ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

BRISBANE, Feb 20 – The Catholic Church has accused an education officer of trying to shift the blame over a teacher pedophilia scandal.

Former Catholic education officer Christopher Fry gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Thursday.

Fry failed to report allegations of pedophilia against teacher Gerard Byrnes to police in 2007.

He said he hadn’t received sufficient training about his obligations to report abuse and that the Catholic Education Office was understaffed at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

BRISBANE, Feb 20 – On the fourth floor of Brisbane Magistrates Court, a former primary school principal is close to tears and trembling.

Terence Hayes was in charge at a regional Queensland Catholic school when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes sexually assaulted or raped 13 girls, aged nine and 10.

This wasn’t some horror story from half a century ago when child abuse was a taboo topic of discussion.

This was a classroom atrocity that happened less than a decade ago.

Hayes, who no longer works as a school principal, is being grilled before a packed courtroom as part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It’s late on Wednesday afternoon and Hayes’ eyes well up, after spending the better part of two days in the witness box being defensive and offering a series of one-word answers.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

WINSLOW — A church organist from Sicklerville has been accused of sexually assaulting five juvenile boys over a 30-year span, authorities say.

Joseph Cuthbert, 71, was arrested Sunday at his New Brooklyn Road residence and charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault, Winslow police said.

Authorities learned of the alleged crimes after a victim came forward Sunday and told police Cuthbert began sexually assaulting him in September.

Detectives later identified four more victims who were allegedly assaulted by Cuthbert over three decades.

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NEW JERSEY
South Jersey Times

By Joe Green/South Jersey Times
on February 19, 2014

WINSLOW TWP. — An area church organist is accused of sexually assaulting five minors over a 30-year period.

Joseph Cuthbert, 71, of Winslow Township, is charged with five counts each of aggravated sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

He was committed to Camden County Jail in default of $250,000 bail.

Police said one of the victims recently reported Cuthbert began sexually assaulting him sometime around September 2013. An investigation, they said, then turned up four more boys who’d allegedly also fallen victim to Cuthbert.

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NEW JERSEY
WPVI

[with video]

By DAVID HENRY
ERIAL, N.J. – February 19, 2014 (WPVI) — A 71-year-old Sicklerville man was arrested Saturday at his home, and is now charged with molesting five boys over the past 30 years, and investigators believe there may be more victims.

Police say Joseph Cuthbert came in contact with his victims through his work as an organist a various churches over the years, most recently at Erial Community Church.

But, Church Elder Scott Cooper tells Action News the victim who initiated the investigation and his family are not members of the church. He says the family came to the church board for counseling and the board advised them to call the police.

Police say the victim claims he was abused by Cuthbert starting last September.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS Philly

Todd Quinones

WINSLOW TOWNSHIP, N.J., (CBS) — Police indicate five juvenile victims over the past 30 may have been sexually assaulted by a church organist, and there may be more victims.

Winslow Township Police say 71-year-old Joseph Cuthbert was a volunteer organist here at the Erial Community Church in Gloucester Township.

Police say Cuthbert worked for years as an organist for several South Jersey churches and that is how he came into contact with his juvenile victims.

His neighbor and fellow parishioners say Cuthbert is a dedicated Christian who can recite bible passages.

“Very, very hard to believe. It’s mind boggling. It’s just unbelievable,” neighbor Barbara DeCicco said.

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NEW JERSEY
Philadelphia Inquirer

ANGELO FICHERA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Thursday, February 20, 2014

A Winslow Township man who was an organist at several South Jersey churches has been arrested on charges he sexually assaulted at least four male juveniles, authorities say.

Joseph Cuthbert, 71, was arrested at his home Sunday after an apparent victim stepped forward earlier in the day. The victim claimed abuse began in September.

An investigation found other victims who claimed the man had assaulted them over the last 30 years, Winslow police said. A police release initially said five total victims were located, but Detective Cary Robinson later said in an interview: “Right now we have four victims. A possible fifth.”

Cuthbert met each of the young men through his service as an organist at area churches, according to police.

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ALABAMA
The Alabama Baptist

Jeffrey Dale Eddie, children’s pastor and administrator of Highland Park Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, was arrested Feb. 4. He was charged with two counts of child pornography, 31 counts of second-degree sodomy and three counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12. He had served on the Highland Park staff for 16 years.

Prior to his role at the Colbert-Lauderdale Baptist Association church, Eddie, 41, worked as a juvenile detention officer at the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Facility in Tuscumbia, where news sources say there were “never any allegations” of abuse at the facility.

According to Eddie’s personal website, he served three other churches but his website was removed before press time. Two of the known churches are North Highland Baptist Church near Tuscumbia, and North Village Baptist Church, Florence. He was licensed to the ministry at North Village Baptist according to media reports.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes&Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Updated February 19, 2014

Jeff Anderson & Associates held a public conference in Los Angeles to expose how ‘the Los Angeles Archdiocese used therapy scam to defraud victims of civil rights; Cardinal, Bishop thwarted police, helped criminal priest escape US justice. A landmark, $13m settlement on behalf of 17 survivors who were sexually abused by five different perpetrators in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, including Fr. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera was settled. They also discussed how the Archdiocese paid for survivor’s therapy but did not inform survivors of their legal rights to sue, as required by law, see news compilation below.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes&Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Updated February 19, 2014

The Justice Minister Francisco Domínguez in Santo Domingo on Monday said he’s pleased with the arrest of Polish priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto) who alleged abused seven boys in the Dominican Republic. According to Poland’s laws, the priest faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. Poland police announced Gil’s arrest at his family home in a village near Krakow and is expected to be taken to Warsaw for questioning and arraignment Tuesday…we’ll see how the Vatican will try to protect this Polish priest in John Paul II’s country, a first of its kind. The JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army are all over the world.

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FLORIDA
Courthouse News Service

TAMPA (CN) – A former teacher must face decades-old sexual abuse allegations, but negligence claims against a school and church are time-barred, a federal judge ruled.

Ronald Weil, a Miami-based attorney who represents John Doe, applauded the court’s decision to allow Doe’s vicarious liability claim to stand.

“We are very pleased that the federal court has recognized the right of abuse victims who suffer from repressed memory to bring claims against employers, keeping with Florida Supreme Court precedent,” Weil said in an interview. “It is the first time the federal court has the opportunity to rule on this issue, and in that sense it is a landmark.”

Weil’s client attended St. John’s Episcopal Parish Day School, in the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, in the 1970s. In a federal complaint filed this past September, Doe alleged he suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of two former teachers, Jon Caridad and James Biggers, while he was an altar boy, congregant and student between 1971 and 1975.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Daily News

[documents via Jeff Anderson & Associates:
The Punitive Damages Motion Aguilar-Rivera
LA Documents 2-19-14
Los Angeles Archdiocese child sexual abuse timeline
Offender Bios – Aguilar-Rivera et al]

By Kelly Goff, Los Angeles Daily News
POSTED: 02/19/14

High-ranking members of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles were aware that a visiting Roman Catholic priest had been accused of molesting boys at two local parishes and gave him time to flee the country in 1988, attorneys for several of his alleged victims said Wednesday.

Eleven of the 26 boys allegedly abused by Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera during a nine-month stay in the United States are plaintiffs in a lawsuit that settled last week for $13 million on the eve of a civil trial.

According to the victims’ attorneys, church officials up to and including then-Archbishop Roger Mahony also actively tried to block police investigation into the accusations by withholding a list of names of altar boys at the church where Aguilar-Rivera was living. Twenty-five of the 26 boys who accused Aguilar-Rivera were later found to be altar boys.

Court and church documents related to the case — as well as Mahony’s first deposition since the abuse scandal unfolded — paint a picture of the shuffling of Aguilar-Rivera between two countries and several churches to evade a stream of abuse accusations.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
South China Morning Post

Reuters

Seventeen people who brought sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles have won a US$13 million legal settlement, with most of the allegations involving a priest who left the country as an investigation got under way, attorneys said on Wednesday.

The settlement, reached last week, averted a trial that would have focused largely on abuse allegations against Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, who in 1988 left his Los Angeles parish for Mexico as a probe was being mounted against him. His whereabouts are unknown.

Eleven men who said they were abused by Aguilar-Rivera as boys in the late 1980s were among the 17 people sharing the settlement. They will each receive an average of US$1 million, with lesser amounts going to another six plaintiffs who accused other people working in the archdiocese of abuse, said attorneys who brought the lawsuits.

“The money being paid by the archdiocese in some ways is a symbol of accountability and recognition, but in a very real way, it allows folks to have another chance,” said Anthony De Marco, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
IOL (South Africa)

February 20 2014
By Alex Dobuzinskis

Los Angeles – Seventeen people who brought sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles have won a $13-million legal settlement, with most of the allegations involving a priest who left the country as an investigation got under way, attorneys said on Wednesday.

The settlement, reached last week, averted a trial that would have centred largely on abuse allegations against Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, who in 1988 left his Los Angeles parish for Mexico as a probe was being mounted against him. His whereabouts are unknown.

Eleven men who said they were abused by Aguilar-Rivera as boys in the late 1980s were among the 17 people sharing the settlement. They will each receive an average of $1-million, with lesser amounts going to another six plaintiffs who accused other people working in the archdiocese of abuse, said attorneys who brought the lawsuits.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A second man has been charged in relation to the abuse of pupils at a former Catholic boarding school.

Police Scotland said the 63-year-old from the west of Scotland had been charged in connection with reports of historic physical and sexual abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey in the Highlands.

A report has been submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

An 80-year-old man from the Highlands was arrested and charged in September.

Three men were reported to prosecutors in December.

The investigation into reports of historic physical and sexual abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey school near Loch Ness began last March.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advocate

A ROYAL commission investigating child sex abuse should schedule Tasmanian hearings to give survivors the chance to voice their experiences.

That’s according to Braddon Greens MHA Paul “Basil” O’Halloran, who is calling for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to schedule hearings in Tasmania.

The commission is yet to schedule any Tasmanian public hearings.

The North-West should host at least one hearing given the sexual abuse that has occurred in the region, Mr O’Halloran said.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
WJTV

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese has agreed to pay $720 million to clergy abuse victims over the past decade and released internal files that showed Cardinal Roger Mahony shielded priests and ordered a surrogate to withhold evidence from police, yet Mahony and other archdiocese leaders are unlikely to face criminal charges.

With the final $13 million settlement of existing old cases announced Wednesday, Mahony has emerged from the scandal with his reputation tarnished, but his place in the church intact – even after being publicly rebuked by his successor for internal church files showing that he and others worked to protect priests, keep parishioners in the dark and defend the church’s image.

By settling the cases, the archdiocese avoids a trial in which Mahony would have been publicly questioned under oath about what plaintiffs’ lawyers said was an attempt to thwart a Los Angeles police investigation.

During a deposition unsealed Wednesday, Mahony acknowledged he told an underling not to give police a list of altar boys who had worked with the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera. He testified he wasn’t trying to hinder police, but didn’t want the boys to be scarred by the investigation and that he felt the altar boys were too old to be potential victims of the Mexican priest.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KABC

[with video]

Sexual abuse victims watched as attorney Tony DeMarco played video depositions by Archbishop Roger Mahoney regarding his role in allegedly giving warning of possible arrest to a priest accused of molesting boys.

A $13-million settlement has been reached for alleged child sex abuse by five priests in the L.A. Archdiocese, but attorneys for the boys involved say the case isn’t over. KABC’s Michael Linder reports.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

The Council of Cardinals has submitted a proposal for a thorough reorganization of the Vatican’s financial affairs.

After three days of meetings, the eight cardinals advising Pope Francis on Vatican reforms have “formulated proposals to be presented to the Holy Father,” the director of the Vatican press office told reporters on February 19. The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said that the proposals involved the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works, and the financial agencies of the Vatican generally. Pope Francis will now weigh the proposed reforms.

The Vatican did not disclose the nature of the reforms suggested by the Council of Cardinals. But informed Vatican observers speculated that their proposals would call for the creation of a single office to supervise all of the financial dealings of the Vatican.

The Council of Cardinals had heard reports this week from the special commissions created by Pope Francis to study the Vatican’s financial affairs and the Vatican bank. The Council concluded its meetings on Wednesday with an announcement of the dates for its next meetings: April 28-30 and July 1-4.

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VIRGINIA
Salon

KATIE MCDONOUGH

Investigative journalist Kiera Feldman has an incredible (though deeply troubling) piece in the New Republic detailing how Patrick Henry College, an evangelical Christian private university commonly referred to as “God’s Harvard,” systematically failed student victims of sexual assault.

In a series of interviews with female students, Feldman uncovers a pattern within the administration of dismissing or blaming the women who disclosed their assaults to school officials. After a student named Sarah told the school’s dean of student life Sandra Corbitt that she had been sexually assaulted, she was told, “He’s a nice boy. Are you sure you want to report this?”

More from Feldman:

Sarah says Corbitt grilled her on certain details: What was she wearing? Had she flirted with him or given him mixed signals? “The entire line of questioning was basically like, ‘Did you make it up? Or did you deserve it in some way? Or was it consensual and now you’re just lying about it to make him look bad?’ ” recalls Rachel Leon, Sarah’s roommate who had accompanied her to Corbitt’s office for support.

Listening to Sarah from across her desk, the dean was as polite as ever. But she didn’t seem to believe Sarah’s story at all. “If you were telling the truth about this,” Sarah remembers Corbitt saying, “God would have kept you conscious to bear witness to the abuse against you.” […]

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

Elite religious school dubbed ‘God’s Harvard’ accused of suppressing sexual assault of female students and blaming attacks on the girls for wearing clothing that ‘put ideas in men’s heads’

An elite evangelical Christian private university, commonly referred to as ‘God’s Harvard,’ has been accused of systematically failing female students who’ve fallen victims of sexual assault at the college.
Located in suburban Washington D.C., Patrick Henry College was established in 2000 with the goal of giving home-schooled Christian conservatives a foundation to help them effect change in government, the law and journalism.

Students are required to dress modestly and ‘seek parental counsel when pursuing a romantic relationship.’

Drinking, smoking, gambling, and dancing (outside of dance classes) aren’t allowed on campus and daily chapel is mandatory.

The school’s founder and chancellor, Mike Farris made his name as a lawyer defending homeschooler families and created the university to help launch more Christian conservatives into the public sphere.

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VIRGINIA
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • February 19, 2014

Kiera Feldman has a disturbing report about the alleged cover-up of sexual assaults at Patrick Henry College, a conservative Evangelical school in rural Virginia. I don’t have anything to say about the substance of her report. If what she says is true, then it’s horrible, and must be dealt with strongly, clearly, and justly. You all know by now how I feel about institutions of any kind covering up sexual abuse in their ranks for the sake of protecting the institution. I have no interest in either attacking or defending PHC, at least not enough to dig into the story to sort our who’s right and who’s wrong. Maybe I will, but not today.

What caught my eye in reading the story was this graf (emphasis mine):

Underlying homeschooling culture is the Christian patriarchy movement, which teaches that men and women have separate, “complementarian” roles: A woman’s highest calling is as a mother and submissive “helpmeet” to her husband, who in turn functions as God’s representative on Earth. “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church,” reads Ephesians 5:22, an oft-cited biblical passage in the movement that is also invoked in the PHC student handbook. The most conservative patriarchy devotees—like Farris, a father of ten—call themselves “Quiverfull” and believe in having as many children as God gives them.

Kiera Feldman ought to ask my wife, who heads the homeschooling in our house, if she considers herself a submissive helpmeet to Your Working Boy. It’s hilarious to anybody who knows us. What’s not so funny is that this wildly inaccurate stereotype about homeschooling flew past copy editors at a magazine as sophisticated as The New Republic. The “Christian patriarchy movement” may well underlie the homeschooling movement associated with Patrick Henry College, but it by no means characterizes homeschooling in general, or even Christian homeschooling. True, we Christians who homeschool — and by no means are all homeschoolers Christian — are likely to be more traditional on gender roles than others, but there’s a vast sea of difference between total egalitarianism and the strict gender roles embraced by the Quiverfull families. In fact, we have far more in common in this regard with public-schooling families we know than with the homeschooling Christians who adopt the Christian patriarchy model.

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VIRGINIA
Chronicle of Higher Education

An article in The New Republic details allegations that the administration of Patrick Henry College, an evangelical Christian institution in Purcellville, Va., has mishandled several female students’ reports that they were sexually assaulted during their time at the college.

The college does not accept federal money and, as a result, is not subject to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a gender-equity law, or the Clery Act, a campus-crime-reporting law, though Patrick Henry says it tries to follow the principles of those statutes.

The college disputed the article’s assertions in a five-page response to the magazine. The college said it was “firmly committed to honoring and protecting the dignity of all of our students, male and female alike.”

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VIRGINIA
WJLA

(WJLA) – Patrick Henry College, founded in 2000, has just more than 300 students enrolled. It is a Christian college in Purcellville, where drinking, dancing, and premarital sex are frowned upon

“We can see high standards in the rules order and different areas, so I am happy,” says parent Neissy Briceno.

But the school is suddenly the subject of scorn after a report with a provocative title details a series of alleged sexual assaults in liberal magazine, New Republic.

Former students maintain that when they told the Dean of Student Affairs, Sandra Corbitt, about male students assaulting them, she suggested the young women brought it on themselves by their behavior and dress.

The New Republic reports that Patrick Henry is among a handful of colleges that do not take federal funding. Thus, it is not required to provide programs to combat sexual assault on campus and to assist alleged victims who report incidents to police.

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ALABAMA
Times Daily

By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer

TUSCUMBIA — Jeff Eddie showed no emotion as he sat in a Colbert County district courtroom Tuesday morning while his attorney and prosecutors talked.

One child has come forward with allegations that Eddie committed sexual crimes against him. However authorities said they have talked with several children with similar allegations since the investigation began.

Dressed in orange inmate coveralls, his hands and feet in cuffs, Eddie sat at the defense desk in the courtroom, sometimes looking straight ahead at District Judge Chad Coker, sometimes looking down at the desktop. He only made eye contact with his attorney.

Eddie, 42, 706 Courtland Ave., Muscle Shoals, is charged with 31 counts of second-degree sodomy, three counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and two counts of possession of child pornography of children younger than 17 years of age.

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ALABAMA
Times Daily

Associated Press

TUSCUMBIA, Ala. (AP) — Additional children have come forward with allegations against a former youth pastor who is accused of molestation.

Former Highland Park Baptist Church pastor, Jeff Eddie, is being held on $1,030,000 bond on 31 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and possession of child pornography.

Eddie’s attorney, Billy Underwood, tells the TimesDaily of Florence (http://bit.ly/1bMofei ) his client has decided to waive a preliminary hearing because he “didn’t want to inflame the public with what would come out from the preliminary hearing.”

Alabama Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Faulkner declined to elaborate on how many additional victims have come forward, but said the children were affiliated with the church, past churches Eddie was involved with and retreats he went on.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, February 19, 2014

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

Yesterday, a South Dakota legislative panel rejected changes in the state’s child safety laws.

We applaud them for voting down a measure (Senate Bill 130) that would have protected those who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

[SNAP]

Legislators should be making it easier, not harder, for child sex abuse victims to expose predators and protect kids.

Statues of limitations protect wrong doers. They give criminals more incentive to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence and conceal crimes. They should be relaxed or reformed, not expanded.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

Three men filed separate lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court on Tuesday, each alleging that a convicted and defrocked priest sexually abused them as children at a West Side school.

The three suits claim that the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago and Cardinal George were negligent in the hiring and retention of former priest Daniel McCormack.

McCormack was arrested in January 2006 and removed from the priesthood in November 2007. He pleaded guilty that year to abusing five children while a parish priest at St. Agatha.

The identities of the three men—ages 18, 20 and 24—were all withheld in the lawsuits, though each alleged that McCormack abused them at some point between 2000 and 2005 while they were students at St. Agatha.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Orange County Register

[documents via Jeff Anderson & Associates:
The Punitive Damages Motion Aguilar-Rivera
LA Documents 2-19-14
Los Angeles Archdiocese child sexual abuse timeline
Offender Bios – Aguilar-Rivera et al]

BY GILLIAN FLACCUS / The Associated Press
Published: Feb. 19, 2014

LOS ANGELES – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay $13 million to settle 17 clergy abuse lawsuits, including 11 that involve a visiting Mexican priest who fled prosecution and remains a fugitive more than 25 years later, plaintiffs’ attorneys said Tuesday.

The deal resolves all remaining clergy abuse lawsuits against the nation’s largest archdiocese.

“We’re happy to have this behind us,” said J. Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney.

The archdiocese settled more than 500 cases in 2007 for a record $660 million and since has resolved numerous others, individually and in small groups.

Eleven plaintiffs in Tuesday’s settlement allege abuse by a visiting Mexican priest, Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, who fled Los Angeles in January 1988 before the church notified police about parent complaints of molestation.

Los Angeles police later determined that at least 26 boys had been sexually abused by the priest during his 10-month stay in Los Angeles.

Aguilar Rivera has been a fugitive for more than two decades and recently was defrocked in absentia. He is wanted on warrants issued in the United States and Mexico.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

February 19, 2014

A support group for clergy sex abuse victimes is blasting New York’s Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, calling him “deceptive and self-absorbed” and accusing him of “attacking real victims and their advocates while posturing himself as a victim himself. In his latest blog, Dolan warns that “negative publicity” about him may result from clergy sex abuse records in St. Louis, where he was an auxiliary bishop for a year. A judge recently ordered St. Louis ‘ archibishop to turn over the documents – under seal – to a 20 year-old victim and her lawyer.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AAP

BY MARTY SILK
February 19, 2014

The Catholic Church has accused a former principal of lying under oath about a child sex abuse scandal at his primary school.

Terence Hayes has admitted he didn’t tell police, superiors or parents the full truth about allegations against pedophile teacher Gerard Byrnes in 2007 and 2008.

But Mr Hayes also admitted to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday that he knew at the time he had an obligation to tell police.

He was first told of serious sexual abuse allegations against Byrnes in September 2007, but kept them secret from parents and police until the teacher was arrested in November 2008.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Rivers Echo

Adam Davies 20th Feb 2014

A FORMER Toowoomba primary school principal suspected veteran teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes posed a risk to students but did not report the matter to either his superiors or the police.

Terence Michael Hayes admitted he omitted serious allegations levelled against Byrnes in a letter to his superiors, instead giving the convicted pedophile the benefit of the doubt.

The Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane also heard explosive evidence which revealed the Catholic Education Office in Toowoomba had sent principals a fact sheet on how to deal with abuse allegations in October 2007.

The fact sheet titled ‘Student Protection and Risk Management’ outlined the roles and responsibilities principals had when dealing with child sexual abuse allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Rivers Echo

Adam Davies 20th Feb 2014

A FORMER primary school teacher has revealed he knew that after police had arrested veteran teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes over child sexual abuse claims he was dealing with a “catastrophic situation”.

Terence Michael Hayes came under intense scrutiny on Wednesday during his second day of evidence at the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse where questions were raised over the truthfulness of his evidence.

Junior counsel assisting the commission, Andrew Naylor, pointed out several discrepancies between Hayes’s trial in Toowoomba and versions he had given the royal commission over the past two days.

Mr Hayes was the first person in Australia to be charged under laws requiring reporting to police suspicions of child sex abuse, but was subsequently acquitted.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

MANY have been shocked by the revelations that have come from the Royal Commission’s inquiry into child sex abuse at a Toowoomba Catholic primary school.

It has been revealed that the school’s principal and other senior staff failed to follow protocol in dealing with students’ claims they had been sexually abused by teacher and convicted pedophile Gerard Byrnes.

The former principal failed three times to report the sexual abuse allegations levelled against Byrnes.

During the past week, we have not allowed comments on Royal Commission hearing due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

But now we want to know what you think?

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IRELAND
RTE News

A group of former Magdalene laundry workers laid wreaths at the gates of Leinster House this afternoon in protest against what they called the Government’s inadequate response to their plight.

They were marking the first anniversary of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s apology to all former inmates of Magdalene homes.

Meanwhile, the National Women’s Council said many of the survivors have yet to receive a penny from the State.

A group of former Magdalene laundry workers criticised what they say is Government’s inadequate response to their plight.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Wed, Feb 19, 2014

Wreaths have been laid at the gates of Leinster House and on the graves of undocumented Magdalene women by protesters marking the anniversary of the Taoiseach’s apology on behalf of the State.

They say that redress, recommended by the Quirke report and backed by the Department of Justice and Equality, has not been forthcoming for many Magdalen survivors.

Payments ranging from €11,500 for women who worked in Magdalene laundries for three months or less to €100,000 for those who stayed there for 10 years or longer, have not been made they said. Other forms of redress, including enhanced medical cards and educational support measures, are still awaited by many they said, although some survivors have received payments.

Survivors of Magdalene Laundries on theit way into the Dáil this day last year to sit in the public gallery for the debate on the McAleese Magdalene report and an apology from Enda Kenny on behalf of the State. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times. Anniversary of Kenny’s Magdalene apology to be marked

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry
Wed, Feb 19, 2014

In what is believed to be the highest court settlement in a child abuse case in Ireland, a High Court judge has ordered the Christian Brothers congregation to pay €370,000 damages following sexual abuse of the “most extreme” kind inflicted on a young boy over a five-year period in the 1980s by a since deceased brother.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross found negligent failure by the congregation in taking no steps “whatsoever” to supervise the brother or prevent him getting access to a vulnerable child, despite having “full knowledge” the brother had previously abused other young boys.

Even by the standards of the 1980s, the congregation ought to have put in place a system to watch and monitor the brother to ensure he did not have access to this boy or any others, the judge said. There was no evidence of any system put in place or any treatment of this brother that differentiated him from a vast majority of non-abusive brothers, he said.

Warning

Despite the brother having been given a canonical warning in 1960 relating to abuse, it seemed clear the congregation proceeded to treat him in precisely the same manner as every other member of their congregation, the judge said.

This negligence resulted in the boy being grievously assaulted over a prolonged period of time with significant adverse consequences to him, he said.

The abuse suffered was among the most extreme he had seen in his legal career and had caused severe injury affecting the man throughout his life, the judge added.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A 42-year-old man who was sexually abused by a Christian Brother over a five-year period starting when he was aged 8, has been awarded €370,000 by a High Court judge.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said the sexual abuse was of the most extreme he had seen in his career.

“He suffered severe injury which has affected him throughout his life, ” the judge said.

The man, in his evidence, said the abuse took place in a Christian Brothers’ premises in Artane, Dublin, when he had volunteered to help out with gardening. It happened in a store room; a basement; and a room which overlooked rose beds, and happened three to five times a week in the early 1980s.

The man also told how the Brother, who has since died, put his hand inside his trousers and fondled him when he visited him in a convalescent home.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

[Summary: A man who was sexually abused by Salesian priest Rimsky Rojas has filed a criminal complaint against Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago for allegedly obstruction the investigation. In a nine-page letter, Marcelo Vargas argues that Ezzati has concealed information and events in 1986 when he was 14 and a student at the Salesian institute of Valdivia.]

Un hombre que fue víctima de abuso sexual por parte del sacerdote salesiano Rimsky Rojas presentó una querella criminal en Valdivia en contra del arzobispo de Santiago Ricardo Ezzati, por el delito de obstrucción a la investigación.

Se trata de un escrito de nueve páginas, en que Marcelo Vargas argumenta que Ezzati habría ocultado información y encubierto los hechos ocurridos en 1986, cuando tenía 14 años y era estudiante del Instituto Salesiano de Valdivia. La querella involucra también al entonces director del establecimiento, sacerdote Alfonso Horn, indicó a Radio Bío Bío el ex estudiante:

Según Vargas y como se explica en la acción legal, cuando fueron interrogados por Fiscalía, Ezzati y Horn negaron conocimiento de los abusos, lo que sería contradictorio al mérito del proceso, según lo indagado por la PDI en el sumario criminal, el cual determinó responsabilidad del sacerdote Rimsky Rojas.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTLA

[documents via Jeff Anderson & Associates:
The Punitive Damages Motion Aguilar-Rivera
LA Documents 2-19-14
Los Angeles Archdiocese child sexual abuse timeline
Offender Bios – Aguilar-Rivera et al]

by Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Archdiocese has settled what officials said is the last of its pending priest molestation lawsuits, bring to a close a decade of wrenching abuse litigation that cost the Catholic Church more than $740 million.

Attorneys for 11 men who say they were abused by Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera alleged in court papers that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and a top aide had “actively thwarted” and “misled” Los Angeles Police Department investigators at the time. (Los Angeles Times / April 29, 1992)

The church reached the $13-million agreement with 17 victims last week, on the eve of a trial scheduled to begin Feb. 14 over the alleged acts of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, a visiting cleric from Mexico who police believe molested more than two dozen boys over nine months in 1987.

Eleven men, who were ages 7 to 12 when they were allegedly abused by the priest, were scheduled to appear in court to testify that Cardinal Roger Mahony and his aides had enabled the priest to flee just days before police were notified.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Feb. 19, 2014 NCR Today

A new report challenges the number of priests in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese with credible clams against them of sexual abuse of minors.

The archdiocese lists 39 priests with substantiated (sufficient evidence to believe allegation occurred) claims of abuse, but a story published Wednesday by Minnesota Public Radio found at least 70 priests since 1950 with allegations or suspicions of child sexual abuse.

MPR compiled its list from court records, private settlements, police reports and internal church documents, as well as numerous handwritten and emailed lists and memos stored at the chancery. According to MPR, the latter lists have never been viewed by local law enforcement, who have not asked the archdiocese for its files on alleged priest abusers.

From MPR:

“ … inside the chancery over the past 15 years, secret allegations of abuse have collected in filing cabinets, a vault and the basement archives.

“The MPR News investigation found that at least 21 priests named as suspected child abusers by other dioceses and religious orders had served in the Twin Cities archdiocese. At least four priests have been the subject of lawsuits for alleged child sexual abuse but haven’t been named on the archdiocese’s public list. Records show at least 10 clerics have been criminally investigated.”

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MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A published report says an official list from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis of 33 priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse was incomplete.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News says the actual number is more than double the official count.

MPR reports its investigation found the archdiocese dealt with allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse involving at least 70 clergy members since 1950.

The priests served in nearly every parish of the archdiocese, according to MPR, which based its own list on a review of other lists compiled by church officials, court records, private settlements, police reports and church documents.

MPR says the list included men who admitted abusing children, such as the Rev. Gerald Funcheon, who testified under oath in 2012 that he had sexually abused a number of boys. “I couldn’t count ’em up,” he said. “I’ll go, I don’t know. I’ll go to 18 … I can’t give you a number on this.”

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MINNESOTA
Winona Post

By Sarah Squires

A Ramsey County judge ruled in January that the Winona Diocese and Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis must disclose by Tuesday, February 18 lists of priests accused of molesting children since 2004.

The deadline comes on the heels of the December release of names of diocesan priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse, which made public the names of 14 former Winona Diocese priests who were included in a census compiled by the John Jay College in 2002. The latest court ruling would require the diocese to disclose lists of priests facing any sex abuse accusations; the names would be released only to the plaintiff attorney and court itself.

When the Winona Post went to press late Tuesday afternoon, attorneys on both sides of the issue were still waiting for a motion filed by the diocese with the Court of Appeals to see if the deadline would be extended or the ruling overturned.

Winona Diocese Director of Mission Advancement Joel Hennessy said on Tuesday that he did not believe the list would be released that day, but added that diocesan attorneys were still mulling the issue, watching the clock, and hoping the Court of Appeals would take up the motion.

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MINNESOTA
Albany Times Union

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A report says an official list from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis of 33 priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse was incomplete. Minnesota Public Radio News says the actual number is more than double the official count.

MPR reports (http://bit.ly/1nNSx07 ) its investigation found the archdiocese dealt with allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse involving at least 70 clergy members since 1950.

The priests served in nearly every parish of the archdiocese, according to MPR, which based its own list on a review of other lists compiled by church officials, court records, private settlements, police reports and church documents.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Tagesspiegel

[Summary: The UN child protection committee has heavily criticized the Catholic Church regarding cases of child abuse. The Vatican now wants to establish a new body designed to prevent sexual violence. The group is expected to start work next week. Jesuit Hans Zollner, founder of the child protection center at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome will be assisted by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, a member of the eight-member advisory committee to Pope Francis. Zollner said he doubts the commission can meet all expectations of the UN at least on a global scale but should look back on and reappraise abuse cases around the world.]

Das UN-Kinderschutzkomitee hatte die katholische Kirche im Zusammenhang mit Fällen von Kindesmissbrauch schwer kritisiert. Jetzt will der Vatikan ein neues Gremium einsetzen, das sexuelle Gewalt verhindern soll.

Der Papst setzt ein neues Gremium ein, das sexuelle Gewalt verhindern soll. Kommende Woche nimmt es seine Arbeit auf. Erstmals benennt einer der Initiatoren in der Wochenzeitung “Zeit” die Ziele: „Die Kommission soll dem Schutz von Kindern und Jugendlichen dienen und unter anderem Modelle pastoraler Hilfe für Missbrauchsopfer entwickeln“, sagte der Jesuit Hans Zollner. „Die Kommission kann aber nicht alle Erwartungen der UN an den Vatikan erfüllen, zum Beispiel die Missbrauchsfälle weltweit aufzuarbeiten.“

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 19, 2014

VATICAN CITY
The select group of eight cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the governance of the Catholic church have made a set of recommendations to the pontiff on how to restructure its central bureaucracy, especially financial operations, the Vatican announced Wednesday.

But the pope has yet to make any decisions on the matter and the recommendations will remain secret, said Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi.

The Council of Cardinals, Lombardi said during a briefing, “has worked intensely and drafted proposals and has taken … them to the Holy Father.”

“[The pope] will be the one deciding if those suggestions are to be taken and applied,” the spokesman said.

On Monday and Tuesday, Lombardi said the eight cardinals had been studying especially the Vatican’s troubled financial past, meeting with separate groups commissioned by the pope to study the Vatican’s economic and administrative structures and the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | Feb. 19, 2014

MILWAUKEE Lawyers representing people with claims against the Milwaukee archdiocese complained to a judge Tuesday that they were not consulted before the archdiocese filed its bankruptcy reorganization plan last week.

The claimants’ lawyers also asked bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley not to rule on the plan until an appeals court rules on the status of a hotly contested cemetery fund, which the archdiocese says is off limits but the claimants want made available in the bankruptcy settlement.

Kenneth Brown, one of the lawyers representing those who filed claims against the archdiocese, argued that the “disclosure statement” — the list of assets and liabilities that is the basis for the reorganization plan proposed by the archdiocese — could be radically different if a federal appellate court overturns a decision related to the multimillion-dollar fund meant to provide the perpetual care of archdiocesan cemeteries.

Allowing the archdiocese to eliminate the cemetery fund before the higher court rules would be the equivalent of “allowing Bishop Listecki to settle litigation against Bishop Listecki,” Brown said. Jerome Listecki is archbishop of Milwaukee.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com)

A lengthy new Minnesota Public Radio investigation reveals that St. Paul/Minneapolis Catholic officials have long under-reported the number of predator priests in the Twin Cities area.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Here’s the story’s bottom line – despite decades of pledges and policies that allegedly require “openness” about clergy sex cases, St. Paul Catholic officials continue to protect predators and keep secrets. Archdiocesan staff say 33 predator priests. Two independent sources put the figures much higher (BishopAccountability.org says 45. Minnesota Public Radio says at least 70.)

But here’s what’s the most frustrating to us: “All of the lists obtained by MPR News contain information that police have never seen.”

What are the police and prosecutors doing? Why aren’t they seizing church abuse and cover up records now, before archdiocesan staff have time to destroy, “lose” or alter them?

According to MPR, “St. Paul police have not asked the archdiocese to turn over its files on accused priests. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi has told MPR News that he doesn’t plan to convene a grand jury. St. Paul Police Chief Thomas Smith has told MPR News he lacks probable cause for search warrants or subpoenas to seize the chancery’s files.”

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

[Correction: The trial starts Monday, Feb. 24.]

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Feb. 19 2014

Over two years after getting arrested on seven felony charges of molesting his student, the trial of former JSerra High School Spanish teacher Ricardo Aldana is finally going to start today, according to lawyers for the victim.

A quick refresher: Aldana was a popular volleyball coach in South County whose defenders came out in full force upon getting arrested. Those defenders shut up after details emerged that Aldana had also been accused of molesting a student while at Hawthorne High, and that JSerra officials hadn’t uncovered that tidbit. They insisted Hawthorne High brass never told them; the rest of the world laughed.

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POLAND/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Poland judicial authorities on Wednesday ruled to send Polish priest Wojciech (padre Alberto) Gil to three months of pre-trial detention, on charges of sexually abusing minors in his country, and in a highland town of the Dominican Republic, Polish media report.

Citing a source close to the investigation, Polish courts ruled to hold the priest in, and if convicted on all four counts, could spend up to 12 years in Poland prison.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP Volunteer Western Regional Director, ( 949-322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com )

We are proud of these brave victims who came forward to seek justice for their abuse and accountability for the fraudulent cover-up of abuse by Archdiocesan officials like Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry. These tenacious men and women are the reason that the public is learning just how horrible the scope and scale of the abuse and cover-up have been in Los Angeles.

We can only hope that Archbishop Gomez and Pope Francis take more than “symbolic” actions to make sure that these crimes stop. No one has been punished for covering up abuse, and allowing predators to escape law enforcement. When no one is punished, how do we know that the crimes have stopped?

Cardinal Mahony is celebrating Mass with Pope Francis, even though the LA Cardinal had no problem allowed molesters to roam free and escape punishment. That is the true injustice and shows the true intentions of the church when it comes to protecting children.

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NEW YORK
Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Just a few items to share with you.

For one, late tonight I leave for Rome, summoned there, along with my brother Cardinals from around the world, by Pope Francis. Your intentions accompany me, and I already look forward to returning back here in a week. …

Since I was elected to the Permanent Council for the Synod of Bishops, I must remain in Rome Monday and Tuesday for all day meetings of that council.

Two, you know how I always try to alert you to any potentially negative publicity about the Church, or about me. Well, there could be some. My home archdiocese of St. Louis just complied with a court order to release the documents regarding cases there of sexual abuse of minors. (Cardinal Egan already did that here a decade ago, sharing all of the information we had on abusive priests with proper district attorneys, something we continue to do today.)

Anyway, since I was an auxiliary bishop in St. Louis for a year (2001-02), and vicar for priests for nine of those twelve months, I would anticipate that my name will again be highlighted in the press. I sure have nothing to hide, and am very much at peace with law enforcements officials reviewing the files. In fact, we already released all the documentation to them a dozen years ago!

This will be, I suspect, a repeat of last year’s attempt by the same tort lawyers to muddy my name. A year ago, they contended- – remember?- -that while Archbishop of Milwaukee I had “hidden funds”, and they had even deposed me. Nothing of course ever came of it, although the ever-compliant press here gave me headlines about being deposed. (The headlines were much smaller when the Judge eventually ruled that I had acted properly.) However, knowing how their attorneys operate, and some reporters here cooperate with them, I would anticipate some attempt at bad publicity again. I’ll keep you posted…

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014

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

Sex abuse victims blast NY Cardinal
His latest blog is “preposterous” they say
Dolan claims he may soon get “negative publicity”
But the files he fears have been sealed by a judge
And in civil cases, he claims law enforcement will see records
SNAP “He’s either dreadfully ill-informed or he’s being deceptive”

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is blasting New York’s Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, calling him “deceptive and self-absorbed” and accusing him of “attacking real victims and their advocates while posturing as a victim himself.”

In his latest blog post, Dolan warns that “negative publicity” about him may result from clergy sex abuse records in St. Louis, where he was an auxiliary bishop for a year (2001-2002).

[Cardinal Timothy Dolan blog]

A judge recently ordered St. Louis’ archbishop to turn over the documents – under seal – to a 20 year old victim and her lawyer.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say Dolan’s claims are “preposterous and self-serving.”

“Every single file is under seal. Two people – the victim and her lawyer – can see them,” said David Clohessy, director of SNAP. “Dolan’s either dreadfully misinformed or deliberately deceiving his flock so he can win sympathy and posture as a victim.”

Dolan writes that “law enforcement will review the files” in the case.

“But that’s just not true, because this is a civil suit,” Clohessy said.

The lawsuit in question alleges clergy sex crimes over a four year period that ended around 2001. In June of that year, Dolan was made an auxiliary bishop. There do not appear to be any ties between Dolan and the accused priest, Fr. Joseph D. Ross.

“Dolan’s name will very likely never be mentioned publicly in any way in connection with this case unless it actually goes to trial”, said Barbara Dorris of SNAP. “There have only been about 35 civil trials involving predator priests, so Dolan knows the chance of this case ever being heard in court are extraordinarily small.”

Dolan also charges that last year, lawyers who represent clergy sex abuse victims tried to “muddy” his name.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

Updated: 02/18/2014

By: Leslie Dyste

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis appealed two matters to the State Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

They are asking the appeals court to throw out a lower court ruling forcing Archbishop John Nienstedt and former Vicar General Father Kevin McDonough to testify.

They are asking that another list of priests be kept sealed. That list contains the names of priests who were accused, but not “credibly accused” in the eyes of the Archdiocese.

The archdiocese released the names of nine more priests accused of sexual abuse on Monday.

Church leaders say it’s all in the name of transparency, but some say it’s more proof of an attempted cover up. All but one of the alleged incidents happened decades ago, and three of the nine priests have since died.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014

Statement by Becky Ianni of Virginia, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 703-801-6044, SNAPVirginia@cox.net )

A lengthy and very disturbing investigation has been done into campus sex crimes at Patrick Henry College.

[The New Republic]

Our hearts ache for each of the young women who were sexually assaulted at Patrick Henry College. Both the attacks and the college administrators’ responses are appalling.

We urge college officials to fire Sandra Corbitt, the dean of student life and the school’s primary disciplinarian.

If even one fourth of what several victims say about her is true, Corbitt should be ousted. It’s clear that she has acted in ways that protect her reputation and the reputation of the school, but has endangered the vulnerable and further hurt the already-wounded.

According to writer Kiera Feldman, Patrick Henry College “is one of only four private colleges in the United States that eschews federal funds in order to avoid complying with government regulations.” This means it isn’t subject to three laws:

1) The Clery Act, which requires schools to issue campus crime reports.

2) Title IX which requires schools to “hold an investigation independent of a criminal investigation and ensure that victims can change dorms and class arrangements, get campus restraining orders, and receive help filing a police report if they choose to do so.”

3) The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act which requires schools to “have prompt disciplinary proceedings and inform victims of their rights.”

Here’s a simple step forward: though Patrick Henry isn’t bound by these laws, school officials can voluntarily comply with their provisions. That’s what they should do. That’s the bare minimum.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com )

Three more child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits have been filed against the Chicago archdiocese because of the heinous crimes of Fr. Daniel McCormack.

[CBS Chicago]

We are deeply saddened each time we hear about more kids who were sexually assaulted by this prolific predator who was repeatedly given free passes and second chances by Cardinal Francis George and his top deputies.

Tragically, this horror could have all been avoided if only three steps had been taken.

First, church officials could have heeded warnings about McCormack’s behavior in seminary and should not have ordained him.

Second, they could have ousted him at the first troubling indication of sexual misdeeds and maladjustment (and there were several of them) early in his priesthood.

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IRELAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, February 19, 2014

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

The Irish government has sent a letter to survivors asking them to sign a waiver to receive their lump sum reparations.

[Irish Examiner]

We are sickened by this deceitful move against victims who have suffered so much already. The waiver they are being asked to sign is an agreement to the full terms of the redress scheme and give up any right of action against the state. The full terms have not even been finalized yet.

The government has defended its position by stating that the victims can postpone accepting the terms until they have legally been finalized, but a victims group says that the language of the letter is so vague, that option was not immediately clear.

The suffering these women endured for years is heartbreaking. The fact that the government is not being transparent with them now is maddening. We hope that the government will back track and start being now transparent. We hope that all the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries will stand up for their rights.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Updated: February 19, 2014

For the past decade, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has maintained that only 33 clergy members “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors have worked in its churches, schools and hospitals since 1950. Its list grew to 43 this week.

An MPR News investigation found allegations of child sexual abuse and other sexual improprieties against 70 clergy members in secret lists, internal church files, court records, private settlements, and police reports. Some have not previously been named by the archdiocese, but have been identified by other Catholic institutions across Minnesota.

Details of the allegations against those priests, deacons and monks are included in this database, along with the locations of their service and their current status, whenever possible. [Related story]

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

By Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
Feb. 19, 2014

At the height of the national clergy abuse scandal 11 years ago, Archbishop Harry Flynn gave speeches across the country condemning child abuse and vowing to change the church.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Kevin McDonough, his deputy at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, sat in a chancery office and checked boxes on a form. He was completing the U.S. Catholic Church’s first survey of abusive priests.

McDonough selected 33 priests. He wrote down their initials and dates of birth and sent them to researchers. The 33 men became known as the “credibly accused priests.” The paperwork McDonough submitted became known as “the list.” The archdiocese acknowledged the existence of the list in 2003 but declined to release the names.

The list symbolized all that victims believed was wrong about the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse claims — the secrecy, the failure to warn the public, the hidden offenders. Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson received the list under court seal as part of a lawsuit in 2009. In December, a judge ordered the archdiocese to release the names to the public. The secrecy appeared finished.

But it wasn’t. The list of 33 was incomplete. An MPR News investigation has found the actual number was more than double the archdiocese’s official count. The priests served in nearly every parish in the archdiocese.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

[Summary: Pope Francis is continuing the fight against pedophilia in the church. Only a week ago the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child accused the Vatican of allowing priests to abuse tens of thousands of children. However, the Holy See has defrocked a priest accused of pedophilia without waiting final judgment of the Italian state. Don Marco Mangiacasale of the Como diocese was accused to abusing four underage girls.]

Con Papa Francesco prosegue la lotta alla pedofilia ecclesiale. A dispetto di quanto affermato, soltanto una settimana fa, dal Comitato Onu sui diritti dell’infanzia che ha accusato il Vaticano di aver permesso decine di migliaia di abusi su minori, la Santa Sede ha ridotto allo stato laicale un sacerdote accusato di pedofilia senza attendere la sentenza definitiva dello Stato italiano. Si tratta di don Marco Mangiacasale, sacerdote della diocesi di Como già condannato nei primi due gradi del processo penale a tre anni, cinque mesi e venti giorni di carcere per abusi sessuali su quattro ragazze minorenni. L’ex parroco e poi economo della parrocchia di San Giuliano, con una sentenza firmata dal prefetto per la Congregazione della dottrina della fede e prossimo cardinale, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, lo scorso 13 dicembre è stato, infatti, ridotto allo stato laicale. Un provvedimento che si ricollega al lavoro svolto da Benedetto XVI che, tra il 2011 e il 2012, ha “spretato” quattrocento sacerdoti accusati di pedofilia.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 19, 2014 NCR Today

VATICAN CITY Japan’s bishops have publicly responded to a Vatican survey of global Catholics’ views on family issues, stating bluntly that church teachings are not known in their country and the Vatican’s Europe-centric view hampers efforts at evangelization in places where Catholics represent a small minority of the population.

In a sometimes pointed 15-page report issued in preparation for an October meeting of the world’s bishops, known as a synod, the Japanese state the church “often falls short” by “presenting a high threshold for entry and lacking hospitality and practical kindness.”

Stressing many times that Japanese Catholics represent only about 0.35 percent of the country’s population and that some 76 percent of those Catholics marry non-Catholics, the Japanese ask the global church to “go beyond” a series of norms and rules that separate Catholics from one another.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

I’m in Rome, where Pope Francis’ “Group of 8” cardinal-advisors are meeting this week to discuss prospects for administrative and economic reforms at the Vatican.

As Francis’ one-year mark approaches, many are expecting to see the pope’s reform agenda take concrete shape in structural changes, new policies and bureaucratic streamlining.

But judging by the comments of Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, the week is likely to pass without major decisions on reforms.

That kind of lengthy timeline is not a surprise to those who have followed Vatican affairs – Pope John Paul II’s Curia reform effort took 10 years to prepare, and it was a relatively minor touch-up of the Vatican’s network of offices.

But I think the wider audience will soon be asking, What’s the hold-up?

Part of the answer is that Pope Francis has named several advisory bodies, in addition to existing ones, to help him in the reform process. Their tasks sometimes overlap, and that complicates things.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 20, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell will give evidence to a royal commission hearing next month into the so-called “Ellis defence”, a legal ruling that forms the cornerstone of the Catholic Church’s response to claims of child sexual abuse.

The country’s most senior Catholic cleric and leader of the Archdiocese of Sydney will be examined on his role as a defendant in the 2006 case, which legal experts believe has saved the church millions of dollars in subsequent claims.

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CANADA
CBC News

Court documents obtained by CBC News allege that the Catholic Church is withholding millions from former students of Indian residential schools.

The church was part of the Indian residential school settlement reached in 2006. While the government paid the lion’s share of the billion-dollar settlement, the churches were also required to make reparations.

The Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches have met their obligations, but according to the federal government, the Catholic Church is shirking its responsibility.

The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is one organization that was slated to receive funds from the Catholic Church.

“We’re trying to get blood from a stone,” says Mike DeGagne, former head of the organization.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (STMW) – Three men filed separate lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday, each alleging that an already convicted and defrocked priest sexually abused them as children at a West Side school.

The three men all alleged that the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago and Cardinal Francis George were all negligent in the hiring and retention of former priest Daniel McCormack.

McCormack was arrested in January 2006 and removed from the priesthood in November 2007. He pleaded guilty that year to abusing five children while a parish priest at St. Agatha.

The identities of the three men, ages 18, 20 and 24, were all withheld in the lawsuits, though each man alleged that McCormack abused them at some point between 2000 and 2005 while they were each students at St. Agatha.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

On the second day of meetings at which Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has been present, a meeting was also held with the head of the Commission in charge of studying IOR reform. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi says the situation of the Vatican’s economic and administrative structures is also important

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
VATICAN CITY

The Pope and the eight cardinal advisors (the so-called “C8”) who are helping him reform the Roman Curia received the Commission for Reference on the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) in an audience this morning. During this meeting, both “problems” and “possible” restructuring “strategies” were discussed, bearing in mind the “Church’s mission” and the “context” of the Vatican’s economic and administrative structure as a whole. This includes the IOR. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi communicated this, adding that the Vatican Secretary of State was present at both yesterday and today’s meeting.

Today’s meeting was the second in a three-day meeting being held between the Pope and his advising Council. Yesterday the “C8” heard the Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structures of the Holy See (COSEA). Tomorrow afternoon there will be a meeting with the 15 cardinals in charge of studying the organisational and economic problems of the Holy See (Meisner, Rouco Varela, Pengo, Rivera Carera, George, Fox Napier, Cipriani, Scola, Toppo, Pell, Vallini, Urosa Savino, Ricard, Odilo Scherer, Tong Hon).

Today the Pope and his advisors received almost all members of the Commission for reference on the IOR (cardinals Farina (president) and Tauran, Mgr. Arrieta (coordinator), Mgr. Wells (secretary): only Professor Glendon who lives in the United States was missing). Lombardi said that the Commission presented “a thorough report” which cardinals showed “significant interest in,” asking “further questions” on it after it was presented. The Vatican spokesman emphasised that the “mission for the IOR” – in other words fitting “the mission of the Church into the world” – was discussed. This debate was not just limited to a close examination of economic efficiency. More specifically, the Commission “reported on the current situation of the Institute, the problems, the interpretations of what caused existing problems or reasons why there may be problems to deal with or resolve” and “some ideas for the renewal or set-up of the Institute.”

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Daily News

By Kelly Goff, Los Angeles Daily News
POSTED: 02/18/14

The family of a teenage girl sexually abused by a former softball coach at a Catholic school in Sylmar has filed a lawsuit naming the school, the archbishop and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, alleging they failed to protect students by not performing background checks on its volunteers.

Epifanio Nevarez, 59, pleaded no contest in September to lewd acts with a child under the age of 14 after the 13-year-old girl reported the abuse an older sibling. She said he had pressured her to take part in a sex club and that there were multiple encounters over a five-month period at Nevarez’s Canyon Country home.

At the time of his arrest, Nevarez was a volunteer softball coach at St. Didacus School. He was sentenced to six years in prison and will register as a sex offender upon his release.

“Our client feels that the school and the archdiocese failed to protect her. They didn’t vet this volunteer, and this was allowed to go on for five months,” said attorney Michael Carrillo, who is representing the girl’s family.

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POLAND
The News

A priest accused of child abuse in the Dominican Republic has also been charged with crimes against Polish citizens.

Przemyslaw Nowak, spokesman for the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, has revealed that Father Wojciech G. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws), has had four charges brought against him in total, two of which “relate to acts committed in Poland, to the detriment of Polish citizens.

” It had previously been understood that the entire case against the priest concerned alleged crimes against citizens of the Dominican Republic.

“The acts against Polish citizens are from several years ago,” Nowak noted. Nowak said the charges relate to various sexual offences against minors, and that some of the charges carry penalties of up to 12 years in prison.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Victoria Kim
February 18, 2014

The Los Angeles Archdiocese has settled what officials said is the last of its pending priest molestation lawsuits, bring to a close a decade of wrenching abuse litigation that cost the Catholic Church more than $740 million.

The church reached the $13-million agreement with 17 victims last week, on the eve of a trial scheduled to begin Feb. 14 over the alleged acts of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, a visiting cleric from Mexico who police believe molested more than two dozen boys over a mere nine months in 1987.

Eleven men, who were ages 7 to 12 when they were allegedly abused by the priest, were scheduled to appear in court to argue that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and his aides had allowed the priest to flee in the days before police were notified.

Attorneys for the men alleged in court papers that Mahony and his top aide, Msgr. Thomas Curry, had “actively thwarted” and “misled” Los Angeles Police Department investigators at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

A Catholic principal didn’t trust or like a paedophile teacher, but never reported child sex abuse complaints against him to police because he did not want to compromise the bishop.

Terence Hayes, who currently works as a year seven teacher, was principal of a Queensland primary in 2007 and 2008 when serious child sex abuse complaints were made against teacher Gerard Byrnes.
But Mr Hayes says he never reported any allegations to police, as the school’s child protection manual and state laws required, because he was always told to go to his superiors first.

“In the Catholic system, principals are not autonomous. We are virtually middle managers. So as, per the advice that had been given to me, we were constantly told we can never do anything without going to the office and getting advice of our superiors,” he told a hearing of the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Tuesday.

“Principals were of the understanding that CEO (Catholic Education Office) was the first port of call, and that the bishop must not be compromised.”

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

BRISBANE, Feb 19 – A Catholic principal believed a pedophile teacher was a risk to students but gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn’t report a serious child sex abuse complaint against him.

Terence Hayes has taken the stand for a second time at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane.

The primary school principal received a complaint from a schoolgirl in 2007 about inappropriate behaviour by teacher Gerard Byrnes, including the most serious allegation that he “had put his hands up our skirts”.

Hayes told superiors at the Catholic Education Office about the girl’s complaint on three separate occasions, including once in writing, but he never told them about the most serious allegation.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

BRISBANE, Feb 19 – A former principal admits he was grossly incompetent for failing to report a pedophile teacher he knew posed a risk to students.

Teacher Gerard Byrnes was arrested in November 2008 and charged for molesting and raping 13 schoolgirls, all during class time.

Principal Terence Hayes first heard a schoolgirl’s abuse complaint about Byrnes, including that he had “put his hand up their skirts”, in 2007.

But Hayes did not tell his superiors the full extent of the complaint, and he never reported it to police, he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

[with video]

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 19, 2014

A FORMER Catholic principal admits he knew an alleged pedophile teacher was a “risk” to his students after a child complained he’d sexually abused her, but failed to report him to police and kept him on as teacher and child protection officer.

After intense questioning by barrister Andrew Naylor, counsel assisting the sex abuse Royal Commission, sacked Toowoomba primary school principal Terence Hayes today conceded he had “ultimate responsibility” to tell police of alleged sexual abuse.

Mr Hayes was principal when teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested or raped 13 girls – aged between eight and 10 – at the school in 2007 and 2008, with most of the incidents occurring in his classroom during class.

Byrnes is in prison after pleading guilty to 44 counts of abuse, including 10 of digital rape, and Mr Hayes has a new job as Year 7 teacher at a Catholic school.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A Queensland principal who was sacked for not telling police about reports of a teacher molesting students says it is hard to come to terms with how he handled the issue.

Teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes molested 13 female students, all aged between nine and 10, at a Catholic school in Toowoomba in 2007 and 2008.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at why Byrnes was allowed to go on offending for more than a year after allegations were first made against him to the school.

Byrnes, the school’s child protection contact, pleaded guilty in 2010 to child sex offences, including rape. He carried out all but two of his crimes in the classroom.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former Catholic school principal has no explanation for failing to report serious child sex abuse allegations to police, an inquiry has heard.

Terence Hayes did not report complaints against pedophile teacher Gerard Byrnes, who molested and raped 13 girls in 2007 and 2008.

But that was despite knowing about new Queensland laws which made it compulsory to report child sex abuse allegations to police or child protection agencies.

Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday, Mr Hayes was asked if he had any explanation for failing to take the matter to police.

‘No,’ he replied under cross-examination from the Catholic diocese counsel Jane Needham SC.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: Now to the latest from to the Child Abuse Royal Commission.

Today the former principal of a Toowoomba primary school admitted he was grossly incompetent for not reporting allegations of sexual abuse by one of his teachers to the police.

Terry Hayes was the head of the school when 13 girls were sexually abused by their teacher, Gerard Byrnes in 2007 and 2008.

Stephanie Smail is covering the Royal Commission in Brisbane and joins us now.

So Stephanie how did this former principal come to make this admission this morning?

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Good morning Eleanor. Terry Hayes has been questioned again about a meeting he had with the girl and her father in September 2007. The commission has heard the girl told Mr Hayes, her father and another staff member that her teacher Gerard Byrnes put his hands down her shirt and up her skirt but the former principal has told the inquiry he didn’t tell his superiors at the Catholic Education Office all of that information.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Department of Justice has defended asking victims of the Magdalene laundries to sign waivers accepting “all the terms” of the a redress scheme which it has yet to fully legislate for.

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Justice for Magdalenes Research has hit out at the “subterfuge” being employed by the Government in providing justice to victims of the laundries.

The group pointed out that the department is writing to women offering formal lump sum payments, while stating that all other aspects of the scheme remain subject to legislation or discussions with other Government departments.

Despite the fact that the full terms of the scheme are not finalised, women are requested to sign a waiver accepting “all the terms of the scheme” and waiving “any right of action against the State or any public or statutory body or agency” arising out of their time in a Magdalene laundry.

However, in a statement issued to the Irish Examiner, the department defended the waivers, stating they were recommended by Justice Quirke as a pre-condition of receiving benefits under the scheme. It also defended asking people to formally accept the terms of a scheme it has not yet finalised.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Less than one-third of Magdalene Laundry survivors have received compensation from the State — one year after Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to victims in the Dáil.

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The Department of Justice has said it has received 684 applications from women who were incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries run by the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Charity, the Good Shepherd Sisters, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity.

The department has issued 300 letters of formal offer and another 32 provision assessments have been issued. A total of 206 women have accepted the formal offer and payments of €5.6m have been issued.

None of the 684 applicants have, to date, received their statutory, old-age pensions or health care benefits.

The Department of Justice has said it is currently finalising the drafting of the necessary legislation to provide the medical provisions recommended in the Quirke report.

Steven O’Riordan, Magdalene Survivors Together, expressed concern that survivors were being offered lesser amounts of compensation than they were entitled to due to the records of the Orders not matching the accounts of the women in terms of duration of stay.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A YEAR AGO, Taoiseach Enda Kenny made an emotional address to survivors from the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

In his speech, Kenny said the government and the citizens of Ireland “deeply regret and apologise unreservedly to all those women for the hurt that was done to them”.

Today, the call has been made for the government to take action on legislation relating to the apology.
Restorative justice

JFM Research called for the State to begin immediate work on the Magdalene Laundries restorative justice scheme earlier this month.

It said that survivors have still not obtained the redress called for by the UN Committee Against Torture, and that it is “gravely concerned” by “unacceptable additional delays”.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A wreath will be laid at the gates of Leinster House at midday today to mark the first anniversary of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s apology to women who had been in Magdalene laundries.

A second wreath will be laid at Glasnevin cemetery on the graves of undocumented Magdalene women buried there this afternoon.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has called on the State to deliver on its promises to provide full restorative justice for women survivors of the laundries without further delay.

Its head of outreach Rachel Doyle said that “a year ago today, Enda Kenny’s apology saw the Magdalene survivors vindicated and gave them hope of finally achieving justice. Yet one year on, many of the women are yet to receive a penny.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Catholics, and many who are not, must be heartily weary of the never-ending litany of cases involving people abused by clerics.

Just yesterday a man abused by a Christian Brother in the 1980s was awarded €370,000 in a case that revealed extreme cruelty.

Part of reconciling the horrors of the past with the possibility of the future is acknowledging a debt and then discharging it.

It is therefore very unfortunate that so many women who suffered well-documented hardship in the Magdalene laundries are still waiting for compensation promised by the State.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published February 19, 2014.

An appeals court in New York will examine dueling decisions by federal judges in two recent high-profile child sex abuse lawsuits and, at least in the Northeast, the court’s decision is likely to affect the access future child victims will have to civil remedies years after their alleged abuse.

Lawyer Kevin Mulhearn represented plaintiffs in both cases, which were filed long after New York State’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse suits.

In the first case, against Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, Mulhearn persuaded a judge that the school’s cover-up of abuse and the positive statements it made about an abuser were enough to override the state’s statute of limitations.

But Mulhearn lost his second case, a $680 million lawsuit against Yeshiva University, in January of this year, despite using an identical legal strategy.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[Summary: One of the victims of sexual abuse by an expelled priest in the Arecibo diocese filed a lawsuit asking the court not to disclose the victim’s identity and personal information to the justice department. The victim, identified as DJMG, said the victim has a constitutional right to privacy and free exercise of the Catholic religion and does not want documents and confidential information the victim had with church authorities to go to the justice department.]

Una de las víctimas de abuso sexual por parte de uno de los sacerdotes expulsados en la Diócesis de Arecibo radicó hoy una demanda en la que suplica al Tribunal que no autorice la divulgación de su identidad, datos y circunstancias personales al Departamento de Justicia.

En una demanda de ocho páginas la víctima, identificada por las inicales DJMG, puntualiza que tiene un derecho constitucional a la privacidad, la intimidad, el respeto a su dignidad humana y al libre ejercicio de su religión católica por lo que no le interesa que se divulgue al Departamento de Justicia los documentos y comunicaciones confidenciales que mantuvo con las autoridades eclesiásticas.

Asimismo la víctima establece que según la Regla 511 de Evidencia de Puerto Rico las comunicaciones confidenciales que brindó a miembros del clero de la Iglesia Católica son de carácter privilegiado y tiene el derecho a que no se divulguen al gobierno ni a nadie, sin su autorización.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Aguas Digital

Los Ángeles (EE.UU.) / EFE – La arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles (California) acordó pagar 13 millones de dólares a supuestas víctimas de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote católico mexicano que estuvo de visita en Los Ángeles en 1987, informaron hoy los abogados.

El mexicano Nicolás Aguilar Rivera, estuvo como sacerdote visitante en varias parroquias de la diócesis de Los Ángeles durante aproximadamente nueve meses en 1987, tiempo en el cual las autoridades creen que abusó de cerca de dos docenas de niños.

Aguilar Rivera viajó a México en enero de 1988, poco antes de que las autoridades expidieran una orden de arresto en su contra por las denuncias de los supuestos abusos.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Md. man accused of sexually abusing teen while he was a church deacon in the District

By Lynh Bui, Published: February 18

Prince George’s County authorities have charged an Accokeek man with sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl when he served as a deacon in the District church they attended about a decade ago.

Police arrested Maurice Blanchard, 45, last week, charging him with child abuse and sex abuse in connection with incidents that spanned almost a year starting in July 2003, according to charging documents.

As part of their investigation, authorities set up a phone call in December between Blanchard and the husband of the now-26-year-old woman, documents show. During the call, which police recorded, Blanchard admitted to having sex in 2004 with the woman when she was 15.

“During the conversation the Defendant admitted to having vaginal intercourse with the Victim in 2004,” the charging documents state.

Sandra Seegars, the woman’s godmother, said her goddaughter was babysitting for Blanchard’s family at the time. She did not go to police partly because she was scared, Seegars said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian – Communist Party of Australia

Editorial

Hopes of the faithful that Francis would be a reforming Pope have received a heavy blow. The Vatican responded angrily to a UN report on child sexual abuse by priests, claiming that it is “prejudiced” against the Catholic Church and that it peddles attacks made by anti-Catholic advocacy groups. But while the Catholic Church features heavily in revelations of cover-up and protection of serial offenders, it is far from the only organisation to which children are entrusted to be accused of failing miserably to protect them from sexual predators. The Catholic Church’s claim of a witch hunt doesn’t stack up.

Australia is getting disturbing insights into the extent of the horrors via the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It was revealed two weeks ago that boys at the Bexley Boys Home in Sydney were routinely beaten, sexually abused and rented out to paedophiles for weekends during the 1960s and ‘70s. The Salvation Army, which ran the home, isn’t denying any claims but insists that guidelines and procedures have been put in place to prevent any such practices occurring again. Like the Catholic Church, it has expressed its sorrow for the abuse and sympathy for the victims.

The Royal Commission was called following a report on the ABC’s Lateline TV program on November 8, 2012. Detective chief inspector Peter Fox essentially put his life and job on the line in an interview with Tony Jones. “I can testify from my own experience the Church covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the Church,” Fox said in a letter to the NSW Premier. The public outcry forced the federal government’s hand despite strong opposition from the Church. The terms of reference are suitably broad though time will tell how the question of compensation will be handled.

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ZIMBABWE
Global Times

Xinhua | 2014-2-19
By Agencies

The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) has called for moral uprightness among church leaders in the wake of allegations of sexual violence against women and corruption.

EFZ, which represents approved members of evangelical and Pentecostal persuasion, said it was deeply concerned about the public perception of the church following recent allegations of corruption and abuse of women in the form of rape, sexual, spiritual and emotional violence.

Law enforcement is called upon to take its course on corrupt religious leaders, individual actors, leaders of parastatals, (and) public and private institutions that perpetuate this pandemic, EFZ said in a statement issued Tuesday.

A number of church leaders have been caught on the wrong side of the law on a number of occasions, the latest being independent church RMG End Time Message leader Robert Gumbura who was sentenced to 50 years over raping female followers and possessing pornographic material.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 19, 2014

THE Catholic Church has accused one of its veteran educators of lying under oath to blame the church for his failure to report to police serious allegations of child sexual abuse.

In a heated exchange before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse yesterday, senior barrister Jane Needham SC_ for the church _ repeatedly accused sacked principal Terence Hayes of lying and “making up stories” to get himself “out of trouble”.

An emotional Mr Hayes “categorically” denied lying, but yesterday made a series of concessions about his failures in handling abuse allegations levelled at serial pedophile Gerard Vincent Byrnes, who molested and raped 13 girls, mostly in his classroom during class time, at Mr Hayes’ Toowoomba school in 2007 and 2008.

In 2009, The Australian revealed Mr Hayes failed to report to police an allegation by a nine-year-old girl in September 2007 that Byrnes had put his hands up her skirt and inside her shirt. It wasn’t until November 2008 that Byrnes was arrested after another molested girl’s mother complained to police.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
NBC Los Angeles

By Gillian Flaccus | Wednesday, Feb 19, 2014

When Los Angeles police were investigating allegations of child abuse by a Roman Catholic priest in 1988, they asked for a list of altar boys at the last parish where the priest worked.

Archbishop Roger Mahony told a subordinate not to give the list, saying he didn’t want the boys to be scarred by the investigation and that he felt the altar boys were too old to be potential victims, according to a deposition made public Wednesday.

The detectives investigating allegations against Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a visiting Mexican priest, ultimately got the names of the boys from parish families. They determined the priest molested at least 26 boys during his 10 months in Los Angeles, according to the priest’s confidential archdiocese file and police records made public by attorneys for the victims.

Twenty-five of the alleged victims were altar boys and the 26th was training with the priest to be one, said Anthony DeMarco, a plaintiff attorney. It’s not clear what impact Mahony’s action had on the investigation, though at the time police complained that the archdiocese wasn’t fully cooperating.

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MINNESOTA
The New Civil Rights Movement

Judge Rules One of America’s Most Vocal Anti-LGBT Catholics Must Testify About Abuse

by CASEY MICHEL on FEBRUARY 18, 2014

On Sunday afternoon, Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North confirmed that Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt, one of the nation’s most vocal and vociferous Catholic anti-LGBT voices, must testify about covering up child abuse within the church in Minnesota. Sunday’s ruling, which mirrored his decision early last week, came in response to the Twin Cities archdiocese’s appeal to stay the testimony.

Former Vicar General Kevin McDonough, who recently resigned in light of the cover-up, will also be forced to testify before March 13. The judge also reconfirmed his ruling that the church must turn in a list of all priests accused of child and sexual abuse since 2004, though such names will remain under seal. The archdiocese released a partial list in late 2013, but had refused to release the entire list.

The church’s failed attempt at a stay represented, according to Minnesota Public Radio, a “more aggressive legal approach” than those yet fielded. It also offered its most public legal failure to date in the state, and it remains unclear whether any mechanism for appeal remains.

The ruling stands as a boon to both those seeking recourse for decades of sex abuse within the Catholic Church, as well as those who know Nienstedt for his history of outspoken bigotry. While his anti-LGBT views aren’t as prominent as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Nienstedt arguably carries the most acidic views among high-ranking American Catholics.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Editorial

In an interview Monday on the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, Archbishop Jerome Listecki said he wanted sexual abuse victims to know that “we are doing our best” even though it might not seem that way to some victims and that the archdiocese is “not going to walk away from the victim survivors.”

He also said that he wants parishioners to know that “we basically have confronted evil, and we haven’t walked away from it” in dealing with the sexual abuse scandal.

There are those who would take issue with those statements. Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance blasted the plan, announced last week, as an “obscene gesture” by the archdiocese, insulting to those who were victimized by both clergy and a church hierarchy that sometimes turned a blind eye to such abuse.

He was not alone, though we think that criticism is overly harsh. That said, we wish the church could do more, both in terms of the monetary settlements, including a lifetime fund for therapy for victims (about $500,000), and in the number of claimants allowed. If approved by the bankruptcy court, the plan would provide the smallest settlement of any of the Catholic Church bankruptcies filed since 2004. The plan limits the number of claimants to about 125 abuse victims out of the 575 who have made claims against the archdiocese.

In our view, it’s questionable that such a limited plan provides the measure of justice needed for the abuse of children. The court needs to take a close look at the plan and make sure there is nothing else the diocese can do to provide more help and more justice for victims. Perhaps there should be a campaign for victims as there have been for other church causes, or perhaps there are other sources of money for the settlement.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Meredith Rodriguez
Tribune reporter
9:49 p.m. CST, February 18, 2014

Three unidentified young men who say they were abused by Daniel McCormack, a defrocked Catholic priest who in 2007 pleaded guilty to several counts of criminal sexual assault, each filed separate lawsuits Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The suits named the Catholic bishop of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago and Cardinal Francis George. It claims that they were negligent in allowing McCormack, who as of last month was confined in a mental health facility after his guilty plea, to work with young boys unsupervised when they knew or should have known that he had a history of sexually abusing minors.

“The case is against the church for allowing him to be in the presence of young children when they knew he had had a propensity to try to take liberties with young boys,” said their lawyer, Richard Levin.

All three plaintiffs were members of the basketball team at Our Lady of the Westside School and were abused by McCormack at different times spanning 2000 to 2005, Levin said. A $3.15 million settlement was announced in January involving a sex-abuse victim who said McCormack abused him in 2002 at the same school.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 00:01 by Martin Scicluna

The United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child has recently delivered a swingeing report on the systemic and long-standing sexual abuse of children by the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the committee undermined the impact of this important report by straying beyond its terms of reference to areas like women’s rights, abortion and contraception, allowing those in the Church so minded to cast doubt on the credibility of the report.

This is a pity because the main thrust of the committee’s 16-page report contains a damning indictment of the Vatican’s “systematic” adoption of policies allowing priests to abuse children sexually. The report urges the Holy See to “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected of having abused minors and to report them to the civil authorities.

It also states that it should hand over its records on abuse of tens of thousands of children so that the culprits, as well as “those who concealed their crimes”, are held accountable.

The committee “is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by, and the impunity of, the perpetrators”.

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PUERTO RICO
Metro

Una de las personas abusadas sexualmente por uno de los seis sacerdotes expulsados de la diócesis de Arecibo solicitó intervención en el pleito sometido por obispado del municipio contra Justicia y pidió al Tribunal de San Juan que no se difunda su identidad, datos ni antecedentes personales.

El recurso apela a su derecho constitucional a la privacidad, intimidad y respeto a su dignidad humana, así como a su derecho al libre ejercicio de su religión católica y a su derecho a que no se divulguen sus comunicaciones confidenciales con la iglesia.

El afectado, en la petición, también solicita que no se divulguen las comunicaciones confidenciales sostenidas con miembros del clero religioso del Obispado de Arecibo dentro de los procedimientos eclesiásticos internos de la Iglesia Católica, que culminaron en la expulsión del sacerdote.

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PUERTO RICO
Montreal Gazette

BY DANICA COTO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FEBRUARY 18, 2014

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A man who accused one of the six priests expelled from a Puerto Rican diocese in a sex abuse scandal requested Tuesday that his name and other details not be revealed to prosecutors pursuing a criminal investigation.

The request came just days after the Diocese of Arecibo filed a lawsuit against the U.S. territory’s justice secretary saying it should not be forced to release additional information to authorities. Prosecutors complained earlier that diocese officials gave them scant information concerning the expelled priests who were accused of sodomy, lewd acts and sexual harassment.

Manuel Martinez, a lawyer for an unidentified 23-year-old man, said in a court document filed Tuesday that his client does not want the government to get involved and is satisfied with how the church responded to his accusations.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The child abuse royal commission has heard from the former principal of a Toowoomba primary school where 13 girls were abused by their teacher. Terry Hayes says he knew he was dealing with serious allegations of sexual abuse but referred the matter to his superiors and not to police.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: The child abuse royal commission today heard from the former principal of a Toowoomba primary school where a teacher abused 13 little girls.

The public hearing in Brisbane heard that the principal received a complaint from the father of a girl about how her teacher Gerard Byrnes had touched her in 2007.

The principal at the time, Terry Hayes, says he knew he was dealing with serious allegations of sexual abuse. But he referred the matter to his superiors and not to police.

The inquiry has also heard the girl was asked to re-enact the abuse with her father in front of the principal and another staff member.

Stephanie Smail reports.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Terry Hayes is no stranger to the witness box. In 2009 he was on trial, accused of failing to refer allegations of child sexual abuse to police.

Today the former principal faced the royal commission and was forced to explain what he did and didn’t do when the father of a grade-four girl came forward in 2007 with an allegation about one of his staffers, Gerard Byrnes.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

[with video]

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 19, 2014

THIS Catholic school principal did not refer serious allegations of sexual abuse in his school to police because he believed “the Bishop must not be compromised”.

Terence Michael Hayes, principal when teacher Gerard Byrnes assaulted 13 girls at his Toowoomba school, failed to apologise when he took to the stand at the royal commission into child sex abuse.

Victim made to enact allegations

Under a grilling before a packed public gallery, Mr Hayes admitted: a victim was forced to re-enact the sexual abuse in his office using her dad’s hands to show how Byrnes touched her; he omitted accusations when reporting the abuse to his superiors that Byrnes put his hands down a girl’s pants; he never liked Byrnes, despite re-hiring him after he retired.

Mr Hayes is still working at another Catholic school.

Byrnes is behind bars.

Mr Hayes told the commission he thought it was more appropriate to refer allegations against Byrnes to the Catholic Education Office than the police.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SARAH ELKS THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 19, 2014

A PRINCIPAL sacked for failing to report child sexual abuse allegations to police says he took the matter only to Catholic authorities because of an edict that “the bishop should not be compromised”.

A nine-year-old girl told her Toowoomba Catholic school principal Terence Hayes in September 2007 that teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes had put his hands up her skirt and inside her shirt, making her uncomfortable.

The Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard yesterday Mr Hayes did not take the allegation to police but merely issued a warning letter to Byrnes, on the advice of his “superiors” at the local Catholic Education Office.

“(We were constantly told) the CEO was the first port of call so the bishop was not compromised,” Mr Hayes said.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

KAREN HEALY THE COURIER-MAIL FEBRUARY 19, 2014

FROM the outset of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, we were told to prepare ourselves to hear survivors’ experiences of child sexual abuse.

We expected to learn about the past, we were not prepared to hear that we are still failing our children.

On Monday we heard that, within the last decade, senior staff in a primary school failed to refer allegations of child sexual abuse to the police.

Many of us were puzzled by the school’s child protection officer’s comment to the commission that she did not understand why more of the children did not have the courage to come forward.

What did Catherine Long mean? Was it that the children lacked confidence in the system? Or was the children’s lack of “courage” to blame for the horror that unfolded?

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AUSTRALIA
The Eastern Tribune

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH, 2014

BRISBANE: A Former Catholic primary school principal was fired and charged, after he failed to report sex abuse complaints against a teacher to police as he did not want to compromise a bishop.

In Brisbane, at a hearing by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Terence Hayes gave evidence against teacher Gerard Byrnes. Hayes was the principal of a Toowoomba Catholic primary school where 13 young girls were sexually abused by their teacher Gerard Byrnes. Byrnes was then arrested and was later sentenced for 10 years for molesting and raping 13 girls at the school between the age of eight and 10.

Mr Hayes said he reported the complaints to his superiors at the Catholic Education Office (CEO) when the first complaints surfaced in 2007, but he did not inform the police or child protection officials.

When Andrew Naylor SC, the Junior Counsel Assisting questioned Mr Hayes over the reason for not informing the authorities. It is obligatory by state law and the child protection manual issued to all Catholic schools in the diocese to notify the police of any unlawful activity. Mr Hayes told the hearing that the principals believe the CEO was the first port of call and that the bishop must not be compromised.

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