ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Ipswich Advertiser

Jessica Grewal 1st Feb 2014

DRIVEN by a desire to protect church money, the Anglican Diocese of Grafton “comprehensively failed” victims of child sex abuse and in some cases, damaged them further, the royal commission has heard.

Sweeping reforms to the structure of the Anglican Church are likely after the senior barrister tasked with bringing evidence before last year’s North Coast Children’s Home inquiry released a damning assessment of its ability to deal with child abuse survivors and discipline the perpetrators.

The landmark inquiry uncovered haunting accounts from former residents of the Lismore home and raised serious questions about the Grafton Diocese response to a group compensation claim and its treatment of the victims involved.

Counsel Assisting the Commission Simeon Beckett found that despite having “sufficient assets to meet the claims of the abused former residents”, the Diocese chose to protect its finance rather than provide victims with “appropriate redress”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 03, 2014

BOYS living in a Salvation Army-run children’s home in Sydney’s south would be used by staff to procure younger boys for sex in return for lollies, the royal commission has heard.

A former resident of the Bexley home, Kevin Marshall, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that boys were also abused by army members at their homes after church.

Senior Salvation Army officers “ruled by fear”, Mr Marshall said, describing how he was both physically and sexually abused during the 1960s and 1970s.

Other employees used the home’s older boys to “take the younger boys into the rooms for them in exchange for lollies and special affection from these employees.”

“These boys would either become – I won’t say willing partners but they’d become partners,” Mr Marshall said.

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UNITED STATES
Baxter Bulletin

It’s a scourge as old as the ages, yet sexual violence against women and children is fresh in the headlines as President Obama launches an initiative to address sexual assaults on college campuses, while the military tries to fix its own problem and newly released documents shed galling light on the Catholic Church’s pattern of abuse and coverup in the Chicago diocese.

As the priests’ crimes remind us, religious institutions, at their worst, have often proved complicit and sometimes out-and-out guilty when it comes to sexual advances against vulnerable people. As real as that problem is, however, there’s a counterstory emerging that could redeem religion’s role in this ugly dynamic:

Faith organizations are beginning to address sexual abuse with a new energy and earnestness — a welcome step toward the fulfillment of their enormous potential to do good on this front.

Silent complicity

Given the morality and virtue idealists associate with faith, one would expect that congregants would be safe from abuse. If only that were so. Statistics show that people in religious communities are just as likely to experience sexual violence as those who are not — which is to say, very likely. Nearly one in five women in this country have been raped, according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half by an intimate partner.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Thomas Oriti

The Salvation Army has expressed its sadness after the death of a victim of child sexual abuse at a home run by the organisation.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining Salvation Army boys homes in New South Wales and Queensland.

Cases in the 1960s and 1970s are the primary focus of the inquiry.

The Chair of the Commission, Justice Peter McClellan, opened today’s hearing by expressing his condolences to the family of Lewis Blayse.

Mr Blayse was abused as a boy in the Alkira home at Indooroopilly in Queensland and helped to raise awareness of the issue.

He died of a heart attack on Friday night.

“His experience led him to become a strong voice for the victims of child sexual abuse, and he contributed significantly to the community concerns which led to the creation of this Royal Commission,” Justice McClellan told the hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard there was no emotional support for children at a Salvation Army home in Sydney.

Boys at a Sydney home run by the Salvation Army would be taken to private homes after church and sexually abused, an inquiry has been told.

Kevin Marshall, who was a resident at the Bexley Boys Home for eight years from 1966, has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse that “private soldiers” would provide a meal after services in their homes and sometimes molest the boys.

Mr Marshall said he was caned and sexually assaulted at Bexley. Sexual assaults were carried out by older boys and by officers, he said describing a “bear pit” mentality in the boys’ dormitories.

He was six when he was placed in the home by his mother. She died a year later and he was told of her death by two officers who told him to stop crying “and get on with it”. There was no emotional support.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Kat Lay

A Roman Catholic priest who was dismissed from his parish in September after claiming for years that he had been sexually abused by another priest, is to appeal to the highest court in Rome over his removal.

Father Patrick Lawson is also pursuing an unfair dismissal claim in an employment tribunal, after being dismissed from St Sophia’s parish church in Galston, Ayrshire, by the Bishop of Galloway, John Cunningham.

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MONTANA
Montana Public Radio

[with audio]

By DAN BOYCE

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena is filing for bankruptcy protection as part of a settlement in lawsuits over child sex abuse. It’s the 11th diocese in the nation to seek bankruptcy after similar claims.

Allegations against The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena stem from a period between the late 1930s and the 1970s. Hundreds of victims say clergy members sexually abused them at that time while the church covered it up. Most of the clergy implicated in the suit have since died. None remain in active ministry.

The $15 million settlement will be paid mostly by the church’s insurance. Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said the bankruptcy is necessary for the church to survive moving forward while still attempting to make amends for what happened in the past.

“We’re in a situation where we are cutting back personnel, were stopping building projects, we’re cutting back programs,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The new bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle says he will be working hard to ensure children feel safe in the Hunter’s churches and the wider community.

Former Upper Hunter man Greg Thompson has been installed as the 13th bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.

He officially took on the top job during a service yesterday at Christ Church Cathedral, replacing retired bishop Brian Farran.

Bishop Thompson grew up in Muswellbrook and became a priest nearly 30 years ago.

He says he is ready for the challenges ahead.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
February 2, 2014

Along with the St Cloud list that was released Bishop of St Cloud, Rev. Donald J. Kettler released a statement. The words were interesting in a number of areas:

For immediate release……………
When I became Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, in November 2013, I immediately began connecting with people, familiarizing myself with policies, and reviewing important documents that I am responsible for as Bishop. Part of that process has involved reviewing files regarding claims of sexual abuse of minors by clergy who served in parishes within the Diocese of Saint Cloud. I am struck by the courage and strength of the victims of abuse who have come forward. And I am impressed with the pastoral responses of my predecessors. So in mid-December, I decided to release the names of those clergy. Therefore, I asked my senior staff to make certain I had a complete list of all the clergy who had likely abused minors. It is my intent to continue to provide a pastoral response to such abuse. In that spirit, I am now disclosing a list of all clergy identified, to date, who were likely involved in the sexual abuse of minors. I am also disclosing the parishes where each of those clergy served within the Diocese of Saint Cloud. The list includes Diocesan priests as well as clergy who are members of religious communities who served in parishes in the Diocese. Additionally on this list are the names of several men of a religious community from outside the Diocese who served in schools within our Diocese.
It is my hope that the release of these names will provide validation to those victims who have been sexually abused and have already come forward. I pray it will also give strength to those who have remained silent and allow them to come forward.
The following statement is a part the Sexual Misconduct policy for the
Diocese of Saint Cloud:
If someone has sexually abused you or exploited you, and you feel that the time is right to come forward, there are professionals you can talk to about your experience. They can assist you in getting the help you need. You do not have to face or name your abuser. You don’t have to give any information you are not comfortable disclosing. It does not matter how long ago the abuse was. Assistance is available to you.

Let’s look at a couple of the items:

“Part of that process has involved reviewing files regarding claims of sexual abuse of minors by clergy who served in parishes within the Diocese of Saint Cloud.”

What files did he look at? What is in the files? What choices were made as the files were reviewed?

” I am struck by the courage and strength of the victims of abuse who have come forward.”

A very true statement, but what about those who hurt the survivors?

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ISRAEL
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi Mordechai “Moti” Elon has decided not to appeal his recent conviction on two counts of performing indecent sexual acts on a minor, Ynet reported.

Elon was sentenced to 6 months of community service with no prison time, sparking outrage.

Elon himself shrugged off the sentence.

“I’ve been doing community service for 40 years, and I would love to do until I’m 120,” Elon reportedly said then.

He was also sentenced to 15 months probation and was ordered to pay NIS 10,000 ($2,844) in compensation.

Prosecutors had asked for an 8– to 18-month prison sentence.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

By JEREMY SHARON
02/02/2014

Elon was formerly one of the most popular and influential leaders of the national-religious movement.

Rabbi Moti Elon who was last year convicted of sexual assault on a minor and sentenced to perform six months community service will not be appealing the the court decision it was announced on Sunday.

Elon was formerly one of the most popular and influential leaders of the national-religious movement but was charged and convicted on two counts of indecent assault by force against a minor in August 2013.

He was given a six month commuted sentence to be served in community service, as well as placed on three years probation and ordered to pay the complainant NIS 10,000.

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ISRAEL
YNet News

Aviel Magnezi
Published: 02.02.14

Rabbi Moti Elon has decided not to appeal a Jerusalem Magistrate Court ruling according to which he is guilty of performing at least two indecent sexual acts on a minor.

According to the rabbi, he reached the decision not to appeal the conviction and six month community service sentence after conferring with his family which recommended he move forward and put the incident behind him.

Ynet contacted his lawyer Asher Ohayon who claimed that the rabbi’s decision was solely personal, and that at a legal level the rabbi stood a very good chance at winning his appeal.

“The long legal process has exacted a heavy toll on the family and in line with their wishes it was decided to put the incident behind them and return to normal live. Rabbis who were called in on the matter accepted the family’s wishes.”

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INDIA
Don Bosco India

By Fr. Maria Charles

New Delhi, Feb. 1. On the Feast day of the great Priest-Educator, Founder and Saint, Don Bosco, Salesian India took a meaningful step forward in its commitment towards children and young people below the age of 18 by enacting two important policies for all the Salesian Institutions, Centres and Presences for study, reflection and implementation: DON BOSCO CHILD POLICY and DON BOSCO CHILD PROTECTION POLICY FOR INDIA.

In a colourful function held at Don Bosco School, Alaknanda, New Delhi during the feast of Don Bosco, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Anil Couto, Archbishop of New Delhi, released the two policies. The first copies of these policies were received by Rev. Fr. Michael Peedikayil, Salesian Provincial of New Delhi and Rev. Fr. Noel Maddichetty, Secretary of Salesian Provincial Conference of South Asia (SPCSA). These policies were introduced by Fr. Maria Charles, Delegate for Youth Ministry, South Asia, and Editor of these policies.

The making of the present Don Bosco Child Policy, along the lines of our own tradition, began more than a decade ago in order to bring it up to date in keeping with modern needs. The 25th Salesian General Chapter had given directives to lay down norms of behaviour to which all Salesians and their collaborators must conform in dealing with children. The present Policy is an important step forward in this process . It is in consonance with the International treaties, conventions on child rights, polices and laws of the Indian Government and the guidelines of the Church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 3, 2014

Richard Willinghamm and Judith Ireland

Thousands of Victorian early childhood teachers will have to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect under new state laws that respond to the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry.

The Napthine government will use the first week of the parliamentary year to introduce laws requiring Victorian early childhood teachers to be registered – like their primary and secondary teaching colleagues – with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Minister Responsible for the Teaching Profession Peter Hall said the legislation would recognise the 3800 early childhood teachers in Victoria as professional educators in childcare centres and kindergartens.

”Importantly this legislation will mean that early childhood teachers will be required to mandatorily report any concerns of child abuse and neglect,” Mr Hall said.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 2, 2014

Every once in a while, I catch myself wondering why the child sex abuse awareness movement (especially in the Catholic Church) has never elicited support from Hollywood A-listers.

Yesterday, Dylan Farrow gave us a painful and personal reminder.

Her immensely brave open letter in the New York Times is raw. She openly accuses Woody Allen and gives details of the abuse. But she goes a step further, naming the Hollywood A-Listers who continue to support Allen.

(Although Allen has not been found guilty in a court of law, he has been accused of abuse by one of his children, and went on to marry his step-daughter.)

The sense of betrayal that Farrow expresses is a universal theme for victims of child sexual abuse.

The crime of abuse is horrific enough for a child, but when adults whom the child loves and respects side with the abuser, it is devastating. It drives the victim into a world of shame and silence. I know that feeling first hand.

I also know another feeling that Farrow describes—the sheer disgust as she watches Hollywood elites fawn over Allen, his movies and his continued award nominations. No one in Hollywood will publicly stand up for Farrow, just like no one in Hollywood stood up for the victim of Roman Polanski. Just like no one at Adrian College will stand up for me and the other victims of Thomas Hodgman.

So, now do we do?

We have a call to action—We need to change how we deal with victims of sexual abuse.

1) If you know victims of abuse (and you do), tell them that you love and support them. Tell them you believe them.

2) If you can help a victim report to the police, do it.

3) Open up communication with your children and family members about abuse. Don’t shroud discussions of sex or abuse with shame.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Joanne McCarthy

The Catholic Church was ”patriarchal”, regarded women as useful for ”cooking the Sunday lunch roast” but not much else and even today left women feeling ”fairly well overlooked”, a senior nun has told the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry.

A former congregation leader of the Sisters of St Joseph in Lochinvar, in the Hunter Valley, Sister Lauretta Baker, said she was not a feminist because the word was divisive, but she laid bare how a nun felt about the church and its global child sex abuse crisis.

”I think it’s true to say the Catholic Church is as good as it is today because of its religious women, not because of its religious men,” she told the inquiry in evidence made public on Friday. ”We have endured much, put up with much.”

In the 1980s, when child sex allegations emerged in the US, the church had ”little regard for women in general, whom they saw as doing the flowers in the church, washing the altar linen, etc, etc”, she said. …

Asked by Mr Hunt if she had any views about systemic obstacles in the past facing nuns or their superiors who had knowledge or suspicions about clerics ”misbehaving with children”, she replied: ”Yes, I do. Have you got all day?

”The major superiors that I knew in the 1980s would have to have been extremely courageous women to have approached the bishop. Nobody believed that a priest in such a position of trust would act like that, act in a way that we’ve seen some of them did.

”They [bishops] wouldn’t have believed it, to start with. My conjecture is that they [nuns] would have been patted on the head and ignored.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Brendan Comiskey, the disgraced former Bishop of Ferns, has broken his silence for the first time in 12 years on the clerical sex abuse scandal that ended his career.

In an exclusive video for the Irish Independent, the 79-year-old answers questions about the scandal and why he has kept silent since 2002.

“I did my best and it wasn’t good enough and that’s it,” says Comiskey, who retreated into hiding after the BBC TV documentary ‘Suing the Pope’ revealed how he failed to protect children from pedophile priest Sean Fortune in his Wexford diocese.

Fortune killed himself in 1999 while awaiting trial on 66 charges of sexual abuse against 29 boys, the Irish Independent reports.

Three years after Comiskey’s resignation, the government inquiry on clerical abuse in the Diocese of Ferns found the bishop’s investigation into the rape of children by his clergy was “an inappropriate and inadequate response.” It concluded that he had “failed to recognize the paramount need to protect children, as a matter of urgency, from potential abusers.”

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UNITED STATES
City of Angels

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2014

Key Ebeling

(I’m posting this fast transcript I produced fast while the UN hearing today was taking place. Unfortunately, I missed the Vatican’s opening statement as links sent out did not work for me. A friend in Australia sent a link that worked. So between a freelance job I was doing, City of Angels Winging It Transcripts provides these fast notes on the UN Hearing on the Rights of the Child that took place today. M is Moderator. Apologies for typos, no time to fix them)

Moral authority. Responsibility

Article 4 of convention of rights of child establishes legal responsibility of parties to adopt all measures to ensure rights respected.
Committee has tried to shed light on number five re implementation.
Need to review domestic legislation.

Ought to be a revision
Question of terminology used
Legitimate and illegitimate children and how viewed in canon law.
Information and training to what extent provided in Catholic schools?
(Shoot, they are not talking about pedophile priests at all.)
Child as a rights holder
Has been said by Holy See rights of child to be seen within context of family. “Obviously in order to be a child you don’t just have a family.”
Children have rights over and beyond this, they are rights holders independently over the family.”
According to Holy See sexual abuse is a parental obligation re their children. I would like to emphasize the Holy See defining specific criteria to evaluate and put in place the best interest of the child.
How do you intend to regulate this question of the best interest of the child.
Mr. Cardona above quote.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

February 2014

Mon 3 – Fri 7 Public hearing: Case Study 5 Salvation Army (Eastern Territory)
Sydney

Mon 3 – Fri 28 Private sessions in capital cities

Wed 12 – Fri 14 Private sessions in regional areas

Mon 17 – Fri 28 Public hearing: Case Study 6
Queensland

Mon 24 – Fri 28 Public hearing: Case Study 7
Sydney

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

The Inquiry will not sit week commencing 3rd February 2014
The next hearing will be on Monday 10th February 2014.
NOTE – The timetable will normally be published a week in advance of hearings taking place.

Transcripts and evidence called

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: As if the harrowing accounts of routine sexual and extreme physical abuse at the Salvation Army boys homes weren’t bad enough, the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse today heard that boys at the Bexley home in Sydney’s south were ‘rented out’ to strangers who sexually abused them.

Today, the public hearing heard serious allegations that a ‘network of paedophiles’, including women, were able to get to boys in their dormitory and take boys to their private homes in the 1970s.

The inquiry has also heard that police investigations in the 1990s came to nothing – and that one alleged offender, who was a Salvation Army captain, is still alive.

Emily Bourke has the story – and a warning that some of the material in this report is distressing.

EMILY BOURKE: The Salvation Army’s home for boys at Bexley in Sydney’s south operated from 1915 to 1979. It took in boys who were abandoned or relinquished by their families, but care and comfort were rare.

Today, the Royal Commission was told that the perpetrators of child sexual abuse were inside and outside the home at Bexley.

The manager of the Bexley home in the early 70s was captain Lawrence Wilson. He’s been described as the Salvation Army’s ‘most serious offender’.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 2 February 2014)

Broken Rites is researching Brother “George” Taylor, who was a child-molester in the Catholic order of De La Salle Brothers in Australia. Brother George was finally brought to justice at the age of 79 when a former pupil, aged nearly 40, managed to persuade the New South Wales police to investigate Brother George regarding incidents that had occurred three decades earlier when the boy was eleven. Since then, other victims of Brother George have contacted Broken Rites, the latest being in February 2014..

Broken Rites has ascertained that Albert Matthew Taylor (alias Brother “George”) was born in Melbourne on 1 July 1916 in a family of five children.

By the time he reached the age of 14 (in 1930), the world had been hit by the Great Depression, creating massive unemployment in Australia. Albert Matthew Taylor solved this problem by becoming a trainee in the De La Salle religious order. After some “religious” training and some on-the-job teacher training, he emerged by the age of 18 as a fully-fledged De La Salle Brother, working as a teacher in De La Salle schools. He donned the Brothers’ black smock and clerical collar, which signified to the Catholic community that he was supposedly committed to a life-time of celibacy, chastity and holiness, supposedly making him a safe person to mind Catholic children.

In line with the De La Salle custom, he adopted a new forename, becoming known to generations of Australian Catholic schoolboys as “Brother George”. In those years, schoolboys did not know the surnames of De La Salle Brothers — and in those years even a Brother’s first name was an alias. This eventually would make it difficult for victims of “Brother George” to tell the police the real name of their offender.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 2 February 2014)

A convicted pedophile priest (Father David Edwin Rapson, who belonged to one of Australia’s most prominent Catholic religious orders) has “blown the whistle” on his colleagues in this religious order, claiming that they too were committing sexual offences on schoolboys. Broken Rites has discovered Rapson’s claim in some court documents.

Broken Rites has just obtained a transcript of proceedings at the Melbourne County Court (on 17 October 2013), when Judge Liz Gaynor sentenced Rapson to jail for crimes committed against eight boys at a Melbourne Catholic boys’ school. This school was operated by priests and religious Brothers who belonged to an Australia-wide religious order (that is, they did not belong to a specific geographic entity such as the Melbourne archdiocese).

Before sentencing Rapson (for multiple rapes and indecent assaults), Judge Gaynor acknowledged that Rapson’s lawyer wanted the judge to take some other things into account on behalf of Rapson. For example:

* According to the defence lawyer (quoted in Paragraph 28 of Judge Gaynor’s sentencing remarks), “it was clear [that] old and more experienced priests were engaging in sexual abuse of the students” [at this school].”

* Judge Gaynor noted [in Paragraph 31] that Rapson began his teaching career at this boarding school, “which, I accept, harboured priests and brothers engaged in sexual abuse of their students.”

* Judge Gaynor told Rapson [in Paragraph 33]: “…These were dreadful crimes against powerless and vulnerable victims who were entirely in your power as residents of the school and by virtue of the enormous authority and stature granted to Catholic priests by Catholic congregations and by parents who unwittingly placed their sons in your entirely predatory hands.”

* Judge Gaynor told Rapson that, at this (his first) school, “you very soon became an enthusiastic member of the sexually deviant group of religious [people] operating at the school at the time.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

By Lynn McPherson

2 Feb 2014

THE Catholic Church were yesterday accused by a priest of forcing him out his home – by changing his locks while he was on holiday.

Father Matthew Despard, 48, said he was “sickened” by the move, which came after he had previously changed the locks of the church-owned property when he was suspended in November.

He had refused to leave the home at St John Ogilvie, High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, despite being told to by interim bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal.

It prompted the church to launch a legal bid against him to repossess the house in the name of his stand-in, Father William Nolan.

But Despard, who was alerted by his lawyer to the locks being changed while he was on holiday, says he had pledged to hand over the keys on his return from the break tomorrow

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PENNSYLVANIA
Standard Speaker

BY REBEKAH BROWN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: February 2, 2014

SCRANTON – A suspended priest accused of performing sex acts on a 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to felony corruption of minors.

The Rev. William Jeffrey Paulish of Blakely, who served at a parish in Hazleton in the 1990s, entered the plea Jan. 22 before Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse.

The priest was arrested in September after police found him and the teen in his car in the parking lot at Penn State Worthington Scranton campus.

The teenager, who wasn’t wearing pants when police arrived, later told officials at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeast Pennsylvania he performed oral sex on the priest.

The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, according to the Rev. Paulish’s attorney, Bernard Brown, who said his client is remorseful for his actions.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Express

By: Ben Borland
Published: Sun, February 2, 2014

A DISABLED mother-of-two has claimed she was raped by a priest and sexually abused by a female care worker when she was a young child in a Scottish orphanage.

Joanne Peacher said the appalling attacks took place in the late 1970s in a Nazareth House children’s home, which have been at the centre of several previous abuse scandals.

The Sisters of Nazareth, the Roman Catholic order of nuns which operated dozens of orphanages across Britain, recently apologised to children who suffered in their institutions in Northern Ireland.

That apology came at the start of a public inquiry in the Province, the largest of its kind in UK history, yet the Scottish Government has consistently ignored demands to set up a similar judge-led investigation here.

Last night, Mrs Peacher and her husband Andrew said they hoped that by coming forward with their story they could help put pressure on Holyrood ministers to start taking the issue seriously.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Sunday 2 February 2014

Exclusive by Catherine Deveney

Sunday night in late January, a coal-black sky and brutal chill in Ayrshire, as the faithful gather.

Not in church but in the welcoming glow of a house in Darvel, where Father Patrick Lawson, who has been removed from his parish by the Bishop of Galloway, John Cunningham, will celebrate a private mass. Father Lawson is recovering from serious illness and inside the house, as candlelight flickers up from the altar and illuminates his face, there is concern among his supporters.

He has been up sick the night before and the stress is showing. “Father doesn’t look well,” one says. “I saw him pulling up his trousers,” says another, referring to the weight he has lost. Father Lawson smiles wryly. “I hope nobody misinterprets that.”

But that is the interesting thing about Patrick Lawson’s case. There is no scandal or priestly sexual impropriety – at least not on his part. The abuser in this tale walks free.

Last week, just days after supporters rallied to the house mass, he heard his appeal to Rome against his bishop’s decision had been rejected. He will now appeal to the Signatura, the highest court in Rome, and is also taking an industrial tribunal case for unfair dismissal.

Last night, a group of his supporters returned to the principal parish church at St Sophia’s, Galston, for the first time since his removal in September last year, to protest when a letter informing parishioners of Rome’s decision was read out.

Not that the bishop explained anything. He would remain silent, the letter insisted, until all ­proceedings were concluded, “to protect the integrity of this process and the reputation of Father Lawson”. As if there is some dark secret about Lawson, yet to be declared. What could it be?

There have been many abuser priests secretly moved and protected in the Catholic Church. Which of them has been publicly evicted? Yet in the last six months, two Scottish priests – Pat Lawson and Matthew Despard – have been removed from parishes. The two cases are very different but have one thing in common: both priests have spoken out against the church hierarchy. Pat Lawson has fought for the entire 18 years of his priesthood to have church authorities deal appropriately with a serious case of sexual abuse. Despard has spoken out on a separate matter: the secret culture of homosexuality within the priesthood. So what is really going on in the Scottish Catholic church?

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CHICAGO (IL)
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

I received Father Thomas Doyle’s outstanding rebuttal to the claims of Chicago Cardinal Francis George about his dioceses’s handling of the abuse crisis by email from the National Survivor Advocates Coalition several days ago. I’ve been waiting to mention this document in a posting here until after I had seen it online at the NSAC website. Meanwhile, I see that Robert McClory has published Tom Doyle’s text at National Catholic Reporter.

I highly recommend the entire document. To pique your interest, here are some important passages:

The claim voiced by the Cardinal and his auxiliary, Francis Kane, that “had they known then what they know now they would have handled the allegations differently,” has become a mantra for bishops when they are confronted with their disastrous actions. It’s also so worn out that one would think the conference spin-doctors would come up with a fresh excuse.

If Cardinal George read any of the numerous documents sent by the conference and if he was awake for even part of the lectures given at their annual meetings he would certainly have known the serious nature of clergy sexual abuse. So what is it they did not know “then” that they know now? It’s fairly obvious.

They did not know that their duplicitous defenses and paper-thin excuses would gain them no traction. They did not know that the deference and unquestioned credibility they had taken for granted had eroded. They didn’t know that the victims and their attorneys would not be intimidated or put off by the endless legal delaying tactics. In short, they didn’t know they’d be caught! That’s what they didn’t know then that they surely know now.

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MONTANA
Handels Zeitung

Die katholische Diözese Helena im US-Bundesstaat Montana ist pleite. Es ist die elfte Diözese, die in den USA nach teuren Gerichtsverfahren in finanzielle Schieflage geraten ist. Helena reichte ihren Insolvenzantrag bei Gericht ein, wie der TV-Sender NBC berichtet. Der Schritt erfolgt im Zusammenhang mit einer Entschädigungszahlung über 15 Millionen Dollar.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutschland Radio

Zu vielem, was der Vatikan fordert, haben Katholiken offenbar eine ganz andere Meinung. Alois Glück, Präsident des Zentralkomitees der deutschen Katholiken, erklärt die Widersprüche. Er hofft zukünftig auf einen offeneren Umgang mit der Wirklichkeit.

Philipp Gessler: Hat der neue Papst Franziskus eigentlich geahnt, was er da anstellt? Vor ein paar Monaten hat der Vatikan an alle Bistümer der Welt einen Katalog von Fragen geschickt. Das Kirchenvolk sollte schildern, was es etwa von delikaten Dingen wie vorehelichem Sex oder der Eucharistie für wiederverheiratete Geschiedene hält. Beides Streitfragen, bei denen der Vatikan eine ziemlich harte Linie fährt – genauer: Beides ist nach Ansicht Roms nicht möglich.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

[Summary: Joaquin Aguilar, president of the Survivors Network of Those Sexually Abused by Priests in Mexico, asked Bishop Raul Vera to lead by example in bringing pedophile priests to justice and asked the authorities in Coahuila to act against the prelate if he is committing the crime of complicity. Aguilar is an alleged victim of sexual abuse by priest Nicolas Auilar Rivera, who is accused of 60 violations of other children in Puebla and 26 more in the United States when Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera allegedly protected the priest to avoid jail. The priest continues to go unpunished.]

POR: JESÚS CASTRO domingo, 02 de febrero del 2014

El presidente de la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abusos Sexuales de Sacerdotes en México, Joaquín Aguilar, pidió al obispo Raúl Vera que predique con el ejemplo entregando a los curas pederastas a la justicia, y solicitó a las autoridades de Coahuila que actúen contra el prelado si está cometiendo el delito de complicidad.

Joaquín es víctima de abuso sexual por parte del sacerdote Nicolás Aguilar Rivera, a quien se le acusa de otras 60 violaciones a niños en Puebla y 26 más en Estados Unidos, desde los años 80 hasta los 90, cuando el cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera presuntamente lo protegió para que no pisara la cárcel y es fecha que continúa sin recibir castigo.

El mismo Joaquín tiene demandado a Rivera Carrera, arzobispo primado de la Ciudad México, por el delito de encubrimiento ante una Corte de California, E.U. a donde el Cardenal envió al padre Nicolás para ocultarlo de la justicia mexicana.

Por eso, durante entrevista con VANGUARDIA Joaquín Aguilar dice que no le sorprende el actuar de la Iglesia al tratar de encubrir a dos presuntos sacerdotes pederastas en Coahuila; lo que si le llama la atención es el encubrimiento del Obispo de Saltillo.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: GAIL ROSENBLUM , Star Tribune Updated: February 1, 2014

More allegations of clergy sex abuse arose this week and I know I’m not the only person suffering from a queasy sense of hopelessness about it.

Will. It. Ever. End?

The Ramsey County attorney’s office and St. Paul police are reviewing documents suggesting that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis failed to notify authorities of a child sex-abuse accusation against a St. Paul priest within 24 hours, as required by law.

Another potential coverup. More grief forced upon victims.

It’s tempting to run away as fast as we can, to hope that someone else will stop it, fix it, assure that no child is ever again harmed. But talking with sex-abuse experts who step into this world daily reminded me that we need to stay invested.

They believe that we return to this place of unease, again and again, because sex abuse is an incredibly complex issue, with no singular solution. And research on sex abuse remains relatively new.

To make real change requires digging deeper with our questions and keeping our minds open to answers that might surprise or upset us. It also means consistent, unambiguous accountability by those in power.

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SCOTLAND
Nehanda Radio

By Lance Guma

GLASGOW – Archbishop Dr Walter Masocha who leads the “Agape for All Nations Ministries International” Church was on Thursday arrested by police in Scotland and charged with various sexual offences among other charges he is facing.

Masocha who was handcuffed and read his rights, is being detained at Falkirk Police Station and will appear at the Sterling Sheriff Court on Monday.

We understand several victims filed reports against him and because of this, the exact number and nature of the charges, will be clearer at the first hearing.

In October last year Nehanda Radio exclusively reported how he allegedly abused a 31-year old mother, Jean Gasho.

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MONTANA
Independent Record

Helena Bishop, George Leo Thomas, speaks at a press conference Friday afternoon in regards to settlement in the abuse claims

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MINNESOTA
San Francisco Chronicle

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked a judge to prevent attorneys for an alleged sexual abuse victim from taking depositions from top church officials.

A plaintiff identified as John Doe 1 filed suit last May against the archdiocese, the Diocese of Winona and former priest Thomas Adamson, alleging sexual abuse by Adamson between 1976 and 1977 when he was assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas church in St. Paul Park.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys Jeff Anderson and Michael Finnegan want to take depositions from Archbishop John Nienstedt and the Rev. Kevin McDonough.

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UNITED STATES
Renegade Catholic

Does anyone need proof that Pope Francis is truly no reformer? That his real agenda is to restore the Catholic Church to its ancient power and authority under a nice shiny guise of seeming concern and acceptance of everyone?

Look no further. The Vatican has announced that he’s thinking of putting the Church’s child protection office that he’s established, under the tender care of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the CDF. In other words, the secret agency that managed the cover-up for five hundred years will have full jurisdiction of it once again. Here’s what Frankie told them at their annual bash:

“On this occasion, I would also like to thank you for your efforts in dealing with sensitive issues regarding the most serious crimes, in particular, the cases of the sexual abuse of minors by clerics. Think of the welfare of children and the young, who in the Christian community must always be protected and supported in their human and spiritual growth. In this sense, the possibility is being looked into of connecting the specific Commission for the Protection of Minors, which I have established, to your dicastery [department]. I hope it will be an example for all those who wish to promote the welfare of children.” [Emphasis added]

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Courier

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Temptation is a normal part of life’s struggle, and anyone who claims to be immune from it is either a little angel visiting from heaven or “a bit of an idiot,” Pope Francis said.

The biggest problem in the world, in fact, isn’t temptation or sin, rather it is people deluding themselves that they’re not sinners and losing any sense of sin, he said Jan. 31 during his early morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives.

“All of us are sinners and all of us are tempted; temptation is our daily bread,” he said, according to Vatican Radio.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Sin Embargo

Ciudad del Vaticano, 5 Dic (Notimex).- El Papa Francisco decidió hoy establecer una comisión especial de primer nivel en El Vaticano para la defensa de los niños y el combate a los abusos sexuales contra menores.

“El comité deberá aconsejar al santo padre sobre las acciones para la protección de los niños y la atención pastoral de las víctimas”, informó el cardenal estadunidense Sean Patrick O’Malley, arzobispo de Boston.

La propuesta del establecimiento de la comisión salió del llamado “C-8″, el consejo de cardenales que asesora al pontífice en el gobierno de la Iglesia católica que este día concluyó su segunda reunión de trabajo.

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VATICAN CITY
Latinos Post

Pope Francis Announces the Creation of a Commission Against Child Abuse in the Catholic Church

After various years of involvement in pedophilia cases, the Catholic Church has decided to create a commission of experts to prevent the sexual abuse of minors by priests and provide support for those who have suffered from this abuse.

According to CNN, the creation of this commission was promoted by Pope Francis, in an attempt to stop these abuses from ever happening again and to guarantee the well-being of the victims.

The creation of this commission which seeks to protect minors from priests is one of the actions carried out by the so-called “C-8” (Council of Eight), a committee of Cardinals from around the world created by the Pope last March to advise Pope Francis on the changes he plans to carry out within the Church.

According to Mexican website Sin Embargo, the C-8 completed its second meeting in Rome on December 5 and shortly after announced the creation of a commission comprised of professionals that will provide advice against priests.

The same source highlighted that American Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, told the media that “The committee will advise the Pope on the actions undertaken to protect children”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Sentinel & Enterprise

By Michael Hartwell, mhartwell@sentinelandenterprise.com
POSTED: 02/01/2014

LANCASTER — The Rev. Thomas Hultquist was named temporary administrator of Immaculate Conception Parish in Lancaster Thursday by the Worcester Diocese.

The previous pastor, the Rev. Edward P. Lettic, was placed on administrative leave last weekend by Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Worcester for allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

The allegations date back to 40 years ago in Greater Worcester, before Lettic was assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish in 1993. The allegation was listed as “credible” by McManus and if proven to be true Lettic will be removed from the priesthood.

Raymond Delisle, spokesman for the Worcester Diocese, clarified that Hultquist’s role is that of an administrator, and he is not the church’s new pastor. The church’s new permanent pastor will probably be appointed by McManus in June, when pastoral assignments are customarily announced.

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VATIKANSTADT
kath.net

[Summary: Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has warned local church against “separatist tendencies.” Episcopal conferences should never write arbitrary explanations or relativize church dogmas.]

Präfekt der Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre warnt Ortskirchen vor “separatistischen Tendenzen” und regionalen Sonderwegen. Bischofskonferenzen könnten niemals eigenmächtige Erklärungen abfassen, die die Dogmen der Kirche relativieren

Vatikanstadt (kath.net/KNA) Der Präfekt der vatikanischen Glaubenskongregation, Erzbischof Gerhard Ludwig Müller, hat die Ortskirchen vor regionalen Sonderwegen gewarnt. «Separatistische Tendenzen» nationaler Bischofskonferenzen würden der Kirche schaden, schreibt Müller in einem Beitrag für die Vatikanzeitung «Osservatore Romano» (Freitag). Einzelne Bischofskonferenzen könnten niemals eigenmächtige Erklärungen abfassen, die die «definitiven Dogmen» der Kirche oder ihre sakramentalen Strukturen relativierten.

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MONTANA
Die Welt

Die elfte Diözese ist in den USA nach einem Gerichtsverfahren über Missbrauch in finanzielle Schieflage geraten. 15 Millionen Dollar an Entschädigungen werden für Vergehen an 362 Kindern fällig.

Wegen Zahlungen in Millionenhöhe an die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs hat eine katholische US-Diözese Konkurs angemeldet. Es ist die elfte Diözese, die in den USA nach teuren Gerichtsverfahren über jahrzehntelangen Missbrauch durch Priester, Nonnen und andere Mitarbeiter in finanzielle Schieflage geraten ist. Die Diözese Helena im US-Staat Montana reichte ihren Insolvenzantrag bei Gericht ein, wie der TV-Sender NBC am Freitag (Ortszeit) berichtete.

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MONTANA
Tages Anzeiger

Die katholische Kirche von Helena in Montana muss 17,5 Millionen Dollar an die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs bezahlen. Es ist bereits die elfte Diözese, die in den USA aus diesem Grund Konkurs geht.

Wegen Zahlungen in Millionenhöhe an die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs hat die katholische Diözese Helena im US-Bundesstaat Montana Konkurs angemeldet. Es ist die elfte Diözese, die in den USA nach teuren Gerichtsverfahren in finanzielle Schieflage geraten ist.

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SCHWEIZ
Kipa

[Sexuelle Übergriffe im kirchlichen Umfeld – Schweizer Bischofskonferenz]

[Summary: The Swiss bishops have renewed the Catholic Church policies on sexual abuse. The guidelines have been significantly expanded.]

Freiburg i.Ü., 31.1.14 (Kipa) Die Schweizer Bischöfe erneuern die Richtlinien der katholischen Kirche gegen sexuellen Missbrauch. So tritt am Samstag, 1. Februar, die dritte Auflage der Bestimmungen mit dem Titel «Sexuelle Übergriffe im kirchlichen Umfeld. Richtlinien der Schweizer Bischofskonferenz und der Vereinigung der Höhern Ordensobern der Schweiz» in Kraft, teilte die Schweizer Bischofskonferenz (SBK) am Freitag mit. Der Geltungsbereich der Richtlinien werde damit deutlich erweitert, heisst es in der Mitteilung.

Erstmals erliess die SBK 2002 Richtlinien gegen sexuelle Übergriffe in der Seelsorge. Diese wurden 2010 verschärft. Nun setzt die SBK die dritte Auflage der Richtlinien in Kraft. Neu werden die Bestimmungen nicht alleine von der Bischofskonferenz, sondern auch von der Vereinigung der Höhern Ordensobern der Schweiz erlassen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Unter Missbrauchsverdacht: „Flugblatt“-Priester räumt Vorfall von 1984 ein

[Summary: Under suspicion a priest has admitted to sexual abuse during the 1980s.]

Seit eineinhalb Jahren steht ein katholischer Priester im Verdacht, den damals 16-jährigen Tobias D. (Name geändert) missbraucht zu haben. Gegenüber unserer Zeitung und der Opferinitiative Schafsbrief räumte der beschuldigte Priester nun einen anderen Vorfall ein.

Seit Juli 2012 wird ein katholischer Priester beschuldigt, in den 1980er Jahren einen Jugendlichen in einer saarländischen Gemeinde sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Der heute 45-jährige Tobias D. hatte den Fall beim Bistum Trier angezeigt. Die sogenannten kirchenrechtlichen Voruntersuchungen laufen noch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[Summary: Bernhard Rasche, born in 1958, at age 12 was sent to a board school where he claims to have been sexually abused by the prefect. He has filed a suit against the Wurzburg diocese.]

Opfer oder nur Zeuge? Bernhard Rasche, Jahrgang 1958, aus Bischofsheim in der Rhön. Mit 12 Jahren kam er ins Internat Lebenhan (Bad Neustadt/Saale), wo er eigenen Angaben zufolge von einem Präfekten sexuell missbraucht wurde. Rasche hat den Missbrauch 2008 angezeigt.
vergrößern

Bernhard Rasche, nach eigenen Angaben Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs in den 70er Jahren durch einen Pater im Internat Lebenhan (Lkr. Rhön-Grabfeld), hat über seine Würzburger Rechtsanwältin Barbara Rost-Haigis Klage gegen die Diözese Würzburg eingereicht: Damit geht ein lange schwelender Streit um Behauptungen der Kirche, Rasche sei nur Zeuge sexuellen Missbrauchs und kein Opfer, nun vor dem Amtsgericht Würzburg weiter.

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MONTANA
Beartooth NBC

[with video]

Camilla Rambaldi

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy protection to settle 362 claims of children sexually abused by clergy members serving the Diocese.

Two lawsuits were filed in 2011 claiming the clergy members sexually abused the minors from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Helena Diocese victim Thomas A. Lozau Jr. says, “You know when being a kid and trying to tell when it was happening, like I said, you just tell me who you are going to believe.”

Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said in a statement the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case will help resolve the abuse claims.

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CANADA
Brantford Expositor

George Ferris, the former minister sentenced this week in Brantford courts to a total of 5 1/2 years in prison for sex crimes, has been deposed of the office of priest in the Anglican Church of Canada.

A media release issued Friday by the Anglican Diocese of Huron stated that Bishop Robert Bennett has taken disciplinary action against Ferris following the former Paris and Cambridge minister’s recent convictions and sentence hearings.

Ferris, 66, was sentenced in Ontario Court after being convicted of sexual assault offences relating to three male victims who were molested in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1980s, Ferris had ministered at St. James Anglican Church in Paris.

The effect of Ferris being deposed is that he is no longer considered to be a priest.

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OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

Fri Jan 31, 2014.
By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court’s decision clearing Bishop Edward Slattery and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa of wrongdoing in connection with a civil lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested as a child by a parish priest.

In June 2012, Judge Daman Cantrell ruled in favor of the diocese and Slattery in Tulsa County District Court. The appeals court found that the findings of fact and conclusions of law adequately explained that decision.

The suit was brought by Kelly Kirk, who says he was molested, and his father, Gordon Kirk, alleging that Slattery and the diocese inflicted intentional emotional distress on them. Kelly Kirk also alleged invasion of privacy.

The accusations stemmed from a 2002 slander lawsuit against the Kirks filed by the Rev. Paul Eichhoff, a priest in the diocese. As a result of that lawsuit, the Kirks’ names were made public. The Kirks alleged that the diocese acted in concert with Eichhoff to file that suit.

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OHIO
Beacon Journal

By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
Published: January 31, 2014

The Rev. Samuel R. Ciccolini has regained the key role of his identity as a priest.

“After consultation with his advisers, the Bishop [Richard G. Lennon] has granted Father Sam’s petition to say public Mass and hear confessions,” said Robert Tayek, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

A popular Roman Catholic priest from Akron known as “Father Sam,” Ciccolini was granted early retirement for health reasons last May. At that time, he was prohibited from public ministry and could only say private Mass (with no one present) because of a felony conviction for cheating on his taxes and committing bank fraud.

Ciccolini, 71, was released from federal prison last April, after serving a six-month sentence.
The mandatory retirement age for priests in the diocese is 75.

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PARAGUAY
ABC Color

[Summary; Priest Cecilio Ferreira, pastor of a parish in San Gerardo, has been accused of sexual abuse and rape of a child under 15 by the child’s mother. This first became public on Jan. 24 and the priest held a press conference to publicly deny that he had abused the child. However, after a series of steps ordered by prosecutor Celso Sixto Marin, including a report from forensic psychologist Azucena Avila, and witness statements, Ferreira was arrested.]

PEDRO JUAN CABALLERO (Cándido Figueredo Ruiz, de nuestra redacción regional). El sacerdote Cecilio Ferreira, responsable de la Vicaría Santa Librada de la Parroquia San Gerardo de esta ciudad, fue denunciado por la madre de una menor de 15 años, por un supuesto caso de coacción sexual y violación, hecho que tomó estado público el pasado 24 de enero. El religioso en una conferencia de prensa negó públicamente los hechos.

Sin embargo, tras una serie de diligencias ordenadas por el fiscal Celso Sixto Marín, entre ellas el informe de la psicóloga forense Azucena Ávila y las testificales de la menor y otras personas que tenían conocimiento del hecho, fueron suficientes para que en la víspera el representante del Ministerio Público imputara y ordenara la detención del religioso.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Four Corners

[with complete video of the program]

In this 2003 episode, Four Corners looks at the kids society didn’t want, orphaned or wrenched from broken families, then shunted off to “homes”.

Transcript

They were the kids society didn’t want… orphaned or wrenched from broken families, then shunted off to loveless places called – without irony – “homes”.

Over decades, tens of thousands of Australian children were sent to state and charitable institutions to be raised by complete strangers.

Some kids were identified by numbers, not by their names. Chores were numbingly routine. Discipline was harsh at best. Many endured extreme cruelty – emotional, physical and sexual.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Four Corners

[video]

[transcript]

Four Corners explores how the childhood experience of “the homies” continues to intensely affect their lives.

QUENTIN McDERMOTT, REPORTER: Scattered around Australia are crumbling structures that once housed the children society didn’t want. These were children’s homes, run by the most respectable bodies in the land – States, charities, churches, the Salvation Army. But for many older Australians, the memories are intensely painful.

TRISH PASCOE: The bitter, lonely years.

QUENTIN McDERMOTT: Why do you call it that?

TRISH PASCOE: Because they were bitter and lonely. That’s the only thing I can use to describe it.

QUENTIN McDERMOTT: Some homes were well-run. In others, abuse turned children into angry, sometimes criminal, adults.

MAN IN SHADOW: To be truthful, I cannot look at a 13- or 14-year-old and not think, “I wouldn’t mind that”.

BEVERLEY FITZGERALD, PRESIDENT, QLD CHILDREN SERVICES TRIBUNAL: Its repercussions are enormous and they ripple out to every facet of a person’s life, and we have to start looking at that.

JOHN DALZIEL, THE SALVATION ARMY: That trust has been betrayed and to the Australian public now, I apologise.

QUENTIN McDERMOTT: Tonight on Four Corners, the secret history of the extraordinary cruelty inflicted on children in care.

NEWSREEL: The Salvation Army is a strong supporter of the Scouting movement as a means of building healthy bodies and minds – ideals that are carried through to their schools for children from broken homes. For these youngsters, school is home.

QUENTIN McDERMOTT: In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, tens of thousands of boys and girls from broken homes were dispatched to institutions around Australia.

(PHOTOGRAPH LABELLED ‘INDOOROOPILLY’)

QUENTIN McDERMOTT: The damage some homes caused is still there in the lives of middle-aged Australians like Lewis Blayse.

LEWIS BLAYSE: It was out in the middle of nowhere, which is where most of these places were – out in the middle of nowhere.

QUENTIN McDERMOTT: Lewis Blayse went into care in 1950 when he was five months old. His parents simply couldn’t cope.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By ANNETTE BLACKWELL Feb. 1, 2014

The Salvation Army has a lot of questions to answer.

For almost three decades there were alleged rapes, floggings and punishments at their Dickensian boys’ homes in NSW and Queensland.

The evidence has been exposed at the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

The stories are so horrific that some news operations have steered clear of publishing full details of the acts of some Salvation Army officers, in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

The Salvation Army is not challenging evidence by the string of witnesses – former residents of four homes being examined in detail by the commission.

It is not the first time Australians have heard these horror stories. In 1999 the Queensland Forde commission looked into the Indooroopilly home and the Riverview Training Farm in Queensland, both of which are on the commission’s list.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

[The Homies transcript – Four Corners]

[video]

Hello again.

I have enabled comments on Dad’s site so that anyone who would like to say anything or discuss anything that he has written may do so.

Aletha

Love to all
Posted on January 31, 2014 by lewisblayse
Dear all,

My Dad, Lewis, passed away last night. They think he had a heart attack.

To everyone who has supported his work and encouraged him in his fight against paedophilia, thank you. He was behind in his emails, but intended to respond to all who have sent messages of support.

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NEW MEXICO
The Arizona Republic

By Michael Clancy
The Republic | azcentral.com
Fri Jan 31, 2014

The Rev. Timothy Conlon, who was hailed as a hero in 2010 for his efforts to defend a parish worker from an attacker, has been suspended from the Catholic priesthood.

Conlon, according to his religious order and the Diocese of Gallup, N.M., was credibly accused of two instances of sexual abuse that took place before he was ordained a priest in 1979. The incidents took place at least 40 years ago in North Dakota, but the Gallup Diocese only recently was alerted, according to a news release by the Crosiers religious order.

Conlon, a member of the order, worked in the Phoenix Diocese for at least 10 years. For much of that time, he was vicar of Hispanic ministry.

In 2010, he was a parish priest at Sacred Heart Church in south Phoenix when a man attacked a parish employee, Ann Conway, who was opening up for the day. He rushed to the employee’s rescue, and both were stabbed. The attacker ran off and was arrested later. Conlon was hailed as a hero at the time.

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MONTANA
Handelszeitung

Die katholische Diözese Helena im US-Bundesstaat Montana ist pleite. Es ist die elfte Diözese, die in den USA nach teuren Gerichtsverfahren in finanzielle Schieflage geraten ist. Helena reichte ihren Insolvenzantrag bei Gericht ein, wie der TV-Sender NBC berichtet. Der Schritt erfolgt im Zusammenhang mit einer Entschädigungszahlung über 15 Millionen Dollar.

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CALIFORNIA
Opposing Views

By Jonathan Wolfe, Fri, January 31, 2014

A single mother from San Francisco, California has come forward alleging sexual abuse by a trustee of her local Catholic church. The woman, Jhona Matthews, says the abuse included spankings with a paddle and forced sexual activities.

Matthews says the activities occurred over the course of a year in which she worked as a secretary at the church. The abuse was doled out by Bill McLaughlin, her supervisor at the church, and was done with the threat that she would be fired if she didn’t comply.

“Many of these sex acts and demands and the spankings occurred inside the shrine premises, in the sacristy of the shrine,” attorney Sandra Ribera said.

In the lawsuit filed by Matthews, she says the spankings given to her were done using paddle given to McLaughlin by a priest at the church. The paddle, Ribera said, has “the inscription ‘BNO,’ which stands for ‘boys night out.’ And it says, ‘To Bill M. from Father T.’”

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Boz Tchividjian | Jan 31, 2014

A former church youth volunteer in Bluefield, West Virginia, was recently arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. The arrest was a culmination of the actions by an amazing church that actually took the right steps when learning that one of its members was suspected of abusing a child. As a result, at least 12 individuals have stepped forward to report being sexually abused as a child by this individual.

This church understands the importance of responding with excellence to disclosures of child sexual abuse. This church gets it! Here are 6 lessons we can learn from them:

1. Immediately call the police: Upon being alerted to suspected abuse, the church leadership immediately went to law enforcement and reported what they had learned. This church gets it – the law mandates that we report the suspected abuse of children to those in authority. Reporting abuse may save the life of a child and is the only way perpetrators will be brought to justice.

2. Remove suspected abuser from access to children: When the church leaders were informed about the alleged abuse, they immediately suspended the suspect from attending worship services. He was subsequently removed from all church related activities. This church gets it – Christians have a spiritual and lawful responsibility to remove suspected abusers from having access to little ones. We must always caution on the side of protecting the vulnerable amongst us.

3.. Persistent in the search for truth: After reporting to the police, the church was told that the defendant’s behavior was “inappropriate”, but not “actionable”. In many ways, it would have been much easier for this church to accept the response from law enforcement. They could have patted themselves on the back for reporting the matter, and simply claimed that their hands were tied. However, church leaders were not satisfied that they had “gotten to the bottom of the situation” and decided that they had no choice but to conduct their own investigation. As a result, “actionable” evidence was uncovered and immediately reported to the police. This church gets it – the search for truth in order to protect little ones and serve abuse survivors is a profound way to live out the Gospel.

4. Cooperate with law enforcement: This church cooperated with law enforcement from day one. This church gets it – police are not the enemy, but in fact are the best equipped to investigate allegations related to the abuse of children. Even when law enforcement seemed to throw in the towel, the church leaders demonstrated continued cooperation by immediately turning over the additional evidence it had uncovered. This church gets it – the authorities must have the cooperation of witnesses in order to conduct thorough investigations and bring justice to perpetrators.

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ILLINOIS
CBS Chicago

(STMW) – A youth group leader at a north suburban Lake Villa church is charged with having sexual contact with two young girls he drove home from church.

Matthew J. Harder, 18, is a youth worship leader for the Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church, 43 W. Grass Lake Rd. in Lake Villa, Lake County Sheriff’s officers said in a release.

Harder, of the 1000 block of Barberry Lane in Round Lake Beach, was arrested Friday and charged with criminal sexual abus
e, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, the release said.
The investigation began Jan. 25 after two girls told the church that Harder had sexual contact with each of them while driving them home from church on separate occasions, police claim.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

By Steve Zalusky

A Lake Villa youth worship leader was charged with criminal sexual assault by Lake County authorities.

On Friday, sheriff’s deputies arrested Matthew J. Harder, 18, of the 1000 Block of Barberry Lane in Round Lake Beach.

Deputies said Harder, a youth worship leader for the Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church in Lake Villa, made inappropriate sexual contact with two girls.

The girls reported to the church on Jan. 25 that, on separate occasions, Harder had inappropriate sexual contact with them while driving them home from church, deputies said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

[The Ferns Report via BishopAccountability.org]

DAVID QUINN – 01 FEBRUARY 2014

BRENDAN Comiskey was once one of Ireland’s best-known bishops. Indeed, with his outgoing personality, his media savvy and his mildly liberal theological views, he was seen by many as exactly the sort of bishop the Catholic Church in Ireland needed.

He became Bishop of Ferns in 1984, aged just 49, and this was another indication of a generational change in the air.

When I became editor of ‘The Irish Catholic’ in January 1996, Bishop Comiskey was still a columnist with the paper and I had some few dealings with him at that time.

But his personal and professional troubles were already mounting. The previous year, his press officer, Fr Walter Forde, confirmed to the media that Bishop Comiskey had taken a three-month sabbatical due to drink problems. He soon stopped writing his column at ‘The Irish Catholic’.

His drink problem probably contributed to his appalling handling of clerical sex abuse in his diocese. One of his priests was one of the worst offenders of all – Fr Sean Fortune, now deceased.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

DEARBHAIL MCDONALD – 01 FEBRUARY 2014

CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald may have been disappointed that the official launch of the €600m Child and Family Agency was overshadowed by the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Louise O’Keeffe case.

She should not be. The ECHR ruling, which exposed the failure of the State to protect its children from abuse in primary schools, goes to the heart of the new agency’s mission and underscores the need for a multi-agency approach to child protection.

The minister may also be dismayed by remarks from Brendan Comiskey, the former Bishop of Ferns who still – it seems – has not come to terms with his management of paedophile priests in Wexford.

Bishop Comiskey (79) claims in today’s Irish Independent that he did his best; that it wasn’t good enough and “that’s it”.

He has also warned that an “extraordinary amount” of revelations concerning child abuse in the wider Irish society are yet to be exposed.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

In 2005, Justine McCarthy revealed how during an interview years earlier, a drunk Bishop Brendan Comiskey issued an astonishing threat to rape her

01 FEBRUARY 2014

IT was 2pm. Bishop Comiskey was very drunk. He reeked of alcohol and was swaying. Then he told me, if you write a story like that I’ll come up to Dublin and rape you.

For the rest of that week after the bishop threatened to rape me, he phoned me in the office every day, sometimes twice a day. His morning calls were usually softer-voiced and pathetic. By the afternoon, they had grown harsher, more rambling, less coherent and more disturbing. I could measure the progress of his intoxication on the phone each day.

The more he phoned, the more I felt he was establishing a macabre bond between us. Each time I heard his voice, I felt panicky. In one morning call, he turned the tables by implying that I was the one guilty of causing him injury, or planning it. The last time the bishop rang, he apologised. He had asked in one of his earlier calls if it was true that he had made a specific threat of violence against me and what, precisely, was that threat. Spelling out to a drunk prince of the church on the phone that he had threatened to rape me was not only surreal, it felt like the second-worst kind of enforced intimacy. Now this last time he called, he sounded exhausted and sober. He said he could not remember saying it but, “if I did, I’m sorry”.

The following morning, my bland interview with Bishop Brendan Comiskey was published in the Irish Independent, depicting him, to my shame, as a compassionate and fearless rebel in the crusty conference of bishops. I never heard from him again.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

EDEL KENNEDY – 01 FEBRUARY 2014

He denied allegations about using prostitutes.

There were also reports of him being arrested in Bangkok, and queries over his purchase of a Dublin apartment

BRENDAN Comiskey didn’t just court controversy – he relished it. Loved by the media because of his brazen outspokenness, his comments could make headlines around the world.

He was happy to publicly comment on everything from contraceptives to spanking children, to former colleagues fathering children. And he even spoke in favour of allowing priests to marry.

But behind the public face was a private life – he battled a growing problem with alcoholism and he was failing to deal with sex abuse by several priests within the diocese of Ferns.

And when his facade unravelled, it did so in spectacular fashion with reports and allegations about using prostitutes, being arrested in Bangkok airport, and queries over his personal – and secretive – purchase of a Dublin apartment.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

[with video]

Bishop Comiskey breaks his silence on Ferns scandal: ‘Church was no worse for abuse than anywhere else’

01 FEBRUARY 2014

THE disgraced former Bishop of Ferns Brendan Comiskey has broken his silence for the first time about the clerical sex abuse scandal that forced his dramatic resignation 12 years ago.

The 79-year-old, who retreated from public life following revelations that he failed to protect children from paedophile priests in his Wexford diocese, told the Irish Independent: “I did my best and it wasn’t good enough and that’s it.”

He said he was part of the “tragic history” of the period and wasn’t going to make excuses for it.

But Bishop Comiskey, a reformed alcoholic who retains the honorary title of Bishop Emeritus, claimed that an “extraordinary amount” of revelations concerning child abuse in the wider Irish society were yet to be exposed.

And he claimed that there was “no more” sexual abuse going on in the Catholic Church than among the rest of the population.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

PAUL WILLIAMS SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT – 01 FEBRUARY 2014

THE heavy grey skies over Dublin unleashed a deluge as the tall, handsome gentleman emerged from the dental surgery on Burlington Road.

Unperturbed by the sudden violence of the downpour, he hoisted his umbrella and marched briskly down the pavement on the short journey to his home in nearby Ranelagh.

It had been at least 12 years since the former Bishop of Ferns Brendan Comiskey was seen in public, although he claims he has “been here all the time”.

He was once a flamboyantly liberal, religious prelate – a man seen as having a great future in the church.

Now he has been forced into anonymity by the horrific sins of the predatory priests under his control.

Brendan Comiskey was condemned for doing nothing while at least 10 clerics, including the infamous Sean Fortune, raped and abused scores of children with impunity.

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ILLINOIS
Journal-Standard

By Nick Crow
Posted Jun. 29, 2013

OREGON — A Crossroads Community Church pastor entered a not-guilty plea Friday to the charge of aggravated sexual abuse.

Charles Babler, 64, of Mount Morris has worked at the church’s Freeport and Polo campuses but is on administrative leave,

Babler entered the Ogle County Courthouse with his wife and sat quietly in Judge Robert T. Hanson’s courtroom.

Babler was arrested by sheriff’s deputies June 21 in the wake of an investigation of a 2011 incident in which police say he had contact with a person younger than 13.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

The Diocese of St. Cloud on Friday issued revisions to a Jan. 3 list of Central Minnesota clergy who had been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors:

• Raymond Jacques served in the parish of St. Paul in Sauk Centre.

• Henry Lutgen also served as assistant director of Catholic Charities in St. Cloud, St. Columbkille in St. Wendel, Community Hospital and Pine Villa in Melrose and St. Mary’s, Melrose.

• Adelbert Wolski, TOR, died Jan. 3, 2012, in Hollidaysburg, Pa.

The list is of official assignments only. A priest may have also served in other capacities, such as at hospitals and schools as an extension of his pastoral duties in a community.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 01/31/2014

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has asked a judge to block depositions of top officials by attorneys representing an alleged sexual abuse victim.

A plaintiff identified as John Doe 1 sued the archdiocese, the Diocese of Winona and former priest Thomas Adamson in May 2013, alleging sexual abuse by Adamson between 1976 and 1977.

Adamson was assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas church in St. Paul Park at the time.

The plaintiff’s attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Michael Finnegan, told the court in a motion filed Tuesday that the archdiocese had refused to answer questions and provide documents.

Finnegan said Friday that the requested information and depositions are relevant to the case.

“It’s our position that Archbishop (John) Nienstedt and (Rev.) Kevin McDonough for years have covered up and concealed child sex abuse in this archdiocese, thereby putting kids at risk — which is the heart of the nuisance claim,” he said.

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ILLINOIS
Journal-Standard

By Chris Green
Rockford Register Star
Posted Jan. 31, 2014

ROCKFORD – A Rockford woman is suing Holy Family Catholic Church and the Catholic Diocese of Rockford for $5 million, saying she was sexually abused for three years while a student at Holy Family Catholic School from 1972 to 1980.

Kathleen Gibbons, 46, is represented by the law office of Rene Hernandez. The suit, filed Friday, also names three clergy members as defendants: Monsignor Al Harte, Father Bob and Brother Allen. Harte died in 2002; Hernandez said the last names of Bob and Allen and their whereabouts are unknown.
“The case is being investigated fully, but we have no information at this time to suggest that these allegations are credible,” diocesan attorney Ellen Lynch said.

Gibbons says the abuse took place between 1978 and 1980, when she was 11 to 13 years old.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A firm of top international lawyers says it intends seeking huge damages from British public schools where former pupils have suffered serious sexual abuse by teachers.

The British-American law firm AO Advocates has told the BBC it wants to see US-style compensation payments, suggesting some UK victims could be in line to receive awards of more than £1 million.

In the last few years, former teachers at scores of private schools, including elite institutions such as Wellington College and Ampleforth, have been convicted of sexually abusing pupils, crimes often committed decades ago.

A representative of the Independent Schools Council has said that it would be “very unfair” and a “great shame” if good schools were forced to close because of compensation payments relating to historical abuse.

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MONTANA
Reuters

BY LAURA ZUCKERMAN
Sat Feb 1, 2014

Jan 31 (Reuters) – A Montana Roman Catholic diocese filed for bankruptcy on Friday as part of a proposed $17.5 million settlement with hundreds of adults alleging childhood sexual abuse by its priests, nuns and lay workers, a church spokesman said.

The Helena diocese, serving an estimated 44,500 Catholics in 57 parishes and 38 missions in western Montana, is the eleventh U.S. diocese to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization since 2004 because of liabilities linked to child abuse cases.

Under the proposed agreement, the church would pay $15 million to settle claims brought by 362 victims in two lawsuits filed in 2011. It also would set aside an additional $2.5 million for future claims and to cover legal costs, said Helena diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson.

“We don’t really have any reserves,” Bartleson said, adding that bankruptcy protection would help facilitate the payouts to abuse survivors. The agreement must still be approved by a federal bankruptcy court and by victims.

Attorneys representing the majority of claimants said the move brought the church closer to accepting responsibility for abuse that spanned three decades beginning in the 1940s and affected both young children and young adults. …

The settlement does not include the Ursuline Sisters, also defendants in the case against the Helena diocese, Bartleson said. Claims against the sisters are tied to Native Americans who allege they were abused decades ago as students in Montana schools overseen by the order.

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MONTANA
Los Angeles Times

Associated Press
January 31, 2014

HELENA, Mont. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy protection Friday as part of a proposed $15-million settlement for hundreds of victims who say clergy members sexually abused them over decades while the church covered it up.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs’ attorneys and insurers, resulting in a proposed deal to resolve the abuse claims, diocese officials said.

Bishop George Leo Thomas expressed his “profound sorrow” at a news conference and apologized to the victims.

“I know the pain is real, the pain is in the present tense, and in the name of the church, I want to say I’m sorry and we’re sorry as a church,” Thomas said.

The $15 million “will at least be a beginning point for people who are seeking resolution in their lives and in their hearts,” he added. …

Molly Howard, an attorney for the plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits, said she believed the bankruptcy process would resolve the case more quickly than years of litigation and trials with uncertain outcomes.

“Given the age and ill health of many of the victims, this is in their best interest,” Howard said. …

David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, criticized the diocese for seeking bankruptcy protection, saying it would allow church officials to keep records closed that might have come out in a trial.

He also said the settlement fell short because it did not publicly name the church officials who shielded and protected predator clergy members.

“Those individuals have to be exposed and punished,” Clohessy said.

Thomas said in response that church officials would comb their records to see if there were “intentional failures of leadership.” But the records from the time of the abuse are incomplete, he said.

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MONTANA
KPAX

by Jacqueline Quynh – KPAX News
Updated: Jan 31, 2014

MISSOULA – Despite the settlement, the anguish of the victims is not going away. And, even though the diocese has reached a settlement with 362 victims of sexual abuse, to some this by no means is closure. We talked with 4 victims, men and women, who came forward on Friday, to share the experiences they say, no one would believe, or chose to ignore. They talked about how hard it was to have had to carry this pain all these years alone.

And they tell us, the settlement at least gives light to something that had happened for decades, and that this acknowledgement could help prevent abuse in the future. “The apology the fact that we were telling the truth is a big deal, the most important, but it doesn’t take away the pain, I’ve dealt with for over 50 years, the disappointment because I wanted to be a nun,” said Jackie Trotch, abuse survivor.

That’s just one of the stories we heard on Friday, and they are all hard to hear. The Tamaki Law Firm vows to continue to pursue more cases of abuse. The group is currently preparing for a case against the Ursuline Sister of the Western Province. Also as part of the settlement, The Diocese of Helena will provide counseling for abuse victims.

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MONTANA
Missoulian

By Kathryn Haake

Lawyers representing victims of sexual assault that allegedly occurred for more than 40 years at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius are pledging to take the case to trial this summer – even after the Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy Friday to settle a similar lawsuit.

The case against the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province alleges that 10 nuns sexually abused Native American children at the Catholic boarding school from the 1930s to the 1970s, and lists 37 men and women as the victims of sexual molestation.

The lead counsel in the case, Blaine Tamaki of the Tamaki Law Offices of Yakima, Wash., is hoping to go to trial this summer and expose the alleged abuse to the public.

The 2011 lawsuit was filed in conjunction with another lawsuit against the Diocese of Helena, listing 362 victims as plaintiffs. The diocese filed for bankruptcy and pledged a settlement of $15 million Friday, to be funded by insurance and the diocese’s assets.

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CANADA
The Record

By Record staff

Convicted sex offender George Ferris is no longer an Anglican priest.

The Cambridge man has been sentenced to five-and-a-half-years in prison for three sexual assaults on teenage boys in the 1980s and 1990s.

The retired minister from Cambridge was most recently in court in Brantford on Wednesday, when he was sentenced on two charges. He was found not guilty of one count of sexual exploitation of a young person.

Ferris has now been stripped of his title of priest.

Reverend Robert Bennett, of the Anglican Diocese of Huron, disciplined Ferris on Thursday, a church press release says.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Posted on January 31, 2014 by lewisblayse

Dear all,

My Dad, Lewis, passed away last night. They think he had a heart attack.

To everyone who has supported his work and encouraged him in his fight against paedophilia, thank you. He was behind in his emails, but intended to respond to all who have sent messages of support.

Please watch ABC 24 tonight and the rerun of “The Homies” on Four Corners at 8pm.

I will post again when I have details about his funeral, for those who would like to attend.

With love,

Aletha

[Postscript: Dad believed that when we die, we become a pure beam of light energy, unrestricted by time or space. He told me that when it was his time, he was looking forward to exploring the universe.]

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UNITED KINGDOM
Whatsupic

By Michael Aydinian

Whatsupic — I often wonder whether or not people outside the UK are cognizant of what is nothing less than one of the greatest Paedophile scandals in history? It’s bad enough in the UK, for the entire mainstream media has been doing it’s level best to hush up the whole sordid affair. Indeed the very foundations of this scandal is inextricably linked to the BBC for Disc Jockey Jimmy Savile began his association with them in the mid 60’s. His eccentric, flamboyant manner would make him a household name. As well as presenting Top of the Pops, at the time a popular music show, his program ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ became prime time viewing, very much catching the imagination of younger generation! Here the somewhat outlandish wishes of children would become reality! For the largely unsuspecting public Jimmy Savile was fast-becoming an iconic figure; For the BBC he had become an absolute gold mine!

It has to be said Savile’s philanthropic activities made him the very last person people would ever suspect of wrong-doing! His lifetime work fundraising for charities & hospitals amassed as much as a staggering £40 million! Small wonder senior politicians, Prime Ministers & even Royalty were attracted to him. Evidently he spent several Christmas holidays at the residence of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It seemed he could do no wrong! Of course we now know nothing could have been further from the truth!

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

In today’s address to participants at the Plenary meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope urged them to reflect further on Benedict XVI’s teachings regarding the relationship between marriage and faith

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
VATICAN CITY

Children must always be protected and supported in their human and spiritual development,” Francis said in this morning’s audience with participants at the Plenary meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Mgr. Gerhard Ludwig Müller. The meeting was a chance for the Pope to emphasise the importance of not portraying Catholic doctrine as an ideology, reducing it to a “bunch of abstract, crystalised theories”; it was also a chance for him to urge the Vatican dicastery to safeguard the integrity of the faith “always working with local Pastors and the doctrinal commissions of the various Episcopal Conferences. Francis asked the dicastery to dig deeper into the relationship between personal faith and celebration of the Sacrament of marriage.”

“You must think of the wellbeing of children and young people. In Christian communities they must always be protected and supported in their human and spiritual development,” Francis said, clearly alluding to the issue of clerical sex abuse of minors. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is canonically responsible for stamping out sex abuse in the Church. “we are looking into the possibility of linking your dicastery with the special commission for the protection of children which I set up and which should be seen as an example by all of those who intend to safeguard the wellbeing of children.” In December Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston and a member of the Council of Cardinals – the so-called “C8” which is helping the Pope to reform the Roman Curia and govern the universal Church – announced the decision to set up the commission.

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CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

Robert McClory | Jan. 31, 2014 NCR Today

In a blistering rebuttal of Chicago Cardinal Francis George’s response to the release of the files on priest abusers, Fr. Tom Doyle analyzes in painful detail what the cardinal wrote in his Jan. 12 column in the Chicago New World. Doyle finds the cardinal “defensive, misleading and insulting in addition to the fact that it does not reflect the reality of the key issues.” He takes particular aim at the cardinal’s discussion of the case of Dan McCormack and his denial that he acted contrary to the findings of his own review board.

In the conclusion of his lengthy analysis, Doyle said, “It goes without saying that the Cardinal and the archdiocese would have been much better served had he said nothing. But he didn’t remain silent. The McCormack fiasco was not the result of confusing or bungled procedures, incomplete information. It was the result of the Cardinal’s arrogance, his over-riding concern for his and the Church’s image and worst of all, his disdain for the victims. The attitude that underlies the Cardinal’s statement is not unique to him. This attitude, painfully evident wherever clergy sexual abuse has been reported throughout the Church, shows that the bishops in general have a long, long way to go before their actions began to match up with their promises.”

Doyle’s analysis, published in National Survivor Advocates Coalition News on Thursday, follows:

Guest Opinion

CLERGY SEX ABUSE TRANSPARENCY ACCORDING TO CARDINAL GEORGE

Introducing Faith and Justice, the new column from NCR senior analyst Thomas Reese, SJ. Sign up for email alerts here.
Thomas Doyle

January 20, 2014

The leadership of the Archdiocese of Chicago has a mediocre to poor track record in responding to reports of clergy sexual abuse and their honesty with the public. Cardinal George’s recent statement to the archdiocese (January 12, 2014 in The Catholic New World) does nothing to change this pattern. This statement was issued to prepare the archdiocese for the release of the files of thirty priests confirmed as sexual abusers. His statement is defensive, misleading and insulting in addition to the fact that it does not reflect the reality of the key issues. A significant part of the statement is devoted to the defense of his mishandling of the Dan McCormack case. The McCormack files are not among those released!

In 1982 the parents of a minor boy reported that former Fr. Bob Mayer had sexually abused their teenaged son. This was under Cardinal Cody’s watch. They reported the abuse to the archdiocese and in return were intimidated and even threatened with excommunication by the chancellor at the time, Fr. J. Richard Keating who later became the bishop of Arlington VA. In 1988 they finally settled for a measly $10,000.00 that didn’t even cover their legal costs. The boy’s mother was not about to succumb to the scare tactics nor was she buying any of the dishonest mumbo-jumbo served up as excuses for their deliberate neglect. She went on to found the Linkup which quickly became one of the two most influential victim support organizations in the world.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Gumbleton | Jan. 31, 2014 The Peace Pulpit

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23
Full text of the readings

As we begin this account in Matthew’s Gospel of the public life of Jesus, at the very beginning, we are challenged directly by Jesus: “Change your lives, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand — change your lives.” The word is one that means a profound reordering of our lives — a 180-degree turn, a change in our value systems. The reign of God or the kingdom of heaven — this is something that Jesus is beginning to proclaim.

It’s important that we get a sense of what Jesus means by this kingdom of heaven. First of all, it has nothing to do with the afterlife. We might think, “The kingdom of heaven — that’s where we go after we die.” No; what it refers to is the reign of God, the reign of God throughout all of creation — on our planet, on our earth, in our lives. It refers to God working effectively in our everyday lives right here and now. …

If there’s been an offense against another, we go first and be reconciled. What I’m referring to is something that became very prominent in the news this week. It was reported on national news that the Chicago archdiocese, because of court order, released the personnel files on priests who had abused victims. Over the decades, these priests have been sheltered and then moved from one parish to another, and for a long time, never really held accountable.

Now finally, the files come out, and it’s clear that the bishops were much more concerned about protecting the good name of the church, preventing what they call scandal. They did such things as recently as the year 2000. Cardinal [Francis] George wrote a letter to a priest in prison whose prison sentence he was seeking to reduce, and he writes, “It would be a great fulfillment of the millennium spirit to see your captive heart set free.”

The cardinal was saying how marvelous it would be if this priest would be released from jail. But there’s no letter to the victim. There’s no letter going to the victim, saying, “Yes, we need to be reconciled and go and be reconciled,” with the perpetrator coming, admitting the guilt, and asking forgiveness. The victims in these cases have just been ignored. Further back, a priest wrote to Cardinal [Joseph] Bernardin from jail, “How full of shame I feel for having betrayed you and the archdiocese.”

No shame or sense of having to make reconciliation with the person whom he abused or the many people he abused. There’s been a big gap in what is happening in the church and what Pope John Paul II called, “A cancer on the body of Christ” — the sex abuse scandal. We still haven’t gotten to the real way and the only way that this healing could take place. The victims or survivors are still treated as though they’re adversaries.

People still say they only want the money. They don’t recognize these are people who have been profoundly hurt, who have been denied the real acceptance of what they say happened to them. The priests deny it, the bishops hide it, and even if the person tries to forgive, there’s no one there to receive the forgiveness. There can’t be reconciliation until the one who has perpetrated the harm comes, as Jesus says in the Gospel, “Go first and be reconciled with your brother or sister, then come and offer your gift.”

We have failed in this terrible cancer on the body of the church — failed to bring about the healing that is still so much needed for the thousands of people around the world who have been abused and then denied a real chance for reconciliation, not recognized as the ones who have been hurt. My thought is that we, as a community of people, followers of Jesus, trying to change our lives and live the gospel of love, must do what we can first of all, in changing our lives to live out that commandment of Jesus — love one another as I have loved you — and spelled out in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

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MONTANA
Kosnoff Fasy

Breaking News: Helena Diocese Bishop George Leo Thomas asks sex-abuse victims to come forward.

Incidents of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are well-known, as are the Church’s attempts to cover up and even ignore the crimes of sexual predators. Across the country, court records have detailed how church officials for years have knowingly transferred offending priests from one location to another.

Currently, we’re involved in two large, multi-plaintiff cases in Montana against the Helena diocese and the Great Falls-Billings diocese.

Helena Diocese Sex Abuse

The case against the Helena diocese was filed in September 2011 in Montana First Judicial District Court of Lewis and Clark County in Helena, Montana. We represent 250 men and women in that case. More abuse survivors continue to come forward, and we continue to investigate claims of abuse in that diocese. Recently, we ran a TV commercial urging survivors to come forward to file a claim while they still can, before settlement talks later this year.

Helena’s Bishop George Leo Thomas urged survivors to come forward and recently pledged that the Diocese will open its books and attempt to use a mediator to settle claims for those sexually abused by clergy in western Montana. Diocese officials posted on its web site, “The Diocese is working with victims’ attorneys and has extended an offer for Bishop George Thomas to meet with victims individually.” http://www.diocesehelena.org/resources/safe-env/_pdfs/reporting.pdf

Meanwhile, the case against the Great Falls-Billings diocese is progressing on behalf of 29 child sex-abuse victims. Additional witnesses have come forward with information, and we’re continuing to investigate. The case has been filed in Montana Eighth Judicial District Court in Cascade County. The case has numerous unnamed alleged perpetrators and five named alleged abusers, including Father Ted Szudera. One of our clients, a former altar boy, was raped by Szudera for two years. The Great Falls diocese conducted its own self-styled investigation, dismissed the allegations as unfounded and allowed Szudera to continue serving as a priest around children. Following the allegations, Szudera served on a bishop’s committee advising the diocese on how to handle clergy sex-abuse allegations.

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MONTANA
NBC News

[letter from the bishop]

By Alessandra Malito, NBC News

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, Mont., planned to file for bankruptcy on Friday to pave the way for a $15 million settlement of lawsuits alleging clergy members sexually abused 362 children over five decades, according to a diocese spokesman.

“The settlement here will be as much help financially as we can offer to claimants,” the spokesman, Dan Bartleson, told NBCNews.com. “And the bankruptcy puts us in a place at the diocese where we can care for the Catholics who are currently part of the church.”

The lawsuits, originally filed in 2011, claimed that clergy members had abused children from the 1940s to 1980s and that the diocese knew or should have known what was happening.

“It’s widespread … (and) some of the most horrific abuse we’ve dealt with,” Dan Fasy, an attorney with law firm Kosnoff Fasy, which represents 268 of the 362 claimants, told NBC News.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Rant Lifestyle

Retired Chicago auxiliary Bishop Raymond Goedert was vicar for priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s until leaving that post in September, 1991 upon becoming a Bishop. The post of vicar for priests put him in charge of dealing with charges of sexual abuse by clergy. It was during Goedert’s tenure as vicar that two of the most notorious cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests in the Chicago Archdiocese came to light, that of Robert Mayer, who eventually served a three year sentence for fondling a teenage girl in a church rectory and of Vince McCaffrey, who is currently serving a 20 year sentence for child pornography. These were only the two most notable cases of such abuse that came to light during Goedert’s tenure.

That Mayer and McCaffrey wound up in jail had nothing to do with Goedert’s efforts; during Goedert’s entire tenure as vicar for priests, he never once called police when allegations of perversion by his priests arose. Not once…even though, as Goedert admitted, priests who were confronted with allegations “frequently, if not always, admitted to it.”

Goedert argues that he didn’t call police because, at the time of his service as vicar, clergy were not “mandated reporters,” specifically required to report cases of sexual abuse to the authorities, under Illinois law. Goedert expects us to believe that, while he was, as he puts it, “concerned for the children,” he did only what he was required by law to do to protect them. Oh, yeah, he was concerned with the children, but not to the point at which he would do anything more than the letter of the law required, especially when doing so might hurt the reputation of the Church…which, one suspects, is the heart of the matter, though Goedert would never admit that.

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian (UK)

Associated Press in Helena
theguardian.com, Friday 31 January 2014

The Roman Catholic diocese of Helena planned to file for bankruptcy protection Friday in advance of proposed settlements for two lawsuits that claim clergy members sexually abused 362 people over decades and the church covered it up.

Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy re-organization will be filed Friday morning, and comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs’ attorneys, resulting in the deals to resolve the abuse claims.

The settlement details are being worked out, but the US Bankruptcy Court in Montana would be responsible for approving and supervising the disbursement of $15m to compensate the identified victims, plus an additional amount set aside for those who come forward later.

The victims and creditors will have the chance to vote on the proposed settlement, Bartleson said.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys said they planned to release a statement later Friday.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

Jessica Grewal 1st Feb 2014

DRIVEN by a desire to protect church money, the Anglican Diocese of Grafton “comprehensively failed” victims of child sex abuse and in some cases, damaged them further, the royal commission has heard.

Sweeping reforms to the structure of the Anglican Church are likely after the senior barrister tasked with bringing evidence before last year’s North Coast Children’s Home inquiry released a damning assessment of its ability to deal with child abuse survivors and discipline the perpetrators.

The landmark inquiry uncovered haunting accounts from former residents of the Lismore home and raised serious questions about the Grafton Diocese’s response to a group compensation claim and its treatment of the victims involved.

Counsel Assisting the Commission Simeon Beckett found that despite having “sufficient assets to meet the claims of the abused former residents”, the Diocese chose to protect its finances rather than provide victims with “appropriate redress”.

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AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

THE royal commission has been asked to find that the Anglican Church failed in its duty to report and discipline convicted sex offender and former Tweed Parish priest Allan Kitchingman.

In a damning report released on Thursday, counsel assisting the Commissioner Simeon Beckett submitted there were 59 findings available to the commission arising from last year’s inquiry into the Grafton Diocese response to allegations of abuse at Lismore’s North Coast Children’s Home.

During the hearing, diocese members were questioned as to what steps had been taken to reprimand Kitchingman, whose name remained on the Anglican Church directory for some time after he was convicted of five counts of sexual assault.

Court documents revealed Kitchingman was chaplain of the home when he sexually abused a boy at a Ballina youth camp.

He went on to serve for more than a decade between Mullumbimby and Tweed Heads, and was charged in 2002, aged 69, and jailed for a minimum of 18 months.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

1st Feb 2014

Reverend Campbell Brown, a retired Grafton priest believed to be living in the Newcastle area, is accused of sexually assaulting children, including whistleblower Richard “Tommy” Campion, while he was in a position of trust at the Lismore home.

Documents tendered to the commission this week confirm Rev Brown was referred to the police in December last year.

He had previously been referred to the Child Abuse Squad in 2006.

At the time, the Grafton Diocese was told Rev Brown had not had any contact with the Church since the ordination of women, was nearly 80 years old and was vision impaired.

The commission heard the Diocese was first made aware of allegations against Rev Brown and another priest – Rev Winston Morgan, through a letter, written by Mr Campion in 2002.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service | Jan. 31, 2014

VATICAN CITY Before the year dedicated to consecrated life begins in November, the Vatican congregation for religious hopes to release its final report on the 2009-2010 visitation of U.S. women’s communities.

Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said, “We are working intensely on the final report, and after careful study and consideration, we think it will be made public soon. We’re at a good point. I think we can conclude it before the beginning of the Year for Consecrated Life” in November.

The former prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Franc Rodé, initiated the visitation in January 2009, saying its aim would be to study the community, prayer and apostolic life of the orders to learn why the number of religious women in the United States had declined so sharply since the 1960s.

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MONTANA
Washington Times

By Cheryl K. Chumley-The Washington Times

A Roman Catholic diocese in Montana has filed for bankruptcy, the latest move to resolve a long-running court fight against 300-plus plaintiffs who allege the church covered up the years of childhood abuse they suffered.

Three-hundred and sixty-two plaintiffs joined separate lawsuits in 2011, accusing church officials of abusing them when they were children, between the years of 1930 and 1980 — and that the church knew of the abuse, CNN reported.

Plaintiffs also allege the Diocese of Helena actively protected some of the church officials who were involved in the abuse, CNN said.

The case has been stretching for months. Various mediation attempts have failed, and it’s hoped that the bankruptcy will bring about an acceptable resolution, diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said, CNN reported.

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MONTANA
KXLH

HELENA – The Diocese of Helena plans to file for financial reorganization in federal bankruptcy court on Friday, January 31st.

In a press release on Friday, the diocese called the move “a major step toward bringing resolution to 362 claims of abuse of minors by diocesan priests, religious community priests, women religious and lay workers who have served in the diocese, primarily between 30 and 60 years ago.”

The filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte results from negotiations with “known abuse survivors” and the diocese’s insurers.

“The Diocese chose a pastoral mode and entered into a confidential mediation process,” the diocese said.

Negotiations in the matter are still ongoing, but the settlement will include a $15 million fund for victims already identified, and additional funds for possible additional victims.

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UNITED STATES
BBC News

A Roman Catholic diocese in the US state of Montana has filed for bankruptcy protection, amid claims hundreds of children were abused.

Two 2011 lawsuits against the diocese in Helena, the state capital, allege that 362 children were abused between 1940-1980.

Plaintiffs claim the diocese protected the offenders or turned a blind eye.

The filing precedes proposed settlements reached during confidential mediation sessions, US media report.

A Montana bankruptcy court will be responsible for approving disbursement of a reported $15m (£9m) in compensation for identified victims, plus an undisclosed amount to be set aside for those plaintiffs who come forward at a later date.

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MONTANA
KAJ18

Jan 31, 2014 10:29 AM by Sanjay Talwani – MTN News

HELENA – The Diocese of Helena plans to file for financial reorganization in federal bankruptcy court on Friday, Jan. 31.

In a news release on Friday, the diocese called the move “a major step toward bringing resolution to 362 claims of abuse of minors by diocesan priests, religious community priests, women religious and lay workers who have served in the diocese, primarily between 30 and 60 years ago.”

The filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte results from negotiations with “known abuse survivors” and the diocese’s insurers.

“The Diocese chose a pastoral mode and entered into a confidential mediation process,” the diocese said.

Negotiations in the matter are still ongoing, but the settlement will include a $15 million fund for victims already identified, and additional funds for possible additional victims.

“On behalf of the entire Diocese of Helena, I express my profound sorrow and sincere apologies to anyone who was abused by a priest, a sister, or a lay Church worker,” Helena Bishop George Leo Thomas said in the statement . “No child should experience harm from anyone who serves in the Church.”

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MONTANA
Wisconsin State Journal

In the Spirit: Madison Bishop Robert Morlino’s former diocese to file for bankruptcy

DOUG ERICKSON | Wisconsin State Journal | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

The Catholic Diocese of Helena, Mont., will file for bankruptcy reorganization Friday as part of its effort to resolve two lawsuits that claim clergy members sexually abused 362 people over several decades and the church covered it up.

Madison Bishop Robert Morlino served as bishop of the Helena diocese from 1999-2003. The lawsuits were filed in 2011 and relate to allegations of abuse from the 1940s to the 1970s, according to the Associated Press.

The allegations pre-date Morlino’s tenure in Helena, and he has not been brought into any conversations related to the lawsuits, said Brent King, spokesman for the Madison Catholic Diocese.

A statement released Friday by the Helena diocese said the details of the settlements are still being worked out but that $15 million would be available to compensate the currently identified victims, with additional settlement funds for other and unknown victims.

Morlino was bishop of Helena in 2002 when the national priest-abuse crisis broke. In a 2002 story in the (Helena) Independent Record, Morlino referenced allegations of abuse that pre-dated his arrival there.

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MONTANA
ABC Fox Montana

By Emily Foster

HELENA –
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena is filing for bankruptcy protection amid lawsuits claiming clergy members abused 362 children over decades.

Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said in a statement Friday the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case will help resolve the abuse claims.

The diocese covers western Montana and employs about 200 people.

The two lawsuits filed in 2011 claim clergy members abused the children from the 1930s to the 1970s.

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MONTANA
Wall Street Journal

By Tom Corrigan

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena said Friday it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to resolve more than 350 sexual abuse claims.

The filing, expected later Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte, Mont., follows a mediation process that resulted in a settlement with insurers and the individuals who have brought sexual abuse claims against the diocese.

“Once the reorganization proceedings conclude, we will be able to plan confidently for future ministry for the people of the Church of the Diocese of Helena,” Helena Bishop George Leo Thomas said Friday in a statement.

Should a bankruptcy judge approve the settlement, the diocese would pay $15 million to currently identified holders of sexual abuse claims with additional funding set aside for others who may come forward with abuse claims in the future.

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NEW MEXICO
Cibola Beacon

Staff Report

According to Suzanne Hammons, the spokesperson for the Diocese of Gallup, Father Timothy Conlon, a priest of the Diocese, has been credibly accused of two incidents of sexual abuse toward a minor.

Conlon, a member of the Crosier Brothers, based in Phoenix, Ariz., was in the process of becoming incardinated within the Gallup Diocese when the accusations came to light.

The accusations refer to an incident that took place approximately 40 years ago, before Fr. Conlon came to Arizona and before he was ordained a priest.

Upon learning of the accusation, Bishop James Wall immediately notified law enforcement in Arizona, and, working with the Crosier Prior Provincial Thomas Enneking, O.S.C., immediately removed Conlon from ministry in the Diocese of Gallup, where he had been assigned as Parish Administrator for St. John the Baptist Parish, in St. John’s, Ariz., and San Raphael Parish, in Concho, Ariz.

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VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Jan. 31 2014

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

Today the Pope asked one ancient Vatican bureaucracy to “study” clergy sexual abuse and cooperate with another Vatican body that hasn’t even been set up yet.

This isn’t progress. It’s perhaps the 20th or 30th time that a pope has talked about his hopes and plans about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. But not a single pope has exposed a single predator or a single enabler. Not a single pope has really punished a single complicit bishop. And not a single pope has taken a single effective step to prevent clergy sex crimes or cover ups.

When will the words stop and the action start?

[Vatican Information Service]

[Catholic News Service]

Pope Francis says he hopes the latest in a long series of church abuse panels will be “exemplary.” If history is any guide, it won’t be, especially if the person who sets it up, the Pope himself, refuses to make a single dramatic move to disrupt the centuries-old, self-serving and secretive clerical culture that has creates and perpetuates this crisis.

The Pope won’t even sack convicted Missouri Bishop Robert Finn or disband the corruption-riddled Legion of Christ. “The Pope won’t even tell bishops “Report abuse to police regardless of whether laws require this.” The Pope won’t even rebuff disgraced Cardinal Roger Mahony, with whom he said mass and had a private audience earlier this month.

So the odds that his hand-picked abuse panel – whenever it’s set up – will make any difference are exceedingly slim.

And we believe his plan to put another abuse panel under the CDF is dreadful, especially given the poor tracker record of Muller on abuse. At best, this hide-bound institution has shown no interest or expertise in prevention, which should be the church hierarchy’s top priority.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Jan. 31, 2014 The Francis Chronicles

In an important address to staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Francis today essentially said, “tone it down.”

He called for Vatican doctrinal officials to work with a new spirit of service and charity and to cooperate more with local churches. He reminded the CDF that doctrine “must be taught and judged within the context of the needs of the community.” In other words, he emphasized his pastoral vision, his Vatican II vision, as the primary vision of church. There can be little doubt this represents a major shift from the papacies of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

He said, “right from the earliest times of the Church there has been a temptation to consider the doctrine in an ideological sense or to reduce it to a series of abstract and crystallized theories.” He went on to say that “doctrine’s sole role is to serve the life of God’s people and is meant to ensure a solid foundation to our faith,” according to Vatican radio.

There is a great temptation, he continued, “to take control of the gifts of salvation that come from God to domesticate them, maybe even with good intentions, according to the views and spirit of the world.”

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