ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

ELLE FARCIC The West Australian
August 22, 2014

A Catholic priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy on church property in Perth 30 years ago.

Glenn Humphreys was accused of abusing the teenager between 1983 and 1986 while he was assistant priest at a church in Perth’s south.

After six hours of deliberation, a District Court jury last night convicted Humphreys of four counts of unlawful and indecent assault.

He was acquitted of carnal knowledge against the order of nature.

The court was told Humphreys had assaulted the boy in the church’s presbytery and in a bathroom at a nearby primary school.

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NEW JERSEY
Mercer County Prosecutor

Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. reported today that a priest from the Diocese of Trenton was arrested and charged for engaging in sexual conduct with a teenage boy.

Shortly after eleven this morning, the Reverend Romannilo Apura, age 67, was taken into custody by detectives with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit at his residence at St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, NJ.

It is alleged that Apura masturbated the teenage male victim in a home in Trenton on an occasion in the late spring/early summer of 2014. A second incident occurred in June 2014 when Apura attempted to remove the same victim’s pants.

Apura is charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and one count of fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact. He is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $100,000 cash or bond bail. As conditions of bail, Mercer County Superior Court Judge PedroJ. Jimenez Jr. ordered that Apura surrender his passport and have no contact with the victim or any other children.

The Diocese of Trenton reported the allegations to the prosecutor’s office earlier this week and an investigation ensued. Anyone with information on the case should contact the prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit at (609) 989-6568.

There is no scheduled court date at this time.

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NEW JERSEY
Planet Princeton

by Krystal Knapp on August 21, 2014 , 4:13 pm 0

A priest from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton was arrested and charged for engaging in sexual conduct with a teenage boy from Trenton, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr. announced today.

The Rev. Romannilo Apura, 67, was taken into custody by detectives with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit at his residence at St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant shortly after 11 a.m. today.

Apura allegedly fondled the private parts of a teenage male victim in a home in Trenton in the late spring of this year. A second incident occurred in June when Apura attempted to remove the same victim’s pants.

The priest is charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and one count of fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact. He is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $100,000 cash or bond bail. As conditions of bail, Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. ordered that Apura surrender his passport and have no contact with the victim or any other children.

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NEW JERSEY
The Trentonian

By Penny Ray, The Trentonian
POSTED: 08/21/14

TRENTON — A priest from the Diocese of Trenton was arrested Thursday morning for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a teenage boy.

According to prosecutors in the case, around 11 a.m. Thursday, the Rev. Romannilo Apura, 67, was arrested in his residence at St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant by detectives from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit.

Prosecutors allege that in the late spring/early summer of this year Apura masturbated a teenage male in a Trenton home. Prosecutors say a second incident occurred in June when Apura allegedly attempted to remove that same victim’s pants.

The Diocese of Trenton reported the allegations to the prosecutor’s office earlier this week, which triggered the investigation. According to a statement on the Diocese’s website, the allegation of sexual abuse committed by Apura against a 16-year-old boy was brought to light on Monday. The statement says that lone allegation is the only complaint received about Apura, and that “it has no connection to St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, where he has been serving as pastor.”

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NEW JERSEY
CBS Philly

TRENTON, NJ (CBS) – A New Jersey priest has been charged with engaging in sexual conduct with a teenager.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office says that Reverend Romannilo Apura, 67, was taken into custody on Thursday morning at his residence at St. Martha Parish in Pt. Pleasant, NJ.

Apura reportedly masturbated the teen victim, a male, inside a home in Trenton on one occasion in the spring/early summer of 2014. A second incident occurred in June 2014, when the suspect reportedly tried to remove the same victim’s pants.

Apura is charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and one count of fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact.

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NEW JERSEY
CSNPhilly

August 21, 2014

A South Jersey priest is accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy on more than one occasion.

Police arrested 67-year-old Reverend Romannilo Apura Thursday and charged him with aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and other related offenses.

Apura sexually abused the teen in a Trenton home sometime in late spring of this year, according to police. The suspect then attempted to remove the same victim’s pants in a separate incident in June 2014, according to authorities.

Officials with the Diocese of Trenton learned of the allegations against Apura Monday and immediately turned the complaint, the first against the suspect, over to authorities, according to a Diocese spokeswoman.

The suspect had served as the pastor of St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, Ocean County since July 2012, a Diocese spokeswoman said.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton

21 Aug 2014

It is with heavy hearts that we report an allegation of sexual abuse by a priest serving in the Diocese of Trenton.

On Aug. 18, we received an allegation of sexual abuse committed by Father Nilo S. Apura against a 16-year-old minor. The complaint was based on abuse alleged to have taken place in Trenton. It is the only complaint that we have received about Father Apura, and it has no connection to St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, where he has been serving as pastor.

The complaint was immediately turned over to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. An investigation was initiated, resulting in Father Apura’s arrest today by law enforcement officers.

Father Apura has served as pastor of St. Martha Parish since July of 2012, and formerly served in the parishes of St. Joachim, Trenton; St. Agnes, Atlantic Highlands; St. Maximilian Kolbe, Toms River; Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown; St. Ann Parish, Keansburg, and St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has suspended Father Apura, effective immediately, pending the outcome of the investigation by law enforcement and recommendations from the Diocesan Review Board. This suspension prohibits Father Apura from celebrating Mass publicly, wearing priestly garb, or presenting himself as a priest.

The Diocese will continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement’s ongoing investigation into this allegation. All inquiries about the investigation should be directed to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

We call upon anyone who may have information or allegations relevant to this case to contact the Special Victims’ Unit of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-989-6568 as well as the Diocese of Trenton Abuse Hotline at 1-888-296-2965 (or email abuseline@dioceseoftrenton.org).

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Carol Gorga Williams, @APPCarol 4:11 p.m. EDT August 21, 2014

A priest with deep ties to to the Shore community was arrested today on a sexual abuse allegation filed by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the Trenton diocese, Father Nilo S. Apura faces a charge involving a 16-year-old that is alleged to have taken place in Trenton.

Apura has served as pastor of St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant since July of 2012, and formerly served in the parishes of St. Joachim, Trenton; St. Agnes, Atlantic Highlands; St. Maximilian Kolbe, Toms River; Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown; St. Ann Parish, Keansburg, and St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton.

Bishop David M. O’Connell has suspended Father Apura, effective immediately, pending the outcome of the investigation by law enforcement and recommendations from the Diocesan Review Board.

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NEW JERSEY
Times of Trenton

By Cristina Rojas | Times of Trenton
on August 21, 2014

A Diocese of Trenton priest was arrested today on charges he engaged in sexual conduct with a teenage boy earlier this year, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. announced.

The Rev. Romannilo Apura, 67, was taken into custody at his home at St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant around 11 a.m. by detectives from the prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit.

Apura allegedly masturbated the 16-year-old victim in a home in Trenton in late spring/early summer. A second incident occurred in June when Apura attempted to remove the same victim’s pants.

Apura is charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact.

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AUSTRALIA
City of Angels

[with video]

Kay Ebeling

From John Brown on YouTube

Once again, in order to get the truth out, Guerrilla Journalists are doing the work that paid journalists don’t have time to do, John Brown of Toowoomba will be posting all testimony from now on from The Royal Commission on his YouTube channel and City of Angels Blog will be embedding them here over the coming weeks. Word from the Commission was the files were “too long” but Brown is doing this from his garage. Onward.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, August 21, 2014

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

A North Carolina priest, who has been accused of child sexual abuse and admitted it, has died. Our condolences to the priest’s family, but we hope Catholic officials do not bury him with priestly honors.

Fr. Michael Joseph Kelleher was first accused of abusing a boy in the late 1970s in 2010; a second victim later came forward. Fr. Kelleher’s last assignment before being removed was chaplain at Bishop McGuinness High School in Winston-Salem. We hope anyone who may have been suffering in silence and self-blame will now find the courage to speak up.

We hope his victim finds peace from his death. We are glad that he can no longer hurt any more children and we hope Catholic officials do not callously rub salt into the wounds of victims by giving Fr. Kelleher a large and pomp-filled funeral.

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PUERTO RICO
ABC News

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Aug 21, 2014

Associated Press

A Roman Catholic priest in Puerto Rico has pleaded guilty to transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct.

Israel Berrios was arrested in May amid accusations that he sexually abused an altar boy from the time he was about 8 years old until he turned 17.

Authorities accused Berrios of giving the boy money, a computer and a camera and taking him on a four-day cruise to the Bahamas with his mother’s permission in July 2008. The boy was 15 at the time.

Berrios is the first priest to face federal sex charges of that kind in the U.S. territory.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

Por Mariana Cobian / Mariana.cobian@gfrmedia.com

El primer sacerdote católico acusado en Puerto Rico por abusar sexualmente de un menor de edad, Israel Berríos Berríos, se declaró culpable esta tarde a nivel federal por transportar a un menor de edad para cometer actos de índole sexual ilícitos.

El comienzo de la selección del jurado en el caso en su contra estaba pautado para esta mañana, previo al juicio en su fondo que iniciaría este lunes.

Las personas citadas para el jurado llegaron al Tribunal Federal de Hato Rey, pero poco después fueron despachadas porque se informó que las partes estaban tratando de llegar a un acuerdo para que el suspendido sacerdote hiciera alegación de culpabilidad.

El acuerdo contempla que se declararía culpable por uno de los cuatro cargos que pesaban en su contra a cambio de una pena recomendada de entre 10 y 12 años de cárcel. Las guías de sentencia señalaban entre 12 años y medio y 15 años y medio, y de ver el juicio en su fondo y ser encontrado culpable, se exponía a una pena mínima de 10 años hasta cadena perpetua.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Aug. 21, 2014

KANSAS CITY, MO. A circuit judge has upheld an arbiter’s decision that the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese pay $1.1 million for breach of terms of a 2008 settlement that included measures intended to prevent further sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Bryan E. Round ruled Aug. 14 that “there can be no doubt that the diocese, through its leadership and higher-level personnel, failed in numerous respects to abide by the terms” of the 2008 settlement, according to The Kansas City Star. In addition to awarding $10 million to 47 plaintiffs, that settlement included 19 nonmonetary commitments aimed at preventing abuse and helping survivors.

“The Diocese paid less in damages for agreeing to the non-economic terms demanded by the Plaintiffs,” Round said in his decision. “When the Diocese breached the non-economic commitments, it effectively received the benefits without paying for it.”

Jack Smith, diocesan spokesman, told NCR it will not appeal the decision.

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ALABAMA
WAFF

[with video]

By Lauren Morrison

MUSCLE SHOALS, AL (WAFF) –

A former Muscle Shoals youth minister is now in the process of being extradited from Texas back to Alabama after being charged with rape and sodomy.

Kyle Adcock is the former youth minister at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church.

Police said the incidents he’s accused of happened to a female under the age of 16 between 2010 and 2012.

Before these allegations even came to light, Woodward church deacon David Turner says the church had already made changes. Those changes were actually prompted by another sex abuse case in the Shoals.

In February, Jeffrey Eddie was charged with sex abuse, sodomy, and child pornography. He was the children’s pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals. Eddie pleaded guilty to the charges in May.

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ALABAMA
WHNT

AUGUST 21, 2014, BY CLAIRE AIELLO AND CARTER WATKINS

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (WHNT) – The senior pastor of a Muscle Shoals church talked with WHNT News 19 on Thursday about the arrest of a former youth minister on sex abuse charges.

The former youth minister, Charles Kyle Adcock, was arrested Wednesday in Frisco, Texas. The alleged acts took place in Muscle Shoals and authorities in Colbert County are working to extradite him here to face charges. Adcock is charged with nine counts of sodomy and 22 counts of rape.

Muscle Shoals Police say the victim is a female who was under the age of 16 when the incidents took place between 2010 and 2012. Police say some of the incidents happened at the church and others took place at his residence in Muscle Shoals.

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ALABAMA
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist church in Alabama pledged to cooperate with police following the arrest of a former youth minister charged with sexually abusing a girl younger than 16 and urged anyone with knowledge about the case to come forward.

Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, Ala., posted a statement on the church website Aug. 21 saying the congregation is “deeply saddened” by news of Wednesday’s arrest of Charles Kyle Adcock, 31, the church’s former student pastor and interim worship pastor, on 22 counts of second-degree rape and nine counts of second-degree sodomy.

According to local media, Adcock, who goes by the first name of Kyle, was arrested in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on a warrant issued out of Alabama. He is under arrest at the Frisco City Jail with a $500,000 bond and awaiting extradition to face charges after a girl told police that Adcock sexually abused her between 2010 and 2012, beginning when she was 14. Police said the alleged abuse happened both at the church and at Adcock’s residence in Muscle Shoals.

According to Internet archives, Adcock, a graduate of Dallas Baptist University, became involved in student ministry in 2002 and joined the staff at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in 2008. He worked as a financial adviser in Little Rock, Ark., beginning in October 2012 and recently moved to another firm in Frisco, Texas.

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POLAND
Ocaleni/Survivors

This is the first time when the Polish Catholic Church will be interrogated for concealing acts of pedophilia. Hierarchs of the Catholic Church might be afraid of media, but they are brave enough to laugh in the face of the victim and society.

The precedent case brought by Marcin K. – the victim of a pedophile priest, is not only the first compensation case against the Chuch, but also the first time when hierarchs will be asked to explain their negligence regarding their subordinate’s acts.

The first hearing was held in June 2014. The next hearing is scheduled on September 12th, 2014 at 9 AM at the Regional Court in Koszalin.

The case is held against not only priest Zbigniew Ryckiewicz (convicted for pedophilia with a legally binding decision and sentenced to two years of prison) the abuser of Marcin K., but also against the Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg and Saint Albert (Wojciech) parish, where Ryckiewicz used to hold a rector’s position. Church hierarchs – cardinal Kazimierz Nycz (Metropolitan Bishop of Warsaw previously Bishop of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg in 2004-2007) and archbishop Marian Gołębiewski will be interrogated during the next hearing on September 12th.

This is a public trial. Hierarchs are apprehensive to testify in Koszalin, which will be a highly attended event by journalists and that is why they have applied for a video-conference. We requested Polish media outlets to come to the trial, in which the hierarchs will testify:

1. Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz will be interrogated at the Regional Court in Warsaw on September 12th at 9 AM I Civil Division al. Solidarności 127,

2. Archbishop Marian Gołębiewski at the Regional Court in Wroclaw on September 12th at 10 AM I Civil Division ul. Sądowa 1, room 103.

According to an official statement from Cardinal Nycz’s lawyers, he is not able to arrive in Koszalin as he is ill. But as one of the greatest Catholic portals reported recently, Cardinal Nycz celebrated a holy mass for pilgrims in Koszalin, therefore proving his contempt towards society and the victim.

(Cardinal Nycz celebrating a mass on August 15th, 2014 http://koszalin.gosc.pl/doc/2122008.Kard-Nycz-Rodziny-potrzebuja-wsparcia-Kosciola) …

In case of any questions, please contact:

Dr. Adam Bodnar, President of Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), who supervises Marcin K.’s case . +48 603 608 400

Unfortunately, Polish government does nothing to treat hierarchs on the same level as other citizens. The subject of strong hierarchization of Church and lack of democratic mechanisms in Polish Church (which are the cause for concealing pedophilia even by believers themselves) was raised by Maria Mucha in the newest (100th) issue of prestiguous quaterly Bez Dogmatu. The quaterly Bez Dogmatu was awarded with Cristal Candlestick (nagroda Kryształowego Świecznika), a prize established by Deputy Marshal of Polish Sejm, Wanda Nowicka. Wanda Nowicka is also one of not many politicians in Poland who is fighting for the rights of minorities. She postualted for establishing a committee that would investigate the problem of clergy abuse in Poland several times.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 21, 2014

Tony Wright
National affairs editor of The Age

The voice that has delivered a thousand sermons seemed unsuited to be that of a witness in the dock, even if it was a virtual dock. There seemed a defensiveness to it, and the jutting jaw left the viewer in a familiar, vain search for a gesture of humility.

Cardinal George Pell, of course, was in a complicated position.

He was in the eye of a camera in the Rome morning, speaking across an uncertain video link to a royal commission sitting through the late Melbourne afternoon, trying to explain his years-long and much criticised efforts to deal with a calamity within his church: the sexual abuse of hundreds of children at the hands of priests.

Here was a prince of the Church, good Lord, required to take a Bible in his hands and swear to tell nothing but the truth.

As counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, began the long process of peeling back the years of the so-called Melbourne Response to cases of abuse, the cardinal was a disembodied presence beamed jerkily on video screens around courtroom three of Melbourne’s County Court. The Vatican had gone to no fuss. He sat before a drab curtain, as if he were in an old-time photo booth.

No hint of the gorgeous robes of a cardinal; Cardinal Pell wore a severe black suit and white shirt topped with a clerical collar. This was all business for the man who explained to the commission that his new job was “akin to being the treasurer to the Holy See”. The keeper of the Vatican’s treasure, the only outward sign of his power the solid gold cardinal’s ring flashing as he adjusted his spectacles.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 22, 2014

Jane Lee, Cameron Houston

Cardinal George Pell has strongly defended the so-called Melbourne Response as Australia’s first comprehensive redress scheme for victims of clerical sexual abuse at the royal commission.

Appearing at the commission via video link from the Vatican in Rome on Thursday night, Cardinal Pell likened the Catholic Church’s responsibility for child abuse to that of a ”trucking company”. If a driver sexually assaulted a passenger they picked up along the way, he said, ”I don’t think it appropriate for the … leadership of that company be held responsible.”

Cardinal Pell, who established the Melbourne Response when he was Archbishop of the Melbourne Archdiocese in 1996, denied suggestions that any of its three arms – the Independent Commissioner, compensation panel and counselling arm Carelink – had stopped operating independently of the other.

Sean Cash, a lawyer for abuse victim Paul Hersbach, challenged the trucking company analogy, saying that because the Catholic Church was an organisation of the ”highest integrity” it owed victims a far greater legal and moral responsibility. He said it should not impede victims’ ability to receive full and fair compensation.

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ILLINOIS
Oakpark.com

Opinion: Ken Trainor
Tuesday, August 19th, 2014

By Ken Trainor
Staff writer

Last week I spent a lot of time thinking about the sex abuse accusation leveled against Ascension’s Monsignor John Fitzgerald, the iconic pastor of my childhood. Decades later, I learn that the man I respected may have had a darker side.

We don’t have hard-and-fast proof that he committed a sexual assault that left a 17-year-old girl traumatized, and we don’t have his side of the story because he died in November of 1984.

What we do have is a compelling account by Gail Peloquin Howard, who says she was the victim of that assault. Read it for yourself in the LifeLines section, starting on page 29.

When I first heard about the accusation, I hoped it wasn’t true – and if it were true, that it was an isolated incident, perhaps exaggerated. Then I read Howard’s account and, in spite of my misgivings, I found it plausible.

I’ve been a journalist for 30 years and though I’ve been fooled before, I have some experience with “B.S. detection.” I look for “red flags” when people tell their stories. I reserve my “willing suspension of disbelief” for films and theater, and even then they have to earn it.

Gail Howard earned it. She is a convincing, articulate spokesperson for victims of sex abuse – and not in that slick, polished style where you feel you’re being “worked.”

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OKLAHOMA
Courthouse News Service

By DAVID LEE

(CN) – A Satanist group stole a consecrated host in order to sacrifice it to Satan at an upcoming black mass, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Oklahoma City claims in court.

The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley sued Adam Daniels and the Dakhma of Angra Mainyu Syndicate in Oklahoma County Court on Wednesday.

Consecrated hosts, small, unleavened wafers of bread, have undergone transubstantiation and are viewed by Catholics as the blood and body of Jesus Christ.

“To Catholics, the consecrated host is the most sacred, respected and revered thing in the world,” the 7-page complaint states. “Because consecrated hosts are so precious, the Catholic Church has developed, over the course of 2,000 years, rules and institutions to ensure the integrity, protection of consecrated hosts.”

Coakley claims Daniels possesses a consecrated host without authorization and that it “must have been procured from the Catholic Church by theft, fraud, wrongful taking” by Daniels or a third party.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Eric Peterson

New information has cleared a former pastor of St. Matthew Catholic Church in Schaumburg of allegations he sexually abused a young parishioner, leading to his reinstatement as a priest in good standing, the Archdiocese of Chicago confirmed Wednesday.

An independent review board on July 24 removed the Rev. Joseph Wilk from a list of clergy with a substantiated allegations of abuse against them. Wilk had been placed on the list Feb. 5.

“It was the most horrible thing to go through,” Wilk said Wednesday. “I was a good priest. I still am a good priest. I’m a priest in good standing. Now I’m living a very holy life and reading spiritual books.”

Wilk is not assigned to any ministry currently. Instead, he is looking after his ailing parents in Palos Park.

An archdiocese official said the decision to remove Wilk from the list came after new information about his case came to light.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

August 22, 2014

Rob Hulls

This week the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse turned its attention to the Melbourne Response – a process established by the city’s Catholic Archdiocese to address the sexual abuse complaints accumulating against the church. Like much of the evidence presented to the Commission, the hearings included stories of lives and trust destroyed – shattered not only by individual perpetrators, but by the obfuscation and bellicose approach of the responsible institution.

Witnesses spoke of being discouraged from reporting to police; and of the distress of having their allegations accepted for the purposes of compensation offers, yet being told that these same allegations would be strenuously defended should they seek instead to go to court. Certainly, sexual assault complainants are often met with a theatre of evasion – from denial to legalistic defences which trivialise the complaint or disparage the complainant; from responses framed only in terms of compensation, to settlements which prevent victims from speaking out.

Startlingly, however, this week’s hearings also revealed that the Catholic Church has spent around $17 million on administering this process – an equivalent sum to the total it has paid out to approximately 350 victims whose complaints it has accepted. These payments have averaged a modest $30,000, with a cap at $50,000 (more recently raised to $75,000), yet the Independent Counsel who determined the complaints has been paid $7 million since being engaged in 1996.

This approach is obviously out of kilter with the community’s expectations – with as much invested in shielding the church’s reputation as in supporting those who seek its help. Yet too often this is the case in the wider adversarial process – the elaborate series of hoops which any claimant must jump through obscuring the advantages of bringing the claim. This means that, although Archbishop Denis Hart is now considering a further review of the Melbourne Response’s compensation cap, as well as whether past cases should be re-examined, we need to ask whether tinkering at the edges of institutional responses is ever sufficient.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN AUGUST 21, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell last night backed the Vatican over victims of sexual abuse saying it was unreasonable for the Royal Commission to request papal documents regarding every case of abusive clergy.

Giving evidence to the abuse royal commission via videolink from Rome Cardinal Pell said the Vatican was right to refuse to release papal documents relating to every abuse case involving an Austrlian cleric. Describing those documents as “internal working documents of another sovereign state” Cardinal Pell said the Church had provided 5000 pages of documents which he deemed sufficient.

In a letter to the commission in July Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin refused a request by commissioner Justice Peter McClellan for documents with respect to “each case” of clerical abuse.

He said the Commission wanted to understand the extent to which Australian clerics accused of child sexual abuse had been referred to the Holy See. The Cardinal outraged victims by admitting he hadn’t been following the Royal Commission because he had been busy in Rome.

The comments sparked audible gasps from victims who had turned out to watch his evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 22, 2014

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

GEORGE Pell has spoken out to distance the Catholic Church from pedophile priests, admitting a “moral responsibility” while denying the church had legal culpability as the priests’ ultimate employer.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Cardinal Pell last night compared the church’s position to that of a truck company whose driver mol­ested hitchhikers.

“I think it’s not appropriate for legal culpability to be foisted upon the authority figure,” he said, qualifying his answer by saying the “authority” would be remiss if it had prior knowledge of the offender’s behaviour.

The comparison prompted criticism from the commission’s chairman, as well as the barrister representing one abuse victim, Paul Hersbach.

“This was not a trucking company,” barrister Sean Cash said.

“This was an organisation of the highest integrity, one which you would expect would conduct itself in keeping with the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

AUGUST 22, 2014

THE Vatican has refused to hand over the files of Australian priests accused of sex crimes to the child abuse royal commission.

Claiming the internal documents were the property of the Holy See, the Vatican argued the commission’s request was “neither possible nor appropriate”.

Reasons included ongoing church investigations, and that internal working documents were the sovereign property of the Holy See.

Cardinal George Pell, now working in Rome, was asked if he sought an assurance from the Vatican that any document the royal commission needed would be provided.

“That is correct,” Cardinal Pell told the commission via video-link today.

“I suppose in retrospect there would be some discussion over what ‘any document’ meant.” Cardinal Pell said specific requests about cases would be more likely to succeed than what he described as an “ambit claim” for large numbers of documents.

A letter from the royal commission to the Vatican said it needed access to documents if it was to fulfil its terms of references. “It is essential that the royal commission understand the nature and extent of the communications between those congregations and the Holy See in relation to child sexual abuse complaints about Australian clerics,” the letter said.

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MICHIGAN
ClickonDetroit

Author: Jeff Wattrick, Managing Editor, jwattrick@wdiv.com

Cardinal Edmund Szoka, who served as Archbishop of Detroit from 1981-1990, died of natural causes Wednesday night in a Novi hospital. He was 86.

“We mourn the loss of a dedicated shepherd,” said current Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, who had served as a priest under Cardinal Szoka in the 1980s. “For sixty years Cardinal Szoka gave himself totally to his priestly service of Christ and his Church. He has gone home to the Heavenly Father with our prayers. May the Lord give him the reward of his labors.”

Edmund Casimir Szoka was born Sept. 14, 1927, in Grand Rapids to Polish immigrants Casimir and Mary Szoka. His father had immigrated from what is now Belarus. His mother from Poland.

Szoka was ordained on June 5, 1954 and began his priestly service with the Diocese of Marquette.

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UNITED STATES
dotComonweal

Grant Gallicho
August 21, 2014

Read part one here.

“Dream with us,” read a 1999 Society of St. John promotional mailer, “of a small city with winding streets scattered with warm homes, fields with children playing, an amphitheater with drama and music, a schoolhouse and markets.” The city has a “magnificent church,” where daily “the bells call the families up the hill” for Mass, and a college, where students receive “the best of Catholic education.” This place—dreamed up by the Society of St. John and its founder, Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity—would stand as a beacon of “healthy civil life in our declining society.” It would, according to the brochure, be nothing less than “a new foundation for Catholic culture.” It would also require something the Society of St. John evidently had no idea how to handle: money.

If the Society of St. John was going to build a seminary, a Catholic college, and a city, it would need breathing room. The SSJ turned to its lay advisory board, which had been recently established to help manage the organization’s financial affairs. These advisers were laypeople “who had a certain stature among those attached to the Latin Mass,” according to a report written by James Earley, then chancellor of the Diocese of Scranton. They included prominent conservative Catholics like John Blewett, president of the Wanderer Forum Foundation (now called the Bellarmine Foundation), which publishes the Wanderer, and Howard Walsh, then president of Keep the Faith, another conservative publishing outfit.

In consultation with the advisory board, the Society of St. John eventually settled on a thousand-acre piece of land in rural Shohola, Pennsylvania. With the permission of Bishop James Timlin, the SSJ purchased the land for nearly $2 million on September 16, 1999—just two days after the diocesan Review Board had considered an accusation of sexual misconduct against Urrutigoity, and found the evidence inconclusive.

Diocesan property is customarily deeded to the bishop, but the Society of St. John neglected to put Timlin on the title. Instead, the property was put in the name of the Society of St. John, which had incorporated as a nonprofit organization. On September 8, Fr. Eric Ensey of the SSJ wrote to Timlin to assure him that “we·will gladly follow your advice on all points”—including putting his name on the title as trustee. But days later the SSJ claimed that they weren’t sure how to put the bishop on the property—and the closing date was too near to add him. Timlin gave them a pass. “Rather than cause any kind of difficulty, it is perfectly all right with me to proceed as you requested,” he replied.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 21, 2014

Cardinal George Pell has strongly defended Melbourne Response as Australia’s first comprehensive redress scheme for victims of clerical sexual abuse.

Appearing at the royal commission via video link from the Vatican in Rome on Thursday night, Cardinal Pell likened the Catholic Church’s responsibility for child abuse to that of a “trucking company”.

If a driver sexually assaulted a passenger they picked up along the way, “I don’t think it appropriate for the ownership leadership of that company be held responsible.”

Cardinal Pell, who established the Melbourne Response when he was Archbishop of the Melbourne Archdiocese in 1996, denied suggestions that any of its three arms – the Independent Commissioner, compensation panel and counselling arm Carelink – had stopped operating independently of the other.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Freya Michie
Updated 21 Aug 2014

Cardinal George Pell says he was surprised by the number of complaints made in the lead up to the introduction of the Melbourne Response to abuse within the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pell has appeared at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne via video-link from the Vatican.

The inquiry has been examining the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response, which Cardinal Pell established when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.

Under the scheme, independent commissioners were appointed to investigate claims, a free counselling and support service known as Carelink was created, as well as a panel to provide ex-gratia compensation payments.

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

[with video]

Detectives from the Hume Local Area Command have arrested and charged a brother from a religious order in relation to alleged historical indecent assaults upon children in the Goulburn area.

In February 2014, Strike Force Charish was formed to investigate allegations of child sex offences said to have occurred between 1978 and 1980.

The offences allegedly occurred upon eight boys aged 12, while the man was a school teacher at a private school in Goulburn.

As a result of ongoing inquiries, about 7.15am today (Tuesday 19 August 2014), investigators arrested a 65-year-old man at Sydney Airport.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

In this article, you can watch a video of detectives arresting a member of the Christian Brothers religious order at Sydney airport on 19 August 2014. The Christian Brother has been charged in relation to alleged indecent assaults upon children in the Goulburn area in southern New South Wales.

The detectives are based at Goulburn (within the Hume Local Area Command of the NSW Police).

In February 2014, the New South Wales Police formed a unit (called Strike Force Charish) to investigate allegations of a series of child sex offences said to have occurred between 1978 and 1980.

The offences allegedly were committed against eight boys aged 12, while the man was a teacher at a private school in Goulburn.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source AAP 21 AUG 2014

Former Victorian priest David Edwin Rapson has been granted a six-month delay before facing new trials on child sex charges after his convictions were quashed.

Rapson, 61, was jailed for 13 years in 2013 for rape and sexual assault offences involving eight boys at two Victorian Catholic colleges between the 1970s and 1990.

But he was released on bail earlier this month after the Victorian Court of Appeal quashed his convictions.

The convictions were set aside after the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) conceded the charges should not have been dealt with in the one trial.

Rapson’s barrister Shaun Ginsbourg told a brief hearing in Victorian County Court on Thursday that there should be a delay of at least six months from the convictions being quashed to his new trials.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Sentinel

August 20, 2014
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In a story Aug. 18 about a retired priest accused of molesting a child in the early 1960s in western Pennsylvania, The Associated Press reported erroneously that he now resides at a home for retired priests in the Boston area. The Boston Archdiocese said the Rev. John Carroll lives at an assisted-living facility neither owned nor operated by the archdiocese.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Boston priest. 86, accused of Pennsylvania abuse

Retired Boston priest accused of abuse while working in Pittsburgh diocese in early 1960s

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s bishop has notified parishioners that a retired priest now living in Boston has been accused of molesting a child at a western Pennsylvania parish where he served in 1962 and 1963.

Bishop David Zubik also urged anyone who attended St. Michael Parish in Elizabeth — or five other Pittsburgh-area parishes through 1972 — of the allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 21, 2014

Adam Cooper
Court reporter for The Age

A former priest who this month had convictions for sexually abusing eight boys at a Catholic boarding school quashed has been granted a six-month wait before a retrial.

David Rapson, 61, was last year jailed for a minimum 10 years after he was found guilty by a County Court jury of five counts of rape and eight charges of indecent assault related to the abuse of eight boys at the school between the mid-1970s and 1990.

But the Court of Appeal this month overturned the convictions after the Office of Public Prosecutions conceded the 13 charges should not have been heard in the one trial because of differences in the offending that was alleged. Rapson was released on bail.

The Court of Appeal ruled Rapson should face a retrial and that the number of trials to be held should be a matter for the presiding judge.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A Gozitan priest charged with defiling three girls has been banned by both the civil and Church authorities from contact with minors.

The priest, who served as a religion teacher at a boys’ secondary school in Malta, was barred from entering classrooms until the court proceedings were over, an Education Ministry spokesman said.

The crimes the priest was accused of were allegedly perpetrated in Gozo and were unrelated to his work at the school.

Church sources said the priest’s pastoral activities were stopped the moment the case was referred to the police.

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said yesterday he followed all civil and Canon law protocols in this case and would do so in other cases.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP AUGUST 21, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell says the Catholic Church never anticipated the volume of complaints against paedophile priests when he launched the Melbourne archdiocese’s compensation scheme in 1996.

Dr Pell told the child abuse royal commission he expected the Melbourne Response, set up to handle claims of clergy sex abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese, would originally go for six months.

“I was aware that there were dozens of complaints that (Vicar General) Monsignor Cudmore was dealing with in, I think, an effective way under great, great pressure,” Cardinal Pell told the commission via video link from the Vatican in Rome, where he holds a senior position.

“We never anticipated the volume of responses, that it would go on for years.”

The former Melbourne archbishop said he was initially sceptical about the groups involved in advocating for the church to investigate scores of allegations of child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
3AW

Posted by: Pat Mitchell | 21 August, 2014

Cardinal George Pell says money was never a primary concern when he set up the Melbourne Response compensation scheme for the victims of abuse by the clergy.

Cardinal George Pell admits he originally took complaints about sexual abuse involving Catholic clergy with a “grain of salt”.

He told the Royal Commission into child abuse via video link from the Vatican there were groups such as Broken Rites who very active in pushing for the church to act on behalf of the victims.

“With some of those groups, I took what they said with a grain of salt but nonetheless there was evidence that something needed to be done to deal with the suffering,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Cardinal George Pell says he is not in favour of financial caps on claims and struggled when he tried to suggest today’s equivalent compensensation amount, speaking from Rome to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Cardinal George Pell insists he only tried to help the victims of a Victorian paedophile priest, and has apologised for their suffering.

Christine and Anthony Foster won a $750,000 settlement from the Melbourne archdiocese after two of their daughters were raped by notorious abuser Father Kevin O’Donnell.

Mr Foster said Cardinal Pell showed a ‘sociopathic lack of empathy’ when they met to discuss the case in the 1990s.

In his statement to the child abuse royal commission, Cardinal Pell said he had not tried to insult the Fosters.

‘I am sorry for anything I did to upset them at this meeting,’ he said.

‘It was certainly not my intention to upset them. I wanted to help them.’

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AAP

BY ANGUS LIVINGSTON AND DANNY ROSE
August 21, 2014

The Catholic Church is no more legally responsible for priests who abuse children than a trucking company which employs a driver who molests women, Cardinal George Pell maintains.

Victims’ families say it’s a ludicrous comparison and even the chair of the child abuse royal commission thinks the situation is quite different when it comes to a priest getting access to a child.

Cardinal Pell accepts the church has a moral obligation to victims, but when it comes to its legal responsibility, the actions of its priests are not necessarily its fault.

“If the truck driver picks up some lady and then molests her, I don’t think it’s appropriate, because it is contrary to the policy, for the ownership, the leadership of that company to be held responsible,” Cardinal Pell told the commission via video link from Rome on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Compensation payouts to Melbourne victims of pedophile priests have effectively gone backwards over the past two decades, an inquiry has been told.

The Catholic Church’s payments in the Melbourne archdiocese, when introduced in 1996, were capped at $50,000.

Cardinal George Pell told the child abuse royal commission that was about $120,000 in today’s dollars.

Senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness was quick to point out the cap on compensation had increased but payments today were well short of $120,000.

“The cap is now $75,000 which suggests it might have gone backwards,” Ms Furness said.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Source: Jim Accurso, Media and Public Relations Manager

Today, a mediated settlement was reached in the case of Doe 100, who was abused by Thomas Stitts in 1971. Stitts was assigned as a priest at local parishes from 1962 until his death in 1985. Stitts’ name was disclosed by the archdiocese last year and his assignment history is posted on the archdiocesan website here.

The settlement mediation involved attorneys for the victim and for the archdiocese, as well as the archdiocese’s vicar general, who functions as the archbishop’s chief of staff. We regret that the victim’s pleas for help were not heard earlier by the archdiocese. We are grateful now that we were able to listen to Doe 100.

The settlement is not confidential. Since the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was issued by U.S. bishops in 2002, dioceses have not engaged in confidential settlements. However, out of deference to the victim, the archdiocese is not presently disclosing the terms of the settlement.

The Doe 100 case was slated to go to trial on December 15, 2014. It is now the first case filed under Minnesota’s Child Victims Act to be settled.

The archdiocese apologizes for the harm suffered by abuse victim/survivors and their families and friends and asks for forgiveness for the Church’s shameful failures of the past. We were grateful this week to hear this victim and make a positive step toward helping.

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MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man who was molested by a priest in the 1970s has become the first plaintiff to settle under a new state law that opened a three-year window for people to sue over older abuse cases.

Fifty-two-year-old Jon Jaker sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis last year, saying he was an 11-year-old altar boy at St. Leo’s Church in St. Paul when the Rev. Thomas Stitts sexually abused him. Stitts died in 1985.

Jaker, who now lives in California, told reporters Wednesday he’s ready to go public and is no longer afraid. He says he wants to encourage other victims to come forward.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Cassie Hart

A former Minnesota man says he’s finally getting justice for what a Catholic priest did to him. Fifty-four-year-old Jon Jaker says Father Thomas Stitts sexually abused him at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in St. Paul in 1971. Stitts died in 1985 but now, after a change in state law, the victim sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Following the settlement, we sat down with Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the archdiocese.

It’s one of few times a high-ranking member of the archdiocese was available for an interview with us.

“Some people have accused us of being somewhat silent over the last six months and there’s some truth to that. We believe actions speak louder than words. We are taking victims seriously, ” Fr. Cozzens said in a one-on-one interview.

The archdiocese says it is leaving it up to the family to talk about a settlement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

[with audio and video]

Damian Thompson

If you want to understand how Pope Francis is planning to change the Catholic church, then don’t waste time searching for clues in the charming, self-effacing press conference he gave on the plane back from South Korea on Monday.

It’s easy to be misled by the Pope’s shoulder-shrugging interviews and impromptu phone calls. On his return flight from Rio last year, he said, ‘If a gay person seeks God, who am I to judge?’ What did that mean? Then there was that mysterious telephone conversation with an Argentinian woman apparently telling her it was OK to receive communion despite her irregular marriage. The media has concluded that Francis wants the church to change its stance on divorcees and same-sex couples.

But the media are wrong. Neither of these subjects is high on Francis’s agenda — and, even if they were, he wouldn’t alter Catholic teaching on sexuality.

The first non-European Pope was elected to do one thing: reform the Roman Curia, the pitifully disorganised, corrupt and lazy central machinery of the church. He is determined to pull it off — but he’s 77 and has part of a lung missing. When he looks at his watch during long Masses in St Peter’s, it’s not just because elaborate services bore him. He knows he may not have much time. ‘Two or three years and then off to the house of the Father,’ he said this week. Was he serious? You can never tell.

Jorge Bergoglio has little in common with Joseph Ratzinger apart from an intense, orthodox Catholic faith and a love of classical music. Like many Jesuits, Francis isn’t interested in liturgy. This is actually good news for traditionalists, because it means he won’t clamp down on the Latin Mass (with one baffling exception: the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, a new order whose use of the Old Missal has been brutally restricted).

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech personally called in the police over allegations that a priest had abused a number of girls in the past weeks and months, according to sources close to the Gozo diocese. It is understood that, at least one of the victims spoke to Mgr. Grech, who immediately asked police investigators to handle the matter. Police Inspector Sandro Camilleri yesterday confirmed that the Gozo Bishop collaborated with them.

The Gozo Bishop said in a statement yesterday that he had followed protocol indicated by canon and civil law and will act in the same way if other similar cases emerge.

In the press communique, Mgr. Grech said “any abuse case is a deep wound for the Maltese Church and society.

The Gozo Bishop said he is staying close to the victims and their families but said he understood he had responsibilities towards all priests, even those who commit mistakes, and towards God’s people, in particular minors.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The vast majority of victims of pedophile priests came forward as adults many years after the abuse, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

Only three victims have gone to the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response scheme, set up in 1996 to handle clergy sex abuse claims in the Melbourne archdiocese, while still children.

Church lawyer Richard Leder said the vast majority of more than 300 victims came forward as adults.

“It was and remained very unusual for a victim to come forward so soon after the abuse,” Mr Leder told the commission on Thursday.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

TIFFIN — A former layman at Bloomville United Methodist Church has been indicted by a Seneca County grand jury for kidnapping and gross sexual imposition.

Emanuel Lewis, 61, of New Washington, Ohio, is in the Seneca County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond, which was set Tuesday by Common Pleas Judge Steve Shuff.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 21, 2014

Cameron Houston and Jane Lee

The Catholic Church’s lawyer has been forced to apologise before the Royal Commission over insensitive and incorrect statements made in correspondence between himself and senior figures in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The comments, by Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner Richard Leder, were made about an application for church funding by Chrissie and Anthony Foster, whose daughter, Emma, was abused by notorious paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell.

The Foster family requested the church pay for special accommodation for Emma, who suffered from depression, anorexia and drug addiction.

Their application was supported by a report from a counsellor and clinical psychologist.

But Mr Leder accused the Fosters of kicking their eldest daughter out of home, while the church’s “Melbourne Response”, which was established in 1996 to deal with clerical abuse, rejected their funding request.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo! News

By Freya Michie | ABC

Cardinal George Pell says he was surprised by the number of complaints made in the lead up to the introduction of the Melbourne Response to abuse within the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pell has appeared at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne via video-link from the Vatican.

The inquiry has been examining the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response, which Cardinal Pell established when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.

Under the scheme, independent commissioners were appointed to investigate claims, a free counselling and support service known as Carelink was created, as well as a panel to provide ex-gratia compensation payments.

Once victims went to police they were no longer eligible for compensation.

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AUSTRALIA
Echo Netdaily

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has all but confirmed the royal commission into institutional abuse will be given extra funding and its term extended to enable all victims to be heard.

The commission has requested an additional $104 million and a two-year extension to its 2015 reporting deadline to allow hundreds, if not thousands, more victims to come forward and give evidence.

So far the request has gone unanswered, but on Thursday Mr Abbott said he was confident he would be able to grant the commission’s wishes.

‘We ought to be in a position in the new few weeks to commit additional resources,’ he told ABC Radio, adding the government had supported it ‘every step of the way’.

More than 2000 victims already have presented to the commission which is investigating institutional sexual abuse.

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ALABAMA/TEXAS
AL.com

By Jonathan Grass | jgrass@al.com
on August 20, 2014

MUSCLE SHOALS, Alabama — A man was arrested in Texas Wednesday in relation to sex crimes against a child during his time as a youth minister in Muscle Shoals.

Charles Kyle Adcock, 31, faces 22 counts of second-degree rape and nine counts of second-degree sodomy. He was picked up by Frisco police in Texas after arrest warrants were issued out of Muscle Shoals a few days ago. He is currently being extradited back to Alabama. In the meantime, his bond at the Frisco City Jail is $500,000.

Lt. Sieg Mueller with the Muscle Shoals Police Department said Adcock is committing these crimes against a young girl at his Muscle Shoals home and at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church, where he served a youth minister. Mueller said the girl came forward within the last few weeks, telling police Adcock abused her between 2010 and 2012. She was 14 years old when it started.

Mueller said Adcock left the church and Alabama in 2013, moving to Arkansas then to Grand Prairie, Texas.

Church employees could not comment. The woman who answered the phone said she did not work there while he was there, and no one else was available to speak.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Todd Wilson

A former Minnesota man says he’s finally getting justice for what a Catholic priest did to him.

Fifty-four-year-old Jon Jaker says Fr. Thomas Stitts sexually abused him at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in St. Paul in 1971.

Stitts died in 1985 but now, after a change in state law, the victim sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The church says this is the first case filed under the state’s Child Victims Act to be settled. Jaker and his mother Yvonne settled the case Wednesday morning.

Jon said it was a long time coming and he finally has some justice. He hopes others will follow him to find their own closure.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Parents of schoolgirl victims upset by lawyer’s description of abuse as ‘relatively minor’

AUGUST 21, 2014

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

A SENIOR lawyer representing the Catholic Church has described a notorious priest’s sexual abuse of a young girl as “relatively minor”.

The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse today saw a letter Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner Richard Leder, who has advised the Melbourne archdiocese since it established a scheme to compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse,

wrote to then Vicar-General Denis Hart in 1998 about the case of Emma Foster.

Emma and her sister Katie were abused as schoolgirls in the 1990s by priest Kevin O’Donnell, and nearly 20 per cent of all compensation paid by the Melbourne Response relate to his crimes.

“This is plainly a situation where special efforts are needed to try and solve a horrendous problem,” Mr Leder wrote.

He wrote that while Emma was reluctant to give details of the abuse she suffered, it appeared she had been fondled and not penetrated by O’Donnell.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 08/20/2014

St. Paul archdiocese put accused priest on marriage tribunal, documents say
He was once a terrified 11-year-old filled with guilt and shame at being molested by his St. Paul parish priest.

As an adult serving six years aboard Navy submarines, he felt safer next to a nuclear warhead in the middle of the Pacific Ocean than he had at church.

Now, he said, he’s not terrified anymore. And he wants the world to know his name.

“My name is Jon Jaker,” said the 54-year-old resident of Orange, Calif., who won a settlement Wednesday morning in his lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Jaker claimed he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Stitts at the rectory of St. Leo Parish (now Lumen Christi in the Highland Park neighborhood).

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY GREG HARKIN – 21 AUGUST 2014

A victim of a paedophile priest has criticised Majella O’Donnell over her public support for singer Sir Cliff Richard following the launch of a police investigation.

Sir Cliff strenuously denies an historical child sex abuse allegation after his home was searched by police last week.

Majella, wife of country singer Daniel O’Donnell and a close friend of Sir Cliff, took to Twitter to defend him.

Majella (54) said she believed the legendary singer had been “treated appallingly” by police after his home in England was searched with the operation captured live by the BBC.

But Michael Connolly, who lives close to the O’Donnells’ family home in Dungloe, Co Donegal, said Majella should apologise for her comments.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Melissa Davey
theguardian.com, Thursday 21 August 2014

Cardinal George Pell has described a compensation scheme for victims of child sex abuse that he introduced to the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne in 1996 as “ahead of the curve”.

Appearing on Thursday afternoon before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse via video link from the Vatican, Pell defended the church’s response to investigating sex abuse claims, called the Melbourne Response, which included compensating some victims.

Earlier in the week three witnesses had criticised the scheme for capping payments to victims at $50,000 when it was first introduced, and then at $75,000 since 1998.

Chrissie Foster told the commission her two daughters were abused by a priest at Sacred Heart school in the late 80s and through to the early 90s. She told on Monday how her family withdrew their compensation claims under the Melbourne Response.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Melissa Davey
theguardian.com, Thursday 21 August 2014

Cardinal George Pell has told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse that he originally took comments about the extent of abuse within the church from victim rights groups “with a grain of salt”.

He was facing questions via videolink in Rome about the Melbourne Response, a scheme he introduced to the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne in 1996 to investigate sex abuse claims.

He introduced the scheme in 1996 because dozens of sexual abuse complaints had come to the attention of the church, putting it under great pressure, he said.

It led to him appointing an independent commissioner, lawyer Peter O’Callaghan, to investigate complaints and interview witnesses, Pell, now the financial controller of the Vatican, said.

Counsel assisting, Gail Furness, asked, “Was there any work that you did or you instructed to be done to come to a view as to how many complainants there may be out there who wished to come forward to the independent commissioner?”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Wednesday 20 August 2014

Cardinal George Pell’s role in setting up a Catholic Church compensation scheme for victims of pedophile priests will be scrutinised on Thursday at the child abuse royal commission.

Pell was archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 when the Melbourne archdiocese decided to respond to growing allegations of child sex abuse by its clergy. The church considered creating a legal entity that could be sued by victims, but designed the Melbourne Response compensation scheme instead.

Cardinal Pell told the royal commission earlier this year he believed the church should now create an entity that could be sued.

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry last year recommended the Catholic Church be incorporated so it could be sued.

Melbourne archdiocese lawyer Richard Leder said the church’s position had shifted due to a better understanding of the extent of clergy sexual abuse.

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TEXAS
KERA

By SHELLEY KOFLER

Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor, said Wednesday she wants to eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecuting cases of rape and sex assault.

Candidate for Governor Wendy Davis calling for and end to the statute of limitations on rape in Texas.
“I will classify sexual assault at the same level as other heinous crimes such as murder and manslaughter and human trafficking, which have no statute of limitations. Eight states are already doing do,” Davis told reporters gathered on the steps of the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts building in Dallas.

Davis appeared with Dallas County Constable Beth Villareal, a victim of domestic violence, whose current job requires her to assist with sex assault cases.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: August 20, 2014

Jon Jaker, who was abused as an 11-year-old boy in a St. Paul parish, has reached the first legal settlement with the archdiocese.

A man who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the 1970s became the first to reach a settlement with the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese Monday under a new law that temporarily expands the time period in which such clergy abuse lawsuits can be brought to court.

Jon Jaker had sued the archdiocese last year, charging he had been sexually abused more than 10 times by the now-deceased Rev. Thomas Stitts while serving as an altar boy at St. Leo’s Church in St. Paul. He said he was 11 years old when sexually molested by Stitts, who has been accused by at least a dozen others over the past year.

“This has been a long battle,” said Jaker, at a news conference in the offices of Minneapolis attorney Patrick Noaker.

”I would encourage other victims and survivors to come forward,” he said. “Know that you are not alone. There are hundreds of you still in the shadows. There’s a chorus of us building as strong survivors. I want that chorus to grow.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Cardinal George Pell’s role in setting up a Catholic Church compensation scheme for victims of pedophile priests will be scrutinised at the child abuse royal commission.

He was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 when the Melbourne archdiocese decided to respond to growing allegations of child sex abuse by its clergy.

The church considered creating a legal entity in 1996 that could be sued by victims, but designed the Melbourne Response compensation scheme instead.

Cardinal Pell told the royal commission earlier this year he believed the church should now create an entity that could be sued. …

Cardinal Pell, now working in the Vatican, will give evidence via video-link from Rome at 4pm (AEST) on Thursday.

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY BRANDON SHULLEETA Richmond Times-Dispatch

Former Catholic priest Rodney L. Rodis — who lived a secret life as a husband and father of three children — died as a prisoner earlier this month, after stealing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from two Louisa County parishes.

Rodis, 58, was serving an 18-year prison sentence for embezzling money intended for church construction, tsunami relief and mission work in Haiti, among other causes. The money was used to support Rodis’ wife and children.

He also wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to his native Philippines, according to evidence presented in court leading up to convictions of 10 counts of felony theft in 2008, in addition to other related convictions.

Rodis died on Aug. 5, according to Chiles Funeral Home in Richmond. At the request of his family, a death notice was not provided, and a cause of death was not available.

Rodis wired at least $515,000 to the Philippines, according to authorities, who said at the time of the investigation Rodis bought properties there, including a three-story mansion.

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VIRGINIA
Newsplex

Aug. 20, 2014

A former Catholic priest serving time for stealing from two churches where he served as pastor has died behind bars.

According to a national online database, 58-year-old Rodney Lee Rodis died on August 5th.

Rodis was serving 13 years in prison in Louisa County for embezzling more than a million dollars from Immaculate Conception and St. Jude Catholic churches.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A victim of clergy sex abuse spoke out Wednesday after settling his case with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The case involved Father Thomas Stitts, who was working at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in St. Paul when the alleged abuse occurred.

The victim, 52-year-old Jon Jaker, came forward Wednesday with his mother and his attorneys. Jaker says the abuse happened when he was 11, and his attempts to speak out were shut down by the church for years.

He was one of the first to bring a lawsuit after the statute of limitations was lifted for victims last year under the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

“I didn’t know what to do, and at 11, I was terrified,” Jaker said. “I’m not terrified anymore, I’m not afraid and I’m going to sit here and tell you my name again. My name is Jon Jaker and I’m a survivor, and today we won a little bit back.”

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

Updated: Aug 20, 2014
by Shelby Capacio

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
It’s a case that dates back to the early 1970s, but the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is settling a suit with a 54-year-old man who claims Father Tom Stitts sexually abused him while being shuffled through metro parishes.

“This is a bittersweet day,” said Leander James, victim’s attorney. “Our client was sexually abused and his mother silenced. After 43 years, his abuser’s employer has finally heard him, his mother and acknowledged his injury. It’s a first step.”

It took more than 40 years for the man known only as John Doe 100 to get the resolution he’d hoped for. On Wednesday, he and his mother intend to emerge from that confidentiality to speak publicly about the case with their attorneys.

“I need to speak up,” John Doe 100 said. “I’m no longer afraid.”

Seated next to his mother, Yvonne, at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, he announced, “My name is Jon Jaker, and I am a survivor, and today, we won a little bit back.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the latest assault by the Kansas City Star on Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn:

Last week a judge agreed with the finding of an arbitrator that Bishop Finn violated a 2008 agreement mandating that suspected child abuse be reported immediately to the authorities. The Kansas City Star says it is “still waiting for the bishop and the Catholic Diocese to do the right thing,” by which it means he should resign. The Star has been waiting for a long time: this is its sixth call for Finn’s resignation in three years. They must be slow learners—few seem to care what it says.

Here are some fast facts that the Star doesn’t want the public to know:

* In 2010 a computer technician finds disturbing crotch-shot photos of girls fully clothed on the computer of a priest; there is one naked photo of a non-sexual nature
* A police officer and an attorney are contacted by diocesan officials
* After the priest attempts suicide, he is sent for psychiatric analysis: it is determined that he is depressed, but he is not a pedophile
* When it is learned that restrictions placed on the priest are violated, the diocese contacts the authorities—even though it had no legal mandate to do so
* Bishop Finn orders an independent investigation of this matter even though there is no complainant
* Porn pictures are later found and Bishop Finn is then found guilty of one misdemeanor for not reporting suspected child abuse

The Star doesn’t want the facts to come out: In 2011, it turned down $25,000 for a full-page ad I had written exposing all the players involved in their well-coordinated war on Bishop Finn, including the role played by the Star.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Gozo bishop Mario Grech today said that he will abide by canonical and civil laws in dealing with priests accused of sexual abuse. In a brief statement, Grech said that in his role as “spiritual leader,” he stands close to the “alleged victims” and their families.

Yesterday, a Gozitan priest was charged in court with sexually abusing a number of underage girls.

Today it emerged that the police intend to file an appeal against bail, after the young priest was released on bail against a €5,000 personal guarantee and €1,000 deposit after pleading not guilty to charges of child molestation, in what is understood to have been criminal acts taking place over several months and involving a number of minors.

Grech added “I acknowledge that I have a duty towards all priests, including those who err and towards God’s people, especially children.”

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PARAGUAY
Religion Digital

José Manuel Vidal, 15 de agosto de 2014 a las 19:30

(José Manuel Vidal).- Estuvo en el centro de todas las miradas en la reciente visita apostólica a su diócesis Ciudad del Este. De hecho, antes de la llegada de los visitadores, el padre Carlos Urrutigoity, fue relevado de su cargo de vicario general de la diócesis de Ciudad del Este. En entrevista exclusiva con RD, el sacerdote niega las acusaciones de pederastia, asegura que la Teología de la Liberación “es una ideología anticuada que fracasó” y cree que los “aires primaverales” del Papa existen “sólo en la prensa”.

¿Cómo se encuentra tras la visita apostólica? ¿Tuvo ocasión de entrevistarse con alguno de los dos visitadores o con ambos?

Para sorpresa mía y de muchos, los Visitadores no me llamaron a ninguna entrevista ni me pidieron ningún tipo de información. Al parecer, estaban concentrados en otras áreas. Sólo pude conversar unos minutos con el Cardenal Santos y Abril durante una de sus visitas. No me hizo preguntas ni me pidió ningún informe.

¿Cree que los visitadores llegaron con ideas preconcebidas?

No quisiera juzgar ni prejuzgar. Es cierto que todos tenemos ideas preconcebidas, ya que es parte de nuestro proceso de conocimiento. Pero no sabría decir a ciencia cierta cuáles serían las ideas con que vinieron los Visitadores.

Todos ellos me parecieron observadores muy puntillosos, aunque no parecen haberse interesado en algunos de los temas que uno esperaba. Por la impresión que me dio el Cardenal, no dudo que presentará al Santo Padre un relato muy puntual.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, August 20, 2014

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

A California priest has been removed from his position following allegations of sexual abuse with at least one teenager. We are grateful to the brave individual who spoke up and reported to law enforcement. Children are safer when victims, witnesses and whistleblowers speak up and report crimes.

Fr. Robert E. Gamel was a priest at St. Joseph’s Church in Los Banos since 2009. According to officials at the Diocese of Fresno Gamel has been removed to an undisclosed location away from kids. We are glad he has been removed, but urge Catholic officials to be open and transparent about what they know and when they knew it.

We hope anyone who saw, suspects or suffered child sex crimes will find the courage to speak up, report to law enforcement, and start healing.

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PARAGUAY
ABC

[Summary: Priest Carlos Urrutigoity agreed to give an interview with Religion Digital, whose managers are linked to Opus Dei which also answers to Rigelio Livieres, bishop of Ciudad del Este. Urritugoity has been accused of sexual abuse and pedophilia.

Asked about allegations of sexual abuse filed in the United States he replied there is no place for that in ministry and it is a serious disorder and psychological and emotional imbalance and is a grave sin. He said information on the internet is slander. He did not mention that in one of the accusations the church had to play the complainant $500,000 to close the case. In the interview which was later released by the press office of the Ciudad del Este diocese, he recognizes himself as a traditional Catholic and conservative and far from the theology of liberation.]

El sacerdote Carlos Urrutigoity accedió a dar una entrevista publicada en un sitio religioso, rompiendo el largo silencio desde las acusaciones por supuestos abusos sexuales y pedofilia, que inclusive propiciaron una intervención del Vaticano.

El portal religioso “Religión Digital” –cuyos directivos estarían ligados al grupo Opus Dei, al que también responde el obispo de Ciudad del Este, Rogelio Livieres– accedió a una entrevista con Urrutigoity, luego de que se haya cumplido la intervención hecha por los enviados del papa Francisco, ante las denuncias de abusos sexuales y pedofilia, además de otras supuestas irregularidades dentro del seminario y de la diócesis, y el público enfrentamiento con el arzobispo de Asunción, Pastor Cuquejo.

“Si yo tuviera el problema que me atribuyen, no debería servir como sacerdote”, reflexiona el sacerdote argentino al ser encarado sobre los casos de abuso sexual y pedofilia que le han venido siguiendo desde hace años en diferentes países y que lo trajeron finalmente a Paraguay, donde practica su ministerio en Ciudad del Este, con el férreo apoyo del obispo local, Rogelio Livieres.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 21, 2014

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

A SENIOR lawyer who was ­instrumental in establishing the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese’s compensation scheme for victims of clergy sex abuse has denied any economic modelling was undertaken before a $50,000 cap was established.

This was despite the church’s plan to offer the scheme as an ­alternative to civil litigation.

Richard Leder, who acts on ­behalf of the archdiocese, its archbishops and its representatives in the Melbourne Response, yesterday told a royal commission that $50,000 was insufficient to meet the needs of some victims.

But he defended the church’s intentions in setting up the scheme and denied its requirement that participants waive their rights to future litigation was ­intended to protect the church and its assets.

“I don’t agree, but I can see people would say that,” Mr Leder said, prompting jeers from the public gallery during his testimony in Melbourne.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Priest abuse case: Bishop says Church and civil law procedures followed; Police planning to appeal bail decision

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said today that he had followed the protocols laid down by Church and Civil law in the case revealed yesterday of a priest who allegedly defiled three girls.

In a brief statement, Mgr Grech said any case of sexual abuse of minors deeply hurt the Church and society.

As bishop, he was close to the alleged victims and their their families. He recognised that he had duties to all priests, even those who made mistakes, as well as the people of God, particularly children.

In this case, he said, he had followed the protocols indicated by church and civil law and would continue to do so in other cases.

Meanwhile, informed sources said the police are planning to appeal the Gozo court decision granting bail to the priest, who stands accused of defiling three girls.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Gozo Bishop Mgr Mario Grech today said he followed protocol indicated by canon and civil law in the case of a Gozo priest who was accused of abusing girls.

In a short statement, the bishop said that any case of abuse is a deep wound for the Church and society. He said he was staying close to the victims and their families.

He said he understood he had responsibilities towards all priests, even those who commit mistakes, and towards God’s people, in particular minors.

He said that in this case – the Bishop did not mention it in particular, but was making an obvious reference to that priest who was accused of defiling children over the past years – “I followed canon and civil law” and will act in the same way if other similar cases emerged.

Police Inspector Sandro Camilleri also confirmed that the Gozo Bishop collaborated with them.

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CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2014

A Connecticut priest who was suspended last year and arrested in March on several sexual assault charges is due in court on Wednesday for pre-trial proceedings.

Rev. Paul Gotta, 55, of Bridgeport pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexual assault charges he faces, according to the state judicial website.

Gotta, who served as administrator of St. Philip Church in East Windsor and St. Catherine Church in Broadbrook until he was placed on administrative leave, is accused of sexual abuse, according to the Archdiocese of Hartford.

Police said in April that the arrest warrant is sealed.

Gotta is facing two counts of second-degree sexual assault, felony charges, in connection to reported incidents on April 1, 2012 and Feb. 1 2013, and five counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, misdemeanor charges, for reported incidents in January, February, March, April and May of 2012, according to the state judicial website.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The police are planning to appeal a Gozo court decision granting bail to a Gozitan priest who stands accused of defiling three girls.

The 38-year-old priest, who cannot be identified by court order, was arraigned yesterday and his case is being heard behind closed doors.

It is understood the allegations relate to incidents that took place some years ago in Gozo.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Daniel Mizzi 20 August 2014

Clarificaton: this article erroneously referred to the defendant’s previous employment as having been inside a Church school.

The police intend to file an appeal against bail, after a a young priest was yesterday allowed out against a €5,000 personal guarantee and €1,000 deposit after pleading not guilty to charges of child molestation, in what is understood to have been criminal acts taking place over several months and involving a number of minors.

The priest has been prohibited from approaching the victims and their homes, the court said in its bail conditions.

Sources told MaltaToday that the accused has been a priest for around 10 to 12 years and he was recently employed as a religion teacher at a boys’ secondary state school in Hamrun.

Victims were said to be aged close to 15, but one of the girls is said to be aged eight years old.

Standing before Magistrate Paul Coppini at the Gozo courts, the priest, whose name cannot be published by court order, appeared wearing casual clothes and a pair of flip flops after he was summonsed to court by arrest.

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CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

BY ROB PARSONS
rparsons@mercedsunstar.com
August 19, 2014

A Los Banos Catholic priest under investigation for possible sex crimes involving a teenager has been moved to an undisclosed location where there are no children present, a Catholic church official said Tuesday.

The Rev. Robert E. Gamel was placed on paid administrative leave early Friday, the morning after allegations surfaced involving a teenage church member, said Teresa Dominguez, chancellor for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.

“There was no way we could’ve acted any sooner on the information,” Dominguez told the Merced Sun-Star in a telephone interview.

Gamel, 64, has not been arrested or formally accused of any wrongdoing by law enforcement, the Los Banos Police Department said Tuesday. “The detectives are still continuing their investigation,” Cmdr. Jason Hedden said, “and we’re still hoping for anyone from the public with information to come forward.”

The Rev. Joe Baca has been appointed interim administrator of the Los Banos parish for an indefinite period of time.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

More voices are calling for “a shakeup” of the Maltese Church’s top levels to rid the Curia of its “leadership crisis.”

The debate was sparked by former Mgarr Parish Priest Fr Emanuel Camilleri, who was unceremoniously dismissed by the curia. Speaking to The Malta Independent last week, Fr Camilleri accused Archbishop Paul Cremona and Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna of bowing in to pressure. He was the first to claim that the church is gripped by a leadership crisis.

Fr Camilleri’s comments this week echoed by Fr Joe Borg his regular column on The Times. He compared the current “leadership crisis” to the state the PN was in after losing the 1976 election.

But in comments to the same newspaper today, Victor Axiak, the head of the Church Environment Commission, disagreed with Fr Borg and said that those clamouring for change and seeking the “crucifixion” of Archbishop Cremona, want the Church to move closer to the Nationalist Party. “It (the Church) will not be rendered vibrant and kicking if it resumes its ‘local mission’ of religio et patria and of allowing itself to be pulled one way or the other to the tune of some political group. Paul Cremona is being crucified because he does not want to play this dirty game.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

August 20, 2014

Cameron Houston, Jane Lee

The Catholic Church’s independent commissioner was unable to explain how he received confidential information from a victim of serial paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell or why it was passed on to the church’s lawyers in an apparent breach of confidentiality.

The Royal Commission also raised concerns about the independence of Peter O’Callaghan, QC, who has investigated allegations of clerical abuse for the past 18 years under the church’s controversial Melbourne Response.

The church’s law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth was also questioned over its handling of files and sensitive information from three separate arms of the Melbourne Response, which claim to be independent of each other.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner Richard Leder denied any confidentiality had been compromised in his role as lawyer for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Melbourne Response, which he helped establish in 1996.

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MAINE
WGME

[with video]

PORTLAND (WGME) — New allegations are lodged against a former priest from Gray.

Demonstrators outside the Portland Diocese on Tuesday accused Father Tony Caron of sexually abusing Norman Smith when he was a teen.

Father Tony Caron is the former priest of St. Gregory Parish in Gray.

Smith showed CBS 13 News photos from several trips he says Caron took him on after his mother died. His older sister says she thought Caron was befriending her brother.

Instead, Norman Smith claims he was sexually abused for three years.

“The Catholic Church has hidden this stuff for so long. And so many people have been hurt by this. It’s not fair to the children. It’s not fair to their families,” Normal Smith said.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

By Corin Hoggard
Tuesday, August 19, 2014

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A Catholic priest in Los Banos is under investigation for possible sex crimes against a teen.

As the faithful gathered at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Friday, police were next door, serving a search warrant.

The night before, the Diocese of Fresno alerted police of possible internet sex crimes against a local teen by the church’s lead pastor, Father Bob Gamel.

“During the search warrant, detectives recovered computer equipment, hard drives and other evidence related to the crime,” said Los Banos police Commander Jason Hedden.

Federal investigators are now analyzing the evidence, but Gamel has not been arrested or charged with any crime. The diocese removed him from the church, though, moving him to another location in Los Banos.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY CANDICE MARCUS
August 20, 2014

A woman whose son was sexually abused by a paedophile school bus driver in Adelaide more than two decades ago says she wants a national organisation set up to monitor child institutions.

Convicted paedophile Brian Perkins abused children while he was employed without a background check as a bus driver for the St Ann’s special school in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Helen Gitsham’s son was abused by Perkins and, in a written submission to a federal royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, said the Catholic Church’s response was inadequate.

She said a Catholic Church inquiry that was announced in 2002 was not independent, transparent or comprehensive, and the process had not been scrutinised by anyone other than those associated with the church itself.

“From the very beginning of the inquiry the intention of the Catholic Church was to seek advice on legal matters and liability, not to determine whether the school tried to identify children who may have been abused, nor how families and children were affected and followed up at the time and since,” Mrs Gitsham said.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

August 20, 2014

Leanne Nicholson
Deputy editor, WAtoday

Strengthening child abuse laws, more education and easier reporting of crimes are among recommended changes to toughen state laws protecting West Australia’s vulnerable.

Sixteen recommendations from a review into the Commissioner for Children and Young People Act were tabled in state parliament on Wednesday and are now open for public comment for the next three months.

Among the recommendation are the commissioner should receive complaints from children and young people, or adults acting on their behalf, about alleged child abuse, for referral on to the relevant investigative authority.

WA Attorney General Michael Mischin said the review found overall the Act had operated effectively and achieved the purpose of promoting the wellbeing of children and young people in Western Australia.

However, Mr Mischin said the review identified some areas for improvement.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Quentin McDermott and Peter Cronau
Updated 20 Aug 2014

An investigation should be launched into a cluster of paedophile priests at the Holy Family School in Doveton, one of Victoria’s poorest communities, according to one of the MPs who conducted an inquiry last year into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Victorian Labor MP Frank McGuire made a statement to the Victorian Parliament today, following revelations in last week’s ABC Four Corners program, In the Name of the Law.

The program revealed that Cardinal George Pell did not explain in oral evidence to last year’s Victorian inquiry that the church had held a private hearing in 1997 at which the finding was made that local parish priest, Father Peter Searson, had been guilty of the sexual abuse of two children.

Father Searson was eventually removed from the Doveton parish and charged by police for an unrelated physical assault of a young boy attending the Holy Family School.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MATT JOHNSTON HERALD SUN AUGUST 20, 2014

CARDINAL George Pell has been blasted by state Labor MP Frank McGuire over evidence provided about a paedophile priest during a parliamentary inquiry.

Calling for a fresh investigation into the Catholic Church’s response to decades-long sex offences committed in Doveton — uncovered in the 1980s and 1990s — Mr McGuire accused Cardinal Pell of glossing over crimes of former priest Peter Searson.

He said that when Cardinal Pell was questioned about Searson at the recent Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse, Cardinal Pell said “no conviction was recorded for Searson on sexual misbehaviour”.

Mr McGuire told parliament while courts did not convict Searson, documents he had obtained showed that the church’s Melbourne Response, led by independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan, had found Fr Searson was “guilty of sexual abuse of two girls”.

Last night the church fired back at Mr McGuire.

A statement released says: “in his evidence to the inquiry, Cardinal Pell drew attention to Mr O’Callaghan’s investigation into Fr Searson”.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

Robert Gavin, Law Beat
Published 7:02 pm, Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Troy attorney Jay Hernandez could have employed a defense last week that might have convinced an Albany County jury that reasonable doubt existed in the sexual abuse case against disgraced former Albany deacon Angel Garcia.

But if Hernandez had used that defense, the jury might have convicted Garcia in an hour.

In the end, Garcia was convicted of sexually abusing a girl when she was 6 years old, in 2003.

Hernandez sought to convince the jury that Garcia’s accuser, now 17, concocted the sex abuse charge when she was in her midteens so her family, which is in the United States illegally, could stay in the country. Their daughter’s status as a sex-crime victim was grounds for remaining, he said.

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ZAMBIA
Times of Zambia

By MARILYN ROSE and REBECCA MUSHOTA-

A PENTECOSTAL bishop in Kitwe who was facing charges of sexually abusing nine girls from his church has committed suicide, his wife has said.

Dominic Nyondo of Holy Fire Christian Ministry Church is believed to have thrown himself in the crocodile-infested Kafue River.

Mable Nyondo said her husband left home around 22:00 hours on Monday after informing her that whatever was going to happen to him was because of the allegations of sexual abuse against him.

“He left the house between 22:00 hours and 23:00 hours after reading the Bible and said that whatever will happen to him was because of the allegations of sexual abuse against him,” Ms Nyondo said.

“I tried to chase him but he ran towards the river and when I reached (the river), I only found his shirt.”

Ms Nyondo was narrating the ordeal during an interview at the funeral house in Ipusukilo Township in Kitwe yesterday.

Kitwe District Police Commissioner Lizzie Machina said her officers were investigating the matter.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian (UK)

Martin Williams
The Guardian, Tuesday 19 August 2014

Sir Cliff Richard, facing a historical sexual assault claim, has withdrawn from a charity event because he did not “want the event to be overshadowed by the false allegation”, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

The singer was due to perform at Canterbury cathedral on 26 September in a fundraising concert. The statement added: “He is sorry for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.”

Police searched Richard’s apartment last week as part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on a young boy at a religious event in 1985 in Sheffield. The pop star, who was in Portugal at the time of the search, has denied any wrongdoing.

The decision to pull out of the charity event comes after the pop star, 73, hired the high-profile lawyer, Ian Burton.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source AAP 20 AUG 2014

Catholic Church payouts to victims of pedophile priests don’t recognise the harm they have suffered, a lawyer for the Melbourne archdiocese says.

Many victims have told the abuse royal commission they’ve received only “token amounts” in compensation under the church’s Melbourne Response scheme for handling clergy sex abuse complaints.

Lawyer Richard Leder, who represents the Melbourne archdiocese, said it was clear now that the capped payouts set under the Melbourne Response don’t recognise the harm suffered by victims.

“It is clear that for some victims the ability to receive only up to $75,000 in lump sum compensation indicates that the compensation component of the Melbourne Response is not achieving the objective that it was set out to achieve in terms of delivering a financial recognition of the harm.

“I’m absolutely supportive of the commitments that the archbishop has made to review those matters,” Mr Leder told the royal commission on Wednesday.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

JP O’Malley

BETWEEN 1914 and 1915, the Jewish Czech writer, Franz Kafka, wrote the mesmerising novel, The Trial.

Today, 100 years later, it illuminates the connection between bureaucracy and power.

In The Trial, a young bank official, Joseph K, is arrested for a crime that doesn’t seem to exist. He is taken to a quarry outside of his town and killed.

The word ‘Kafkaesque’ is overused by journalists, but it is appropriate in describing my experience when attempting to ‘excommunicate’ myself from the Catholic Church. Attempting to leave this immensely powerful organisation is like being locked in a crystal maze with no exit sign in sight.

Ostensibly, my official attempt to depart from Catholicism started last October. But the philosophical quest began 18 years ago. As a young boy, the Catholic Church was vital in shaping my cultural and intellectual identity.

There was a picture of the Sacred Heart in my bedroom. Every night, until I was eight years old, my brother and I would kneel and say prayers before sleep. …

This was just one year after the arrest of Father Brendan Smith, the notorious paedophile priest whom the Catholic Church initially protected, but who was eventually convicted of several, depraved sex crimes on innocent children: first in Northern Ireland, in 1994, and then again in the Republic, in 1997.

From aged 12, I had no belief, whatsoever, in the concept of a divine being.

By the time I was in my 20s, I was a militant-atheist.

And after my close reading of the ‘Ferns’, ‘Murphy’, and ‘Ryan Reports’, I was fully convinced that this was not an organisation I wanted to be associated with in any way.

It came as a huge surprise to me, then, last October, after I wrote to Reverend Fintan Gavin, the assistant chancellor of the Dublin Dioceses, asking if I could formally leave the Catholic Church, to be told that it was impossible.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AUGUST 20, 2014

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

THE ‘‘independent commissioner’’ heading the Melbourne archdiocese’s response to clergy sex abuse has admitted providing the church’s media adviser with suggested answers about a notorious abuse case.

Peter O’Callaghan QC, who has spearheaded the Melbourne Response since it began in 1996, has been repeatedly challenged on his independent status from the archdiocese while giving evidence at the royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Today it was revealed that he had given the archdiocese’s communications director extensive answers in response to questions from a journalist about the church’s handling of the Foster family after two of their daughters were abused by a priest.

Mr O’Callaghan accepted his action had not been “strictly speaking” any of his business, but said he still believed it was reasonable.

The commission has heard Mr O’Callaghan refused to provide one of the daughters, Katie Foster, with his report on the abuse because her family was considering suing the church.

Mr O’Callaghan has said he believed he had acted appropriately by denying the Foster family his written findings, even though he had verbally confirmed to them that their daughter Katie was abused by one of Victoria’s most notorious priests, Kevin O’Donnell.

Mr O’Callaghan yesterday said he had based his 2000 decision on a 1976 judicial ruling, prompting criticism from NSW appellate judge Peter McClellan as chair of the royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

“The law has moved quite a bit,” Justice McClellan told Mr O’Callaghan, who was called to the Bar in 1961 and took silk in 1974.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo! News

By court reporter Peta Carlyon | ABC

The man in charge of the Catholic Church’s so-called Melbourne Response to allegations of child abuse has rejected suggestions he failed to encourage victims to go to police.

Peter O’Callaghan QC has been dealing with complainants and deciding whether they are eligible for compensation since the scheme began in 1996.

He was repeatedly questioned about the legal integrity of his decision-making at today’s hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr O’Callaghan has been a Queen’s Counsel for 40 years and said the Melbourne Response was based in canon law and “natural justice”.

He said when there was a dispute with a claim he would take on a role similar to a magistrate in a criminal case.

He was again asked repeatedly why he did not report cases of abuse to Victoria Police and why he took it upon himself to advise victims on the potential strength of their cases.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Daniel Mizzi 20 August 2014

Clarificaton: this article erroneously referred to the defendant’s previous employment as having been inside a Church school.

A young priest was yesterday allowed out on bail against a hefty personal guarantee and deposit after pleading not guilty to charges of child molestation, in what is understood to have been criminal acts taking place over several months and involving a number of minors.

Sources told MaltaToday that the accused has been a priest for around 10 to 12 years and he was recently employed as a religion teacher at a boys’ secondary state school in Hamrun.

Standing before Magistrate Paul Coppini at the Gozo courts, the priest, whose name cannot be published by court order, appeared wearing casual clothes and a pair of flip flops after he was summonsed to court by arrest.

The priest, believed to be in his early 40s, covered his face as he was taken in to court.

At the start of the sitting, the priest’s defence lawyer, Carmelo Gauci, requested that the case be heard behind closed doors, and almost immediately, Magistrate Coppini upheld the request.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Editorial

The only reassuring news to come out of an arbitrator’s recent finding against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is that its Victim Advocacy Program, created in 2008 in response to the priest abuse scandal, is operating well.

But every other conclusion of the arbitrator — upheld last week by Jackson County Circuit Judge Bryan Round — brought shame to the diocese and provided more than enough reasons for Bishop Robert W. Finn, already convicted of a misdemeanor, to resign.

In ordering the diocese to pay $1.1 million for violating its agreement with sex abuse victims, arbitrator Hollis Hanover was blunt: “Where they (the victims) expected protection, they received desertion; where the assertion of authority on their behalf was required, they received betrayal.”

He also said he hopes “that I am dead wrong in my opinion that this Diocese as presently constituted will not mend its ways.”

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FLORIDA
ABC 7

By George Solis, Reporter

FORT MYERS, FL –
New allegations came to light Tuesday against a former Catholic priest in Fort Myers.

The church found him guilty of sexually abusing a boy and now he’s accused of inappropriate behavior with other children.

A first victim stepped forward in 2008, saying Ronald Joseph abused him when he was just 16-years-old at Saint Francis Xavier near downtown Fort Myers.

Diocese leaders conducted their own investigation and removed him from the church – we discovered new information that reveals there could be other victims.

Once again all eyes are on Saint Francis Xaiver Catholic Church in Fort Myers.

Nearly six years ago the church was under scrutiny after allegations of sexual abuse first surfaced. They revolved around Rev. Jean Ronald Joseph.

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NEW MEXICO
Renegade Catholic

Jay Nelson

Just when you think it’s really and truly finally over, the past reaches out and grabs at you like a zombie hand from a grave. Once again the scandal of clergy sexual abuse hangs over the Land of Enchantment as new lawsuits are filed.

The story below for some reason does not name the accused priest, and the details provided don’t help that much, for there were at least two child-molesting priests who were sent to the Servants of the Paraclete from Connecticut and later became fugitives: Fr. Laurence Brett and Msgr. Arthur J. Perrault. But Brett was ultimately found, laicized and died, and there’s no mention of any of that here, so it would have to be Perrault, who has never been seen again.

Perrault was a big apple here – popular (winning a local “People’s Choice for Favorite Clergy” award), a close friend of later-disgraced Archbishop Robert Sanchez, a top liturgist who wrote columns for the archdiocesan newsletter, did the TV Mass regularly, and served as the coordinator of worship for bishops in the West. He’d been a colonel in the Air Force reserve Chaplains Corps, and served in the four biggest and richest parishes in the state.

And Fr. Perrault was also a major perp. Screwed male and female over a wide range of ages, and he nearly got me once, too. For he taught ethics, of all things, at St. Pius X High School here in Albuquerque back then. I went there back when it was located where the ABQ Uptown shopping mall is now. Thank God, I was only there for my freshman and sophomore years. But on one occasion, I had to see him in his office after school – I had found out about a gang fight that was scheduled for after school that I thought needed to be stopped.

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FLORIDA
WINK News

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The details were kept sealed for years, but new documents show explicit details about the abuse one teen who says he suffered at the hands of former father, Jean Ronald Joseph.

“We did reach a settlement last month, says Adam Horowitz, attorney for the victim. “It was a 6 figure settlement.”

These documents outline an internal investigation by the Diocese of Venice into former father Jean Ronald Joseph, accused of sexually abusing a teen while he worked here at the saint francis xavier parish.

“For 15 years, between 1993 and 2008, the diocese of Venice was aware of a history of red flags by this priest,” says Horowitz

The victim says Joseph groped him in his sleep back in 1993 when he was 16 years old.

The new documents show questionable behavior by Joseph, and witness accounts of other possible victims. Something attorney Adam Horowitz’s client wasn’t aware of. “He had no idea that there were these suspicious behavior that father Joseph was engaged in.”

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