ABUSE TRACKER

OREGON
Bend Bulletin

By Scott Hammers / The Bulletin

Published Apr 27, 2014

Bishop Liam Cary of the Diocese of Baker has invited Father James Radloff to return to the Catholic church, less than a week after the priest announced plans to establish a competing church in Bend.

Radloff had served nearly two years as the pastor of Bend’s St. Francis of Assisi parish when Cary stripped him of his post last fall for unspecified reasons and proposed sending him to a church in Merrill near Klamath Falls. Both Cary and the diocese have been silent about the nature of the dispute. Radloff appealed his removal to the Vatican, which ruled in favor of the diocese in February.

Last week, Radloff announced he was leaving the Roman Catholic Church to serve as pastor of the Holy Communion Evangelical Catholic Church, a small sect that adheres to most traditional Catholic doctrine but takes a more liberal approach on a number of social issues. The new church is scheduled to make its debut with an inaugural Mass in early June at the Riverhouse Hotel & Convention Center in Bend.

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OREGON
OregonLive

By The Associated Press
on November 04, 2013

BEND — A Roman Catholic priest is appealing his bishop’s decision to remove him from his post as pastor of a Bend church.

The Bend Bulletin reports that the Rev. James Radloff was removed on Oct. 1.

Bishop Liam Cary of the Diocese of Baker didn’t explain the removal in a public statement he issued at the time

But in a letter to members of the congregation, Cary said Radloff had circulated a petition protesting the bishop’s decision to transfer another priest from St. Francis. Cary called that a serious error of judgment.

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OREGON
CathNews New Zealand

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

The Vatican has declined to intervene on behalf of a priest whose bishop removed him as pastor of a parish in Bend, Oregon, in the fall and later barred him from public ministry.

In a decision dated January 31 and reported to NCR on Friday, the Vatican Congregation for Clergy confirmed that Baker, Oregon, Bishop Liam Cary was justified in removing Fr James Radloff as pastor of St Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend on October 1.

According to Radloff’s canonical adviser, Fr Thomas Faucher, the congregation “has also declined to order Bishop Cary to make public the reasons for the removal” and “declined to order Bishop Cary to rescind his ban on Fr. Radloff from celebration of Mass and from all public ministry.”

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OREGON
OPB

AP | Nov. 4, 2013

A Roman Catholic priest is appealing his bishop’s decision to remove him from his post as pastor of a Bend church.

The Bend Bulletin reports that the Rev. James Radloff was removed on Oct. 1.

Bishop Liam Cary of the Diocese of Baker didn’t explain the removal in a public statement he issued at the time

But in a letter to members of the congregation, Cary said Radloff had circulated a petition protesting the bishop’s decision to transfer another priest from St. Francis. Cary called that a serious error of judgment.

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OREGON
Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker

25 April 2014

On April 19, 2014, the Reverend James Radloff, an incardinated priest of the Diocese of Baker, informed me of his decision to resign from the priesthood and to sever his relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. I am also in receipt of public statements that he has made in which he has indicated his decision to become associated with the Evangelical Catholic Church, a religious entity that is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

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OREGON
KTVZ

By Brittany Weiner
POSTED: December 24, 2013

BEND, Ore. –
For more than a year, Father James Radloff has offered words of inspiration and faith to the parish of 5,300 at St. Francis of Assisi in Bend.

“He made me feel welcome,” said St. Francis parishioner Cricket Daniel.

On Tuesday, a big announcement from the bishop of the Diocese of Baker: Father Radloff will be replaced.

Bishop Liam Cary issued a statement but would not comment on camera.

But Father Radloff’s family expressed their concern.

“He is in the state of shock,” said Radloff’s sister, Kimberly Boehl. “He just feels like everything is been ripped away from him, everything that he cares about.”

Coincidentally, the announcement comes just after a church newsletter was released Sunday, with a glowing report card on Father Radloff. He received A’s across the board.

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OREGON
Bend Bulletin

Father James Radloff has since left the Catholic Church
By Scott Hammers / The Bulletin

Published Oct 16, 2014

A Catholic priest who was dismissed from his position in Bend last year has filed a complaint with the state Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Father James Radloff headed the Bend-based St. Francis of Assisi parish for nearly two years before he was dismissed last October by Liam Cary, bishop of the Diocese of Baker.

Radloff and the diocese have said little about the events leading up to Radloff’s dismissal, alluding to an unspecified dispute between the former priest and Cary.

The complaint, filed with the Labor Bureau on Sept. 30, states the disagreement between Cary and Radloff can be traced to an incident prior to Easter 2013, when Cary allegedly conducted an approximately hour-long confession with a teenage boy. “When the boy emerged, he appeared shaken, upset and distraught,” the complaint states, and according to Rad­loff, the boy’s parents reported the incident to Radloff.

Radloff reported the incident to Cary, the complaint states, and asked that Cary refrain from taking confessions from children until it could be investigated. The complaint alleges Cary told Radloff he had “crossed a line” by reporting the incident, and launched a campaign to damage Radloff’s reputation and ultimately remove him from his post.

The complaint details 29 allegations of mistreatment by Cary and the diocese, with Radloff claiming he was evicted from parish housing on four days’ notice and forbidden from traveling within the diocese, which covers nearly two-thirds of Oregon.

Radloff was barred from performing the duties of a priest at his mother’s home parish in Chicago, the complaint states, and parishioners in Bend were given false and misleading information about his dismissal, “creating the misconception that I was a ‘pedophile priest.’”

A prospective employer who contacted Cary’s office seeking a reference was told, according to the complaint, “when Bishop Cary gets through with Father Radloff, he won’t be allowed to perform Ash Wednesday mass at a mini-mart.”

Bill Buchanan, a Bend attorney representing Radloff, said given the conditions placed on him by Cary and the Diocese of Baker, Radloff was effectively no longer “a priest in good standing” once he was dismissed.

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OREGON
National Catholic Reporter

[the complaint made to the Bureau of Labor and Industries]

Dan Morris-Young | Oct. 17, 2014

A former priest of Baker, Ore., diocese has filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, charging that “unlawful retaliatory conduct” by Bishop Liam Cary and the diocese damaged his health and reputation.

In the Sept. 30 filing, James A. Radloff, former pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Bend, Ore., charges that a “campaign” was launched against him after he filed a report asking that Cary refrain from hearing children’s confessions at St. Francis pending investigation of an incident involving a male teen.

“Prior to Easter 2013, a teen-aged boy attended confession at the St. Francis Church on what is called reconciliation night,” the complaint states. “There were numerous priests available … The boy entered a private confessional with Bishop Cary, who kept the boy in confession for approximately one hour. When the boy emerged, he appeared shaken, upset and distraught. Although he did not immediately share all of what was discussed between him and Bishop Cary, the boy reported that Bishop Cary insisted upon meeting with the boy again in private at another time. When the parents of the boy learned of this incident, they reported it to me.”

While the statement does not name the boy or his family, they were aware the incident would be described in the pleading “and were OK with it,” said Bill Buchanan, Radloff’s attorney.

“The diocese has no comment,” a diocesan employee told NCR on Thursday.

The complaint states that Radloff “immediately reported the incident to my supervisor, Bishop Cary, and asked the Bishop to refrain from taking any more confessions from children until such time as the incident could be investigated.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Nathan Guttman
Published October 19, 2014.

WASHINGTON — Washington’s Kesher Israel is emerging today from a long four-day stretch of holiday and Shabbat, back to dealing with the reality of news about the synagogue’s rabbi, Barry Freundel, who was arrested on voyeurism charges after allegedly peeping on women at the mikveh. For Orthodox members of the synagogue, it has been a forced, but welcome, detachment from TV news and online updates on the case that has brought local and national attention to their synagogue.

The issue was discussed, however, in between prayers and services during the holiday and weekend and was addressed only once from the bimah, when the synagogue’s president Elanit Jakabovics delivered a heartfelt speech during Thursday’s morning service.

“There are no words to describe the shock, devastation and heartbreak we are feeling at this moment,” Jakabovics told congregants, in a speech that did not mention Freundel by name even once. She spoke in harsh terms when describing the news thrust upon the congregation. “I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m concerned, I’m sad,” she said, expressing her sympathy to Freundel’s wife and children and mainly to all members of the community, some of them potentially victims of the rabbi’s actions.

The synagogue, she said, is supposed to be “a safe space for us” and events of the past week have shattered this sense of safety. “Our trust has been violated,” Jakabovics said, noting that the mikveh is a sacred place, a sanctuary, “a space of inviolable intimacy and privacy.” This place, Kesher Israel’s president stated, has now been tarnished. “Our inviolability has been violated,” she said. “I am a woman; it could have been me.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

‘Thanks be to God’, as we Catholic children used to say with heartfelt enthusiasm as Mass was over for another week. The most divisive meeting of Catholic bishops since Vatican II has ended – and no real damage has been done. Except, I’m sorry to say, to the reputation of Pope Francis. No real progress has been made, either.

This afternoon the official report of the Synod was released and so far as I can tell it cancelled the ‘earthquake’ implied by the half-way report of the debates on Monday. This called for the ‘gifts and values’ of homosexuals to be recognised and of ‘valuing’ their sexual orientation.

This language has disappeared from today’s report – a ‘working document’ for a fuller Synod next year – whose paragraphs were voted on in sections. In its place are bland assurances that gay people are to be cared for with ‘respect and sensitivity’ and even that did not receive the 2/3 majority it needed to be officially adopted. (Update: Since the paragraph offered gay people nothing more than is already available, you have to wonder how 62 synod fathers couldn’t even countenance it.) But the Pope ordered that it be published anyway.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

BARRY DUKE, EDITOR

Just days after mouthing idiotic remarks about gays, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, has been demoted.

Burke is moving from the Church’s chief guardian of canon law to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Clearly peeved over the the direction a worldwide meeting of Church leaders is taking, Burke said yesterday that – with the apparent blessing of Pope Francis – the RCC is being “weakened”.

An interim report of the discussions released on Monday, called the Relatio, produced a widespread backlash among conservative bishops who said it suggested a radical change to the Church’s teaching on questions like divorce and homosexuality, and Burke has been among the most publicly critical of the bishops picked by Pope Francis to lead the discussion.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Church’s doors are wide open, to receive “not only the just”, “but the needy” too. Francis disproved assumptions about a “disputatious Church where one part is against the other”, guaranteeing its unity. He reiterated that no one ever called into question the indissolubility of marriage and marriage’s openness to life

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
VATICAN CITY

Speaking after the vote on the content of the Synod’s final document, the relatio synodi (three key paragraphs in the draft document did not win the two thirds majority vote), Francis addressed the assembled Fathers saying: “Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.” In his speech, which received a five-minute standing ovation , Francis underlined that the Church’s “doors are wide open to receive the needy”, “not only the just”. He disproved assumptions about a “disputatious Church where one part is against the other”, and presented himself as the “guarantor” of its unity. He reiterated that no one ever called into question the indissolubility of marriage and marriage’s openness to life.

The relatio synodi, Francis emphasised, is “the faithful and clear summary of everything that has been said and discussed in this hall and in the small groups. It is presented to the Episcopal Conferences as ‘lineamenta’”, as a guiding text that is, for the Ordinary Synod in October 2015.

“I can happily say that – with a spirit of collegiality and of synodality – we have truly lived the experience of ‘Synod’, a path of solidarity, a ‘journey together’, the Pope said after thanking everyone present. “And it has been ‘a journey’ – and like every journey there were moments of running fast, as if wanting to conquer time and reach the goal as soon as possible; other moments of fatigue, as if wanting to say ‘enough’; other moments of enthusiasm and ardour. There were moments of profound consolation listening to the testimony of true pastors, who wisely carry in their hearts the joys and the tears of their faithful people.”

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE HISTORY OF mother-and-baby homes in Ireland is to be investigated in a French documentary.

So far, only one priest has agreed to be interviewed for the programme, despite numerous requests made of religious figures.

The documentary, which is being made by France 2, came to light after a letter from Terry Prone to one of its makers, Saskia Weber, went public.

Prone’s letter was sent to Weber in response to a request for an interview with Sr Marie Ryan of the Bon Secours sisters, for whom Prone is a public relations representative.
The documentary

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Weber said that this was not the only negative response that she had received while trying to arrange interviews for the documentary.

Weber said the documentary is about the mother-and-baby homes, and will focus on different individuals, such as Derek Leinster of the Bethany Home, and also a person who was born in the Tuam home, and a mother who was in Bessborough in Cork.

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MALTA
Malta Indpependent

With yesterday’s official resignation of Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona, the way is now open and the competition is on for a successor to be chosen. The names of a number of frontrunners have been posited lately, but it seems that Gozo Bishop Mario Grech is in pole position.

And, given the turn of events in the Maltese Church over the last few days, an anecdote from the Extraordinary Synod on the Family in Rome that reached this newsroom some days ago from people very close to Mgr Grech has become all the more pertinent.

Pope Francis, it seems, was extremely pleased with the Gozo Bishop’s address to the Synod on 8 October. So much so that the next morning, over breakfast at Casa Marta, Pope Francis tapped Mgr Grech on the shoulder and complimented him on his speech. That, people close to Mgr Grech informed this newsroom, was followed by another friendly pat on the back during the next coffee break.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

BY PHILIP PULLELLA
VATICAN CITY Sat Oct 18, 2014

(Reuters) – Roman Catholic bishops on Saturday reversed a historic acceptance of gays, dropping parts of a controversial document that had talked more positively of homosexuals than ever before in Church history.

The document, issued at the end of a two-week assembly, or synod, of some 200 Roman Catholic bishops from around the world, pointed to deep divisions within the Church on issues such as reaching out to homosexuals and Catholics who have divorced and re-married in civil services.

After an initial draft was released on Monday, conservative bishops vowed to change the language on gays, cohabitation and re-marriage, saying it had created confusion among the faithful and threatened to undermine the traditional family.

Gay rights groups expressed deep disappointment with the final version, while the conservative Catholic blog Rorate Caeli hailed it as “a considerable setback for the revolutionaries”.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho
October 18, 2014

At the conclusion of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, the Vatican released the final version of the text summarizing the discussions over the past two weeks. (At present, the text is available only in Italian.) The synod fathers voted on each of the document’s sixty-two paragraphs. Three sections on controversial issues did not receive the necessary two-thirds majority to pass: two paragraphs on Communion for the divorced and remarried and one on gay people. None was particularly revolutionary. The sections on divorced and remarried Catholics simply reported that some synod fathers favored finding a way to readmit such Catholics to Communion, and others wanted to maintain current practice. Likewise, the paragraph about gay people was rather tame. It referred to a 2003 document from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which hold that there are “absolutely not grounds” for calling same-sex unions “similar or even remotely analagous” to traditional marriage, and reemphasized the obvious truth that gay people should be treated with respect.

This was the second Vatican press conference of the day, and it was delayed by a man who hasn’t said much during the synod proceedings: Pope Francis. At the conclusion of the final session, he delivered a speech urging the church to find a path between rigorism and laxism (a theme Cardinal Walter Kasper has often touched on). He warned against a “hostile ridigity” that would “lock us into the letter of the law,” and he complained about the “false mercy” of “progressives” who would rather bandage wounds than heal them. On the subject of the church’s mission to care for its people, Francis quoted retired Pope Benedict XVI at some length. As for the well-reported disagreements between the synod fathers, the pope said he would have been” very concerned and saddened if everyone was in agreement, or if they remained silent in a false peace.” Instead, Francis continued, “I saw and heard–with joy and gratitude–speech after speech full of faith, doctrinal and pastoral zeal, wisdom, frankness, and courage.” When Francis finished speaking, the synod fathers gave him a five-minute standing ovation.

We know so many details about the relatio because of Pope Francis’s rather stunning decision to publish the vote totals for every paragraph–and to include those sections that did not win a two-thirds majority. The relatio remains a working document. It will be sent to the world’s bishops conferences for further reflection and study in advance of next October’s synod on the family.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: October 18, 2014

Lawyers, church officials agreed to a “victims first” approach.

The historic settlement between the Twin Cities archdiocese and Minnesota’s top clergy abuse attorney was set in motion on a sunny afternoon in July. That’s when the phone rang in attorney Jeff Anderson’s office.

“I said, ‘You don’t know me, but I’ve been retained by the archdiocese to talk to you,’ ” recalled Minneapolis attorney Charles Rogers. “Jeff said that in 30 years, he’d had no meaningful experience with the archdiocese outside the courtroom. I said, ‘I’d like to try to change that.’ ”

That conversation pried loose the rigid antagonism between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the attorney who has been representing clergy abuse victims for decades. Three months and dozens of meetings later — some including the vicar general — a global settlement was reached that few could have predicted.

“I would have given it a slim to no chance [of settlement],” said Anderson, referring to the lawsuit behind the deal. “Everything the archdiocese was doing was the same old way. Minimalization and denial. As soon as they got some new players and some new views, it started to get momentum.”

That momentum, for the church, was propelled by the daunting economic realities of continual litigation, the eroding trust of parishioners and clergy, and a new strategic priority of “victims first,’’ archdiocese officials said.

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TEXAS
WFAA

GARLAND – A Garland youth pastor was arrested Friday for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old, possession of child porn, and online solicitation of a minor, Sachse police say.

Derek Hutter, 37, is a youth minister at South Garland Baptist Church and the alleged victim is a Sachse resident.

The girl’s parents first alerted police to the situation on Oct. 3 after they discovered an email from Hutter to their daughter asking her to perform and photograph herself performing sexually-explicit acts.

The victim was interviewed at the Dallas County Children’s Advocacy Center on Thursday and told a counselor that in January, when she was 13, she began a sexual relationship with Hutter that continued through 20 encounters through September, according to the arrest affidavit.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan

18/10/2014

Victims of rape and sexual assault, who are examined and treated after the attack, are to be given the option for the first time of preserving valuable forensic samples for a year.

It means if they feel too traumatised to make a formal complaint to the gardai at the time of the attack, but later change their mind, vital evidence is available to the investigation.

The service is due to be provided by the country’s Sexual Assault Treatment Units from the beginning of next year and will give the victims of attack the benefit of time if they want to make a formal complaint later.

The option is contained in new national guidelines on the referral and clinical examination of women and men who seek help at the units after an attack. It will mean that units will have to upgrade their facilities and this is expected at the beginning of next year.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

Leslie Hittner

It was refreshing to see the Diocese of Winona and the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul settle with attorney Jeff Anderson in his latest case involving the coverup of sexual abuse by Catholic priest, Thomas Adamson.

While the financial details of the settlement have not been made public, we can only hope that neither the diocese or archdiocese will be forced into bankruptcy to meet those financial obligations.

I am still concerned, however.

A central theme of Winona Bishop John Quinn’s response during the settlement announcement seemed to be the following:

“We are ashamed of the horrific crimes that Thomas Adamson has perpetrated against children in our Diocese and in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” Quinn said in a prepared statement.”

Quinn, it seems, still does not understand what the lawsuit was about in the first place. This lawsuit was not about what Adamson did. It was about what the two dioceses did — or rather what they didn’t do. The lawsuits charged that the two dioceses, not Adamson, were “public nuisances” because of their responses to then Adamson’s behavior.

As horrific as Adamson’s crimes may have been, the fact remains that he was not reported to authorities by church officials. He was hidden from authorities and from parishioners for decades. Perhaps, even worse, the truths of the realities of his victims were denied by church officials. Attitudes that “little boys heal” prevailed within church leadership in justifying the illegal cover-up of these “horrific crimes.” And that attitude wrecked the very lives of Adamson’s victims.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Observer

Eleven men who trained for the priesthood at a Yorkshire seminary have recently settled their claims of sexual abuse with the Catholic order that ran it. In the latest in our series on boarding-school abuse, Catherine Deveney hears of their decades-long struggle for justice and the damage done

Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 18 October 2014

The face looming towards the rent boy in the London station was familiar. A face from his past: Father John Pinkman. No punter would have guessed that the rent boy had once wanted to be a priest, too. He had spent several years at Mirfield Junior Seminary in Yorkshire which was run by the Verona Fathers, an Italian missionary order. Pinkman had abused him there, was part of the degradation that led to this place, this life. The priest disappeared into the crowd, then reappeared, highlighted by light glinting off his spectacles. The rent boy caught his eye. Pinkman looked hesitant, embarrassed, then boarded a train without speaking. The last, silent goodbye.

The “boy”, who only spent a short time in prostitution, is now in his 60s. He has never had a relationship that’s lasted longer than a few months. Never achieved in life. Never felt good about himself. “I fail because I deserve to fail,” he says. His confusion now is not that different from his 17-year-old self: a boy who had sex with men, then vomited with disgust. “Guilt and fear become part of you, something you can’t shake off. I can’t tell you what a mess I was. I was terrified of growing up, terrified of men. I was all over the place. I was like an empty shell, not knowing what direction to go in.”

He wasn’t the only one to claim abuse at Mirfield. He has never taken a case against the Verona Fathers, but in the past few months, 11 British men have settled out of court with the Order, also known as the Comboni Missionaries. At least two more cases are pending and many corroborating statements have been given to lawyers by victims who want to expose what happened, but cannot face the stress of court proceedings. Confirming the 11 settlements, the Order’s spokeswoman, a solicitor with the Catholic Church Insurance Association, stressed, “the claims were made purely on a commercial basis with no admission of liability.”

The group of 11 is powerful: unified, disciplined and determined to speak the truth. “It would be nice to change the system for the good,” says one. The weight of testimony given to the Observer – witness statements, psychologists’ reports, timelines, contemporaneous diary extracts, spoken accounts – is stark and overwhelming. The witnesses were once would-be priests – the church’s own. Little wonder that one Verona Father told an ex-pupil: “If the abuse that happened at Mirfield is ever revealed, it will destroy the Verona Fathers in the United Kingdom.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday

A PRIEST at a former Catholic Boys’ home was first reported for abusing the children in 1964.

Police are currently investigating many claims of sexual and physical abuse at the St Francis Home for Boys, Shefford, which closed in 1973, and announced this week that a third suspect has been identified.

One of the reasons the home was closed is that inspectors at the time were concerned about the way it was being run.

Tony Walsh, now 66, was at the home from 1955-1963. Tony says he was beaten and sexually abused on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. He suffers from a perforated eardrum and a spinal injury as a consequence. But the physical scars are not the worst. Tony said: “Father Ryan beat me up every week. He would hit me until blood was coming from my head, my ears, my nose, mouth. He would also call me into his room and, for the want of a better term, play with me.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

The Synod of Bishops talked, dressed-up, acted and voted according to the Hollywood movie script of their boss Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team that paid for their trip to Rome. It isn’t surprising that ‘nothing changed’ in doctrines (as predicted) in the Vatican Roman Catholic Church after the two weeks (Roman holiday) Synod of Bishops oligarchy which was more all talk and a few minutes 5-minutes fame for some lay elite handpicked by the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceit’s Team. The gays, divorcees, common-law couples are still in their same spot – which is outside – the ancient Vatican Roman Catholic Church – where they are not allowed to partake in the Eucharist since they are considered as unforgiveable “sinners”. Our rebuttal to Cardinal Burke is the same message to all the hypocrite misogynists gays bishops in their hypocritical black robes with red or pink sash and kipas depending on their Opus Dei Beast appointed position.

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VATICAN CITY
The Observer

Lizzy Davies in Rome
The Observer, Saturday 18 October 2014

Pope Francis appeared on Saturday night to have lost out to powerful conservatives in the Roman Catholic church after bishops scrapped language that had been hailed as a historic warming of attitudes towards gay people.

In the final report of an extraordinary synod on the family which has exposed deep divides in the church hierarchy, there is no mention – as there had been in a draft version – of the “gifts and qualities” gay people can offer. Nor is there any recognition of the “precious support” same-sex partners can give each other.

A paragraph entitled “pastoral attention to people of homosexual orientation” – itself a distinctly cooler tone than “welcoming homosexual persons” – refers to church teaching, saying there can be “not even a remote” comparison between gay unions and heterosexual marriage.

“Nevertheless,” it adds, “men and women of homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and sensitivity.” They should not suffer from discrimination, it adds. But the shift in tone is clear. And, in a potentially stark sign of the discomfort provoked among many bishop, even this watered-down passage failed to pass the two-thirds majority needed for it to be approved.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 18, 2014

VATICAN CITY
Wrapping up his global meeting of Catholic bishops on family issues — which has seen both decisive shifts in tone from the Vatican and heated debates over the church’s direction — Pope Francis called on bishops to find a middle path between doctrine and reality.

Emphatically calling on the prelates to “feed the flock” and to search for lost sheep, the pontiff also directed them to avoid the temptation to become either a “hostile rigorist” concerned only with enforcing church doctrine or a “destructive do-gooder” that advocates “false mercy” instead of truth telling.

Saying the some 190 prelates at the meeting faced ”moments of desolation, tension and temptations,” the pope also warned against the temptation to “transform bread into stone and throw it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick — to turn [the bread] into ‘unbearable burdens.'”

Francis was speaking Saturday evening at the closing session of the synod of bishops, one of two global meetings of prelates on family issues he has called for 2014 and 2015.

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NEW JERSEY
Hudson County TV

[with video]

October 18, 2014 by Jillian Risberge

Keith Rennar Brennan suffered years of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of men he trusted at St. Paul’s church in Jersey City. He made a documentary, “Of God and Gucci” about the abuse.

“First the musical director of my church in Jersey City, Keith Pecklers and then subsequently by the priest that I turned to for help, Father Thomas Stanford,” Brennan says.

When it comes to sexual abuse, he says it’s never who you think it’s going to be.

“It’s not the boogieman, it’s often someone quite familiar, usually within the community – could even be a pillar of the community,” Brennan says.

For the statute of limitations to be only two years in New Jersey, one of the shortest in our country, makes no sense to Brennan says.

“It takes a man 25 to 30 years to come forward, to even be able to speak about such abuse,” he says.

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IRELAND
The Sunday Times (UK)

Justine McCarthy Published: 19 October 2014

JOHN FLEMING, the bishop of Killala, was unaware that one of his priests was suing an ex-boyfriend over a house they shared until he heard the court case reported on the news last Thursday evening.

Fr Gabriel Rosbotham, a curate in Ballina, is on leave “to reflect on his ministry” following a meeting with Fleming this weekend.

A letter on the matter from the bishop is being read by priests at all masses in Killala diocese this morning. Fleming will read it himself at mass in Kilmoremoy church, where Rosbotham is the curate.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis must know well by now that escalating Vatican scandals involving child sex abuse and rampant financial corruption present an unprecedented crisis. These scandals are rapidly reducing papal moral authority and Vatican wealth, while papal rigidity on sexual morality is straining belief in papal infallibility, all together diminishing papal power and influence.

These accelerating challenges have already led to the sudden and first papal resignation in 600 years and to the unexpected and “engineered” installation of an elderly replacement with limited international experience. Will a rapidly aging and potentially unsuccessful Francis soon be the second pope to resign in 600 years?

Indeed, the Archbishop of Malta, a decade younger than Francis, has just unexpectedly resigned early for “health reasons”, reportedly related to “earlier exhaustion” from his unsuccessful “culture war” against divorce in Malta. This is also especially timely and ironic as German bishops relentlessly pushed this week at the Synod to welcome divorced and remarried Catholics and their families back to the German Catholic Church. Of course, German bishops also seek to regain the related and very generous automatic per capita government tax subsidies for German bishops that is not paid with respect to divorced Catholics who elect to be exiles from the German Catholic Church.

Pope Francis also seemed focused at the Synod on stressing topics that attracted desired US media coverage likely to draw out more fundamentalist right wing voters, like “almost welcoming” gay Catholics, while avoiding topics, like removing the contraception ban and affirming women’s equality, that may draw out opposing US voters, in critical US Senate elections in barely two weeks. Francis’ US billionaire allies must be pleased.

While Pope Francis may have a broad smile, a warm heart and a Jesuit’s shrewdness, by his own admission, he is a “son of the Church” and may be permanently handicapped by his own history in making the changes needed. And he is running out of time. As reported, he has exhibited earlier in Argentina, at least as early as his failed approach to saving two of his former Jesuit teachers from torture by military thugs, an overconfidence in his ex-bouncer propensity to “bull” ahead, beneath his disarming smiles, with imprudent solutions to tough problems.

Pope Francis has failed so far to even control at the Synod his own Cardinals, like Burke and Pell. Moreover, over 15 % (32 of the 190) of the prelates who attended the Synod even voted against or failed to vote on the “soft-style” and “lyrical” Final Message of the leaders of the Synod. Who knows whether, or when, the final report will by published given the hundreds of proposed amendments and divergent viewpoints of many bishops, as the papal press officer, Fr. Lombardi, keeps revising his “expectations’.

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UNITED STATES
Berger’s Beat

October 18, 2014 11:11 am | Author: berger

In yet another possible sign that Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s star is waning within the Catholic hierarchy, he’s criticized in the pages of his hometown’s archdiocesan newspaper this week. Patrick Kleaver of the Old Cathedral denounces the head of the New York archdiocese for his unwillingness to “cooperate” with Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky in securing sainthood for Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Review also notes that, in what may be the “first,” Archbishop Robert Carlson has “no public events scheduled this week.”

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

By Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere

Vatican City (AFP) – Roman Catholic bishops on Saturday failed to reach consensus on opening the Church’s doors to remarried divorcees and gays after a special synod on the family, in a blow to Pope Francis.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said participants had approved a “re-balanced” final report that took into account the concerns of the most conservative members.

In a final vote on Saturday after two weeks of heated debate, three paragraphs touching on the hot-button issues of a more welcome stance towards gays and divorcees did not receive the two-thirds majority needed.

The vote closed a synod of bishops from around the world which has seen conservatives clash publicly with liberals over a drive spearheaded by the pope to soften the Church’s approach to sinners.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent October 18, 2014

ROME — When the Synod of Bishops on the family ends Sunday after an intense two-week debate, attention will likely be focused on how the summit’s big battles are resolved — how much of an opening to same-sex unions remains, and what line is adopted on allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

As the curtain comes down, however, it’s worth remembering that this was a synod on the family, and some participants are worried that several important issues facing family life have been almost afterthoughts: the role of the elderly, for instance, as well as single parenthood, education, sexual abuse, and migration.

In the cornerstone document of the summit, called the Instrumentum Laboris, which was written based on responses to a questionnaire sent out last year by Pope Francis to bishops’ conferences around the world, these issues were part of the mix.

None of them, however, is mentioned in a midterm document released Monday by a drafting committee within the synod. Though that text had no definitive status, it was designed to represent what was said by the prelates during the first week of discussions.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 18, 2014

ROME – A dramatic Vatican summit of bishops ended Saturday night by significantly watering down an opening to both gays and divorced and remarried Catholics contained in an interim report released Monday.

The paragraphs on those two points — far tamer than the welcoming language contained in an interim report released Monday — were the only items that failed to receive a two-thirds majority of the Synod of Bishops.

Although they were favored by most of the bishops, they drew significant “no” votes, despite the more cautious language. The paragraph on gays and lesbians had a vote of 118-62, and that on the divorced and remarried drew 104 in favor and 74 opposed.

A Vatican spokesman said that means they did not reflect “a strong consensus of the entire synod.”

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ITALY
The New York Times

By DAVIDE CASATI
OCT. 18, 2014

On a clear, warm day, a motorcycle zoomed through a quiet, narrow passageway in the old section of Salerno on Italy’s southwestern coast. The rider slowed in front of an elegant house with a baroque stone gate just long enough to shout “Thief! Thief!” before racing off.

The object of derision, Msgr. Nunzio Scarano, was behind the thick walls of his house and did not hear the rider. But the insult would not have surprised him. He has heard quite a few. He’s been called a “consummate delinquent” and a “pleasure-loving prelate.” Even Pope Francis cracked a joke about him, saying that “for sure he did not enter prison because he acted like Blessed Imelda,” before calling events in which the monsignor was involved “a scandal that hurts me.”

Before his arrest in June 2013, the monsignor was a top accountant at the Vatican office that, at that time, managed the Holy See’s real estate and investments. He is currently on trial, accused of money laundering — most notably, of trying to smuggle $26 million from Switzerland to Italy in a private plane, with the help of an Italian secret service agent.

An Italian judge calculated Monsignor Scarano’s wealth at more than $8.2 million, though the Vatican paid the priest just $41,000 a year. Italian authorities seized the 17-room, $1.7 million house in Salerno, where he is now under house arrest, along with many bank accounts; two of them, at the Vatican Bank, were seized by Vatican authorities.

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ITALIA
Marsica Live

[Priest accused of abuse in a foreign rectory, the lawyer wrote to the pope: risarcitela]

Avezzano. Ha scritto a papa Francesco per chiedere il risarcimento da parte della Chiesa nei confronti di una ragazza straniera vittima di molestie da parte dell’ex parroco di Trasacco, don Duilio Testa. Il legale Cesidio Di Salvatore ha inviato la lettera “in nome e per conto dell’assistita per mere ragioni umanitarie e cristiane, affinché sappia dell’esistenza di certe cose, gestite in maniera tutt’altro che cristiana”.

Secondo l’avvocato, nell’aprile del 2010 la ragazza nordafricana madre di una bimba, mentre era ospite nella parrocchia della Basilica do San Cesidio a Trasacco, ha subito atti di violenza sessuale aggravati da parte del parroco a seguito dei quali è stato aperto procedimento penale dalla Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Avezzano, definito con il patteggiamento da parte del sacerdote con oltre un anno di reclusione.

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ITALIA
La Provincia

[They called him the Mercedes priest. He always had a cigar in his mouth, drove cars and ate in upscale restaurants and was frequently a political “weight”, and a strong man of Communion and Liberation. Father Mauro Inzoli has already been punished by the pope for a bad history of child abuse and now Don Mercedes is being investigated by secular authorities.]

CREMA – Lo chiamavano «il prete in Mercedes». Sigaro sempre in bocca, auto e ristoranti di lusso, frequentazioni politiche ‘di peso’, uomo forte di Comunione e Liberazione, don Mauro Inzoli. Già punito dal Papa per una brutta storia di abusi su minori, ora anche la procura indaga su «don Mercedes».

Il procuratore, Roberto di Martino, ha aperto un fascicolo e per sapere che cosa abbia accertato l’autorità ecclesiastica, ha chiamato in causa la Santa Sede. Lo ha fatto con una richiesta di rogatoria al Vaticano attraverso il ministero della Giustizia.

L’indagine su don Inzoli, 64 anni, per 15 presidente della Fondazione banco alimentare, onlus assistenziale fondata da don Giussani, qualcuno dice anche confessore di Roberto Formigoni, nasce dall’esposto presentato il 30 giugno scorso in procura da Franco Bordo, deputato di Sel. Un documento di ventotto righe, più tre allegati, con la richiesta finale di accertare se gli elementi emersi «siano meritevoli di approfondimenti investigativi e, qualora dall’esito degli stessi, dovessero emergere ipotesi di reato, che sia esercitata l’azione penale nei confronti di chiunque li abbia commessi o, a qualsiasi titolo, abbia concorso alla loro commissione».

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KENTUCKY
GGG (Osterreich)

Rex Allen Murphy ist Jugendpastor der “Polly Ann Church of God” in Kentucky. Er behauptet, Homosexualität heilen zu können. Doch nun wird er verdächtigt, selbst einen Burschen vergewaltigt zu haben. Anschließend soll er ihm gedroht haben, zu verhexen.

Ein 16-Jähriger behauptet, von dem Geistlichen sexuell missbraucht worden zu sein. Nach Angaben von Colin Hatfield, dem Polizeichef von Eubank, seien seine Schilderungen “sehr bildlich und pointiert” bezeichnet. Daraufhin hat die Polizei Murphy verhaftet.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Huffington Post

Georg Dietlein

[Corruption, money laundering and hustlers in the Vatican, sexual assault of minors by bishops and priests, gay sex orgies in the seminary.

Much Has been said and some stories are just rumors. But behind all this lies a kernel of truth. The Catholic Church more often than not lacks massive credibility. These are not just isolated incidents but systematic failure.]

Korruption, Geldwäsche und Stricher im Vatikan, sexuelle Übergriffe von Bischöfen und Priestern auf Minderjährige, schwule Sexorgien im Priesterseminar. Und das in der katholischen Kirche?

Vieles wird erzählt und manches sind auch nur Gerüchte. Doch hinter all dem steckt ein wahrer Kern: Die katholische Kirche hat gegenwärtig massive Glaubwürdigkeitsprobleme, weil bei ihrem „Bodenpersonal” immer häufiger Anspruch und Wirklichkeit auseinanderfallen.

Doch mittlerweile handelt es sich dabei nicht mehr nur um Einzelfälle, sondern um systematisches Versagen. Ein gravierendes Problem sind all die, die sich von der katholischen Kirche mit ihren Traditionen und Ritualen angezogen fühlen – ohne etwas mit Jesus Christus am Hut haben zu wollen.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

By Nick Squires, Rome 18 Oct 2014

Pope Francis is about to demote an arch-conservative cardinal who has been bitterly opposed to his reformist agenda and his call for greater acceptance of gays and divorcees in the Catholic Church.
The sidelining of American cardinal Raymond Burke comes against a backdrop of acute differences of opinion among nearly 200 bishops and cardinals who for the last two weeks have been discussing issues relating to the family at a synod, or assembly, at the Vatican.

The move suggests that the Pope, who has upset many within the Catholic Church with his call for a more flexible and “merciful” approach towards gay people and divorcees, is determined to purge the Vatican of some of his more trenchant critics.

Cardinal Burke, who has strongly criticised Pope Francis’s more open attitude towards homosexuals, is currently head of the Vatican’s highest court of canon law.

But he said he is preparing to be given a new, much lower profile role as the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta, a Catholic charity based in Rome that traces its origins back to the Crusades.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star
10/16/2014

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph showed itself as a forgiving, diligent shepherd in the civil trial just concluded.

But the sheltering love was for priests’ welfare first. Less attention was apparent for parishioners’ concerns, and certainly not for vulnerable children.

Given the testimony of denial by multiple priests, it’s questionable how far deeply ingrained attitudes have really shifted. In recent years, changes came about when the diocese was forced through repeated pleas by the faithful, multimillion-dollar settlements and court orders.

The trial’s conclusion was halted by a nearly $10 million settlement that lumped together multiple cases. But the jury trial was intended to weigh the sexual abuse accusations of a former altar boy, now a 44-year-old man.

Nearly two weeks of proceedings put on public display how the diocese for five decades — through four bishops — rationalized its decisions and struggles with pedophile priests.

The diocese put forth a shameful record in its own defense.

Letters and verbal complaints of specific troubling incidents, dating back to the mid-1970s, were initially dismissed. Sexually inappropriate advances were seen as raucous and drunken behavior, something that a priest could be chided for and then ushered back to the rectory. There seemed to be a belief, a misplaced hope, that treating a priest for alcoholism could also cure pedophilia, as if the criminal behavior was only contingent upon the drinking. For some bishops, there appeared to be confusion about the difference between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of children.

The church can choose to see the first as sinful. But to attack an innocent child is a crime. Such lack of common sense, that inability to separate church doctrine from criminal acts, is baffling.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 18 October 2014 (VIS) – This morning a press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office to present the Message of the Third Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the “Pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelisation” (5-19 October). The speakers were Cardinals Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida, Brazil, delegate president; Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and president of the Commission for the Message and Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India. The full text of the message is published below:

“We, Synod Fathers, gathered in Rome together with Pope Francis in the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, greet all families of the different continents and in particular all who follow Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We admire and are grateful for the daily witness which you offer us and the world with your fidelity, faith, hope, and love.

Each of us, pastors of the Church, grew up in a family, and we come from a great variety of backgrounds and experiences. As priests and bishops we have lived alongside families who have spoken to us and shown us the saga of their joys and their difficulties.

The preparation for this synod assembly, beginning with the questionnaire sent to the Churches around the world, has given us the opportunity to listen to the experience of many families. Our dialogue during the Synod has been mutually enriching, helping us to look at the complex situations which face families today.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Miriam Dalli 18 October 2014

Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona’s first indication that he should step down as leader of the Maltese Church was two years ago, when he “succumbed to exhaustion” and had to retire to Gozo for a few weeks.

Admitting that the divorce referendum had been a most trying period for the Church, Cremona said the Maltese Archdiocese had “put much effort in the campaign, but we all know the results”.

Cremona together with Apostolic Nuncio Aldo Cavalli and newly-appointed Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Charles Scicluna, addressed a press conference at the Curia during which Cremona’s resignation was made official.

The Apostolic Nuncio confirmed that Pope Francis accepted Cremona’s resignation, effective as from today at noon. His successor should be appointed within three to five months.

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VATICAN CITY
International Policy Digest

by BBC October 18, 2014

A leading American cardinal has told BuzzFeed that he is to be demoted from his position running the Catholic Church justice system. Cardinal Raymond Burke is a staunch critic of Pope Francis’ moves to soften the Church’s stance on homosexuality.

He said that he was to be moved to the far less senior post of patron of the sovereign military order of Malta.

Pope Francis is leading a council in the Vatican on possible reforms to Church teaching on social issues. A preliminary report on the initial discussions at the extraordinary Synod on the family was released on Monday.

The report, which was written by more than 200 bishops, said homosexuals had “gifts and qualities to offer,” and used more welcoming language when discussing homosexuality and its place in the Church.

Although it does not challenge the Church’s stance on gay marriage, the document was praised by liberal clergymen and activists. However, it was also criticised by more traditional and conservative Church figures who rejected it.

Cardinal Burke was among the most publicly critical of the bishops involved in the discussions. For weeks, there had been rumours that the Pope would demote him, says the BBC’s James Reynolds in Rome.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Archbishop resigns due to poor health, says he started thinking about stepping down two years ago

The Vatican has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Mgr Paul Cremona, the Apostolic Nuncio Mgr Aldo Cavalli confirmed this morning during a press conference.

Mgr Cavalli said the process to choose a successor usually takes three to five months.

Archbishop Emeritus Cremona confirmed that he resigned for health reasons. He said the “first inkling” that it was time to step down was two years ago when he succumbed to exhaustion. The resignation letter was sent to Pope Francis “several weeks ago” and is effective from today.

“I am at peace with God for taking the right decision. It was an honour to lead the Church for almost eight years. I thank God for the good I may have done, I thank him for sending people to help me. I have no rancour for anyone in my heart. I am at the service of my successor.”

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Update 3 – Pope accepts resignation – Archbishop started thinking of resignation two years ago

Updated, adds prime minister’s, Opposition leader’s reaction – The Pope has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Paul Cremona, the Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr Aldo Cavalli said.

The acceptance of the resignation was announced this morning at a press conference attended by Mgr Cremona himself.

Mgr Cavalli said the Archbishop had resigned for health reasons. He has acquired the title of Archbishop Emeritus of Malta.

The Nuncio said the Pope had thanked the Archbishop and praised him for his human warmth and spiritual closeness to the people.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Archbishop Paul Cremona is expected to announce his resignation this morning, although it remains unclear whether this has already been accepted by the Pope.

Mgr Cremona’s resignation is likely to be motivated by ill-health, which has prevented him carrying out his functions to the full over recent years.

The Curia announced it will be holding a press conference this morning although it did not specify whether Mgr Cremona will be addressing it.

According to Canon Law the office will only become vacant when the Pope accepts the resignation.

In this eventuality, the reins of the Church in Malta will temporarily pass into the hands of Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna until the Pope appoints another archbishop.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
The Guardian, Friday 17 October 2014

A full and urgent investigation into the disappearance of key child sex abuse files is needed to address public suspicion of a cover-up, the influential Commons home affairs select committee has said.

The MPs’ demand comes from their follow-up inquiry into the response of authorities in Rotherham during which they heard evidence that the files of a council researcher detailing the extent of suffering had been stolen in 2002.

The Commons home affairs committee’s report, published on Saturdaysays this was not the first case wherein there were allegations that files relating to child sex exploitation had disappeared.

“The proliferation of revelations about files which can no longer be located gives rise, whether fairly or not, to public suspicion of a deliberate cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

The Anglican Church in Adelaide has backed an earlier move by the church nationally to let its priests break the confidentiality of confessions.

Earlier this year, the national synod met in Adelaide and voted for an historic change to let priests ignore the privacy of the confessional in cases of serious crimes, such as child abuse.

That national meeting said it would be up to individual dioceses to adopt the policy, a vote the Adelaide diocese has taken this weekend.

Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver said the local synod voted to back the change and, after some further consultation with clergy, the church legislation would be signed into effect.

“We’re one of the first dioceses in Australia to deal with this particular canon. There was a protocol in place before but it didn’t provide for disclosure around these matters,” he said.

“It does mean that people can have the reassurance that the Anglican Church in South Australia is doing its absolute best to ensure that we respond properly to the situation where vulnerable minors are at risk of the terrible experience of abuse.”

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TEXAS
CBS DFW

SACHSE, TX (CBSDFW.COM) — A youth minister from the South Garland Baptist Church was arrested for alleged “continuous sex abuse of a child, possession of child pornography and online solicitation of a minor.”

According to a news release from the Sachse Police Department, detectives arrested Derek Hutter, 37 of Garland Friday on three outstanding warrants relating to the charges. Those charges stem from an alleged relationship with a 14-year-old Sachse resident.

Hutter allegedly met the victim at the church where he worked.

Pastor Larry Davis of the South Garland Baptist Church confirmed that Hutter worked at the church as “Student Minister.” “The Church Family is devastated at this time. The church is also devastated for the families involved,” Davis told CBS 11 News.

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TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

By Naheed Rajwani nrajwani@dallasnews.com
October 17, 2014

A Garland youth minister was arrested in Sachse Friday on accusations of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl, Sachse police said in a news release.

Derek Hutter, 37, was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child,
possession of child pornography and online solicitation of a minor. His bail was set at $150,000.

Police said the charges stem from an alleged relationship between Hutter, a minister at the South Garland Baptist Church, and the girl, a Sachse resident.

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TEXAS
Fox 4

A Garland youth pastor was arrested Friday on three child sex abuse warrants, according to officials with the Sachse Police Department.

Derek Hutter was arrested for continuous sex abuse of a child, possession of child pornography and online solicitation of a minor stemming from an alleged relationship with a 14-year-old who lives in Sachse.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Mike McIntyre
Posted: 10/18/2014

The longtime chaplain at St. Boniface Hospital has abruptly retired after being charged with a historical sexual abuse case in Saskatchewan.

Father Omer Desjardins, 82, announced he was leaving his post last month, but provided no explanation for the sudden decision. Weeks later, colleagues learned Desjardins had been arrested following a lengthy RCMP investigation.

“We were just made aware about the charges after he retired,” hospital spokeswoman Hélène Vrignon told the Free Press Friday.

Court records show Desjardins is accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl on one occasion in 1978 in a small community north of Saskatoon. He is facing a charge of indecent assault. Desjardins has made one court appearance and is set to resolve the matter when he appears on Oct. 23.

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MINNESOTA
Crux

By Associated Press
October 17, 2014

AUSTIN, Minn. – Two top administrators at a Catholic school in Austin have been fired after a high school teacher was charged with having sex with a minor student.

The Diocese of Winona, which includes Austin, says Pacelli Catholic Schools President Jim Hamburge and Principal Mary Holtorf were fired after being put on leave last week. Former math teacher Mary Gilles was charged with six counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 17-year-old student earlier this month.

The Diocese had said the administrators’ leave didn’t have to do with the charges against the 28-year-old. Diocese spokesman Joel Hennessy said Thursday the church body is no longer distancing the terminations from the case. He says the Pacelli board of trustees is “looking into” the situation.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Oct. 17, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his clergy sex abuse trial against the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese ended prematurely because of a global settlement, Jon David Couzens said he intends to remain a voice for the protection of children.

“My case turned into a cause, and my cause is for all these children, and I’m going to keep moving forward,” he said at a press conference in the shadow of the gold dome of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Kansas City.

Late Tuesday, the diocese agreed to pay $9.95 million to settle 30 historical cases alleging clergy sexual abuse of minors, including the Couzens case — the first case for the diocese to reach the trial stage.

Two days later, several of the claimants in the settlement announced at a press conference outside the chancery offices, a few blocks north of the cathedral, that they had agreed to share the funds with three others whose cases were not formally part of the deal.

Surrounded by more than a dozen family members, friends, and other claimants to the settlement — many of whom attended the trial — Couzens said while the general public may see money as his motivation and that of other victims of clergy sex abuse, “it’s just the reverse.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Jesuit priest of the New Orleans Province ordained in 1967, Barfield was a teacher and counselor in Dallas, New Orleans and Houston high schools for the better part of the first two decades of his career. In 1985 he transferred to the Las Cruces, NM diocese, where he pastored two parishes and held numerous chancery positions. He died in 2003. In a 2013 lawsuit Barfield was accused of sexually, physically and psychologically assaulting and abusing a New Mexico altar boy in 1990. Barfield’s accuser also named two other priests of the parish as perpetrators, including Rev. David Holley, who was convicted in 1993 of raping eight other local boys.

Ordained: 1967
Died: June 7, 2003

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UNTIED STATES
Valley News Live

Updated: Oct 17, 2014

By CNN Library
(CNN) — Here’s an in-depth look at the life of Cardinal Bernard Francis Law.

Personal:
Birth date: November 4, 1931

Birth place: Torreon, Mexico

Birth name: Bernard Francis Law

Father: Bernard Law, an Air Force colonel

Mother: Helen Law

Education: Harvard University, B.A. 1953

Timeline:
1953 – Does postgraduate studies at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Louisiana and at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

May 21, 1961 – Ordained as a priest in the Natchez-Jackson, Mississippi, diocese.

1968 – Serves as executive director of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interracial Affairs in Washington, DC.

1971 – Law is named vicar general of the Natchez-Jackson diocese.

December 5, 1973 – Is made bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese in southern Missouri.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Joanna Menagh

The case against Australian Defence Force (ADF) Bishop Max Davis, accused of child sex offences in Western Australia 45 years ago, has been adjourned until next year.

Davis was facing three charges of indecent treatment of a 13 year-old boy in 1969, when he was a teacher at Saint Benedict’s College in New Norcia, north-east of Perth.

The alleged offences occurred two years before he was ordained as a priest.

A previous court hearing was told Davis would be pleading not guilty.

In the Perth Magistrates Court today prosecutors successfully applied for the case to be adjourned until January next year.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Friday, October 17

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

The most controversial Vatican prelate, Cardinal Raymond Burke, confirmed publicly for the first time the rumors that he had been told Francis intended to demote him.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Burke said “I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it.” Burke said, however, that he hadn’t yet received a formal notice of transfer.

When this officially happens, it will be a validation for hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims – in Wisconsin, Missouri and elsewhere – who have suffered because Burke acted so recklessly, callously and deceitfully in pedophile priest cases.

Burke has been an outspoken radical conservative taking very controversial positions, like refusing to attend a fund raiser for a children’s hospital because of the beliefs of one performer.

In some cases, Francis moves decisively, demoting the “Bishop of Bling,” a controversial South American prelate, and now, a Cardinal whose views contradict his own. But when it comes to the rape of children, he has belatedly and partially set up a committee and made vague pledges.

The message is clear: following “corporate policy” is important but endangering children is less so.

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VATICAN CITY
BuzzFeed News

J. Lester Feder
BuzzFeed Staff

Ellie Hall
BuzzFeed Staff

A top cardinal told BuzzFeed News on Friday that the worldwide meeting of church leaders coming to a close in Rome seemed to have been designed to “weaken the church’s teaching and practice” with the apparent blessing of Pope Francis.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American who heads the Vatican’s highest court of canon law, made the remarks in a phone interview from the Vatican, where a two-week Extraordinary Synod on the Family will conclude this weekend. An interim report of the discussions released on Monday, called the Relatio, produced a widespread backlash among conservative bishops who said it suggested a radical change to the church’s teaching on questions like divorce and homosexuality, and Burke has been among the most publicly critical of the bishops picked by Pope Francis to lead the discussion.
If Pope Francis had selected certain cardinals to steer the meeting to advance his personal views on matters like divorce and the treatment of LGBT people, Burke said, he would not be observing his mandate as the leader of the Catholic Church.

“According to my understanding of the church’s teaching and discipline, no, it wouldn’t be correct,” Burke said, saying the pope had “done a lot of harm” by not stating “openly what his position is.”

Burke said the Pope had given the impression that he endorses some of the most controversial parts of the Relatio, especially on questions of divorce, because of a German cardinal who gave an important speech suggesting a path to allowing people who had divorced and remarried to receive communion, Cardinal Walter Kasper, to open the synod’s discussion.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 17, 2014 NCR Today

U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a former archbishop of St. Louis known for his rigorist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, has reportedly confirmed rumors that Pope Francis is planning to remove him from his influential post as the chief justice of the Vatican’s Supreme Court.

Burke is reported to confirm the rumors, which have attracted attention in recent weeks as a sign that Francis may be preparing a tonal shift at the Vatican, in a piece Friday by BuzzFeed News.

“I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it,” Burke is reported to say in the piece, which goes on to say that the cardinal is yet to receive formal notice of his removal.

The rumors in recent weeks have speculated that Burke, currently the prefect of the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, would be moved to the largely ceremonial post of patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

“In the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given,” Burke is reported to say in the BuzzFeed piece. “And so I trust by accepting this assignment I trust that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Christian Post

Christian Talk Radio Host Josh Kimbrell Charged With Sex Crime Against 3-Y-O Boy; Supporters Defend Character

Josh Kimbrell, 29, a Christian talk radio host and chairman of the Palmetto Conservative Alliance Foundation in South Carolina, was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 3-year-old boy. His supporters, however, have shot down the charge, saying it stems from a bitter custody battle between him and his ex-wife.

Arrest warrants from Greenville Police accuse Kimbrell, who hosts Common Cents radio show weekdays on 92.9FM/660AM, of playing a game with the minor that involved inappropriate touching and fondling, according to FOX Carolina.

A statement issued by the board of directors of Palmetto Conservative Alliance challenged the accusations as a character assassination by Kimbrell’s ex-wife, who is currently locked in a custody battle with him over their 3-year-old son.

“In our experience with Josh Kimbrell, we know him to be a loving, devoted father to his son. Josh has a right to be presumed innocent. At this stage in the process, the allegations that have been made against Josh are only allegations, not proof, which must be determined by the legal system,” said the statement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHO WE ARE

We belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Some of us were sexually violated by clergy. Others are friends, relatives and supporters.

WHY WE’RE HERE

We want KC’s Catholic bishop to warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public – in KC, Nevada and Pennsylvania – about two credibly accused predator priests.

The two were involved in the 30 just-settled clergy sex abuse lawsuits. We believe that these two priests were sent out of state after child sex abuse reports were made against them. We’re worried because they now live among unsuspecting neighbors and could be molesting more children.

They are Fr. Mark Honhart and Fr. Thomas Cronin. (Learn more about them at BishopAccountability.org)

Fr. Honhart was ordained in the Kansas City diocese in 1980 and worked here until 2002 when he was transferred to New Mexico and then to Pennsylvania. Three civil lawsuits have been filed against Fr. Honhart. All three allegations involve Kansas City youngsters.

Fr. Cronin was ordained in the Kansas City diocese in 1969 and was sent to Nevada in 1997. Fr. Cronin is accused of repeatedly raping a teenage girl. After the victim filled a civil suit, Fr. Cronin was found to be working at a Catholic church in Fernley Nevada and trying to start a homeless and battered women’s shelter.

He was suspended from his Nevada parish only after SNAP publicly accused both the bishops of Reno and Kansas City of “recklessness” for keeping Fr. Cronin on the job even after the suit was filed.

We want Bishop Finn to use church bulletins, diocesan websites and pulpit announcements to beg others who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or other misdeeds by the two priests to call law enforcement. And we want him to call his colleagues in Nevada and Pennsylvania and beg them to take similar steps to protect children.

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AUSTRALIA
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Oct 17, 2014

Disturbing news surfaced last week that the founder and senior pastor of one of the largest churches in Australia, and a church well known in this country for its worship music, failed to report his father for sexually abusing children. Brian Houston of Hillsong Church, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse that in October of 1999, he learned that an adult had reported being sexually abused as a child by leading Pentecostal pastor, Frank Houston. The elder Houston was permanently suspended from preaching and given a “retirement package”. The victim was sent $10,000.00. The church eventually uncovered up to eight more cases of child sexual abuse by Frank Houston before he passed away in 2004. None of these cases were ever reported to law enforcement.

Does any of this pass the “smell good” test? An adult comes forward to disclose being sexually victimized as a child by an influential minister who happens to be the father of another well-known minister. The son’s immediate response to hearing about this crime is not to contact the police, but to confront his father who immediately confesses. Even after the confession, Brian Houston doesn’t call the police, but instead attends a meeting with his father, an attorney, and the church CEO, where it is decided to offer the victim $10,000 as “final payment”. (Undoubtedly, a condition to receive this money would have been that the victim agree not to seek legal action against Houston or the church.) When he was recently asked why he didn’t report this crime, Brian Houston remarked, “This is one of the things that made it complicated. He was adamant he didn’t want any kind of police investigation or even a church investigation, he just wanted it dealt with and he just wanted to know that justice was going to happen.” The fact that a victim is an adult when they disclose being sexually assaulted as a child does not relieve those in leadership of the moral duty to report the crimes. Think about it, what if an adult had stepped forward to report that as a child they witnessed a pastor commit murder? What if there was evidence that this same pastor had actually murdered 8 other people? Would there be any hesitation by church leaders to report these crimes to the authorities? Even if the witness had requested them not to report? Interestingly, Brian Houston never provides a reason for not reporting the other 8 cases of abuse perpetrated by his father.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: October 17, 2014

It’s unclear when the office will issue charging decisions in the three remaining cases.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced Friday that his office has declined to file charges in three criminal cases of alleged clergy sex abuse, that St. Paul police have closed four more cases and that three cases remain open.

Choi said last month that the state’s statute of limitations on bringing charges in such cases involving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis would be a challenge, and confirmed Friday that the statute was the reason his office declined charges on Oct. 3 in three of 10 cases in Ramsey County.

The statute can be a maze to navigate, with several qualifications and exceptions to consider, and Choi said that his office is exploring every possible open door that could allow the filing of criminal charges in the three remaining cases.

St. Paul police closed four cases — involving five suspects — that weren’t presented for prosecutorial review. One case involved two suspects, both of whom are dead. In a second case, the suspect could not be identified. A third case was deemed “not provable.” In the fourth case, the suspect could not be identified.

Police investigated 11 suspects in the 10 cases.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Tim Nelson St. Paul, Minn. Oct 17, 2014

After nearly a year of investigation into clergy misconduct in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, prosecutors say they still aren’t ready to file any criminal charges against priests or church officials.

Seven of 10 criminal cases tied to clergy sex abuse are now closed, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Friday.

Four cases of alleged priest misconduct were not formally presented by police for charging while three were declined for prosecution based on the statute of limitations, Choi said.

Investigations continue on the ones that are open, including a case involving Archbishop John Nienstedt, he added.

Choi said the decisions not to charge those cases, reached earlier this month, represent only an initial phase of work by his office.

But he defended the decisions authorities have made so far, including the decision not to present the cases to a Ramsey County grand jury and the decision not to seek any search warrants that would open church archives — legal tools common in criminal matters, particularly in high profile and controversial cases.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Dan Ruiter, News Director

NEW ULM, Minn. –
The Diocese of New Ulm is hit with another lawsuit over priest sexual abuse allegations.

The Plaintiff identified as John Doe 116 is suing the Diocese, claiming church leaders were negligent in their supervision of Father Michael Skoblik.

Skoblik served in the New Ulm Diocese from 1965 to 1988.

He died in 1989.

The lawsuit was filed in September in Brown County District Court.

Back in September, we told you that Skoblik has been named in another lawsuit against the Diocese. Like that lawsuit, this one involves a boy in Silver Lake.

This lawsuit, filed by Minneapolis-based attorney Patrick Noaker, alleges that back in 1968, Father Skoblik forced an eleven year old boy to perform sex acts more than 100 times, and that Skoblik threatened the boy if he told anyone about the abuse, or if the boy refused to comply with Skoblik’s demands.

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ROME
Crux

John Allen

October 17, 2014
ROME – Heading into the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family, the granddaddy of all controversial issues was the idea of allowing Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church to return to communion.

After two eventful weeks, featuring at times intense debate, the only thing that can be said with certainty is that there simply is no consensus in the synod.

As a result, many sources say the most probable conclusion out of this gathering is that the idea needs further study, which is often a bureaucratic euphemism for saying we’re divided and don’t know what to do.

The Synod of Bishops is scheduled to take up its final report tomorrow, and it’s not clear when the text of the document will be released. Some predict Monday or Tuesday, while others think it may be delayed even further if there’s a significant chunk of “no” votes on critical passages.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

OCTOBER 17, 2014, BY SARAH J. CLARK

KANSAS CITY — A man who endured sexual abuse by a Catholic priest as a child is speaking out Friday about this week’s trial that resulted in a nearly $10 million settlement for clergy abuse victims.

Jon David Couzens is a former altar boy who sued the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City and St. Joseph in an 11 day trial that ended just before the jury would have started it’s deliberations.

Couzens is one of only two men in Missouri to ever take to trial a civil suit against the Catholic church for priest sex abuse. He says he endured 25 hours of repeatedly detailed and embarassing questions by lawyers for Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.

The diocese has agreed to pay nearly $10-million to settle Couzens’ suit and 29 others that allege sexual abuse by priests.

Couzens says in court, lawyers portrayed him in an unpleasant and unflattering light, but in the end he says it was worth it to get retribution for the abuse he has survived.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By James Nord
Associated Press
POSTED: 10/17/2014

The landmark clergy abuse settlement announced Monday leaves many unanswered questions about the future for victims, church finances and the continuing disclosure of abusive priests in Minnesota.

Catholic officials and victims’ attorneys said the accord was a needed change in the relationship between victims and the church. It’s also a departure from litigation that resulted in dramatic document releases.

The settlement includes child protection and disclosure provisions that two Minnesota dioceses have agreed to follow. Victims’ attorneys want to settle with additional dioceses across the state to encourage transparency, but others question the effectiveness of settling compared with litigation.

Critics are also concerned the church won’t follow the protocols in the settlement. Victim payouts could also result in diocesan bankruptcies, which some church officials haven’t ruled out.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Perry Stein on Oct. 15, 2014

There is no instance in which violating someone’s body should be considered anything less than reprehensible. These violations, as we learn over and over, come in many forms. There are the unwanted catcalls on the street, the stealing of nude photos off someone’s phone, and, most horribly, rape. All of these, and everything in between, constitute a violation of one’s being, and in the eyes of the law, most are considered illegal.

On Tuesday, police arrested Rabbi Barry Freundel, who leads the modern orthodox Kesher Israel congregation in Georgetown, on a voyeurism charge, saying he may have set up a camera in a room where people shower to prep for a mikveh, a spiritual bath. These are, of course, allegations, and if Freundel is found guilty, the law will hold him accountable.

But there’s something additionally disturbing about this alleged crime, which police say happened during a holy ritual. In Judaism, women and men partake in mikveh for a variety of reasons. Men and women must have a mikveh during the conversion process to Judaism. Women have one if they just had a baby and, in very religious settings, at the end of their menstrual cycle. It’s a spiritual cleansing, and the mikveh ceremony is supposed to be available for worshippers whenever they want it. Some will choose to have a mikveh because they’re feeling depressed or have had a major life event.

Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, the executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, explains that in a typical set-up, worshippers will enter a prep room, perhaps containing toothpaste, q-tips, and a shower, before the mikveh. The idea is to be naked and rinse one’s body of all dirt so that nothing comes in between the person and the mikveh. The person is then led into the mikveh room by a person from the temple. (Weiss-Greenberg says if it is a woman is going to the mikveh, then she’ll be led by a woman.) The mikveh itself is a bath filled with water that comes from a natural source.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Perry Stein on Oct. 17, 2014

New court documents reveal that the scope of the investigation into the Georgetown rabbi extends far beyond the six misdemeanor counts of voyeurism the rabbi was charged and pleaded not guilty to on Wednesday.

Barry Freundel, the now-suspended rabbi at the modern Orthodox Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown, is accused of secretly filming women while they showered in preparation for a mikveh, a ritual cleansing bath in Judaism. Police say videos show Freundel setting up the camera attached to a clock radio, which captured at least six partially naked or naked women in the shower area.

In a newly released affidavit and search warrant for the synagogue and Freundel’s home, the Metropolitan Police Department says it found that the recording device had more than 100 deleted files in it dating back to February. Some of the files are labeled under the first names of the women. In the preliminary investigation, “numerous” other women, according to the affidavit, told officials they believe they were also recorded changing in the shower area or mikveh room itself.

The acts of voyeurism were likely not limited to the mikveh area, and police say in the documents that evidence shows Freundel has been engaging in the activity with “several devices and over a period of time.” Police seized a similar recording device from Freundel’s home and found a manual for another hidden camera disguised as a fan.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Jewish Times

October 17, 2014
BY SUZANNE POLLACK

The Metropolitan Police Department is asking anyone who used the National Capital Mikvah in Georgetown to submit his or her photo to the department as part of the ongoing investigation into Rabbi Barry Freundel, who was charged Tuesday with voyeurism.

Freundel is accused of making secret video recordings of at least six women in the bathroom and shower area of the National Capital Mikvah as they dressed and undressed during their visit to the mikvah.

At least one D.C. woman who has used the mikvah decided to submit her photograph. Rabbi Freundel “is someone I trusted,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “He is the leader of the Jewish community. When you say his name, everyone knows it.”

The woman, who converted to Judaism through the Conservative Movement, had approached Freundel about receiving an Orthodox conversion. During that conversation, he told her he would take her to the mikvah for a practice dunk, even though she didn’t have the $25 fee with her.

Freundel did come into the shower room and talk to her there. She did not undress in his presence, the woman said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: STEVE KARNOWSKI , Associated Press Updated: October 17, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota prosecutor said Friday that charges are likely to be brought in one case of alleged sexual misconduct by a Catholic priest, but declined to give more details.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the case is one of three that are still under investigation by the St. Paul police.

But Choi said seven other cases of alleged sexual misconduct involving eight Catholic priests will not be prosecuted for various reasons.

Speaking to reporters, he said the statute of limitations had expired on three cases. Two priests suspected in one case had died, he said. There was not enough evidence to prove one case and investigators could not identify the suspects in the other two cases, Choi said.

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ALABAMA
Fox 6

[with video]

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) – Embattled church pastor Juan McFarland has complied with a judge’s order to turn over keys, bank accounts and a Mercedes Benz to Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church officials prior to a 5 p.m. deadline, according to the church’s board of trustees chairman

Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Charles Price ruled against McFarland earlier in the day, telling him in a preliminary injunction hearing to return the property to the church’s leadership. In addition to returning the property, the judge barred McFarland from the church’s property.

The ousted pastor arrived in the Mercedes around 4 p.m., surrendered it to the church, and drove away in a different Mercedes with an unidentified woman.

The ruling against the pastor came several hours after Judge Price called a morning recess for the courtroom, packed with more than two-thirds of the church’s members. Juan McFarland sat on the very back row and had to be called to the front by the judge to join his co-defendant.

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MINNESOTA
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Oct 17, 2014

Because everybody in the Catholic news world has been focused on that amazing synod in Rome, this week’s settlement of an abuse case in the Twin Cities has largely sailed under the radar. It shouldn’t have.

Negotiated between premier abuse victim lawyer Jeff Anderson and officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the settlement establishes 17 child protection protocols that ought to be adopted throughout the United States, if not the world. Most important is Protocol 17, which reads as follows:

When the Archdiocese receives a report of child sexual abuse and makes a mandated report to law enforcement pursuant to Minnesota statutes, the Archdiocese shall not conduct an internal investigation and will not interfere in any way with law enforcement until law enforcement concludes its investigation, closes its file without an investigation, or authorizes the Archdiocese to proceed with its investigation.

Time and again, when dioceses have failed to handle an abuse case properly in recent years, it’s been because their internal investigation failed to result in law enforcement being informed when a possible abuser was brought to their attention.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

A CATHOLIC priest who formerly taught at St Stanislaus’ College will spend at least 11 months behind bars after being convicted of abusing a West Australian teenager more than 30 years ago.

Glenn Humphreys, 61, was found guilty of abusing a boy between 1983 and 1986 when the boy was aged 15 to 17.

A District Court jury found Humphreys guilty of four counts of unlawful and indecent assault, but acquitted him of carnal knowledge against the order of nature.

During sentencing submissions on Wednesday, defence lawyer Seamus Rafferty argued there was an “immature context” to the offending rather than any form of grooming adding his client was “deeply remorseful” and had engaged in rehabilitation, which Judge Philip Eaton accepted.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Updated: Archbishop expected to step down; Bishop Scicluna expected to take over until new Archbishop is appointed

Archbishop Paul Cremona is expected to resign as the head of the Maltese Church, Times of Malta learnt last night. The resignation is expected to be made official tomorrow during a press conference.

The 68-year-old archbishop is believed to have written to Pope Francis requesting to step down, according to sources. It is not yet known whether the Vatican has formally accepted his request.

However, the church portal Newsbook reported this afternoon that Bishop Charles Scicluna is expected to take over the administration of the Church until a new Archbishop is appointed.

When contacted, a Curia spokesman said any such questions should be referred to the Apostolic Nunciature, which could not be reached for comment.

Should the Vatican give its blessing, Mgr Cremona would be the first head of the Church in Malta to step down before retirement age since the 19th century.

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MINNESOTA
City Pages

By Jesse Marx Fri., Oct. 17 2014

Before his death in 1985, Father Thomas Stitts is believed to have confessed his sins of sexual abuse — and the sins of some of his colleagues — in a letter. However, that letter may have been burned to protect the parties involved.

There is still one way to get to the bottom of what Stitts knew — by asking the priests who were close to him near the end, some of whom are still alive. But they’re not talking.

Father Richard Rice, for instance, is refusing to answer questions about his private conversations with Stitts as part of a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Rice’s excuse? Minnesota statute 595.02(c) — otherwise known as the “priest-penitent privilege.”

It says members of the clergy do not have to disclose the details of confessions, and is very often upheld by judges. But what makes this case different is that Rice spoke with Stitts as a spiritual adviser, outside the traditional confession-penance-absolution ritual that occurs in a box.

In court Thursday, Patrick Noaker, an attorney for a man who claims to have abused by Stitts as a boy, suggested that the archdiocese was withholding evidence by allowing Rice to remain silent.

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MICHIGAN
Daily Tribune

DETROIT (AP) >> A judge has refused to release a priest who is accused of secretly recording hockey players in the locker room at a Detroit school in the late 1990s.

The Rev. Richard Kurtz, formerly of Clarkston, is charged with production, transportation and possession of child pornography. He was recently arrested at a Missouri retreat for wayward priests and returned to Detroit.

Federal Judge Stephen Murphy III refused to grant bond to Kurtz on Thursday, saying he’s a threat to the public.

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ITALIA
La Nazione

[Priest investigated for pedophilia. “He has repeatedly abused the child”]

Viareggio, 16 ottobre 2014 – L’«ORCO» che avrebbe abusato ripetutamente di un ragazzino di 11 anni è un sacerdote. E’ questa la scioccante verità sulla quale da tempo la Procura di Lucca ha aperto un fascicolo. Un fascicolo che di giorno in giorno si è arricchito di testimonianze, di documenti medico-legali, di perizie concordati: il bambino è stato violentato. Una vicenda scabrosa, non l’unica, che da qualche tempo sta creando da una parte imbarazzo e dall’altra sgomento nel campo investigativo.

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ROME
John Thavis

The Synod of Bishops has entered the crucial, final 48 hours of its assembly, a time to produce results and deliver them to the pope and to the world.

From the outside, this synod is looking more and more like an amazingly candid exchange of ideas, with two different pastoral perspectives locked in a line-by-line, word-by-word debate over the final text.

The perspective emphasizing mercy, welcome and accompaniment was expressed in Monday’s remarkable midterm relatio, which proposed, among other things, that modern evangelization should begin by finding “positive elements” in unions and relationships that the church had always considered sinful or “irregular.” This is Pope Francis’ line, and I’m sure he would like to see it endorsed by this synod.

The critical reaction has been unusually blunt, by Vatican standards. The small-group reports released yesterday went beyond fine-tuning – some groups proposed what would amount to a recasting of the entire document in a more doctrinal mold. (We need to remember, however, that these reports deal only with proposed changes, so there may well be a greater-than-apparent level of consensus on much of the relatio.)

I would love to hear what Pope Francis thinks of the proceedings so far. It may be an exaggeration to say that his pastoral agenda is at stake, but it’s hard not to see this synod as an evaluation of his first 18 months in office. At one point in the synod, one bishop told the pope that not even he had the right to change divine law. That’s a measure of the resistance that has surfaced here.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Vatican press office tells The Malta Independent resignation of Archbishop still to be accepted

The Vatican Press office has said that the Church is still to accept the resignation offered by Archbishop Mgr Paul Cremona this week.

Speaking to The Malta Independent after a press conference held this morning about Sunday’s ceremony to beatify Pope Paul VI, the Vatican’s press officer Father Federico Lombardi said that the Vatican is still to confirm its position on the matter.

The Curia has in the meantime scheduled a press conference for Saturday.

The Malta Independent learnt yesterday evening that the head of the Maltese Church has written to Pope Francis informing him of his decision to step down.

A scheduled pastoral visit to Qormi this week was cancelled by the Archbishop as speculation about his future grew.

It would be the first time that a bishop in Malta requests to step down before the formal age of retirement at 75 years. Mgr Cremona is 68 years old and became archbishop seven years ago.

The resignation comes in the wake of reports that the Church in Malta was demoralised and needed a new leader. Priests have also expressed the concern about what they called a leadership vacuum.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Father John Fleming’s inappropriate relationships “wrong whichever way you cut it”, court hears

CHIEF COURT REPORTER SEAN FEWSTER THE ADVERTISER OCTOBER 17, 2014

FATHER John Fleming’s inappropriate relationship with a male parishioner and “prurient” interest in two teenage girls was “wrong whichever way you cut it”, a court has heard.

Lawyers for the Sunday Mail today told the Supreme Court their evidence against the prominent priest was a “contextual tsunami” that would “break” over his years of denials.

Andrew Harris, QC, for the newspaper — published by the same company as The Advertiser — said his client’s defence centred on the evidence of the girls and the man.

“This case is about three unconnected people who each thought they were the only ones to be involved sexually with Fr Fleming,” he said.

“Each of these three people will tell a story about Fr Fleming taking advantage of them and about the impact this has had on their lives.

“(One of them) effectively assumed the role of providing an outlet for his sexual urges … she thought her calling was to be a sexual outlet for a priest who was 15 years older than her.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Nathan Guttman
Published October 17, 2014.

WASHINGTON — A young woman jogging down O Street Thursday night slowed down as she passed by Kesher Israel synagogue, in the heart of Georgetown. “My father used to go here,” she told a group of congregants standing outside, before entering services on the eve of Simchat Torah. “I just wanted to tell you to be strong.”

For members of the synagogue, being strong following news of their rabbi’s arrest Tuesday meant going forward with the mitzvah of celebrating the Torah, even as he faced charges of peeping on women bathing in the mikveh, or ritual bath.

The scene at Kesher Thursday night made clear that its members were trying extra hard to celebrate this year. Rabbi Barry Freundel, leader of the prominent Washington, D.C. Orthodox congregation, was released to his home on Wednesday and banned from visiting the synagogue or being in touch with his alleged victims. Freundel is accused of installing a hidden camera in the synagogue’s mikveh and taping female congregants as they disrobed and dipped in the ritual bath. Investigators have seized his computer, on which they say they found nude images of at least six women he peeped on.
The holiday service was lay-led, not unusual for Kesher, and though Rabbi Freundel was undoubtedly on the mind of many, they did not allow the news hamper their celebrations. One member explained that this is the source of the congregation’s strength. “We have to continue,” he explained. “We are obliged to go ahead with the holiday services.”

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AUSTRALIA
Survivors of Clergy Abuse Australia (SoCAA)

We have come to understand that unless you specifically state and insist that you want evidence based treatment only you will most likely be handled by someone who has their own religious superstitions who will judge firstly on the basis of their unproven beliefs. This is a lottery style system that feeds you back to your original abusers and their religious culture. This is not an adequate or suitable form of treatment – in fact this is dangerous to you if you have progressed in any way towards being independent in your treatment.

There are no checks to prevent this from happening in any Australian government operated or funded systems and it appears that this can now also be found in pockets of the Royal Commission itself.

Their beliefs and belief systems take precedence over your well-being including how you are treated for any condition that you have as a result of your original abuse. You and your needs become secondary to their superstitions. This issue is rampant in those systems which have been funded or employed to support you.

You do not have to accept the fantasy beliefs of other people.

More than $45 million has been spent on support for victims and rarely can they find evidence based support. A psychologist trained in a Christian psychology school can only establish a toxic relationship with you while claiming to be able to support and to treat you – in this scenario you have become the trade goods that are being used to keep Christian trained people in employment, it allows them to prevent your healing from abuse by the religious as that allows them the freedom to dominate and to determine your treatment on the basis of their superstitious or mythological belief systems.

We have been unable to find any evidence of a survivor in active treatment with an evidence based system who successfully committed suicide. Survivors treated with evidence based systems reach far better outcomes more quickly, the treatment lasts for the rest of your life unlike superstition based treatments which become lifelong dependant relationships. Superstition based systems are a cess pit of re-trauma, re-abuse and misguided treatments. They do not serve your needs.

This leaves 100% of successful suicides of survivors of childhood clergy sexual abuse originating from superstition based systems of healing and treatment. This also happened in Ireland where suicides sky-rocketed out of control and continue to this day.

These are the systems your government prefers to fund and to foist on to you. They are a death sentence for far too many.

Simply demanding evidence based treatment is insufficient in some circumstances. You will be deceived and they will encourage you to remain within the superstitious system. You are profit for them as well as being in their control; your journey will become endless and will quickly fill with horror and re-trauma as they are unable to treat you properly for abuse by religious people. These forms of treatment are toxic, they are a danger to you.

The experience of many has been one that has repeatedly forced them into the mental health system where any form of medication can be forced on to you. This is claimed to be for your benefit. People with a superstitious agenda do not and can not act in your best interests. Demand and insist on evidence based treatments only.

If you should find yourself in such a situation we recommend that you feign belief in the Christian God or the God of Islam or the Jewish God (Preferably the Christian God) – they will accept you as their superstitions allow for this and will begin to treat you less severely, you are still in the most unhealthy and the most toxic environment possible for a survivor of clergy abuse. To stay is to risk your life and your sanity.

We recommend that you continue with this deception until you can flee these insane and unregulated, incompetent and toxic systems. Fleeing to an interstate location can buy you time so that you can connect with other survivors who may be able to assist. Most survivors have been forced into a medical haze and or poverty; very often the most they can offer you is a bed for a few nights and enough food to stop you going hungry – they are your safest allies.

Police and government funded systems in any Australian state are not your friends when you find yourself in these circumstances.

So that you obtain real counseling and support based on evidence you must reject offers for people who “have well defined boundaries” (or similar wording). This will on most occasions put you in the hands of a believer of fantasy – effectively you are back in a system that will silence you or send you insane until you prefer to kill yourself.

By demanding evidence based treatments you are rejecting all beliefs unless they can be validated by evidence. This will help protect you from those who have a belief that the only way to save you is to return you to the same system that abused you.

Before you can begin a genuine healing journey you need to free yourself from government funded superstition based belief systems. Ensure your own safety and ensure that you have some form of protection for your life and your sanity – insist on evidence based treatments only .

Thank you.
rgds
JohnB

contact@molestecatholics.com
Australia 0756412311
SKYPE: TFYQA1

Prepared, written and distributed by John A Brown 17, October, 2014. Please distribute to any know survivors of clergy abuse in Australia urgently.

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CALIFORNIA
The Guardian

Reuters in Los Angeles
The Guardian, Thursday 16 October 2014

The author John Grisham apologised on Thursday for comments he made to the Daily Telegraph that not all men who look at child abuse images should be sent to prison and that sentences for such crimes were too harsh.

Grisham, who is about to publish his new legal thriller, made the comments to the British newspaper in the context of a wide-ranging attack on the US judicial system and its high prison rates.

Parts of the interview were available on video on the Telegraph’s website on Thursday, and will be published in full on Saturday, the paper said.

Grisham also issued an apology on his own website:

“Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure, or who in any way participates in child pornography – online or otherwise – should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JON KAILA CRIME REPORTER HERALD SUN OCTOBER 17, 2014

AN ELDERLY man has been charged with scores of historical sex offences.

The man, aged 72, was arrested in Cairns and will be extradited back to Victoria today and face 62 charges at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

The arrest follows an investigation by SANO Taskforce detectives into alleged sex attacks on seven victims in Greensborough between 1968 and 1974.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

On 17 January 1951, John was one of the first boys to enter Rubane House, the boys home run by the De La Salle order which is currently being investigated by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

John (not his real name) was 14 years old at the time.

“I was frightened because I didn’t know what to make of it. The big place looked like somewhere medieval,” he said in an exclusive interview with UTV Live Tonight.

John, now aged 77, recalled how he was sexually abused on the day after he arrived there under the guise of horseplay and was continually beaten for no reason.

On one occasion, he was caned on the hands so badly that his fingernail came off and he was left on his knees crying in pain.

Another time, he was sent to get a film but lost the ten shilling note. Terrified of what would happened to him, he ran away and was picked up by the police.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 17, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A man who was repeatedly molested by his youth pastor lashed out at church elders, accusing them of using the child sexual abuse royal commission to “justify their failings and minimise their responsibilities”.

In a statement read out to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, the man, now aged in his mid-20s, described his life as a living hell.

The royal commission heard that he was abused for two years from the age of 13 to 15 by a youth pastor at his Pentecostal church in Queensland.

Jonathan Baldwin was convicted over the offences in 2009 and sentenced to eight years jail but has since been released. His father-in-law, Ian Lehmann, was the senior pastor of the church at the time of the offences.

His victim, given the pseudonym ALA, said Mr Lehmann and the umbrella body for the Pentecostal movement, Australian Christian Churches, had failed him and his family.

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ROME
Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 17, 2014 – “The spirit of the Council is blowing again,” Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle has said, a rising star of the worldwide episcopate as well as being a historian of Vatican II. And it is true. At the synod that is about to conclude there are many elements in common with what happened at that great event.

The most visible similarity is the distance between the real synod and the virtual synod driven by the media.

But there is an even more substantial resemblance. Both at Vatican Council II and at this synod the changes of paradigm are the product of careful coordination. A protagonist of Vatican II like Fr. Giuseppe Dossetti – the consummate strategist of the four cardinal moderators who were at the controls of the conciliar machine – asserted this with pride. He said that he had “transformed the fate of the Council” thanks to his capacity to pilot the assembly, which he had learned in his previous political experience as the leader of the foremost Italian party.

The same thing has happened at this synod. Both the openness to communion for the civilly divorced and remarried – and therefore the admission of remarriage on the part of the Church – and the startling change of paradigm on the issue of homosexuality that found its way into the “Relatio post disceptationem” would not have been possible without a series of skillfully calculated steps on the part of those who had and have control of the procedures.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Oct. 16, 2014

INDEPENDENCE, MO.
After 11 days of testimony from three dozen witnesses related to a lawsuit alleging clergy sexual abuse, jurors here never received for deliberation the case brought by a former altar boy against the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese.

Instead, a global $9.95 million settlement Tuesday night resolved the suit and 29 others against the diocese, just hours before closing arguments were set to begin Wednesday.

A statement from the diocese said the claims were filed between 2010 and early 2014 and involved allegations dating back 20 years or more. Insurers will cover “a significant amount of the settlement,” it said, with the diocese responsible for the remaining balance.

The diocese indicated the agreement resolves all outstanding historical sexual abuse claims. A case related to former priest Shawn Ratigan remains pending.

“The Diocese sincerely hopes that this settlement can bring about some closure to those hurt by abuse in the past. The Diocese also prays for a healing which can bring peace to the hearts of all of those hurt by child sexual abuse,” the statement said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: ARTHUR MCCAFFREY Updated: October 16, 2014

If anything, there has been too much fear of appearing to be presumptuous with regard to “internal matters.”

If consistency is a virtue, then the Star Tribune Editorial Board should be full of grace: It has now called twice for the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt — first last July, then again this week in conjunction with the procedural settlement between abuse victims, their lawyers and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Charles Rogers, an attorney negotiator for the archdiocese, described the landmark accord as a “global settlement,” with both economic and noneconomic portions. Reversing the national trend, the innovative policies and procedures (the noneconomic part) were settled before the wrangling over cash takes place, with the hope that goodwill created by the former would optimize outcomes for victims.

That July editorial (“To heal church, Nienstedt must go”) went out on a limb, with editors worried that some might think it “presumptuous for a secular news organization to advise a church about internal matters.” This time around, the Editorial Board was less apologetic — emboldened, no doubt, by a critique from 12 apostle-professors at the University of St. Thomas who had publicly lambasted Nienstedt last month for his failed leadership (even though they stopped short of demanding his resignation).

These editorials have performed a brave public service, despite the editors’ initial misgivings about possible backlash for meddling in the “internal matters” of a religious institution — even though the “matters” in question could not be more public in both their causes and effects. Namely, church employees committing criminal acts against children, while their managers obstruct justice by covering up the crimes and enabling further terrorization of victims. To be worried about “presumptuousness” in this context is a wee bit like the FBI worrying about intruding on the internal workings of organized crime.

Yet backlash there will be. Like most newspapers taking stances on sports, religion or politics, the Star Tribune will find itself in the position of “damned if you do/damned if you don’t.” It will take its licks from two sources: from church defenders leveling accusations of “Catholic-bashing” and from people like me accusing the media of being too soft and deferential on Catholic criminality.

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DOMINIKANISCHE REPUBLIK
Radio Vatikan

In der Dominikanischen Republik mehren sich Stimmen von Menschenrechtsvertretern, die eine stärkere Präsenz des Karibikstaates im anstehenden Verfahren gegen den ehemaligen Nuntius Jozef Wesolowski im Vatikan fordern. Die dominikanische Ombudsfrau Zoila Martinez rief am Donnerstag im dominikanischen Nachrichtenportal „Noticias SIN“ Generalstaatsanwalt Francisco Dominguez Brito auf, eine Kommission zu bilden, die das Land während der Gerichtsverhandlung in Rom vertritt. Ziel einer solchen Kommission müsse es sein, die Familien der Missbrauchsopfer zu repräsentieren und zu unterstützen, so Martinez. „Das Land darf nicht mit verschränkten Armen da stehen. Wir müssen in der Anhörung als moralische Vertretung der Missbrauchsopfer präsent sein.“

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
La Nacion Dominicana

[Ombudsman Dra. Zoila Martinez asked the republic’s attorney general, Dr. Francisco Dominquez Brito, to appoint a commission to travel to the Vatican to represent the country during the trial of former papal nuncio Jozef Wesolowski. She explained it is one way to support the families and victims who are said to be abused by the former nuncio. The Dominican Republic cannot remain with arms crossed and must be present at the hearing, she said. She argued the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican should also assist the commission.]

Santo Domingo, R.D.- La Defensora del Pueblo, Dra. Zoila Martínez solicitó al Procurador General de la República, Dr. Francisco Domínguez Brito designar una comisión para que junto a la Defensoría del Pueblo, viajen al Vaticano a representar al país durante el juicio que se llevará a cabo en contra del ex nuncio Józef Wesołowski.

Explicó que es una forma de apoyar a los familiares y a las víctimas que fueron abusadas por el ex nuncio en el país.

“El país no puede quedarse con los brazos cruzados, debemos estar presentes en la audiencia en representación moral de las víctimas que fueron abusadas”. Explicó Martínez.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Abuse victim who endured abuse trial speaks out
Dozens of his family and friends rally around him
Victims also push KC church officials to do more about 2 ousted priests
They are still priests, were part of new settlement, and now live out of state

WHAT
Surrounded by relatives and friends, the KC man who endured a two week clergy sex abuse and cover up trial will speak for the first time publicly about the ordeal and how he was treated by church lawyers.

And clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers to church goers. The leaflets urge KC’s embattled Catholic bishop to warn the public – in KC, Nevada and Pennsylvania – about two credibly accused KC predator priests who have quietly been sent elsewhere

WHEN
Friday, Oct. 17 at 11:45 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 416 W. 12th in downtown KC MO

WHO
Plaintiff Jon David Couzens and two dozen of his friends and family including members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
Couzens is one of just two men in Missouri to ever take a clergy sex abuse civil case to trial. Lawyers for KC Bishop Robert Finn deposed him for roughly 25 hours, repeatedly asking extremely detailed and embarrassing questions.

And in court, they revealed deeply personal information about him and drew inferences and “conclusions” about him that deliberately – and deceptively – portrayed him in the most unpleasant and unflattering ways possible.

Two accused predator priests from Kansas City who were involved in the just-settled clergy sex abuse suits have been quietly sent out of state and now live among unsuspecting neighbors, SNAP says.

The group wants Bishop Robert Finn – and bishops in those states – to warn parents, police, prosecutors and parishioners about the clerics.

They are Fr. Mark Honhart and Fr. Thomas Cronin. (Photos of both are at BishopAccountability.org)

Fr. Honhart was ordained in the Kansas City diocese in 1980 and worked there until 2002 when he was transferred to New Mexico and then to Pennsylvania. Three civil lawsuits have been filed against Fr. Honhart with all three allegations having taken place in Kansas City.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A police inspector who advised a church body charged with handling reports of child abuse did not see it as her role to pass on information to her superiors.

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) was today questioning Inspector Beth Cullen about her role on the Catholic Church’s Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) – a body set up to help funnel information about sex abuse cases to the police.

Using a system called ‘blind reporting’, the information about abuse incidents would be given to police without victims’ details. In some cases the blind report said the victim did not want police involvement when in fact they did.

Insp Cullen, who attended the monthly PSRG meetings for six years, said she didn’t see it as her role to pass each abuse case to police.

‘My role wasn’t as a police liaison officer or conduit of information to police,’ she told the hearing in Sydney.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MICHELLE HARRIS Oct. 17, 2014.

A POLICE officer never reported or told her superiors of the dozens of cases of child sexual abuse she learnt of through her involvement with a Catholic Church advisory group, telling the police watchdog ‘‘that wasn’t my role’’.

Inspector Elizabeth Cullen rejected any conflict of interest between her membership from 1999 to 2005 of the Church’s Professional Standards Resources Group, which was set up to consider abuse victims’ complaints, and her responsibilities as an officer.

In her evidence to the Police Integrity Commission on Friday, she said she was a member of the group to provide her expert advice to the Church on addressing child sexual abuse and was not a ‘‘police liaison or…conduit of information’’.

The NSW Police Force had not expected her to make such reports, she said.

The commission is considering whether police ‘‘condoned’’ the Church withholding information from police about clergy abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 17, 2014

Paul Bibby

A NSW Police Inspector learnt about scores of child sex abuse cases while on a Catholic Church advisory committee but did not report any of the information back to the force, the police watchdog has heard.

The officer told the NSW Police Integrity Commission on Friday that her role was that of an “adviser or liaison” not as an “investigator or conduit of information”.

The Commission is investigating whether police engaged in misconduct through their participation in the Catholic Church’s professional standard’s research group – a body set up to advise the church as it dealt with complaints of clergy abuse through its controversial “towards healing” program.

On Friday, the sole police representative on the research group, Inspector Elizabeth Cullen – who was a senior sergeant at the time of her involvement – told the Commission that she saw numerous case summaries setting out allegations of child sexual abuse, but never took them back to her police colleagues.

This included one case summary, from June 2001, where a member of the clergy was referred to as “likely to be a serious, serial offender”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Friday 17 October 2014

A senior police officer at the centre of hearings into the force’s relationship with the Catholic church has broken down in tears while defending the practice of “blind reporting” sex abuse.

Inspector Elizabeth Cullen was a member of the Professional Standards Resources Group (PSRG) between 1999 and 2005, a body that supported the church’s Professional Standards Office (PSO).

But Cullen, a police officer for 28 years, told the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) it was not her role to make direct reports to her superiors at the child protection squad about incidents of abuse being handled by the PSO.

Counsel assisting, Kristina Stern, on Friday asked Cullen if sex abuse victims whose cases were brought before the PSO should have been encouraged to talk to police so they could make an informed choice about making a criminal complaint.

“There was an over-arching factor that their wishes be respected,” she said, referring to abuse sufferers who requested privacy while detailing allegations.

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UNITED STATES
Adventist News Network

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SENDS EDITS TO NEXT JULY’S GC SESSION FOR CONSIDERATION
October 16, 2014 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Edwin Manuel Garcia/ANN

Delegates at the 2014 General Conference Annual Council this week agreed to amend some chapters of the Church Manual, including adding new details to further specify the reasons that members can face discipline.

The 13 reasons for which members can be disciplined—such as disloyalty to the church and physical violence—did not change. But the section that deals most closely with extramarital relationships was expanded to include details on specific definitions relating to sexual conduct.

The current wording on that section states that members can be disciplined for “violation of the seventh commandment of the law of God as it relates to the marriage institution, the Christian home and biblical standards of moral conduct.”

The Church Manual revision committee proposed to replace that statement with the following: “Violation of the commandment of the law of God, which reads, ‘You shall not commit adultery’ (Ex. 20:14, Matt. 5:28), as it relates to the marriage institution and the Christian home, biblical standards of moral conduct, and any act of sexual intimacy outside of a marriage relationship and/or non‑consensual acts of sexual conduct within a marriage whether those acts are legal or illegal. Such acts include but are not limited to child sexual abuse, including abuse of the vulnerable. Marriage is defined as a public, lawfully binding, monogamous, heterosexual relationship between one man and one woman.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

Ralph Iannotti

IRWIN (KDKA) — A local church volunteer, who had contact with children, is facing child pornography charges.

Andrew Patterson, 45, who’s married and has a teenager daughter, was arrested Thursday and charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and sexual abuse of children.

Patterson, described by friends as a computer genius, allegedly shared photos of children in sexually explicit situations with others on the Internet. One of the images investigators say they retrieved from his computer showed an adult male with a baby girl.

Patterson recently started doing volunteer work with youth groups at a non-denominational church in Irwin, Westmoreland County.

Rev. Roy Tryon, of the Living Waters Family Worship Center, told KDKA’s Ralph Iannotti that he was stunned when Patterson called him and left a message on his cell phone saying, “I resign. I expect to be arrested soon; I’m a horrible person.”

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