ABUSE TRACKER

OSTERREICH
Wir Sind Kirche

Kurz vor dem Katholikentag 2014 hat die vom Innsbrucker Bischof Dr. Manfred Scheuer ausgesprochene Exkommunikation des Ehepaares Dr. Martha und Gert Heizer eine intensive Diskussion ausgelöst. Die in Abstimmung mit der Glaubenskongregation durch Bischof Dr. Manfred Scheuer festgestellte „Selbst-Exkommunikation“ ist kein Ausschluss aus der Kirche, aber die (zeitweise) Aberkennung kirchlicher Rechte und des Sakramentenempfangs.

Kirchenrechtlich scheint der von der Glaubenskongregation betriebene Fall klar zu sein. Doch die Bischöfe müssen sich fragen lassen, welche zukunftstauglichen Gottesdienst- und Gemeindeformen sie anzubieten haben. Die an den Priestermangel angepassten pastoralen Großraumkonzepte mit XXL-Pfarreien führen in die Sackgasse. Das Kirchenrecht verpflichtet die Bischöfe, dafür zu sorgen, dass die Gläubigen Zugang zu den Sakramenten haben (Can. 213). Wäre es nicht besser, Gemeindeglieder zu ordinieren statt zu exkommunizieren, wie Prof. Zulehner vorgeschlagen hat?

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OSTERREICH
Radio Vatikan

[Martha Heizer, who heads We Are Church, may have been excommunicated by the Catholic Church but she remains in office. An extraordinary meeting of We Are Church was held this weekend in Salsburg, Austria, and members decided to retain her.]

Die Plattform „Wir sind Kirche” belässt ihre exkommunizierte Vorsitzende Martha Heizer im Amt. Das entschied eine außerordentliche Vollversammlung der Gruppierung am Wochenende in Salzburg, wie kathpress berichtet. Vorausgegangen waren heftige Diskussionen und Gegenstimmen, etwa von Heizers Vorgänger Hans Peter Hurka. Heizers Gegner befürchteten, dass durch den Verbleib des Ehepaares Heizers die Gesprächsbasis der Plattform mit der Leitung der katholischen Kirche zunichte gemacht werde.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: September 29, 2014

Ever since The Boston Globe exposed Cardinal Bernard Law’s shell game with pedophile priests about 15 years ago, the Vatican has struggled to deal effectively with innumerable cases that subsequently emerged around the world. From promoting Cardinal Law to a position in Rome to responding poorly to major cases in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, the church has not achieved the moral clarity that the flock and society expect.

Against that checkered history, Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera and Pope Francis deserve great credit for their fast and decisive actions relative to a priest from Northeastern Pennsylvania who was accused of molesting male students at the former St. Gregory’s Academy in Elmhurst Township.

In 2005 the church settled for $380,000 a federal lawsuit that had been brought by a former St. Gregory’s student against the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity and another priest. Former Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino removed the Rev. Urrutigoity from the diocese, but he was accepted and promoted in the Paraguayan Diocese of Ciudad del Este.

Advocates for abuse victims learned of the Rev. Urrutigoity’s position and protested, demanding action. Bishop Bambera wrote to the Vatican, characterizing the Rev. Urrutigoity as “posing a serious threat to young people.”

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VATICAN CITY
MondayVatican

by ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI on 29 SETTEMBRE 2014

In two moves, Pope Francis has shown he intends to strongly carry forward the line of zero tolerance on clergy sex abuse. Two very clear moves: an archbishop has been put on house arrest, another one has been removed from his post. Yet, all of this may not be sufficient to remove the prejudices against the Church for what concerns pedophilia. The Church is winning its fight against pedophilia through the work that John Paul II started, Benedict XVI carried forward and Pope Francis is continuing. But this fight risks to remain hidden, since in the end the real target of the attacks to the Church seem to be just one: to undermine the Church’s moral authority and question its sovereignty.

On September 23, it was announced that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the former apostolic nuncio who spent his career in Eastern Europe and that ended up as papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, has been put under house arrest in the Vatican and will be criminally charged by a Vatican penal court, after the tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had deemed him guilty in the first stage of the process and has defrocked (laicized) him.

On September 25, the Holy See press office announced the dismissal of Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, bishop of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. The archbishop was dismissed for “grave pastoral reasons” as a result of an Apostolic visit that Pope Francis tasked to the Spanish Cardinal Santos Avril y Castellò. The bishop of Ciudad del Este had been accused of protecting a pedophile priest.

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FLORIDA
Florida Baptist Witness

Sep 29, 2014
By NICOLE KALIL
Florida Baptist Witness

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—In an increasingly litigious society, even the church is not safe.

Churches are attractive targets, as people think they have a better opportunity for financial gain by suing an organization rather than an individual.

“A generation ago, suing the church was unheard of,” said Gary Yeldell, attorney, mediator and founder of Wise Counsel Legal Services in Keystone Heights. “Today, there’s a cottage industry of plaintiff lawyers that target churches.”

Churches by their very nature have multiple vulnerabilities. From youth activities, nurseries, preschools and various other ministries to the community such as food pantries and transportation, there are innumerable opportunities for someone to take advantage of the church.

Yeldell said it’s just as common for members to sue as it is for nonmembers.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY ALAN MURRAY – 29 SEPTEMBER 2014

A former police office who investigated the abuse of children from Kincora Boys’ Home has revealed that police never got the chance to question the MI5 officer responsible for an intelligence gathering operation at the home.

The ex-RUC man has told Sunday Life that detectives were never given access to the MI5 officer to find out what he knew about the exploitation of children placed at the east Belfast home.

He also revealed how police interviewed a number of politicians in Northern Ireland including then DUP leader Ian Paisley. Mr Paisley was not a suspect and was only interviewed as he knew Kincora housemaster and abuser William McGrath.

Investigating officers even had to ask Dr Paisley if he was gay — a question which provoked a roar of laughter from the fiery preacher who founded the Free Presbyterian Church.

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VATICAN CITY
Mic

By Jared Keller

A former archbishop placed under house arrest by the Vatican on Tuesday allegedly had 100,000 child pornography videos and images hidden on his work computer at the Holy See’s compound in the Dominican Republic, according to a report in Italy’s Il Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The Vatican arrested Jozef Wesolowski on Tuesday under allegations of paying for sex with minors while serving papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic. Wesolowski, who was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal in June, was been placed under house awaiting a criminal trial, Reuters reports. This was the Holy See’s first-ever arrest inside Vatican City on charges of paedophilia.

“A gallery of horrors was kept on his laptop,” Il Corriere della Sera reports. “You see children aged between thirteen and seventeen humiliated in front of the camera, filmed naked, forced to have sex with each other and with adults.”

The Vatican said the arrest reflects the wishes of Pope Francis “that such a grave and delicate case be handled without delay, with the just and necessary rigour.”

The Pope had vowed “zero tolerance” against clergymen who sexually abuse children. In July, Francis met with victims of clerical sexual abuse for the first time in Vatican history, pledging the church officials responsible would be held accountable by the Vatican and likening the abuse to a “sacrilegious cult.”

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Gopi Chandra Kharel September 29, 2014

The Vatican is rocked by a massive paedophilia scandal as the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to be investigated for sex abuse is now accused of storing over a lakh child porn videos and images on his computer.

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the 66-year-old priest who served as a papal envoy in the Dominican Republic, had been arrested earlier this week at the Vatican and will be charged with sexually abusing minors and child porn possession. He may spend up to 7 years in the Vatican prison.

Investigators are reportedly analysing a computer used by Wesolowski in his Santo Domingo home, where he served as the Holy See envoy from 2008 to 2012.

The probe revealed that the Polish native had more than 1,00,000 files showing under-aged children in sexually explicit situations, II Corriere della Sera newspaper reported. Close to 160 videos showed teenage boys being forced to perform sexual acts on themselves and adults, according to the newspaper.

In what appears to be Wesolwski’s attempt to destroy some of the evidences, investigators found that at least 45,000 photos were deleted. More than 86,000 pornographic photos were also meticulously stored in several category-based folders.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

I’m so glad my secret is out, says affair shame bishop: Roman Catholic priest talks of feeling liberated as church chiefs are accused of ‘knowing for years’

By PAUL BENTLEY

A leading bishop who has resigned in shame over an affair said last night that he was ‘relieved’ the secret was out.

Kieran Conry, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, confessed on Saturday to being an ‘unfaithful’ priest.

He also stands accused of a second affair with a married parishioner 20 years his junior, who spent at least three nights at his home.

Last night, Catholic Church leaders were accused of a cover-up, with a lawyer saying they have ‘known for years that the bishop has been having affairs’.

Bishop Conry, 63, said he felt ‘liberated’ knowing he no longer has to bear the burden of his guilt alone.

‘It has been difficult keeping the secret,’ he told the Mail. ‘In some respects I feel very calm. It is liberating. It is a relief. I have been very careful not to make sexual morality a priority [in his sermons]. I don’t think it got in the way of my job, I don’t think people would say I have been a bad bishop. But I can’t defend myself. I did wrong. Full stop.’

Bishop Conry – a leading religious figure close to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Church in England and Wales – became a bishop in 2001.

He is sworn to celibacy and has for years preached about the Church’s ‘moral authority’ and the importance of the sanctity of family life.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Below is the press release from SNAP on the Bishop Livieres issue.

It had appeared as if Livieres had been the first and only bishop removed from office since the Sex Scandal broke over ten years ago. And even though his case was particularly egregious – making an accused child molester his vicar general, even after being warned by other bishops that the man was a danger to others, and then lashing out against the Vatican publicly – still this appeared to be good news. It appeared as if Pope Francis was setting the bar very low, but at least he was setting the bar. After all, if you won’t sack a bishop for making an accused child molester and scam artist his vicar general and allowing him continued access to boys, then how serious are you about reforming the very worst element in the Church?

And indeed for the first time since the crisis, the Vatican seemed to be getting serious about the problem, forcing into “house arrest” an archbishop and former Vatican envoy who is reported to have been molesting boys in the Dominican Republic and who was discovered to have over 100,000 pornographic images of children on his computer.

But now the Vatican makes it a point to slap some cold water in our faces.

Bishop Livieres has NOT been removed for enabling and promoting an accused child molester and scam artist, but for other reasons that apparently the Vatican regards as none of our business, allowing Livieres to spread the story that it’s all a right vs. left power struggle.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Dominic Kennedy

The Roman Catholic Church is facing a lawsuit from an estranged husband after a bishop resigned admitting that he had broken his priestly vows.

Kieran Conry, a trusted aide to the church’s hierarchy, made his admission in a statement read to congregations yesterday.

The potential legal action is based on the suggestion that the church had known for years of the bishop’s alleged romances but turned a blind eye.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The national Religion Newswriters Association has honored the Journal Sentinel’s coverage of the release of archdiocesan sex abuse documents, the controversy over a Wauwatosa priest and the continuing bankruptcy proceedings.

The 2014 Gerald A. Renner Enterprise Religion Report of the Year honors a series or package of stories that shows enterprise and unusual effort, and uses multimedia. The award is named after an award-winning religion journalist and author.

The Journal Sentinel won for a collection of 10 pieces, spearheaded by Annysa Johnson, who has been covering religion for five years. Karen Herzog, Gina Barton, Ellen Gabler, Kevin Crowe, Allan Vestal and Dave Umhoefer of the Journal Sentinel all shared in the award.

The announcement was made at the association’s national convention this month in Atlanta.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By: John ReynoldsPublished: Sun, September 28, 2014

The Rt Reverend Kieran Conry, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, resigned from his post after he admitted to breaking his clerical vows, leading to speculation he had an affair.

Conry’s apology was read out in all churches of the Diocese on Saturday evening and Sunday.

The apology read: “I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

“As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time my future. I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside out outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this. I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for you prayers and forgiveness.”

Conry is sworn to celibacy and his resignation will heap huge embarrassment on the Catholic Church. His resignation is understood to relate to an affair the 63-year-old priest bishop had with a married woman, according to one report. …

Following Conry’s resignation cardinal Vincent Nichols, presidents of the Bishops’ Conference, said: “This is a sad and painful moment. It makes clear that we are always a Church of sinners called to repentance and conversion and in need of God’s mercy. All involved in this situation are much in my prayers today.”

Reaction to Conry’s decision to stand down has been largely sympathetic. Friar Neil Peoples, priest in the diocese of Nottingham tweeted: “Please pray for bishop Conry and the people of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton at this time.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Raw Story

TOM BOGGIONI
27 SEP 2014

tican detectives analyzing a computer used a by an archbishop arrested earlier this week discovered over 86,000 pornographic photos and 160 sexually explicit video files of children, reports the International Business Times.

According to investigators, another 45,000 pictures had been deleted.

Former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66, was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week on charges that he paid to have sex with minors when he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2012.

Wesolowski is the first Vatican official to be arrested within the city state on charges of pedophilia.

The former archbishop was recalled to Rome by the Vatican last year while still a diplomat in Santo Domingo and relieved of his duties following accusations from Dominican media that he was paying for underaged sex partners.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

‘I’m coming home to prove I’m not a child of rape’, says US woman who claims to be Fr Cleary’s daughter

The American woman who believes she’s Father Michael Cleary’s daughter has said she will do whatever it takes to prove he is her biological father.

Felicia Irwin has pledged to travel to Ireland to take a DNA test to disprove claims that she is a child of rape.

An Independent.ie investigation revealed yesterday an American-born woman who was adopted almost 30 years ago believes that she is the biological daughter of singing priest.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christianity Today

The Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton has resigned after close relationships with parishioners, including one with a married woman.

Kieran Conry, head of evangelisation for the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales and the church’s former head of media, said in a statement read out in all churches in his diocese at Mass this weekend, said: “I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

“As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.

“I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this.

“I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.”

After the statement appeared on his website, detailed allegations were published by the Mail on Sunday in which it became clear the newspaper had been investigating him for several months and that the priestly vow the bishop admits to having broken is that of chastity.

The Mail on Sunday reports the resignation today and discloses that Bishop Conry has had a close friendship with a married mother of two. The Bishop denies that this was a sexual relationship. He has resigned over a separate relationship that he had six years ago.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

September 29, 2014

Chris Goddard

“I was a young schoolgirl with everything before me. I was a student doing well at Forbes High School, coming first in four subjects … However, my life and future plans were stolen from me by the criminal actions of an Anglican priest … Donald Shearman.”

This is how Beth Heinrich started her private submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Shearman was an assistant Anglican priest, and he and his wife were in charge of the hostel where Beth boarded.

Beth’s detailed submission about her rape and abuse provides an extraordinary insight into how perpetrators prepare their victims, and just how vulnerable children are.

One day, after many months of sexual abuse, Beth was “labelled promiscuous” and expelled from the hostel.

This is where Beth’s story begins a new and extraordinary trajectory. Her experiences – and the many documents that she has kept – provide the most detailed case study of what is called “secondary victimisation”. Shearman – and the church – kept Beth hostage to his abuse.

Child rapists seek to corrupt the institutions that provide the opportunities for their crimes. Corrupting the host institution provides the cloak of concealment and confusion that denies the victim any chance of justice or recognition.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, Sept. 28

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

Vatican officials now deny that a controversial bishop in Paraguay was ousted because he hired and promoted a credibly accused abusive cleric who faced allegations of sexual misdeeds in Argentina, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. (He is Fr. Carlos Urruigoity.)

[Catholic News Service]

That’s basically what we said several days ago:

[SNAP]

[SNAP]

So many people so desperately want to believe that Francis is really addressing the church’s continuing abuse and cover up crisis that they interpret his words about the scandal in the most favorable light possible and then allow themselves to feel comfortable and complacent instead of skeptical and vigilant. It’s a real shame.

We endanger kids and insult victims when we leap to the most rosy conclusions possible about Catholic officials and their handling of this on-going crisis. Let’s give the benefit of the doubt to innocent kids, wounded victims and betrayed Catholics, not to one more popular and powerful Catholic official.

Even now, after decades of horrific disclosures about the complicity of the church hierarchy in child sex crimes, many of us find it hard to accept that a seemingly wonderful priest can molest kids or that a seemingly wonderful bishop can protect predators. And we evidently find it hard to accept that a seemingly wonderful pontiff can continue doing very little to reverse centuries of recklessness, deceit and secrecy with clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent September 28, 2014

ROME — Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, previously considered one of the most influential prelates in England, has abruptly resigned after admitting to “being unfaithful to his promises to the Catholic Church.”

In a brief statement, Conry only said that the reasons for his resignation “were not illegal nor did they involve minors.”

According to reports in the English media, Conry stepped down after allegations of affairs with adult female parishioners, although The Daily Mail indicates that Conry has admitted to only one such relationship that allegedly occurred six years ago.

Confronted by reporters at the door of his bishops’ residence last night, he said: “This relates to a relationship of six years ago.”

The identity of woman was not published, as British law protects confidentiality in such cases.

In a statement being read in all Masses in his diocese today, Conry apologized to those hurt by his action and “to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Group challenges Jeff City Catholic officials
They’re concerned about “troubling school cases”
Three Helias staff accused of “inappropriate” acts
SNAP says bishop should hold an open public meeting
Church officials have pledged “openness” in such incidents

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

–discuss three “disturbing” cases of inappropriate behavior by Helias High School staff in the last three years,
–call on Jefferson City’s Catholic bishop to hold an open public meeting to discuss these matters, and
–urge anyone who “may have seen, suspected or suffered misdeeds or crimes” by the three individuals to “call police, get help, expose wrongdoing, protect children and start healing.”

WHEN
Sunday, Sept. 28 at 1:15p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside Helias Catholic High School, 1305 Swifts Hwy, (near Myrtle) in Jefferson City, MO (573 635 6139)

WHO
Two-three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director and was molested by a Jeff City diocesan priest

WHY
In February, Helias art teacher Mark Friggle resigned after making an inappropriate comment to a 14 year-old female student. Former students said that “Friggle had made comments of what they called a perverted nature in the past,” ABC 17 reported.

[ABC 17]

(In on line forums, Allen DeMois, Chris Westergaard, and Megan Rieke defended Friggle. Rieke is Friggle’s niece.)

It was the third “troubling” incident involving a Helias staffer in as many years. So SNAP is urging Jeff City Bishop John Gaydos to hold an open public meeting to discuss the three cases and let parents and parishioners express their concerns and ask questions of diocesan officials.

The other two cases:

1) Last year, Helias teacher and tennis coach Tim Dunville resigned after he wedded a Ukranian woman who was charged with illegally attempting to get married to get U.S. citizenship according to court records. Dunville was allegedly offered $36,000 for his involvement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yahoo! News

By Mark Piggott | IB Times

The Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Rt Rev Kieran Conry, has resigned after bringing “shame” on his diocese and being “unfaithful” to his vows.

The Mail on Sunday alleges he has had affairs with two women, one of them a married woman who spent several nights at his cottage in Sussex.

In a statement to be read out in church today Bishop Conry said: “I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

“As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.”

Catholic priests are forbidden from having any form of sexual relationship. Although it is unclear if either of the two alleged relationships were sexual, the Bishop clearly felt he had no alternative other than to resign.

“I want to apologise to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese,” continued the statement. “I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.”

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CANADA
APTN

[with video]

APTN National News

Canadian sanatoriums and Indian Hospitals are InFocus this week.

Many Canadians are only beginning to learn about the atrocities that took place at Indian Residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is bringing the stories of survivors forward.

A deeper look into those decades reveals that children faced more than just the horrors of residential schools.

Last year, APTN reported that First Nation children were being used for nutritional experiments. Then it emerged children were also used as test subjects for tuberculosis vaccine trials in the 1930s and 1940s at a sanatorium in southern Saskatchewan.

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HONDURAS/ESTADO UNIDOS
Proceso

Tegucigalpa.- Las autoridades hondureñas informaron que la detención del sacerdote católico estadounidense, Joseph Maurizio Jr, en Estados Unidos, fue parte de una operación coordinada con las autoridades de ese país del norte, en respuesta a una orden de captura emitida por un tribunal de la ciudad de El Progreso, Yoro, desde hace más de un mes.

Elvis Guzmán, portavoz de la fiscalía en la región norte, dijo en declaraciones al noticiero TN5 estelar de Televicentro, que luego de denuncias hechas por niños de un centro de menores que se localiza entre Tela y El Progreso, la fiscalía investigó el caso y comprobó la implicación del sacerdote en el delito de abuso sexual de menores.

Las pesquisas de los fiscales determinaron que el sacerdote estadounidense habría abusado de al menos unos diez menores a quienes pagaba cien lempiras a cambio de que cedieran a sus propuestas sexuales.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

Update: The Mail has now published its allegations against Bishop Conry. They’re much more serious than I imagined. He appears to have behaved disgracefully; by his own admission there is more than one woman involved. I’ll quote only the last paragraph, which goes to heart of the matter: the responsibility of the Catholic Church for allowing this man to run an important diocese during years of rumours, well-founded in at least two cases.

Clare Kirby, the lawyer for the estranged husband, said last night: ‘My client is considering pursuing a possible High Court action against the Catholic Church because they’ve known for years that the Bishop has been having affairs and if they’d taken action he almost certainly would not have lost his marriage and his children would not be having to be brought up in a broken family.’

My original post:

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and one of England’s most influential Catholic bishops, has suddenly resigned. Here’s his statement, to be read out at Masses in his diocese:

I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors. As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future. I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this. I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Sushmita Sen September 28, 2014

The Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in England resigned yesterday after admitting that he was unfaithful to his clerical vows as he had a love affair with a married mother of two.

According to Mail on Sunday‘s investigation, love letters has been exchanged between the 63-year-old Bishop Rt Rev Kieran Conry and a woman recently, in which she claimed that her husband doesn’t love her, Mail Online reported.

Apparently the letter did not reveal any sexual relationship between the two, but the woman did spend three nights at Bishop’s property in Pease Pottage, West Sussex. Their affair lasted for more than a year, according to Mail Online.

A hand-written letter, which was dated earlier this month, was sent by the Bishop saying, “Dear, Dear XXXXX’ and signed ‘your K xxxxxx’, said: ‘… It’s all right to say that [your husband] did bad things, but you knew that he didn’t love you. You know (I hope) that I did. And I did, and do.

Further investigation also revealed that Bishop had sent a love letter to a second woman as well, but her identity is not allowed to publish for legal reasons.

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UNITED STATES
The Eponymous Flower

(Rome / Asuncion) For days, Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano has been in Rome and asking to be received by Pope Francis. Vain. Instead, the bishop was removed from office. This bishop responded to this treatment with a harsh response. Meanwhile there is public celebration in progressive church circles in Paraguay for his removal.

Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of Ciudad del Este is not a man who minces words. This has made him disliked among Paraguay’s bishops, to which until a few years ago, Bishop Fernando Lugo belonged, the “red bishop” of San Pedro, who preferred to be candidate for a broad leftist coalition as president against the will of Rome and he gave up his episcopate and priesthood.

Bishop Livieres is now the victim of an equally surprising and brutal “decapitation” and because he is not a man of arbitrariness, he responded with a savory letter to the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

On the website of the diocese of the dossier from last summer was re-released, with which the diocese had responded to all the rumors and accusations, passed behind closed doors by word of mouth or addressed by the Apostolic Visitor Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, a personal confidant of the Pope Francis.

Bishop Has Asked for Days to be Received in Rome by the Pope – in Vain

The letter to Cardinal Ouellet and the dossier discloses the ethical, but also formal irregularities of a campaign to discredit a bishop, aimed at his deposition, that has taken place now. “An operation that has an ideological connotation,” the Vaticanist Marco Tosatti.

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UNITED STATES
The Eponymous Flower

(Asuncion / Rome) Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, dismissed yesterday from his office by Pope Francis, sees himself as a victim of an intrigue, which he describes as “ideological persecution.” In an open letter to the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the bishop wrote that Pope Francis will have to answer for his decision before God.

At the same time Bishop Livieres announced that he has as yet no knowledge of the contents of the investigation report of the Papal Visitor, Cardinal Santos Abril. As a “son of the Church,” he added, he will abide by the arrangement of the Pope. The letter to Cardinal Ouellet was published by the Paraguayan daily ABC yesterday.

The Vatican justified the resignation for “pastoral reasons” and the “unity of the bishops.” Specific allegations against the bishop dismissed were not disclosed. The Bishop sees himself as a victim of an intrigue of the Paraguayan Bishops. Pope Francis arranged for an Apostolic Visitation in Livieres’ diocese after he publicly accused the Archbishop of Asuncion of homosexuality and demanded his removal from office.

The leading group of the Paraguayan Bishops makes no secret of their satisfaction with the dismissal of Bishop Livieres. Livieres was considered a militant defender of the orthodoxy. In almost every parish of his diocese the Holy Mass was celebrated in the Old Rite. His seminary altogether has many more seminarians than any other of the Paraguayan dioceses and about seven times as many seminarians as the much larger Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.

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ROME
Corriere della Sera

[Vatican investigators are reviewing at least three trips former Vatican nuncio Jozef Wesolowski made to Frankfurt, Germany, along with other trips abroad he made between 2011 and 2013. The findings support the hypothesis that the archbishop may have been involved in an international network of pedophiles. The investigators are looking at the 100,000 pornographic images found on Wesolowski’s computer.]

di FIORENZA SARZANINI

ROMA Missioni all’estero per partecipare a incontri a «luci rosse» con minori. Viaggi pastorali che in realtà servivano a nascondere la doppia vita dell’allora nunzio di Santo Domingo, monsignor Jozef Wesolowski. Si concentrano su almeno tre soggiorni a Francoforte e su altri spostamenti all’estero avvenuti tra il 2011 e il 2013, gli accertamenti della gendarmeria vaticana che indaga sugli abusi sessuali su minori compiuti dall’alto prelato arrestato quattro giorni fa per volontà di papa Francesco e tuttora agli arresti domiciliari all’interno della Santa Sede, presso il Collegio dei Penitenzieri. Quanto emerso finora avvalora l’ipotesi che l’arcivescovo fosse inserito in una rete internazionale di pedofili e proprio su questo si concentrano le verifiche disposte dai promotori di giustizia.

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CONNECTICUT
Middletown Press

Pope Francis is leading the Roman Catholic Church down a new path of contrition over the role it played in protecting priests who sexually abused children. We’re wondering when the message will be heard by his leaders in Connecticut.

“Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you, and I humbly ask forgiveness,” the pope said in a meeting with victims earlier this year. He also asked forgiveness “for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members as well as by abuse victims themselves.”

At the same time, Pope Francis has criticized materialism in the church and its emphasis on shoring up its own finances over serving the poor.

“Oh, how I would like a poor church, and for the poor,” he said, and, “If money and material things become the center of our lives, they seize us and make us slaves.”

In Connecticut, the Roman Catholic Church apparently remains enslaved.

The spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Archbishop Leonard Blair, is attempting to overturn a 12-year-old state law that lengthened the statute of limitations on filing civil lawsuits over sexual abuse. The church wants to avoid a jury’s order to pay $1 million to a victim of priest sex abuse and, in the process, protect itself from potential claims by others who were assaulted by employees it was protecting.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
l’Espresso

George Pell è il braccio destro di di Papa Francesco. Ma l’arresto per pedofilia dell’ex vescovo polacco Wesolowsky sta facendo traballare la sua poltrona. Viste le sue implicazioni in diverse inchieste legate agli abusi sessuali

DI EMILIANO FITTIPALDI

Dopo l’arresto per pedofilia dell’ex vescovo Josef Wesolowski, in Vaticano la tensione è altissima. Soprattutto per i vertici della gerarchia ecclesiastica implicati, in qualche modo, in alcune inchieste sulla pedofilia. A tremare per la sua poltrona è innanzitutto George Pell, cardinale australiano membro del C9 (il gruppo di porporati che consiglia il papa nel governo della chiesa) e nominato pochi mesi fa prefetto della Segreteria dell’Economia, sorta di superministero delle finanze vaticane.

Pell un mese fa è stato interrogato dalla Commissione d’inchiesta sulla pedofilia voluto dal governo di Canberra, su alcune decisioni prese quando era arcivescovo di Melburne e di Sydney. Ma i giudici federali lo hanno interrogato soprattutto sul discusso schema di risarcimento da lui introdotto a partire dal 1996, il cosiddetto “Melbourne Reponse”. Secondo molti studiosi e opinionisti, in realtà, un sistema «progettato per controllare le vittime e proteggere la Chiesa». Se alcuni parenti di bimbi abusati hanno definito a verbale il cardinale un «sociopatico», la studiosa Judy Courtin ha spiegato che le scelte di Pell erano volte a «minimizzare i reati, occultare la verità, manipolare e intimidire le vittime».

Pell – che qualche anno fa è stato assolto per mancanza di prove da un’accusa di molestie su un bambino di 12 anni – ha risposto alle domande giudici con una frase choc, spiegando che la Chiesa non ha responsabilità legali. Per difendersi, ha confrontato i preti pedofili a camionisti che molestano autostoppiste: «Non credo che la compagnia di trasporti possa essere responsabile delle azioni dei suoi camionisti».

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

[Il lato oscuro del Cardinale]

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor September 27, 2014

In bureaucracies everywhere, when someone’s interests are threatened by a cycle of reform, one time-honored resistance strategy is to dig up dirt on the reformers. For maximum effectiveness, the dirt should be related to a brewing crisis in which people are tempted to shoot first and ask questions later.

Whatever its supernatural claims may be, the Vatican is hardly exempt from this very natural law of the jungle.

We’ve already seen it under Pope Francis with regard to Monsignor Battista Ricca, a 58-year-old Italian cleric tapped by the pontiff in June, 2013 as his delegate to the Vatican bank, monitoring a clean-up operation intended to spare the bank future scandals.

In mid-July, 2013, the respected Vatican writer Sandro Magister published charges in the Italian news magazine l’Espresso that Ricca had been involved in homosexual affairs while serving as a papal diplomat in Uruguay a decade before.

While there was no suggestion of sexual abuse or criminal conduct, the revelations were still embarrassing, especially at a time when rumors of a shadowy “gay lobby” that allegedly played a part in the notorious Vatican leaks affair of 2011 and 2012 were in the air.

Now a bigger target seems to be in l’Espresso’s sights, in the form of Australian Cardinal George Pell, the secretary for the economy under Francis and effectively the pope’s finance czar.

On Friday, l’Espresso ran a sensational expose, though not by Magister this time, headlined “The dark side of the Cardinal,” focused on Pell’s record on the sexual abuse crisis facing the Catholic Church in Australia.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

With rebuttals to Vatican Pied Pipers news

Below are rebuttals especially to Catholic Culture – Phil Lawler and John Allen of Crux and Vatican Pied Pipers deceitful brainwashing titles and articles praising Pope Francis and the upcoming – 100% controlled and scripted by the Vatican – [farce] “criminal trial” of ex-papal pimping nuncio Josef Wesolowski. Wesolowski is the highest ranking and most famous pimping pedophile priest and Pope Francis is being forced to do something about him, after all, he has his well-publicised [empty] talks of zero tolerance and [hypocritical crocodile tears] papal apologies to victims. It took one year for Pope Francis and the Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team to come up with a [Vatican Circus] solution to their most famous member of the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mail on Sunday

By JONATHAN PETRE FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

A senior Church of England bishop has criticised delays created by the controversial appointment of a high-profile lawyer to lead the Government’s historic child abuse inquiry.

The Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, who is the chairman of the Church’s committee on abuse, said that the long-awaited investigation would not start work until almost five months after it was announced, because of Fiona Woolf’s existing workload.

And he highlighted concerns that until the inquiry begins, officials accused of a cover-up could be shredding important documents.

His intervention comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed Mrs Woolf has close links to Tory grandee Leon Brittan, accused of failing to investigate alleged VIP paedophile rings when Home Secretary.

It can also be revealed that the 66-year-old commercial lawyer, who, as Lord Mayor of London, has spent much of the past month on overseas business, has not yet responded to urgent calls to appear before MPs. Bishop Butler told a child protection conference: ‘Given her very heavy duties as Lord Mayor, it is hard to see how the inquiry will be able to get under way until late November at the earliest.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Sep 27, 2014 By Ben Russell

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry issued a statement today which said he had “been unfaithful to his promises as a Catholic priest”

A Catholic bishop has resigned from his post, claiming to have brought “shame” on his diocese and the church.

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry, who is Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, covering Surrey and Sussex, issued a statement today which said he had “been unfaithful to his promises as a Catholic priest”.

The statement, which will be read in all churches of the diocese this weekend, said: “I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest.

“I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

“As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.

“I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this.

“I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.”

Originally from Coventry, Mr Conry studied for priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome, according to the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton website.

He attended the Gregorian University and was ordained in July 1975 at All Souls Church in Coventry by Archbishop George Patrick Dwyer of Birmingham.

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UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

I’ve been reading many different perspectives and speculations about the upcoming Synod on the Family. Repeatedly from the camp of guys who don’t actually live in or lead family units…that would be the hierarchical leaders…I hear variations on the, “We are right; we always were right; we will always be right; therefore the following people can’t have communion” theme. I have two observations / questions regarding this:

1. Humility is the ability to say, “Maybe we were wrong.” Why do you collectively and individually lack the humility and quite frankly, the self-confidence, to ponder that question? Did you not read in last Sunday’s first reading, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts (Is 55:8-9).” Why do you think that your interpretations are immovable and accurate? Why can’t you allow for the possibility that your thoughts and ways are not synonymous with God’s thoughts and ways? Have you idolized yourselves through idolatry of your roles to the point you find your thoughts and teachings equal to God’s? If so, is that acceptable?

2. Even if your teachings are 200% correct, so what? Why would that preclude sharing the body and blood of Christ with people who violate certain teachings? The gospel notes time and again that Jesus shared himself, dined at table, with some of the most notorious sinners. Can you be credible Vicars of Christ if you can’t imitate that signature trait of his?

Why are you only threatened by welcoming certain categories of sinners to the table? You certainly are comfortable welcoming to the communion table members of the sinner category, “irresponsible bishops and sexually abusive priests.” Some of them you not only allow to receive communion, you permit them to consecrate the hosts! This, evidently does not threaten you in the least. But, women who disobey you by claiming to have more insight into their relationship with God that you do…well, gentleman, that seems to scare the holy excrement out of you. Why?

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and one of England’s most influential Catholic bishops, has suddenly resigned. Here’s his statement, to be read out at Masses in his diocese:

I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.

I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this.

I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.

Someone on Twitter reacted as follows: ‘There are blind amoeba in Andromeda galaxy who knew about +Conry for decades; everyone knew; any denials by “luvvies” disingenuous.’

Hmm. I didn’t ‘know’ anything. But I doubt there was a Catholic journalist in the country who hadn’t heard rumours that Bishop Conry had a long-standing girlfriend. But we gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Here’s what gets up my nose. I liked Kieran a lot when he was press officer for the English bishops: he didn’t give us any bullshit and let slip the odd bit of gossip. We we all pleased when he was made a bishop. Sure, he was a liberal, but they all were.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mail on Sunday

Bishop has affair with married parishioner …then quits in shame over ANOTHER romance: Bishop of Arundel admits to relationship that broke clerical vows

By ADAM LUCK and JONATHAN PETRE FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

One of the country’s leading Roman Catholic bishops resigned ‘in shame’ today after admitting to a relationship that broke his clerical vows.

In a scandal that will rock the Church, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Kieran Conry, said he had been ‘unfaithful to his promises’.

Separately, a Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed the bishop also had a love affair with a married mother of two.

This newspaper has seen love letters between Bishop Conry, 63, and the woman, written in recent months, in which he tells her that her husband doesn’t love her.

One handwritten letter, which was dated earlier this month and addressed ‘Dear, Dear XXXXX’ and signed ‘your K xxxxxx’, said: ‘… It’s all right to say that [your husband] did bad things, but you knew that he didn’t love you. You know (I hope) that I did. And I did, and do.’

The passionate correspondence, using language reminiscent of the movie Brief Encounter, reveals the pair fell deeply in love and formed a strong emotional bond.

Although the letters do not disclose a sexual relationship, the affair lasted more than a year and involved the married woman spending at least three nights at the bishop’s detached property in Pease Pottage, West Sussex.

The Mail on Sunday has also seen a love letter from the bishop to a second woman, whose name we are not publishing for legal reasons.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican denied Pope Francis had dismissed a controversial Paraguayan bishop because of his mishandling of sex abuse accusations, attributing the decision instead to other failings of governance and friction with fellow bishops.

Meanwhile, the bishop described his dismissal as a case of “ideological persecution” because of his opposition to liberation theology.

Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano, 69, was told to step down as head of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este effective Sept. 25, a Vatican statement said, citing unspecified “serious pastoral reasons.”

News reports at the time noted the bishop’s vocal support for Msgr. Carlos Urrutigoity, whom he appointed a high diocesan official even though the priest had been accused of molesting seminarians before coming to Ciudad del Este.

Coming two days after the Vatican’s arrest of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, pending a criminal trial on charges of paying for sex with boys during his time as nuncio to the Dominican Republic, the dismissal of Bishop Livieres appeared to be the latest step in a Vatican crackdown on sex abuse.

But the Vatican says sex abuse was not a significant factor in Bishop Livieres’ dismissal.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Catholic Bishop of Arundel and Brighton has resigned, saying he has brought “shame” on the diocese.

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry, whose diocese covers Sussex and Surrey, said he had been “unfaithful” to his promises as a Catholic priest.

He said his actions “were not illegal and did not involve minors”.

He apologised to those “hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened”.

He said his resignation would take immediate effect, and he would now take time to consider his future.

Bishop Kieran’s statement did not specify in what way he had been “unfaithful” to his promises but it will be read in all Catholic churches over the weekend.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Digital Journal

By Greta McClain

Slaugham – One of England’s most powerful and influential Roman Catholic Bishops has resigned after admitting he has been “unfaithful” to his vows.

Bishop Kieran Conry, the 63-year-old Bishop for the Arundel and Brighton diocese, announced his resignation through a written statement read during masses throughout the diocese on Saturday. In the statement, Conry says:

“I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest.”

Conry assures church members that his behavior did not involve minors or “illegal” activity. He also apologizes for any pain his actions has caused members of his diocese and those outside of the diocese, saying:

“I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.”

There have been long standing rumors that Conry has a girlfriend, however an affair has never been confirmed.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, called the announcement:

“A sad and painful moment. It makes clear that we are always a Church of sinners called to repentance and conversion and in need of God’s mercy.”

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Paul Moses September 25, 2014

A new poll finds Americans are sharply divided on the question of religious liberty. The Public Religion Research Institute reports:

Nearly half (46%) of Americans say they are more concerned about the government interfering with the ability of people to freely practice their religion, while an equal number (46%) say they are more concerned about religious groups trying to pass laws that force their beliefs on others.

Despite the U.S. Catholic bishops’ campaign to highlight religious liberty as an issue, a majority of Catholics (51 percent) fall into the latter camp, while 42 percent said they were more concerned that the government was trying to interfere with the practice of religion. The poll highlights generational and gender differences among Catholics.

Millenials, aged 18 to 34, are far more likely to be concerned about religious groups tyring to impose thier beliefs on others, while those 69 and older are much more likely to be concerned about government interference. Catholic men were evenly divided on this issue, but women were more likely to be concerned about religious groups (55 percent) than they were about government interference with religion (36 percent).

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Frederick Clarkson on the clear and publicly stated goal of the Christian right’s “Values Voter” Summit with its claim (which I discussed yesterday) that “religious freedom” is under attack in the U.S. right now:

But whatever their numerical goals, they are very clear that the purpose of their “massive election year effort” is in order to take advantage of what they call “an unusual opportunity to shift the balance of power in the Senate” (meaning towards the Republican Party) in the name of the three part agenda of the Manhattan Declaration, “life, marriage, and religious freedom.”

And, of course, as I noted yesterday, and as Jerry Slevin has pointed out repeatedly at his Christian Catholicism blog site and in thoughtful comments at various blog sites, the U.S. Catholic bishops are right at dead center in this sham “religious freedom” political crusade, as they were at dead center in the drafting and promulgation of the Manhattan Declaration, with its clear and evident intent to keep alive culture-war attacks on gay people and women’s reproductive rights for Republican political gain.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The “difficult decision” to remove Rogelio Livieres following Santos Abril y Castelló’s visit to Paraguay comes amid accusations of embezzlement and the community’s severed ties with other bishops

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has taken this “difficult decision” to remove Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, Bishop of Ciudad del Este (Paraguay’s second major city), for “serious pastoral reasons”. The decision comes after Spanish cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló’s apostolic visit to the country in recent months. The Paraguayan prelate, who is a member of Opus Dei, was accused of concealing the actions of an Argentinian priest who was vicar general of the diocese. The priest was also accused of child abuse as well as embezzlement and had also been at the centre of disputes with other priests and fellow bishops for years. The disagreements were over pastoral questions and past events in connection with the figure of Fernando Lugo, former bishop-turned-President of Paraguay.

The statement issued by the Vatican reads: “Following a careful examination of the conclusions drawn following the apostolic visits carried out by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Clergy to the bishop, the diocese and the seminarians of Ciudad del Este, the Holy Father has decided to substitute Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano and has appointed Bishop Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espiritu Santo as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Ciudad del Este. This was a difficult decision on the part of the Holy See, taken for serious pastoral reasons and for the greater good of the unity of the Church in Ciudad del Este and the episcopal communion in Paraguay. The Holy Father, in the exercise of his ministry as the ‘perpetual and visible foundation of the unity of both the bishops and the multitude of the faithful’, asked the clergy and all the People of God of Ciudad del Este to accept the Holy See’s decision with a spirit of obedience and docility and without prejudice, guided by faith. On the other hand, the Church in Paraguay, guided by her pastors, is invited to embark on a serious process of reconciliation in order to overcome any form of sectarianism or discord, so as not to harm the countenance of the one Church, ‘born of the blood of His Son’ and so that Christ’s flock may not be deprived of the joy of the Gospel”.

The statement makes no explicit reference to the reasons that led to the Paraguayan bishop’s removal. It was the diocese of Ciudad del Este that contested a number of accusations in a long statement published last August on the occasion of Santos Abril y Castelló’s apostolic visit. Starting with Fernando Lugo’s decision to run for President after resigning from the priesthood. He was eventually elected President of Paraguay and held office from 2008 to 2012. “Livieres spoke out against Lugo running for President, thus becoming the only defender of the Vatican position,” the August statement reads.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Central

Patrick Counihan @irishcentral September 27,2014

The Irish priest who founded the Boys Town orphanage in Nebraska, inspired a hit movie, and went to war with the Irish government and church in the 1940s over its treatment of children is on a ‘lightening speed’ course to become a saint.

Fr Edward Flanagan warned the Catholic Church of the potential for clerical abuse in state run institutions in Ireland as early as 1946.

He was denounced by the Dublin government and church leaders the Government in 1946 after he labelled State-funded Church-run industrial schools as ‘a scandal, unChristlike and wrong.’

Fr Flanagan went back to America where his pioneering work at the Boys Town orphanage in Omaha, inspiration for the movie starring Mickey Rooney, proved revolutionary.

Now the Irish Catholic newspaper reports that the Roscommon-born priest is being actively considered for sainthood by the Church which once dismissed his views.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By: Allan Woods Quebec Bureau, Published on Fri Sep 26 2014

MONTREAL—Just days before members of the radical Jewish group Lev Tahor fled Quebec for Ontario, child protection authorities received a list containing the names of underaged girls in the community said to have given birth to children fathered by much older men.

It was the second time in the same week that officials responsible for child welfare in Quebec had heard detailed allegations of underaged marriages and possible sexual misconduct within the isolated religious community of about 200 people.

It is not clear what came of the allegations, whether they were fully investigated and if they were eventually verified or debunked.

But just 10 days later, on Nov. 18, 2012, the vast majority of the group boarded buses in the Quebec town of Ste-Agathe-des-Monts in the middle of the night and fled across the Ontario-Quebec border to new accommodations in Chatham-Kent.

Their actions allowed them to evade a massive child-welfare investigation and criminal probe that is unresolved nearly two years later, with the bulk of the group now having resettled in Central America.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

Updated September 29, 2014 feast of St. Michael the Archangel

Archangel St. Michael inspires our blogs and he impels us to say something about one of his ugly statues – that resembles a thin woman dressed as a combination of a medieval nun and a Muslim woman in long veil and long feminine robe all in pink – until it is removed from Dumbarton church in Scotland. The statue is a pervert portrayal of St, Michael (which isn’t a surprise) because it was sculpted by a sexual pervert, the famous Eric Gill who was a sexual deviant known to have had intimate relations with two of his daughters and his sisters. Eric Gill’s works are on display in high-profile locations inWestminster Cathedral in London, the BBC’s Broadcasting House and the European HQ of the United Nations in Geneva. The pervert statue in question includes fonts for holy water and a Scottish man is spearheading for it to be removed from Dumbarton church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton – A & B News Blog

Bishop Kieran Conry has offered his resignation as Bishop of the Diocese of Arundel & Brighton. In a statement he said:

Statement by Bishop Kieran Conry

I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.

I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this.

I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.

There will be no further comment.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

An English bishop has announced his resignation after disclosing that he has been unfaithful to his vows.

Bishop Kieran Conry made the announcement in a letter to be read out at Masses in his Diocese of Arundel and Brighton this weekend.

He apologised for being “unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest”.

In the letter Bishop Conry, 63, said he had not been involved in any criminal behaviour and asked for his flock’s prayers.

His statement read: “I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

“As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.

“I want to apologise first of all to the individuals hurt by my actions and then to all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this.

“I am sorry for the shame that I have brought on the diocese and the Church and I ask for your prayers and forgiveness.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: “This is a sad and painful moment. It makes clear that we are always a Church of sinners called to repentance and conversion and in need of God’s mercy. All involved in this situation are much in my prayers today.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By Patrick Sawer 27 Sep 2014

A leading Catholic Bishop announced his resignation on Saturday after confessing to being “unfaithful” to his vows, leading to speculation he has had a sexual affair.

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry, the bishop of Arundel and Brighton and chairman of the Church’s evangelisation committee in England and Wales, was to make the shock announcement in a letter read to congregations across the diocese at services over the weekend.

It immediately led to speculation that Bishop Conry had broken his vow of celibacy, central to the Catholic priesthood.

In the statement, being read to congregations on Saturday evening and Sunday morning the Bishop apologised for being “unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest”.

He explained his actions were not illegal and did not involve minors, but apologised to “all to the individuals hurt by my actions” and “all of those inside and outside the diocese who will be shocked, hurt and saddened to hear this”.

Bishop Conry is known as a leading liberal and moderniser in the church. Earlier this month he said that priests should put up with noisy children to encourage more families to attend regular services.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

27 September 2014 by Christopher Lamb

The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton has announced his resignation saying he had been “unfaithful” to his promises as a priest.

Widely belived to be concerning the vow of celibacy the bishop apologised to the individuals concerned and his diocese.

Bishop Conry was a leading figure in the English and Wales hierarchy leading the Church’s evangelisation office.

Statement by Bishop Kieran Conry

I am sorry to confess that, going back some years, I have been unfaithful to my promises as a Catholic priest. I would like to reassure you that my actions were not illegal and did not involve minors.

As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

Sandy Banks
LOS ANGELES TIMES
sandy.banks​@latimes.com

When Jane Piper was raped by a stranger in a Brentwood parking lot, she grabbed the corkscrew he used as a weapon and tried to fight him off. The man beat her so badly her hair was matted with blood. She managed to escape through a car window as the rapist drove off.

Police were called, an ambulance came and Piper was delivered to a hospital where rape counselors, trained to deal gently with victims, tried to comfort her.

Instead, their textbook reassurance grated on her raw nerves.

“They think because you had this horrible thing happen, they have to whisper, tiptoe around it, treat you like a child. Some people take comfort from that,” Piper acknowledged. “I didn’t need it. I felt patronized.

They think because you had this horrible thing happen, they have to whisper, tiptoe around it, treat you like a child. … I didn’t need it. I felt patronized.
– Jane Piper

“The whole mentality back then was ‘Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell anyone.'”

Back then was 2003, but not much has changed since. Protecting the privacy of rape survivors is still considered a priority — a way to shield vulnerable women from painful scrutiny.

But Piper didn’t want secrecy. And she didn’t need absolution. “They must have said to me 15 times, ‘You have nothing to be ashamed of. You didn’t do anything wrong.’ I wanted to say to them, ‘You don’t have to tell me that.’

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

[The Vatican received 600 notices of alleged sexual abuse by priests during 2013. Archbishop Angelo Becciu, in an interview with Il Messaggero, said most of the cases had gone back decades. He did not specify the number of convicted priests. He affirmed the Vatican’s strategy of following a zero-tolerance policy regarding abuse. He said the church courts are stricter than the secular courts on this issue. Between 2011 and 2012, a total of 384 priests were laicized by the Vatican and can no longer act as priests.]

Im Vatikan sind im Jahr 2013 insgesamt 600 Anzeigen wegen mutmaßlichem sexuellen Missbrauch von Priestern eingegangen. Diese Zahl nannte der vatikanische Innenminister, Erzbischof Angelo Becciú, in einem Interview mit der italienischen Tageszeitung „Il Messaggero“. Es handele sich zum größten Teil um Fälle, die schon Jahrzehnte zurücklägen, erklärte Becciú. Zur Zahl der verurteilten Priester machte er keine Angaben. Der Erzbischof bekräftigte zugleich, das der Vatikan im Kampf gegen sexuellen Missbrauch einer „Null-Toleranz“-Strategie folge. „Ich kann sagen, dass unsere Gerichte sehr viel strenger sind als andere“, so Becciù.

In den Jahren 2011 und 2012 waren insgesamt 384 katholische Priester wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von der vatikanischen Glaubenskongregation laisiert worden. Sie dürfen nicht mehr als Priester wirken. Dies ist die schwerste Strafe, die das Kirchenrecht abgesehen von einer Exkommunikation kennt.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

[An Italian clergyman, Fortunato Di Noto, founder of an association that fights abuse, said they must try to identify at least some of the victims in photos found on former nuncio Jozef Wesolowski’s computer.]

Es ist ein „Glück“, dass der Fall Wesolowski international soviel Aufmerksamkeit findet: „So wird die Botschaft von Papst Franziskus und seinen Vorgängern klar, dass Pädophilie ein Verbrechen ist.“ Das sagte Bischof Nunzio Galantino am Freitag zum Abschluss einer Vollversammlung der Italienischen Bischofskonferenz, deren Generalsekretär er ist. Der frühere Päpstliche Nuntius in der Dominikanischen Republik, Erzbischof Jozef Wesolowski, soll mindestens sieben Kinder einer kirchlichen Einrichtung sexuell missbraucht haben; er steht im Vatikan unter Hausarrest, ein Prozess läuft an. Der italienische Geistliche Fortunato Di Noto, Gründer eines Verbands gegen Missbrauch, rief den Vatikan dazu auf, im Computer Wesolowskis sichergestelltes kinderpornographisches Material an Interpol weiterzugeben: „Wir müssen versuchen, wenigstens einige der Opfer auf diesen Fotos zu identifizieren“, um ihnen zu helfen, so Di Noto.

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IRELAND
Laois Nationalist

A 29-year-old woman is seeking a paternity DNA test to find out if Father Michael Cleary is her biological father.

Felicia Irwin claims Fr Cleary’s housekeeper and secret lover, Phyllis Hamilton, is her birth mother.

The man known as “the singing priest” fathered two sons with his housekeeper Phyllis Hamilton, throughout their 26-year relationship.

The first born boy Douglas Boyd Barrett was given up for adoption, while the second, Ross Hamilton was reared by Phyllis and Fr Cleary, they lived as a family in secret.

Phyills had claimed her third pregnancy resulted from a rape by a priest who had been staying at the parochial house with her and Fr Cleary – but in an interview given in 1995 she later admitted that she didn’t know if “Fr Cleary or ‘the other man’ was responsible.

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IRELAND
Daily Mail

‘I want an apology before I die’: The ‘wayward’ women abused by nuns in Ireland’s notorious Magdalene laundries who are still demanding justice more than two decades after the last one closed

By SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 27 September 2014

On a squally September day, an elderly lady with her jacket done up tightly against the wind walks solemnly up to a grave in a cemetery in Dublin and lays down a bunch of flowers. There are 160 names on the giant headstone.

‘One of my jobs was to lay out the bodies when they died’, says 83-year-old Mary Merritt, a survivor of one of Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries where single mothers and ‘wayward’ women were forced to work for the nuns in wretched conditions.

Those who were able to get away crossed the Irish Sea to England, where they found a more forgiving and less judgmental society. …

Mary was one of them. Standing in that chilly cemetery she explained that she had found some solace in the sad business of laying out the bodies of the girls who had died.

‘I would say to myself, “at least they’ll escape the nuns now and get some rest.”’

‘I hate coming here. I come here to do what I have to do and then I leave as quickly as possible, to get back home.’

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Free Press

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican formally criticized a U.N. committee’s “grave misunderstanding” of state sovereignty and reiterated its concerns over “controversial new expressions” that threaten the unborn and religious freedom.

By insisting the Holy See should enforce the compliance of Catholics all over the world with international treaties signed by the Vatican, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child “offers a controversial new approach to ‘jurisdiction,’ which clearly contradicts the general understanding of this concept of international law.”

“The Holy See, in accordance with the rules of international law, is aware that attempting to implement the C.R.C. (Convention on the Rights of the Child) in the territory of other states could constitute a violation of the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of states,” the Vatican said in a formal written response to the U.N. committee.

The Vatican published its official response to the U.N.’s committee on children’s rights Sept. 26 on its website.

On Feb. 5, the U.N. committee released its “concluding observations” and concerns as part of its ongoing process of monitoring states parties’ adherence to the treaty; the Vatican ratified the children’s rights treaty in 1990, making it one of the first countries to do so.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Catholic World News – September 26, 2014

In a lengthy response to a UN committee’s critical report, the Vatican has said that the reported betrayed a “profundity of confusion regarding the nature of the Holy See.”

The Vatican on September 26 released the text of its full formal response to the report issued in February by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The committee had placed blame on the Vatican for sexual abuse of children worldwide, and called for changes in Church teaching.

The Vatican response pointed out that the Holy See exercises legal control only within the borders of the Vatican city-state. While the Church proclaims moral principles that should be observed by Catholics everywhere, the report notes: “The Holy See does not have the capacity or legal obligation to impose the abovementioned principles upon the local Catholic churches and institutions present on the territory of other States and whose activities abide with national laws.” In fact, the Vatican report notes, the Holy See would be violating international law if it interfered in the affairs of law-enforcement bodies in other sovereign states.

The Vatican response also expresses severe concern about the Un committee’s “lack of respect for the text” of the UN agreement that it is designed to monitor. The committee consistently pressed its own ideological agenda, advancing issues (such as contraception) that are not mentioned in the UN treaty, the report observes.

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PUERTO RICO
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, working jointly with the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force (PRCACTF), arrested Wednesday a former teacher and pastor of a local church in Trujillo Alto for attempted production of child pornography.

HSI special agents arrested Reinaldo Colon-Aleman, 44, following a referral from the Puerto Rico Police Department’s (PRPD) Sexual Crimes Division Jan. 15 regarding an adult male identified as Colon-Aleman. According to the criminal complaint, Colon-Aleman allegedly sent sexually explicit photos of himself to one of his students and requested sexually explicit photos from her, while threatening the 17-year-old minor with bad grades if she refused to provide the photos.

The criminal complaint further alleges that on or about February 2014, an HSI special agent posing as a 13-year-old female began communicating with Colon-Aleman using KiK, a smartphone application that allows users to communicate by video and instant message over the Internet. The conversations were sexually explicit in nature and Colon-Aleman repeatedly requested nude pictures of the minor.

“This man used and abused his position of trust to satisfy his own perverse sexual interest in young girls,” said Angel M. Melendez, special agent in charge of HSI San Juan. “All children have an absolute right to grow up free from the fear of being sexually exploited. They should never have to fear those who are supposed to protect them. HSI and our partners will relentlessly pursue anyone who sexually exploits our kids in any way.”

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OHIO
Mansfield News Journal

Linda Martz September 26, 2014

MANSFIELD – Grace Brethren Church and its pastor remain off the hook for damages from a 2009 civil lawsuit brought by the family of a 9-year-old girl who was sexually abused by a 75-year-old man.

But convicted sex abuser David L. Harvey’s son and daughter could still face scrutiny over whether they might owe the victim’s family compensation.

And now-retired Richland County Common Pleas Judge James Henson’s decision to require Harvey to pay the victim up to $175,000 — rather than the $350,000 the jury recommended — has been overturned.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals this week released a decision reversing some decisions and remanding the lawsuit back to Richland County Common Pleas Court.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | Sep 26, 2014

Yesterday, buoyed by the latest news from the Vatican, I concluded a happy comment by observing that with the removal of a Paraguayan bishop:

The message from Rome is loud and clear: It doesn’t matter what else you do; if you don’t protect children from abuse, you’re out.

Today the Vatican press office released a statement that loudly, clearly said something quite different. Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano was removed, we are told, because of his “difficult” relations with other prelates in Paraguay.

Really? Can a bishop be yanked out of office because he doesn’t get along with his colleagues? (St. Athanasius wouldn’t have survived under that sort of policy.) Are we to believe, then, that a failure to be cordial is a more serious offense than the promotion of a priest who had been declared dangerous to children?

And if there were tensions between Bishop Livieres and the other bishops of Paraguay, what was their source? Did they arise from differences of opinion about the value of liberation theology—as defenders of the deposed bishop now allege? Or was it, rather, the refusal of Bishop Livieres to recognize the need—which all his colleagues recognized—to safeguard young people?

One day the Vatican takes a decisive action, which is interpreted universally as a strong indicator of new seriousness about sexual abuse and episcopal accountability. The very next day the press office issues a statement that muddies the waters. Once again critics of the Church are saying that the Vatican doesn’t take the issue seriously, and defenders of the faith are sadly shaking their heads.

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VATICAN CITY
Kansas First News

By Rod Jackson
Published: September 26, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican has accused a U.N. human rights committee of sowing confusion, violating its own norms and the church’s religious freedom with a controversial report into the Holy See’s record on child sexual abuse.

The Vatican on Friday released its formal response to a February report by the U.N. committee on the rights of the child, which among other things accused the Vatican of maintaining a “code of silence” that enabled priests to sexually abuse tens of thousands of children worldwide over decades with impunity.

The committee monitors implementation of the U.N. child rights treaty. The Holy See was forced to testify before it as a treaty signatory.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The New York Times

By TRIP GABRIEL
SEPT. 26, 2014

Details of child sexual abuse that led to charges against a Roman Catholic priest on Thursday were reported to his Pennsylvania diocese nearly five years ago, court records show, but the church authorities did not remove him as a pastor.

The priest, the Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio Jr., was charged in federal court in Johnstown, Pa., with possessing child pornography and engaging in illicit sexual conduct on trips he made to a boys’ orphanage in Central America. Father Maurizio visited the orphanage over a decade until 2009, when a Virginia-based charity that runs the home uncovered accusations of abuse by “Father Joe,” and passed them on to the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, according to a criminal complaint and the group.

Father Maurizio, however, remained as pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels in Central City, Pa., east of Pittsburgh, until this month, when he was placed on leave after federal agents raided his parish home and his chapel, carting off computers, a hard drive and other electronics. The diocese said in a statement after his arrest that it was “profoundly disturbed by the allegations.”

An activist who runs a priest-abuse website that learned of the accusations months before the arrest accused Bishop Mark L. Bartchak and his predecessor, Bishop Joseph V. Adamec, of looking the other way for years. “Their total lack of interest is so disturbing,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org.

The Roman Catholic Church’s long-running abuse scandal led to the arrest this week of a former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Pope Francis has set a new tone of not looking away from sex crimes by clergy members against children.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is reviewing the case of the first senior official of the Roman Catholic Church to be convicted in connection with the sexual abuse of children, Msgr. William J. Lynn of Philadelphia, whose 2012 conviction was overturned last year.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

Danielle Krout

WINDBER, SOMERSET COUNTY— Rev. Joseph Maurizio was arrested by Homeland Security Thursday his attorney said his client is innocent.

“Yes, he denying the allegations that are made against him,” said Steven Passarello, Defense Attorney. “He absolutely is denying those allegations against him.”

The 69-year old priest, who spent several years at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Central City, was charged with sexually abusing young boys in Honduras while on mission trips. Federal Agents raided theSomerset County church on September 12, 2014. Computers, videos, thumb drives and other electronic items were seized.

“He’s been charged with child sex tourism and child pornography crimes,” said Khaalid Walls, Northeast Regional Communications Director/Spokesman, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The allegations that we uncovered in our investigation stem from approximately 1999-2000.”

Passarello said there similar allegations made against Maurizio in the past.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Danielle Krout

“He’s innocent” – that’s what the attorney for a Somerset County priest is saying surrounding charges of child sex abuse in other countries. Reverend Joseph Maurizio was picked up at his home in Windber, Somerset county Thursday.

This priest is facing charges of sexual abuse against young boys in Honduras.

His attorney says this isn’t the first time these allegations have surfaced against his client.

“He maintains his innocence, and that these same and similar allegations were raised 5 years ago and deemed not creditable,” Steven Passarello, Maurizio’s defense attorney, said. “We put them to rest back in 2009 and we intend on putting them to bed so we can end this nightmare for Father Joe in 2014.”

Maurizio is in the Cambria County jail he is expected to be in federal court Monday morning.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

‘It has been humbling beyond belief’: Community rallies after priest’s arrest on child porn charge

By Renee Ordway, Special to the BDN
Posted Sept. 26, 2014

Community support is often talked about but can be difficult to measure until you need it.

The son of a career military man, Lee Speronis moved a lot, and he has relocated a few times as an adult as well.

In 2003, however, Speronis and his wife, Cathy, and their two children settled in Bangor and have stuck around for the last 11 years. In the past couple of weeks, Speronis has come to appreciate his chosen community more than he thought possible.

Two weeks ago Speronis, president of the St. George Parish Council, received a call from Mark Hathaway, chief of the Bangor Police Department.

The beloved priest of the St. George Church, a small but mighty church in Bangor and the only Eastern Orthodox congregation north of Lewiston, had just been arrested.

“And then he (Hathaway) hesitated for a just a second and said, ‘It’s not good,’” Speronis recalled this week from his office at Husson University, where he works as the director of the school of Hospitality, Sport and Tourism Management.

And, of course, it wasn’t good. The man parishioners called Father, Adam Metropoulos, 52, had just been charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly recording a visitor at his home as she showered and perhaps even worse, a charge of possessing child pornography.

Things would get worse. They generally do when these sorts of revelations surface. There are almost always more.

And there were.

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PARAGUAY
Catholic News Agency

Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Sep 26, 2014 / 03:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano has accepted in obedience Pope Francis’ decision to remove him from governance of the Ciudad del Este diocese, though he says the action resulted from a flawed apostolic visitation and that his country is in vital need of Christian renewal.

“As an obedient son of the Church, I nevertheless accept this decision, despite considering it to be unfounded and arbitrary,” Bishop Livieres said in a Sept. 25 letter to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

“Despite so much discourse about dialogue, mercy, openness, decentralization, and respect for local Churches, I haven’t have the opportunity to talk to Pope Francis, not even to clarify a doubt or a concern.”

On Sept. 25 the Holy See announced that Pope Francis has decided to remove the bishop from the Diocese of Ciudad del Este “for serious pastoral reasons and for the greater good of the unity of the Church in Ciudad del Este and the episcopal communion in Paraguay.”

Bishop Ricardo Valenzuela Rios of Villarrica del Espiritu Santo has been appointed as apostolic administrator of the diocese while it is vacant.

Bishop Livieres’ removal followed a five-day apostolic visitation of the diocese which took place in July. At the end of that month, it was announced that ordinations in the diocese were to be suspended.

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ESTADO UNIDOS/HONDURAS
La Tribuna (Honduras)

La Oficina de Inmigración y Control de aduanas (ICE), informó este viernes que el sacerdote católico estadounidense Joseph D. Maurizio (69) es acusado de abusar sexualmente de niños durante varios viajes realizados a Honduras.

Por medio de un comunicado de página Web se conoció que el católico tenía denuncia penal por conducta sexual ilícita y posesión de pornografía infantil.

Maurizio estaba asignado a la diócesis de Altoona-Johnstown y viajó en varias ocasiones desde el 2009, hasta el 2011 de Pensilvania a Honduras, según informe del ICE.

De acuerdo a otra investigación realizada por la Seguridad Nacional de Investigaciones de Pittsburgh, (HSI por sus siglas en inglés), establece que después de ser acusado por conducta sexual ilícita en marzo de 2009, Maurizio no participó en ningún viaje al extranjero, hasta julio del 2011.

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ESTADO UNIDOS/HONDURAS
La Prensa (Honduras)

El sacerdote Joseph Maurizio Jr. es acusado de viajar a Honduras para involucrarse en actos sexuales con niños.

Pensilvania, Estados Unidos
Un sacerdote estadounidense, acusado de viajar a Honduras para abusar sexualmente de menores, fue capturado por agentes del Servicio Secreto de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas en Pennsylvania.

Joseph Maurizio Jr. (69) deberá comparecer en la audiencia programada para el lunes, según un comunicado de prensa del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos.
Maurizio habría efectuado viajes regularmente a Honduras desde 1999 hasta 2009. Desde entonces, el FBI comenzó a investigar las acusaciones de que el sacerdote abusó de niños hondureños durante sus viajes.

Vea: Comunicado del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas

El sacerdote estadounidense también enfrenta cargos por pornografía infantil con base en imágenes halladas en el disco duro de una computadora durante una revisión de la casa parroquial, según afirma una queja penal. También hallaron fotografías en una cámara utilizaba en sus viajes a Honduras.

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ESTADO UNIDOS/HONDURAS
Univision

The Associated Press | Sep 26, 2014

Un sacerdote de Pennsylvania, acusado de viajar a Honduras para involucrarse en actos sexuales con niños mientras promovía trabajo misionero entre los pobres, fue arrestado el jueves por agentes del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas.

El sacerdote Joseph Maurizio Jr., de 69 años, permanecerá bajo custodia hasta una audiencia el lunes ante un magistrado federal en Pittsburgh. El juez debe decidir entonces si el clérigo continuará encarcelado hasta que sea juzgado.

La diócesis de Altoona-Johnstown dijo sentirse “profundamente perturbada por las acusaciones contra el padre Maurizio”. Indicó que él ya no ha ejercido sus funciones pastorales en la parroquia Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles desde que las autoridades federales allanaron la casa parroquial el 12 de septiembre.

Agentes del ICE (siglas en inglés del Servicio de Inmigración) también revisaron una granja donde Maurizio vivía en Windber. Cuatro días después el obispo Mark Bartchak anunció que el sacerdote fue suspendido.

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ESTADO UNIDOS/HONURAS
Excelsior

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, 26 de septiembre.- Un sacerdote de Pennsylvania acusado de viajar a Honduras para involucrarse en actos sexuales con niños, mientras promovía trabajo misionero entre los pobres, fue arrestado el jueves por agentes del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas.

El sacerdote Joseph Maurizio Jr., de 69 años, permanecerá bajo custodia hasta una audiencia el lunes ante un magistrado federal en Pittsburgh. El juez debe decidir entonces si el clérigo continuará encarcelado hasta que sea juzgado.

La diócesis de Altoona-Johnstown dijo sentirse “profundamente perturbada por las acusaciones contra el padre Maurizio”. Indicó que él ya no ha ejercido sus funciones pastorales en la parroquia Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles desde que las autoridades federales allanaron la casa parroquial el 12 de septiembre.

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ILLINOIS
State Journal-Register

By Steven Spearie
Correspondent
Posted Sep. 20, 2014

Over three-quarters of men and women who identify themselves as inactive in or lapsed or drifting from the Roman Catholic Church say a church belief or practice has to do with their current status.

According to a survey commissioned by the Springfield diocese — the results of which were released last week — half of those respondents cited church stances on homosexuality, birth control, fertility treatments, divorce and remarriage, women as clergy and the marital status of male clergy as reasons they have outright left or drifted from the church.

A separate polling of active Catholics mentioned birth control as the doctrinal issue that most troubled them, though an overwhelming majority felt satisfied with their parishes, including a sense of community that they experienced there.

The survey “Joy and Grievance in an American Diocese: Results from Online Surveys of Active and Inactive Catholics in Central Illinois,” which can be read online at ben.edu/catholicsurvey, was coordinated by social scientists from Benedictine University in Lisle. The four-year Catholic university also has a campus in Springfield.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

[with video]

PITTSBURGH —A priest accused of traveling to Honduras to engage in sex with children while promoting missionary work with the poor there has been arrested by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Documents reveal the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and law enforcement agencies first learned of the allegations five years ago.

Church officials, the Attorney General’s Office and the FBI were all declining to comment Friday.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 69, spent two decades working with orphaned children in Central America. Homeland Security investigators say some of those same children were his victims.

“We see this very, very often with child-molesting Catholic clerics. They gravitate toward communities or countries where kids are especially vulnerable,” said David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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IRELAND
RTE News

There has been a call for the Attorney General to order inquests to be carried out into the deaths of children who died at the mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

This would necessitate excavations to be carried out at a site, where it is thought babies who died in the Tuam home were buried.

A solicitor, who is assisting a number of women and children who stayed there, contends there is legal argument and overwhelming evidence to see if remains can be exhumed and inquests held.

Kevin Higgins cites a provision in the 1962 Coroner’s Act, allowing the AG to order a coroner to hold an inquest.

Section 24 of the Act states that if the AG has reason to believe a person died in circumstances which may warrant the holding of an inquest, then they can direct any coroner to conduct such an inquiry.

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PENNSYLVANIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese ordained in 1987, Maurizio worked in a number of parishes as an assistant, and was made pastor of a Central City parish in 2003. He also worked as a college chaplain. From 1999-2009 he directed Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries, through which he traveled often to Central and South American countries to visit and provide ‘relief work’ to orphanages. In 2009 a staff member at an orphanage in Honduras reportedly overheard children arguing whether to report that Maurizio had solicited them for sex. The agency overseeing the orphanage investigated, and a number of boys are said to have disclosed sexual abuse by the priest. The board’s chairwoman said she confronted Maurizio, who denied the allegations. She reportedlly also informed the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, the FBI and the Attorney General’s office. On September 16, 2014 Homeland Security agents raided Maurizio’s rectory and his residence on a Pennsylvania farm. He was placed on leave by the diocese four days later. He was arrested September 26 and charged with engaging in illicit sex in foreign countries and possession of child pornography.

Ordained: 1987

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 26, 2014

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 )

A survey of more than 900 Springfield area Catholics shows that the church’s on-going child sex abuse and cover-up crisis is one reason many people stopped attending mass.

We’re not surprised. During the past year or so, Springfield Catholic officials:

– let an accused child molesting cleric, Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand, resign from his posts, instead of suspending him, after delaying for a week after the diocesan abuse panel quietly urged them to oust Fr. DeGrand. They used vague, misleading language – like “misconduct” – to describe alleged child sex crimes, hoping to soften the horror of sexual assaults on children by clergy.

– put Fr. Thomas Donovan back on the job after he’d been found by police to be wearing an orange jumpsuit and “a leather bondage-type mask with a bar in his mouth” (A church therapist allegedly diagnosed him as having engaged in “non-sexual self-bondage.”)

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki can and should take steps to renew his flock’s faith in the church and its leadership.

He can start by making kids safer and post the names of all credibly accused child molesting clerics on his diocesan website. Roughly 30 other bishops have taken this simple public safety step. (Here is the list of them: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/diocesan_and_order_lists.htm

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Lauren Dugan Catholic News Service | Sep. 26, 2014

A new papal commission is looking at how Vatican media outlets can better communicate the church’s message “of healing, of love, of hope, and of generosity of spirit,” the panel’s leader said.

The group is drawing up “proposals that will recognize the particular importance of what the church is communicating and the way in which it can best communicate that message in the 21st century,” said British Lord Chris Patten, commission president.

Patten, who formerly served as chairman of the BBC Trust, chancellor at the University of Oxford and governor of Hong Kong, spoke to Vatican Radio on Wednesday about the commission’s first meeting at the Vatican since it was established by Pope Francis in July.

Composed of 11 media experts from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Vatican offices, the commission’s aim is to propose how the Vatican’s numerous media outlets can work more efficiently and closely together.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Carol Glatz Catholic News Service | Sep. 26, 2014

VATICAN CITY The Vatican formally criticized a U.N. committee’s “grave misunderstanding” of state sovereignty and reiterated its concerns over “controversial new expressions” that threaten the unborn and religious freedom.

By insisting the Holy See should enforce the compliance of Catholics all over the world with international treaties signed by the Vatican, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child “offers a controversial new approach to ‘jurisdiction,’ which clearly contradicts the general understanding of this concept of international law.”

“The Holy See, in accordance with the rules of international law, is aware that attempting to implement the C.R.C. [Convention on the Rights of the Child] in the territory of other states could constitute a violation of the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of states,” the Vatican said in a formal written response to the U.N. committee.

The Vatican published its official response to the U.N.’s committee on children’s rights Friday on its website.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Der Tagesspiegel

[Summary: The Vatican for the first time has charged a high-ranking church employees with abusing minors. In Germany, work-up of abuse cases in ongoing but not much has happened so far.]

von Claudia Keller

Erstmals macht der Vatikan einem hochrangigen Kirchenmitarbeiter wegen Missbrauchs den Prozess. In Deutschland dauert die Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle noch an. Sehr viel passiert ist bisher nicht.

Wie am Mittwoch bekannt wurde, hat die Vatikan-Gendarmerie Erzbischof Jozef Wesolowski (66) verhaftet – „auf ausdrückliche Anordnung des Papstes“, wie es hieß. Wesolowski wird vielfacher Kindesmissbrauch vorgeworfen. Als Botschafter des Papstes in der Dominikanischen Republik soll er „in Ausnutzung ihrer prekären sozialen Lage“ sexuelle Dienstleistungen bei Jugendlichen gekauft und sich an den einschlägigen Plätzen für die Prostitution mit Minderjährigen herumgetrieben haben. Bereits Ende Juni wurde ihm das Priesteramt entzogen, jetzt soll ihm der Prozess gemacht werden, zwar im Vatikan, aber nach weltlichem Recht.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

Because they’ve displayed such quality judgment in their previous assignments? The Strib’s Jean Hopfensperger reports, “A church tribunal that determines the sensitive issue of whether Twin Cities Catholics can annul their marriages has employed priests known to have engaged in sexual improprieties, according to church documents and other records obtained by the Star Tribune. The practice is defended by the church but challenged by others who say the church is finding jobs for problem priests at the expense of Catholics in crisis.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Richard Gazarik
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014,

For a decade, a Western Pennsylvania priest traveled to orphanages in Central and South America under the guise of doing relief work.

But on Thursday, federal officials arrested the priest, the Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio, 69, alleging that he promised candy and cash to orphaned boys to watch them shower, have sex or fondle them, court records show.

Maurizio was picked up at his Windber home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on charges he sexually exploited boys at the orphanage in El Progreso, Honduras.
He had served as pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Central City, Somerset County, until he was suspended this month by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Diocese spokesman Tony DeGol said he was unaware of the arrest and would not comment.

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

The financial statements and the independent accountants’ review report of Deloitte & Touche LLP for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2012, of the Archdiocese of Agana (AOA) are now disclosed on our website.

The review report of Deloitte & Touche includes 26 Parishes, 9 Catholic Schools, and the Chancery Office under the Archdiocese of Agana. Not included in the review report are the following organizations: Catholic Social Service, Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc., and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Guam. The financials of these organizations will be disclosed separately in their particular websites.

Also disclosed in the website are the internally-prepared financial statements of the AOA for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2013.

The AOA is continuously working to improve its fiscal management. The AOA plans to hire an independent CPA firm to conduct annual financial reviews beginning with the fiscal year just ended June 30, 2014, and to have these financial reviews disclosed to the public as soon as they become available.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

Guam’s Catholic Church yesterday made an unprecedented disclosure of its finances, two months after its leadership was publicly challenged to release the information.

“It is the expressed position of the archdiocese to be transparent in its financial management to the faithful in the (Archdiocese of Agana),” the archdiocese stated yesterday.

Other Catholic churches in the nation already have publicly disclosed their finances, at the urging of the Vatican.

The archdiocese publicly disclosed that it had assets of $177 million at the end of June last year. The bulk of its assets involved land, valued at $97.8 million.

Its buildings, plant and equipment were valued at $66 million, the archdiocese’s disclosure states.

Out of $26 million in revenues for the year, ending in June 2013, the biggest source was from tuition and fees from its schools, totaling $17 million.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Umberto Bacchi
September 26, 2014

A former Vatican archbishop accused of paedophilia stored tens of thousands of child porn videos and photos on a computer in his office at the Holy See diplomatic compound in the Dominican Republic, it has emerged.

Details of Jozef Wesolowski’s massive child porn stash have been revealed after the 66-year-old was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week.

He is the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to be investigated for sex abuse, and the first top papal representative to receive a defrocking sentence. He has been charged with sexually abusing minors and child porn possession and might face up to seven years in the Vatican’s tiny jail.

Vatican detectives analysed the PC Wesolowski used in his office in Santo Domingo, where he served as Holy See envoy from 2008 to 2012 as part of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of underage boys.

The probe reportedly revealed a collection of horrors. The Polish native held more than 100,000 sexually-explicit files, Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

Some 160 videos showing teenage boys forced to perform sexual acts on themselves and on adults and more than 86,000 pornographic photos were meticulously archived in several category-based folders, the paper said.

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UNITED STATES
Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Illinois

Joy and Grievance in an American Diocese: Results from Online Surveys of Active and Inactive Catholics in Central Illinois

PHILLIP R. HARDY, PH.D.
Assistant Professor,
Department of Political Science
KELLY L. KANDRA, PH.D.
Associate Professor,
Department of Psychology
BRIAN G. PATTERSON, PH.D.
Associate Professor,
Department of Psychology
Submitted September 10, 2014

Executive Summary

Like many Catholic dioceses throughout the U.S., the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois1 has experienced declines in Mass attendance over the last decade or more. Concerned about this apparent trend, Bishop Thomas Paprocki and the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Springfield consulted with Benedictine University’s president, Dr. William Carroll, about developing a strategy for studying why some individuals were no longer attending Mass and, in some cases, why people were leaving the Catholic Church altogether. A group of social scientists from Benedictine University was asked to conduct two separate studies of Catholics in the Springfield Diocese: those who had lapsed or drifted from the Church and are currently inactive in a Diocesan parish and those who are registered in a Diocesan parish and currently attending Mass. …

Major findings for inactive Catholics include:

• Most of the respondents felt they were a part of a parish community before leaving the Church, however, they made a conscious decision to stop attending Mass six months or more prior to filling out the survey and most separated from both their parish and the Catholic Church.

• Four major reasons emerged why respondents stopped attending Mass or distanced themselves from the Catholic Church:

– Issues with Church doctrine, especially among more educated individuals. Those with graduate school experience take higher exception with Church doctrine on birth control, women as priests, divorce/remarriage, fertility treatments, and homosexuality than individuals with a high school degree.

– Lack of connection to the Catholic Church. Many individuals reported their spiritual needs were not being met, they lost interest in going to Mass, they were dissatisfied with the Mass, and/or they no longer believe the teachings of the Catholic Church.

– Church scandals. Individuals, particularly those 50 years old or older, felt there are too many scandals in the Catholic Church and inappropriate behavior such as sex scandals, lying, and cover-ups showed up frequently in open-ended responses.

– A perceived lack of Christian values at the level of Church, parish, or priest. Some individuals felt judged in their congregation whereas others have had many friends leave the Church due to unfriendly or unwelcoming experiences.

• The inclusion of politics, experiences with parish priest(s) and staff, and time limitations emerged as other issues responsible for individuals distancing themselves from the Catholic Church or not attending Mass.

• Most respondents do not consider themselves members of another faith community and some indicate a willingness to return to their parish if their concerns were addressed.

• When asked if their parish could make any changes that might prompt them to return a majority indicated they want change with the larger Church or more modern views, and many cited specific Church doctrine they would like to see change, such as less hierarchy in the Church, an expanded role of women, and acceptance of birth control and divorceor remarriage.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 26, 2014

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

Yesterday, the Vatican ousts a controversial bishop. Today, the Vatican claims it’s powerless over bishops and that bishops are not “representatives or delegates” of the pope.

In a response to a United Nations child rights committee, top Catholic officials are doubling-down on the ludicrous claim that “bishops do not act as representatives or delegates” of the pope.

The Vatican claims that its ancient, rigid, global and crystal clear hierarchy isn’t a hierarchy at all but some kind of loosely-knit communal club with no real leader or power.

This self-serving claim, crucial to the Vatican as a legal defense tool in litigation, is made within hours of the Pope ousting an eccentric bishop in Paraguay and within months of the Pope ousting an extravagant bishop in Germany. So the Catholic hierarchy wants it both ways – sometimes, apparently, bishops answer to the Vatican and sometimes not, whichever notion is most advantageous to church officials at that particular moment.

If the Vatican insists it has no role in clergy sexual violence or cover ups, then they should stop claiming they have abuse policies and admit they have only abuse suggestions.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Sep 26, 2014

In season two of the popular Netflix series, House of Cards, Vice President, Frank Underwood, strategically and almost single-handedly brings down the presidency of Garrett Walker. The Underwood scheme was deceptively dark and worked well for Frank Underwood; not so well for Garrett Walker.

Unfortunately, the Underwood scheme is not limited to fictional television programs. Just last week, I learned about a family who had a similar experience with a church leader who is alleged to have abused their child. When the Underwood scheme is executed by child abusers who are church leaders, it is far more sinister and destructive than the behavior of a fictional vice-president. Here is what the Underwood scheme looks like:

Targeting: Offenders can very intentional about pursuing their victims. Child offending church leaders will often target a new family that has not yet had the opportunity to develop substantive relationships within the church. These offenders realize that vulnerable families are more likely to be receptive to attempts to initiate a friendship. That is all part of the wicked scheme.

Befriending: Under the guise of developing a new friendship, the child offending leader will work quickly to express a desire for the families to “do life” together. The offender will not hesitate to use his wife and children to help facilitate the friendship. Whether it’s an appeal to help “mentor” the target family or simply because the families are in similar “seasons of life”, the offender encourages the families to spend an inordinate amount of time together. Due to the lack of other friendships within the church and how warmly they have been received by the church leader and his family, target families tend to be very appreciative of this new “friendship”. That is all part of the wicked scheme.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Betty Clermont

“Pope sacks Paraguay bishop accused of protecting abuser priest” or some similar headline was carried by newspapers and news agencies around the world yesterday, unanimously praising Pope Francis for “taking action” against a prelate for harboring a clerical sex abuser. Since such notorious guardians of offending priests as Twin Cities Archbishop Niensted, Kansas City Bishop Finn and Newark Archbishop Myers are still in place although petitions have been sent to the pope for their removal, and just about every hierarch appointed or promoted in the U.S. by Pope Francis has a dismal record in this regard, accurate headlines would have stated the real reason this bishop was “sacked.”

“This was a difficult decision on the part of the Holy See, taken for serious pastoral reasons and for the greater good of the unity of the Church in Ciudad del Este and the episcopal communion in Paraguay,” (emphasis mine) stated the Vatican. Not a word about sex abuse or the priest involved.

Yes, Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, 69, an Opus Dei priest, was removed as head of the Ciudad del Este diocese after refusing to resign and yes, Livieres had accepted Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, who had been accused of sexual abuse in the United States, as a priest in his diocese and promoted him to vicar general or second-in-command. However, keeping the Vatican statement in mind, this is why Livieres is out and Myers et al are still in.

In August, the diocese of Ciudad del Este issued a long statement.

That document – itself a remarkable development (bishops don’t usually publicly refute Vatican sanctions) – claimed that Urrutigoity was wrongly accused, that he and Livieres were the victims of a smear campaign, and that Livieres invited Urrutigoity into the diocese on the recommendation of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now pope emeritus). The statement rebuked the archbishop of Asuncion [who had asked Livieres to investigate Urrutigoity] for “attacking” Urrutigoity, going so far as to allege that the archbishop himself was accused and “processed” for engaging in “homosexual activity.”

Some serious accusations – which were outlined and contested by the diocese – were made against Livieres in August: other Paraguayan bishops accused him of “breaking ecclesial communion”; his priests (and the Archbishop of Asunción, Pastor Cuquejo, “a staunch critic of Bishop Rogelio”) signed a petition protesting the pastoral methods adopted by the bishop and sent it to Rome. There were also disagreements over the seminaries. The prelate was accused of embezzlement and fraud in the management of the diocese’s finances and the controversial Carlos Urrutigoity case….

[The pope’s representative] asked Livieres “not to preside over ordinations”. Urrutigoity, meanwhile, “was relieved of his duties as Vicar General by Livieres on 14 July.”

As is often the case, it was the blessed work of BishopAccountability.com and Abuse Tracker which exposed Urrutigoity’s promotion to vicar general resulting in a series of articles written by Grant Gallicho in Commonweal and the international condemnation of Livieres which forced Pope Francis to take action. Yet, “Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of Catholic officials – from pastors to prelates – have ignored or concealed clergy sex crimes [including Pope Francis] and many are still ignoring and concealing clergy sex crimes.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Fr. Spadaro says Pope Francis is a leader and is also capable of taking difficult decisions. Organised opposition does exist within the Church

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

The arrest of former nuncio Józef Wesolowski in the Vatican three days ago (Wesolowski had already resigned from the clerical state after being accused of sexually abusing minors) and the replacement of Paraguayan bishop Rogelio Livieres (who was sacked for causing division in the Church after he accused other Paraguayan bishops of not nurturing doctrinal orthodoxy) gave the impression that things are speeding up ahead of the Synod on the Family in the coming weeks. The severity – as per the code of law – shown towards the former Polish archbishop sent out a strong message: that the days where impunity and cover-ups were the norm, have now come to an end. Wesolowski’s arrest is the final step on a path courageously begun by Benedict XVI, who sacked hundreds of priests and quite a number of bishops during his pontificate.

“Francis is a leader and is able to take difficult decisions,” Fr. Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica told Italian daily La Stampa. “But,” he added, “Pope Francis knows when it is important to do justice and act according to the law in cases such as that of Santo Domingo’s former nuncio.”

Straight after his election, having taken on board all that was said during the general congregations held prior to the conclave, Francis immediately set to reforming the Curia. Because of the inquiries that were being carried out by the Italian magistrates, he was forced to start with the Vatican’s finances. The process was slow and cumbersome and the aim was to make it harder for certain past scenarios to be repeated. But more than the structural reforms he has planned or already begun, it is his personal testimony as pastor and the words he pronounces every day that are calling into question certain dynamics within the clergy which are disfiguring the Church. Like an illness that manifests itself in the games played by cliques that form within the Church, in careerism, in the not-always-so-transparent relations with politics, in excessive bureaucracy and structures which transform into clots of self-referential power, losing sight of the real purpose of their existence: serving the people of God.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Welfare Society Territory

by Ivano Abbadessa – 2014.09.26

If Josef Wesolowski, the paedophile bishop denounced by the Pope, had set foot in the UK, he would have been included on a special online list. The database, which has been active for the past three years and is updated continually, gives the name, age and photos of more than 30,000 people convicted of sexual offences against children.

The site’s purpose is to enable parents, relatives or any interested party to find out in a simple click whether there is a pedophile living in their area, so they can protect their children and prevent dangers. In an interview with West, the site’s managers spoke about this blacklist as a “resource tool for anyone with an interest in child safety.”

“Using the database,” they say, “parents can learn and educate their children about the various techniques used by paedophiles to take advantage of children. Many times paedophiles will develop a close relationship with a single parent in order to get close to their children. Once inside the home, they have many opportunities to manipulate the children — using guilt, fear, and love to confuse the child. If the child’s parent works, it offers the paedophile the private time needed to abuse the child.”

The Database of UK and Eire paedophiles/child abusers is the only public list currently present in the UK. It’s not linked to the government or any other public entity. “We are completely independent,” say its managers. By all accounts, the initiative seems to be appreciated by the British public. It has received “more than 18.5 million visits in just three years, with an average of about 25,000 hits a day.”

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the Holy See’s reply to a report issued earlier this year by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child:

The Holy See took this U.N. committee to task on three levels: the international body does not understand the reach of the Holy See’s authority; it unjustly involved itself in canon law; and it advanced positions on parental rights and sexuality that are unacceptable.

The U.N. committee does not understand the difference between the Holy See, the Vatican City State and the universal Catholic Church. While the Holy See’s “religious and moral mission” is universal, it is a mistake of monumental proportions to conclude that it therefore has universal juridical authority. It is important to recognize that “the Holy See does not ratify a treaty on behalf of every Catholic in the world, and therefore, does not have obligations to ‘implement’ the Convention within the territories of other States Parties on behalf of Catholics, no matter how they are organized.”

The Holy See criticized this U.N. body for the way it “plunged into canon law,” improperly equating this juridical system with that of other member States. Importantly, it emphasized that canon law is a “complex unity of divine positive law, divine natural law and human law.”

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CANADA
CBC – The Current

[with audio]

For the first time, the Vatican will prosecute a priest for child abuse. He faces Papal justice and Papal punishment. Critics wonder if the Vatican’s decision to prosecute a former archbishop is a means to protect him from harsher civilian courts.

It is Pope Francis’ express will that grave cases regarding the abuse of minors by clergy be dealt with rigorously and without delay. Moreover with ‘the full assumption of responsibility by the institutions of the Holy See’.

Vatican Radio

Many of us may have become accustomed to hearing disturbing cases of child abuse by Catholic clergy, but anger at both the stories and the Vatican’s response, has not subsided. There have been criminal cases, lawsuits, imprisonments and it’s tested the faith of many Catholics. But the Church’s attitude to many has seemed muted.

However, with the announcement on Tuesday that the Vatican had criminally charged — for the first time — a former Archbishop with charges of pedophilia, there is hope that the Roman Catholic Church is finally taking these crimes more seriously.

Many of our listeners may be surprised to learn the Vatican has a justice system, with means of handing out punishments and even a kind of prison. Many of those who do know something of Papal justice wonder if this is a way of avoiding harsher punishment outside the Vatican’s walls.

John Allen is an Associate Editor of Crux, a website of the Boston Globe covering the Catholic Church. He was in Charleston, West Virginia today.

News of the criminal charges against the former papal ambassador makes some survivors doubt the Church’s motives.

Barbara Blaine is the president and founder of SNAP, The Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests.

Father Raymond De Souza is a Roman Catholic priest in Kingston, Ontario, and a chaplain at Queen’s University.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, September 26, 2014

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 )

St. Paul Catholic officials are keeping predator priests on the job using the same discredited excuses the church hierarchy has trotted out for decades.

Many bishops ask “Where can I put my predator priests?” The rest of us ask “Why give any job to a proven predator?”

Many bishops think “one strike” means “we’ll move a predator priest if we have to.” The rest of us think “one strike” means a predator priest is fired and we’re dismayed to find out, time and time again, that they are not.

Many bishops, when a predator priest is caught, apparently think “when forced, we’ll move this predator, like I have always done, and pretend that a job in a hospital, college, cemetery, chaplaincy, or our headquarters will magically ‘cure’ him.”

The rest of us think “If a priest has violated the law, broken his vows, deceived his flock and hurt others, why is he entitled to have a job at all?”

A St. Paul archdiocesan staffer, Fr. Timothy Cloutier, claims a spot on a marriage tribunal has “little interaction” with parishioners.

That’s laughable. History, psychology and common sense show that predators use any title, position or information they may be given to find, befriend and ultimately exploit people who are struggling with personal issues like divorce.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

1. The Holy See is well aware of its position within the international juridical system, as a sovereign subject of international law, as well as of its obligations as a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols, which has been clearly articulated in its Reports, Written Replies and statements made during the inter-active dialogue. At this point, and pursuant to art. 45 (d) of the CRC, the Holy See intends to comment on certain passages contained in the Concluding Observations (CRC/C/VAT/CO/2; CRC/C/OPSC/VAT/CO/1; CRC/C/OPAC/VAT/CO/1) presented by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter “Committee”), on 5 February 2014.[1]

2. In specific regard to the Concluding Observations CRC/C/VAT/CO/2, the Holy See underlines that in executing the obligations under the CRC, its conduct has always been inspired by general principles of international law, which include respecting in good faith the obligations deriving from treaties.[2] The specific details are set out in the Second Periodic Report (CRC/C/VAT/2) and in the Written Replies to the List of Issues of the Committee (CRC/C/VAT/Q/2/Add.1). The Holy See has acted in a similar way in relation to the application of the Optional Protocols as specified in its Initial Reports (CRC/C/OPSC/VAT/1 and CRC/C/OPAC/VAT/1) and in the Written Replies of the Holy See to the List of Issues of the Committee (CRC/C/OPSC/ VAT/Q/2/Add.1).

3. The Holy See, in affirming its proper nature as a subject of international law, reiterates that the international obligations contracted upon adherence to the CRC, with reservations[3] and interpretative declaration[4], and its Optional Protocols are fulfilled first and foremost through the implementation of the aforementioned duties within the territory of the Vatican City State (VCS), over which the Holy See exercises full territorial sovereignty. Beyond this geographic territory, which it administers, the Holy See disseminates principles recognized in the CRC to all people of goodwill and to various local Catholic churches and institutions, which operate in different States in compliance with national laws. Therefore, the obligations of the Convention and its Optional Protocols refer to Vatican citizens, as well as, where appropriate, the diplomatic personnel of the Holy See or its Officials residing outside the territory of Vatican City State.[5] The Holy See does not have the capacity or legal obligation to impose the abovementioned principles upon the local Catholic churches and institutions present on the territory of other States and whose activities abide with national laws. The Holy See, in accordance with the rules of international law, is aware that attempting to implement the CRC in the territory of other States could constitute a violation of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of States.

4. In light of the above, the Holy See takes note with satisfaction that the Committee has considered this position, indicating that it is “aware” of “the Holy See’s ratification of the Convention as the Government of the Vatican City State, and also as a sovereign subject of international law having an original, non-derived legal personality independent of any territorial authority or jurisdiction”, and that the Committee is “fully conscious that bishops and major superiors of religious institutes do not act as representatives or delegates of the Roman Pontiff ” (CRC/C/VAT/CO/2, para. 8).

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Der Heilige Stuhl hat erneut bekräftigt, dass er Kinderschutz-Prinzipien vor allem auf seinem eigenen Territorium umsetzen kann, aber nicht auf dem Territorium anderer Staaten. Als Unterzeichnerstaat der UNO-Konvention für die Rechte des Kindes ließ er jetzt dem verantwortlichen UNO-Komitee in Genf einen Kommentar zukommen. Dieser Kommentar betont, dass der Vatikan sich um eine Umsetzung des in der Konvention geforderten Kinderschutzes „vor allem auf dem Territorium des Vatikanstaates“ bemühe, „über das der Heilige Stuhl volle Souveränität besitzt“. Darüber hinaus bekenne sich der Vatikan „allen Menschen guten Willens gegenüber zu in der Resolution niedergelegten Prinzipien“. Er versuche auch die Ortskirchen in diesem Sinn zu beeinflussen, „die in verschiedenen Staaten mit verschiedenen Rechtssystemen leben“.

Der Heilige Stuhl habe aber „nicht die Fähigkeit oder rechtliche Verpflichtung, die Kinderschutz-Prinzipien lokalen katholischen Kirchen und Institutionen, die in anderen Staaten präsent sind, aufzuerlegen“. Diese Ortskirchen oder –einrichtungen müssten sich „an die jeweiligen nationalen Gesetze halten“. Wörtlich bekräftigt das Vatikan-Papier: „Der Heilige Stuhl ist sich im klaren darüber, dass ein Versuch, die Kinderschutz-Konvention auf dem Territorium anderer Staaten durchzusetzen, eine Verletzung des Prinzips der Nichteinmischung in die inneren Angelegenheiten von Staaten darstellen könnte.“

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 26 September 2014 (VIS) – The Holy See has communicated to the competent offices of the United Nations in Geneva the document “Comments of the Holy See on the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child”. The Concluding Observations were presented by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on 5 February, following the reports, written responses and interactive dialogue submitted to the Committee by the Holy See as a State signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The full English text of the Holy See’s comments may be consulted at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/2014/documents/rc-seg-st-20140205_concluding-observations-rights-child_en.html

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014

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

Now that federal authorities have arrested an Altoona-Johnstown priest on child sex charges, the burden now shifts to Bishop Mark Bartchak. He must help police and prosecutors by using his considerable resources to seek out victims, witnesses and whistleblowers.

A week ago, we asked Bartchak to write his Central American colleagues and urge them to aggressively reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misconduct by a priest who has just been put on leave because federal agents raided his church and home. And we said that Bartchak should use his own parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements to persuade his flock to share what they know or suspect about this priest with law enforcement.

We still stand by these requests and are disappointed that he has not responded to them. We also don’t believe the Altoona-Johnston church officials who claims he and his colleagues knew nothing about Fr. Joseph Maurizio alleged “charity” work in Central and South America.

Fr. Maurizio says he has “traveled to 100 countries and has worked with orphanages in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Haiti, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru,” according to Tribune Review. That’s very worrisome to us.

We also noted a week ago that “Bartchak will no doubt be tempted to do nothing. That’s wrong. He has a civic and moral duty to help police investigate and perhaps help prosecutors pursue Fr. Maurizio. He should not passively sit back and evade responsibility. Fr. Maurizio was likely recruited, educated, ordained, trained and transferred by Altoona-Johnstown Catholic officials. They can’t wash their hands of him now.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Mail

By DARREN BOYLE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 08:10 EST, 26 September 2014

Federal prosecutors have charged a Roman Catholic priest who is alleged to have engaged in ‘illicit sexual conduct’ with children and as well as possessing images of child abuse in the rectory of his church.

Fr Joseph D. Maurizo Jr, 69 was charged following an investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Secuirty Investigations unit into his activities during trips to Honduras.

Fr Maurizo appeared in Federal court yesterday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was remanded in custody until Monday morning.

Fr Maurizo was parish priest at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Central City, Pennsylvania until his arrest when he was forced to stand aside.

According to Federal prosecutors, between 1999 and 2009 Maurizo travelled from Pennsylvania to Honduras as part of a non-profit organisation he established providing help to small children in Central America.

Each trip lasted between two and three weeks.

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VATICAAN
De Stentor (Nederland)

VATICAAN (ANP) – Oud-aartsbisschop Jozef Wesolowski, de eerder deze week wegens kindermisbruik opgepakte voormalige pauselijke nuntius in de Dominicaanse Republiek, had op zijn ambassade een geheim archief met meer dan 100.000 pornografische films en foto’s.

Het gaat om materiaal van internet en om seksueel getinte ‘selfies’ van zijn slachtoffers, die op zijn computer zijn ontdekt.

‘Horrorgalerij’

Dit heeft de Italiaanse krant Corriere della Sera vrijdag gemeld op basis van bronnen betrokken bij het onderzoek. De krant spreekt van een ‘horrorgalerij’: 13-jarige jongens die voor de lens worden vernederd. Er zitten opnames bij van naakte kinderen die met elkaar en met volwassenen seksuele handelingen verrichten. De geestelijke had een voorkeur voor jongens, maar er zitten ook foto’s van meisjes tussen.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Corriere della Sera

[English version]

di FIORENZA SARZANINI

ROMA – Monsignor Jozef Wesolowski aveva un archivio segreto nascosto nel computer della Nunziatura di Santo Domingo. L’arcivescovo polacco di 66 anni arrestato tre giorni fa per volontà di papa Francesco dalla gendarmeria vaticana per pedofilia, custodiva oltre centomila file con foto e filmini pornografici: immagini scaricate da Internet e fotografie che le stesse vittime erano state costrette a scattare. Una galleria degli orrori che in parte conservava anche sul proprio pc portatile. Si vedono ragazzini tra i tredici e i diciassette anni umiliati di fronte all’obiettivo, ripresi nudi, costretti ad avere rapporti sessuali tra loro e con adulti. Ora l’indagine prosegue per scoprire altri complici. Personaggi che avrebbero aiutato l’alto prelato a procacciarsi i minori e che potrebbero aver partecipato agli incontri a luci rosse. Nel capo di imputazione si parla esplicitamente di «reati commessi in concorso con persone ancora ignote» e gli atti dell’inchiesta fanno comprendere come i promotori di indagine del Vaticano abbiano già trovato alcuni elementi per arrivare alla loro identificazione. Sono proprio i verbali e le relazioni contenute nel fascicolo processuale a svelare i contorni di una vicenda che appare tutt’altro che chiusa e anzi potrebbe avere nuovi e clamorosi sviluppi. Perché il sospetto è che Wesolowski possa essere inserito in una rete internazionale ben più ampia di quella emersa sinora.

I quattro volumi e le foto cancellate
Quanto ampia possa essere questa rete ben si comprende leggendo la perizia informatica che ricostruisce l’attività del nunzio di Santo Domingo richiamato dalla Santa Sede un anno fa e poi «dimesso» dallo stato clericale. L’accusa evidenzia «la particolare abilità dell’imputato a utilizzare strumentazione elettronica che può essere reperita per connessioni illecite. Comportamento che l’imputato ha mostrato di perseguire con modalità fortemente compulsive».

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VATICAN CITY
Corriere della Sera

Josef Weslowski knew how to use technology to make illicit internet connections. Grave violation of duties

di by Fiorenza Sarzanini

ROME – Monsignor Jozef Wesolowski kept a secret archive on a computer at the Santo Domingo nunciature. The 66-year-old Polish former archbishop, arrested three days ago for paedophilia by Vatican gendarmes at the order of Pope Francis, had more than 100,000 files containing pornographic photos and videos. Some were downloaded from internet and others the victims themselves were forced to take. The prelate stored part of this chamber of horrors on his own laptop. Images show youngsters aged between 13 and 17 being humiliated for the camera, filmed naked and forced to have sexual relations with each other or with adults. Inquiries to discover others involved continue as investigators seek anyone who may have aided Weslowski to procure minors or taken part in sex acts. The charge sheet explicitly mentions “offences committed in complicity with persons unknown” and case documents make it clear that Vatican investigators have already found evidence that will help them to identify the offenders. The case file pieces together the picture of an affair that looks anything but over and could still produce more spectacular revelations. Weslowski is suspected of belonging to an international network that extends well beyond what has emerged so far.

Four volumes and deleted photos

The extent of the network emerges clearly from an expert IT report that reconstructs the activities of the Santo Domingo nuncio, who was recalled by the Holy See a year ago and then defrocked. In the report, experts underline “the particular ability of the defendant to use electronic instrumentation that can be procured for illicit connections. The defendant pursued these actions in a manner that was strongly compulsive”.

Weslowski had “more than 100,000 files of a sexual nature, to which must be added more than 45,000 deleted images”. Investigators were alerted by the discovery of an archive on a Vatican-owned computer “divided into four volumes and containing about 130 videos and more than 86,000 photographs”. The former archbishop had saved the rest on the laptop he used mainly when he was travelling. The material, which is classified by type, shows dozens of young girls engaged in sexual activities but the preference is for males.

Network of accomplices and email traffic

The report reconstructs all the relevant data traffic, including visits to gay sites and Weslowski’s correspondence. Analysis of his network connections, email and other writings stored on the hard disk could reveal the identity of those with whom he exchanged images and provide leads to his accomplices. Investigators are confident that Francisco Javier Occi Reyes, the deacon arrested by Dominican police in June 2013 who subsequently blew the whistle on Weslowski in a letter to the Vatican hierarchy, is only a pawn in a much bigger game. Now they have extended their inquiries to all the countries where Weslowski was based before he went to Santo Domingo. Above all, they want to investigate people with whom he was in frequent contact.

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