving 10 years in jail for the sexual abuse and rape of 13 young girls.

Readers of the Chronicle will have been horrified to see how these 13 young girls were failed by the system and those people who were charged with protecting them.

The commission will most likely come back with several recommendations in about a month.

This is not the place to pre-empt what those recommendations may be.

But this inquiry must be successful in one most important area.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Patti Mengers, Delaware County Daily Times

POSTED: 02/23/14

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Sunday a priest who once taught at the former St. James Catholic High School for Boys in Chester is unsuitable for ministry because of a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

The Rev. John P. Paul, who taught at St. James and was on staff at the old St. Robert’s parish in Chester from 1986 to 1990, was removed from ministry because of a substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year old more than 40 years when he was a seminarian, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He was ordained in 1972.

Archdiocesan officials said that they had referred the 67-year old priest’s case to law enforcement authorities who, after a lengthy investigation, declined to prosecute. However, last Nov. 6, Paul was placed on administrative leave after he voluntarily resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Church in Philadelphia where he had served since 2000.

Last November in a press release archdiocesan officials said that subsequent to Paul’s suspension “the archdiocese received multiple, new allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 30 years ago. These allegations were reported to the appropriate district attorney’s office.”

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MINNESOTA
The Raw Story

Priest on disability for his pedophilia still supported financially by MN archdiocese

By Scott Kaufman
Sunday, February 23, 2014

According to an article in the Star Tribune, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis continued to pay the salary and health insurance premiums — as well as provide living expenses — for a pedophile priest who was convicted on child sex abuse charges over 30 years ago.

In 1983, the Reverend Gil Gustafson admitted to a Ramsey County District Court that he molested Brian Herrity for five years, beginning when the boy was 10 years old. He was fined $40 and sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years on probation. The vicar general in charge of clergy abuse cases, Rev. Kevin McDonough, believes that Gustafson abused between four and fifteen victims, including Herrity.

After four-and-a-half months in jail, he was released into the care of the Church, and the archbishop at the time, John Roach, lobbied to have Gustafson reinstated.

“I want him back in a parish,” Roach wrote in 1990. “He has received and complied with far more treatment than anyone else, and it seems to me he has done it well.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

Adam Davies 24th Feb 2014

WHAT will Bill reveal?

That is the question on everyone’s lips.

The answer will come today when former Toowoomba Bishop William Morris gives his highly-anticipated evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane.

Bishop Morris oversaw the Toowoomba Catholic Dioceses at the height of the child sexual abuse scandal at a primary school in the city.

The arrest of paedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes sent shockwaves across the nation.

Byrnes was convicted of 44 child sexual abuse charges, including rape, over his actions towards 13 young girls in his class between 2007 and 2008.

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VATICAN CITY
Australia Network News

Pope Francis, who has made simplicity and serving the poor the distinguishing characteristics of his papacy, has told the 19 newly appointed cardinals to shun intrigue, gossip and cronyism.

“A Cardinal… enters the Church of Rome, my brothers, not a royal court,” the Pope said during a mass attended by the cardinals named.

“May all of us avoid, and help others to avoid, habits and ways of acting typical of a court: intrigue, gossip, cliques, favouritism and partiality.”

The admonition came as the Pope is seeking to refashion the image of the Roman Catholic Church, plagued by financial scandals and accusations of covering up child abuse by priests.

A council of cardinals, set up by the Pope to advise him on Vatican reforms, heard a report to reform the Vatican bank and it discussed organisational and economic programs earlier in the week.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has removed two priests from ministry after an investigation into allegations that they sexually abused minors over 40 years ago.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput says in a Sunday release that separate investigations found that Reverend James J. Collins and Reverend John P. Paul are unsuitable for the ministry.

The Archdiocese says that the cases were referred to the district attorney’s office, which declined to press charges.

Both men can appeal the verdicts to the Vatican. If they choose not to appeal they could be removed from the church or live a life of prayer and penance.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

February 23, 2014

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has found Reverend James J. Collins not suitable for ministry following a substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year old minor over 40 years ago.

Archbishop Chaput has also found Reverend John P. Paul unsuitable for ministry following a substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year old minor over 40 years ago.

Today’s announcements are neither connected to one another nor to the cases of priests placed on administrative leave following the February 2011 Grand Jury Report.

Following Archbishop Chaput’s determinations of their unsuitability for ministry, neither Father Collins nor Father Paul will have public ministry in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. They have the right to appeal the decions to the Holy See. If they do not appeal, or if an appeal is unsuccessful, they could be laicized (removed from the clerical state) or live a life of prayer and penance.

Announcements were previously made at the parishes where these priests last served when they were placed on administrative leave. Follow up announcements were made at those parishes this weekend regarding the final decisions in their cases. Counselors were made available for parishioners.

Consistent with the Archdiocesan Policy for the Protection of Children and Young People, promulgated in October of 2012, the allegations against Fathers Collins and Paul first were reported to the appropriate local district attorney’s office so that law enforcement could investigate these matters and review them for possible criminal charges. Upon declination of criminal charges by the district attorney, the Archdiocesan Office of Investigations began its investigation in each case. The results of this process were submitted to the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibility Review Board (APRRB). The APRRB is comprised of twelve men and women, both Catholic and non-Catholic, with extensive professional backgrounds in the investigation and treatment of child sexual abuse. It functions as a confidential advisory committee to the Archbishop, which assesses allegations of sexual abuse as well as allegations of violations of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries. This body provided a recommendation regarding suitability for ministry to the Archbishop, who made the final decisions.

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AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

Chris Calcino 22nd Feb 2014

“SHE still has dreams. We hear her calling out, ‘stop it, leave me alone,’ in her sleep.”

The father of a girl who was repeatedly molested by pedophile teacher Gerard Byrnes has spoken about the culture of lies he blames for the cruelty endured by his young daughter.

The girl, who can only be referred to as KF, was in Grade 4 when Byrnes first began sexually abusing her in the classroom.

Her father, referred to here as Michael (not his real name), said the abuse continued when Byrnes was rehired after a month-long resignation in 2008.

“When it all came out, she told us that when he was re-employed as a substitute teacher he started molesting her again on his first day back,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MICHAEL MCKENNA THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 24, 2014

PARENTS of victims of a pedophile teacher at a Toowoomba Catholic primary school are calling for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse to widen its probe to local police officers involved in the initial investigation.

At least three police officers who took statements in the 2008 investigation of the teacher later jailed for the rape and molestation of 13 girls had children who were students and either served on the Parents and Friends Association or whose spouses were senior staff at the school.

Several parents complained to the Queensland Police Service and then-police commissioner Bob Atkinson at the time about the potential for a conflict of interest and the actions of an officer who was organising private meetings between families and school principal Terry Hayes after the teacher was arrested. Mr Atkinson is now one of the six commissioners overseeing the inquiry.

The inquiry will resume public hearings today into the scandal, which centres on the failure of Mr Hayes and Catholic education officials to report to police a complaint they received from a nine-year-old girl about her abuse in 2007. The teacher, Gerard Vincent Byrnes, denied the allegations to Mr Hayes and went on to rape and molest 12 other girls before his last victim complained directly to police.

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NEW JERSEY
Wonkette

Hey, remember the story about the German “Bling Bishop” who got suspended after everybody was outraged by the $55 million cost of renovating his personal residence? Right here in U.S. America, we seem to have our own version of an archbishop who’s a little like that, too, though on a smaller scale. Take a look at this New York Times story about John J. Myers, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, who’s also getting some home improvements done. Now, it’s not exactly on the scale of the German bishop’s palace — it’s a 3000-square-foot addition to a vacation home that Myers will retire to in two years, not a restoration of an 800-year-old building, and there’s definitely nothing to compare to the German place’s $20,000 bathtub. In fact, it’s almost a bargain at only half a million dollars, which would barely cover the cost of the German residence’s solid gold hamster cages (don’t ask).

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Parents of victims of Toowoomba school sex predator attack Catholic Church for protecting staff

PARENTS of some of the 13 girls abused by pedophile ­Gerard Byrnes have attacked the Catholic Church for continuing to employ staff who have admitted failing to protect students.

As a royal commission prepares to hear evidence from former Toowoomba Bishop William Morris tomorrow, parents say the church should not employ staff who admit they did not follow correct ­procedures when dealing with Byrnes.

“We can’t understand how they could all knowingly allow the sexual abuse to continue.’’

Byrnes pleaded guilty in the Toowoomba District Court in 2010 to 33 counts of indecent dealing with a child under 12, 10 counts of rape and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 12.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse has already heard key figures in Catholic Education failed to pursue serious allegations against Byrne made more than one year before his arrest.

Former school principal Terence Hayes, still employed by the Church as a primary teacher, dismissed allegations Byrnes put his hand up girls’ skirts as gossip, failing to include it in critical internal communications.

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INDIA
India Today

J Binduraj Kochi, February 23, 2014

Gail Tredwell, the author of ‘Holy Hell:A Memoir of Faith, Devotion and Pure Madness’, who alleged in her book that she was raped repeatedly by the chief priest of the Mutt Balu in mid-eighties and physically tortured by the God woman Amrithanandamayi during her stay in the ashramam, told India Today on Sunday that she will standby her allegations and have no intention of withdrawing anything.

“I stand behind everything that is written in my book and have no intention of withdrawing anything. I have told the truth, without any malicious motives, and therefore they don’t have a valid case against me,” Gail Tredwell said in her e-mail sent to India Today.

On why she hesitated to file a legal complaint in the issue, she said that she believes in higher forms of justice and do not wish to spend years dealing with legal proceedings. “I do not intend to file any legal complaint. I have already spent twenty years of my life with this organization and do not wish to spend several more years dealing with legal proceedings. Filing a case does not necessarily guarantee justice. I believe in higher forms of justice,” Gail Tredwell wrote to this correspondent.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

By David Chang | Sunday, Feb 23, 2014

Two priests have been removed from the Philadelphia Archdiocese following allegations of child sexual abuse.

Reverend James J. Collins, 75, and the Reverend John P. Paul, 67, are both accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old over 40 years ago. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput determined that both priests are not suitable for ministry due to the substantiated allegations, according to an Archdiocese spokesperson.

Collins was placed on administrative leave in May of last year when the allegations first surfaced. He was ordained in 1964 and had served as a faculty member at Holy Family University since 1976. He retired from his position last year.

Paul was placed on administrative leave in December of last year when the allegations were first made against him. He was ordained in 1972 and most recently served at Our Lady of Calvary, Philadelphia before he was placed on leave. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Paul was allowed to work in his parish for nearly a year after the accusations against him first surfaced.

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UNITED STATES
Enlightened Catholicism

I didn’t intend to go two weeks without posting, but it looks like I certainly managed to do so. For some reason time just seems to be going ultra fast for me lately. I keep track of dates and appointments on a 5 week white board and today marks the end of five weeks. It seems like maybe two weeks since I last changed all the dates. Maybe this is God’s way of packing more life in a short amount of time. I would hope I’m experiencing aging at the same rate. If I age two weeks for every five, I could be around a lot longer than I think. It’s a miracle.

Speaking of miracles, the Vatican has just announced one for Paul VI. It involves the cure of an unspecified problem with a fetus who upon birth did not exhibit the expected birth defect. The Vatican makes no bones about this miracle validating Paul VI’s issuance of Humanae Vitae: “The Postulator of the Pope Paul VI’s cause said this was an extraordinary and supernatural event which took place through the intercession of the late Pope. It was in line with his magisterium and the contents of the “Humanae Vitae” encyclical, i.e. the defence of life, “but also the defence of the family, because that document discusses married love, not just unborn life. This healing is in harmony with Montini’s teaching.”” I certainly hope this blatant politicizing of a miracle and the canonization process of a pope doesn’t portend miracles for every contentious issue promulgated by any pope in the last two hundred years. I anxiously await the next PVI miracle. If there is any justice or honesty, it will be the full cure of AIDS in a gay man.

Pope Francis has aslo been on my radar these past two weeks. I was hoping the latest meeting of the C8 would end with the announcement of the names on the commission on clerical abuse, and maybe more information concerning it’s mandate. There was no such announcement. This commission is still a matter of one sound bite from Cardinal O’Malley and absolutely no walk. The voices for justice, like Betty Clermont’s, in this area are now getting louder and their arguments harder to refute the longer Francis fails to act. It’s been almost a full year and Francis has yet to act in any meaningful way on clerical abuse. He is repeating the sad pattern he had with this issue in Buenos Aires. As Gerry Slevin also points out, so far the priority has been all about putting the Vatican’s money in order rather than giving the victims of the Catholic priesthood some justice.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board

PUBLISHED: Saturday, February 22, 2014

It’s hard to believe that what became a worldwide scandal involving Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children largely got its start here in New Mexico more than two decades ago. But more than in other places, the issue has been dealt with directly and openly, and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is stronger for it.

Credit that to Archbishop Michael Sheehan, who was placed in charge in 1993 as the scandal was unfolding. Sheehan recently announced he has submitted his letter of resignation. In July he turns 75, the age at which the church requires his offer to step down.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe was fortunate Pope John Paul II selected a strong leader and no-nonsense cleric who dealt firmly with the problem. In a 2003 audit the archdiocese received commendations for transparency and for its programs to prevent such crimes from reoccurring. Sheehan reported then that none of the 44 credibly accused priests or deacons remained in active ministry; the archdiocese had provided counseling to 193 people; and it had paid out $30.8 million in settlements and legal fees and for victim counseling. He raised the money largely by selling church properties.

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