ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: August 26, 2014

Winona Diocese claims it cannot get a fair trial in Ramsey County.

The Diocese of Winona has asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals to throw out a recent court decision to keep a high-profile clergy abuse trial in Ramsey County.

Diocese attorneys argued that they could not get a fair trial in Ramsey County because of widespread media coverage of the clergy abuse case and because their survey of potential jurors indicated that more than a third had already made up their minds about the case.

At issue is the lawsuit filed last year by an alleged victim of former priest Tom Adamson. It claims Adamson had sexually abused children in the Winona Diocese before he was transferred to the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in the 1970s and abused the alleged victim.

The lawsuit has resulted in an unprecedented release of documents related to clergy abuse.

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NEW YORK
WICZ

A former priest who spent three decades in the Binghamton area, including a 19-year career at Seton Catholic Central pled guilty to six counts of child pornography Tuesday.

The Syracuse Diocese says Father Robert Ours was at Seton Catholic from 1992-2011.

He has been inactive from the diocese since 2011. According to the Syracuse Diocese Ours also served at St. Vincent’s in Binghamton, St. John’s the Evangelist, Our Lady of Good Counsel, and St. Rita’s until 2011 prior to its closing.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 08/26/2014

St. Paul archdiocese put accused priest on marriage tribunal, documents say
The Diocese of Winona has made another attempt to move a civil court trial involving one of its former priests out of Ramsey County.

The trial of Doe 1, a man who claims he was sexually molested by former Rev. Thomas Adamson, was scheduled to begin Sept. 22 in Ramsey County District Court. It has been delayed until Nov. 3.

The Winona diocese asked the state Court of Appeals on Tuesday to force the trial judge to reverse his previous ruling on where the trial should be held. In the alternative, the diocese asked the appeals court to temporarily halt the case proceedings.

Judge John Van de North on Aug. 4 denied the Diocese of Winona’s petition to move the trial to another county. Thomas Braun, attorney for the diocese, argued Tuesday in his petition to the appeals court that the “excessive pre-trial publicity” has made it impossible for the diocese to get a fair and impartial trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Former Vatican ambassador Jozef Wesolowski could face trial over alleged sex abuse after losing diplomatic immunity

KASHMIRA GANDER Tuesday 26 August 2014

A former papal diplomat, who was defrocked over allegations that he sexually abused young boys, has lost his diplomatic immunity and could therefore face trial in the Dominican Republic, according to the Vatican.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic, where Jozef Wesolowski served as nuncio, or ambassador, said an investigation uncovered allegations that Wesolowski had paid young boys to perform sexual acts. However, prosecutors did not file charges because as nuncio, Wesolowski had diplomatic immunity.

The Vatican has previously insisted in its handling of the delicate case of Josef Wesolowski that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and that the Holy See doesn’t extradite its own citizens.

But Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement on Monday that the 66-year-old former archbishop no longer had immunity and might “be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him”.

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INDIA
Indian Express

A 65-year-old priest has been arrested for allegedly sodomising a seven-year-old boy after luring him to a room within the temple premises located on Sikandra Road in the district, the police said Tuesday.

The incident came to light Monday when the father of the boy approached Soraon police station accusing the priest, Ram Prakash Das, of sodomising his son. Based on the complaint and the victim’s statement, the police arrested the priest.

“The boy has told us that Das was involved in similar acts earlier also. We are verifying his claims. The priest has been sent to jail,” said Circle Officer (Soraon), Lal Pratap Singh.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Das, who originally hailed from Madhya Pradesh, had come to the temple located on Sikandra Road 15 years ago. He performed his duties there and lived in one of the rooms within the temple complex.

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CANADA
Sylvia’s Site

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Sylvia

Father Rene Labelle is dead. I have confirmation from several reliable sources that the priest was found dead in his apartment yesterday. There is talk but no confirmation that his death was by suicide. I have heard that an autopsy was being conducted.

Father Labelle was convicted in January of this year for sexually abusing a young boy. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail.

Labelle filed an appeal. Pending the appeal he was out on bail. As of 16 August August all the requisite paperwork had not yet been filed with the court.

At some point Father Labelle violated his bail conditions and was facing two new charges of breach of bail. He had a courtdate at 09:00 am this Thursday, 28 August 2014, on the breach charges.

And now he’s dead.

The appeal has not been dealt with. The breach has not been dealt with. His victim is left in Never Never Land with the conviction of his molester under appeal.

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CANADA
CKWS

A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST FOUND GUILTY OF SEX RELATED CHARGES EARLIER THIS YEAR IS DEAD.

FATHER RENE LABELLE’S BODY WAS DISCOVERED IN A WEST END APARTMENT LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON.

AS NEWSWATCH’S MORGANNE CAMPBELL REPORTS LABELLE WAS FREE ON BAIL, WAITING FOR AN APPEAL.

It was here in an apartment building on Norwest Road where Father Rene Labelle’s lifeless body was discovered Monday. Police don’t suspect foul play and it’s been suggested the Priest took his own life.

A sad day for those at the Archdioceses in KIngston. In a prepared statement the organization said,

“We are saddened to learn that Father Rene Labelle was found dead in his Kingston apartment.”

The church stated Labelle was 65 years old and had been priest of the Archdiocese of Kingston for 36 years.

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WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

By Alexandra Chachkevitch,
Tribune reporter

The Rev. James Dokos pleads not guilty to felony theft charge this morning

A Greek Orthodox priest pleaded not guilty to a felony theft charge during his arraignment in a Milwaukee County courtroom this morning.

The Rev. James Dokos, who has been placed on leave from Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Glenview pending the outcome of the case, is accused of improperly spending more than $100,000 from a trust fund intended to benefit Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee.

Dokos, 62, was the longtime pastor at Annunciation before transferring to Sts. Peter and Paul in 2012.

Authorities in Milwaukee announced in June that they would file the charge against Dokos after launching an investigation last year into how the trust fund money was spent. The fund was established by a longtime Annunciation parishioner and his wife, and while the church received $1.1 million from the fund, Annunciation members alerted authorities after finding possible discrepancies in how the rest of the money was allotted.

Dokos’ attorneys have denied he engaged in wrongdoing and have said Annunciation members sought the prosecution against him to cover up their own mismanagement of the fund.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Black Hills Fox

After receiving a tip last week, law enforcement has arrested a now former St. Thomas More Middle School teacher on eight counts of possession of child pornography.

Authorities say 26–year–old Andrew Hiipakka was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon. Detectives with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a tip last week, that led to a search warrant at Hiipakka’s residence.

The task force found numerous images of child pornography on Hiipakka’s personal computer. Once they discovered he was employed as a teacher, detectives say they contacted the Rapid City Catholic School System about the investigation and Hiipakka was immediately terminated.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Keloland

[with video]

by Don Jorgensen

RAPID CITY, SD – A former Rapid City middle school teacher is accused of having child pornography on his personal computer.

A tip last week led police to search 26-year-old Andrew Hiipakka’s home on the 400 block of East Fairlane, where several disturbing images were found on his home computer.

Hiipakka is now facing eight counts of possessing, manufacturing, or distributing child porn.

According to these court papers, Hiipakka had stored several videos and other images depicting young boys in various sexual acts, including with some adults.

All of them too offensive to describe in detail on television.

According to police, their ages ranged from three years old to 14-years-old, some of them approximately the same age as some of the students Hiipakka once taught.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Rapid City Journal

August 19, 2014 • Andrea J. Cook Journal staff

A teacher at St. Thomas More Middle School in Rapid City was fired last week after school officials learned he was the subject of a child-pornography investigation.

A tip brought Andrew Hiipakka, 26, of Rapid City, to the attention of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, according to a Rapid City Police Department news release.

A search of Hiipakka’s home produced numerous images of child pornography on his personal computer, the release said.

Hiipakka was arrested without incident Tuesday. He was being held in the Pennington County Jail under a $50,000 bond.

The Rapid City Catholic School System was informed of the investigation on Aug. 14, and he was fired that day, according to police spokeswoman Tarah Heupel.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Black Hills Pioneer

Posted: Thursday, August 21, 2014

By Heather Murschel Black Hills Pioneer

SPEARFISH — A St. Thomas More teacher was arrested for possession of child pornography and terminated from his position within the Rapid City Catholic School System.

Authorities say Andrew Hiipakka, 26, of Rapid City allegedly had numerous images that exploit children for sexual gratification on his personal computer.

Tuesday’s arrest came after detectives with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force confirmed a tip they had been given last week that led to a search warrant at the middle school teacher’s residence.

Black Hills Fugitive Task Force took Hippakka into custody without incident.

Detectives discovered that he was employed as a teacher, and after contacting the Rapid City Catholic School System about the investigation they “immediately” terminated Hippakka’s employment.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Nuevo Herald

BY POR NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO — Josef Wesolowski, quien fue nuncio apostólico en la República Dominicana y ahora está acusado de abusar sexualmente de niños, no tiene ya inmunidad diplomática y puede ser enjuiciado en el país caribeño, declaró el lunes el Vaticano.

La decisión fue calificada de “justa y positiva” por el procurador general dominicano Francisco Domínguez Brito.

“Si ya ese señor no tiene inmunidad, eso podría facilitarnos las cosas para pensar en el tema de la extradición, para que venga aquí a enfrentar la Justicia y no haya impunidad”, dijo el funcionario a la prensa.

Domínguez Brito, quien en agosto del 2013 ordenó una investigación ante los rumores de pederastia de Wesolowski, detalló que antes de pensar en una eventual extradición “tenemos que ver en detalles la decisión del Vaticano, pero siempre he dicho que en casos como éste, siempre barajamos todas las opciones”.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Jaya

26 Agosto 2014 09:19 Escrito por Ramón Cruz Benzán

El procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito, juzgó ayer justa y positiva la decisión del Vaticano de despojar de la inmunidad diplomática de Josef Wesolowski, quien fue nuncio apostólico en República Dominicana y está ahora acusado de abusar sexualmente de niños.

Asimismo,Domínguez Brito dijo que será solicitado al Vaticano información en torno al despojo de la inmunidad diplomática a Wesolowski, como en ocasiones anteriores.

El jefe del ministerio público fue entrevistado al final de una audiencia celebrada en la Octava Sala de la Jurisdicción Inmobiliaria, donde ese tribunal ordenó la anulación de cientos de títulos de propiedad de Bahía de las Águilas, obtenidos de manera fraudulenta.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Josephine McKenna | August 26, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Josef Wesolowski, the ex-Vatican envoy stripped of diplomatic immunity after claims he sexually abused young boys in the Dominican Republic, may face a criminal trial in the Caribbean country.

Francisco Dominguez Brito, the Dominican Republic’s attorney general, issued a statement saying it was “just and positive” for the Vatican to remove Wesolowski’s immunity and that the country would consider seeking the former archbishop’s extradition so he could stand trial there.

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is pictured during a 2011 ceremony in Santo Domingo. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found the archbishop guilty of sexual abuse of minors and has ordered that he be laicized.
Show caption

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is pictured during a 2011 ceremony in Santo Domingo. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found the archbishop guilty of sexual abuse of minors and has ordered that he be laicized. RNS photo by Orlando Barria/CNS
This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

“At this time extradition is an option. However, first we must look at the details of the Vatican’s decision,” the prosecutor said. “It is clear that since this man no longer has immunity, this can help us on the question of extradition so that he can come here and face justice.”

His comments were published on a Dominican news website and confirmed by an official at the Dominican Embassy in Rome on Tuesday (Aug. 26).

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho August 25, 2014

Did you read Laurie Goodstein’s disturbing story about the former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Josef Wesolowski? Do. Wesolowski was recalled to the Vatican after it was alleged that he had sexually abused minors (Goodstein spoke with several of his accusers). He was laicized, and could face a criminal trial at the Vatican (Pope Francis updated Vatican criminal law last summer). Obviously that isn’t terribly comforting to some Dominicans who would rather see him tried in the country where he committed his alleged crimes. If Pope Francis is serious about reforming the church’s response to clerical sexual abuse, why did he allow Wesolowski to escape local justice?

According to a Vatican statement released this afternoon, the former nuncio may face extradition after all–because, now that he’s been laicized, he no longer enjoys diplomatic immunity.

Former nuncio Josef Wesolowski has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, the most serious canonical sentence of a return to the lay state that has been imposed upon him. The appeal will be judged without delay over the course of the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014.

 It is important to note that former nuncio Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity, and has been previously stated, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will continue as soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive.



The statement continues, suggesting that Wesolowski was returned to Rome so that he could be swiftly returned to the lay state and relieved of his diplomatic duties, which means that he could be tried by another country.

Regarding stories that have appeared over the past few days in various media, it is important to note that the Authorities of the Holy See, from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See. This action relates to his recall to Rome and in the treatment of the case in relation to Authorities of the Dominican Republic.

 Far from any intention of a cover-up, this action demonstrates the full and direct undertaking of the Holy See’s responsibility even in such a serious and delicate case, about which Pope Francis is duly and carefully informed and one which the Pope wishes to address justly and rigorously.



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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Mollie Wilson O’Reilly August 26, 2014

Don’t miss Jason Berry’s lengthy update on the Legion of Christ’s ventures in the Holy Land, in the National Catholic Reporter this week. How has the order coped with diminishment and disgrace following the belated exposure and censure of its founder, serial sexual abuser and all-around con artist Marcial Maciel? Oh, you know, they’re working on it.

“Marcial Maciel’s initials are also MM, just like Mary Magdalene. She had a problematic past before her deliverance, so there’s a parallel. Our world has double standards when it comes to morals. Some people have a formal, public display and then the real life they live behind the scenes.

“But when we accuse someone else and we are quick to stone him, we must remember that we all have problems and defects. With modern communications so out of control, it is easy to kill someone’s reputation without even investigating about the truth. We should be quieter and less condemning.”

Berry quotes the above from a booklet promoting the Legion’s new project, the $100 million Magdala Center at the Sea of Galilee. (Learn more at this website — but be warned, there’s a startling autoplaying introductory video.) The author is Fr. Juan María Solana.

When the allegations against Maciel were first surfacing in the media, I remember hearing that rank-and-file Legionaries themselves were shielded from the worst of it. That, at least, was the excuse offered for why some priests didn’t leave the order sooner. Given the amount of control Maciel and his fellow leaders exerted over the lives of their recruits, it seems plausible. But Maciel is dead; his corruption and crimes are definitively exposed; the order is supposedly reforming itself under Rome’s supervision. So what’s the excuse now for someone in a leadership position with the LCs to be referring to Maciel as having had any kind of “deliverance” (when, in fact, he and the order denied the allegations against him to the end of his life, even after Benedict removed him from ministry and ordered him to a life of repentance), or using his story as an example of how “We should be quieter and less condemning”?

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Aug. 26, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

Check out the video of last week’s episode of “The World Over” with Raymond Arroyo. At minute 44:00, he begins an interview with Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League. Among other subjects, Donohue discusses the situation of Bishop Robert Finn and accuses NCR, among others, of leading the charge against Bishop Finn because he is an orthodox bishop. Actually, as far as I can tell, most of us at NCR are concerned about Bp Finn because he has been a disaster as a bishop and, specifically, violated the bishops’ own norms for dealing with clergy sex abuse. But, my question is this: Why is Donohue so intent on defending Bp Finn? “>Check out the video of last week’s episode of “The World Over” with Raymond Arroyo. At minute 44:00, he begins an interview with Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League. Among other subjects, Donohue discusses the situation of Bishop Robert Finn and accuses NCR, among others, of leading the charge against Bishop Finn because he is an orthodox bishop. Actually, as far as I can tell, most of us at NCR are concerned about Bp Finn because he has been a disaster as a bishop and, specifically, violated the bishops’ own norms for dealing with clergy sex abuse. But, my question is this: Why is Donohue so intent on defending Bp Finn?

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VIRGINIA
Talking Points Memo

By CATHERINE THOMPSON
Published AUGUST 26, 2014

Virginia ex-Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) revealed during testimony last week that he moved out of his family home and in with his parish priest the week before his federal corruption trial began.

McDonnell explained on the stand that living separately from his wife Maureen would make it easier for him to prepare for trial each day and described their marriage as “on hold.” The priest he is staying with or the time being, Rev. Wayne Ball of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Richmond, Va., is a family friend who officiated his daughter Cailin’s wedding.

Ball also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sex charge in late 2002.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported at the time that Ball, then pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Norfolk, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of frequenting a bawdy place. Other media reports defined that as a place used for “lewdness, assignation or prostitution.” Norfolk police had arrested Ball and another Richmond man the night before Thanksgiving when they were found together in a parked car in a local park.

The charge was dismissed in 2003 after Ball fulfilled the terms of his plea agreement.

McDonnell railed against sex outside of marriage in his now-infamous master’s thesis, making his friendship with Ball and his decision to move into the rectory at St. Patrick’s during the trial all the more interesting. In the paper, written for Regents University in 1989, McDonnell deplored “the perverted notion of liberty that each individual should be able to live out his sexual life in any way he chooses without interference from the state,” going on to blast gays and unwed mothers.

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GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Steve Visser
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The former leader of the now defunct Hindu Temple of Georgia may be headed to federal prison after a jury convicted him of defrauding his followers.

Federal authorities on Monday announced the conviction of Annamalai Annamalai, also known as Dr. Commander Selvam and Swamiji Sri Selvam Siddhar. He charged his followers fees in exchange for spiritual and related services, but then would run-up unapproved charges, using their credit card numbers, authorities said.

“This defendant traded on his perceived religious authority and spiritual powers to cheat the faithful who believed in him,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “The jury saw through his deception.”

Annamalai, 49, would then submit bogus documentation to the credit card companies to support any charges that were disputed, prosecutors said.

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GEORGIA
India Today

An Indian-origin former leader of a now defunct Hindu temple in Georgia has been convicted on multiple charges of bank fraud, moneylaundering and using the temple’s income to fund his personal lifestyle.

Annamalai Annamalai, who also went by the name of Commander Selvam and Swamiji Sri Selvam Siddhar, was convicted after a two-week jury trial on 34 felony counts, including bank fraud offenses, filing a false tax return, bankruptcy fraud offenses, money laundering, obstruction, false statement offenses and conspiring to conceal a person from arrest.

He will be sentenced on November 13. According to information presented in court, Annamalai generated income through the Hindu Temple of Georgia by charging fees to his followers in exchange for providing spiritual or related services.

Annamalai charged the followers’ credit card numbers on multiple occasions, in excess of the agreed amount and without authorization. Court documents said that if the followers disputed the charges with their respective credit card companies, Annamalai submitted false documents in support of the unauthorized charges.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com
on August 26, 2014

Syracuse, NY — A retired Syracuse priest pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography today in a deal that spared him prison time.

Robert Ours, 65, admitted to six counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child in a deal with County Court Judge Joseph Fahey.

The judge promised to sentence Ours to 10 years of probation. Ours will also become a registered sex offender.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Cali said he wanted Ours to spend 1 to 3 years in prison.

But by pleading guilty to all six counts, Ours avoided dealing with the DA’s office and worked out the deal with Fahey directly.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By SIMON WALKER Aug. 26, 2014

Read Joanne McCarthy’s work on child abuse by the Catholic Church here.

COMMENT: Why we need a royal commission into church sex abuse (the opinion piece Joanne McCarthy talks about in Australian Story)

The Newcastle Herald was inundated on Tuesday with a wave of reactions from across the nation after ABC’s Australian Story on journalist Joanne McCarthy and her investigation into child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

That investigation led to a historic royal commission.

‘‘Joanne McCarthy’’ was trending on Twitter on Monday night as the program was broadcast as viewers took to social media to congratulate McCarthy, the Herald and Australian Story.

Tuesday morning, the letters began pouring in.

Rex Williams, from the ACT, wrote that Joanne deserved the acclaim of her peers and the media industry.

‘‘The district should forever be grateful that such an honourable person took up the public running of these insidious crimes against the young. She is a wonderful example to potential journalists.’’

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AUSTRALIA
Tzedek

The Tzedek Board of Management would like to announce that its founder and CEO Mr Manny Waks will be stepping down from his position at the end of November 2014. At a recent Board meeting Mr Waks advised the Board that after more than three years of working with the highly complex, sensitive and controversial issue of child sexual abuse, the time has come to move on from this role.

“It has been a great honour and privilege to establish and lead Tzedek. Over three years ago, when I publicly disclosed my personal experience of abuse, I set out on a long and challenging journey, which has led to great achievements both personally and professionally,” Mr Waks said.

“We could not have achieved what we achieved without the support, assistance and guidance of the Board of Management and Board of Advisors, the generous donors, volunteers and support agencies. Most importantly, I wish to thank my family and friends who supported me while undertaking this most challenging work,” Mr Waks said.

He went on to say, “I have accomplished what I set out to achieve, and am comfortable moving forward knowing that I leave behind a strong foundation from which Tzedek’s important vision and mission can continue to grow. This position wasn’t a life tenure, rather a role I felt compelled to undertake at a particular point in time. I feel a great sense of pride and satisfaction in what I have accomplished. Indeed it is humbling to have been part of creating a cultural shift in the context of child sexual abuse within the Jewish community – not only in Australia. While we have made significant progress, there is still much work to do.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Aug. 26, 2014

A FORMER Newcastle Anglican church employee said he repeatedly warned the diocese, from as early as 1984, that a ‘‘network’’ of paedophile priests preyed on children, but the diocese failed to act on the warnings.

‘‘I told them in 1984 that ‘You’ve got a network of these bastards preying on altar boys’, and I named names,’’ the former church employee said.

In the past four years the diocese has defrocked three priests and sanctioned others, and confirmed a number of clergy and church workers were child sex offenders.

In 2010 former Newcastle Anglican bishop Brian Farran apologised to victims of Father Peter Rushton after confirming allegations he was an offender over four decades and part of a broader network of paedophiles in the Hunter.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Zum Ablauf der zweimonatigen Berufungsfrist hat der ehemalige polnische Erzbischof und Kuriendiplomat Josef Wesolowski Berufung gegen das Urteil der Glaubenskongregation gegen ihn eingelegt. Das sagte Vatikansprecher Pater Federico Lombardi an diesem Montag gegenüber Journalisten. In erster Instanz war er am 27. Juni dieses Jahres aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen worden. Die Vorwürfe lauteten auf sexuellen Missbrauch Minderjähriger während seiner Zeit als Nuntius in der Dominikanischen Republik. Das Urteil der Glaubenskongregation stellt die kirchenrechtliche Behandlung des Falles dar, strafrechtlich muss sich Wesolowski noch vor den zuständigen Gerichten des Vatikans verantworten. Der ehemalige Bischof ist Staatsbürger des Vatikan.

Die Verhandlung in zweiter Instanz werde sehr bald aufgenommen, so Lombardi, wahrscheinlich noch im Oktober dieses Jahres. Der Vatikan habe kein Interesse daran, den Fall zuzudecken, fügte er mit Verweis auf Medienberichte in den USA an, im Gegenteil, der Vatikan akzeptiere voll und ganz die Verantwortung in diesem Fall. Papst Franziskus werde laufend informiert und habe bekräftigt, dass alle gerechte und notwendige Strenge in diesem Fall angewendet werde.

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POLEN
Weiner Zeitung

[Summary: The Polish Catholic Church is setting up at least four counseling centers for victims of clergy sexual abuse. Announcement was made Monday by Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, who heads the Polish Episcopal Conference.]

Warschau. In Polen sollen mindestens vier Beratungszentren für Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Priester entstehen. Das kündigte der Vorsitzende der polnischen Bischofskonferenz, Erzbischof Stanislaw Gadecki, am Montag im polnischen Wallfahrtsort Czestochowa (Tschenstochau) an. Dort hatten sich die polnischen Bischöfe zu ihrer Bistumskonferenz versammelt.

Die Zentren sollen als Anlaufstellen für Missbrauchsopfer dienen und auch Therapie- und Hilfsangebote machen. Im Herbst wollen die Bischöfe Gadecki zufolge über die Finanzierung der Zentren und Einzelheiten ihrer Arbeit beraten.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Laura Yuen St. Paul, Minn. Aug 25, 2014

Updated at 4:55 p.m.

Scorched by a sexual abuse scandal, the Twin Cities archdiocese has hired an outsider with extensive leadership in law enforcement to help win back the public’s trust.

Tim O’Malley, an administrative law judge and former FBI agent who once headed up the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, will respond to allegations against priests.

Even critics of the Catholic Church acknowledge O’Malley has impeccable credentials. But they say the real question is: Will he have power to make true change?

O’Malley will serve as the director of ministerial standards and safe environment, a new position created in the wake of the clergy abuse scandal. He will be responsible for making sure the archdiocese complies with the law when abuse allegations arise.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jason Berry | Aug. 26, 2014

ANALYSIS

The scandal-battered Legionaries of Christ, still facing the unresolved consequences of a disgraced founder, may be seeing a turn in their fortunes with the development of the Magdala Center at the Sea of Galilee in the Holy Land. The order is conducting a major fundraising drive to cover the projected $100 million cost.

The complex, with newly discovered ruins of a synagogue Jesus may have visited, will contain an archaeological park, women’s institute, media center and a luxury hotel the Legion will own. Eduardo Guerra, the center’s assistant director, said that the Legion has raised $40 million from benefactors toward the finished work. (See story.)

Whether the center can overcome its founder’s reputation and the fallout from the prolonged scandal is an open question. While the order is still reeling from revelations that its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a sexual predator, abusing young seminarians and living a double life that included fathering three children by two women from Mexico, he still has his loyalists.

A booklet intended to promote the new center, Magdala: God Really Loves Women, contains material demonstrating Maciel’s posthumous hold on certain top-rank Legionaries. The booklet compares Maciel to Mary Magdalene and portrays the Legion founder as harshly judged. In the quotation from the text that follows, the speaker is Fr. Juan María Solana, who heads the Magdala project:

The priest speaks his heart: “Marcial Maciel’s initials are also MM, just like Mary Magdalene. She had a problematic past before her deliverance, so there’s a parallel. Our world has double standards when it comes to morals. Some people have a formal, public display and then the real life they live behind the scenes.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY Aug. 26, 2014

NEWCASTLE Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson has urged the federal government to fully fund the royal commission into child sexual abuse as the diocese faces a major police investigation and a royal commission investigation back to the 1950s.

In an extraordinary interview on Tuesday the bishop confirmed the Anglican Church had already paid compensation to sexual abuse victims of a late former Newcastle bishop for offences against children in another state.

It was ‘‘more than likely’’ there were serial perpetrators in the Hunter Region’s past who were ‘‘aware of one another’’, and ‘‘people of significant influence’’ in the Church had failed to respond to child sexual abuse allegations when they were made, he said.

The diocese provided tens of thousands of documents to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in July in response to a summons issued within months of Bishop Thompson taking up his position in February.

The correspondence of every Newcastle Anglican bishop back to 1953 had been handed to the royal commission, which is also investigating St John’s theological college at Morpeth, and St Alban’s children’s home at Cessnock.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Father Lombardi: “he might also be subjected to judicial procedures from other courts”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

After being dismissed from the clerical state, according to a verdict by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former nuncio in Santo Domingo Jozef Wesolowski, who is accused of enticing young boys on the beach and paying them for sexual favours, is not granted diplomatic immunity any longer and will thus be prosecutable in other countries. Other than in Santo Domingo, the former prelate is under investigation in Poland, his home country. The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, announced this while answering the questions of the press following an article in the New York Times that brought the issue back into the spotlight, criticising the Vatican for his management of the incident.

Wesolowski, who was recalled to Rome immediately after being accused, was reduced to the lay state in few months, which is the highest possible punishment for a priest in Canon law. Now, says Lombardi, the former archbishop “has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, the most serious canonical sentence of a return to the lay state”. It appears that the appeal will be judged within October. As soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will begin: if he is found guilty by them as well, he might go to prison.

Lombardi explained that “Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity”. The spokesman for the Vatican highlights that the Authorities of the Holy See “moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See.” Lombardi continues “This action relates to his recall to Rome and in the treatment of the case in relation to Authorities of the Dominican Republic. Far from any intention of a cover-up, this action demonstrates the full and direct undertaking of the Holy See’s responsibility even in such a serious and delicate case, about which Pope Francis is duly and carefully informed and one which the Pope wishes to address justly and rigorously”

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COSTA RICA
La Nacion

[Summary: An assistant in the Santa Marta parish at San Jose has denounced a priest named only Villalobos for allegedly sexually abusing an adult. The incident allegedly happened in the parish rectory in October 2013. A complaint was filed Aug. 8 with the assistance prosecutor for domestic violence and sexual offences]

Un ayudante de la parroquia de Santa Marta, en la Y Griega, San Francisco de Dos Ríos, San José, denunció a un sacerdote de apellido Villalobos, por presuntamente cometer el delito de abuso sexual contra persona mayor de edad.

El hecho se habría cometido en la casa cural de la citada parroquia, en octubre del 2013.

Así consta en una denuncia presentada, el pasado 8 de agosto, ante la Fiscalía Adjunta de Violencia Doméstica y Delitos Sexuales en San José, de la cual La Nación tiene una copia.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Pamela Duncan

Tue, Aug 26, 2014

Two women who gave birth to children in mother and baby homes are seeking legal advice on bringing cases against the State, according to the Irish First Mothers group.

The women are both members of the organisation but will bring their cases in a personal capacity, according to the group’s press representative, Fintan Dunne, who said the cases centred on the women’s parental rights.

Mr Dunne said one of the women had already received legal advice from senior counsel and intended to pursue a case based on this advice.

He said legal advice had been sought in the case of a second woman.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican has stripped the former papal envoy to the Dominican Republic of his diplomatic immunity, opening the way for him to be extradited to face sex abuse allegations in the country.

The Polish priest Jozef Wesolowski was found guilty of sexually abusing young Dominican boys by the Vatican in June.

Correspondents say the Caribbean state was unhappy at his immediate recalling by the Church when the claims surfaced.

He is the most senior Vatican official to be investigated for sex abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A charity supporting sex abuse victims has opened a new support centre due to an increase in demand for its services in the wake of high profile cases.

Sarah Kelly, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), said calls “went up sevenfold” after the allegations about Jimmy Savile in 2012 and remained high.

She said Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall’s convictions had also brought in calls.

The Stockport centre will offer both phone and face-to-face support.

In total, the charity received about 3,600 calls and emails between 2010 and 2011, a number which increased to just over 7,000 between 2012 and 2013.

Ms Kelly said celebrity cases had “given survivors permission to start talking”, which could be a cathartic experience.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, on Monday confirmed that former Apostolic Nuncio Josef Wesolowski has appealed his “most serious canonical sentence” of being returned to the lay state, in a canonical trial related to the sexual abuse of minors.

“The appeal will be judged without delay over the course of the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014,” Father Lombardi said.

The former Nuncio was recalled from the Dominican Republic after the allegations were made, and was tried earlier this year on canonical charges. Once the appeals process is complete in the canonical trial, Wesolowski can face criminal charges in the Vatican City court system.

“It is important to note that former nuncio Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity, and has been previously stated, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will continue as soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive,” Father Lombardi said.

“Regarding stories that have appeared over the past few days in various media, it is important to note that the Authorities of the Holy See, from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See,” he continued.

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POLAND
The News

The Vatican has revoked the diplomatic immunity of a former Polish archbishop who is accused of sexually abusing children while serving as papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic.

“We must finally state that since former nuncio Wesolowski has ended all diplomatic activity and its related immunity, he might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him,” Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombardi outlined in a statement.

Reverend Lombardi stressed that Pope Francis has been “duly and carefully informed” about the case and that “the Pope wishes to address [the matter] justly and rigorously.”

The Dominican Republic’s attorney general Francisco Dominguez Brito has commented that the Vatican’s announcement represents a “just and positive” turning point.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY TK BARGER
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo has a new bishop. At a press conference at the diocese‘‍s Catholic Center today, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, who has been serving as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, will be introduced as the eighth bishop of Toledo, succeeding Archbishop Leonard P. Blair, who in December 2013 was installed as archbishop of Hartford in Connecticut.

Bishop Thomas, 55, was appointed to the post by Pope Francis. He had been named auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, and a monsignor in 1995 by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained a priest in 1985. Bishop Thomas was born in Philadelphia and has served in ministry in Pennsylvania and Rome.

Bishop Thomas will be installed in Toledo at a Mass at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, on Oct. 22.

As a member of the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, he continues his service on the council’‍s committees for clergy, consecrated life and vocations, and divine worship and the ad hoc committee on catechism.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Daniel Edward Thomas as the new bishop of Toledo in the U.S. He currently serves as the titular Bishop of Bardstown and as an auxiliary in the archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Brief Biography of Bishop Thomas:

Thomas was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 11th, 1959. He graduated from Catholic High School in 1977, and then attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 18th, 1985, and then served as parochial vicar of Saint Joseph’s Church in Aston.

In 1987, Thomas undertook graduate studies in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, earning his Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1989. He was an official of the Congregation for Bishops in the Roman Curia for 15 years, from 1990 to 2005, whilst also serving as spiritual director to the seminarians of the North American College.

Upon his return to the United States, he became pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Strafford on November 19, 2005.

On June 8, 2006, Thomas was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia and Titular Bishop of Bardstown by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on July 26th. Bishop Thomas currently heads the Secretariat of Clergy in the archdiocesan curia, and oversees his alma mater of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and the Archdiocese’s Vocation Office, as well as its Department for Media Affairs.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The Melbourne archbishop admits he was wrong not to pay for accommodation for a homeless victim of a pedophile priest.

Archbishop Denis Hart said if he had his time again, he would have authorised payment for three months of crisis accommodation for Emma Foster.

Ms Foster was abused by the notorious Father Kevin O’Donnell, and she developed serious psychiatric problems as a result.

When her family could no longer care for her at home, they asked the church in 2003 to pay for her crisis accommodation.

At the time, Archbishop Hart told the Fosters that paying for accommodation was not part of the Melbourne archdiocese’s available support for victims.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 by Ivan Fenech

Our latter-day generation of liberals must have been rubbing their hands in glee all last week as an apparent internal revolt against the leadership of the Maltese Church broke out. It is only apparent because no one really knows what is going on inside the Curia. Let’s hope we don’t have another Don Gaetano Mannarino in the making. His uprising didn’t come to a happy end.

In any case, Archbishop Paul Cremona made his position very clear last week: “I hold this position in obedience [to the Pope’s wishes] and will only leave in obedience… The wish, the idea is not mine, but it is the Pope’s.”

Those can only be the words of a man who must have dedicated his life to service and obedience and not to a career. Priesthood is a vocation, not a career. The rules that apply to most other institutions do not apply to the Catholic Church. It is wrong to think otherwise.

As all this was going on, two incidents happened last week: a priest in Gozo was arraigned over child abuse charges and Malta’s first baby was born through in vitro fertilisation using frozen eggs. The two totally unrelated events point to the incredibly challenging situation the Church in Malta finds itself in.

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OHIO
WKYC

CLEVELAND — A judge has ruled that an HIV-positive priest who police say solicited sex from a Cleveland Metroparks ranger last year will face a felony charge should he go to trial.

The attorney for 69-year-old Rev. James McGonegal asked the judge to reconsider a 1996 Ohio law that makes it a third-degree felony for someone with HIV to solicit sex.

The attorney argued McGonegal’s HIV status should be ignored because of medical advancements and he should face a third-degree misdemeanor charge.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MATTHEW KELLY Aug. 26, 2014

POLICE are appealing for information from the public over alleged historical child sexual assaults in Newcastle.

Strike Force Arinya-2 is investigating allegations of child sexual assault by those associated with the Newcastle Diocese of the Anglican Church in the 1970s, including the handling of child sexual assault allegations.

As part of the investigation, police invite anyone with information to come forward.

The NSW Police Force has firm policies and systems in place to manage victims of sexual assault who make a report.

Police are urging anyone who has been a victim, or has knowledge of child sexual assault by members of the Newcastle Diocese of the Anglican Church during the 1970s, to contact Strike Force Arinya-2 at Newcastle Police Station on (02) 4929 0768, (02) 4929 0769 or contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Aug. 21, 2014

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE — Fifty-six individuals, claiming they suffered injury by sexually abusive clergy or other representatives of the Diocese of Gallup, filed claims against the diocese in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, according to a U.S. Justice Department official.

The 56 confidential claimants filed their proof of claim form by the case’s bar date deadline of Aug. 11, Ronald Andazola, the Assistant U.S. Trustee, said Monday. The claimants’ identities will be protected throughout the bankruptcy case by the court.

With the passing of the bar date, the Gallup Diocese’s case has reached a significant milestone.

Nearly a year ago, over the Labor Day Weekend, Gallup Bishop James S. Wall shocked parishioners across the diocese by announcing plans to file a Chapter 11 petition. More than two months later, attorneys for the diocese filed the petition in Albuquerque’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

During the first court hearing on Nov. 15, 2013, Judge David T. Thuma and diocesan attorneys, discussing a confidential mailing list that had to be created, referred to 105 individuals who had come forward as survivors of clergy sex abuse in the Gallup Diocese. That number included people who had already signed financial settlements with the diocese, people who came forward with allegations but did not seek settlements, and those who had current legal claims against the diocese.

Less than two weeks later, diocesan attorneys revised that number up to 121. That revised number included 32 individuals who were being represented by attorneys at the time of the Chapter 11 filing.

In April, when the claims bar date was set, any person who had already received a financial settlement from the Gallup Diocese was prohibited from filing a new claim in bankruptcy court.
Filing extensions

While the bar date was reached last week, two other important milestones may be pushed back into the next year.

Originally, the Diocese of Gallup was scheduled to file a plan of reorganization by March 12, 2014, and the diocese’s exclusive period to solicit acceptance of such a plan was to expire May 12. However, Susan G. Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, filed a motion in February to extend the filing period through Sept. 8, and the acceptance period through Nov. 10. A month later, Thuma approved that extension.

Last week, Boswell filed a second motion requesting another extension to push back the exclusive filing period to May 12, 2015, and the exclusive acceptance period to July 10, 2015. Boswell cited a number of factors, including the complexity of the Diocese of Gallup’s case because of incomplete record keeping for nearly 75 years, the task of determining what real property the diocese owns that can be sold, the hiring of an insurance archaeology company to determine insurance coverage, and the identification of other entities that might have “indemnification or contribution obligations” to the diocese for sexual abuse that occurred in the past.

Objections to Boswell’s motion must be filed by Sept. 5, and a hearing on the motion is scheduled Sept. 15.

Legal wrangling

One effort to identify another Catholic entity that might have a legal indemnification or contribution obligation involves ongoing legal wrangling with the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas.

In April, James I. Stang, the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which advocates for the interests of abuse survivors who are confidential claimants, filed a motion for the examination of the Corpus Christi Diocese under Bankruptcy Rule 2004. In the motion, Stang requested an extensive list of documents pertaining to the diocese’s finances and insurance coverage.

Corpus Christi was pulled into the bankruptcy case because one of its former abusive priests, Clement A. Hageman, ended up working in the newly formed Diocese of Gallup after being pushed out of Corpus Christi for sexual abuse. He worked in the Gallup Diocese for approximately 35 years, until his death in 1975.

Hageman’s personnel file from Gallup was posted on the Bishop Accountability website in 2011 after being obtained by one of Hageman’s abuse victims. In addition to documenting Hageman’s molestation of Catholic school children and altar boys in Arizona parishes along old Route 66, the file contains an undated document filled out by Hageman years after arriving in the Gallup Diocese. In the document, which Hageman filled out between 1942 and 1953 while working in Holbrook, Ariz., he identified his “present” bishop as the “Most Rev. E. Ledvina Corpus Christi.”

Albuquerque attorney Jennie D. Behles, hired to represent the Corpus Christi Diocese, filed two replies in opposition of Stang’s examination motion.

Last month, Thuma issued a memorandum opinion and order that attempted to navigate what Thuma called “reasonable middle ground” between Stang’s motion and Behles’ opposition. The judge granted Stang’s Rule 2004 Motion in part, but limited the scope of discovery. Thuma also limited discovery to just the Diocese of Corpus Christi and not to Catholic organizations affiliated with the diocese.

In spite of Thuma’s order, however, the Corpus Christi issue is far from resolved. Last week Behles filed a notice of appeal, followed by a motion to stay Thuma’s order.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has named Judge Timothy O’Malley, the former head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, to a newly-created position as director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

The appointment comes as a key recommendation by the Task Force as sex abuse victims have come forward with allegations and charges have been filed against clergymen in recent months, as well as backlash against Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Nienstedt contended he won’t resign in a letter published in the Catholic Spirit in early August, and in it, he says he feels bound to his position because the Holy Father put him there. He also claims he never knowingly covered up any clergy abuse, but did say he could have been more involved in handling priest misconduct. He also answered questions regarding allegations of his own possible sexual misconduct, and how he intends to help the church come together again.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe
By Travis Andersen | GLOBE STAFF AUGUST 26, 2014

A Roman Catholic priest has been indicted on charges of stealing nearly $240,000 over several years from the Northborough parish where he served as pastor, according to the office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

The Rev. Stephen M. Gemme is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court on five counts of larceny, stemming from allegations that he had stolen $239,969.87 from St. Bernadette Parish and its elementary school, a spokesman for the district attorney said.

A call to a number listed for Gemme’s lawyer, Carol S. Wheeler, was not returned Monday.

According to prosecutors, Gemme allegedly siphoned the cash from the parish and school starting in January 2008.

Last October, Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Diocese of Worcester wrote in a letter posted on the St. Bernadette website that Gemme had resigned his position after spending more than $120,000 in parish funds and more than $110,000 from the St. Bernadette School for personal expenditures.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

As a State, we are either unwilling or unable to face up to our past, and our shameful treatment of women, writes ConallÓ Fátharta

WATCHING Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald being thoroughly grilled by the chair of the UN Committee on Human Rights Nigel Rodley last month, one thing was clear — as a State, we are either unwilling or unable to face up to our past.

Year after year, scandal after scandal, from the Magdalene laundries, to symphysiotomy, and now to mother and baby homes all are linked by a common thread — the shameful treatment of women and the lengths to which the State will go to delay or deny justice.

In the aftermath of the long overdue State apology that was issued to the survivors of Magdalene laundries last year, many people forgot just how much effort successive governments had put into denying State involvement, in the face of incontrovertible evidence.

As this newspaper reported at the time of that apology, the spectre that loomed large for the Government was that of the mother-and-baby homes. Yet, thanks to the Tuam babies making global headlines, it has been forced into an inquiry.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic World Report

Vatican City, Aug 25, 2014 / 05:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican countered media reports that it protected a former nuncio who faces sex abuse charges through diplomatic immunity, saying instead that the Holy See acted justly and swiftly in the case.

Father Federico Lombardi, director of Holy See Press Office, stated that former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic Josef Wesolowski – following charges and a guilty verdict of sexual misconduct – has been removed from his post as nuncio, and thus no longer has diplomatic immunity.

The former nuncio may “be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him” in the Dominican Republic, Fr. Lombardi said in an Aug. 25 statement.

Though there is no extradition treaty between the Vatican and the Dominican Republic, Vatican officials in September expressed their willingness to hand over Wesolowski to civil authorities in the Dominican Republic.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2014

The Catholic church did not take abuse allegations seriously enough and showed too much sympathy to paedophile priests, Melbourne’s archbishop has admitted.

Archbishop Denis Hart said the church had come down too often on the side of the priest when allegations were made.

“I would see that people sometimes have a greater deal of sympathy for a church person than they should have, and they didn’t sufficiently identify the crime that that person had committed for what it was,” Hart told the child abuse royal commission on Tuesday.

“I think these times have made us see quite clearly both in what we think and know but also in our action what we must do.”

Hart also acknowledged that apologies he had sent to victims of paedophile priests were identical form letters with just the names changed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 26, 2014

Jane Lee and Cameron Houston

Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart instructed his lawyers to “take the defences” in a high-profile victim’s court case, it was revealed hours after he told the sex abuse royal commission that he had only told the lawyers to resolve the matter as quickly and compassionately as possible.

The directive, in a note by the church’s lawyer, Richard Leder, of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, raises further concerns about the church’s combative legal response to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of paedophile priests.

When asked about the note, Archbishop Hart began a heated exchange with Tim Seccull, the lawyer representing the Foster family, which filed a statement in 2003. Two of Anthony and Chrissie Foster’s daughters were sexually abused by serial sex offender Kevin O’Donnell.

The Archbishop turned to chairman of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan: “I’ve already provided evidence on this point … I can repeat it if Mr Seccull wishes.”

Mr Seccull suggested that the instructions were consistent with the church’s default position until 2002 to warn victims in correspondence that any legal challenge against the church would be “strenuously defended”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Lucy Carter
Updated 26 Aug 2014

New South Wales Police have begun a new major investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse within Newcastle’s Anglican Diocese in the 1970s.

Strike force Arinya-2 has been established to investigate alleged child sexual assaults in the Newcastle region, dating back 40 years.

The Anglican Church in Newcastle has been investigated before, most recently in 2012 when the then Newcastle Anglican Bishop, Brian Farran, defrocked three priests over what he described as “disturbing” allegations of abuse that allegedly occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.

At the time, the Professional Standards Board of the Anglican Church of Newcastle accepted that the former dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, and the reverends Bruce Hoare and Andrew Duncan engaged in sexual misconduct against a male teenager.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY JEAN EDWARDS
August 26, 2014

The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, has defended the place of celibacy in the church, even though he says it is a burden for some priests.

Archbishop Hart took the stand for a second day at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne, where he was questioned about the causes of abuse by the clergy.

He told the commission celibacy was fulfilling for many priests.

“I believe that celibacy, supported by prayer… is a wonderful vocation and a wonderful engagement with people,” Archbishop Hart said.

“Once it becomes limited, or once it becomes turned in upon itself, then there is a danger, but celibacy rightly lived and prepared for with proper formation, I do believe has a valid function.

“I’ve had sufficient experience with people who’ve found celibacy a burden and have asked the Pope to dispense them from priesthood.

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VATICAN CITY
Portland Press Herald

BY NICOLE WINFIELD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Monday that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, had lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican or other courts.

The Vatican has previously insisted in its handling of the delicate case of Josef Wesolowski that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and that the Holy See doesn’t extradite its own citizens.

But in a statement Monday, the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Wesolowski had ceased all diplomatic activity for the Holy See, lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski a year ago after allegations emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys there.

Dominican authorities have said their country’s investigation uncovered allegations that Wesolowski had paid at least six minors to watch them masturbate and had recorded it with his mobile phone, but prosecutors did not file charges because the nuncio had diplomatic immunity.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

By FRANCIS X ROCCA on Tuesday, 26 August 2014

The Vatican has denied covering-up for a former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing boys and suggested he might have to stand trial on the charges in the Dominican Republic.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement on August 25 in response to journalists’ questions about former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013.

According to an August 23 article in the New York Times, the Vatican “secretly recalled (Wesolowski) to Rome last year before he could be investigated, and then invoked diplomatic immunity for Mr. Wesolowski so that he could not face trial in the Dominican Republic.”

Father Lombardi responded that the Vatican, by recalling the diplomat from his post last summer “moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See.”

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

A former Polish archbishop and diplomat has appealed against his defrocking after a Vatican tribunal convicted him of pedophilia. Jozef Wesolowski faces further criminal proceedings in Vatican City and possibly beyond.

The Vatican announced Monday the former archbishop 66-year-old Jozef Wesolowski, who had served as the Vatican’s diplomat for the Dominican Republic and former Holy See ambassador, had appealed against his defrocking.

In June, he was reduced to the status of a layman after being stripped of his diplomatic title and defrocked after being found guilty of child sex abuse and deemed unfit to be a priest by a Vatican tribunal. He was the most senior Vatican figure to be punished for such a crime. His was the harshest penalty the Vatican tribunal could rule against a cleric under canon law.

He now faces a separate criminal trial in Vatican City state courts – the first of its kind there – for sexual abuse and could face up to 12 years in prison. As he no longer has diplomatic immunity, Wesolowski could also face charges in the Dominican Republic, where there is a criminal investigation against him on allegations he paid boys for sexual acts, or in his native country of Poland.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Archbishop Denis Hart regrets hurt caused by identical apology letters to clergy abuse victims

PADRAIC MURPHY HERALD SUN AUGUST 26, 2014

THE Catholic Church sent victims of clergy sexual abuse almost identical apology form letters drafted by lawyers, the sex abuse Royal Commission has heard.

The letters — which were almost identical other than the names of the victim and the offending priest — were sent for more than a decade and signed at first by former Melbourne Archbishop George Pell and then his successor, Archbishop Denis Hart.

Each of the letters purported to be heartfelt apologies from the Archbishop, but were in fact prepared by staff in consultation with lawyers. Under cross examination, Archbishop Hart said he regretted hurt caused by the letters and said he had taken steps in the past year to ensure the letters were now more personal.

“The letters were very similar. It was never indicated to me that this was unhelpful,” Archbishop Hart said.

The state’s most senior Catholic admitted celibacy was difficult to cope with for some priests, but defended the practice.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

AUG. 25, 2014

The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who has been accused of paying underage boys there to engage in sexual acts, has lost his diplomatic immunity and could ultimately face prosecution in criminal courts outside of the Vatican, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church announced on Monday.

The former ambassador, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, has already been defrocked by the Vatican, the harshest penalty under the church’s canon law short of excommunication. Beyond that, the Vatican has also said that it intends to try Mr. Wesolowski on criminal charges — the first time it will hold a criminal trial for sexual abuse.

But the Vatican has also caused an uproar in the Dominican Republic because it abruptly recalled Mr. Wesolowski last year before he could face a criminal inquiry and possible prosecution there. Acting against its own guidelines for handling abuse cases, the church failed to inform the local authorities of the evidence against him, secretly recalled him to Rome, and then invoked diplomatic immunity.

The Vatican has said in the past that because Mr. Wesolowski was a member of its diplomatic corps and a citizen of the Holy See, the case would be handled in Rome.

The announcement on Monday came a day after a New York Times article detailed the allegations against Mr. Wesolowski and the Vatican’s handling of the case. In the Vatican’s statement on Monday, the church said that it took the proper steps to make sure that the allegations against Mr. Wesolowski were dealt with seriously.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Blake McCoy, KARE 7:20 p.m. EDT August 25, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Archbishop John Nienstedt has hired an outsider to oversee child sex abuse claims going forward.

Judge Timothy O’Malley will take on the newly created role of Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment in the Minneapolis St. Paul Archdiosese.

“It took a bit too long to get to the point we’re at now,” said O’Malley in an interview with KARE 11. “I think there has been some disappointment that the response hasn’t been as purposeful and organized as I think it can be.”

O’Malley has an extensive law enforcement background and served as Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from 2006-2010. He is confident that will provide a different and necessary perspective going forward.

“As bad as this has been and knowing that we can never undo the past … the Catholic Church can be a part of moving forward in as positive a way as possible,” said O’Malley.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

[with video]

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The embattled Twin Cities archdiocese has appointed a former top cop to investigate allegations of clergy abuse.

Tim O’Malley is not only the former Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he is also a judge and a former FBI agent. Archbishop John Nienstedt announced O’Malley’s appointment to the new position of Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

“I’m hoping that by these steps we are taking, we can regain the trust of our clergy and victim survivors,” Nienstedt said.

O’Malley said he’s honored to have the job.

“The first step is to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” O’Malley said, referring to the clergy sex abuse scandal that’s rocked the Catholic Church.

O’Malley says while he is deeply troubled by the church’s handling of abuse claims, he is confident he will have the full authority to investigate all misconduct cases. Nienstedt said O’Malley will have the power to investigate all alleged misconduct.

“He is his own man. He is a man of great integrity and experience and he will report directly to me,” Nienstedt said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Kathleen McPhillips
Lecturer, sociologist of religion and gender at University of Newcastle

It is the long-held view of Cardinal George Pell and other senior Catholic officials that the sexual abuse crisis is an issue primarily about the moral failure of individual priests and not related to church culture itself.

In other words, the church institution cannot be held responsible for the evil of individual priests.

Observing the Royal Commission

On Friday, I sat in on day four of Case Study 16 at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse being held at the County Court in Melbourne. I’d been there all week – and morality itself appeared to be on trial.

Case Study 16 is investigating the Melbourne Response, the redress scheme that the then Archbishop Pell established in Melbourne in 1996 to deal with the growing number of people reporting child sexual abuse by Catholic priests. After a harrowing first day on Monday listening to three victims read distressing statements detailing their abuse and then their attempts to seek redress, the lawyers managing the Melbourne Response gave evidence and George Pell joined in on a video link from Rome.

Pell caused general outrage when he compared the offending priest to a truck driver who molests a woman he picks up by the side of the road. His analogy: the behaviour of the truck driver is not the responsibility of the trucking company and similarly the behaviour of the offending priest is not the responsibility of the church.

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TEXAS
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth – The Bishop’s Office

March 14, 2014

Dear Friends,

As Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, I have the sad duty to inform you about an allegation of sexual abuse by a priest who served at Notre Dame Catholic School many years ago. Rev. Hugh John Sutton served as a teacher and chaplain at Notre Dame from 1964 to 1992. Father Sutton was ordained for the Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado. He left Wichita Falls and the Diocese of Fort Worth in 1992 and died in 2004. Civil authorities have been notified of this claim.

Allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct are always deeply troubling, and this allegation against Father Sutton was found to have a semblance of truth. This weekend, members of my staff and I will be visiting the parishes served by Notre Dame during the years Father Sutton was there, to make an announcement of the allegations and to invite others who may have been abused to contact me or Judy Locke, the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator, to report abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, August 25

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, after a page 1 New York Times story, Vatican officials have striped a former archbishop of his diplomatic immunity. We hope Josef Wesolowski is caught by police before he flees.

[Huffington Post]

It should not take embarrassing international headlines to force the Vatican to turn over a fugitive to law enforcement. Helping secular officials catch, charge and convict child molesting clerics routinely, not rarely, should be the norm.

There isn’t much progress when wrongdoers change only when caught.

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

Tuesday Aug 26, 2014

The Vatican says its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who has been accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, has lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican courts.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said Josef Wesolowski had ended all diplomatic activity for the Holy See and lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski last August after rumors emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys.

Earlier this summer, a Vatican tribunal found him guilty under canon law and ordered him to return to the lay state.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican City

11/ 4/2011

The Holy See wants to verify whether the accusations made against Archbishop González Nieves are valid. The faithful have taken his side as controversy grows

ANDRÉS BELTRAMO ÁLVAREZ
VATICAN CITY

The Vatican has ordered an apostolic visit for the Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico. An extensive and in-depth inquiry, which has already caused controversy in the country. Holy See authorities want to confirm whether some of the accusations made against Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves are true, especially with regards to the alleged mismanagement of the ministry. But the Puerto Rican faithful are willing to defend their pastor.

In addition, Gonzalez Nieves is willing to defend himself by arguing, among other things, that the cases of abuse identified in his ecclesiastical territory were duly reported to the Vatican and consideration was given according to the precepts of Canon Law. …

It is for this reason that the enormous interest of the Apostolic Nuncio of the Dominican Republic and Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico, Jozef Wesolowski attracted so much attention both in Rome and in San Juan, that the visit would take place at all costs.

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PUERTO RICO
Free Republic

March 31, 2008 | Liz Arelis Cruz Maisonave

(English-language translation)

TOA ALTA- The Catholic Church’s Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico, [Monsignor] Josef Wesolowski, called on troubled Puerto Ricans to be calm in the wake of last week’s news that the Governor faces 19 charges of alleged acts of corruption.

The Monsignor, who is Pope Benedict XVI’s envoy to Puerto Rico and the [Apostolic] Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, was in Puerto Rico during the weekend to acquaint himself with the Puerto Rican Catholic Church and visited the premises of what will be the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Cupey.

“We wish for calm and serenity to follow the great paths of democracy. With serenity, the island may overcome the difficulties it may face. History is filled with difficult times, but things may always end well,” [Wesolowski] stated before celebrating the great Feast of Divine Mercy, which took place yesterday at Lauro Dávila Félix Arena.

This was his first visit to Puerto Rico, but the Polish-born cleric will return for the Congress on the Family, which will be held in Mayagüez on the third week of April. He was pleased with the affection he has been given in both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and pointed out that redoubling the Catholic Church’s efforts to strengthen family unity is among his plans.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

13 August 2014

Santo Domingo.- Public defender Rodolfo Valentin on Tuesday said the National District 7th Instruction Court held a hearing Tuesday to review evidence submitted in the pedophilia case against former Vatican envoy Joseph Wesolowski.

He said Ole Miranda, 18, who was one of Wesolowski’s alleged victims, would’ve been interviewed, but failed to appear.

Valentine said the depositions started at the request of the National District Office of the Prosecutor, which is gathering evidence to send to Poland and seek the former diplomat’s extradition.

He revealed that he was appointed public defender in the case at the Court’s request, but “from the standpoint of respect for constitutional guarantees and due process, it cannot empower a public defender when they don’t even know the defendant.”

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican denied covering up for a former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing boys and suggested he might have to stand trial on the charges in the Dominican Republic.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement Aug. 25 in response to journalists’ questions about former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Pole who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013.

According to an Aug. 23 article in the New York Times, the Vatican “secretly recalled (Wesolowski) to Rome last year before he could be investigated, and then invoked diplomatic immunity for Mr. Wesolowski so that he could not face trial in the Dominican Republic.”

Father Lombardi responded that the Vatican, by recalling the diplomat from his post last summer, “moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See.”

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VATICAN CITY
Fox News Latino

Josef Wesolowski, the former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal in the country, will now be tried by Dominican courts after he lost his diplomatic immunity.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said late Monday that Wesolowski had ended all diplomatic activity for the Holy See and lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski last August after rumors emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys. Earlier this summer, a Vatican tribunal found him guilty under canon law and ordered him to return to the lay state. A Vatican criminal trial is pending, but Monday’s ruling means he can now be tried in the Dominican courts.

According to The New York Times, Wesolowski offered young boys money to perform sexual acts – and was known by many in the country as “the Italian.”

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Defrocked diplomat may become first priest accused of sexual abuse to be tried at the Vatican

By Michelle Boorstein August 25

The world may be about to witness a first: the Vatican putting on trial one of its own officials for sexual abuse. On Monday a Vatican spokesman said church authorities are in the midst of figuring out what the procedure would even look like.

“This is history in the making and we must wait to see how this will develop,” said the Rev. Thomas Rosica, an English-language spokesman for the Vatican.

The case of Josef which as a city-state has its own judicial systemi exploded earlier this summer when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the Vatican’s doctrine-enforcing arm — found the former ambassador to the Dominican Republic had sexually abused boys there and laicized, or defrocked, him. That was the first time someone officially representing the pope had been punished for sexual abuse. The Polish priest is appealing that decision.

On the criminal front, media reported that Dominican authorities never charged Wesolowski because he had diplomatic immunity. But that question reemerged this past weekend when the New York Times quoted legal experts in the Dominican Republic questioning why Wesolowski would not be forced to face his accusers locally. Wesolowski was recalled to Rome in the summer of 2013 before local officials could investigate there. Some advocates for clergy sex abuse survivors said the case is a test for Pope Francis’s claim of zero-tolerance and that Wesolowski should be imprisoned.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – news.va

Former nuncio Josef Wesolowski has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, the most serious canonical sentence of a return to the lay state that has been imposed upon him. The appeal will be judged without delay over the course of the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014.

 It is important to note that former nuncio Wesolowski has ceased functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See and has therefore lost his related diplomatic immunity, and has been previously stated, the punitive procedure of the Vatican’s civil judiciary departments will continue as soon as the canonical sentence becomes definitive.



Regarding stories that have appeared over the past few days in various media, it is important to note that the Authorities of the Holy See, from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See. This action relates to his recall to Rome and in the treatment of the case in relation to Authorities of the Dominican Republic.

 Far from any intention of a cover-up, this action demonstrates the full and direct undertaking of the Holy See’s responsibility even in such a serious and delicate case, about which Pope Francis is duly and carefully informed and one which the Pope wishes to address justly and rigorously.

 We must finally state that since former nuncio Wesolowski has ended all diplomatic activity and its related immunity, he might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

The case of a former Vatican envoy in the Dominican Republic, who has been laicized for molesting young boys, could test the Vatican’s determination to prosecute abusive clerics, a New York Times article suggests.

In a detailed report on the case of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, the New York Times observes that the Vatican did not inform civil authorities of evidence that the nuncio had engaged in sexual abuse of children.

The Times story reports that Wesolowski routinely preyed on young boys, until investigative reporters in the Dominican Republic uncovered evidence of his misconduct. When the Vatican learned of that evidence, in August 2013, the nuncio was quickly recalled to Rome.

In June of this year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith found Wesolowski guilty of sexual abuse, and the archbishop was laicized. He remains in Rome, pending an appeal of that canonical sentence, and could also face criminal charges before a Vatican tribunal.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY Mon Aug 25, 2014

(Reuters) – A Polish archbishop accused of child sex abuse in the Dominican Republic has appealed against a Roman Catholic tribunal’s decision to defrock him, the Vatican said on Monday.

Jozef Wesolowski, who had served as a Vatican nuncio or ambassador to the Caribbean nation, was sentenced in late June to be expelled from the priesthood, an extremely rare step against such a senior church official.

“Former nuncio Josef Wesolowski has recently appealed, within the prescribed limit of two months, against the most serious canonical sentence, that of a return to the lay state, which has been imposed upon him,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

The appeal will be judged “without delay” over the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014, Lombardi said. He said that Wesolowski, who was recalled last August to the Vatican, had lost diplomatic immunity when he stopped functioning as a diplomat of the Holy See.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Aug 25, 2014, 3:14 PM ET

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

The Vatican said Monday that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country, had lost his diplomatic immunity and could be tried by Dominican courts.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement that Josef Wesolowski had ended all diplomatic activity for the Holy See and lost his related immunity and therefore “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican recalled Wesolowski last August after rumors emerged in the Dominican Republic that he had sexually molested young boys there. The case was highly sensitive, given that the Polish-born Wesolowski was an ambassador of the Holy See — not just one of the world’s 440,000 priests — and had been ordained both a priest and a bishop by St. John Paul II.

This summer, a Vatican tribunal found him guilty under canon law of abusing young boys and defrocked him, the harshest sentence under church law and the first time such a high-ranking Vatican official had been sanctioned for sex abuse. Wesolwski recently appealed that sentence and a final decision is expected in October, Lombardi said.

After that appeal is heard, the Vatican’s criminal courts will take up the case and jail time is possible if he is found guilty.

As a papal diplomat and citizen of the Vatican City State, Wesolowski faces criminal charges by the tribunal of the Vatican City, which recently updated its laws to specifically criminalize sex abuse of children. It is not clear, however, if the new 2013 law can be applied retroactively.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- The charges for child sexual abuse, hanging over the Vatican’s ex-ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, have fueled the debate about the diplomatic immunity the Pope’s former envoy enjoys, which prevents him from being tried outside the Vatican.

In its Sunday edition the U.S. newspaper The New York Times published an article that highlights how Wesolowski walked in the area of the monument to the 16th-century Spanish friar Antonio de Montesinos, on the Malecon of Santo Domingo, in search of minors to commit sexual acts.

According to the article, the boys say he gave them money to perform sexual acts. They called him “the Italian” because he spoke Spanish with an Italian accent.

“He definitely seduced me with money,” Francis Aquino Aneury told The New York Times. He was 14 when the man he met shining shoes began offering him increasingly larger sums for sexual acts. “I felt very bad. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I needed the money.”

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

David Gibson Religion News Service | Aug. 25, 2014

As Pope Francis tries to reshape the Catholic church’s response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, the case of Jozef Wesolowski, the former nuncio — or Vatican ambassador — to the Dominican Republic has drawn close scrutiny, most recently in a Sunday New York Times article that detailed the former archbishop’s predations.

The story also recounted how Wesolowski was brought back to the Vatican to face charges there rather than in the Dominican Republic because he had diplomatic immunity, an argument that sounded legalistic to many and could undermine the pontiff’s “get tough” stance.

Late Monday, the Vatican responded with a statement explaining that since Wesolowski was defrocked in June, he is no longer an archbishop nor is he a Vatican diplomat and when his appeals are exhausted he “might also be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him.”

What that could mean for Wesolowski is unclear. It’s not known whether the Vatican has an extradition agreement with the Dominican Republic (or Wesolowski’s native Poland) or whether Italy could try or extradite him. The former archbishop has been spotted by fellow Dominican prelates strolling around Rome’s historic district.

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VATICAN CITY
Dominican Today

Vatican City.- Former Vatican envoy to Dominican Republic Josef Wesolowski, indicted on sexual abuse of boys, has been stripped of his diplomatic immunity and faces prosecuted in the Caribbean country, AP reports citing the Holy See.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi Monday afternoon said Wesolowski no longer works as a diplomat for the Holy See and has no diplomatic immunity, and therefore “may be subjected to judicial proceedings in courts that have jurisdiction over him.”

The Vatican secreted Wesolowski out of the country in August last year amid rumors he sexually abused boys in the Dominican Republic.

In recent weeks, a Vatican tribunal found the former envoy guilty under canonical law and was defrocked. Wesolowski has criminal proceedings pending against him in the Vatican.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Aug. 25, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO. A judge’s recent affirmation that the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese pay $1.1 million for breaching abuse settlement terms has led a retired Milwaukee priest to again request that the pope initiate a penal process investigating Bishop Robert Finn for violations of church law.

In a letter dated Aug. 21, Fr. James Connell, a canon lawyer, wrote to Pope Francis to inform him of recent developments that “solidify the need for a penal process in this matter.”

“It just struck me that it would be wise to get it documented that further court actions confirmed Finn being wrong with the way he handled things and the church really ought to be doing something about that,” Connell told NCR.

On Aug. 14, Jackson County Circuit Judge Bryan E. Round upheld an arbitrator’s March decision that the diocese violated five of 19 nonmonetary terms included as part of a 2008 settlement with 47 clergy abuse survivors. Both Round and arbitrator Hollis Hanover ordered the diocese to pay $1.1 million in damages. Spokesman Jack Smith confirmed to NCR the diocese would not appeal the decision.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
elaine.thompson@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Rev. Stephen M. Gemme, former pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Northboro was indicted last week on charges he embezzled more than $230,000 from the parish and school to fuel a gambling habit.

A Worcester County grand jury on Thursday returned indictments against Rev. Gemme, charging him with five counts of larceny by a common scheme over $250. He is to be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court Wednesday.

The Worcester Catholic Diocese last year said the pastor, who was appointed to the parish in 2003, had stolen methodically from two separate church and school accounts since at least 2009. It went undetected until a member of the school’s advisory board flagged a financial irregularity in a school account and informed Bishop Robert J. McManus in mid-July. Rev. Gemme immediately acknowledged a gambling problem, according to the diocese.

He was removed from his posts and sent him to residential treatment at an undisclosed location for a self-confessed gambling addiction.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[SNAP apeluje: Wesołowskiego do więzienia, a jego ofiary powinny się ujawnić! / SNAP: Vatican must jail Polish archbishop now! – Ocaleni (Polska)]

For immediate release: Monday, Aug. 25, 2014

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

Catholic Church officials in Rome and the Dominican Republic must take action to protect kids now from former Archbishop Josef Wesolowski.

We call on Vatican officials to either put Wesolowski in a Vatican jail or turn him over to secular authorities immediately.

We call on Dominican Catholic officials to actively seek out others who were hurt by Wesolowski and help secular prosecutors convict Deacon Francisco Javier Occi Reyes, who procured boys for the then-archbishop, by making announcements about both clerics in parishes, urging those who saw, suspected or suffered their crimes to come forward, get help and call police.

We call on Dominican Catholics and citizens to stop donating to their dioceses until this happens.

Finally, we call on every person with knowledge of or suspicions about crimes by Wesolowski or Reyes to find the strength to report to law enforcement. Secular authorities, not church authorities, can best safeguard kids from those who commit, enable or conceal heinous crimes against children.

We applaud the courage of the Dominican boys who were sexually violated by this now-defrocked Polish archbishop who Vatican officials continue to protect from prosecution. For their healing, and for the safety of other children, Wesolowski must be put behind bars immediately.

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 STATES
The Dallas Morning news

Evidence of Vatican complicity in sex-abuse case highlights global pattern documented by The News

By Reese Dunklin rdunklin@dallasnews.com
August 25, 2014

The Vatican moved its top diplomat out of the Dominican Republic because of sex-abuse complaints, failed to tell criminal authorities and then harbored him in Rome as his list of accusers grew.

The case, reported Sunday by The New York Times, underscores findings from our landmark 2004-2005 investigation into the Catholic Church’s global transfers of predator priests.

In “Runaway Priests: Hiding in Plaint Sight,” we found several accused clergy who fled to Rome with their superiors’ help. At least two were fugitives from criminal charges.

Another priest we featured was also a diplomat, an American who had been the Vatican’s No. 2 official in India. A top aide to Pope John Paul II was warned in the 1990s that the priest had abused an Ohio girl. But the priest remained on duty until around the time of our inquiries in 2003.

Pope Francis has vowed greater accountability in addressing the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse crisis since taking over. Earlier this year, he begged victims for forgiveness.

Yet Pope Francis was alerted to the Dominican Republic diplomat’s misconduct before the secret transfer last August, authorities told The Times. The allegations should have been reported to police, according to Vatican rules.

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.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: August 25, 2014

Job taken by former BCA chief Timothy O’Malley created at suggestion of church abuse task force.

The former superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been named to fill a top St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese position addressing clergy sex abuse.

Timothy O’Malley, currently an administrative law judge, will fill a new leadership position created by the archdiocese in response to the wave of clergy abuse allegations over the past year.

“We are honored that Judge O’Malley has offered to share his experience and insights with the church to help protect the young and vulnerable and hold accountable those who have caused harm,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt in a news release.

“He brings with him a high level of intellect, an impressive background of experience and leadership with local law enforcement, the FBI, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the judicial system, and he has a compassionate heart for victims/survivors.”

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.

OHIO
The Plain Dealer

By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer
on August 25, 2014

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge today ruled that the soliciting case against a Cleveland priest could go forward after rejecting defense challenges to the constitutionality of the law.

The Rev. James McGonegal, 69, the former pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, is charged with soliciting sex from an undercover ranger at Edgewater Park last October. The charge is a felony because McGonegal is HIV positive, but failed to divulge this to his intended partner.

Judge Stuart Friedman released a written opinion today in favor of the prosecution’s position that the law used to charge the priest is valid, and that defense attorney Henry Hilow’s request for dismissal was groundless.

Friedman scheduled McGonegal’s trial for Sept. 9.

“We’ll be ready to go to trial on the 9th,” said Joe Frolik, a spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 26, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

NSW police have launched a major new investigation into alleged child sex abuse within the Anglican Church in Newcastle.

Detectives have formed a strike force, codenamed ­Arinya-2, to investigate the ­alleged abuse, which is understood to involve multiple alleged victims and said to have taken place in the mid-1970s.

The investigation is the most recent of several inquiries into alleged child sex abuse within Newcastle’s major Christian churches. A previous case of ­alleged child sexual abuse in the Anglican Church was sent to trial at Newcastle District Court in 2001, but was ultimately “no-billed”, meaning prosecutors ­decided not to pursue the case.

A criminal prosecution that is no-billed can be brought back before the court if there is further evidence to support it, unlike other cases where the “double jeopardy” principle prevents an accused person facing trial twice for the same offence.

More recently, NSW police have investigated abuse allegations against three clerics from the Newcastle Anglican diocese, including a former dean of the city’s cathedral. The three priests — Andrew Duncan, Graeme Lawrence and Bruce Hoare — were formally defrocked in 2012 after an internal church inquiry found they had sex or were involved in group sex sessions with a teenage boy aged as young as 14. A fourth priest, Graeme Sturt, was prohibited from exercising any ministry for five years.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Speaking out critically of the Catholic Church is actually a crime in this country. It’s called ‘offending religious sentiment’, and the penalties are harsher for offending Catholic sentiment than the sentiments of any other religion

Raphael Vassallo 21 August 2014

I trust that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle will forgive me for stealing the title of their classic 1974 sci-fi masterpiece novel for this article. But there are some ingenious turns of phrase that are just too clever not to be used again.

‘The Mote in God’s Eye’ is one of them. I won’t bore you with the details, but in the book it refers only to an optical illusion caused by the conjunction of two stars – a red supergiant (‘the Eye’) and a much smaller, sun-sized yellow star (‘the mote’) – when viewed from a particular planet.

But you needn’t have read the book to appreciate how well the same expression might work outside that context. Gozo bishop Mgr Mario Grech’s homily on the feast of Santa Marija last week was a classic case in point.

The theme was ‘freedom’, with particular emphasis on ‘freedom of expression’. Here are some choice quotes lifted from a newspaper report… and which I have taken the liberty to categorise under three different headings.

1. Tradition

“Many Christians are obsessed with tradition and this is hindering them from discovering spiritual freedom, according to Gozo Bishop Mario Grech.”… “Instead of thinking ahead with vision, they prefer to think backwards,” Mgr Grech said…

2. Political pressure

“Mgr Grech also hit out at the lack of individual freedom as a result of the ‘subtle pressure’ created by partisan politics. Although political participation was a good thing, Mgr Grech said partisan considerations held back individuals from saying what they wanted: ‘Others choose to genuflect not to fall out of grace with those in power,’ he added.”

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MALTA
Malta Today

Daniel Mizzi 21 August 2014

The Attorney General and the police have today filed an appeal against the Gozo court’s decision to grant bail to a 40-year-old priest accusing of molesting three young girls.

On Tuesday, the Gozitan priest, whose name cannot be published by court order, was granted bail against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €5,000 after pleading not guilty to charges of child molestation, in what it is understood to have been criminal acts taking place over several months and involving a number of minors.

In his conditions for bail, the young priest has been prohibited from approaching the victims and their homes, and also ordered to stay in and around his house.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSPR

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) –
A judge is expected to decide soon whether to dismiss probation for the highest-ranking U.S. church official convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal.

The Kansas City Star reports that Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker filed a probation status report for Bishop Robert Finn on Friday. Finn leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. He was convicted in September 2012 of one misdemeanor for failing to report child abuse suspicions.

While offering no opinion on whether probation should be dismissed, Baker did praise two diocese employees’ efforts to keep the diocese in compliance with the terms of the probation.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence will review the report before ruling on Finn’s probation. It’s set to expire Sept. 5.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Darwin commencing on Monday 22 September 2014 into the Retta Dixon Home.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to:

1. Hear the experience of men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin, Northern Territory between 1946 – 1980.

2. Inquire into the response of the Australian Indigenous Ministries (formally the Aborigines Inland Mission) (AIM) and the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments to allegations of child sexual abuse against AIM workers who were employed at the Retta Dixon Home.

3. Inquire into the response of the Northern Territory’s Police Force and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1975 and 2002 to allegations raised by residents of the Retta Dixon Home against Donald Henderson.

4. Inquire into the current laws, policies and procedures governing children in out-of-home care in the Northern Territory today.

5. Inquire into the redress schemes available to persons who were victims of child sexual abuse while resident at the Retta Dixon Home.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A Baptist home in the Northern Territory where mixed-race and Aboriginal children were sexually assaulted over three decades will be the focus of the next hearing to be held by the national inquiry into child abuse in institutions.

The hearing scheduled for Darwin on Monday, September 22 will hear from men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home between 1946 – 1980.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will also examine how the evangelical Baptist organisation, the NT and commonwealth governments responded to allegations of abuse against workers who were employed at the home.

The home was run by Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM) which was founded in 1905 by a Baptist Missionary, Retta Long (nee Dixon).

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POLSKA
Wiadomosci

[For Nuncio Accused of Abuse, Dominicans Want Justice at Home, Not Abroad – The New York Times]

“New York Times” opublikował artykuł poświęcony polskiemu duchownemu oskarżonemu o molestowanie dzieci na Dominikanie. “To pierwszy raz, kiedy ambasador Watykanu, który służył jako osobisty wysłannik papieża, został oskarżony o molestowanie seksualne nieletnich – pisze w internetowym wydaniu “NYT” Laurie Goodstein. Mieszkańcy Dominikany chcą, aby Wesołowski był sądzony w ich kraju. – Powinien być sądzony w kraju, w którym czyn miał miejsce – powiedział Antonio Medina Calcaño z Autonomicznego Uniwersytetu Santo Domingo.

Dziennik przypomina historię polskiego arcybiskupa Józefa Wesołowskiego, który został wykluczony ze stanu kapłańskiego, i zarzuca Watykanowi, że w dużej mierze pomógł nuncjuszowi uniknąć stawienia się przed świeckim sądem. Jak czytamy na stronach “NYT” Wesołowski otrzymał już najwyższą karę, którą przewiduje prawo kanoniczne Kościoła i 27 czerwca został przeniesiony do stanu świeckiego. Watykan, który jako miasto-państwo ma swój własny system sądowniczy, ogłosił również – po raz pierwszy w historii – starania o oskarżenie za nadużycia seksualne według prawa karnego.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Jane Lee and Cameron Houston

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has been forced to provide the Royal Commission with its balance sheet and other private financial dealings, which reveal the church controls a vast portfolio of property and investments valued at $309 million and reaped almost $53 million in income last year.

Head of the Melbourne Archdiocese’s finances, Francis Moore, prepared the church’s financial records for 2013 and conceded it could afford to triple its payments to victims of clerical abuse without a significant impact on its bottom line.

After taking into account net liabilities of $87 million, the Melbourne Archdiocese has net assets of $222 million, from which it could fund additional ex gratia payments to victims.

The payments – made once victims sign a deed promising they will not sue the church – are currently capped at $75,000. The average pay-out for sexual, physical and emotional abuse is about $36,100.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart announced from the witness stand on Monday that he had appointed former Federal Court judge, Donnell Ryan, QC, to review ex gratia payments made under the Melbourne Response, the church’s internal process for handling victims’ complaints. This would include the scale of future payments.

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.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta

The terms of reference for the inquiry must be as wide as possible, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.

THE decision of the Government to delay the terms of reference for the mother-and-baby-homes inquiry until the autumn should have raised a few more eyebrows than it did.

As anybody campaigning for justice on any issue here will tell you, the terms of reference for any investigation are everything. After all the platitudes about truth and transparency fade from newspapers and airwaves, what you are left examining is the small print of what will and what will not be open for inquiry and investigation.

In his brief time as children’s minister, Charlie Flanagan was a breath of fresh to campaigners for justice for women who went through Ireland’s infamous mother-and-baby homes.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Infant death rates at the Bessborough mother-and-baby home in Cork soared to almost 70% in the early 1940s.

The revelations come just two months after the Government announced a statutory commission to investigate practices, deaths, illegal adoptions and vaccine trials at the country’s mother-and-baby homes.

Previous research done by adoption campaigners indicated a death rate of around 50% and above at Bessborough throughout the late 1930s and 1940s.

However, material uncovered by the Irish Examiner in the Cork City archives shows an official investigation carried out by the Cork County Medical Officer in 1943, on foot of inquiries from a Department of Local Government inspector, confirmed a death rate of 68% at the home.

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.

IRELAND
Irish Central

Patrick Counihan @irishcentral August 25,2014

A new mother-and-baby home scandal has come to light with reports of a near 70 per cent mortality rate at Bessborough in Cork in the 1940s.

The shocking new report, carried in the Irish Examiner newspaper, highlights government concerns at the time over the infant death rates.

The story comes just two months after the Tuam scandal which prompted the establishment of a state commission to investigate practices, deaths, illegal adoptions and vaccine trials at the country’s mother-and-baby homes.

The Irish Examiner reports that previous research done by adoption campaigners indicated a death rate of around 50% and above at Bessborough throughout the late 1930s and 1940s.

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UNITED STATES
Daas Torah

Full Disclosure: David Morris is one of my heroes. Someone who has successfully devoted his time and energy to help other people with a major chesed organization and one dealing with child abuse .[My nephew Rabbi Shmuel Zalman Eidensohn runs competing chesed and child abuse organizations in Beit Shemesh and works together with Rav Malinowitz] He wrote a chapter in my sefer on child abuse where it is interesting to note – he does not once mention going to the police in cases of child abuse – but only to his organization Magen. He is also very intelligent and sincere – but like all of us has issues where his emotion blinds his rational thought. One of them is Rav Malinowitz and anything connected with him.

1) Friday he published a rather egregious example of misinformation and slander. To set the stage for his slander against Rav Malinowtiz he first brought up something unrelated to the Seminary Scandal – the suicide of a child abuse victim – Corporal Dave Gordon. Yes it is true that the trauma of being molested as a child unfortunately endured into adulthood for Dave Gordon. But the Seminary Scandal is not a case of child abuse. The Seminary Scandal involved adults who were involved in either being touched or hugged by their teacher. It is not clear at this stage to what degree the contact was forced and unwanted or was consensual. This is not the same as a child being molested or raped. Both halacha and secular law recognize a distinction between consensual and involuntary contact and that which involves a child and an adult. Thus the case of Dave Gordon – while unfortunate – was just brought in to inflame emotions. Or to be more generous, while David Morris was upset about the death of Dave Gordon – he incorrectly free associated to the Seminary Scandal in order to criticize Rav Malinowitz.

2) David Morris is offering any existing victims – something he doesn’t know to be true – the services of his organization dealing with sexual abuse. While that is very generous – it would be helpful to first establish there are in fact victims. However the offer is clearly a club to attack the IBD for what he alleges is improper response to victims. Even though in fact he doesn’t know that victims exist or how they have been dealt with – either by the CBD or the IBD. Rather strange to offer help in a crime that you don’t know even happened?! While the CBD is claiming unofficially that there were women who were raped – however no official declaration has been made nor has any evidence been produced or even a single woman making anonymous public claims. Clearly no one has gone to the police. David Morris is fully aware that he has no evidence that there are victims who have been traumatized. Unlike Frum Follies he apparently does not have a pipeline to Gottesman and the CBD. But he believes whatever Frum Follies posts – at least as long as it is an attack on Rav Malinowitz. In other words his justification for this offer is that since Rav Malinowitz is involved and he just “knows” that Rav Malinowitz will mishandle the victims that means there must be victims that need help.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Dear Rabbi Eidensohn,

I read your response to my post of Friday [8/22/14] with… profound sadness that a distinguished person who has done so much to make the world a safer place for children and all types of abuse victims, should forget all he learned, and all he wrote, and all we learned from him.

Many people who have had great respect for you have watched in the last two months as you have chosen to wage a truly bizarre campaign with only one obvious goal – participating in the minimizing, whitewash and cover-up of a painful scandal.

There is no need to rehash all the charges and counter-charges. Suffice it to say you have chosen to minimize, distract and obfuscate about an abuser and those who enabled him – you have put the wherewithal of the institutions and of three rabbonim, above the safety of the students.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, August 25, 2014

Source: Jim Accurso, Media and Public Relations Manager

Former Superintendent of MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to fill key leadership role recommended by Safe Environment Task Force

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced the appointment of Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge Timothy J. O’Malley to the new position of Director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The creation of this new position was one of the key recommendations called for in the independent Safe Environment and Ministerial Standards Task Force Report and Recommendations in April 2014. He begins his new role at the archdiocese on September 15.

“We are honored that Judge O’Malley has offered to share his experience and insights with the Church to help protect the young and vulnerable and hold accountable those who have caused harm,” said Archbishop John Nienstedt. “He brings with him a high level of intellect, an impressive background of experience and leadership with local law enforcement, the FBI, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the judicial system, and he has a compassionate heart for victim/survivors.”

Judge O’Malley said, “I am honored to join the team that the archdiocese put together and hope my contributions position us to better serve those who have been abused and their families. Like many others, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, I have been profoundly troubled and disappointed by how the Church has addressed reports of abuse. I want to help change that. The archdiocese must do everything possible to prevent the kind of abuse that Pope Francis has accurately and pointedly described as ‘despicable.’ Protecting children must be our highest priority.”

Michael Campion, former Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner and fellow former BCA superintendent, said of the appointment, “Tim has a high level of integrity, displays a strong backbone, and stands up for the right thing. He has the expertise and gravitas that is needed for an important position such as this. He is not one to be intimidated nor shy away from a challenge. Above all else, he is fair. He will serve victims well.”

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MINNESOTA
Seattle PI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has named the former head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to a key position in the wake of clergy sexual misconduct.

Administrative law Judge Timothy O’Malley will serve in the newly created position of director of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment. The position was recommended by a task force that investigated the way church officials have handled accusations of priest misconduct.

The archdiocese is combining all safe environment and ministerial standards programs under one office, which O’Malley will direct.

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ City

A former Catholic brother facing hundreds of child sex charges in Australia is challenging Justice Minister Judith Collins’ decision to extradite him.

Australian authorities are trying to extradite Bernard Kevin McGrath, 65, from New Zealand to face 252 child sex charges.

A Christchurch District Court judge agreed to McGrath’s extradition in June last year, but it was up to Ms Collins to make the final decision and the case was referred to her in April.

Ms Collins’ office confirmed on Monday an order for McGrath’s surrender to Australia has been issued.

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NEW ZEALAND
The Press

ANNA PEARSON

Former Catholic brother Bernard Kevin McGrath will face child sex abuse charges in Australia, the justice minister has ruled.

In November 2012, Australia requested the extradition of McGrath on 252 charges of sexual offending between 1977 and 1986.

Authorities allege that he raped, molested and abused dozens of young boys at church-run institutions.

In June last year, Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish decided McGrath’s extradition should be granted, but the case was successfully appealed to the High Court.

The case was then referred back to district court level, from where Judge Farish sent it on to Justice Minister Judith Collins.

”I am satisfied that there are extraordinary and compelling reasons for the matter to be referred to the minister,” Judge Farish said in January.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2014

A former Catholic brother facing hundreds of child sex charges in Australia is challenging the decision by New Zealand’s justice minister, Judith Collins, to extradite him.

Australian authorities are trying to extradite Bernard Kevin McGrath, 65, from New Zealand to face 252 child sex charges.

A Christchurch district court judge agreed to McGrath’s extradition in June last year, but it was up to Collins to make the final decision and the case was referred to her in April.

Collins’s office confirmed on Monday that an order for McGrath’s surrender to Australia had been issued.

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.