ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
The Raw Story

By Travis Gettys
Thursday, June 12, 2014

Three former employees have sued a New York health care provider, claiming company officials retaliated against them for refusing to embrace the “Onionhead” religion.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit Wednesday based on the women’s claims against United Health Programs of America and its parent company, Cost Containment Group.

The women said they were forced out of their jobs because they refused to take part in workplace religious rituals – such as prayer circles, thanking God for their jobs, and saying “I love you” to managers and co-workers.

Company officials also required employees to pray, discuss personal matters with colleagues, read spiritual texts, burn candles, and keep dim lighting in the workplace, the suit claims.

The lawsuit claims company officials required employees to participate in a belief system called “Harnessing Happiness,” more commonly known as “Onionhead,” which was developed two decades ago by a mother and daughter to help promote more peaceful and successful lives.

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POLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Thursday, June 12, 2014

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

For apparently the first time in its history, the Polish Catholic hierarchy will publicly apologize to sexual abuse victims. We’re not buying it.

Vulnerable kids and wounded victims need actions, not words.

[Wirtschafts Blatt]

The Catholic church in Poland has an appalling track record when it come to the clergy sex abuse scandal. Their first focus must be on preventing child sex crimes.

Apologies make a few people feel good in the short term but produce no real change in the long term. The time to apologize is once the damage is over and the risk of more damage is past. That’s not the situation here. Clergy sex crimes and cover ups are still happening in Poland.

Often, bishops apologize with deceitful intent, hoping to convince parishioners and the public that all of this is somehow “in the past.” It’s not. It’s going on now. And it must be addressed by courageous action, not public relations gestures.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Catholic League

[Unhappy with your press? Give the ‘out of context’ talisman a try. – Commonweal]

Bill Donohue comments on how Commonweal is treating St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson:

It is pathetic to read how Commonweal, home to Catholic dissidents, is straining to put the worst possible face on St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson’s exchange with Jeffrey Anderson. Every objective observer who has ever tracked Anderson knows that this lawyer has a pathological hatred of the Catholic Church. So when he locks horns with an archbishop—any bishop will do—we know what to expect. Sadly, we also know what to expect from some on the Catholic left: when in doubt, side with Anderson’s interpretation.

On June 11, Dennis Coday at the National Catholic Reporter essentially offered the account by the St. Louis Archdiocese regarding a controversial exchange between Anderson and Carlson. He should have stopped there. Instead, later in the day he walked back his piece, saying Grant Gallicho at Commonweal may have been right when he accepted Anderson’s version.

At issue is whether Carlson was responding to a question regarding mandatory reporting laws, or a question about the criminal nature of sex between an adult and a child. Carlson maintains that he was responding to the former question; Anderson claims he was responding to the latter.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Claire McCormack
Published 11/06/2014

ONE of the country’s newest nuns is horrified by the stories emerging from the mother and baby homes but believes an independent inquiry will not draw a line in the sand on the country’s past.

Sr Liz Deasy (41) fears that even when the controversy over the latest scandal to rock the Catholic Church in Ireland subsides it will only be a matter of time before another emerges.

“I’ve no problem with an independent inquiry but it won’t be the end. There will be something else, it’s been going on since Bishop Casey and I’m already waiting for the next one to emerge,” said Sr Liz, who entered the Cistercian community of St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn, Co Waterford last year.

Although she said the truth needed to come out, she thinks it will be difficult and confusing.

“I was horrified by the headlines but that was then, and this is now, and a lot of those women had nowhere else to go,” said Sr Liz, who lives with 32 other nuns at St Mary’s.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
National Catholic Reporter

[live stream – U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]

Jamie Manson | Jun. 12, 2014 Grace on the Margins

Did you happen to read the Washington Post op-ed on Tuesday that seemed to incite the outrage of every major publication on the Internet? You know, the op-ed that argued that one way to end violence against women is for women to stop sleeping around and get married?

The op-ed was originally titled, “One way to end violence against women? Stop taking lovers and get married,” with the subhead, “The data show that #yesallwomen would be safer hitched to their baby daddies.”

But the headline created such a firestorm that the editors soon changed it to: “One way to end violence against women? Married dads,” with the subhead, “The data show that #yesallwomen would be safer with fewer boyfriends around their kids.”(The webpage’s address still bears the original title.)

Now here’s the kicker for Catholics. One of the co-authors of the piece is W. Bradford Wilcox. Guess who Wilcox is addressing today? The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The topic? That’s right: marriage.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Matt Sepic Jun 11, 2014

A former member of a central Minnesota boys’ choir says a priest at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville abused him while on a trip to Europe more than two decades ago.

The alleged victim and his family say they decided to go public with their allegations against the Rev. Timothy Backous after learning Backous was still in public ministry and had recently been working with minors.

The abbey says it stands by Backous. However, Essentia Health in Duluth, where the priest is now a vice president, says Backous is on voluntary leave pending an internal investigation. Late this afternoon, the Twin Cities Archdiocese said it is looking into the matter as well.

The man, now 37, says he endured unwanted sexual touching from Backous throughout a bus ride during the May 1990 European trip, while Backus was a chaperone. Backous could not be reached for comment.

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By Brian Lambert

The St. Louis Archdiocese is upset with the way .. the media here … have portrayed its archbishop. The one who wasn’t certain priests having sex with boys was against the law. Jim Salter of the AP writes: “The St. Louis Archdiocese on Wednesday condemned some media portrayals of Archbishop Robert Carlson’s deposition in a Minnesota lawsuit over alleged abuse by priests, saying ‘inaccurate and misleading’ reporting has prompted unfair criticism of him. … The archdiocese said that when Carlson said, ‘I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,’ he was referring to the fact that he did not know exactly when clergy were bound by law to report child abuse.”

Very much related … Matt Sepic of MPR reports: “A former member of a central Minnesota boys’ choir says a priest at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville abused him while on a trip to Europe more than two decades ago. The alleged victim and his family say they decided to go public with their allegations against the Rev. Timothy Backous after learning Backous was still in public ministry and had recently been working with minors.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Ray Downs Thu., Jun. 12 2014

The archdiocese of St. Louis says that everybody — especially the media — misunderstood Archbishop Robert Carlson’s statements about not remembering if he knew back in the ’70s and ’80s that an adult having sex with a kid was a criminal act.

The comments, which Carlson made during a deposition for a sexual-abuse lawsuit filed against the Twin Cities Archdiocese in Minnesota, caused an uproar in St. Louis and was widely reported on in national media. Faced with with a daunting public-relations task, the St. Louis Archdiocese put out a statement accusing the plaintiff’s attorney of taking the comments out of context, and everybody in the media misunderstood the clear and blatant statements Carlson made about not remembering.

“When the Archbishop said ‘I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,’ he was simply referring to the fact that he did not know the year that clergy became mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse,” says the archdiocese’s statement.

Here’s more from the archdiocese’s press release, which can be read in full here:

In the deposition video, which was released by Plaintiff’s counsel, the dialogue between Plaintiff’s counsel and Archbishop Carlson focused on Archbishop Carlson’s knowledge of Minnesota child abuse reporting statutes and when clergy became mandatory reporters. In the full transcript of Archbishop Carlson’s deposition, the actual exchange between Archbishop Carlson and Plaintiff’s counsel is quite different from what is being widely reported in the media. Plaintiff’s counsel began his line of questioning as follows:

Q. Well, mandatory reporting laws went into effect across the nation in 1973, Archbishop.

Charles Goldberg, the attorney representing Archbishop Carlson at this deposition, explained that while current Minnesota law makes it a crime for clergy persons not to report suspected child abuse, that statute did not become effective until 1988. What Plaintiff’s counsel has failed to point out to the media is that Goldberg himself noted at this point in the deposition: “You’re talking about mandatory reporting?” (Emphasis added by the archdiocese.) When the archbishop said, “I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,” he was simply referring to the fact that he did not know the year that clergy became mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse (pgs. 108-109).

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POLEN
Radio Vatikan

Polens katholische Kirche will an diesem Freitag im Rahmen eines Bußgottesdienstes bei den Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Priester um Entschuldigung bitten. An der von Bischof Piotr Libera geleiteten Messe in der Krakauer Herz-Jesu-Kirche wollen nach Angaben der polnischen Nachrichtenagentur KAI auch der neue Primas des Landes, Erzbischof Wojciech Polak, und der Apostolische Nuntius in Polen, Erzbischof Celestino Migliore, teilnehmen. Zu dem ersten derartigen Gottesdienst in Polen sollen laut unbestätigten Medienberichten auch Missbrauchsopfer eingeladen werden.

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POLEN
Wirtschafts Blatt

[Summary: The Catholic Church in Poland wants to make a statement of apology to victims of sexual abuse by priests, according to a newspaper report. The event will be in Krakow and abuse victims will be invited. Archbishop Wojcieck Polak, new primate of the Polish church, said they want to ask for forgiveness for the assaults.]

Mit einem Reuegebet will die katholische Kirche Polens einem Zeitungsbericht zufolge ein Zeichen der Entschuldigung an Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Priester setzen.

Zu der Veranstaltung im südpolnischen Krakau würden nach inoffiziellen Angaben auch Missbrauchsopfer eingeladen, berichtete die polnische Zeitung “Rzeczpospolita” am Donnerstag.

“Wir wollen um Vergebung bitten für alle sexuellen Übergriffe, die sich in der Kirche ereigneten”, sagte Erzbischof Wojciech Polak, der neue Primas der katholischen Kirche Polens, der Zeitung. “Wir haben gesündigt, ob wir die Kinder ausnutzen oder jene abschirmten, die zu Tätern wurden” zitierte “Rzeczpospolita” aus dem für den 20. Juni geplanten Reuegebet.

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

[with video]

By Mary Ann Ahern | Wednesday, Jun 11, 2014

Cardinal Francis George says he knows who he wants to succeed him, but he’s keeping the information close to the vest.

George says he’s forwarded to Apostolic Nuncio Vigano a list of three names that he feels would be a worthy successor.

“They always ask you to give us three names, so I have,” George said.

Those three individuals were likely attending the American Catholic Bishops gathering in New Orleans Wednesday, what will likely be George’s last meeting as Chicago’s acting archbishop.

But whoever George favors, the Vatican will still need to agree. It will be Pope Francis’ first significant appointment during his tenure.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
CBS St. Louis

Fred Bodimer
June 12, 2014

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A spirited defense from the attorney representing St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson in his deposition on how he handled a clergy abuse case in Minnesota in the early 1980s.

Carlson has drawn criticism for saying that he wasn’t aware at that time that it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a child.

“I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,” Carlson said in the deposition. “I understand today it’s a crime.”

Comments like this, says the Archbishop’s attorney Charles Goldberg, have been taken totally out of context.

“I think it’s apparent if you read the deposition exactly what the context of the questions and answers were,” he says.

So what was the context?

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IRELAND
Rabble

Posted by Paul Doyle on Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Paul Doyle lines up the usual suspects that attempt to give cover to Church crimes and skewers them as rightous cretins infesting our media.

During the recent European Elections the Catholic Democrats’ Theresa Heaney stood dead-eyed and Dana-esque on Vincent Browne; a relic of antiquity on whom the irony of having a hard-on for chastity is lost. Today, most people reject Heaney’s ilk, their views and the horrendous human toll those views have cost.

The Catholic Church’s inscrutable power saw 796 babies and children die and their bodies put in a mass grave in Tuam, Co. Galway. Tuam was not alone. Since the Church was forced to admit to these crimes, apologists have been out in force – their attempts at absolving the Church of as much responsibility as possible an ugly coda to the horrid tale, a final insult to the Churchs victims.

Everyone knew. Nobody knew better. Their families abandoned them. It was a problem with society. It was a different time.

Apologists are either ignoring, or are too ignorant to realize, that when the Church claimed infallibility, it qualified itself to be judged by future standards.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Martina Devlin

Mothers of adopted babies face a new trauma if the cloak of invisibility is suddenly torn away

Irish people have a knack for pretending. But let us have no charade it was only in the remote past that Ireland was a cold house for pregnant girls without a ring on their fingers.

As recently as the 1980s, this was no country for unmarried mothers. Remember the Ann Lovett case? Even now, it is impossible to read her story without wincing – both for the tragic schoolgirl, and for the society from which she sprang.

In 1984, a terrified 15-year-old named Ann Lovett gave birth alone, outdoors, by a grotto in honour of the Virgin Mary. She made her way from her school in Granard, Co Longford, to the grotto, and on a wet winter’s day there had a baby son, who died.

Ann died on the same day, from haemorrhage and exposure, and the father’s name was never revealed.

It shocked the nation, not least because some people in her community must have known about her condition. But it also led to a cascade of similar stories: the sense of fear, shame and isolation experienced by Ann was the lot of other young women who stepped outside sexual controls set in stone.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Chris Donoghue
Published 12/06/2014

One of the doctors behind a clinical drug trial at five mother and baby homes says he is willing to travel to Ireland to be interviewed by the upcoming government inquiry into the establishments.

Canada-based Dr Alex Kanarek (84) has told the Irish Independent that he will co-operate with any inquiry – but he wants business-class flights if he has to travel to Dublin.

He confirmed to the Irish Independent that he manufactured a vaccine given to 58 children in 1960. Speaking from his home in Toronto, the retired doctor said: “My role was to prepare the polio vaccine combinations that were used.”

This specific trial involved testing a 3-in-1 and a 4-in-1 vaccine on 25 children at Bessborough House in Cork, 14 children at St Patrick’s in Dublin, six children at St Peter’s in Westmeath, four children at St Clare’s in Stamullen, and nine children at the Good Shepherd in Meath.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Referendum may be needed to help children find out about their birth parents, says Taoiseach

John Downing
Published 12/06/2014

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said a referendum may be needed to clear a planned law helping adoptive children get more information about their birth parents.

Mr Kenny’s comments came as Social Protection Minister Joan Burton spoke for the first time since the mother-and-baby home controversy about her own circumstances as an adopted child.

Ms Burton said she also understood constitutional difficulties – but insisted that adopted children should have access to information about their origins.

Speaking in the Dail, the Taoiseach said the issue of adoptive children getting information on their backgrounds was full of legal difficulties.

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IRELAND
Journal

HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE attended a vigil last night in remembrance of babies and mothers who died in mother and baby homes across the country.

Crowds marched from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to the gates of the Dáil.

The vigil was organised by Justice for the Tuam Babies.

Items such as teddy bears and children’s shoes were attached to the railings outside the Dáil to memory of those who died in the homes.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY NICOLA ANDERSON AND CAROLINE CRAWFORD – 12 JUNE 2014

Teddies, babygrows and children’s shoes were the poignant tributes left at the gates of the Irish Parliament last night during a candlelit vigil marking the deaths of 796 babies in a mother and baby home in Co Galway.

One message inked on a tiny babygrow read: “For the babies we hold in our hearts, and not in our arms.”

A march took place from outside the Department for Children in Dublin under banners demanding justice. Earlier, two seven-year-old girls, Dasha Dlyaritskaya-Hilliard and Juliette Bruce Merzouk from Dublin, delivered a petition to Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

Signed by 30,000 people from more than a dozen countries, it urged the Irish Government to escalate investigations into mother and baby homes.

Around 250 people turned up for the rally, which began with song and verse, before a minute’s silence was observed for the young lives lost.

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AUSTRALIA
The Recorder

By Hollie Joyce June 12, 2014
.
NATIONAL sexual abuse service representatives visited Port Pirie recently to network with the local service providers to combine forces to make a difference.

Knowing where to go for help and support is essential in dealing with large issues in life and these women are passionate about making the appropriate services known.

Royal Commission support services counsellor with Victim Support Service Jac Taylor and knowmore legal service lawyer Kate Halliday met with regional coordinator for the Victim Support Service, Jenny Lewis, who is based in Port Pirie. They also met with Centacare, police, welfare group Uniting Care Wesley, Red Cross and social workers from the hospital.

The Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse gives the opportunity for people to disclose and receive help for the first time with both current and historic incidents

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Thursday 12 June 2014

The assistant principal at a Catholic school thought it was strange that a Marist brother used to keep his classroom blinds closed.

The teacher, former Brother Gregory Sutton, has since been convicted and jailed for numerous child sex offences.

Sutton started work at St Carthage’s School at Lismore in 1985 after stints at schools throughout NSW, the ACT and Queensland.

Soon after Sutton’s arrival at St Carthage’s school at Lismore, northern NSW in 1985, assistant principal Jan O’Grady began noticing odd practices, including that even on sunny days he would keep the classroom blinds closed.

He isolated himself from other staff and used to hang around with the same small group of students.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

June 12, 2014

Primrose Riordan
Reporter at The Canberra Times

The headmaster of Canberra’s Marist College Richard Sidorko has asked parents and students to pray together after meeting a sex abuse victim currently giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Canberra.

In an emotional letter sent to Marist College families dated June 11, Mr Sidorko said he was shocked by statements from witnesses at the commission.

“When listening to these statements I experienced a variety of emotions including shock, disbelief, sadness and anger,” Mr Sidorko said.

At the hearing this week he said he approached witness DD – a former student of the college who had been assaulted while he was a year 7 student – after DD gave his testimony. Mr Sidorko said in the letter that he thanked DD for intervening when he was in year 12 and saw another boy in year 7 being groomed by his abuser.

Mr Sidorko said: “I’m sure DD’s memories of Marist College are not positive. That saddens me because in him I saw qualities that I believe are Marist.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

“Leave it with me.”

That’s what a Marist Brothers school principal was told by the head of the order after reporting a teacher suspected of child sexual abuse.

The principal, Brother Terence Heinrich, on Thursday revealed a culture of secrecy among the Marist Brothers where delicate matters were dealt with in-house – “privately, internally”.

Head of Canberra’s Marist College between 1983 and 1988, Br Heinrich – who is still with the order – recalled being visited by the father of a student in 1986.

Then-brother John Chute, also known as Brother Kostka, had touched the man’s son on the genitals during a film night at the school.

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OREGON
TribTown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: June 11, 2014

PORTLAND, Oregon — A bank robber who made phony claims of child sex abuse by priests in four states in an unsuccessful effort to get money has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for mail fraud.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 50-year-old Shamont Sapp was given a 33-month sentence Wednesday in Portland by U.S. District Judge Anna Brown.

The former Pennsylvania resident pleaded guilty to pursuing phony cases against Roman Catholic dioceses in Portland; Tucson, Arizona; Covington, Kentucky; and Spokane, Washington, from 2005 through 2010. Federal prosecutors say he filed the fraudulent claims while he was a federal prison inmate serving lengthy sentences for 10 Pennsylvania bank robberies he committed in 1995.

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ALASKA
News-Miner

By Sam Friedman / sfriedman@newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS—The Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks has established a ministerial team to fill in while a Fairbanks priest under investigation by the FBI remains on administrative leave. No charges have been filed.

The Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks announced May 23 that Rev. Clint Landry, the parish priest of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, was put on administrative leave because he was under investigation by the FBI.

As of this week, Landry remains on leave, said Ronnie Rosenberg, director of human resources and legal coordinator for the diocese. In Landry’s absence, a three-member ministerial team will together cover ministries including the Sacred Heart Cathedral, the Spanish Ministry, the Filipino Ministry, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Barrow and St. Raphael’s Catholic Church on McGrath Road, she said.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Jun 12, 2014 06:00 By Alana Fearon

Two men who survived the mother and baby home reveal the physical and mental scars they were left with

Two men who survived the Tuam mother and baby home have opened up about the physical and mental scars their childhood experiences left them with.

Galway men Joe Donelan and Colm Sullivan were born 20 years apart in the now infamous Bon Secours home and both have been deeply affected by claims that up to 800 babies were secretly buried on the site.

Joe, who lives in Abbeyknockmoy, was born in the home in December 1938 and considers himself one of the lucky ones as he lived and was adopted at the age of four.

His adoptive parents Mary and John Keane didn’t reveal the truth about his past until he was a teenager – but Joe believes the way he behaved when he first went to live with his new family suggests he was beaten in the home.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Jun 12, 2014 06:00 By Alana Fearon

Woman reveals there was a special dorm in Westmeath home for infants who never left the room to play and were never seen again

A woman who spent eight years in a religious-run orphanage says she is haunted by memories of a room of “secret” babies she never saw grow up.

The woman, who was put into Mount Carmel Industrial School in Co Westmeath when she was eight, revealed there was a special dormitory in the building that none of the girls was allowed enter.

But speaking exclusively to the Irish Mirror, the Co Offaly native, 62, said the room was full of babies in cots who no one ever saw leave.

And admitting that she has been haunted by these memories for years, she admitted the Tuam buried babies scandal has left her wondering what ever became of the tots.

The mum-of-four, who now lives in Co Louth, revealed: “They were in a tiny room that we had to pass when we were going to the toilet but no one was allowed into it and there was a curtain covering the window but we all knew there were babies in there, sharing cots.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Thursday 12 June 2014

A HINDU priest is to stand trial in July for allegedly making inappropriate sexual remarks and trying to cuddle two women.Sarveshwar Sharan, 40, appearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, allegedly repeatedly acted in a way that caused “fear and alarm” while in a position of trust as a priest.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

JUNE 12, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

The founding of this blog was based on how the sex abuse cover up impacted my faith. That same impact is what drew Kathy Kane’s partnership in this effort. That same sense of betrayal led others here. Over the years, it has become so much more. It has also become a safe haven for victims to share their stories with each other and the laity. It’s been a platform for debate and an information hub offering related news. Priests, nuns, atheists, converts to other faiths and devoted Catholics have all reached out via our private messaging. It became really clear this is something people needed to talk about. It was God affirming for me and my faith has become stronger. However, practicing my religion in the traditional sense became much more difficult. How should I handle my children’s Catholic education and parish contributions? Where could I attend Mass in good conscience? How do I reconcile the evil with the good of my Church?

What do you think about these things? Would you be interested in sharing your experiences, questions and solutions with others. A couple of our “regulars” have posed the question of holding a forum on these matters. The purpose wouldn’t be to address sex abuse directly but to address our Catholic faith development in light of the crisis. They welcome any ideas on location, time of year and other planning elements. Please leave your comments.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KSDK

[with video]

Stephanie Diffin, KSDK June 11, 2014

ST. LOUIS – There are new developments in a priest sex abuse case out of Minnesota. The Archdiocese of St. Louis says Archbishop Carlson knew a crime had been committed when he learned of the abuse.

That abuse was happening where Carlson was serving in Minneapolis – St. Paul more than 30 years ago. So now, questions are being raised about why Carlson did not report the crimes to police.

In a conference call Wednesday, Archbishop Carlson’s attorney, Charles Goldberg, said reporting the abuse at the time of the abuse was not mandatory. He also pointed out that Carlson did not discourage the victim’s parents from going to police. The abuser in the case is former Minnesota Priest Thomas Adamson. His deposition for a lawsuit in Minnesota was just released by a Minneapolis area law firm Wednesday.

In the deposition, Adamson responds “Yes,” to the question “Did you abuse that kid?” He goes on to say it happened several times.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

This is one of the really stinky sort of Catholic birdcage droppings: in his deposition last month about his period as a bishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, which was released yesterday, when attorney Jeff Anderson asked him whether he knew it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a child, St. Louis archbishop Robert J. Carlson stated,

I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not. I understand today it’s a crime.

Anderson then went on to ask Carlson whether he knew in 1984, when he was auxiliary bishop in St. Paul-Minneapolis, for a priest to engage in sex with a child, and Carlson answered,

I’m not sure if I did or didn’t.

But as Lilly Fowler points out in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article I’ve linked above, in the same cache of materials released yesterday along with Archbishop Carlson’s deposition, there are documents recounting conversations Carlson had with church officials during his years as a bishop in Minnesota, which clearly indicate that Carlson did, indeed, understand that sexual abuse of children by adults is, in fact, criminal behavior.

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

NEW YORK
CNYCentral

by Jim Kenyon
Posted: 06.11.2014

OSWEGO COUNTY — In 1998 Ray Younis pleaded guilty to some 86 charges of child sex abuse involving 17 boys in and around the Village of Phoenix, but authorities say there were perhaps dozens of other victims for which Younis could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations.

Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes says there is no statute of limitations for certain crimes including 1st degree rape and 1st degree criminal sex act, but many other felony sex crimes against children must be prosecuted within 5 years.

Oakes told CNY Central’s Jim Kenyon, “I can’t go into specifics but we have cases pending now where victims have come forward on a defendant and if the allegations are true, it’s horrifying. But this office can’t go forward because it’s beyond the statute of limitations.”

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IRELAND
Galway Advertiser

BY MARTINA NEE Galway Advertiser, Thu, Jun 12, 2014

A statutory inquiry into all mother and baby homes must have “full powers” to compel witnesses and secure documentary evidence, particularly against religious orders, that is according to Justice for the Tuam Babies.

The comments were made following the announcement on Tuesday by the Minister of Children, Charlie Flanagan, that the cabinet has agreed to set up a Commission of Investigation into all mother and baby homes. Cautiously welcoming the decision, Justice for the Tuam Babies spokesperson Gary Daly vowed that until the Government releases the terms of reference of this inquiry the campaign group will continue to “press for a full inquiry into the neglect suffered by the children and mothers in all these homes, including medical testing” and that the inquiry must have full powers which are enforceable against the religious orders that operated those homes on behalf of the State.The Justice for the Tuam Babies and its supporters marched from the Department of Children to the gates of the Dáil last night. A candlelight vigil was held to remember the 796 infants believed to have died at the Tuam home, run by the Sisters of the Bon Secours, between 1925 and 1961.

While the Dublin march took place, Galway Pro-Choice also held a vigil at the children’s playground in Eyre Square at 7pm last night and which was supported by John Rodgers, a survivor of the Tuam home. According to Rachel Donnelly, Galway Pro-Choice is demanding sincere apologies from the Catholic Church and the Irish State which “must include a concrete agenda of action on criminal investigations and independent inquiries, compensation, and redress for mothers and survivors, plus any commemorations”. She added that Ireland must learn from its past and that there must be a “separation of Church and State, above all in our health system”.

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MEXICO
Pulso

[Summary: Hundreds of families gathered Wednesday at St. Rose of Lima parish in Soledad de Graciano Sanchez to hear an explanation from the San Luis Potosi diocese regarding the Gil Gillermo situation. With cards, loud cheers, they said the priest is innocent of the allegations of child sexual abuse and called for his return to the parish.]

Cientos de familias se reunieron este miércoles en la parroquia Santa Rosa de Lima, ubicada en la colonia 21 de Marzo perteneciente al municipio de Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, para escuchar la explicación de parte de integrantes de la Diócesis de San Luis Potosí, respecto a la situación del párroco Gillermo Gil.

Con cartulinas, aplausos y gritos, pidieron el regreso y clamaron la inocencia del padre Guillermo Gil a quien se le acusa de supuesta pederastia; decenas de niños y hasta adultos hablaron de la forma en que el sacerdote cambió la vida de la colonia y la atención en la Iglesia.

El vicario general Benjamín Moreno Aguirre, pidió que se haga oración y eviten cualquier provocación o manifestación, ya que legalmente se desconoce si se afectaría o beneficiaría al párroco.

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MEXICO
Zocalo-SaltilloX

[Summary: In his first public appearance since the scandal involving allegations of pedophilia against priest Eduardo Cordova Bautista, Archbishop Jesus Cabrero Romero apologized to the victims. He urged Cordova, who cannot be found, to step up and answer for the crimes for which he is accused.]

San Luis Potosí, S.L.P.- En su primera aparición pública tras desatarse el escándalo por las denuncias de pederastia contra el sacerdote Eduardo Córdova Bautista, el arzobispo Jesús Cabrero Romero pidió perdón a las víctimas “por estos actos deleznables que han llenado de vergüenza a la Iglesia potosina” y exhortó a Córdova a dar la cara y responder por los crímenes de que se le acusa, por el bien de su conciencia “y para evitar un daño mayor a esta iglesia”.

Cabrero anunció la integración de una comisión al interior de la arquidiócesis que encabeza para la atención a las víctimas de Córdova y dar seguimiento a los casos, así como para recibir y escuchar a quienes se acerquen a denunciar a cualquier otro sacerdote bajo su jurisdicción que hubiera abusado sexualmente de otras personas.

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MEXICO
CNN

[Summary: The attorney general of San Luis Potosi has accused officials of the Catholic Church of covering up abuse by priest Eduardo Cordova Mendoza, who is alleged to have sexual abused many children. Miguel Angel Garcia Covarrubias said the church has been reluctant to turn over information regarding the priest. The priest’s whereabouts are still unknown.]

(CNNMéxico) — La Procuraduría General de Justicia de San Luis Potosí (PGJE) acusaría de encubrimiento a la Arquidiócesis del estado en el caso del exsacerdote acusado de abuso sexual contra un menor, Eduardo Córdova Mendoza.

Miguel Ángel García Covarrubias, titular de la PGJE, aseguró que la Iglesia católica en San Luis se ha mostrado renuente, al no entregar datos de una denuncia en contra de Córdova Mendoza, del que se desconoce su paradero, según expresaron las autoridades en un comunicado.

El funcionario estatal mencionó que la queja de supuesto abuso sexual cometido a un menor por parte del exsacerdote potosino, que presentó la iglesia local, “ni siquiera llega a denuncia, ya que el escrito no trae ni nombre del denunciado ni de la víctima, y tampoco narra los hechos”.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 11, 2014

NEW ORLEANS The nation’s Catholic bishops during their annual summer assembly voted to stay the course they have set for themselves over the last several years, focusing on issues of religious liberty, same-sex marriage, and participation in the U.S. political sphere.

In one of only three public deliberations at the event, the prelates voted to renew their efforts in addressing concerns over religious liberty, granting another three-year term to a special bishops’ committee organized on the issue.

The bishops are gathered in New Orleans until Friday for their spring meeting, one of two annual plenary assemblies of the U.S. bishops’ conference.

Going into the event, many analysts and even some bishops had asked if the prelates would be reorienting their work around the new emphases of Francis’ first year as pope, particularly his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), and his pastoral tone.

Yet in three and a half hours of open discussion on 17 topics Wednesday, the bishops focused more on old business than new — hearing updates from the lay group that advises them on preventing sexual abuse of minors, Catholic Relief Services, and the bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

Vice-principal suspected Marist Brother Gregory Sutton was abusing students but did not tell police

June 12, 2014

David Ellery
Reporter for The Canberra Times

Margaret O’Grady did not report her fears Brother Gregory Sutton was abusing children at St Carthage’s Primary School in Lismore to the police, while she was vice-principal, because she had already alerted church authorities.

Ms O’Grady told Thursday’s hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, she had concluded there was a likelihood Sutton was abusing students after reading an entry in the teaching diary he kept on his desk.

But as mandatory reporting had not taken effect, she had put all her concerns and evidence in the hands of the Catholic Education Office.

Ms O’Grady, and another teacher, had decided to check the diary while investigating Sutton’s unexplained absence after a school camp.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian (UK)

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Thursday 12 June 2014

Time is running out for the child sexual abuse inquiry to hear all the cases before it is scheduled to end, the chairman has revealed.

Peter McClellan said the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse would only have time to hold 40 more hearings, even though “at least 30 more” institutions must be examined in public.

He also revealed that the Vatican was yet to respond to a request for key documents.

Speaking to a men’s health symposium at Griffith university in Brisbane, McClellan said the commission had contacted the Vatican and requested documents relating to complaints of abuse by Catholic priests, as well as “documents which reveal the nature and extent of communications between Catholic congregations in Australia and the Holy See”.

However, only some documents relating to an upcoming hearing in Wollongong have been received, and the royal commission is still awaiting a reply to its general request.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Barry and District News

A “RESPECTED and trusted” church elder has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing children and women in the Jehovah’s Witness community over a 10 year period beginning in 1985.

Mark Sewell, 53, of Porthkerry Road, Barry denies 12 charges including indecent assaults against girls under the age of 14, indecent assaults against a girl aged under 16 and a single charge of rape against a woman in 1990.

The jury at Merthyr Crown Court heard from prosecutor Sarah Waters that Sewell was a predator who had used his standing in the community to target girls and women for his sexual gratification.

On the opening day of the trial the court heard how Sewell had been accused of a string of offences against young girls and a charge of rape, following which the alleged victim became pregnant, before miscarrying.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

Royal commission into child sexual abuse: Former Marist College principal denies covering up allegations

EWAN GILBERT
June 12, 2014

Former Canberra Marist College headmaster Brother Terence Heinrich has denied he was involved in covering up allegations of child sexual abuse during the 1980s.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the response of the Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse in schools across the ACT, New South Wales and Queensland.

Brother Heinrich today admitted under cross-examination that dealing with allegations secretly and internally was the way it was.

Brother Heinrich was the headmaster at Marist College from 1983 to 1989, while Brother Kostka Chute was sexually abusing boys at the school.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Religion News Service

Adelle M. Banks | Jun 11, 2014

BALTIMORE (RNS) Southern Baptists prayed Wednesday (June 11) that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of the Green family, the evangelical owners of the Hobby Lobby craft chain that challenged the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

During its annual conference in Baltimore, Southern Baptists prayed that the U.S. Supreme Court would rule in favor of Hobby Lobby’s owners, members of the Green Family, who challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. Creative Commons photo by Nicholas Eckhart
Show caption

During its annual conference in Baltimore, Southern Baptists prayed that the U.S. Supreme Court would rule in favor of Hobby Lobby’s owners, members of the Green Family, who challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. Creative Commons photo by Nicholas Eckhart
This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

“God, we ask for a favorable, favorable ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States for the cause of religious liberty,” prayed the Rev. Ronnie Floyd, incoming president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Historians said the prayer from the podium during the SBC’s annual meeting about a pending court decision was noteworthy, though Southern Baptists have preached and issued statements for years on current events.

“I think it’s unusual for it to happen at a convention event,” said Bill Sumners, director of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. …

As the Southern Baptist meeting concluded Wednesday, representatives of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests passed out fliers outside urging the denomination to take stronger steps to safeguard children from abuse and prevent cover-ups of clergy sexual offenders.

Roger “Sing” Oldham, spokesman for the SBC’s Executive Committee, said Southern Baptists are regularly reminded that they are responsible for reporting child abuse accusations to local authorities.

“The Southern Baptist Convention remains clear and unambiguous in its condemnation of sex abuse of any kind and views molestation of innocent children as particularly heinous,” he said.

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ALABAMA
The Alabama Baptist

Two pastors have left a Reformed evangelical group after a pastor from the Maryland megachurch they oversaw confessed to covering up sex abuse claims, the latest chapter in a public struggle over evangelicals coming to terms with abuse within their ranks.

Pastors Joshua Harris and C.J. Mahaney left the leadership council of The Gospel Coalition, a central hub for the Reformed evangelical movement, after a trial involving child abuse at Covenant Life Church, Gaithersburg, Md., which both men have overseen.

A criminal trial that concluded recently raised questions about what pastors at Covenant Life knew about the abuse and why steps weren’t taken to stop it.

Nathaniel Morales, 56, was convicted May 15 of sexually abusing three underage boys between 1983 and 1991 when he was a youth leader at Covenant Life.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Marist brother left diary on desk which revealed liaisons with young girl Royal Commission told

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH JUNE 12, 2014

WHEN Marist brother Gregory Sutton was caught out lying about taking an afternoon off school, a suspicious teacher looked in his school diary which he openly kept on his desk.

“Picked up (girl). What an afternoon. She is magnificent”, the former assistant principal of Lismore’s St Carthage’s primary school, Jan O’Grady, said she read in his diary.

His entry for the following day said: “I had a fight with (same girl) and we made up.”

Ms O’Grady has told the child sex abuse royal commission today that when she rang the Catholic Education Office, they suggested that Brother Sutton take a month off and then return to the school.

She said she was furious and almost hysterical and contacted the then former director of the Catholic Education for the Diocese of Lismore, John Kelly, and it was only then that Bother Sutton left the school.

Ten years later when Brother Sutton was tracked down in the US and extradited to NSW, he pleaded guilty to 67 counts of child sex assault including having sexual intercourse with the girl, then aged 10 or 11.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Child sexual abuse royal commission: Peter McClellan requests Vatican documents on priest abuse claims

The head of the royal commission into child sexual abuse is seeking help from the Vatican with complaints about abuse involving priests.

Justice Peter McClellan took time out to address an international men’s health symposium in Brisbane last night.

He told the gathering the royal commission had received stories of abuse from more than 1,700 people in private hearings.

Justice McClellan said the allegations involved more than 1,000 institutions and that faith-based institutions were a “significant portion” of the complaints.

He revealed he has written to the Vatican seeking copies of all documents held in Rome relating to complaints of abuse by members of religious orders.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Archdiocese says Carlson’s statements about abuse were reported out of context

By Lilly Fowler lfowler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82214

Statements by St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson about not knowing whether sexual abuse of children by priests was a crime that have ignited outrage were taken out of context, a spokesman for the archdiocese said Wednesday.

The spokesman, Gabe Jones, said the comments Carlson made in a deposition last month had been misconstrued in news reports to suggest the archbishop didn’t know it was a criminal offense for an adult to molest a child.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Jones said.

“When the archbishop said ‘I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,’ ” Jones said, “he was simply referring to the fact that he did not know the year that clergy became mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse.”

The 181-page deposition is part of a sexual abuse lawsuit in Minnesota involving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, Minn. Carlson was responding to questions from plaintiff attorney Jeff Anderson.

The plaintiff in the case, identified only as “Doe 1,” alleges abuse in the 1970s by the Rev. Thomas Adamson at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park, Minn.

The deposition shows Carlson claiming he was uncertain whether during his time as auxiliary archbishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis he knew that a priest engaging in sex with a child constituted a crime.

Over and over, for a total of 193 times throughout the deposition, Carlson said he did not remember, in response to questions posed by Anderson.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[with video]

By: Jenna Lohse

(ABC 6 News) — In a sworn deposition released today Thomas Adamson, who currently lives in Rochester, talks openly about sexually abusing young teens. This includes at least one at Lourdes High School while he was principal.

The abuse happened decades ago and Adamson is at the center of a civil lawsuit. But because so much time has passed, he can’t be punished in a criminal court.

“How many kids, minors, do you estimate you engaged in sexual contact with while you were a priest?” asked Jeff Anderson, the alleged victims’ attorney. “That would be just a guess, several,” Thomas Adamson replied under oath.

Former priest Thomas Adamson admits sexually abusing at least 12 teens from the 1960’s to the mid 1980’s.

“While you were at St. Adrian and Lourdes?” Anderson asked.

“I think that got more involved, it probably started with masturbation and developed from there,” Adamson replied.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

video report by Leah Beno

Abbot John Klassen, of St. John’s Abbey, described the sexual abuse allegations leveled against a former St. John’s Prep School headmaster “unsubstantiated” as he defended the integrity of Rev. Timothy Backous — and the victim’s family says that’s disturbing.

The St. Cloud Times reported that the accusations against Backous — which claim he had inappropriate sexual contact with a former member of the St. John’s Boys’ Choir — surfaced in a letter dated May 31. That letter, sent by St. Cloud residents Chris and Kathy McDermid, claims their son was repeatedly sexually assaulted while on a choir trip to Europe in 1990 when he was just 12.

“They need to get his name on the list of accused because he was accused and he did abuse our son,” Kathy McDermid told Fox 9 News.

Although they tried to file a police report, the McDermids say the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office told them the alleged abuse was out of their jurisdiction.

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ARIZONA/TEXAS
Tucson News Now

By Sonu Wasu

A Civil lawsuit has been filed in Pima County Superior Court against the Catholic Diocese of Tucson and the Diocese of El Paso.

At the center of the lawsuit is a former teacher at Salpointe Catholic High School, Father Richard Zamorano.

Court documents state Father Zamorano was incardinated in El Paso, but later moved to Pima County.

The lawsuit claims Father Zamorano was under the supervision of the Diocese of Tucson and El Paso at the time the wrongful acts he was accused of, occurred.

The lawsuit states the victim in this case is a”vulnerable adult”with mental, cognitive, and physical disabilities. He was raised in the Roman Catholic Faith and was raised to believe that priests were next to holy. He placed a great amount of trust in Father Zamorano because he was a priest.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The head of the royal commission into child sexual abuse is seeking help from the Vatican with complaints about abuse involving priests.

Justice Peter McClellan took time out to address an international men’s health symposium in Brisbane last night.

He told the gathering the royal commission had received stories of abuse from more than 1,700 people in private hearings.

Justice McClellan said the allegations involved more than 1,000 institutions and that faith-based institutions were a “significant portion” of the complaints.

He revealed he has written to the Vatican seeking copies of all documents held in Rome relating to complaints of abuse by members of religious orders.

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

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Madonna King

Pope Benedict XVI was personally alerted to a shocking sex abuse case at a local Toowoomba school but dismissed pleas by local Bishop Bill Morris to stay on and deal with it.

Bishop Morris was controversially sacked by the Pope in May 2011, prompting international news.

The revelation that the Pope was informed of the case is among many penned by Morris in his book Benedict, Me and the Cardinals Three, which will be released this weekend.

Private correspondence between Bishop Morris and the Vatican show a stunning ignorance of the fallout from clerical sex abuse in Australia, as well as the birth of “Temple police’’ – local extreme right Australian parishioners who are taking notes in churches and complaining directly to the Vatican.

“There was no depth of understanding of the devastating effects that clerical sexual abuse was having on the lives of families and communities throughout Australia,’’ the Bishop writes.

He says he tried to “explain how abuse damages the psyche of a community, having a debilitating effect on some individuals to the degree that they mistrust the church and its ministers’’ but senior Vatican chiefs “would have nothing of this’’.

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CANADA
APTN

Kathleen Martens
APTN Investigates

WINNIPEG – A residential schools lawyer is distancing himself from a form-filling company after a judge ruled they are illegal.

Ken Carroll of Winnipeg says he’s cut ties with the company – First Nations Residential School Solutions – and given up his financial stake in the firm.

“I have worked with a form filler organization and the original concept proposed by them involved my owning a 25 per cent interest in that company. But that interest was abandoned very early in my involvement in the process as soon as I recognized problems with the concept which was over a year before we engaged in our first hearing and about 18 months before the incidents being reported upon,” Carroll said in a two-page statement sent to APTN Investigates.

Carroll says he divested himself well before Justice Perry Schulman’s strongly worded decision of June 4, in response to a request-for-direction from the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Victoria White

WHEN is a dead baby in an unmarked grave not a dead baby in an unmarked grave? When it’s a Protestant baby!

The Tuam “babies in the septic tank” scandal and the media hysteria which culminated in the Government’s frantic announcement of an statutory inquiry into mother and baby homes show how carefully we choose what we remember and when.

It is four long years since the academic Niall Meehan found records which led to 222 unmarked graves of babies and young children who died in the Protestant-run Bethany home in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar.

Last July survivors of the home were refused redress by this Government, a decision which the Government said was “based on an examination of the human suffering involved and no other criteria.” Alan Shatter told the survivors that the State would pay for a “modest” memorial to those 222 innocents who died of exactly the same causes — infection and hunger — as the Tuam babies.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Lorna Siggins

Thu, Jun 12, 2014

When Annie Smith was ordered out of the house by her father over 70 years ago in Dublin, she spent several nights sheltering in a watchman’s hut before taking refuge in St Patrick’s mother-and-baby home on the Navan Road.

Annie, christened Honora, was 22, had a job in the Ever Ready battery factory and was six months pregnant. Life had not been easy. Her own mother had died when she was seven, and her father, a Guinness brewery employee, had survived the first World War as a British army sergeant-major.

“She had lived with her father and siblings. He remarried when she was 12, and they were among the first group of inner-city residents who were moved out to new housing estates being developed in Cabra,”Annie’s daughter, Nuala, now living in Connemara, says. “But they spent five years in Keogh Barracks in Inchicore before that move, and my mother says it was horrendous.”

On finding herself with child, Annie told her boyfriend, who was from a middle-class Dublin family. He tried to persuade her go to to England with him.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KPLR

[with video]

POSTED 7:13 PM, JUNE 11, 2014, BY BETSEY BRUCE

ST. LOUIS, MO (KPLR) – A lawyer for St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson defended the church leader Wednesday saying his reputation had been tarnished by statements taken out of context.

This came after a firestorm of public criticism over Carlson’s testimony regarding child sex abuse in a thirty year old case against a Minnesota priest. Attorney Charles Goldberg described the archbishop as a “leader” in combating child abuse by clergy. At the time, Carlson was part of the leadership of the Catholic Church in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The video showing segments of Carlson’s sworn testimony regarding the Minnesota case was released by lawyers for the plaintiff. Goldberg said it was taken out of context and the questions really referred to whether Carlson knew at the time if it was a crime to fail to report abuse of children to law enforcement.

St. Louis critics of Carlson gathered outside the New Cathedral Wednesday afternoon calling on him to show transparency regarding abusive clergy within the St. Louis Catholic Church. Catholic Ellen Prendergast of Old Monroe urged “good” priests to demand the bad ones be removed. “I can’t stand that the good priests continue to let the bad priests and their past and even their present be covered up,” she said.

Linda Briggs-Harty, a member of the church from Brentwood, said, “I don’t know if he should step down or not but people need to start looking at the fact this is absolutely ridiculous to be talking like this as a moral leader.”

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MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

[with video]

Posted by Joelle Casteix on June 11, 2014

Yesterday, attorneys for victims of child sexual abuse in Minnesota and Missouri released a recent sworn deposition of St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson. In the deposition, which can be read here and viewed in excerpts below, Carlson states 193 times that he “does not remember” various incidents regarding the sexual abuse of children.

From the Huffington Post:

(Attorney for victims Jeff) Anderson went on to ask Carlson whether he knew in 1984, when he was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, that it was crime for a priest to engage in sex with a child.

“I’m not sure if I did or didn’t,” Carlson said.

So I did a little research into priests in Minnesota who were arrested for sexual abuse in the 1980s. As auxillary bishop of the archdiocese, Carlson would have intimate knowledge of the activities in his own and neighboring dioceses.

I found some interesting material:

1979 – St. Cloud priest Fr. Raoul Gauthier is charged with sexual assault on a 37-year-old developmentally disabled man. He fled the country before he could be tried.

1980 – Duluth Diocese priest Dennis Puhl is convicted of 4th degree sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy. He was sentenced to 21 months, but a judge stayed the conviction. Puhl instead served five years probation on the condition he receive treatment in a church-run facility.

1982 – Fr. Gilbert Gustafson of the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese pleads guilty to the sexual abuse of a boy. He serves 4 1/2 months in jail. Although convicted, he was not removed from the ministry until 2002, but still can be found doing leadership training for nuns in the state.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

The Taoiseach has said Ireland will probably need to hold a referendum to allow children who were forcibly adopted to trace their parents.

Enda Kenny said the move was one of the issues being considered by the Government as part of its inquiry into mother-and-baby homes.

The forced adoption of illegitimate children is set to be one of the issues considered by the Commission of Investigation announced yesterday.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Two seven-year-old girls have handed ministers a petition signed by 30,000 people demanding a judge lead the inquiry into church-run, state-sanctioned institutions for single mothers.

Dasha Klyaritskaya-Hilliard and her friend, Juliette Bruce Merzouk, from Dublin, took the message on behalf of people in more than a dozen countries who joined an online campaign urging the Government to escalate investigations.

Robin Hilliard, Dasha’s father, from Dalkey, Co Dublin, helped create the petition with a friend, Amanda Maloney, from Limerick, following revelations about the deaths of 796 infants at a mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway between 1925 and 1961.

“I’m old enough to remember the reputation of some of those places as a kid. And now that the thing has come out in the open it seems you have to wonder how was this allowed to happen and what on earth were people thinking,” he said.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou is backing calls for the Mother and Baby Home inquiry to include the Magdalene Laundries.

A full commission of inquiry is being set up, and will have the power to compel documents and witnesses.

It will include at least one institution outside Catholic control.

Speaking today Deputy McDonald said concerns expressed about a report on the issue carried out by Martin McAleese could be addressed in the new investigation.

“To understand the Mother and Baby homes you have to include the Magdalene Laundries,” Deputy McDonald said.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

MSM source of this news calibre did not fall from the sky.

At the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, the media showed the white crosses and marked “unknown” graves of thousands of fallen allied forces soldiers on June 6, 1944. But why are there no little crosses – or one single cross –above the grave site of 800 babies who died between 1927-1961 in a house run by stupid Catholic nuns who sold the babies of unwed mothers to wealthy Americans or killed those un-pure women’s sick babies by merely dumping them in a septic tank, tiny skeletons discovered by two little boys in 1975 in Tuam, Ireland? Strange how the Vatican Catholic Church condemns lay women’s abortion (of a few clumps of cells of the unborn) but do not condemn nuns who sell healthy babies or kill sick babies and dump them in a septic tank or unmarked graves.

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NEW YORK
Saratogian

By Glenn Griffith, The Saratogian
POSTED: 06/11/14

Clifton Park >> A Catholic priest arrested in April on one charge of endangering the welfare of a child appeared in Clifton Park Town Court on Wednesday and had his case adjourned until July.

Rev. James Michael Taylor, 30, walked into the town’s Public Safety Building with head held high shortly before the 4 p.m. start of court. He was accompanied by his attorney, Daniel Stewart. Neither man commented on the case as they entered the building.

After a request from a member of the Saratoga County District Attorney’s Office, Taylor’s case was continued until July 23.

An assistant district attorney, who said he was not in charge of the case, told Town Judge James Hughes the continuance was needed because more evidence is being processed.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Bryan Denson | bdenson@oregonian.com
on June 11, 2014 at 3:37 PM, updated June 11, 2014 at 3:43 PM

A convicted bank robber was sentenced to nearly three years in prison on Wednesday for making fictitious claims of child sex abuse against Roman Catholic priests in Portland and three other cities from behind bars.

Shamont Lyle Sapp was serving time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pa., in 2008, when he sued the Archdiocese of Portland, claiming he was sexually assaulted by one of its priests during his years as a teen runaway in the 1970s.

Sapp first drew national headlines in 2011, when he sued comedians Jamie Foxx and Tyler Perry for $1 million each, falsely claiming they stole his idea for a movie project titled “Skank Robbers.”

But the Skank Robbers scheme was child’s play compared to the work Sapp put in from 2005 to 2010, as he made false claims against priests in Portland, Spokane, Covington, Ky., and Tucson, Ariz. He took advantage of pending bankruptcies in Catholic dioceses to make his baseless claims, records show.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review

SUBMITTED ON JUNE 11, 2014

Joseph Kenny | jkenny@archstl.org | twitter: @josephkenny2

A videotaped deposition of Archbishop Robert J. Carlson in a lawsuit involving an alleged abuse some 35 years ago was covered extensively this week when a video clip of it was highlighted to news media outlets at a press conference June 9 by the plaintiff’s lawyer.

The attorney “strategically took Archbishop Carlson’s response to a question out of context and suggested that the archbishop did not know that it was a criminal offense for an adult to molest a child. Nothing could be further from the truth,” a statement from the Archdiocese of St. Louis pointed out.

In another part of the deposition that wasn’t reported in the media, Archbishop Carlson is asked by the plaintiff’s attorney whether he knows a specific sexual act by a priest on a child is a crime, and the archbishop answers, “Yes.”

The deposition was related to a lawsuit seeking damages in a Minnesota state court against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Diocese of Winona and a former priest of Winona, Thomas Adamson. Archbishop Carlson is a former priest and auxiliary bishop of the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese, where he served on the Personnel Board and as vice chancellor and chancellor. Neither Archbishop Carlson nor the Archdiocese of St. Louis are parties of the lawsuit.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Nicola Anderson and Caroline Crawford

Teddies, babygros and children’s shoes were amongst poignant tributes left at the gates of Leinster House during a candlelit vigil marking the deaths of the 796 babies who died at a mother and baby home in Tuam.

One message inked on a tiny babygro read: “For the babies we hold in our hearts and not in our arms.”

A march took place from outside the Department for Children on Mespil Road under banners demanding justice, while earlier, two seven year old girls, Dasha Dlyaritskaya-Hilliard and Juliette Bruce Merzouk from Dublin delivered a petition to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald urging the Government to escalate investigations into what went on.

Around 250 people turned up for the rally in the capital last night, which began with song and verse before a minute’s silence was solemnly observed for the young lives lost.

Meanwhile hundreds of people gathered in silence in Galway last night to express their horror at the deaths of almost 800 children in the Tuam Mother and Baby’s home.

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IRELAND
Sunday World

Tuesday 10th June 2014

● FR. BRIAN D’ARCY

The recent revelations about the mistreatment of young children and babies in homes run by religious orders continues to shock and dismay me.

When I first heard the news that more than 800 babies were buried in what was formally a septic tank I was astonished – because initially I thought it happened in some famine-stricken country today.

Then I thought I was hearing about Nazi Germany. But when I realised it happened in Ireland during my own lifetime to children in the care of religious sisters, I was overcome with a deep sorrow bordering on depression.

There appears to be no reason to doubt the veracity of the horror stories that have come out in the past few days. Yet we do need to be certain of all the facts – and I hope that will be the first thing the Government does.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 11, 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 retired New York priest may get a plea deal in his child pornography case. We hope if he does get a plea deal that it is harsh and protects innocent children.

[Syracuse.com]

Fr. Robert Ours, who is currently living in Syracuse, was arrested last month for child porn charges. We hope whatever the plea deal is his superiors in the Syracuse Catholic diocese aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Ours’ crimes and urge them to contact police and prosecutors immediately.

Additionally, Bishop Robert Cunningham should visit every parish Fr. Ours worked and beg witness, whistleblowers, and victims to come forward and report to secular officials. And we hope anyone who was hurt by Fr. Ours will stop suffering in silence and self-blame, get help and start healing.

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IRELAND
Amnesty International

The recent public and political focus on allegations of human rights abuses in Mother and Baby Homes has rekindled an important public discussion about the need to address past human rights abuses, and the relevance of such issues to Irish society today.

But of course this is not a new debate in Ireland. In recent decades there have been a number of such investigations.

The abuse and exploitation of tens of thousands of Irish children in State funded institutions as detailed in the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the Ryan Report) and the abuse detailed in the Ferns, Murphy (Dublin) and Cloyne Reports constitute arguably the gravest and most systemic human rights violations in the history of this State.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Aine McMahon

Wed, Jun 11, 2014

Several hundred people attended a vigil in memory of babies who died at mother and baby homes across the State outside the Dáil tonight.

The vigil was organised by Justice for the Tuam Babies .

Those taking part in the vigil marched from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to the gates of the Dáil.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams was among those who attended.

Teddy bears and children’s shoes were attached to the railings outside the Dáil to remember those who died in the homes.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Jun 11, 2014 By Aine Hegarty

Survivors draped babygrows and teddy bears with poignant messages from the gates of Leinster House

Over 1,000 people held a candlelit vigil this evening in memory of the 4,000 babies who died in mother and baby homes.

Emotions ran high as people left poignant messages on babygrows draped on the iron railings of Leinster House along with shoes, teddy bears and flowers in memory of the dead infants.

One read “For the babies we hold in our hearts and not in our arms” and another “For the mothers, the love and support you never had is here today”.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho June 11, 2014

Yesterday social media lit up with news accounts claiming Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis had told victims attorney Jeff Anderson that when he was an auxiliary bishop in St. Paul and Minneapolis, he didn’t know that it was illegal for an adult to have sexual contact with a child. Here’s how one of those stories began:

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson claimed to be uncertain that he knew sexual abuse of a child by a priest constituted a crime when he was auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to a deposition released Monday (June 9).

“I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,” Carlson replied. “I understand today it’s a crime.”

Today the Archdiocese of St. Louis defended Carlson with a long press release accusing Anderson, and by extension news accounts that cited him, of “strategically” taking Carlson’s testimony “out of context.” According to the archdiocese, “in the full transcript of Archbishop Carlson’s deposition, the actual exchange between Archbishop Carlson and Plaintiff’s counsel is quite different from what is being widely reported in the media.” The statement continues: “What Plaintiff’s counsel has failed to point out to the media is that Mr. Goldberg himself noted at this point in the deposition ‘you’re talking about mandatory reporting?’ When the Archbishop said ‘I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,’ he was simply referring to the fact that he did not know the year that clergy became mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse (pgs. 108-109).” In other words, Carlson was talking about mandatory-reporting laws, not laws against adults having sex with minors.

This prompted the alternative magisterium at the National Catholic Reporter to quickly publish a story that essentially repeats the archdiocese’s press release. The editors even added an update at the top of the Religion News Service piece they published about this–which also parrots the archdiocese’s claims. The St. Louis CBS affiliate published a similar article. So did Deacon Greg Kandra at Patheos. And the Winona Daily News.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Public Radio

By SHULA NEUMAN

The St. Louis Archdiocese is defending statements that Archbishop Robert Carlson made during his deposition one month ago in a priest sex abuse lawsuit in Minnesota.

On Monday, video of Carlson’s deposition was released in which he repeatedly said he was uncertain if he knew during his time as auxiliary archbishop in St. Paul that a priest engaging in sex with a child was a crime. Today, the Archdiocese released a statement saying that the video took Carlson’s statements out of context.

In a statement, the Archdiocese said:

“During a press conference held on June 9, 2014, Plaintiff’s lawyer strategically took Archbishop Carlson’s response to a question out of context and suggested that the Archbishop did not know that it was a criminal offense for an adult to molest a child. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

The statement goes on to point out that even though current Minnesota law makes it a crime for members of the clergy not to report suspected child abuse, that statute did not go into effect until 1988, after the events for which Carlson was being deposed.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Democrat

By Democrat Staff

A Roman Catholic priest who allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl was arraigned on Tuesday in Yolo Superior Court.

Rev. Hector Coria Gonzales, 46, is charged with three felony courts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a teenager he met while working at a Davis church.

According to the complaint, the charges stem from encounters between Gonzales and a 17-year-old girl that took place at a home, in a vehicle and at the church rectory over eight months.

At the arraignment, Gonzales did not enter a plea, and Yolo County Court Commissioner Janene Beronio scheduled a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24 in Department 1 for him to do so. There will also be a pre-hearing conference at that time, while the preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 8 in the same department.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

A former priest at the center of a lawsuit against church officials in the Twin Cities and Winona admits he sexually abused 12 teens from the 1960s to the mid-1980s.

In a sworn deposition released Wednesday, Thomas Adamson says church leaders sent him to other parishes or treatment, but didn’t ask about other victims.

An attorney for one of Adamson’s alleged victims says records show Adamson abused 40 people – and there may be more who haven’t come forward.

Adamson is involved in a lawsuit that alleges the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese and the Winona diocese created a public nuisance by keeping names of accused priests secret.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Leah White | 12th Jun 2014

SICKENING violations of trust like the ones carried out by former St Joseph’s principal John “Kostka” Chute and former St Carthage’s Primary School teacher Gregory Sutton will never happen again, Lismore Trinity Catholic College and Marist Brothers representatives have said.

Details of the ongoing and systematic sexual abuse of school children by Brother Chute and former Br Sutton at schools across NSW, Queensland and the ACT are being heard at the child abuse Royal Commission in Canberra this week.

Trinity Catholic College principal Br John Hilet said a wide and thorough range of measures and processes were in place to ensure history did not repeat itself.

These measures, which were enforced in schools across the state, included the screening of all teachers, employees and visitors, registration requirements for teachers and criminal history checks for all staff and volunteers in the school as well as mandatory reporting.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

A senior teacher from a school where multiple allegations of child sexual abuse were made against a Marist Brother will give evidence at a royal commission

The former assistant principal of a Marist Brothers school will tell a royal commission how the church dealt with complaints of child sexual assault against a teacher.

Jan O’Grady was the deputy headmaster at St Carthage’s School in Lismore in NSW’s northeast where former brother Gregory Sutton is alleged to have sexually assaulted at least five boys and girls between 1985 and 1987.

The school allegedly received complaints from parents and fellow teachers about Sutton’s misconduct and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, currently sitting in Canberra, is assessing if these reports were handled adequately.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JUNE 12, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

THE child abuse royal commission will ask the federal government to extend its work beyond next year, with the commission’s chairman saying it is currently dealing with allegations relating to more than 1000 institutions across the country.

When the commission was ­announced in November 2012, “no one had any realistic idea of the size of the task and the time that would be necessary to complete it”, judge Peter McClellan will tell an audience at Brisbane’s Griffith University today. The first interim report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, due this month, will make the case for extending the 2015 deadline.

“This was always recognised as unlikely to be achieved,” Justice McClellan will say. “By the end of 2015 we estimate that … we will have been able to conduct only 40 public hearings. From the information we have collected we have concluded that there are at least 30 more institutions which must be examined.”

To date, the commission has held other, private, hearings with more than 1700 people, while a further 1000 people are waiting on such sessions and about 40 new requests are arriving each week, Justice McClellan will say.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

June 12, 2014

Ehssan Veiszadeh

The royal commission into child sex abuse is investigating how the Vatican dealt with allegations of abuse against its priests in Australia.

Commission chair Peter McClellan has written to the Secretary of State of the Vatican City, asking for a copy of all documents held in Rome relating to complaints of sexual abuse by priests and religious leaders in Australia.

Justice McClellan hopes the documents will shed light on how complaints were handled by the Catholic Church.

“We have asked for copies of documents which reveal the nature and extent of communications between Catholic congregations in Australia and the Holy See,” Justice McClellan will tell Griffith University in Brisbane on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 11 June 2014

The royal commission into child sex abuse is investigating how the Vatican dealt with allegations of abuse against its priests in Australia.

Commission chair Peter McClellan has written to the Secretary of State of the Vatican City, asking for a copy of all documents held in Rome relating to complaints of sexual abuse by priests and religious leaders in Australia.

Justice McClellan hopes the documents will shed light on how complaints were handled by the Catholic Church.

“We have asked for copies of documents which reveal the nature and extent of communications between Catholic congregations in Australia and the Holy See,” Justice McClellan will tell Griffith University in Brisbane on Thursday.

“From these documents we should be able to determine how church authorities in Australia, under the guidance or direction of the Vatican, have responded to individual allegations of abuse.”

The commission has received some documents from the Vatican relating to its upcoming public inquiry of the Wollongong diocese.

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UNITED STATES
AL.com

By Frances Coleman
on June 11, 2014

I have a philosophy about things posted on Facebook or other social media platforms, and it is this: When you hear that a public figure has said something especially shocking, the first thing you should do – even before gasping and certainly before responding — is read a transcript of what the public figure actually said.

So that’s what I did when I saw the report that Robert Carlson, archbishop of St. Louis, said he wasn’t sure whether he knew in 1984 that it was a crime for an adult to have sex with a minor.

Unfortunately, that is indeed what the archbishop said in a deposition he gave last month. In response to an attorney’s question on the subject, he said: “I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not. I understand today it’s a crime.”

When the attorney asked, more specifically, whether he knew in 1984 that it was a crime for a priest to engage in sex with a child, the archbishop replied, under oath, “I’m not sure if I did or didn’t.”

Now, being surrounded as I am by lawyers – three in my immediate family and assorted cousins in the extended family – and having watched my share of “Law & Order” over the years, I understand some of the nuances of depositions. Especially, I understand that the person under oath, on the advice of his attorney, will try his best to avoid giving specific answers to specific questions about what he does and doesn’t remember.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Speaking in the Seanad tonight, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said he does not want to see the Commission of Investigation into mother-and-baby homes descend into a “bottomless quagmire”.

Mr Flanagan said he wanted its work to be conducted in a timely and efficient manner.

He said he was committed to clear and reasonable terms of reference and said that a reasonable person will accept that if an inquiry is to complete its work in an efficient manner, its terms of reference must be realistic.

The minister also said he did not want to prejudge the outcome of the deliberations and information gathering by an interdepartmental group ahead of the inquiry.

Earlier, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said he believes any statutory inquiry should include all mother-and-baby homes and similar bodies run by the church and the State, as well as voluntary private homes.

Archbishop Martin said the inquiry should look at all aspects of these institutions, including adoptions; it should consider how people entered these institutions, how they were treated and how they left.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The scale of the task facing the forthcoming Commission of Investigation into mother-and-baby homes is apparent when the issue of infant burial is considered.

A review of interment records for Tuam between 1922 and 1943 provides little evidence that deceased infants from the town’s home were buried in the local cemetery.

The Commission of Investigation into mother-and-baby homes will examine all aspects of the institutions, which operated for much of the last century.

High mortality rates, adoptions and questions relating to clinical trials will all be examined.

The issue of burial practices is also key to the inquiry, but it may be difficult to achieve definitive answers in this regard.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 11, 2014

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

Catholics, you may feel powerless but you aren’t. You can donate to groups that prevent abuse, not institutions that hide it. You can write letters to lawmakers urging better child safety laws. You can invite child sex abuse victims and their advocates to speak in your churches or to your organizations. You can speak out – in public and online – because secrecy only helps the bad guys.

You can look at the list of 51 proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting St. Louis Catholic clerics at BishopAccountability.org. You can ask every current and former Catholic you know about these predators – your friends, your family, your neighbors. You can get specific, and ask “Did any of these priests, nuns, seminarians or brothers hurt you?” If they say yes, you can beg them to call police, prosecutors, therapists or our support group. You can assure them that healing is possible, and sometimes justice and prevention are possible too. You can encourage them to explore any legal options they may have – criminal or civil.

You can beg your colleagues – fellow parishioners – to report what they know or suspect about clergy sex crimes to law enforcement. You can remind them that nothing is too small, old or seemingly minor to report. You can tell them it’s their duty to share what they’ve heard or seen, and it’s law enforcements’ duty to decide what’s worth investigation or prosecuting.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on media bias against St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson:

On June 9, attorney Jeff Anderson released video clips from a May 23 deposition transcript of Archbishop Carlson. It was vintage Anderson: he misrepresented the truth. What the media did, led by the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was to echo the distortion.

The Post-Dispatch editorial said the following: “Mr. Anderson asked the archbishop if at the time [1984], he knew it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a child. ‘I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,’ Archbishop Carlson replied. ‘I understand today it is a crime.’” The editorial then hammered Carlson for his response.

What actually happened was quite different. The lead question in this exchange was never shown on the video clip. The question was: “Well, mandatory reporting laws went into effect across the nation in 1973, Archbishop.” At this point, Carlson’s lawyer, Charles Goldberg, interjected, “I’m going to object to the form of that question.” Anderson said he wanted to finish the question, and Goldberg agreed. Anderson then said to Carlson, “And you knew at all times, while a priest, having been ordained in 1970, it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a kid. You knew that right?” Goldberg jumped in again: “I’m going to object to the form of that question now. You’re talking about mandatory reporting.” Anderson agreed to rephrase it.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

One of the ironies of this situation is that when Robert Carlson was auxiliary bishop of St. Paul, he was actually trying to raise some warning flags about the case in question.

Had he been more forthcoming in his recent deposition, things would have gone better. A commenter on Fr. Z’s blog notes …

Archbishop Carlson reminds me of former Bishop of South Bend D’Arcy. They both consistently said that abuser priests should not be transferred while they were auxilliary bishops, had that advice rejected by the bishops above them, and eventually took over dioceses of their own …
The difference is that D’Arcy admitted that he had given his bishop (Law) good advice, only to see it ignored. People widely praised D’Arcy for his candor. If Carlson had been equally candid – and he surely could have been – he would be praised in the press right now, not vilified.

But here’s the greatest irony in the whole situation.

All sinners in or out of the Church are either judged or excused by the light of Christ.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Washington Times

By Meredith Somers-The Washington Times Wednesday, June 11, 2014

BALTIMORE | Advocates for victims of clergy abuse are calling on the Southern Baptist Convention to take steps to prevent and protect its members.

A half-dozen members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) stood Wednesday outside the Baltimore Convention Center, urging attendees at the Southern Baptists’ national meeting to talk with their families about abuse and ask their church leaders to support an internal review for abuse reports.

“It’s why we do what we do,” said Becky Ianni, SNAP director for the D.C. and Virginia area and an abuse victim herself. “If we can be here, we can do something to protect children.”

While SNAP is well known for its criticism of the Vatican and its handling of the Catholic clergy abuse scandal, Ms. Ianni said the organization is “inclusive” and helps survivors from any church or denomination.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Jon Collins St. Paul, Minn. Jun 11, 2014

A former Catholic priest who has admitted to sexually abusing children said in a deposition made public Wednesday that he was never asked by church officials to identify all the children he’d abused, even though some officials knew he’d abused young boys as early as 1964.

Former Rev. Thomas Adamson, 80, was called to testify under oath in a lawsuit alleging that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on abusive priests secret. The man who filed the suit claims he was sexually abused by Adamson in the 1970s.

Adamson admitted in the deposition to abusing at least 10 boys while serving in the Diocese of Winona and in positions at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Some top-ranking officials knew that Adamson had abused children as far back as 1964, according to Adamson’s deposition. But none reported the abuse to police. Officials instead transferred Adamson to schools and parishes. Adamson has never been criminally convicted and was officially removed from the priesthood just five years ago.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 11, 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 )

If a CEO is told: “our company has two dozen sites where we’re unsafely storing dangerous chemicals,” can you imagine him or her not even asking “Where?”

That’s what several Twin Cities Catholic officials did when an admitted pedophile priest told them of his victims. They didn’t even ask who those victims were.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Never mind what highly educated catholic officials knew or didn’t know, recalled or didn’t recall, understood or didn’t understand about predator priests’ crimes or psyches or Minnesota’s criminal or civil laws. These Catholic officials – Nienstedt, Flynn, Carlson, McDonough, Laird and others – knew they should seek out and help boys and girls who were known to be sexually assaulted by priests. They did not do this. And they didn’t even express curiosity about who these kids were, much less help them.

Fr. Thomas Adamson’s deposition indicts the Twin Cities Catholic hierarchy never asked who the child victims were. Shame on each of them.

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UNITED STATES
Press TV (Iran)

[with video]

A Lutheran pastor and former US Senate candidate told Press TV on Tuesday that an “entire homosexual pedophile network” is operating within the Catholic Church in the United States.

Mark Dankof, who is also political commentator in San Antonio, Texas, condemned US church officials following reports that St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson claimed to be uncertain that sexual abuse of a child by a priest constituted a crime when he was auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota.

The former chancellor gave a deposition last month in a lawsuit that claims the Minnesota archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on abusive priests secret, reported Minnesota Public Radio.

The 69-year-old Carlson also faces a massive clergy abuse lawsuit in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where he’s served as archbishop since 2009.

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IRELAND
LifeNews

Story of 800 Babies Buried in Mass Grave in Septic Tank Next to Home for Children of Unwed Moms Was a Hoax

by Matthew Archbold | Dublin, Ireland | LifeNews.com | 6/11/14

If you’re a Catholic and you’re on the internet you’ve heard about the nuns in Ireland who killed and dumped hundreds of babies in a septic tank in the 1960′s.

The story is a mainstream media hoax that was, for them, just too good to be true. It’s telling that when right now it turned out that babies were being burned in an incinerator for energy the media pretty much ignored that one for a long time but a rumor about nuns nearly a century ago gets splashed all over the MSM. They showed their hand on this one. Let’s face it, they don’t care about dead babies. They care about attacking the Church and making Catholics appear like hypocrites.

There’s only one sin in MSM world and that’s hypocrisy. But, you see, in that outlook the only sinless person is the nihilist.

This Forbes report takes down the story pretty effectively:

Few of us are inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth, and that applies in spades to journalists running with a sensational news story. But even by normal media standards, recent reports about the bones of 796 babies being found in the septic tank of an Irish orphanage betray a degree of cynicism and irresponsibility rarely surpassed by allegedly reputable news organizations.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com
on June 11, 2014

Syracuse, NY — A plea deal may be in the works for a Catholic priest living in Syracuse accused of possessing child pornography.

County Court Judge Joseph Fahey indicated that the case may reach a disposition — in all likelihood a plea deal — at the next July 8 court appearance.

Robert Ours, 65, was charged with six counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child in an indictment unsealed May 21.

The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse reported the allegations of child porn to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office several months ago.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHO WE ARE

We are victims of child sex abuse (and supporters) who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Our mission is to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.

WHY WE’RE HERE

We want Baptist officials to take child sex abuse cases more seriously and take strong steps now to safeguard innocent children and vulnerable adults from those who commit and conceal clergy sex crimes.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

First ask your children or loved ones if they were molested by church workers or volunteers and, if so, beg them to call police and therapists immediately.

Second, urge Baptists officials to;

–hire independent experts to review child sexual abuse scandals and,

–immediately respond to child sexual abuse reports with openness and compassion.

–fully fund and conduct (again using independent outside experts) an abuse database study, which was approved at the SBC’s 2007 annual meeting but never actually done.

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DEUTSCHLAND/SUEDAFRIKA
RP

Aachen. Der aus dem Bistum Aachen stammende und wegen Missbrauchs angeklagte Geistliche Georg Kerkhoff soll von Südafrika nach Deutschland ausgeliefert werden. Das teilte die Diözese am Mittwoch in Aachen mit.

Ein Strafverfahren in Südafrika gegen den Geistlichen sei eingestellt worden. Das südafrikanische Gericht sei aber dem Antrag der Staatsanwaltschaft Krefeld gefolgt und habe die Auslieferung angeordnet. Gegen den Pfarrer liegt ein internationaler Haftbefehl vor. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Krefeld wirft ihm vor, während seiner Dienstzeit im Bistum Aachen zwei Minderjährige sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOV

by Associated Press
KMOV.com
Posted on June 11, 2014

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis archdiocese is condemning media reports of Archbishop Robert Carlson’s deposition in a Minnesota lawsuit.

Carlson was deposed last month in a suit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Carlson served there for years and had a role in handling claims against accused priests from 1979 through 1994

Media reports of the deposition, made public Monday, quoted him as saying that he wasn’t sure he knew in the 1970s or 1980s that sex with a child was criminal.

The St. Louis archdiocese says the dialogue involved Carlson’s knowledge of Minnesota child abuse reporting statutes, and when clergy became mandatory reporters of abuse allegations—not the legality of sex with a child.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Cahir O’Doherty @randomirish June 11,2014

Tuam: How did it come to this? That was the question the locals in Tuam, County Galway, were asking each other in the shops and on street corners last weekend, reflecting on the shocking news that their town was apparently the site of a mass infant grave.

In the town on Saturday morning I listened to a group of elderly women, two of them former teachers, who had gathered around a local coffee shop table to consider all the facts, adding supporting details from their own unforgettable experiences as young women growing up in the 1950s.

They didn’t doubt the truth of the claims. Strikingly, no one I spoke in Tuam this weekend doubted the facts and figures local historian Catherine Corless’ research has produced.

Ordinarily there will be a diversity of opinion about such dramatic claims, but in Tuam this weekend I couldn’t find a single person willing to challenge her. It was remarkable.

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IRELAND
Herald

BY JOHN DOWNING – 11 JUNE 2014

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has said that the treatment of young women who had children outside of marriage was “an abomination” as he unveiled plans for a major state inquiry into religious-run mother and baby homes.

A commission will head up an investigation into the deaths at homes across the country in the wake of the discovery of a mass grave at Tuam, Children’s Affairs Minister, Charlie Flanagan (inset) said.

He said the inquiry will 
cover the infant mortality rate, vaccines, medical trials, the geographic spread of these institutions and the legal 
complexities.

The Taoiseach said the 
inquiry will examine the shameful past of Irish society rather than apportion blame.

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IRELAND
Forbes

Eamonn Fingleton Contributor

Few of us are inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth, and that applies in spades to journalists running with a sensational news story. But even by normal media standards, recent reports about the bones of 796 babies being found in the septic tank of an Irish orphanage betray a degree of cynicism and irresponsibility rarely surpassed by allegedly reputable news organizations.

Although the media attributed the “dumped in a septic tank” allegation to Catherine Corless, a local amateur historian, she denies making it. Her attempt to correct the record was reported by the Irish Times newspaper on Saturday (see here) but has been almost entirely ignored by the same global media that so gleefully recycled the original suggestion. That suggestion, which seems to have first surfaced in the Mail on Sunday, a London-based newspaper, reflected appallingly on the Sisters of Bon Secours, the order of Catholic nuns at the center of the scandal.

Today the Irish Times has published a reader’s letter that has further undercut the story. Finbar McCormick, a professor of geography at Queen’s University Belfast, sharply admonished the media for describing the children’s last resting place as a septic tank. He added: “The structure as described is much more likely to be a shaft burial vault, a common method of burial used in the recent past and still used today in many part of Europe.

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IRELAND
Salon

MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

The full details of what exactly happened to the children of the Home – institute for unwed mothers that operated in County Galway between 1926 and 1961 – are still emerging. The picture that has already been uncovered since the revelation this past weekend that historian Catherine Corless had uncovered death records for nearly 800 babies and young children who had died there – and a mass grave near a septic tank on the now shuttered site’s grounds. It worsened with the further news this week from Cork University’s School of History’s Michael Dwyer that potentially thousands of children in the Irish care homes system were also subjected to experimental vaccine trials. But hey, let’s not get too judgmental here.

In a jaw-droppingly dismissive piece this week Forbes calls the story a “hoax.” Irish writer Eamonn Fingleton, to boost his case, notes that Corless never actually used the word “dumped” to describe what happened to the bodies, and the remaining question of where, precisely, all the unaccounted for bodies may be found. But from there he goes straight to speculation. “Although many of the nuns may have been holier-than-thou harridans, they were nothing if not God-fearing and therefore unlikely to treat human remains with the sort of outright blasphemy implied in the septic tank story.” See, it’s a hoax because he can’t believe it. “The nuns who ran the orphanage have long since gone to their reward but if they could speak for themselves they would no doubt claim they were doing their best in appalling circumstances,” he adds. They were so young when they entered religious life — typically in their late teens or early 20s — that they had little understanding of the secular world and were evidently short on managerial skills.” And while explaining the “positively Dickensian” circumstances of Ireland at the time, he feels it necessary to add, “Very often readers do not have the experience and worldly wisdom to see through the nonsense, particularly in interpreting reported developments in nations whose cultures diverge sharply from those of the West.” On this at least we agree — if there is a “reward” in the afterlife, I sincerely hope the nuns who ran the Home are receiving it.

Let’s look at this “nonsense.” The abuses of women and children that went on in the Irish homes and institutions of its sort in the first part of the twentieth century have been well established and documented. A 2009 Child Abuse Commission report cited multiple accounts of “physical, emotional, neglect and sexual” abuse throughout the Irish Church and state run institutions at the time, and last year, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny issued a formal apology to the women who were forced into labor in the country’s infamous Catholic run Magdalene Laundries, calling it “a national shame.” A 1944 report on the conditions in the Home notes overcrowded conditions and children who were “poor, emaciated and not thriving,” “pot-bellied” and “fragile.” And Corliss recalls that growing up, those managerially challenged nuns would make sure that the Home children “were always segregated to the side of regular classrooms…. They didn’t suggest we be nice to them. In fact if you acted up in class some nuns would threaten to seat you next to the Home Babies.” In some years, more than half of the children died.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: June 11, 2014

Former priest Thomas Adamson recalls 10 boys he has had sexually abused, out of list of 38 alleged victims, in court deposition

Thomas Adamson, a former priest in Winona and the Twin Cities, has testified in a court deposition that he sexually abused at least 10 boys as he moved from parish to parish in the 1960s through the 1980s.

Adamson testified that he met his first victims while coaching junior high and high school basketball teams at St. Adrian High School in Adrian, Minn., in the 1960s, according to a deposition made public Wednesday.

He said he later admitted the abuse to the bishop of Winona — but no action was taken to remove him from ministry or to warn parents and children.

Instead, Adamson was eventually transferred to the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in 1975, where he allegedly abused a young man who is behind a 2013 lawsuit that has put a relentless spotlight on far broader sex abuse in the archdiocese.

During his deposition, Adamson calmly explained which boys he abused and in which parishes, sometimes adding details of sexual activity that happened in school gymnasiums, his car and his home.

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MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Kay Fate, kfate@postbulletin.com

Thomas Adamson, a former Rochester priest at the heart of a lawsuit against officials of the Catholic church, told attorneys that he sexually abused at least 10 boys but said he “looked at it more as a sin than — a crime.”

Adamson’s May 16 videotaped deposition in Rochester was released today by Jeff Anderson, the Twin Cities attorney whose law firm represents several alleged victims who say high-ranking diocese officials in the Twin Cities and Winona, where Adamson previously worked, simply moved him from parish to parish despite complaints of abuse that surfaced as early as 1964.

It’s the latest testimony to be made public, following that of former St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Harry Flynn, current Archbishop John Nienstedt and others.

Now 80 and living in Rochester, Adamson balked at the first question posed. When asked about his current health, he asked his attorney, “What do you want me to say about that?”

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

POSTED: 06/11/2014

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com

The former priest and admitted pedophile named in a lawsuit that has disgorged thousands of internal church documents said in a deposition last month that no bishops or other officials had ever asked him how many children he had abused or who they were.

Thomas Paul Adamson, now 80, said he began abusing children in about 1961, when he was a priest at St. Adrian Church in southwest Minnesota.

He admitted in the May 16 deposition to sexually abusing one child there, a 14-year-old boy, though he was accused by others.

Attorney Jeffrey Anderson asked him to review a list of 37 other accusers and identify the ones he had abused. Adamson marked off nine other names with a highlighter.

He initially estimated there were “several” victims. Anderson asked if the number could be over 100, or over 50. Adamson said no.

“You’re not certain of the number, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Adamson said.

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