ABUSE TRACKER

MEXICO
La Razon

[Córdova was in Rome and then in Spain and then they lost track.]

De acuerdo a una entrevista que publicó el portal SinEmbargo, Eduardo Córdova Bautista, el ex sacerdote de San Luis Potosí acusado desde hace 30 años de haber abusado sexualmente de menores de edad, viajó con una comitiva de obispos mexicanos a El Vaticano para asistir a la canonización de Juan Pablo II, y ya no regresó a México, denunció el activista Alberto Athié Gallo.

“Sabemos que se fue con los obispos mexicanos a la canonización de Juan Pablo II y se estuvo allá todo el proceso, después se fue a España y ahí se le perdió la pista”, dijo en entrevista con SinEmbargo.

En tanto, en una rueda de Prensa la Arquidiócesis mostró su rechazo a que se le denomine “prófugo” al padre Eduardo Córdova Bautista, señalado de pederasta y separado de sus funciones ministeriales de la Iglesia, porque ni siquiera las víctimas han ratificado la denuncia del Arzobispado y porque no hay ni ante la PGR, algo formal.

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MEXICO
La Jornada

[Is Eduardo Cordova a lone pederast?]

Carlos Martínez García

Hay plena constancia de que hace una década perpetró abusos sexuales contra adolescentes de la parroquia Nuestra Señora de la Anunciación. Madres de algunas de las víctimas denunciaron al párroco Eduardo Córdova Bautista ante quien fue entonces obispo de San Luis Potosí, Luis Morales Reyes. El alto funcionario eclesiástico solamente sacó a Córdova Bautista de la parroquia para enviarlo como capellán a un centro de religiosas.

Los datos anteriores, y muchos más, han sido certeramente documentados por Sanjuana Martínez y publicados en La Jornada. En su relación de los hechos, Sanjuana refiere cómo, en días pasados, cuando víctimas salieron a la luz pública para denunciar la conducta sexual depredadora de Córdova Bautista, el vocero de la arquidiócesis potosina (Jesús Priego Rivera) sostuvo que los cargos eran falsos. Recurrió a la muy usada maniobra eclesiástica romana, en casos parecidos y por todo el mundo, de señalar a los denunciantes de estar interesados en difamar a la institución religiosa.

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SPAIN
Gnomes

‘DOZENS’ of Catholic priests in Spain are married, but bishops turn a ‘blind eye’, according to the Church amid calls by women who have vicars as husbands to scrap the ‘celibacy rule’.

Although the Church will not revel the full figures, around 6,000 priests in Spain are married and, worldwide, some 100,000.

Bishops allegedly turn a blind eye to this in Spain provided the vicar in question does not appear in the media, does not attempt to ‘convert’ others to giving up celibacy and it does not compromise his faith.

The ‘celibacy law’ was passed in the year 1139, although it was rarely adhered to before the mid-16thcentury and even then amid great resistance, and was purely for financial reasons – unmarried priests with no children would leave all their worldly goods to the Church when they died.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Get Hampshire

May 29, 2014 By Stephen Lloyd

Retired vicar Brian Spence denies nine counts of indecent assault on four girls aged under 16 between 1995 and 1999

A retired vicar from Hook has told a court that children often sat on his lap in Sunday school and on other church occasions.

But 74-year-old Brian Spence, of Nursery Close, denies his actions amounted to nine counts of indecently assaulting four girls aged under 16.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between 1995 and November 1999 when he was vicar of St John the Baptist Church in Crowthorne.

Spence, who was more recently priest-in-charge at St Mark’s Church in Englefield before he retired, entered the witness box at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday (May27).

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MEXICO
Pulso

Lo denunciaron una y otra vez. Dijeron que ese hombre vestido de sotana y con influencia política en San Luis Potosí, Eduardo Córdova Bautista, había convertido el confesionario en una trampa a la que guiaba a niños y jóvenes para abusar sexualmente de ellos.

Víctimas, sus madres y padres, lo comenzaron a advertir desde hace 30 años, pero apenas el pasado jueves 22 de mayo la Procuraduría General de Justicia (PGJE) de San Luis Potosí inició la averiguación previa contra el presbítero, quien fungía también como Consejero Ciudadano de Transparencia y Vigilancia para las Adquisiciones y Contratación de Obra Pública del Gobernador priista Fernando Toranzo Fernández.

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MEXICO
IOL

May 29 2014
By Lizbeth Diaz

Mexico City – The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has for the first time filed a criminal complaint against a priest accused of child sex abuse, after the Vatican ordered his removal, the Church’s lawyer said on Wednesday.

The criminal complaint was made public after Pope Francis said on Monday he would show zero tolerance for anyone in the Church who abused children and compared sexual abuse of children by priests to a “satanic Mass”.

The complaint was made last week in the central state of San Luis Potosi against Eduardo Cordova, a priest accused of abusing a 16-year-old boy, said Armando Martinez, president of Mexico’s school of Catholic lawyers.

If tried and convicted, the priest could face jail in a major departure from the Church’s long-held practice of dealing with such cases in-house.

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MICHIGAN
WNEM

By Wesley Goheen, Web Managing Editor

GENESEE COUNTY, MI (WNEM) –

The case of a priest accused of inappropriately touching two students has been turned over to the Genesee County prosecutor’s office.

Grand Blanc Police completed their investigation involving 53-year-old Ken Coughlin, a priest at Holy Family Catholic School.

Father Coughlin was appointed pastor in June 2007. He heads a parish of more than 6,000 people which includes a pre-school through eight grade school of roughly 500 students.

The prosecutor will review the reports and determine whether to file charges.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

[with video]

By: Beth McDonough

A newly released deposition shows the former top deputy at the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis suggested that Archbishop John Nienstedt consider the option of resigning in light of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

The Rev. Peter Laird resigned as the archdiocese’s vicar general last fall. Laird was the second in command, which means from 2009-2013 he was in charge of investigations, a whistleblower on the inside.

According to Laird’s court deposition made public Wednesday, he also suggested the resignation option to Nienstedt twice as the archdiocese struggled to respond to allegations that it mishandled clergy accused of abusing children.

“I think leaders have a responsibility to be accountable for decisions whenever they take place in an organization, and to signal trust. And the most important thing is that the archdiocese doesn’t have anything to hide, and let transparency work it’s course, “Laird said during the deposition.

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ILLINOIS
Christian Post

Willow Creek Volunteer Convicted of Sexually Abusing 2 Special Needs Children at Birthday Party, Inside Church

BY MORGAN LEE , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
May 28, 2014

A former youth volunteer at the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two more special needs children and was sentenced Tuesday to serve seven years in prison.

Robert Sobczak, 20, pleaded guilty to molesting a 15-year-old at a birthday party and an 8-year-old at WCC, respectively.

Sobczak has also been convicted of sexually abusing another special needs boy at WCC. The former volunteer was sentenced to two years of probation and forced to register as a sex offender after he pleaded guilty to that charge in December.

In February, two lawsuits were filed against Willow Creek Community Church, claiming the megachurch failed to prevent the two boys from being sexually abused by a volunteer.

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OKLAHOMA
KFOR

[with video]

MAY 28, 2014, BY PAIGE HILL

PERRY, Okla. – A business administrator at a local church is behind bars after being accused of sexually abusing a female relative for two years.

According to court documents, a family friend notified DHS after the 13-year-old’s mother told her that 36-year-old Scott Barber was touching her daughter inappropriately.

Barber works at Nichols Hills United Methodist Church.

He is from the small town of Perry where the news was shocking to not only their neighbors but even Police Chief Brian Thomas.

“We’re 5,500 population, I know a lot of people by face,” says Thomas. “When I saw the video I did recognize him as being a member of our community but I never would have thought anything like this was going on.”

During an interview with police, the 13-year-old told investigators the abuse started two years ago.

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MONTANA
Daily Reporter

By MATT VOLZ Associated Press
First Posted: May 28, 2014

HELENA, Montana — A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday rejected a request by an order of nuns to bring the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena back into state court to share in any monetary judgment that goes against it in a pair of child sex-abuse lawsuits.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers on Wednesday ruled against the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province’s motion to lift a stay in legal proceedings granted to the diocese when it filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

The diocese’s bankruptcy reorganization is part of a $15 million settlement with hundreds of people who said they were sexually abused as children across western Montana from the 1940s to the 1970s by clergy and employees of the diocese and the order of nuns.

The lawsuits filed in 2011 include a combined 362 plaintiffs.

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CHICAGO (IL)
csnchicago

Archdiocese of Chicago says Cardinal Francis George will give a video-recorded deposition about a former priest who has been convicted of abusing children.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Colleen Dolan says the cardinal will answer attorney questions Thursday regarding Daniel McCormack. She called it a “routine part of the court process.” Dolan says the deposition is being done in case George isn’t physically able in the future. George recently had chemotherapy for cancer near his right kidney.

McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007. George said after McCormack’s indictment he should have pushed harder for details about the allegations. The cardinal launched an investigation that found church procedures for removing priests were “far from perfect.”

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VIRGINIA
Charisma News

5/28/2014 JENNIFER LECLAIRE

Joe Donahue—the pastor hired to fill Geronimo Aguilar’s shoes and bring healing to the Virginia megachurch—has been released from his position. (youthevangelist.com)

After being arrested on sexual abuse charges, Geronimo Aguilar left Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) about a year ago. Now, Joe Donahue—the pastor hired to fill his shoes and bring healing to the Virginia megachurch—is also on his way out the door.

“This man is the man God has raised up as the leader of the Richmond Outreach Center, and he will lead this ministry into the future,” Jonathan Falwell, who has been acting as a consultant for ROC, told the congregation when they announced the former teaching pastor at First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Georgia, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“I’m telling you tonight, God has heard the prayer of the Richmond Outreach Center … and God has said … ‘I will deliver you from the hands of every single person who mocked this church. And I will deliver you from the hands of every single person who laughed at this church.’ … There is a new day dawning for the Richmond Outreach Center, and that day begins right now,” Falwell said at the time.

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CHICAGO (IL)
nwi

Associated Press

CHICAGO | The Archdiocese of Chicago says Cardinal Francis George will give a video-recorded deposition about a former priest who has been convicted of abusing children.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Colleen Dolan says the cardinal will answer attorney questions Thursday regarding Daniel McCormack. She called it a “routine part of the court process.” Dolan says the deposition is being done in case George isn’t physically able in the future. George recently had chemotherapy for cancer near his right kidney.

McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007. George said after McCormack’s indictment he should have pushed harder for details about the allegations. The cardinal launched an investigation that found church procedures for removing priests were “far from perfect.”

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ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic

Michael Clancy, The Republic | azcentral.com May 28, 2014

A Phoenix priest has resigned as a pastor as the diocese investigates “several complaints” against him.

The complaints to the diocese came from parents and other adults at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic parish and school. The pastor of the parish was the Rev. John Ehrich, who also serves as Bishop Thomas Olmsted’s chief adviser on medical ethics.

Ehrich became known during the dispute over the Catholic character of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, doing several interviews explaining the bishop’s decision that the hospital could no longer be considered Catholic. The hospital had done a pregnancy-ending procedure to save a woman’s life that the bishop said did not fit Catholic guidelines for terminating a pregnancy.

Ehrich was not available for comment, and the diocese declined to provide his contact information.

Ehrich took a voluntary leave as the investigation, which the diocese said is being done by an outside party, got under way. Parishioners at St. Thomas, at 24th Street and Campbell Avenue, were informed on May 2. Two weeks later, the diocese announced that Ehrich had resigned as pastor of the church “for his own well-being and for the good of the parish.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Newly released records show the man who was second in charge to Archbishop John Nienstedt had urged him to step down during the investigation of sexual abuse in the church.

The sworn deposition of former Archdiocese Vicar General Peter Laird was released on Wednesday.
Laird said he suggested resignation to Nienstedt on at least two occasions. And Laird himself resigned abruptly last October.

“I think leaders have a responsibility to be accountable for decisions whenever they take place in an organization and to signal trust,” Laird said. “And if the most important thing is that the Archdiocese doesn’t have anything to hide, then let transparancy work its course.”

Victims groups say Laird should have made his recommendation for Nienstedt to resign public.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 05/28/2014

A former top deputy of the Twin Cities archdiocese said he suggested last fall that Archbishop John Nienstedt resign in the wake of allegations that leadership mishandled clergy sexual abuse cases.

The Rev. Peter Laird, former vicar general and moderator of the curia, said in a May 12 deposition that resignation was “among options” he suggested to Nienstedt in late September or early October.

Laird himself resigned Oct. 3. Ten days earlier, Minnesota Public Radio reported the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis possessed but did not give to police information regarding convicted St. Paul priest Curtis Wehmeyer’s sexual behavior.

The media report prompted his resignation, and his suggestion that Nienstedt do the same, Laird said.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 28, 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)

Twice Archbishop John Nienstedt’s former second-in-command suggested that the archbishop consider resigning, according to a just-released sworn deposition.

[Star Tribune]

We are grateful that Msgr. Peter Laird made this recommendation but what he should have done is call police and prosecutors, like whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger did. And he should have voluntarily disclosed that he asked or urged that Nienstedt step down, instead of keeping quiet and making this public when he was forced to do so under oath and tough questioning by attorneys for a brave abuse victim.

At the same time, no one should be fooled into thinking that a bishop’s resignation fundamentally changes anything. Msgr. Laird knows that in the Catholic hierarchy there’s a long-standing, widespread and deeply-rooted culture of self-preservation and secrecy, especially in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. So one person leaving – whether by promotion or death or resignation – really changes little.

We don’t believe Nienstedt will resign. We don’t think he should be allowed to resign. We believe that Pope Francis should fire him, plain and simple. That might make a difference. That might make other Catholic officials think twice before endangering kids, protecting predators, deceiving parishioners, hiding evidence, mistreating whistleblowers and stonewalling police and prosecutors.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, Founder and President of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com )

We are glad Cardinal Francis George will be deposed in the disturbing Fr. Daniel McCormack abuse and cover up case. But we are upset that some records about McCormack are still secret, even though George and other Catholic officials formally pledged 12 years ago to be “open and transparent” in these cases.

[WTTW]

We hope victims’ attorneys will get to question George about his deceptive and reckless actions in other cases too, including those of Fr. Kenneth Martin, Fr. Joseph Bennett, Fr. Norbert Maday, Fr. John Calicott, Fr. Michael Yakaitis, Fr. Elijah Martin and about other church staff who ignored or concealed abuse, like Fr. Leonard Dubi and Fr. Edward Grace.

To some, the McCormack case may seem like “old news.” But the devastating and preventable pain of McCormack’s victims is likely very much current. And there’s still much more about this horrific case that remains hidden, we believe. Chicago citizens and Catholics deserve to know the full truth about the terribly selfish and irresponsible actions by several church officials that enabled a serial predator to assault more children.

Finally, keep in mind that almost every cleric tied to the McCormack scandal was subsequently promoted.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

THE Abbott government insists the royal commission into child sex abuse has sufficient funds, despite some of its funding being funnelled into the home insulation inquiry.

The attorney-general’s department has revealed $4 million was redirected to the “pink batts’’ royal commission.

But the government says the amount came from ”savings’’ in the department’s capital budget and from money allocated but not used by the child abuse royal commission for witness legal costs.

“The royal commission will have sufficient funding to complete its inquiry,’’ a spokesman for Attorney-General George Brandis said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Daniel Hurst, political correspondent
theguardian.com, Wednesday 28 May 2014

A senior bureaucrat has moved to allay concerns about nearly $7m in savings gained from the royal commission into child sexual abuse, saying they were the result of lower-than-expected capital and legal costs.

The opposition questioned the redirection of $6.7m of previously earmarked funds into a separate royal commission – the Abbott government-ordered inquiry into Labor’s home insulation program – and accused the attorney general, George Brandis, of concealing the decision.

But the secretary of the Attorney General’s Department, Roger Wilkins, said the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, initiated by the previous Labor government, was not being under-resourced.

Wilkins said capital spending on fit-out work had been $4m less than expected, and the other saving of $2.7m arose because the government had not incurred forecast expenditure for commonwealth witness legal costs.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson | May 28, 2014

(RNS) Pope Francis’ announcement this week that he would meet with victims of sexual abuse by priests is dividing victim advocates, with some dismissing the move as “meaningless” and others endorsing it as a positive step, albeit taken belatedly and under pressure.

“A welcome and overdue change,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, a prominent activist pushing the Catholic Church to overhaul its policies and practices on clergy abuse.

“Good to hear Pope Francis speak out and meet survivors,” tweeted Marie Collins, an abuse victim whom Francis named to a Vatican commission to promote reforms, on hearing that the pope compared clergy abuse to a priest celebrating a black Mass.

But others said Francis’ first-ever encounter with victims — and his pledge for “zero tolerance” for abusive clerics of any rank — was simply stagecraft aimed at distracting the public from what they say are the pope’s larger failures to address the abuse crisis.

“His upcoming and self-serving meeting with victims is more of what we’ve seen for decades — more gestures, promises, symbolism and public relations,” Joelle Casteix of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said in a statement shortly after Francis announced the meeting during an in-flight press conference Monday night (May 26) on his return from a visit to the Holy Land.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran St. Paul, Minn. May 28, 2014

A former top official of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis contradicted Archbishop John Nienstedt’s account of how top officials responded to a sexual abuse claim against a Catholic priest, according to sworn testimony made public today.

The Rev. Peter Laird described the flurry of decisions made in June 2012 when the chancery learned that the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer had been accused of sexually abusing a child. Laird said he kept Nienstedt informed of the situation as it unfolded, according to a transcript of his May 12, 2014 deposition released by victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson. Nienstedt has said under oath that he did not talk to Laird.

The testimony of Laird and other archdiocesan officials was provided as part of a lawsuit filed by a man who says he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas Adamson in the mid-1970s. The man alleges the archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on accused priests secret. The man’s attorneys, Anderson and Mike Finnegan, argued that the deposition could provide evidence of a pattern of deception by the archdiocese.

Betrayed By Silence: An MPR News investigation
Explore the full investigation Clergy abuse, cover-up and crisis in the Twin Cities Catholic church

Laird’s explanation for the decisions on Wehmeyer also contradicts the testimony of two other officials.

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MINNESOTA
Houston Chronicle

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A newly released deposition shows the former top deputy at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis suggested that Archbishop John Nienstedt consider resigning in light of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

The Rev. Peter Laird resigned as the archdiocese’s vicar general last fall. According to Laird’s court deposition made public Wednesday, he also suggested the resignation option to Nienstedt twice as the archdiocese struggled to respond to allegations that it mishandled clergy accused of abusing children.

The Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1tnUBi5 ) reports Laird said Nienstedt did not respond to his suggestion.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Stormont minister believed two care homes run by nuns in Londonderry saved the state money, Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry has heard.

The inquiry has been examining 1960s letters between state bodies and the Sisters of Nazareth, who ran the homes at Bishop Street and Termonbacca.

It was shown a 1964 memo by Home Affairs Minister Bill Craig.

He said children would otherwise “have to be accommodated at much greater expense by welfare authorities”.

St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca, and Nazareth House children’s home in Bishop Street in Derry are the first two of 13 state, church and voluntary institutions being examined by the inquiry during the period from 1922 to 1995.

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AUSTRALIA
The Dallas Morning News

By Reese Dunklin
rdunklin@dallasnews.com
11:58 am on May 28, 2014

One of the most notorious figures from our 2004-2005 investigation about global transfers of predatory Catholic priests has been sentenced to 10½ years in jail.

The judge choked up during a hearing Monday in Melbourne, Australia, while describing Frank Klep’s “vile” sex crimes and “devastating” impact on abuse victims. According to news reports, the judge left the courtroom to compose himself.

“You’ve ruined lives and the ripple effect has touched every aspect of these young boys, and their families as well,” Judge Frank Gucciardo was quoted as telling Klep.

“There is no doubt,” the judge added, “your conduct plummets the depth of evil hypocrisy.”

Klep pleaded guilty late last year to sex-abuse charges involving 15 victims. He struck a deal with prosecutors to reduce the number of charges by half.

During a pre-sentencing hearing last month, he apologized to victims, saying: “I abused your trust and betrayed you in the most appalling circumstances.” Some of the now-grown victims watching in the courtroom walked out.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Crown and defence wrapped up their closing arguments this morning in the Eric Dejaeger trial, and Justice Robert Kilpatrick has reserved his decision.

The former priest is charged with dozens of sex offences against children, dating back to his time working as a priest in Igloolik three decades ago.

Dejaeger, 67, has pleaded guilty to eight of the charges.

He admits he touched eight boys in a sexual and inappropriate manner, but says he is not guilty on all the other counts.

Kilpatrick says the law involved in this case is fairly complex and there’s a lot of evidence to go through.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

Fred Bodimer
May 28, 2014

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A local clergy abuse survivor says the Pope needs to name names, now that he’s told reporters the Vatican is investigating three Bishops for their role in child abuse crimes or coverups.

On his return flight from the Middle East to the Vatican, Pope Francis said three bishops are under investigation, and that one of them has already been convicted.

The Religion News Service along with SNAP’s David Clohessy say the only bishop convicted of anything in connection with the coverup of clergy abuse is Kansas City St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn, a St. Louis native.

“We’re not in favor of punishment for punishment’s sake,” Clohessy says. “We’re in favor of punishment because it’s a way to discourage bishops from doing what they’ve done for decades, which is continue to protect predators, endanger kids and hide evidence from police and prosecutors.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
WTTW

Paris Schutz | May 28, 2014

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George is set to give a deposition on May 29, in a group of lawsuits involving the former priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack. Because of George’s physical condition, the deposition is considered standard procedure and could possibly be used in lieu of trial testimony, according to one of the plaintiff’s lawyers.

The questioning could last all day and is likely to focus on what George knew about McCormack and when he knew about it. Plaintiff’s attorneys have criticized George for promoting McCormack and keeping him on at a West Side parish, even after he was arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse of minors and then later released. An archdiocese lay review board voted overwhelmingly in favor of removing McCormack from the priesthood in 2005, but George reportedly didn’t follow the board’s advice.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: May 28, 2014

‘Leaders have a responsibility to be accountable,’ the Rev. Peter Laird said in deposition.

Archbishop John Nienstedt should consider resigning in light of the clergy sex abuse scandal , the former archdiocese vicar general suggested last fall.

The suggestion was one of several ideas that the Rev. Peter Laird said he laid out to the Twin Cities archbishop, according to a court deposition of Laird made public Wednesday.

Laird said he suggested the resignation option twice as the archdiocese struggled to respond to allegations that it mishandled clergy accused of abusing minors.

“I think leaders have a responsibility to be accountable for decisions whenever they take place in an organization and — and to signal trust … and that the archdiocese doesn’t have anything to hide,” said Laird in the May 12 deposition.

Laird himself resigned not long afterward.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

News Release
May 28, 2014

[the deposition]

[deposition videos]

Deposition raises more questions surrounding truth and accountability in the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis

(St. Paul, MN) – The sworn testimony of the Archdiocese’s former Vicar General Father Peter Laird has been publicly released by attorneys as a part of a civil lawsuit filed in 2013 in Ramsey County; Doe 1 vs. the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis, Diocese of Winona and Father Thomas Adamson.

“Father Laird’s deposition raises serious questions about Archbishop Nienstedt’s testimony and whether or not Nienstedt was telling the truth,” said Mike Finnegan, one of Doe 1’s attorneys. “What Doe 1 and other survivors want is the truth, which they deserve.”

The entire deposition transcript and video clips are available at www.andersonadvocates.com and on YouTube (AndersonAdvocates). A DVD copy of the video deposition is also available at our office.

Contact: Mike Finnegan: Cell: 612.205.5531 Office: 651.927.7872
Sarah Odegaard: Cell: 612.616.4218 Office: 651.927.7872

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bistum Trier

[sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige in der katholischen Kirche: Bistum Trier will Ethik-Kodex erarbeiten – MissBiT]

[Summary: Representatives of the four pastoral professional groups in the Trier diocese, are to develop a code of ethics for professional chaplains and chaplains.]

Trier – Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der vier pastoralen Berufsgruppen im Bistum Trier – Gemeinde- und Pastoralreferentinnen und –referenten, Diakone und Priester – haben befürwortet, einen gemeinsamen Ethikkodex für professionelle Seelsorgerinnen und Seelsorger zu erarbeiten. Eine Arbeitsgruppe soll die Entwicklung konkret planen. Das ist das Ergebnis eines Studientags, zu dem Vertreterinnen und Vertreter aller vier Berufsgruppen Mitte Mai zusammengekommen waren.

Beispiel aus Österreich

Die Seelsorgerinnen und Seelsorger hatten den Moraltheologen Professor Dr. Martin Rosenberger von der Universität Linz zum Studientag eingeladen; er ist Mitherausgeber des Ethikkodex professioneller Seelsorger der österreichischen Diözesen. Er betonte: „Ethik soll entlasten, nicht belasten.“ Ethik soll helfen, leichter mit dem Leben zurechtzukommen. Die österreichischen Theologen hätten sich gefragt: „Wir lehren Medizin-Ethik, Bio-Ethik und Wirtschafts-Ethik – aber wo im Lehrplan des theologischen Studiums finden wir ‚Ethik für Seelsorger’?“ Zwar hatten sich die österreichischen Theologen schon vor dem Bekanntwerden der Missbrauchsfälle mit einem Ethikkodex beschäftigt, doch nach diesen Erfahrungen habe man „aus der Defensive herauskommen“ und die Herausforderungen einer berufsethischen Selbstverpflichtung annehmen wollen. „Der Ethikbedarf darf sich aber nicht auf die Frage des sexuellen Missbrauchs verengen“, warnte der Moraltheologe.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

by Brandon Cruz, updated on: 07:58pm, May 27, 2014

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Pope Francis says he has “zero tolerance” for any clergy member who violates a child. On Monday, May 26th — it was announced that Pope Francis has agreed to meet with a group of clergy sexual abuse victims early next month. At least one group says the move by the pope isn’t enough.

Pope Francis is expected to meet with a group of victims of clergy sexual abuse at the Vatican.
Peter Isley — the Midwest Director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (or SNAP) says he’s skeptical.

“(The victims) are hand-selected by the Vatican. We don’t know who they are. Our organization has not been contacted. We weren’t invited. We weren’t asked,” Isley said.

SNAP is a group that consists of 18,000 clergy sex abuse victims from around the world.

Isley says their voices won’t be heard when the clergy sex abuse victims sit down with Pope Francis in June.

“To see this as a meeting, I think is a mistake. This is a negotiation and how this issue is after this negotiation is really what’s going to count,” Isley said.

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CALIFORNIA
SF Gate

Melody Gutierrez
Sunday, May 25, 2014

Sacramento — The state board that oversees California’s sex offender registration laws wants to thin out and overhaul the registry because they say it has grown too big and does not help law enforcement or the public differentiate between offenders who pose significant risks and those not likely to reoffend.

The California Sex Offender Management Board is recommending to the Legislature that only high-risk offenders, such as kidnappers and sexually violent predators, should be required to register for life. Others could be removed from the registry 10 to 20 years after the offense.

The list of almost 100,000 sex offenders is unwieldy, they said, because California requires all sex offenders, regardless of the type of offense, to register for life.

The result, according to a board report last month, is that the list includes many offenders “who do not necessarily pose a risk to the community,” including almost 900 whose last sex crime was more than 55 years ago.

Some law enforcement officials and lawmakers are supporting the recommendations acknowledging that public opinion is not on their side and risking the dreaded “soft on crime” label that has caused some politicians to avoid lending support.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Statement by Melanie Jula Sakoda of Moraga, CA, East Bay Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 925-708-6175 cell, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com )

The California Sex Offender Management Board is recommending to the legislature that only high-risk offenders should be required to register for life. Others, characterized as “low risk,” could be removed from the registry 10 to 20 years after the offense. We are deeply concerned about this proposal.

[SF Gate]

We believe that if there is a problem with the sex offender registry being too confusing or too cumbersome, the appropriate remedy is to re-organize the list using categories like “least dangerous” and “most dangerous.” Totally removing identified sex offenders from the registry after a certain amount of time has passed with no new crimes DETECTED, puts children and vulnerable adults at risk. Allowing these criminals to return to obscurity should not be the solution.

The vast majority of sex offenses are never reported. Of those that are reported, an even smaller number result in convictions. Sex offender registries are not perfect. They certainly don’t identify those predators that have never been reported or convicted. But they do give us information that parents and other adults can use to decide for themselves whether or not they want to risk an association with a convicted offender.

Legislators who want to change the registry should move cautiously. The vulnerable and the wounded should be their priority, not those who have caused, and may still be causing, horrific pain and trauma.

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IRELAND
Rabble

In 1925, Galway County Council appealed to the Bon Secours sisters to open a nursing home for mothers and babies. Fifty years later two boys stumbled upon a mass grave.

Between 1925 and 1961 St.Mary’s Mother and Baby Home, Tuam, operated under the care of the congregation of Bon Secours. Reports now emerging about the ‘Home’ are what we have come to expect when dealing with institutions of the Catholic Church.

This institution provided space mainly for ‘illegitimate’ children and some mothers. Motherhood outside wedlock was regarded as shameful and the church preyed on the victims of this attitude, as we have discovered through the Magdalene Laundries revelations.

The children attending local schools the primary schools which were just up the street on Dublin Road in Tuam. One local man recalls:

‘I remember some of them in class in the Mercy Convent – they were treated marginally better than the traveller children. They were known locally as the ‘Home Babies’. For the most part the children were usually gone by school age – either adopted or dead.’

The women, or girls, sometimes found work with the nuns in the Grove Hospital.

Their children were fostered out – around the district or further. Some people believe their siblings or other relatives were fostered out and disappeared or died in the ‘Home’ without notice to the families.
An Irish Mail on Sunday front page article on 25th May 2014, recounted a local health board inspection report from April 16/17th 1944 which recorded 271 children and 61 single mothers for a total of 333. The ‘Home’ had capacity for 243.

The report continues listing children as ‘emaciated’, ‘pot-bellied’, ‘fragile’ with ‘flesh hanging loosely on limbs’. 31 children recorded in the ‘Sun room and balcony’ were ‘poor, emaciated and not thriving’. The oldest child to die, according to the MoS, was Sheila Tuohy, aged 9 in 1934. The youngest was Thomas Duffy, aged two days.

The two boys playing on a concrete slab near their homes in 1970, Barry Sweeney and Francis Hopkins, decided to crack the slab to see why it sounded hollow. To their distress they saw it was ‘full to the brim of skeletons’. The priest was called, Barry Sweeney remembers but he doesn’t know what happened after the spot was blessed.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatch

By PHYLLIS ZAGANO

Ordination of Women to the Diaconate in the Eastern Churches: Essays by Cipriano Vagaggini
by Phyllis Zagano
Liturgical Press , 2013

What inspired you to produce Ordination of Women to the Diaconate in the Eastern Churches?

For many years, my academic research has centered on the restoration of women to the ordained diaconate in the Catholic Churches. One of the best-known scholarly essays regarding the historical reality of women ordained as deacons is by Cipriano Vagaggini, published in Orentialia Christiana Periodica.

Reportedly Pope Paul VI asked Vagaggini, in the early 1970s, about women deacons. The Catholic Church was restoring the diaconate as a permanent vocation for men, and the pope asked the logical question: could women be ordained to this sacred order as well? Vagaggini gave the long form—15,000 words—of the short answer: “yes.” But, he gave it in very difficult Italian. So while scholars knew about the essay, Vatican officialdom could basically ignore it.

I often mentioned it when I spoke, and a few years ago a woman wrote a diocesan bishop and included the essay in Italian. He wrote back to say that he read Italian and the essay did not support the ordination of women as deacons.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Priest abuse victim Lawrence Grech welcomed Pope Francis’s zero tolerance stand against such “ugly crimes” and said he hoped the Vatican would not forget Malta in dealing with the matter.

“The Pope said he will be meeting about 70 victims of abuse from various countries next month and I hope Malta will not be forgotten,” Mr Grech told Times of Malta.

He said he did not expect the Pope to invite the Maltese victims. However, if the Holy Father decided to take action against bishops or members of the Church who closed an eye to child abuse by priests, this should also apply to Malta.

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IRELAND
Herald

BY BARRY DUGGAN – 28 MAY 2014

THE journalist who presented the infamous RTE Mission to Prey’ which seriously defamed a parish priest has returned to airwaves with the State broadcaster.

Aoife Kavanagh resigned from RTE after Prime Time Investigates’ falsely accused Galway priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds, of raping and abandoning a child he fathered.

The allegations were made in May 2011 and Fr Reynolds denied all allegations but agreed to step down from his ministry in Ahascragh, Co Galway, while the claims were investigated. He undertook the paternity test, which came back negative.

SETTLEMENT

Fr Reynolds – who worked in Kenya for 33 years – went to the High Court and accepted an out-of-court settlement from RTE for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of €1m.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Boz Tchividjian | Jan 21, 2014

I recently discovered a video of a convicted female sex offender that was posted by her church. At first glance, some may think this is a wonderful video about God’s love and redemption. However, a closer look exposes something much different.

Though I don’t know the intended purpose of this video, its unintended result is that it provides at least five self-serving responses by sex offenders in the church. So perhaps one redeeming consequence of this highly troubling video is to teach us more about the distorted beliefs and understandings perpetrators have about the crimes they have committed. Let’s take a quick look at these five responses:

1. The “I’m just not that person anymore” response: This is when offenders claim that they have recently “accepted Jesus” and are not the same person that committed the sexual offense. This type of self-serving statement subtly distances the offender from involvement and responsibility in the very crime he/she committed. The offender in the video may be a new person in Jesus, and her position before God may have changed (that is between her and God). However, she remains the person who sexually abused a child and that must never be forgotten by her or those around her.

2. The “I understand” response: Sexual offenders often attempt to convince others that they understand the harm they have caused to the victim. In the video, the offender remarks, “I understand the pain and bitterness I have caused”. Is this any different than a murderer telling the parents of the person he murdered that he understands their pain? Really?? This appearance of empathy for the victim is usually motivated by the desire to develop sympathy for the offender. Such self-centered statements often achieve the desired result from church members, all the while re-traumatizing the victim.

3. The “I was inappropriate” response: Sexual offenders often label their abuse in non-abusive language in order to minimize the gravity of their offense. During the video, this offender repeatedly described her acts of raping a 14-year-old boy as merely, “inappropriate” and “selfish”. At no time does she ever even use the term “abuse” or even refer to her behavior as “criminal”. This is a teacher who was convicted of “engaging in a sexual act or deviant sexual intercourse” with a minor student. We must never allow offenders to get away with trying to water down the criminal reality of their actions. This offender’s behavior was light years beyond inappropriate and selfish. It was a serious felony.

4. The “I am a victim” response: Sex offenders often attempt to gain sympathy by portraying themselves as a victim of their own weaknesses and struggles. This is demonstrated clearly in the video when she says, “I had insecurities, I had pain in my own heart and a void I thought I needed to fill through attention and all kinds of other things.” Such statements victimize the perpetrator while also shifting attention away from the immeasurable damage they have caused. Perpetrators understand that a crime that has two victims, instead of one victim and one perpetrator, makes their life much easier.

5. The “make the victim feel guilty” response: Within the church, it is not uncommon for perpetrators (and others) to infer that the trauma victims experience as a result of the abuse is due to their own spiritual weaknesses. At one point in the video, this offender remarks, “I pray that each of you be free of the pain, bitterness, anger, anxiety…these are not things from God.” Going back to my murder analogy, how would parents react if the person who killed their son tells them that their anger and pain is not of God? Such statements are self-serving attempts by the offender to cause immeasurable guilt in an already traumatized victim. Perpetrators do this in order to silence victims. –

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Statement by Becky Ianni, Virginia SNAP Director, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( SNAPVirginia@cox.net, 703-801-6044 )

A Virginia Catholic school volunteer has been arrested on three counts of sexual abuse with a child. We are grateful to the brave victims who spoke up and to law enforcement for arresting this predator. And we are so disappointed in the response by Richmond Catholic officials.

[The Virginian-Pilot]

David Linn Sellers was a volunteer at Christ the King school prior to his arrest. Catholic officials claim the alleged abuse did not occur on church or school property or “when the individual was in a volunteer capacity.”

We wish Catholic officials would spend less time trying to distance themselves from their predators and more time trying to find others who saw, suspected or suffered their crimes.

We feel it is dangerous and self serving to make these claims. In many child sexual abuse cases, more victims with more information come forward as they gain courage from seeing others speaking out.

One of the Richmond bishop’s public relations staffers also refused to confirm that Sellers was the individual charged with sexual abuse when a journalist asked. Shame on her. Catholic officials claim to be “open” in child sex cases. So why won’t they disclose a crucial detail – like the name of the arrested predator – when asked?

We hope there are no other victims, but we beg Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo to personally visit this parish and aggressively reach out to any other possible victims of Seller who might be suffering in silence and self-blame. Anyone with knowledge or suspicions of child sex crimes should immediately call secular officials – not church officials – and protect others and start healing.

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MISSOURI
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – There’s speculation at the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, that Pope Francis may have made a direct reference to Bishop Robert Finn.

The pontiff declared zero tolerance for any member of the clergy who would violate a child. Pope Francis said three bishops are currently under investigation for abuse related reasons, one is already convicted and needs punishment.

Finn was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse by ex-priest Shawn Ratigan. Lewd images of little girls were found on his computer. Rebecca Randles, represents several plaintiffs in the Ratigan case.

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CONNECTICUT
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | May. 27, 2014

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. For 492 days, the Bridgeport, Conn., diocese was without a bishop. The void came in May 2012 when Bishop William Lori moved 250 miles south as archbishop of Baltimore. The long interregnum created somewhat of a chasm between past and future for the area’s 400,000-plus Catholics.

On July 31, Pope Francis named Frank Caggiano, an auxiliary bishop from nearby Brooklyn, N.Y., as the fifth bishop of Bridgeport. Installed Sept. 19 — his deceased mother’s birthday — before 1,200-plus people, Caggiano spoke of the transformative power of bridges, both physical and spiritual, to bring together communities and fortify faiths.

“Bridges unite, they open opportunity, they can even transform human life,” he said in the homily.

So it was that the bishop born and bred in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge became the leader of a diocese named after such spans. In eight months, Caggiano, 55, has himself gone to work buttressing existing networks, repairing those long abandoned and constructing new connections.

“There’s always the great challenge of allowing people to see that which unites us is greater than that which divides us,” Caggiano told NCR in an April 8 interview.

Bridgeport is a relatively young diocese that presents unique dichotomies. Its borders follow those of Fairfield County, among the wealthiest areas in the country, while its center, Bridgeport, is among the nation’s poorest cities. Its sizeable immigrant population adds to the diversity Caggiano calls “the fabric of life.”

In recent years, the diocese has seen its share of scandals. Allegations of clergy sexually abusing minors have been limited, but two priests in the past seven years have gone to jail for embezzling parish funds. In January 2013, Msgr. Kevin Wallin, aka “Msgr. Meth,” was indicted for his role in a drug distribution ring, for which he laundered money through an adult store.

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AUSTRALIA
Business Spectator

The Abbott government shifted $4 million in unspent money from the child sexual abuse royal commission to the inquiry into a Labor government home insulation program.

The royal commission into the stimulus program, which led to four deaths, began just before Christmas.

It heard from former prime minister Kevin Rudd and his former ministers Peter Garrett, Greg Combet and Mark Arbib earlier in May.

Now the Attorney-General’s Department has revealed $4 million of funding for the 18-month-old Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was redirected to the insulation royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Attorney General Senator George Brandis accused of covering up movement of royal commission funds

THE Attorney-General George Brandis has been accused of attempting to cover up the movement of funds from the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse to Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program.

In what has been described by Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus as an “indication of the government’s twisted priorities”, the accusation comes after Senate Estimates revealed the Abbott government shifted millions of dollars in unspent money from the child sexual abuse royal inquiry to the inquiry into the former-Labor government’s home insulation program.

Labor’s disastrous program resulted in the deaths of four young men.

“They [Liberal party] said in Opposition that they supported the royal commission, but they are now taking from it to pay for the royal commission insulation program,” Mr Dreyfus told news.com.au.

“To have deliberately taken money from the child sexual abuse commission and to try to conceal what they’ve done is quite wrong.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Daniel Hurst, political correspondent
theguardian.com, Tuesday 27 May 2014

Nearly $7m previously earmarked for the royal commission into child sexual abuse has been redirected into the Abbott government’s $20m inquiry into Labor’s home insulation scheme.

The attorney general, George Brandis, had previously denied that funding for the insulation royal commission had been offset by cuts to any other royal commission.

Brandis told a parliamentary committee hearing in February he understood the funding for the insulation royal commission had been “absorbed by the department itself” and “no money has been taken away from anywhere else”. But he vowed at the time to take the question on notice.

The formal answer provided to the Senate estimates committee shows the Attorney General’s Department, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Industry each contributed $6.7m for the home insulation royal commission, while the Finance Department provided $1m.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: Labor and the Greens are demanding to know why the Federal Government has taken millions of dollars out of the budget for the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission.

The Government has redirected that money into the Royal Commission into the Rudd government’s home insulation scheme.

From Parliament House, James Glenday reports.

JAMES GLENDAY: Harrowing and at times horrific testimony of victims has been the feature of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But there are fears those in charge may not have enough money to complete their jobs properly.

ADAM BANDT: It seems the Government’s prepared to play politics with anything.

JAMES GLENDAY: Greens spokesman Adam Bandt and shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus say they’re alarmed by an Abbott Government decision to redirect millions from the inquiry into the Royal Commission into the Rudd government’s problem plagued home insulation program.

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AUSTRALIA
Coffs Coast Advocate

MILLIONS of dollars in funding for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have been redirected to the Abbott government’s home insulation inquiry.

The change in funding was revealed in answers to Questions on Notice posed during February Senate Estimates hearings.

The royal commission chief Janette Dines has resigned.

Dines, praised as the driving force behind the royal commission which began in 2012, will leave the position on June 6.

The answers show the government reallocated $4 million in funds from the child sexual abuse inquiry to fund its Royal Commission on the home insulation program completed under the previous government.

Documents filed with the Senate say the money was redirected from “savings achieved in the 2013-14 capital budget” for the child sexual abuse inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

The head of the Attorney-General’s Department has rejected claims that funding has been taken from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to give to the home insulation royal commission.

The child sexual abuse royal commission is operating on a budget of $377 million until mid-2016.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described it as “the best-funded royal commission in Australia’s history”.

Documents provided to the Senate have shown that late last year, $6.7 million was redirected from the child abuse inquiry and put towards the home insulation royal commission.

Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus had demanded the Government explain “what they’ve done by taking funding away”.

“We need to know that this Government is standing fully behind the royal commission,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE MCCARTHY May 28, 2014

THE Abbott government’s decision to reallocate money from the child sexual abuse royal commission to its inquiry into the former government’s home insulation scheme is an own goal for a few reasons.

It reinforces the widespread belief this government puts politics before just about anything.

By transferring money from a royal commission that has so comprehensively proven it was needed to another that was too easily labelled a political witch hunt, the government is giving critics a free kick and an easy target.

It reinforces the belief its public statements on sensitive subjects should always be received with a healthy dash of cynicism.

At a Senate committee hearing in February, Attorney-General George Brandis answered ‘‘No’’ when asked if there had been any offsets from other inquiries to fund the government’s $19million home insulation royal commission.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Wed, May 28, 2014

Legislation is being prepared at the Department of Education to preserve testimony given in confidence by abuse survivors to the Ryan commission and the Residential Institutions Redress Board despite earlier assurance such information would be destroyed.

The plan now is to have the documentation retained in the National Archives and sealed for a period of at least 75 years, it has emerged. There would be restricted access to the information after that period.

The move will be of concern to those who gave evidence believing it would always remain secret. Responding to a query from The Irish Times yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education said “yes, the Government agreed in principle to the Minister for Education and Skills bringing forward legislative proposals to allow the retention of the records of the commission, the redress board and the review committee [of the redress board].”

Strict safeguards

She continued: “These proposals will include amendments to existing legislation where necessary. It is intended that the records will be retained in the National Archives and completely sealed for a period of at least 75 years following which access to them would be subject to strict safeguards. Preparatory work on the General Scheme of the Bill is under way.”

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

Former priest Eric Dejaeger has violated almost every oath taken by a priest — from celibacy to protecting others — and that should tell the court just how credible his testimony is, Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss argued May 27.

In fact, Dejaeger’s story is “simply unbelievable,” Curliss told Justice Robert Kilpatrick during final arguments at Dejaeger’s trial at the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Curliss tried to poke holes in Dejaeger’s character by emphasizing Dejaeger’s previous 10 convictions for sexual assault stemming from his time in Baker Lake, and the fact that he fled Canada when charges emerged from his residency in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982.

Because of his “unbelievable” testimony and because over 40 witnesses testified against him — alleging rape, inappropriate touching and even bestiality — Dejaeger must be found guilty, Curliss said.

It took the Crown Prosecutor nearly five to summarize his case against Dejaeger, a Belgian-born, ex-priest who faces 68 sex-related charges, mostly involving children.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Magazine

By Eric Randall | Boston Daily | May 27, 2014

Pope Francis announced this weekend that, with the help of Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, he plans to hold a meeting with victims of sexual abuse in the next few months. And though he offered a strong condemnation of abuse in his press conference, the gesture again reveals the clergy abuse scandal as one area where Francis hasn’t yet forged a reputation as a transformational leader.

On other issues, the Pope has bred his reputation not so much by announcing radical changes to church doctrine as by speaking in a humble, plainspoken tone. “Who am I to judge?” he asked of gay priests without actually changing the church’s policy toward them. This weekend, he brought the same bluntness to his remarks on the abuse scandal.

“Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime … because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic Mass,” he said.

And yet, he hasn’t pleased everyone. He spoke days after a United Nations report criticized the Vatican’s response to the abuse scandals, accusing the church of failing to require that charges be reported to police, allowing the moving of clergy to evade discipline, and failing to help victims obtain compensation.

David Clohessy, executive director of the U.S. victims’ group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, told the Associated Press that Francis hasn’t made real changes in the area of clergy abuse.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

May 27, 2014
Grant Gallicho

During a press conference on the return flight from the Holy Land yesterday, Pope Francis did that thing he does: he made some news. The pope revealed that he would soon meet with abuse victims, promising to “move forward on this issue with zero tolerance”–and he announced that three bishops were “under investigation.” One of them “has already been found guilty, and we are now considering the penalty to be imposed.” He didn’t name the bishops, nor did he elaborate on the details of their cases.

Naturally, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests was not impressed. “Francis made three meaningless abuse comments today,” according to Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP. “None of them are significant in any way. All are disappointing because they amount to more public relations instead of real action.” SNAP’s executive director, David Clohessy, echoed that sentiment in his comment to the Boston Globe: “This means nothing,” he said. Francis’s remarks are just “another savvy public-relations move that will protect no kids, expose no predators, prevent no cover-ups, and punish no enablers.’’

Really? I understand that SNAP must ritually denounce anything a bishop has to say about the sexual-abuse crisis. But isn’t this what SNAP wants? To see bishops held accountable for their failures to protect kids from abusive clerics? Did Clohessy absorb what Francis actually said? The pope explained that three bishops are being investigated, that one of them has already been found guilty, and that the Vatican is figuring out what sort of punishment to mete out. This is anything but meaningless. Because, as everyone at SNAP knows, there aren’t many bishops who have been convicted of a crime during this long scandal.

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MEXICO
IOL

Mexico City –

A Mexican priest whose picture was plastered on a billboard asking any child sex abuse victims to report him was suspended by the Roman Catholic church over paedophilia accusations.

After suspending him on the Vatican’s orders, the archdiocese in the northern state of San Luis Potosi filed a child sex abuse complaint with prosecutors against the priest, Eduardo Cordova Bautista, said the Catholic Lawyers Association of Mexico.

Armando Martinez, president of the association who led the investigation, told AFP that Cordova was suspended after the church received claims that he abused a child in 2012. He refused to disclose the child’s age and sex.

Mexican media have published pictures of a billboard signed by a pro-victims group showing the priest’s face and the plea: “Were you a victim? Report him!”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

May 27, 2014 9:51 PM EDT — Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), criticizes Pope Francis’s meeting with a group of sex abuse victims, calling it a public relations ploy. (AP)

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

MAY 28, 2014

IN THE wake of the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church, there have been too few cases of diocesan bishops acting in the full spirit of the U.S. bishops’ self-adopted policy to combat future cases of abuse. That makes Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli’s recent actions truly worthy of note.

Early last week, Serratelli received a letter complaining that a former priest of the Newark Archdiocese, John Capparelli, had attended an annual Family Festival at Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Wayne. Capparelli had been accused of sexually abusing children, suspended from the priesthood in 1992 and defrocked by the Vatican in March. He should have no contact with children on any parish site.

Yet at the May 12 festival, he was seen talking with Monsignor Chris Di Lella, pastor of Our Lady of the Valley. Capparelli appeared to be at the event with consent of the pastor and did not immediately leave, staying about 30 minutes. On learning of this, Serratelli acted quickly; by week’s end, Di Lella was put on administrative leave and his priestly faculties were suspended. This prevents Di Lella from wearing clerical garb or actively engaging in any ministerial work, such as publicly celebrating Mass.

The punishment may sound harsh — there is no evidence Capparelli had any inappropriate contact with children at the festival — but it is exactly such harsh punishments that are needed to make clear that the men who have been accused of sexually abusing children cannot be given special treatment because they are or once were priests.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By George Houde
Special to the Tribune
May 27, 2014

A former volunteer at a northwest suburban church has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two more developmentally disabled boys, prosecutors said.

Robert Sobczak, 20, of Hoffman Estates, was sentenced in Cook County court Tuesday to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a 15-year-old at a birthday party and an 8-year-old at Willow Creek Community Church in separate incidents.

The admission followed an earlier guilty plea by Sobczak in a case involving another boy at Willow Creek.

The victims in all three cases were special needs children, prosecutors said.

Other charges, including kidnapping, were dropped in exchange for his new guilty plea to a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He received the maximum sentence for the Class 2 felony.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Tony Abbott defends funding of royal commission into sexual abuse, denying it will be short-changed

May 28, 2014

Michael Gordon and Rachel Browne

Tony Abbott has predicted that the inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will be “best-funded royal commission in Australia history” after conceding that the inquiry had underspent its budget last year.

As the commission insisted it had enough funding to perform its work, advocates expressed alarm that money had been redirected to the “pink batts” royal commission into the Rudd government’s home insulation scheme and concern that the inquiry might fail to meet increasing demand from abuse victims to be heard.

“At the moment, it seems to be adequately resourced, but the main game here will be for governments to appropriately resource the royal commission to finish its job,” said Francis Sullivan, chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council of the Catholic Church.

The inquiry is expected next month to seek an extension beyond its December 2015 wind-up date, with Attorney-General George Brandis saying any request, and that additional resources that will be required, will be “fully and properly considered”.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

By BART JONES bart.jones@newsday.com

Pope Francis’ decision to meet with church sex abuse victims was met with praise from some Long Island Catholics who view it as a compassionate move, and with criticism from others, including activists who said they believe the plan falls short.

The pontiff, on a return flight from a three-day trip to the Middle East, told reporters Monday that he will celebrate a Mass at the Vatican in coming weeks with a half-dozen abuse victims and hold a private meeting to hear from them.

He also revealed that three bishops are under investigation by the Vatican for abuse-related reasons, though it was not clear if they were accused of committing abuse or of having helped to cover it up.

“There are no privileges,” Francis said, declaring “zero tolerance” for any member of the clergy who violates a child.

Msgr. James McNamara, pastor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Point Lookout and an episcopal vicar in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said Francis is making “a good move, a step in the right direction.”

“I think he is addressing it right on,” McNamara said. “He seems to me to be a very sincere and open man and a very pastoral man. I think he will bring all those qualities to the conversation.”

But John Salveson, 58, who alleges that he was abused by Robert Huneke, who has since died, starting in 1969 when Salveson was a 13-year-old freshman at St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay and Huneke was a priest at St. Dominic parish, said the pope’s plans fall short. Salveson testified before a Suffolk County grand jury that investigated sex abuse by priests in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and released its report in February 2003.

“I think talk is cheap,” said Salveson, who now lives in Pennsylvania and heads the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, a nonprofit advocacy group. “This is trying to put a house on fire out with a garden hose.”

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SOUTH AFRICA
allAfrica

GroundUp

BY JOHNNIE ISAAC, 27 MAY 2014

Supporters and accusers of a pastor accused of rape demonstrated outside the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court during his bail hearing yesterday.

The pastor is facing at least one charge of rape after allegedly molesting a 23-year-old member of his congregation over the past three years.

He was arrested earlier this month following complaints that he sexually assaulted the woman, then 19, fathered her child and forced her to give up the child for adoption.

A group of women from the congregation demonstrated outside the court, raising a banner claiming his innocence. One told GroundUp the allegations “are works of the devil.”

Another said former members of the congregation had made up the accusations “because they can’t live according to the word of God.”

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VIRGINIA
NBC 12

By Laura Geller
By Chris Thomas

The man brought in to lead the Richmond Outreach Center is out after two months on the job.

Joe Donahue released a statement on his departure.

“We understood that it would be difficult (a sea of red-flag warnings) but we never anticipated anything like what has occurred since May 22 2014.,” said Donahue. “Despite ongoing encouragement from the Board of Directors, and without warning, I was terminated.”

Joe Donahue was brought in to lead the ROC in the wake of a scandal surrounding former senior pastor Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar. Pastor G and three other pastors resigned from the Richmond Outreach Center last year.

Donahue was brought in to replace Aguilar in late March following an extensive search. He came from Georgia to take over as senior pastor.

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UNITED STATES
Cranach: A Blog of Veith

May 28, 2014 By Gene Veith

Tullian Tchividjian, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian and the grandson of Billy Graham, was kicked out of the Gospel Coalition blogging community for what the GC folks are calling a doctrinal issue over sanctification. Others claim other reasons, including Rev. Tchividijian’s criticism of how other GC members handled a sexual abuse scandal. But I take the official statement from the Reformed organization seriously.

As we have posted, Rev. Tchividijian discovered the distinction between Law and Gospel in some Lutheran writers who helped him through a personal crisis in his ministry. The complaints about “anti-nominanism,” being weak on sanctification, and downplaying the role of moral improvement in salvation sound like common Calvinist misunderstandings of Lutheranism. From Tullian Tchividjian Pushes Back Against Tim Keller, DA Carson’s Gospel Coalition Statement on His Exit:

Tchividjian’s theological divergence with others at The Gospel Coalition surfaced earlier this month, after he responded to a post by Jen Wilkin’s post “Failure Is Not a Virtue,” in which she argued that “celebratory failurism asserts that all our attempts to obey will fail, thereby making us the recipients of greater grace. But God does not exhort us to obey just to teach us that we cannot hope to obey. He exhorts us to obey to teach us that, by grace, we can obey, and therein lies hope.”

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VIRGINIA
WVEC

[with video]

WVEC.com
Posted on May 27, 2014

NORFOLK — A volunteer coach at a Norfolk Catholic school has been arrested for sexual offenses against a minor, Catholic Diocese of Richmond spokeswoman Diana Snider confirmed to 13News Now.

Dr. Francine Gagne, principal at Christ The King Catholic School, said in a letter to parents Friday that a “member of the CTK community had been arrested and arraigned.”

Neither Snider nor Gagne named the individual. However, Snider confirmed to 13News Now that David Sellers, a volunteer coach, is no longer with the school.

Court records show 60-year-old David Sellers of Norfolk was arrested on May 21 and charged with object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery and liberties with a child by a custodian.

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VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot

By Gary A. Harki
The Virginian-Pilot
May 28, 2014

NORFOLK

A former volunteer at Christ The King Catholic School was arrested and charged with three sexual offenses involving a minor.

David Linn Sellers, 60, of Holly Point Road, Norfolk, was arrested on May 21 and charged with one count each of felony object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery, and liberties with a child by custodian, said Officer Daniel Hudson, a spokesman for Norfolk police.

Christ The King Catholic School’s principal, Francine Gagne, sent a letter to parents, letting them know that a volunteer had been charged with sexual offenses involving a child or children.

“As far as we know the alleged misconduct took place in a home setting,” she said. “We do want to respect their privacy and well-being.”

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UNITED STATES
NBC News

BY CHIARA SOTTILE AND CHRISTINA CARON

Pope Francis, 77, showed no signs of exhaustion after his recent three-day trip to the Holy Land, which ended with a lengthy conversation with reporters while on the plane back to Rome. Although his comments about celibacy were largely what made headlines around the world, the pontiff’s no-holds-barred press conference spanned a variety of topics, including the economy and unemployment, divorced Catholics and communion, and the Church’s sexual abuse scandal.

Here are a few highlights: …

‘Door Is Open’ to Future Popes Stepping Down

Pope Benedict XVI led the way for future popes to abdicate when he resigned in 2013. “Will there be others? God knows,” Francis said. “But this door is opened: I think that a bishop of Rome, a Pope that feels his strength is diminishing because now we live much longer, should ask himself the same questions that Pope Benedict did.” …

‘Zero Tolerance’ for Clergy Sexual Abuse

Francis vowed to hold a mass with some of the victims of the clergy sexual abuse scandal and then “go forward, with zero tolerance.”

“A priest that does this betrays the Body of Christ,” he said.

Celibacy and Priests

Greek and Coptic Catholics both allow priests to marry, and because celibacy “is not a dogma of faith, the door is open,” Francis said. “We have stronger things to undertake.”

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MEXICO
Press TV (Iran)

[with video]

The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has suspended the priesthood of a clergyman over sexual abuse accusations against him.

Eduardo Cordova Bautista’s priesthood was suspended over allegations that he abused a child two years ago. The parents of a 16-year-old boy in Mexico’s San Luis Potosi State had complained of sexual abuse against their son in 2012.

The president of the Catholic Lawyers College of Mexico, Armando Martinez Gomez, said on Tuesday that a child sex abuse complaint against the priest was filed with prosecutors.

Meanwhile, Mexican media outlets have published pictures of a billboard signed by a pro-abuse victims group, showing the priest’s face and asking abuse victims to come forward and testify against the accused pedophile clergymen.

Mexico was rocked by a priest abuse scandal in 1997 after ex-members of the ultra-conservative Legionaries of Christ order accused its founder of sexually abusing young seminarians. Nine former members of the congregation said Marcial Maciel Degollado abused them when they were teenagers. In May 2006, the Vatican ordered Maciel Degollado to give up “any form of public ministry” and retire to a “life of penitence and prayer.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

In little-noticed remarks aboard the papal plane this week, the pontiff said he wouldn’t rule out following Pope Benedict XVI’s path.

Pope Francis gave a candid midair press briefing to reporters traveling from back from the Middle East to Rome during which he talked about sex, money, and satanic Mass—and retirement.

After a grueling but ultimately successful three day visit to one of the most complicated regions on the planet, the idea of retirement probably sounded pretty good to Francis. So it is no surprise that when reporters traveling with him on the papal plane asked if he would consider resigning like his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, he said he wouldn’t rule it out.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

BY REBEKAH BROWN
Published: May 28, 2014

After the 13-year-old girl helped finish off two, 1-gallon bottles of red wine from Rome, the Rev. Philip Altavilla gave her a ride home.

Now 29, the woman testified at the Rev. Altavilla’s preliminary hearing Tuesday that he pulled the car over during that ride and rubbed her feet and thighs.

Magisterial District Judge John J. Mercuri ruled the suspended priest will go to trial on charges he inappropriately touched the woman 16 years ago.

The Rev. Altavilla’s attorney, Paul Walker, indicated during the hearing that he’ll dispute whether the charges match his client’s conduct. Mr. Walker also raised questions about the statute of limitations on the crime. Police charged the Rev. Altavilla, 48, with indecent assault, criminal attempt to indecent assault and corruption of minors after the now 29-year-old woman came forward in April and told police he gave her alcohol and touched her feet and legs.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Opus Dei Beast Deceits Team – PR stunt of the day: Satanic Mass similar to child sexual abuse

In 2010, Benedict XVI blamed the Devil for clergy sexual abuse in his homily for the Year for Priests http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/06/eve-and-benedict-xvi-blame-devil.html In 2014, Pope Francis compares child sexual abuse to holding a black Mass or Satanic Mass. Amazing how popes keep trying to escape accountability by always blaming the Devil.

The Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team is all over the world’s news media circuit again spewing pathological lies for-and-by Pope Francis but mostly for the Vatican Mammon Beast. Vatican Information Service published in caps, “THE POPE RETURNS TO THE VATICAN AND SPEAKS TO JOURNALISTS ON THE FLIGHT” – and journalists in Italy, Ireland, USA and as far as Australia and New Zealand put in their headlines what the Opus Dei Beast PR Plan for them to publish– see the compilation below.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Gary Ridley | gridley@mlive.com
Follow on Twitter
on May 27, 2014

GRAND BLANC, MI — The police investigation into claims that a Grand Blanc priest inappropriately touched the hands and legs of two students will be been turned over to the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Grand Blanc police Lt. Chris Rhind said Tuesday, May 27, that his department has finished its investigation into the allegations against Holy Family Catholic School priest Ken Coughlin and will forward the results to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton to determine if charges will be filed.

Leyton said his office will read the investigative reports before making any decision on whether to charge Coughlin. Leyton said there is no timetable for his office’s decision.

Coughlin’s attorney, Frank J. Manley, said his client has done nothing inappropriate.

“We remain confident that after the prosecutor reviews the case, Father Coughlin will be cleared of any wrongdoing,” Manley said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
St. Louis Jewish Light

Uriel Heilman

(JTA) — It’s been a rough few weeks for Conservative Jews in the Boston suburbs known as the South Area.

First, Rabbi Barry Starr, the longtime spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Sharon, resigned amid allegations that he used synagogue discretionary funds to pay about $480,000 in hush money to an extortionist to hide a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male.

Then came the news that the area’s only Conservative Jewish day school, the Kehillah Schechter Academy of nearby Norwood, will be shutting down at the end of the school year. With the next-closest non-Orthodox day school more than 45 minutes away, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of options for South Area Conservative Jews — notably in Sharon, the single largest source of KSA’s students.

“It’s a double whammy for me personally because I’m a member of the shul,” said Gregg Rubenstein, KSA’s board president. “But the temple will survive. It’s not an institution-threatening incident. The school, on the other hand, is disappearing.”

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UNITED STATES
eNews Park Forest

St. Louis, MO—(ENEWSPF)—May 27, 2014. Statement by Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), jcasteix@gmail.com

Francis made three meaningless abuse comments today. None of them are significant in any way. All are disappointing because they amount to more public relations instead of real action.

[ABC News]

No child rape will be prevented, no abuse cover up will be prevented and no predator priest will be exposed by anything the pope said today or will do next month. His upcoming and self-serving meeting with victims is more of what we’ve seen for decades – more gestures, promises, symbolism and public relations.

One was his apparent zero tolerance pledge. The other was his announcement of a meeting next month with victims. The third was an announcement that three bishops are being investigated by the Vatican.

Again, we should all be crystal clear: none of this changes anything. It’s not intended to. It’s intended to promote complacency, and complacency is the enemy of reform. It’s intended to mollify the faithful, not safeguard the vulnerable

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | May. 27, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

It was not just that Pope Francis announced he would be meeting with victims next month. Nor was it that he compared the molestation of children to a black Mass, an incarnation of evil. Nor was it that he uttered the words “zero tolerance” without which various Church officials will always find some wiggle room to protect friends. No, the biggest point that Pope Francis made in his press conference on the plane back from the Holy Land was that there are three bishops under investigation, apparently not for actually abusing a child but for failing to enforce church law against abusers. We know about the former nuncio in the Dominican Republic, the Polish Archbishop Wesolowski. Who are the others? Could Kansas City’s long diocesan nightmare be over sooner than we had hoped?

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CALIFORNIA
SF Gate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have approved legislation that would extend the amount of time victims of childhood sexual abuse have to come forward.

SB926 by Sen. Jim Beall would give victims until age 40 to report alleged abuse they suffered as a child. The current statute of limitations is age 28.

Beall, a Democrat from San Jose, says the current law favors abusers who can simply “wait out the clock” to avoid being prosecuted. He says many child sexual assault victims suppress the memories and do not recall their abuse until years later.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: Kent Driscoll, APTN, The Canadian Press
Tuesday, May. 27, 2014

IQALUIT, Nunavut – The trial of a former Roman Catholic priest charged with 68 counts of sex abuse against Inuit children more than 30 years ago has wrapped up in Nunavut after weeks of lurid testimony and high emotion.

Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss summed up his case against Eric Dejaeger on Tuesday, the day after defence lawyer Malcolm Kempt did his best to shroud it in doubt.

“These people are victims, just not of Eric Dejaeger,” Kempt told Nunavut Justice Robert Kilpatrick.

During the trial, witness after witness told court that Dejaeger used his position as an Oblate missionary to lure and trap them into sex, threatening them with hellfire or separation from their families if they told.

He used the promise of food on some, court heard. On others, he used force. Court was told assaults took place in Dejaeger’s bedroom, the mission’s confessional and in his lap while other children played or coloured a few metres away.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

[with video]

A suspended priest from the Diocese of Scranton will face trial on sex crime charges.

Father Philip Altavilla was in court Tuesday for allegedly having indecent contact with a 13-year-old girl in 1998.

Altavilla’s accuser came forward last month, 16 years after the incident allegedly took place.

The woman came face-to-face with Altavilla in the courtroom Tuesday, where she described how his actions made her feel.

She used words: very uncomfortable, confused, upset and hurt.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Reporter

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press
First Posted: May 27, 2014

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man who took part in a private meeting six years ago between Pope Benedict XVI and victims of sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests said Tuesday that he hopes another summit planned soon with Benedict’s successor will be more productive.

The forthcoming meeting at the Vatican between Pope Francis and a half-dozen victims, announced Monday, is being organized by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston. It will mark the first such encounter for Francis, who has won early praise for his concern for the poor but has gotten mixed reviews for his response to church abuse.

The pope said the meeting would take place early next month. But the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement that the details of the meeting haven’t been finalized and that the meeting was expected to take place “in the coming months.”

Bernie McDaid, of Peabody, Massachusetts, founder of the advocacy group Survivors Voice, said he expected the meeting to be a “dog-and-pony show.”

“I believe it’s always going to be church first, children second,” said McDaid, who has not been invited to the meeting with Francis.

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UNITED STATES
WTOP

By Nick Iannelli

WASHINGTON – Pope Francis announced plans to sit down and talk with a group of clergy sex abuse victims, a move generating mixed reaction in D.C.

The pope has faced criticism for drawing little attention to the issue that has rocked the Catholic Church for more than a decade.

“I think the Holy Father’s announcement that he will meet with victims is very good news,” says Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. “Victims of any type of abuse, certainly victims of clergy abuse, they need to be embraced fully.”

But for others, the Vatican meeting will do nothing to help with the healing process.

“This is just another gesture,” says Becky Ianni, director of the Virginia and D.C. chapters of the victims’ group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

“How is this going to help victims worldwide?” she asks.

Ianni herself is a victim. She was abused by a priest in Alexandria when she was a child.

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IRELAND
The Journal

EFFORTS ARE UNDERWAY to raise enough funds to build a memorial at an unmarked grave of as many as 800 babies in Tuam.

The site is located at what was a home for unmarried mothers, run by the Bon Secours order, from the 1920s until the 1960s.

Catherine Corless, a local historian and genealogist, was researching the home when she discovered death records for 796 children, ranging from infants to children up to the age of nine.

There was a high infant mortality rate over the forty year period, with many of the children believed to have died from malnutrition and infectious diseases.

She could also find no record of their burial in other graveyards in the county, or in areas where the mothers had been from.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

May 27
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

This much seems clear: The Vatican is investigating three bishops over issues relating to child sexual abuse.

Beyond that, however, comments made by Pope Francis to reporters during a Monday flight from the Holy Land to Rome have left the world wondering about who those bishops are and what they did.

Some, both in Kansas City and elsewhere are speculating that Bishop Robert Finn is one of them.

“If I were Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, I’d be nervous,” wrote Mark Silk, a professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, on his Religion News Service blog on Tuesday.

Finn, after all is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic Church official convicted of criminal charges related to child sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

. .Will the pontiff soon punish a prelate who was a St. Louis priest? Tongues are wagging in Catholic circles since last night when Pope Francis said the Vatican has investigated a convicted bishop on sex abuse and is pondering what to do next. SNAP leaders believe the Pope is referring to K.C. Bishop Robert Finn who was found guilty almost two years ago for concealing evidence about Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s child sex crimes. . .

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist Convention official has refused to apologize for comments seven years ago that critics of the denomination’s handling of sexual abuse were not really advocating on behalf of children but rather were opportunists motivated by personal gain.

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and Amy Smith, a Baptist SNAP leader in Texas, wrote SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page April 23 requesting an apology for his “hurtful comment” when the convention gathers for annual meeting next month in Baltimore.

Page, at the time a pastor and SBC president, wrote a Baptist Press commentary titled “Guarding Against Sexual Abuse” published April 2, 2007. Two weeks later — after Page appeared in an ABC News “20/20” story about the denomination’s shortcomings in curbing sexual abuse by clergy — the article appeared in the Florida Baptist Witness with a new paragraph.

“Let me also share one other word of clarification,” he wrote. “Please realize that there are groups who claim to be one thing when in reality they are another. It would be great if the many groups who are claiming to be groups of advocacy and encouragement in ministry were that which they claim. Please be aware that there are groups that are nothing more than opportunistic persons who are seeking to raise opportunities for personal gain.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

May 27, 2014, by Stacy Lange

SCRANTON — A Roman Catholic priest was in Lackawanna County court Tuesday on charges of indecent assault for allegedly fondling a teen some 15 years ago.

That accuser testified during a preliminary hearing.

A magistrate decided that the case against Father Philip Altavilla will now go to trial. Altavilla was arrested back in April when a former parishioner came forward saying that when she was 13, Altavilla molested her feet and legs because he has a foot fetish.

Father Philip Altavilla had his day in court only blocks away from the cathedral parish he presided over in downtown Scranton. Altavilla has been suspended of his priestly duties since he was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors.

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MEXICO
ABC News

The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has suspended a priest from the ministry after sexual abuse allegations against him were made public on a billboard.

The president of the Catholic Lawyers College of Mexico says Eduardo Cordova was stripped of his priesthood by the Vatican following an investigation of the allegations.

Armando Martinez Gomez said Tuesday that all the evidence has been forwarded to Mexican prosecutors.

Parents in the central state of San Luis Potosi complained in 2012 that their 16-year-old son had been sexually abused by Cordova. Activists posted a photo of Cordova on a billboard in San Luis Potosi with the slogan “Were you a victim? Report him.”

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Center

Josephine McKenna | May 27, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis has warned he has “zero tolerance” for child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and revealed that three bishops are currently being investigated by the Vatican.

But the pope did not name names, and Vatican officials on Tuesday (May 27) declined to comment.

So who are the three bishops under Vatican investigation? The speculation is that the pope likely was referring to three clerics, including:

* Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned in February 2013 on the eve of the conclave that elected Francis. O’Brien later admitted that “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.”Cardinal Keith O’Brien
* Polish Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who was accused of child abuse in Poland and during his period as papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic until his dismissal last August;
*Chilean Bishop Cristian Contreras, who has been accused of abuse by other priests in his diocese

Francis made his comments to journalists aboard his return flight to Rome on Monday as he wrapped up his first visit to the Middle East.

“Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime … because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord,” the pope said emphatically. “This is very serious. It is like a satanic Mass.”

When the pope said one of the three bishops had been found guilty, that led to immediate speculation he was referring to Bishop Robert Finn from Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who was convicted in 2012 for failing to report a priest for child pornography. But so far there is little indication Finn — who remains in office — is facing Vatican review.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Crown prosecutor questioned Eric Dejaeger’s credibility and character during his closing submission today in Iqaluit.

Dejaeger, 67, is on trial for dozens of charges of sex offences against children dating back to his time as a priest in Igloolik, Nunavut in the 1970s and ‘80s.

This morning, Crown Doug Curliss said Eric Dejaeger is a well-educated, relatively sophisticated person, who used his position of power as a priest to commit various criminal offences.

Curliss said Dejaeger cannot be trusted, and that he has a strong motive to lie.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MetroWest Daily News

By Arthur McCaffrey
Guest Columnist
Posted May. 11, 2014

We don’t wear a stiff white collar, or dress up in fancy robes. We don’t drink expensive whisky and smoke cigars. We don’t fly the expensive seats to Rome. We are not obsessed with sexuality, and, for the most part, lead healthy, balanced lives. By geography, occupation, socioeconomic status, we are a diverse group in Massachusetts: from Lowell, Lawrence, Everett, and East Boston, to Quincy, Scituate, Wellesley, and Framingham, we are plumbers, landscapers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, academics.

Who are we? We are the accidental activists, parishioners of Vigil Parishes all around the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (RCAB), like our own local parish, St. James in Wellesley. When ill-conceived diocesan policies threatened our religious patrimony and rich heritage of faith in 2004, we were forced to reconfigure our traditionally passive roles inside the Church. Long before there was Occupy Boston, we have been occupying our local churches for the last 10 years in vigils of protest against the misguided efforts of Cardinal O’Malley to close us. Our grass roots resistance movement is the first of its kind in the 200-year history of the diocese. You couldn’t find a less radical group of populist activists – we are middle-aged and elderly, predominantly women, with very few youth in our midst. When a criminal Church lost it moral authority, it lost a whole generation of young people for whom Rome no longer has credibility. When we go, we leave empty pews behind us.

So who are we and what are we up to? We are the Pope’s dirty dozen! In his recent, first apostolic document (“Joy of the Gospels”), Pope Francis said that he prefers “…. a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” Well, we’ve been there, done that; not so much doing missionary work to spread the good news of the gospels out in the world as leading by example, through actively bearing witness to our faith and foundational beliefs by maintaining an evangelizing presence inside our threatened parishes. A visiting Jesuit called our vigiling a “charism of the Holy Spirit”. The public witness we began in Boston in 2004 has now spread around the country. A Fordham professor has even written a book about us.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Boz Tchividjian | May 23, 2014

Do you see?
Do you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don’t you care?
Don’t you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb?!
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes,
And pretend the job is done
– Keith Green

This past week I found myself grieving. I learned that a former volunteer of a large church was convicted of sexually victimizing three boys under his supervision.

I grieve that when the parents of one of the boys told a pastor about the abuse, he chose not to report the crime to the police and strongly discouraged the family from doing so. I grieve that the failure to report this dangerous sexual offender gave him two decades of freedom to find and victimize more little ones. I grieve that not even one pastor from the church came to court to support the brave victims who eventually came forward and testified. I grieve that many Christian leaders all around the country who don’t hesitate to express open condemnation for abortion, universal healthcare, and the firing of reality television stars who make derogatory statements about gays and African Americans are suddenly silent when it comes to open condemnation for other Christians who choose not to report child sexual abuse to the authorities.

I grieve that there are individuals within certain Christian communities who deliberately choose to remain silent out of a fear of alienating those who have the power to cancel speaking engagements and turn down book contracts. I grieve that friends of those responsible for not reporting this crime would rather spend their days (and nights) vilifying and marginalizing those who have stepped forward to express outrage then grieve over such a horrific failure. I grieve that Christian communities that preach humility and love are often unteachable and too eager to be defensive and condemning when rebuked, regardless of the consequences to human souls. I grieve that many within the Church prefer the sounds of conference speakers, blog posts and tweets about theological nuances to the cries of the abused and marginalized.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist Convention official criticized bloggers commenting on a recent criminal trial for jumping to conclusions about allegations that a popular Calvinist speaker with ties to SBC leaders conspired to withhold reporting of child sex abuse to police.

Joe Carter, director of communications for the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, chastised bloggers in Twitter exchanges for slander and trying to exploit a tragedy by intimating that C.J. Mahaney — a co-founder of Together for the Gospel with Southern Baptists Albert Mohler and Mark Dever — was aware of unreported sex crimes while serving as senior pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., during the 1980s and 1990s.

Mahaney’s brother-in-law, Grant Layman, longtime executive pastor at Covenant Life Church, testified under oath that he failed to report sexual abuse by Nathaniel Morales, convicted May 15 of sexually abusing three boys at the church from 1983 until 1981, to police.

Critics said the admission supports allegations in an earlier civil lawsuit alleging that leaders of Covenant Life and other congregations affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries, a church-planting network started and formerly led by Mahaney, repeatedly responded to reports of sexual predation of children by teaching that no Christian should bring a brother to court but that the church should mediate through a process called church discipline.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat

[Summary: Dr. Julia Enxing, a theologian, said data published about abuse in the Catholic Church has shaken the church deeply. She said the church is still missing words and gestures of acknowledgment of debt as well as constructive theological approaches. In many cases forgiveness of abuse is required before guilt is admitted. The second step is being done before the first, she said. The church officials must acknowledge the guilt and integrate it into their self-image.]

Pressemitteilung des Exzellenzclusters vom 26. Mai 2014

Nach dem Missbrauchsskandal muss die katholische Kirche der Theologin Dr. Julia Enxing vom Exzellenzcluster „Religion und Politik“ zufolge einen neuen Umgang mit der Schuld lernen. „Die 2010 bekannt gewordenen Missbrauchsfälle haben die Kirche tief erschüttert. Die Auseinandersetzung mit ihrer Schuld fällt ihr aber immer noch schwer. Es fehlen Worte und Gesten der Anerkennung der Schuld ebenso wie konstruktive theologische Ansätze“, sagt die Theologin. In vielen Missbrauchsfällen sei Vergebung gefordert worden, bevor Schuld eingestanden worden sei. „Hier wurde der zweite Schritt vor dem ersten getan.“ Enxing kündigt eine Tagung des Exzellenzclusters für Ende Mai an, auf der sich katholische und evangelische Theologinnen und Theologen mit Schuld als Herausforderung für Theologie und Kirche befassen.

Die Kirche müsse ihre Schuld anerkennen und in ihr Selbstbild integrieren, fordert die Fundamentaltheologin. Anders gewinne sie verlorenes Vertrauen nicht zurück. Auch wenn Maßnahmen wie Telefon-Hotlines für Opfer und Runde Tische ergriffen und Entschädigungen bezahlt worden seien, bestünden weiter Tendenzen, eine kollektive Verantwortung der Kirche zu leugnen. Indem sie jedoch Schuld nur als Verfehlung Einzelner verstehe, relativiere sie deren Reichweite.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Reine Symbolik oder wichtige Geste? Papst Franziskus lädt Missbrauchsopfer in den Vatikan ein. Wie zäh allerdings die Reformbemühungen innerhalb der Kirche verlaufen, zeigt ein Blick auf die vergangenen Monate.

Als am 13. März 2013 aus Jorge Bergoglio Papst Franziskus wurde, waren die Erwartungen der Gläubigen an diesen schüchtern lächelnden Mann enorm. Besonders groß waren die Hoffnungen derjenigen, die in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten in kirchlichen Institutionen zu Opfern geworden waren.

In den Jahren vor Franziskus’ Pontifikat war die Kirche von etlichen Missbrauchsskandalen weltweit in ihren Grundfesten erschüttert worden. Vorgänger Benedikt XVI. entließ 2011 und 2012 etwa 400 Priester wegen des Verdachts auf Kindesmissbrauch. Doch Opferorganisationen beklagten direkt nach dem Amtsantritt des neuen Papstes, dass die katholische Kirche nach wie vor zu wenig tue, um die jahrzehntelange Politik der Vertuschung zu beenden. Eine Reform jener Strukturen, die Missbrauchsfälle begünstigen, Auseinandersetzung und Versöhnung mit den Opfern, verbesserte Prävention: Franziskus stand von Anfang an vor großen Herausforderungen.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 27, 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 )

The New York Times is now reporting that Francis says Vatican officials are investigating three bishops for alleged child sexual crimes or cover ups and that one of them has been convicted. For the safety of kids, we call on the pope to disclose who those bishops are right now, especially the convicted one.

[The New York Times]

If he hasn’t yet – and we suspect that’s the case – Francis should give information about all three of these allegations to police and prosecutors right now, no matter when they may have occurred.

Again, for the sake of children’s safety, he must reveal who and where these three men are. If the allegations are serious enough to warrant Vatican investigations, they are serious enough to make public.

By delaying these disclosures, Vatican officials may be enabling prelates who have perpetrated or hidden child sex crimes to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses, fabricate alibis, and flee overseas. It’s convenient but reckless for Catholic officials to secretly investigate those who commit and conceal sexual violence against kids and disclose their decisions months or years later while more sexual violence against kids happens and is hidden.

Regarding the convicted prelate, we strongly suspect and hope this is Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. But since Francis refuses to name this bishop, we suspect that millions of Catholics are wondering “Could this be my bishop? Might he have been found guilty years ago somewhere else and no one knows about it?” In fairness to everyone, Francis should disclose the name of this convicted prelate.

Francis must disclose whether these allegations have been turned over to police and prosecutors. If they haven’t been, he must hand over that information immediately. If he doesn’t, he’s telling the world’s bishops that crimes and potential crimes must continue to be quietly dealt with “in house” by biased church staff instead of being addressed by independent, unbiased and experienced secular authorities.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Statement by Anne Barrett Doyle

May 27, 2014

Pope Francis’s announcement that he soon will meet with victims of clergy sexual abuse is a welcome and overdue change. As Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Pope refused to meet with victims of clergy abuse, and Benedict XVI’s brief and scripted meetings with victims were theatrical. Will Francis’s meeting with survivors be different? Will he open himself to be changed deeply by them, or will he use the encounter to promote the Church’s current message, i.e., that no institution has done more good than the Church in this area?

We’ll know which it will be by three signs. We’ll have some reason for hope if: 1) Activists and strong public critics are included in the guest list, 2) Before the meeting, action is taken to remove complicit bishops, to declare reporting to civil authorities a blanket church requirement, and to respond honestly to the UN calls for transparency and responsibility, and 3) the format for the meeting includes a frank and open press conference afterward, where differences can be publicly aired.

But Francis’s record in Argentina is not encouraging. Before he was pope, he “had declined to meet with victims of sexual abuse, according to the victims and a spokesman for the Buenos Aires archdiocese,” reported the Wall Street Journal last year.

More troubling, as cardinal, Francis showed a convicted priest exactly the kind of preferential treatment that he decried in his Monday interview. In 2010, he mounted a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit the young victims of a famous priest recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for child molestation. Then-cardinal Bergoglio’s role in the case of Father Julio César Grassi was first revealed in 2011 in the Argentine news outlets Clarín and Página/12 and was confirmed after he became pope in articles in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and National Catholic Reporter.

The pope was Argentina’s most powerful Catholic leader from 1998 to 2013, a time when church officials in the US and Europe addressed the epidemic of child sexual abuse by priests, and even Popes John Paul II and Benedict made public statements. Yet the record shows that Bergoglio stayed silent, releasing no information and rarely mentioning the crisis. He released no abuse documents, no names of accused priests, no tallies of accused priests, no policy for handling abuse, not even an apology to victims.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on how the pope’s trip to the Middle East ended:

Pope Francis spent three historic days in the Middle East trying to bring Christians, Jews, and Muslims together, and on the plane ride home he fielded 11 questions on nine issues. Two dealt with his trip: there was one question on Jewish-Muslim relations, and one on the status of Jerusalem. But there were three on sexual issues: priestly sexual abuse, celibacy, and divorced and remarried Catholics.

It’s actually worse than this. On the “Today Show” this morning, only two issues were discussed: sexual abuse and celibacy. In Nicole Winfield’s AP story last night, about half the article was on sexual abuse; in today’s version, this was the only issue covered. Almost all of CNN’s coverage was on sexual abuse. John Allen of the Boston Globe covered many topics, but most of his reporting was on sexual abuse. The Boston Herald showed no interest in anything but sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | May 27, 2014

If I were Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, I’d be nervous. At his in-flight press conference on the way back from the Holy Land yesterday, Pope Francis had this to say when asked about the sexual abuse crisis in the church: “At the moment there are three bishops under investigation. One has already been convicted and the punishment needs to be decided.”

Finn, of course, is the one bishop on God’s green earth who has been convicted of failing to report a suspected case of child abuse by a priest. And so far, he has received not so much as a verbal rap on the knuckles from either the Vatican of his fellow bishops. Now, it seems, a punishment is in the works.

Unless, of course, His Holiness was referring not to bishops who cover up abuse, but to bishops who perpetrate it. But so far as I know, no bishop ever been convicted of child abuse in a secular court. Of course, the pope might have been referring to a canonical conviction, correcting himself on the fly. As in: Of three bishops whose cases have been taken up in Rome, one has already resulted in a conviction, punishment to be decided.

Which would still leave open the question of whether these are cases of bishops charged with covering up abuse. I think they are. The next sentence in the pope’s comment was: “There will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse,” followed by a statement about how in Argentina those who receive preferential treatment are called “spoilt children.”

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UNITED STATES
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE
MAY 27, 2014

Pope Francis:

1) Hasn’t Cardinal O’Malley filled you in on the fact that the vast majority of clergy sexual abuse victims want nothing to do with Church Masses, prayers, and rituals because they are triggering for them? At least one of the clergy sexual abuse victims who met with Pope Benedict in Washington, DC told me that he felt re-victimized after the encounter with Pope Benedict because he felt it was more of a staged show than an outreach.

2) Don’t you understand that clergy sexual abuse victims do not want to meet you on Church grounds surrounded by reminders of their abusers and abuse? Clergy sexual abuse victims are not able to immerse themselves in the facilities and rituals that were used to abuse them.

3) Don’t you realize that comparing sexual abuse of children by clergy to the celebration of a black Mass is triggering and re-victimizing to those children who were sexually abused at black Masses and other eerie and weird liturgical celebrations by pedophile bishops, priests, deacons, and seminarians?

4) Haven’t you concluded yet that the terms and conditions usually used to resolve most the Church’s problems do not apply to clergy sexual abuse victims? You are not in charge of this area of the Church. It would be best for you to take a step back and allow survivors to instruct you, lead you, and convert you. Survivors know what they need; let them tell you.

5) You will be a better shepherd and leader if you say to clergy sexual abuse victims, “Teach me, lead me, and tell me what we have to do to resolve this?”

6) You should realize that the planned meeting with clergy sexual abuse victims should not be cosmetic, and it should be seen as a very small step in educating the Church about the immoral acts it has committed. Further action needs to take place in order to stop clergy sexual abuse, help victims heal, and make the world a safer place for children. Superficial and cosmetic meetings will only serve to re-harm the victims.

Contacts: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Joanna Moorhead
theguardian.com, Tuesday 27 May 2014

Like every journalist who has ever been on a trip with the pope on board Shepherd One, as his plane is known, I am in no doubt as to the significance of the in-flight press conference. Being part of the Vatican press entourage means you’re up close to the pontiff, but you hardly ever get an unscripted quote – even Francis is very carefully handled by media managers.

But the traditional papal press conference in the clouds is a rare chance for him to speak off the cuff, and yesterday he did. “A priest who has sex with a child betrays God,” he told assembled journalists. “A priest needs to lead children to sanctity, and children trust him. But instead he abuses them, and this is terrible. I compare it to a satanic mass.”

This last comparison is significant. While Pope Francis is a man of gestures, he knows there are some issues on which words really count, and none more so than the vexed, and continuing, issue of child abuse.

The former Argentinian cardinal spelled it out in a way all clerics – however far from Rome and however out of touch with the current clean-up operation – will understand. No Catholic priest in his right mind would think of officiating at a satanic mass, a ritual that inverts the worship of God to pay homage instead to the devil. Satanic masses have their roots in medieval times, and have historically been a way of both ridiculing and undermining the authority of the church. They are also the biggest shock tactic imaginable to any Catholic cleric: they are diametrically opposed to everything the church stands for: the ultimate evil.

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ROME
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
MAY 27, 2014

ROME — Pope Francis says he plans to meet soon with abuse victims to underscore the Vatican’s determination to “press forward” with “zero tolerance” toward clergy accused of abusing minors.

In an off-the-cuff news conference as he returned from the Holy Land on Monday night, the pope spent more than an hour addressing a variety of questions from reporters aboard his plane, on topics like papal retirement and priestly celibacy. He also said the Vatican was investigating three bishops over sexual abuse allegations and had found one guilty. “We are studying the penalty he will have to face,” Francis said. “There are no privileges.”

The pope announced that he would celebrate Mass with eight abuse victims in the small church inside the guesthouse where he lives at the Vatican. The victims, from various countries, including Britain and Germany, will be accompanied by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, one of the eight members of a Vatican commission created last year by Pope Francis to advise him on sex abuse policy. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Tuesday that no date for the meeting had been set.

It will be the first time that the pope meets personally with victims of clergy abuse, a gesture his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II made several times. “The abuse of minors is a very ugly” and “serious” crime comparable to sacrilege, Francis said.

But Joelle Casteix, western regional director of a victims’ organization, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement that Pope Francis’ personal overture to victims would change nothing and would allow vulnerable children to remain at risk.

“No child rape will be prevented, no abuse cover-up will be prevented and no predator priest will be exposed by anything the pope said today or will do next month,” Ms. Casteix said. “His upcoming and self-serving meeting with victims is more of what we’ve seen for decades: more gestures, promises, symbolism and public relations.”

Bishop Accountability, a private Boston-based group that documents cases of sexual abuse by priests, called the meeting a “welcome and overdue change,” as long as the pope, who “refused to meet with victims of clergy abuse” as archbishop of Buenos Aires, would “open himself to be changed deeply” by the encounter.

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