ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jan. 4, 2015

ROME
Continuing to diversify global representation in the most select body of Catholic prelates, Pope Francis announced Sunday that he will be creating 20 new cardinals from 18 different countries — with several from places never before included in the elite group.

Among those Francis has chosen for the role: Bishops from the island nations of Cabo Verde and Tonga; archbishops from the Asian cities of Bangkok, Yangon, and Hà Nôi; and the leader of an Italian community dealing heavily with refugees and migrants from Africa.

Francis made the announcement of the new cardinals, long expected in recent weeks, during his weekly Sunday address following the noon-time Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

Cardinals, sometimes known as the “princes of the church” and for their wearing of red vestments, are usually senior Catholic prelates who serve either as archbishops in the world’s largest dioceses’ or in the Vatican’s central bureaucracy. Their principal role is to gather in secret conclave following the death or resignation of a pope to elect his successor.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis on Sunday named 20 new cardinals including many from Latin America and Africa, which have become key areas for the Catholic Church as its demographics have shifted away from Europe.

Fifteen of the new cardinals are also under the age of 80, meaning they are eligible to join the conclave which elects the next pontiff.

The list includes African leaders Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Ethiopia and Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado of Cape Verde.

The Latin Americans were Archbishop Alberto Suarez Inda of Mexico, Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet of Uraguay, Bishop Jose Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan of Panama as well as archbishops emeritus Luis Hector Villaba of Argentina and José de Jesus Pimiento Rodriguez of Columbia.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

[with video tribute]

[Database of Accused Priests]

Trish McLelland
1946–2015

Patricia Ruth McLelland, known to her family as “Pat” and to her friends as “Trish,” died unexpectedly on January 1, 2015, after a brief illness. She is survived by her brother, Eugene Hall, by his wife Dianne, and by their children and grandchildren. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues at the Tahira Khan Merritt Law Firm in Dallas, and by her colleagues at BishopAccountability.org in Waltham, Massachusetts. Trish is also mourned by Sylvia Demarest, whom she supported during the landmark Kos trial in 1997, and by Tom Doyle, Richard Sipe, and the other colleagues and experts involved in that and many other matters.

In her legal assistant work, Trish was known equally for her attention to detail and her attention to the clients represented by Demarest and Merritt. Survivors appreciated her warmth and accessibility, her passion for their cause, and the fierce determination she brought to supporting them, researching their cases, and assisting their advocates.

Beyond the circles that knew her work and understood its significance, Trish’s death is a blow to millions of people who have benefited from her research and expertise, without knowing that a great social movement depended on Trish’s work.

During the last 21 years, Trish was the primary researcher in an effort to name and document every Catholic priest, brother, and nun accused of abusing a child. For the last 10 years, she also coordinated the project. This effort was conceived, organized, and funded by attorney Sylvia Demarest, beginning in 1994, initially to support the Kos litigation, but then for the broader humanitarian purpose of providing an information resource to combat the scourge of child molestation by clergy, and to offer a means of calling the Catholic church to account.

The project started with the names identified by Jason Berry in his groundbreaking Lead Us Not into Temptation, and was greatly aided by the list and newsletter published by the Linkup, a survivors’ organization. In addition to Demarest and McLelland, students from the Southern Methodist University Law School participated in the work.

In 2004, Demarest donated her database and voluminous supporting documentation to BishopAccountability.org, which has employed Trish since 2005 to maintain and enhance the list that she and Demarest had begun. In the initial stages, the work of Demarest’s team was merged with the list developed by the volunteers organized by Paul Baier at Survivors First. Astonishingly, Trish cared for the BishopAccountability.org database on evenings and weekends, after her full-time job in Tahira Khan Merritt’s practice.

Holder of a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Texas, Trish vastly improved and expanded her database in 2005-2014, adding more than 1,100 names and tens of thousands of sources, and enhancing the other entries. Today, BishopAccountability.org’s Database of Publicly Accused Priests in the U.S. lists more than 4,000 bishops, priests, nuns, brothers, deacons, and seminarians. Along with Abuse Tracker, it is the feature used most frequently by BishopAccountability.org’s 1.5 million unique visitors annually.

As attorney Demarest anticipated, the database that Trish built has saved children from being abused. It has also served as a unique and comprehensive resource for law enforcement officials and investigative reporters, and has enabled survivors to come forward and obtain justice. Many developments of the last 20 years would never have occurred, were it not for the information gathered by Trish McLelland. The database has functioned as a force multiplier for any survivor, researcher, advocate, scholar, or activist involved in the child protection cause. Since 2002, dioceses and some religious orders have begun to issue lists of their own, and there is now serious talk of the church’s creating a global list. None of this could have happened without Trish McLelland’s determination and attention to the smallest detail.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor
@JohnLAllenJr

ROME — With his picks for new cardinals announced on Sunday, Pope Francis continued his campaign to reach out to the peripheries. The pontiff bypassed traditional centers of power and awarded red hats to such typically overlooked locales as Panama, Thailand, Cape Verde, New Zealand, and the Pacific island of Tonga.

For the second time, there were no new cardinals from the United States on the list announced by Francis. There were also no Americans in the first crop of cardinals named by Francis in February 2014.

While geography seemed the determining factor in these picks for Pope Francis, who at times struggled even pronouncing the names of his new cardinals, it’s noteworthy that the list includes a couple of high-profile moderates but no one with a clear reputation as a doctrinal or political conservative.

Archbishop John Atcherley Dew from New Zealand, for instance, argued for allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion at a 2005 Vatican synod of bishops. Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez is president of the Spanish bishops’ conference and generally seen as a moderate opposed to the harder line of former Madrid Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Jan 4, 2015 / 06:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis announced the names of the 15 bishops to be created cardinals in February, many of whom hail from small dioceses which have never before had a cardinal.

“As was already announced, next February 14 I will have the joy of holding a Consistory, during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world,” the Roman Pontiff said on Jan. 4.

Speaking to the thousands of pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square after his recitation of the traditional Marian prayer, the Pope revealed that the 15 new cardinals to be created come from 13 countries and from every continent.

Announced in the fall, the consistory will take place Feb. 12-14. During the first two days Pope Francis will meet with the entire collage of cardinals to reflect on current proposals for the ongoing reformation of the Roman Curia.

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VATICAN CITY
Caperi

January 04, 2015 (Vatican City) – Pope Francis named fifteen Archbishops and Bishops from thirteen countries who are to become Cardinals in mid-February, Vatican Radio announced on Sunday.

Among the new Cardinals is Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel was born on 14 July 1948 in Tchela Claka, near Harar in Ethiopia.

The list of fifteen Cardinals includes, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal), Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia), Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand), Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy), Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam), Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico), Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar), Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand), Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy), Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay), Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain), Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá), Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde), Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor

Pope Francis has put his stamp firmly on the Roman Catholic Church by naming 20 new cardinals from countries as diverse as Ethiopia, Vietnam and Panama.

The Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the choices signalled that the Pope does not feel “chained to tradition” as he shifts the balance of power in the Church towards the developing world.

The clerics from 14 different countries include the first men from Tonga, Burma and Cape Verde to become so-called “princes of the Church”.

The list also includes five retired bishops and archbishops too old to take part in the conclave to choose the next Pope but who, he said, were “distinguished for their pastoral charity”.
Pope Francis, who declared within days of his election in 2013 that he wanted a “poor church for the poor”, has now appointed 39 cardinals.

That includes 31 cardinal electors, those under the age of 80 who would be eligible to elect his successor in the next conclave – a quarter of the total.

Significantly there was no one from the United States on the list – the second time since Francis become Pope that a new batch of Cardinals had been announced without any names from the Church’s biggest source of income.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

At today’s Angelus Pope Francis read out the names of 20 bishops and archbishops who will be raised to the dignity of the cardinalate at the upcoming Consistory on February 14th. 15 of them will be eligible to vote in a Conclave

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has announced the names of the new cardinals who will receive the red biretta this coming February 14th. There will be 20 new “senators of the Church”, from across 14 nations and five Continents. 15 of them are under 80 years old and would therefore be eligible to vote in a potential Conclave. Five of them are over 80 . …

Francis seems to have respected the unwritten rule of not creating the current archbishop of a see with a retired cardinal under 80 years of age, a cardinal. Potential US candidates in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago will not therefore be receiving the red biretta and neither will the new Archbishop of Madrid.

Dominique Mamberti, the new Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, is the only Curia member appearing in the list of new cardinals. The Vatican’s former “minister of foreign affairs” was not yet a cardinal when he carried out the only role within a Holy See dicastery where the title of cardinal is a given(as established in John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution “Pastor Bonus”).

None of the Pontifical Council presidents are to be created cardinals. Pontifical Councils are not ordinarily presided over by cardinals (except in the case of the ecumenism council led by Kurt Koch) and are going to be merged as part of the Curia reform process currently underway. The Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, the Frenchman, Jean-Louis Bruguès, did not feature in the list of cardinals-to-be either. Francis’ preference for diocesan bishops is therefore evident, as well as his focus on the southern parts of the world.

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UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia

As expected, at this Sunday’s noontime Angelus, the Pope revealed the names of 20 cardinals-designate – 15 electors, five over 80 – who’ll receive the red hat at the 14 February Consistory.

Yet again, Francis’ second biglietto (ticket) into his Senate represents a shock to the system – again, no Americans (a second consecutive shut-out unseen in almost four decades), while for the first time, membership in the papal electorate goes to prelates from Myanmar, Cape Verde, Panama and Tonga, and returns to long-unvisited locales in New Zealand, Thailand, Ethiopia and Uruguay.

All in all, the ongoing shake-up of the College reiterates Francis’ desire to bring the church’s “peripheries” to its center in the forum which will determine the church’s direction after his pontificate ends – and, of course, the talent pool from which a new Pope has invariably been drawn for the last eight centuries.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Clergy, full- and part-time employees, and volunteers who work with children within the Archdiocese of Chicago are subject to these compliance standards, overseen by the archdiocese’s Safe Environment Office, a division of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth:

• The church requires personnel to complete eApps online criminal background check. (More than 113,200 employees and volunteers have had background checks.)

• The church requires personnel to submit Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System, or CANTS, Form to Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

• Church personnel attend mandated reporter training.

• Church personnel attend Virtus/Protecting God’s Children training. (3,700 such sessions have been conducted since 2003, attended by 175,000 employees and volunteers.)

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Hugh O’Shaughnessy
Sunday 4 January 2015

Now in his late 70s, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, according to some reports from Rome, is showing his age and may not live long into his 80s. There are even dark hints that some of his Italian opponents in the Vatican are bent on mischief, as they might have been at the time of the strange, untimely death of Pope John Paul I in 1976, and still smarting at the disappearance of the ancient usage that the leader should be a native of their country. After the election of a Polish, followed by German and now – for heaven’s sake – an Argentinian pope, some Italian feathers are still ruffled.

Yet the tremendously vital but brief papacy of John XXIII in the early 1960s illustrated that a short five-year reign by the right man can produce new and very welcome currents of thought in an ancient institution. As the enormous political coup brought off last month when Francis and his men doused the flames of hostility that had been raging for half a century between Havana and Washington demonstrated, forceful and skilled Vatican diplomacy can bring amazing results.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has named 20 new cardinals, including churchmen from Tonga, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

Fifteen of the new appointees are under 80, making them eligible to enter a conclave to elect the Pope’s successor.

Pope Francis said the appointment of cardinals from 14 countries from every continent in the world showed the Vatican’s “inseparable link” with Catholic Churches around the world.

They will be formally installed on 14 February.

The list of names includes five retired bishops who will join the College of Cardinals but are over 80 and so cannot take part in a papal election.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Christopher Placek

What makes an allegation of sexual abuse against a priest credible is the heart of the disagreement between the Chicago Archdiocese and victims’ advocates.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson and officials with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims’ advocacy group, have called on newly installed Archbishop Blase Cupich to release files on all priests who’ve ever been accused of sexual abuse — whether archdiocese officials have deemed those allegations to be credible.

“It’s their own review board, their own standards, their own protocols and policies monitored by their own people,” Anderson said in explaining his distrust of the process.

Mike Hoffman, who was a victim of former priest Robert Mayer at a Lake Forest parish in the late 1970s, said he was pleased with the process of the review board, which determined his allegations were substantiated not long after he came forward in August 2006 after he read a newspaper article about a suit by classmates of his. The archdiocese reached a financial settlement and agreed to pay for three years of counseling sessions.

“I thought that’s pretty good for a large institution to come to that determination in 4½ months,” said Hoffman, who remains a practicing Catholic and who worked with the archdiocese to create a healing garden for victims.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

[with timeline]

Christopher Placek

t was 25 years after he was abused by a Catholic priest that Mike Hoffman finally decided to tell someone.

In 2006, he was reading a newspaper article about victims of clergy sex abuse suing the Archdiocese of Chicago. The names of Hoffman’s abuser, Robert Mayer, and classmates who were victims, stood out.

The abuse Hoffman experienced as a teenager at the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest had become his “normal.”

“That article triggered the fact it wasn’t normal at all,” said Hoffman, now 49, a Chicago resident and owner of a Mount Prospect small business. “That was painful abuse.”

Hoffman contacted the archdiocese to tell his story and, months later, was told an internal review board determined sexual misconduct did occur — a judgment accepted by Cardinal Francis George. Hoffman soon after negotiated a financial settlement with the archdiocese, which also agreed to pay for three years of counseling sessions.

Archdiocese officials say they have substantiated 352 abuse cases relating to 66 priests since 1952 and paid out $130 million in settlements to victims. They say the policies and procedures they’ve implemented in light of the sex abuse scandal can help prevent abuse from happening again. The church’s sharpest critics disagree.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

04 January 2015 12:00 by Elena Curti

Pope Francis announced at this morning’s Angelus the names of the 15 men who are to receive red hats in a consistory next month.

The new cardinals are from 13 countries including Ethiopia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. Only two are Italian. The consistory will take place on 12 and 13 February and will examine proposals for reform of the Roman Curia.

The bishops and archbishops who will receive red hats are:
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)

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VATICAN CITY
ITV (UK)

[with list]

The Pope has named 20 new senior religious leaders from 14 countries as diverse as Vietnam, Tonga, Ethiopia and Mexico in an effort to unite the Catholic church around the world.

Pope Francis announced that he will hold the special ceremony to install 15 new cardinals, known as a consistory, at the Vatican on February 14.

He has also named five new archbishops and bishops emeriti.

The new cardinals, many of whom are under 80, have been appointed to the elite group of religious leaders at the top of the Roman Catholic herarchy – meaning they will be allowed to enter the conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation.

He said that by choosing new religious leaders from many different countries from every continent, he wanted to “show the inseparable bond between the Church of Rome and the particular churches around the world.”

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By DEBORAH BALL
Updated Jan. 4, 2015

ROME— Pope Francis nominated 15 new members of the College of Cardinals on Sunday, including new cardinals for Vietnam, Ethiopia, Mexico and Myanmar.

The 15 men are all under the age of 80, which makes them eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pope.

The majority of the new batch of cardinals is from the developing world, reflecting the Argentine-born pontiff’s efforts to rebalance the College of Cardinals toward countries where Catholicism is growing. There were no Americans among the new nominees.

The group is the second batch of cardinals appointed by Pope Francis. They will be elevated at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 14.

The pontiff also nominated five cardinals emeriti, who won’t have the power to vote in a conclave. Such nominations are honorary.

Corrections & Amplifications

The cardinals will be elevated at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 14. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the ceremony would take place on Feb. 24. (1/4/2015)

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, head of the Holy See Press Office, has published the following “notes” on the new Cardinals, whose names were announced by Pope Francis at the Angelus on Sunday:

With respect to the number of 120 electors, there were 12 places “open” in the College today or in the coming months. The Pope has slightly exceeded this number, but remained very close to it, such that it is substantially respected.

The most evident criteria is evidently that of universality. Fourteen different countries are represented, including some that do not currently have a Cardinal, and some that have never had one. If the retired Archbishops and Bishops are counted, eighteen countries are represented. There are no new Cardinals from North America (the USA or Canada) because they already have a significant number, and that number has remained stable during the past year. (There is a new Mexican Cardinal).

The presence of countries that have never had a Cardinal (Capo Verde, Tonga, Myanmar) is noteworthy. These countries have ecclesial communities that are small or that represent a minority within their country. (The Bishop of Tonga is the President of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific; the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde is one of the most ancient African Dioceses; the Diocese of Morelia in Mexico is in a region troubled by violence.)

The fact that only one of the new Cardinals is from the Roman Curia is also notable, while “Roman” Cardinals remain about a quarter of the electors. It is evident that the Pope intends to consider the posts of Prefects of the Congregations and of some other very important institutions within the Curia – as, in this case, the Tribunal of the Signatura – as Cardinalatial posts.

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THAILAND
Bangkok Post

The Archbishop of Bangkok was among 20 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on Sunday to attend the elite group at the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy who enter the conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation. Among them are 15 who are under 80.

Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij will join other cardinals from other countries including Italy, Portugal, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, Myanmar, Uruguay, Spain and Panama, according to a statement of the Vatican released on Sunday.

It is the second time the 78-year-old Pope has put his stamp on the direction he wants the 1.2 billion member church to go, having named 19 cardinals a year ago. The new “princes” of the Church will be installed at a ceremony known as a consistory at the Vatican on Feb 14.

Pope Francis said on Sunday the new cardinals reflect the church’s diversity.

The Thai archbishop is 65 years old. He was born in Bang Rak district, Bangkok, on June 27, 1949, and was ordained in 1976.

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VATICAN CITY
TribTown

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press
First Posted: January 04, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis named 15 new cardinals Sunday, selecting them from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand, Cape Verde and Myanmar, to reflect the diversity of the church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa..

Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand and Vietnam. Another is form Sicily, where the Church in recent decades has been galvanizing public rejection of the Mafia.

Referring to the Vatican, Francis told faithful in St. Peter’s Square that the churchmen come “from every continent” and “show the indelible tie with the church of Rome to churches in the world.”

In addition to the 15 new cardinals who are under 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope, Francis bestowed the honor on five churchmen older than that. He said they distinguished themselves for their work in the Vatican bureaucracy, in diplomatic service in giving witness to their love of Christ and God’s people. Those included men from the pope’s native Argentina, Mozambique and Colombia.

Speaking from a Vatican window to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Francis made another surprise announcement. He said that on Feb. 12-13, he will lead of meeting of all cardinals to “reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia,” the Vatican’s administrative bureaucracy.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN)For the second time during his papacy, Pope Francis has announced a new group of bishops and archbishops set to become cardinals — and they come from all over the world.

Pope Francis said Sunday that he would hold a meeting of cardinals on February 14 “during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who, coming from 13 countries from every continent, manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world,” according to Vatican Radio.

New cardinals are always important because they set the tone in the church and also elect the next pope, CNN senior Vatican analyst John L. Allen said. They are sometimes referred to as the princes of the Catholic Church.

The new cardinals come from countries such as Ethiopia, New Zealand and Myanmar.

“This is a pope who very much wants to reach out to people on the margins, and you clearly see that in this set,” Allen said. “You’re talking about cardinals from typically overlooked places, like Cape Verde, the Pacific island of Tonga, Panama, Thailand, Uruguay.”
But for the second time, no Americans made the list.

“Francis’ pattern is very clear: He wants to go to the geographical peripheries rather than places that are already top-heavy with cardinals,” Allen said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis announced the names of fifteen Archbishops and Bishops whom he will raise to the dignity of the Cardinalate on February 14, 2015. In addition, the Holy Father announced that five retired Archbishops and Bishops “distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church” would also be made Cardinals.

Below, please find the complete text of the Pope’s announcement, with the names of all those set to be elevated to the Cardinalate:

“As was already announced, on February 14 next I will have the joy of holding a Concistory, during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who, coming from 13 countries from every continent, manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world.

“On Sunday February 15 I will preside at a solemn concelebration with the new Cardinals, while on February 12 and 13 I will hold a Consistory with all the Cardinals to reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia.

“The new Cardinals are:

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)
Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy)
Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam)
Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico)
Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar)
Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand)
Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy)
Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay)
Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain)
Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá)
Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde)
Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

“Additionally, I will join to the Members of the College of Cardinals five Archbishops and Bishops Emeriti who are distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church. They represent so many Bishops who, with the same pastoral solicitude, have given witness of love for Christ and for the people of God in particular Churches, in the Rome Curia, and in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See.

“They are:

José de Jesús Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Manizales
Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus
Archbishop Karl-Joseph Rauber, Apostolic Nuncio
Luis Héctor Villaba, Archbishop Emeritus of Tucumán
Júlio Duarte Langa, Bishop Emeritus of Xai-Xai

“Let us pray for the new Cardinals, that, renewed in their love for Christ, they might be witnesses of His Gospel in the City of Rome and in the world, and with their pastoral experience they might support me more intensely in my apostolic service.”

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Jan 4, 2015

Associated Press

Pope Francis has named 15 new cardinals, selecting the “princes of the church” from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand and Myanmar.

Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. Francis said Sunday the new cardinals reflect the church’s diversity and will be formally installed on Feb. 14.

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

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Annuncio di Concistoro per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali

Nel corso dell’Angelus di oggi, il Santo Padre Francesco ha annunciato i nomi dei nuovi Cardinali che nominerà nel Concistoro del 14 febbraio prossimo:

Come è stato già annunciato, il prossimo 14 febbraio avrò la gioia di tenere un Concistoro, durante il quale nominerò 15 nuovi Cardinali, che, provenienti da 14 Nazioni di ogni Continente, manifestano l’inscindibile legame fra la Chiesa di Roma e le Chiese particolari presenti nel mondo.

Domenica 15 febbraio presiederò una solenne concelebrazione con i nuovi Cardinali, mentre il 12 e il 13 febbraio terrò un Concistoro con tutti i Cardinali per riflettere sugli orientamenti e le proposte per la riforma della Curia Romana.

I nuovi Cardinali sono:

1 – Mons. Dominique Mamberti, Arcivescovo titolare di Sagona, Prefetto del Supremo Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica.

2 – Mons. Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarca di Lisboa (Portogallo).

3 – Mons. Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., Arcivescovo di Addis Abeba (Etiopia).

4 – Mons. John Atcherley Dew, Arcivescovo di Wellington (Nuova Zelanda).

5 – Mons. Edoardo Menichelli, Arcivescovo di Ancona-Osimo (Italia).

6 – Mons. Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon, Arcivescovo di Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam).

7 – Mons. Alberto Suárez Inda, Arcivescovo di Morelia (Messico).

8 – Mons. Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., Arcivescovo di Yangon (Myanmar).

9 – Mons. Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Arcivescovo di Bangkok (Thailandia).

10 – Mons. Francesco Montenegro, Arcivescovo di Agrigento (Italia).

11 – Mons. Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., Arcivescovo di Montevideo (Uruguay).

12 – Mons. Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Arcivescovo di Valladolid (Spagna).

13 – Mons. José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., Vescovo di David (Panamá).

14 – Mons. Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Vescovo di Santiago de Cabo Verde (Arcipelago di Capo Verde).

15 – Mons. Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Vescovo di Tonga (Isole di Tonga).

Unirò, inoltre, ai Membri del Collegio Cardinalizio 5 Arcivescovi e Vescovi Emeriti che si sono distinti per la loro carità pastorale nel servizio alla Santa Sede e alla Chiesa. Essi rappresentano tanti Vescovi che, con la stessa sollecitudine di pastori, hanno dato testimonianza di amore a Cristo e al Popolo di Dio sia nelle Chiese particolari, sia nella Curia Romana, sia nel Servizio Diplomatico della Santa Sede.

Essi sono:

1 – Mons. José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez, Arcivescovo emerito di Manizales.

2 – Mons. Luigi De Magistris, Arcivescovo titolare di Nova, Pro-Penitenziere Maggiore emerito.

3 – Mons. Karl-Joseph Rauber, Arcivescovo titolare di Giubalziana, Nunzio Apostolico.

4 – Mons. Luis Héctor Villalba, Arcivescovo emerito di Tucumán.

5 – Mons. Júlio Duarte Langa, Vescovo emerito di Xai-Xai.

Preghiamo per i nuovi Cardinali, affinché, rinnovando il loro amore a Cristo, siano testimoni del suo Vangelo nella Città di Roma e nel mondo e con la loro esperienza pastorale mi sostengano più intensamente nel mio servizio apostolico.

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

SOUTH CAROLINA
Valley News

Randall Balmer
For the Valley News
Sunday, January 4, 2015
(Published in print: Sunday, January 4, 2015)

Imagine for a moment — and unfortunately it’s not difficult to do so — a religious institution with a long and tawdry history of tolerating sexual abuse. Individuals in positions of authority would prey on those in a subordinate status, those most vulnerable. If one of the victims summoned the courage to report the incident, those in authority would either brush it off or blame the victim for provoking the attack.

As evidence of systemic abuse mounted, officials in charge of this religious institution promised to investigate. Those investigations, however, were half-hearted at best and even aborted when investigators came close to the truth of the matter. The institution pledged to root out the corruption and punish the miscreants. But these religious authorities were also adamant that they should handle these sensitive matters internally rather than turn the cases over to law-enforcement authorities.

By now the contours of the story are sadly familiar, and readers know that I’m obviously referring to . . . Bob Jones University.

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UNITED STATES
News-Press

Frank Fear January 3, 2015

Pope Francis is at it again. He is continuing his unprecedented (and very public) effort to reform the Vatican bureaucracy.

In his Christmas Week address to The Curia he called bishops and cardinals “Lords of the Manor – (sometimes feeling) superior to everyone and everything.” “A Curia that does not criticize itself, that does not bring itself up to date, that does not to improve, is a sick body,” Francis proclaimed.

The administrative body of the Church needs to change, says the Pope, and he offered The Curia a framework for reform. Likening it to a diseased body, Francis described what he called “15 ailments of The Curia.” What’s ailing the Church’s top brass? Feeling indispensable. Being boastful. Gossiping. Forming closed circles. Showing off. Focusing excessively on career. Being opportunists. …

Most institutions talk a good game. They “brand” well. And they let the public know the great things they’re doing. But Francis brings to attention something else: what often goes on inside institutions. There you can often find a different storyline, one that’s almost always hidden from public view.

The prevailing approach is “impression management.” Only talk about what’s working well. Focus on highlights. Don’t air “dirty laundry.” Protect the Brand.

Some of that certainly makes sense, but an insular organizational culture emerges when institutional self-enhancement is taken to an extreme. Issues get papered-over. Employees feel they can’t bring up problems. It’s a matter of “going along to get along.”

None of this matters to the public most of the time, but that’s certainly not a hard and fast rule. Consider what happened at General Motors (ignition switch); The Veteran’s Administration (vets’ medical treatment); and Penn State University (sexual predation). And not too long ago the Pope cleaned-up money laundering at The Vatican Bank.

In calling-out the Curia, Francis made public what he believes is happening inside The Vatican. By extrapolation he invites us to ask a parallel question: What’s going on inside our organizations? As The Chicago Tribune wrote last week about the Pope’s talk: “This wasn’t an exclusively Roman Catholic message, or even a particularly religious message. It’s advice to all of us on how to lead our lives.”

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GUAM
Pacific Sunday News

Written by
Maria Hernandez
Pacific Sunday News

Vatican diplomats traveling from Rome were expected to arrive on island yesterday evening, and at least one member of the delegation is expected to attend the governor’s inauguration on Monday, according to the governor’s office.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fair, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Archbishop Martin Krebs, apostolic delegate to the Pacific Islands; and Reverend Father Tadeusz Nowak will be on island until Jan. 10, according to the Archdiocese of Agana.

The governor’s inauguration will take place Monday morning on the front lawn at Adelup. Krebs is expected to attend, according to the governor’s office.

Concerned Catholics

While the archdiocese stated in a December release that the trip is a “pastoral visit to foster reconciliation and mutual understanding in the archdiocese,” some local organizations are disputing the claim.

In mid-December, a nonprofit group called the Concerned Catholics of Guam Inc. announced its plans to investigate the management of the local church, its financial books and the archdiocese’s handling of accusations of sexual molestation against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, news files state.

Apuron, who is planning a defamation lawsuit to defend the church, called the allegation a “horrible calumny,” but declined to comment further.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Saturday, January 3, 2014 – Road to Recovery, Inc.

The Xaverian Missionaries are a religious order of men with a headquarters in Wayne, NJ where Fr. James Tully, a serial sexual abuser of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults is based and has lived recently. Fr. James Tully is a risk and danger to children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults.

Fr. James Tully sexually abused Anthony Turay at approximately age 19. Anthony Turay is a native of Makeni, Sierra Leone, Africa, who came from a devout Catholic family and attended a junior seminary in order to be a priest. Anthony Turay was also sexually abused at approximately age 20 by Br. Martin O’Reilly, CFC, at the Christian Brothers’ Formation Center in Gbarnga, Liberia, Africa, where Anthony was preparing to become a religious brother.

The Xaverian Missionaries have refused to treat Anthony Turay fairly and justly because of the effects of the sexual abuse of Fr. James Tully, Xaverian Missionary.

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting a New Jersey neighborhood and the general public to the dangers posed by a missionary religious order of men which refuses to treat an African sexual abuse victim, Anthony Turay, of a missionary priest, Fr. James Tully, fairly and justly.

When
Sunday, January 4, 2015 from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm (press conference at Noon)

Where
Outside the headquarters of the Xaverian Missionary Religious Order, 12 Helene Court, Wayne, NJ 07470 – 973-942-2975

Who
Anthony Turay, an African man who was sexually abused by Fr. James Tully in a Catholic parish in Kamalo, Sierra Leone at approximately the age of 19; his fiancée; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families; Kevin Waldrip, a New Jersey sexual abuse victim and supporter of sexual abuse victims.

Why
The Xaverian Missionaries are an international religious order working in approximately 21 countries, including Sierra Leone in Africa. Fr. James Tully, a Xaverian Missionary, is a serial sexual abuser of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults. The Xaverian Missionaries have settled claims against Fr. Tully for sexually abusing children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults in the United States and foreign countries. Anthony Turay, an innocent victim from Sierra Leone in Africa, was sexually abused by Fr. James Tully at the Xaverian Missionary parish in Kamalo, Sierra Leone on more than one occasion. Demonstrators will go door to door in the cul-de-sac neighborhood of Wayne, NJ where the leaders of the Xaverian Missionaries are based warning innocent families of the danger posed by Fr. James Tully and the Xaverian Missionary leaders who enabled and continue to enable him.

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

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UNITED STATES
America

Nathan Schneider | Jan 1 2015

A Catholic sister I know, on her way to yet another street protest for police accountability, emailed me the other day with “an idea for a column,” as her subject line read. This crisis of racism in policing, she wrote, seems familiar. Could it be that there is some connection between prosecutors protecting killer police officers and bishops protecting abusive priests?

It’s a haunting idea—haunting to think that these two hugely powerful yet distinct institutions might have systemic problems in common. Even more haunting is the thought of how touchy partisans of either the cops or the church might respond to such an intimation. Yet the second I saw the sister’s brief suggestion, I couldn’t help but think that there is truth to it.

Think of it this way. Police departments around the country are facing a renewed round of protest for practices and policies that victimize people of color; in a spree of high-profile cases, officers have escaped trial, angering communities and harming public trust in the institution as a whole. Dioceses around the country, too, have been exposed in recent years for practices and policies that victimize the people they purport to serve, particularly children; after a series of high-profile cover-ups, the systematic protection of abusive clergy has sorely harmed the faithful’s trust in the institution as a whole.

Am I missing something?

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

In a new posting at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry Slevin invites Catholics to dream about the impossible. As he notes, countering the idea that such dreams are “impractical,” who dreamt that a “pope for life” would resign in the midst of the mess the Catholic church has made for itself at this point in history?

And did Jesus limit his dreams to the “practical”?

Jerry proposes 12 resolutions for Pope Francis if he really does want to fix the mess:

∙Protect children by holding bishops accountable.
∙Protect children by restoring the age of First Confession to 13 years of age.
∙Help abuse survivors financially and emotionally.
∙Help couples by endorsing contraception.
∙Help women by ordaining women as priests.
∙Appoint women Cardinals.
∙Recognize same sex marriages as holy.
∙Encourage divorced and remarried Catholics to receive all the Sacraments.
∙Have all bishops selected and retained only with the full consent of the Catholics they serve.
∙Sell all excess Church assets and give the proceeds to the poor.
∙End Church involvement in political campaigns.
∙Infallibly declare that popes are always “fallible”.

With regard to the question of naming women cardinals, Jerry notes that the Wall Street Journal has stated that Francis may name new cardinals as early as tomorrow. As he also points out, no less than the Vatican’s Jesuit spokesman Father Lombardi has told The Irish Times that “theologically and theoretically, it is possible” for a pope to name a woman cardinal. As Jerry also reminds his readers, Jesuit Father Tom Reese has also stated that, according to canon law, a pope has “total freedom” to appoint whomever he wishes as a cardinal.

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ITALIA
Firmiamo

[petition site in support of Pope Francis]

L’arrivo del Papa «venuto dalla fine del mondo» che assume il nome di Francesco presentandosi non come Pontefice Massimo, ma come Vescovo di Roma, provoca reazioni scomposte dentro la Curia vaticana che, falcidiata da scandali e corruzioni, considera il Papa come corpo «estraneo» al suo sistema consolidato di alleanze col potere mondano, alimentato da due strumenti perversi: il denaro e il sesso.

Dapprima il chiacchiericcio sul «Papa strano» inizia in sordina, poi via via diventa sempre più palese davanti alle aperture di papa Francesco in fatto di famiglia, di «pastorale popolare» e di vicinanza con il Popolo di Dio per arrivare anche – scandalo degli scandali – a parlare con i non credenti e gli atei.

Dopo lo sgomento di un sinodo «libero di parlare», l’attacco frontale di cinque cardinali (Müller, Burke, Brandmüller, Caffarra e De Paolis), tra cui il Prefetto della Congregazione della Fede, ha rafforzato il fronte degli avversari che vedono in Papa Francesco «un pericolo» che bisogna bloccare a tutti i costi.

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ITALY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor January 3, 2015

Amid a robust Italian debate over the leadership of Pope Francis, a cross-section of liberal Catholic groups in the country has launched an online petition to show backing for the Argentinian pontiff.

Pointedly called “Stop the Attacks on Pope Francis,” the petition was launched on Christmas Day by groups including “We are Church,” “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” the Edith Stein Study Center, an Italian association of theologians, and a variety of base communities. All are generally associated with the liberal wing of the Italian Church.

The petition is also signed by the Rev. Luigi Ciotti of Turin, one of Italy’s best known anti-Mafia priests, and the Rev. Alex Zanotelli, a Combonian missionary priest and a well-known social activist.

As of Jan. 3, the petition had attracted close to 2,500 signatures, toward a goal of 50,000.

The current Italian row over Francis began when one of the country’s most renowned Catholic journalists, Vittorio Messori, published a front-page essay on Dec. 24 in Corriere della Sera stating his “perplexity” over what he sees as the pontiff’s contradictions.

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MARYLAND
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

January 3rd, 2015

Bishop Heather Cook of Baltimore killed a bicyclist last week.

She apparently left her apartment at the end of Roland Avenue in Baltimore. She drove south down a section of Roland Ave which is 6 lanes, untrafficked, with clearly marked bike lanes and smooth pavement.

There she encountered Tony Palermo and ran into him. He was an expert bicyclist, and worked in the bicycle section at REI. My son frequently saw him bicycling. There were other bicyclists around.

She continued on Roland Avenue and turned around. The bicyclists saw her car and realized it must have been the one involved in the accident. A bicyclist pursued her to get her license number. She drove into her gated community but the guard kept the bicyclist out.

45 minutes after the accident (according to eyewitnesses) she returned to the scene of the accident. An official from the Episcopal diocese was on hand.

Cook had had a previous encounter with the police:

Court records show that a sheriff’s deputy stopped Cook on Sept. 10, 2010, in Caroline County on the Eastern Shore. The officer wrote in a report that Cook was driving on the shoulder at 29 mph in a 50 mph-zone with a shredded front tire. The deputy noted that a strong alcohol odor emanated from the vehicle and that Cook had vomit down the front of her shirt.

The officer wrote that Cook was so intoxicated that she couldn’t finish a field sobriety test because she might fall and hurt herself.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

By Kate Valentine
Friday, January 02, 2015

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) — A former Tulare priest accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from parishioners has bailed out of jail. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is reaching out to members to help calm any concerns.

Questions surround former priest Ignacio Villafan of St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Tulare. This week he was arrested and charged with embezzling $425,000.

The Diocese of Fresno was first told about accounting problems several years ago at St. Rita’s. That’s when they put Villafan on paid administrative leave. They also contacted Tulare police.

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said, “Tulare Police Department did a lengthy thorough investigation and based on that we were able to file charges.”

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

[with video]

By Colin Campbell
The Baltimore Sun

A Maryland Episcopal bishop identified as the motorist in Saturday’s fatal bicycle accident in North Baltimore once gave a sermon in which she used a driving analogy to discuss responsibility.

In the videotaped sermon, “Be Prepared,” Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook cautions the congregation that actions can have serious consequences.

“Things happen suddenly, and we’re either prepared in the moment or we’re not, and we face the consequences. We can’t go back. We can’t do it over,” Cook says in the sermon, posted on YouTube in November. “If we routinely drive 55 in a 30-mile-an-hour zone, we won’t be able to stop on a dime if driving conditions get dangerous or if an animal or, God forbid, a human being should step out in front of us,” Cook says.

The video was posted by the All Saints’ Episcopal Church of Reisterstown on its YouTube page and is dated Nov. 13.

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ROMA
Noticias Iruya

La Squadra Mobile de la policía italiana ha detenido en Roma al sacerdote Alessandro De Rossi, sobre quien pesaba una orden de captura internacional emitida por un Juez de Garantías de la ciudad de Salta.

La detención se produjo el pasado miércoles 31 de diciembre, en horas de la tarde, según han informado autoridades italianas.

De Rossi se desempeñaba desde el 1 de septiembre de 2013 como párroco de la iglesia de San Luigi Gonzaga, ubicada en la via Villa Emiliani del barrio de Parioli, al norte de Roma.

El sacerdote, de 46 años, estuvo destinado «fidei donum» durante aproximadamente seis años en la Arquidiócesis de Salta, en donde tuvo a su cargo la iglesia de María Medianera de Todas las Gracias, ubicada al oeste de la capital salteña. De Rossi era, además, uno de los promotores de una ONG religiosa denominada “Salta sul mondo onlus”, que realizaba proyectos en favor de los niños más vulnerables.

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ARGENTINA
Noticias Iruyai

El Arzobispo de Salta avaló con su ‘juicio positivo’ la designación como párroco en Roma del cura detenido

En la tarde de ayer, día viernes 2 de enero de 2015, el Uficio Comunicazioni Sociali (UCS), que depende del Vicariato di Roma, ha hecho público un comunicado de prensa en el que expresa su dolor y desconcierto por el arresto del párroco de San Luigi Gonzaga, «Alessandro De Rossi», acusado de abuso y corrupción de menores por la justicia de Salta.

La nota recuerda que el sacerdote había regresado a Roma a comienzos de 2013, después de pasar varios años como misionero en el extranjero y señala expresamente que su designación como párroco en una iglesia de Roma se debió al juicio positivo emitido sobre él por el «obispo local».

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ROME
Buenos Aires Herald

A priest accused of sexual abuse against minors in Salta province was arrested in Rome, Italy, following an warrant issued by Argentine judges.

Alessandro De Rossi, 46, faced charges for having perpetrated sexual offences against a 14-year-old teenager during three years while he was working at the church “María Medianera de todas las gracias,” located in the neighbourhood Islas Malvinas of the capital city of Salta, according to the website Roma Capitale.

At the time of his arrest, De Rossi was a pastor in a church in Rome’s Parioli district.
The detention took place on December 31 but was reported yesterday.

Salta Judge Diego Rodríguez Pipino issued an arrest warrant to the Interpol international police agency against De Rossi, who is said to have committed a series of sexual offences to an unknown number of victims.

The priest, born in Rome, was sent to Salta by Church authorities. He spent five years in that province.

Between December 23 and Christmas Eve, police officers carried out several raids to seize computers, photographs and some other information that could be used as evidence of the alleged ties between De Rossi and the sexual abuse cases that had been reported by minors.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

December 31, 2014 Happy New Year to all our friends and readers !

On December 28, in Abuse Tracker, it was a coincidence (or God-incidence because with God – and sometimes with Kathy Shaw – there is no such thing as coincidence) that Jerry Slevin’s blog, Christian Catholicism, and his critique ‘Pope Francis: Children Are Good & More Children Are Better???’ — was posted next to our blog, POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ (con-artist really), with our REBUTTAL to Peggy Noonan’s article ‘Cardinal, Please Spare This Church’ in Wall Street Journal – Opus Dei Beast PR Stunt of Day in US

Jerry duly noted in his article that – “Pope Francis even suggests that couples may be having less children due to ‘egoism’. Francis reportedly said on 12/28/14: ‘In a world often marked by egoism, a large family is a school of solidarity and of mission that’s of benefit to the entire society …’” Here’s our addendum: Pope Francis is the Jesuit Master of Deceits – and what he really mean is, a large family – who will be on perpetual mission – to serve and work as cheap slaves laborers worldwide – for the 1% richest persons on the globe who are his cronies of looters and imperialists of multinational corporations – whose wealth are safely hidden in secret Vatican Swiss Banks and in Malta.

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BOSTON (MA)
The New York Times

By MICHAEL PAULSON
JAN. 2, 2015

BOSTON — The house on the rise has long been a symbol of Catholicism in Boston. When it was built, its grandeur demonstrated the wherewithal of the city’s newly powerful Roman Catholic community. When it was sold, the transaction reflected the straits of a once-powerful archdiocese brought low by scandal.

Now, the bedrooms of the Italianate palazzo where all of Boston’s 20th-century cardinals, as well as a visiting Pope John Paul II, once slept have been gutted, in preparation for it to be remade as a museum.

The conversion of the cardinals’ residence is the final step in the transformation of a leafy expanse on the western edge of Boston that was once so packed with Catholic institutions — a seminary, a college, the residence and the archdiocesan headquarters — that it was referred to as Little Rome. It is still Catholic — most of the land is owned by Boston College, a Jesuit institution, and there are crosses and a statue of St. Ignatius on the campus. But the seminary gymnasium is now a dance studio; the old tribunal, where marriages were annulled, houses a center on aging; and the former chancery is the college’s alumni center.

A decade after the Archdiocese of Boston began the process of selling property at its headquarters to Boston College to pay victims of sexual abuse by clergy members, the most visible vestiges of the land’s historical uses are an archdiocesan seminary, now in half the building it once filled, and a grave site for the cardinal who acquired much of the land but whose remains were disinterred and relocated as a condition of the real estate deal.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

Tim Rohr

This is a request I have received several times.

The apostolic visitors have several meetings scheduled with the clergy and the laity. Unfortunately, those wishing to meet with them were screened by the very people who the apostolic visitors are here to investigate.

At 3pm on Tuesday, December 30, CCOG president, Greg Perez, was advised by someone who had only made an appointment a few hours before, that according to the chancery official in charge of the schedule, most of January 8 and 9 was still open.

Upon hearing that the schedule was still mostly open only a few hours previously, Mr. Perez, who had already made an appointment for himself, called the chancery to make an additional appointment for the CCOG. He was told that everything was booked.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/02/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Less than two months after the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis gave nearly a dozen staff members thirty minutes to pack up and depart- terminating their employment in an effort to balance the budget- and with the prospect of a bankruptcy filing looming, the Archdiocese announced in its January 2, 2015 ‘Update’ the hiring of another employee for the Office of Child and Youth Protection.

According to the ‘Update’,

The Office for the Protection of Children and Youth Welcomes Michael Fulcher

Mike Fulcher will be joining the OPCY staff on January 5, 2015 as the new OPCY Coordinator. Mike recently moved from Ohio to the Twin Cities to be closer to family, and to work for the local Church in this important role.

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UNITED STATES
Prestige Hong Kong

MICHAEL KEATON’s role in Birdman has resurrected the multifaceted actor’s eclectic career. He talks to JOE YOGERST about theatre, his comedic roots and the movie that’s propelled him back into the limelight

AFTER YEARS OF flying beneath the media spotlight, Michael Keaton suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in showbiz. He’s been blazing a trail through the late-night talk shows, he’s on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter and countless other rags, and he can’t even get through a restaurant meal without other diners (like US Secretary of State John Kerry) showering him with praise. All because of a little film called Birdman that has slowly but surely morphed into a very big deal.

It’s not like Keaton hasn’t been in the spotlight before. His naughty-but-nice Beetlejuice is one of the more memorable characters to come out of Tinseltown in the past 30 years. And his Batman redefined the superhero genre, setting the tone for dozens of films that came later. But it’s Keaton’s role as washed-up actor Riggan Thomson in Birdman that has thrust the 63-year-old onto a whole different plane of celebrity. …

YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER HIGHLY ANTICIPATED MOVIE COMING OUT NEXT – SPOTLIGHT – A STORY ABOUT THE CATHOLIC-CHURCH SEXABUSE SCANDAL. ARE YOU FINISHED SHOOTING?

I think I have a day we have to go back and grab a scene in the winter. That was a nice little movie to work on. Not the cheeriest of subject matters.

AND YOU PLAY ROBBY ROBINS ON, AN EDITOR IN CHARGE OF A TEAM FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE THAT’S INVESTIGATING THE SCANDAL.

Yeah. He describes himself as a player/coach. He’s a reporter and an editor of what in some cities they call the Metro section. The Boston Globe has something called Spotlight that does investigative pieces. And Walter “Robby” Robinson heads that team up.

IT’S AN INTERESTING PREMISE FOR A MOVIE. I GUESS IT’S THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS REALLY TAKEN A LOOK AT THIS SUBJECT.

Yeah, exactly. My guess is that it’s going to feel a little like All the President’s Men. I have the feeling that will be the vibe. Which is kind of nice because when is the last time you saw that kind of movie? Nobody really makes that kind of movie any more.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton Spectator (Canada)

Michael Keaton says his education at a Catholic school shaped the person who he is.

The 63-year-old actor admits he endured tough discipline during his time at school when he was growing up in Pennsylvania, but rather than resent the treatment he believes it made him a moral person.

In an interview with Prestige Hong Kong magazine, Keaton – whose parents were Catholic Christians – said: “I liked going to Catholic school. Not as f***ed up as some people think. My experience was fine. It was classic knuckle-rapping and stand in the corner and corporal punishment. But it was just sort of what it was. I didn’t come away scarred for life. It kind of builds who you are. I was an altar boy. I liked being an altar boy. Me and my buddies got to go and serve Mass and go to school. I didn’t go to church all the time just ’cause I was an antsy kid. It was a good experience for me. It probably does shape who you are and what you believe in.”

Keaton’s next film ‘Spotlight’ focuses on the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation of the Massachusetts Catholic sex abuse scandal.

In the movie, he plays Spotlight team editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson who is charge of the journalistic investigation into the abuse carried out by priests, and Keaton believes his Catholic background helped him in the difficult role.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Post

Michael Keaton Stars in Movie About Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal; Reveals Catholic School Helped Shape Him as a Person

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
January 2, 2015

U.S. actor Michael Keaton poses during the red carpet for the movie ”Birdman or (The unexpected virtue of ignorance)” at the 71st Venice Film Festival August 27, 2014.

Actor Michael Keaton has said in an interview that his upcoming movie “Spotlight,” about the Catholic sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, threatened to make him “angry and depressed” due to the dark subject matter. Keaton also revealed that he grew up going to Roman Catholic school, and said that it had a positive impact on his life and helped shape him as a person.

“I liked going to Catholic school. Not as [expletive] as some people think. My experience was fine. It was classic knuckle-rapping and stand in the corner and corporal punishment. But it was just sort of what it was. I didn’t come away scarred for life,” Keaton told Prestige Hong Kong magazine in an interview on Thursday.

“It kind of builds who you are. I was an altar boy. I liked being an altar boy. Me and my buddies got to go and serve mass and go to school. I didn’t go to church all the time just ’cause I was an antsy kid. It was a good experience for me. It probably does shape who you are and what you believe in.”

Keaton further explained that in the film he plays Robby Robins, an editor in charge of a team from the Boston Globe that investigated the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, which uncovered a series of cover-ups related to such crimes within the Boston Archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Protect children by holding bishops accountable.
* Protect children by restoring the age of First Confession to 13 years of age.
* Help abuse survivors financially and emotionally.
* Help couples by endorsing contraception.
* Help women by ordaining women as priests.
* Appoint women Cardinals.
* Recognize same sex marriages as holy.
* Encourage divorced and remarried Catholics to receive all the Sacraments.
* Have all bishops selected and retained only with the full consent of the Catholics they serve.
* Sell all excess Church assets and give the proceeds to the poor.
* End Church involvement in political campaigns.
* Infallibly declare that popes are always “fallible”.

* Why not? Impractical, not really, as I discuss below. Was expecting a “pope for life” to quit impractical? Moreover, Jesus was not limited by what was considered “practical”.

* It is time for Catholics to take off the blinders and require that their leaders follow the Gospels. Catholics can require this by (1) ending their donations that even indirectly benefit bishops, (2) publicly challenging their bishops often, and (3) demanding that their democratically elected officials (A) investigate, and if the evidence is found, prosecute suspected bishops, and (B) end all subsidies to bishops.

* Pope Francis has so far offered few indications about concrete changes he really wants. Many Church leaders seem fearful of any changes. Yet, many Catholics and others are finally pressing for permanent changes. They have by now seen Vatican misconduct up close and too often. They now also understand better that many of the Vatican’s frequently ambiguous, if not vague, basic biblical and historical sources supporting papal power have too often been overplayed, if not misused, in encyclicals and a Catechism, to justify supreme papal power .

* Significantly, these permanent changes, that the Catholic majority seeks in good conscience and good faith, may differ ultimately from what many in the Vatican now want. As the “infallible Supreme Pontiff” for millions of Catholics, Pope Francis has the best papal opportunity in many years, if not centuries, to fix the broken Catholic Church. This may also be the final papal opportunity to clean up the “holy mess”. Time will soon tell.

* This Catholic Church’s crisis has led to one papal resignation already. Pope Francis appears for many reasons to be the Vatican’s best and last chance to lead on initiating overdue Church changes. Pressures beyond Vatican control can be expected to compel more severe changes if Francis fails to act effectively and transparently. This has already begun to happen with respect to Vatican finances, as a result of the continuing European governmental investigations of multiple misdeeds involving both the Vatican Bank and the Vatican’s own significant portfolio assets. Prospects for criminal prosecutions of Catholic Church officials have seemingly caused the Vatican to focus on overdue reforms in ways that earlier financial penalties and shameful publicity had rarely done before. As with corporate criminal executives worldwide, prosecution risk is generally a uniquely effective deterrent to future crimes by senior leaders.

* Almost 150 years ago, facing a similar crisis, Pope Pius IX refused to initiate overdue changes to his arbitrary and ineffective leadership of his Kingdom of the Papal States in central Italy. His key misguided “fix” was to push to be declared “infallible” in July 1870. Two months later, he militarily lost the Kingdom completely to Italian nationalists. Traditional papal protectors like France and Austria-Hungary stood by and passively watched, unwilling to support further papal mismanagement and capriciousness. Will Pope Francis make a similar mistake like Pius IX did by misjudging his precarious position?

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

Pope Francis is more popular than any modern pope but is upsetting Vatican insiders. Peter Popham says the backlash has begun and asks who will come out on top in the struggle for the heart of the Catholic church

Pope Francis, who in his first Mass of the new year called for an end to war and slavery, has put a spring in the step of the Catholic Church since his election nearly two years ago. But now the backlash has begun.

It started, coincidentally or not, two days after a recent, devastating assault by the pontiff on the vices of the senior Vatican officials who surround him.

Addressing the Curia in the magnificent setting of the Clementina Hall, the first Latin American Pope took no prisoners. Itemising the faults of the senior prelates he was addressing, he listed “feelings of immortality, immunity or indispensability, deriving from a pathology of power” and what he called “spiritual Alzheimer’s” in which Vatican bosses lose their memory of “meeting the Lord” and “depend entirely … on their passions, their whims and manias … becoming slaves of idols”. He described how “the terrorism of gossip” can “kill the reputation of our colleagues and brothers in cold blood”. Other ailments included having “a hardened heart”, “a funereal face”, and being “too rigid, tough and arrogant”.

The reaction came two days later. In the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Vittorio Messori, Italy’s best-known Catholic writer, wrote of his feelings of “perplexity” about the Pope, and the fact that “even some of the cardinals who were among his electors” were having second thoughts about him.

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TEXAS
Valley Central

by Tiffany Huertas

Supporters from all over the valley gathered Thursday evening at the Pharr Events Center for the swearing-in of the new Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez. On hand to administer the oath of office was Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio

Some supporters said the change is long overdue and hope Rodriguez will listen to them.

“I totally believe that he will look into not only the Irene Garza case, but all cases,” said Noemi Sigler, Supporter.

The Garza family has supported Rodriguez since the beginning. They’ve been trying to get the unsolved murder case of Irene Garza re-opened for years.

The former Texas beauty queen and schoolteacher was killed more than 50 years ago, but no one has ever been charged for her death. The Garza’s said when they approached the now former DA Rene Guerra about reviewing the case, they got the cold shoulder.

“He showed absolutely no compassion, to the point of being disrespectful, and I will go out on a limb and say cruel,” said Noemi Sigler, Garza family member.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Fern Shen January 1, 2015

A mighty river of biking comrades today flowed along the Baltimore street where cyclist Thomas Palermo was hit and killed by a car last Saturday, in a memorial ride meant to honor his memory and show support for safer biking.

More than 700 people signed up for the ride and vigil, but organizers estimated as many as 1,500 participated in the chilly New Year’s Day show of support, some of them wearing signs that said “Cyclists’ Lives Matter” and “Justice for Tom.”

“I just came today to honor a fellow biker,” said Jeff Dudley, of Guilford, adhering at first to organizers’ wishes to keep the focus of the event on Palermo, not the unusual circumstances of his death.

But with Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook named as the driver – and clergy officials confirming that she drove off after the crash and so far no charges filed – the case has ignited worldwide attention and intense local debate.

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MARYLAND
Fox DC

There are more calls for Maryland’s first female episcopal bishop to resign following a deadly hit-and-run in Baltimore.

Hundreds of people hit the streets in Baltimore Thursday to remember fellow cyclist Thomas Palermo.

The father of two was struck and killed by a car this past weekend while he rode in a bike lane.

Police say Bishop Heather Cook was behind the wheel of the car. They say she left the scene and then returned 20-minutes later.

So far no charges have been filed.

A Facebook page calling for her to resign and face charges has nearly 2000 likes.

Just months ago, cook talked about personal responsibility in a sermon, using a car crash as an example.

“If we routinely drive 55 in a 30 mile-an-hour zone, we won’t be able to stop on a dime if driving conditions get dangerous or if an animal or, God forbid, a human being should step out in front of us,” Cook said in front of parishioners.

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MARYLAND
Christian Century

Jan 02, 2015 by Richard A. Kauffman

Two days after Christmas, Heather Elizabeth Cook, suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, hit and killed a bicyclist with her car. The deceased, Thomas Palermo, left behind a wife and two small children, ages four and six. Cook left the scene of the accident, despite having a badly cracked windshield from the impact. According to one report, she only returned to the scene because another cyclist chased her down.

The police have released no details suggesting drugs or alcohol were involved. But Cook had a previous DUI incident in 2010, before she became a bishop. In that incident she was initially charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving, and possession of marijuana. She admitted to smoking pot while driving. One of her tires was shredded down to the rim.

Apparently this information wasn’t shared across the diocese when Cook was voted in this spring as the number two bishop, leaving some members feeling betrayed. Some even accuse the search committee of being so keen to elect the first female bishop in the diocese that it chose to overlook her previous run-in with the law.

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MARYLAND
Huffington Post

Rev. Emily C. Heath
Clergy, United Church of Christ

A few people have asked me, as a clergy person openly in longterm recovery, what my thoughts are on whether Bishop Heather Cook, the Episcopal bishop in Maryland who struck and killed a motorist and who had a history of driving under the influence, should have been serving as a bishop. Here are my thoughts.

First of all, the person we should first be remembering, and whose family we should be lifting up in prayer, is Thomas Palermo, the man who was struck and killed by Bishop Cook, and then left to die in the roadway. Mr. Palermo and his family, including his children, should be our first concern as the church.

But to turn to Bishop Cook, and the discussion of clergy and alcoholism, this is what I can say. In the aftermath of Bishop Cook’s actions, I have seen a number of posts on social media debating whether or not a person with substance abuse issues should have been elevated to bishop. In my mind, most have lacked nuance. Several things need to be taken into account.

First, there are many clergy persons in recovery from addictions. Second, there are many more who should be in recovery. Third, I don’t know to which group Bishop Cook belonged.

That said, her 2010 DUI charges were particularly disturbing. Many of us in recovery never drove drunk, but the facts of her prior case seem to indicate that substance abuse was indeed a problem. My hope is that when she was charged she saw the need to get sober. My other hope is that the Episcopal Church supported her in that endeavor.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Jan. 2, 2015

The creation of new cardinals in February may well determine whether the papacy of Pope Francis is a flash in the pan or a turning point in the history of the church. It is the College of Cardinals that will determine whether his legacy is lasting when they choose his successor after he dies or retires.

If they choose a new pope committed to the reforms begun by Francis, all will be well. If not, church leaders, especially the Roman Curia, could try to return to business a usual.

This has happened before. Pope John XXIII was a reforming pope who called the Second Vatican Council, but he was not strategic when it came to the appointment of cardinals. He appointed many people who were not totally on board with the council. People joked that he made his enemies cardinals, especially those in the Curia. He even broke with tradition by making archbishops of all of the cardinals working in the Curia.

Judging by the appointments he made last year, Pope Francis is not making this mistake. In order to understand the radical nature of his 2014 appointments, one must remember the written and unwritten rules governing the appointment of cardinals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

January 1 2015

David Aaronvitch

The vitriol aimed at Dame Fiona Woolf shows how detached from reality the self-appointed victims’ champions are

The year turns on a rusty hinge and the squeaks of 2014 grate on into 2015. So Fiona Woolf found herself both damed and damned as the new year’s honours list was announced. Damed for being only the second woman lord mayor of London and a distinguished lawyer; damned for being unfit (temporarily, at any rate) to receive such an honour

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

Friday, January 2, 2015

SIMON SANTOW: As the child abuse Royal Commission moves into its second year of public hearings, there are growing concerns about how victims and organisations are using social media to discuss institutional child sexual abuse.

While social media is enabling survivors to connect with others and candidly share their stories in a way that was never possible before. There are warnings about the possible risks it may pose to future legal action.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Last month, abuse survivor Alecia Buchanan told the Royal Commission about the comfort and support she’d found from others via social media.

ALECIA BUCHANAN: After so many years of silence, we… it was pouring out and a public forum of course we didn’t have anything like this in the old days, you know. So the social medium and people which, I’d never heard from contacted me and saying this is… thank you for… you know that was actually the most powerful thing, you know and it felt like we were being public.

EMILY BOURKE: Aaron Kernaghan has worked as a criminal defence lawyer and prosecutor and he represents victims and institutions appearing before the national inquiry.

AARON KERNAGHAN: It isn’t easy to come forward and talk to police, or to lawyers or to judges, it’s even less easy to talk to juries. But interestingly we seem to be moving as a society to a place where people have a great deal of ease with talking about incredibly private matters in a very public way.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

BY COLIN O’CARROLL – 02 JANUARY 2015

The number of historical child abuse victims could reach the tens of thousands and overwhelm the system, a leading MP has claimed.

Labour’s John Mann, who has given a dossier of allegations of historical abuse to police, said victims wanted a national institute.

He said the government needed the backing of those claiming to have been abused by establishment figures and in state institutions.

Mr Mann said the state could not deal with the numbers of people coming forward.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

By Jack Sommers
Posted: 31/12/2014

The City lawyer who was forced to resign as chair of the government’s child sexual abuse inquiry, has been made a Dame, prompting condemnation from a campaigning MP on the issue.

Fiona Woolf was the second senior legal figure to quit as chair over her links to the Westminster political establishment.

She resigned over links to former home secretary Lord Brittan, who is likely to be called to give evidence to the inquiry over a dossier he received from MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983, documenting the alleged involvement of VIP figures in a child sex ring.

Her resignation, just months after retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss stepped down over similar concerns, has thrown the government’s stalled inquiry into crisis.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

January 1, 2015

From Page 6, December 31, 2014 edition of the Marianas Variety (or here):

SINCE the Concerned Catholics of Guam organized at the start of this month, the number of problems that they are asked to look into continues to grow, said David Sablan, vice president of the group.

The Concerned Catholics announced their intention to investigate the local archdiocese and heal a rift within the church on Dec. 9 and since then parishioners have approached them with related problems they want the group to sort out, Sablan said.

“There have been allegations against our archdiocese that have been milling around and this group wants to search out the facts and come up with the truth,” Sablan said.

“What we thought at first was maybe one or two, or a small number, of incidences is now growing tremendously,” said Greg Perez, president of Concerned Catholics. “And again, it’s really disappointing to see something like this happen and … we’ll continue to seek truth and justice.”

The group is hoping to find out how the money of the archdiocese is actually being spent as well as find out why funds are spent on the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Yona, Sablan said. Since the group announced its purpose on Dec. 9, one member, Deacon Steve Martinez was instructed by Archbishop Anthony Apuron to dissociate himself from it, lest he be censured. Martinez’s possible censure is another issue the group is hoping to investigate.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Taking his cue from Pope Francis, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas warned priests against clericalism and materialism as seen among others in signature shirts, luxury vehicles, and international trips.

“It is a scandal for a priest to die a rich man,” Villegas said in a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan on Thursday, January 1.

Villegas, who also heads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), issued a 7-point warning to priests as the Catholic Church in the Philippines marks the Year of the Poor, and as the Catholic Church around the world observes the Year of Consecrated Life in 2015.

The archbishop wrote, “As a brother in the vocation whose mission is to bring the Good News to the poor, let us impose on ourselves strict discipline in the following areas of priestly life:

“Avoid as much as you can foreign travels and frequent recreation in expensive tourist destinations. Even if such are paid for by friends and family, it is best to decline and choose austerity and simplicity. Rest is important but luxurious recreation is disrespectful for the poor who cannot even take a rest from their backbreaking jobs. Be more sensitive.”

“High-end cars and expensive vehicles smack of vainglory and luxury especially in a province like ours where there are so many who are poor who cannot afford a tricycle ride. There is no excuse for any priest to have such high-end vehicles. We need vehicles to reach the poor barangays (villages) and bring them the blessings of God. Expensive cars alienate the poor from the Church. We smell differently from the sheep.”

“We need to return to the clerical attire or clerical cross in public places as a form of witnessing to the poverty of Christ. Loud colored signature shirts and pants are fashionable but we cannot let Christ glow unless we let our glamour go. To be simple is to be great in the eyes of God. The poor priest does not need to dress sloppy. We must give dignity to our vocation.”

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MARYLAND
Inside Baltimore

By Tom Nugent

January 2015 – A second witness in the brutal 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik told Baltimore-area criminal investigators 20 years ago that she was shown the dead nun’s body by a policeman, according to two former Maryland law enforcement officials who did not wish to be identified.

The former law enforcement officials said the witness alleged that after showing her Sister Cathy’s body, the policeman warned her to keep silent and raped her “on the back of a police car.”

According to the former officials, the witness added that she was shown the corpse “at another location” than the Lansdowne, Maryland, remote wooded area where the nun’s badly decomposed body was discovered 45 years ago this month, on January third, 1970.

The former Maryland law enforcement officials also said the woman’s written statement “went up the chain of command, per standard operating procedure” at the Baltimore County Police Department – but that it was never acted upon by cold case investigators who were charged with working on the unsolved murder.

(Baltimore County Police conducted the murder investigation after the nun’s body was found lying in the dirt near a trash dumpster, in a remote area located in their jurisdiction a few miles south of the city of Baltimore.)

“Eventually the word came down that her information had not persuaded the [cold case detectives] to re-open [an active] investigation,” said one of the former law enforcement officials.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

The number of historic claims of sexual abuse against children is likely to reach “tens of thousands”, an MP has warned.

Labour backbencher John Mann told Sky News there will be too many cases for the state to cope with – and is calling for a national institute to help victims.

It comes after many survivors called for the Government to scrap its current inquiry into paedophile activity and replace it with a more powerful body.

The wide-ranging probe was sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, and is still mired in controversy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Jan 01, 2015 By Ben Glaze

Tens of thousands of victims are likely to come forward when the Westminster child abuse inquiry finally begins, an MP has warned.

Labour’s John Mann said today investigators will struggle with the “vast” number of allegations being made.

The Bassetlaw MP added: “Probably it’s going to be many tens of thousands of people across the country. It really is an extraordinary number of people.

“The state can’t deal with the numbers of people coming forward.”

Home Secretary Theresa May announced the inquiry six months ago into claims of historical child sex abuse and a cover-up that allegedly goes to the heart of the establishment.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims of clergy abuse demand action from Pope
While church commemorates innocent children murdered by Herod, victims to Pope: take action
Victimized as children by priests in three different countries they seek prevention
To Pope Francis: Fire predators and order bishops to open records and report evidence to police

For immediate release: December 28, 2014

By Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, bblaine@SNAPnetwork.org

As Catholics commemorate the biblical story of Herod massacring infants and acknowledge the special vulnerability of children, victims want Pope Francis to take concrete action to protect children now.

Specifically they want Pope Francis to take immediate action today to keep children safe in the church. They want him to:

-Fire the predators,
-Order all bishops to report suspected sex crimes, open files and turn over evidence to police, and
-Punish bishops and church officials who knowingly transfer predators and/or shield predators from police.

In February 2014 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child found that children remain at “… high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children.”

They also found instances where church officials have “refused to cooperate with law enforcement authorities…”

[New York Times]

SNAP leaders want the Pope to lead the charge in protecting children by starting in the church itself.

SNAP wants predators fired from their posts.

They want bishops who transfer and/or shield predators punished.

SNAP leaders want the Pope to demand that records about sex crimes should be turned over to police and made public. Bishops should encourage their employees and parishioners to assist police in obtaining all evidence so that the perpetrators of sexual violence can be prosecuted and jailed. Victims want the Pope to order bishops across the globe to take these simple steps to immediately make children safer.

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VATICAN CITY
Latin Post

By Yara Simon (staff@latinpost.com)

Pope Francis continues to make changes within the Catholic church.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the pope is looking at developing countries when appointing new cardinals. He wants to find people who strengthen his point of view within the Vatican, and he wants to show support to Christians in the Middle East.

He is expected to name cardinals as soon as Sunday, and there is reportedly no American or Italian being considered for this role. …

Through cardinals, the pope is able to influence how the church operates.

When cardinals turn 80, they are no longer able to vote in a papal election. Therefore, new cardinals will be chosen. By February, 10 cardinals will be 80, and there will be two more that will soon turn 80.

Some believe the Argentine pope is looking to the Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea for cardinals. Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman from Baghdad is one who people believe is strongly being considered.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* The Wall Street Journal has reported that Pope Francis is likely to name more Cardinals, possibly as early Sunday, 1/4/15, as he seeks to reshape the makeup of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and to strengthen his support within the Vatican administration, known as the Roman Curia.

* Will any women be named? Unlikely, unfortunately for Catholics and for Pope Francis himself, who has a serious credibility problem among women.

* Rubber stamp journalists, including pathetically many women, will likely praise Francis for advancing with his latest appointments to the 19th Century with greater geographical diversity, while underplaying Francis’ failure to move into the 21st Century without even a token appointment reflecting gender equality.

* As supreme and unaccountable Church lawmaker, Pope Francis could re-write the rules quickly before February and appoint some women as Cardinals. Indeed, he may already have that authority. As Jesuit Vatican spokesman, Fr. Lombardi, told the Irish Times last year, ““Theologically and theoretically, it is possible,” he added. “Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained … ” Pope Francis could authorize women Cardinals quickly, just like he recently created the Council of Cardinals almost instantly out of thin air.

* At least half a billion Catholics, women, know very well that a major reason for the unabated continuation of the priest child abuse scandal is men, in particular over a hundred celibate Cardinals. These men likely do not even know “how to change a nappy”, as Mrs. Mary McAleese, the former Irish President recently so well put it.

* Pope Francis really needs to invite as Cardinals some women and mothers, like Ireland’s “straight talking” leader, Mrs. Mary McAleese, and brave Illinois Justice Anne Burke, to become Cardinals in February, and then to attend October’s Final Synod. What is he waiting for?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

[ARD will show the documentary “Sins of the Boys Choir” on Jan. 7. Filmmaker Mona Botros accompanied three victims in their struggle for recognition and justice. The abuse happened in the Regensburg Cathedral Choir.]

Vom Umgang des Bistums Regensburg mit den missbrauchten Domspatzen: Am 7. Januar, 23.30 Uhr, zeigt die ARD dazu die Dokumentation „Sünden an den Sängerknaben“. Die Filmemacherin Mona Botros hat drei Betroffene bei ihrem Kampf um Gehör und Gerechtigkeit begleitet. Erstmals gibt in dieser Doku auch Geedo Papprotta ein Interview, der „Opferanwalt“, der im Auftrag der Diözese Regensburg die Anträge auf Entschädigung prüft und der einem Betroffenen erklärte, warum der an ihm begangene sexuelle Missbrauch kein sexueller Missbrauch sei.

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By LIAM MOLONEY And TAMARA AUDI
Jan. 1, 2015

ROME— Pope Francis is likely to look to the developing world in his appointment of more cardinals this month, as he seeks to reshape the makeup of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to more closely reflect where the church is flourishing.

The Argentina-born pope also may use his power to name cardinals to strengthen his support within the Vatican administration, known as the Roman Curia, and to signal his encouragement to beleaguered Christians in the Middle East, experts said. No American or Italian cleric appeared to be strong candidates to make the pontiff’s list of appointees.

The pope is set to make public the names of the new cardinals possibly as soon as Sunday. The announcement will be followed by a formal elevation ceremony in mid-February at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

It will be the second class of clerics elevated to the College of Cardinals by this pope, the first non-European pontiff in some 1,300 years. He created 19 new cardinals in February, and could appoint up to 12 this time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The number of victims claiming historical child abuse could reach the tens of thousands and is too many for the state to cope with, an MP says.

John Mann, who has given a dossier of allegations of historical abuse to Scotland Yard, told the Today programme victims wanted a national institute.

The Labour MP for Bassetlaw said the government needed victims’ confidence.

It comes after Baroness Butler-Sloss cautioned against giving victims too much influence over who led the probe.

The retired judge, who stepped down as head of a planned public inquiry into historical child abuse, said there could be “real problems” if victims were to decide who is its eventual chair.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rajeev Syal
Thursday 1 January 2015

The government is struggling to deal with the volume of historical child abuse allegations and should set up an independent institute to investigate the issue, a Labour MP has said.

John Mann, who was among campaigners for an inquiry into claims of abuse, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on New Year’s Day that there had been too much of a focus on who should lead the investigation, at the expense of victims.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

The panel has started work but has no one to lead it after its first two nominations resigned. The home secretary, Theresa May, who is still considering the format of the inquiry, has told the current panel it might be disbanded.

Abuse survivors have called for the government to scrap the current inquiry and replace it with a more powerful body.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Daniel Mizzi / Matthew Agius 31 December 2014 …

A year of sex scandals by the clergy

Sex scandals dogged the Maltese diocese throughout 2014. The Catholic Church, still bearing scars from a slew of clerical sex abuse cases as well as the humbling experience that was the 2011 divorce referendum, was forced to undergo further humiliation in the form of two clerical sex abuse scandals this year.

In August the Church was at the centre of controversy after Gozitan priest Fr Jesmond Gauci, was charged with defiling three young Gozitan girls. The charges were kept under wraps after a Gozo court decreed that the case be heard behind closed doors, imposing a ban on the publication of the accused’s identity.

In what was described as an “unheard of” decision, Fr Gauci was granted bail before the victim’s testimony was heard, prompting an appeal by both the police and the Attorney General. A month later, the court ordered that bail be revoked until witnesses testify and lifted the ban on publication of the accused’s name. The case continues.

Then, in late October, the church was once again at the centre of a sexual abuse inquiry after allegations began to surface that Kerygma director Fr Charles Fenech OP was to be accused of sexually abusing a vulnerable woman, forcing Archbishop emeritus Paul Cremona to deny allegations that the Curia had attempted to buy the woman’s silence. The case, which is being heard behind closed doors, will continue in the new year.

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UNITED STATES
Financial Buzz

The Vatican Bank is the latest to join the ranks of a hundred other countries worldwide that have agreed to the terms of the FATCA. Since its enactment in 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA, has seen American Tax Law extend its reach further than ever before. Under the new American global tax law, all countries cooperating with FATCA will need to declare the presence of any accounts of more than $50,000 held by American taxpayers.

Countries play it safe

Non-compliance would attract the unfavorable attention of U.S. Treasury who can then debar the institution from transactions in U.S. markets. This risk has prompted even otherwise difficult countries like Russia and China to join in. Tax havens which have traditionally been secretive of their account holders are now being forced to disclose details under the FACTA.

Foreign Financial Institutions will need to share the names, addresses, account numbers, balances as well as U.S. identification numbers for these accounts. There is a voluntary disclosure system in place, but even this will attract a 50% penalty as of August 4, 2014.

FACTA came into existence to enable America to zero in on taxpayers who were holding money in accounts overseas to evade taxation. The United States taxes all its permanent residents and citizens on their income wherever in the world they may live. Failure to share this data will allow FACTA to be enforced to cut off that institution’s access to U.S. markets. In addition, they expose themselves to a 30% tax.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias Sin

[con video]

[Authorities in the Dominican Republic did not cease their struggle for justice after allegations surfaced of sexual abuse of minor by Catholic clergy. It’s more than a year since Pandora’s box was opened.]

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Tras los escándalos de supuestos abusos sexuales a menores por parte de miembros de la iglesia católica y a más de un año desde que se abrió la caja de pandora.

Las autoridades de la Republica Dominicana no cesan en su lucha por justicia.

Dos casos, dos religiosos polacos…que han causado un gran dolor, así lo calificó el Procurador General, Francisco Domínguez Brito a principios de este mes al referirse al abuso sexual al que fueron sometidos menores dominicanos por el ex sacerdote de Juncalito, en Santiago, Alberto Gil y el ex nuncio apostólico Jozef Wesolowski en la capital….

Durante más de un año las autoridades polacas y de RD trabajaron en conjunto y en octubre del presente año las pruebas en contra del ex sacerdote Alberto Gil, quien guarda prisión preventiva desde febrero, ya estaban en manos de un juez.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

David Brown

January 1 2015

A victim of child abuse has called for a retired senior judge to apologise after she publicly accused him of lying.

Baroness Butler-Sloss resigned as chairwoman of the Westminster inquiry into establishment child abuse in the summer after The Times reported that she withheld claims about a bishop from an earlier inquiry report because she “cared about the church”.

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CANADA
CBC

A man who is suing John Furlong for allegedly abusing him at a residential school decades ago may have been at a different school at the time of the alleged abuse, say lawyers representing the former CEO of the Vancouver Olympics.

According to British Columbia Supreme Court documents filed by Furlong’s legal team, the man – who has asked not to be identified by the media – said in a residential school compensation claim that he had attended a different school in another B.C. community at the time Furlong was a teacher at Immaculata Roman Catholic School in Burns Lake in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“[The claimant] we understand, filed a claim in relation to his attendance at a school called Lejac, which was in Fraser Lake,” Furlong’s lawyer, Claire Hunter, told the court earlier this month.

“He has sworn under oath … that he attended Lejac during a period that covers the entire period he now claims he was in Immaculata.”

The Roman Catholic Church operated the Lejac residential school, just west of Vanderhoof, between the 1920s and 1970s.

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VATICAN CITY
The Catholic Spirit

Catholic News Service | Francis X. Rocca | December 31, 2014

Controversy over family issues and the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East dominated Vatican news in 2014. Here are the highlights at a glance:

– Jan. 16: Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican observer to U.N. agencies in Geneva, testifies before the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child about the church’s record on clerical sex abuse.

– Feb. 20: German Cardinal Walter Kasper addresses a gathering of the world’s cardinals, proposing that some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could be admitted to Communion even without annulments of their first, sacramental marriages.

– Feb. 22: Pope Francis creates 19 new cardinals, including 16 under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.

– Feb. 24: The Vatican announces that Pope Francis has established a Council for the Economy, with both clerical and lay members, to oversee Vatican finances, and a Secretariat for the Economy, to be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell, which will implement the council’s policies.

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CALIFORNIA
Visalia Times-Delta

Luis Hernandez, lfhernan@visaliatimesdelta.com December 31, 2014

Former St. Rita’s Catholic Church Rev. Ignacio Villafan was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of embezzlement.

Tulare police officers, who for about a year had been investigating money mismanagement at the church, made the arrest. Villafan, 49, was booked into the Tulare County Main Jail and his bail was set at $50,000.

Tulare County Assistant District Attorney Anthony Fultz said Villafan’s arrest comes just two days after charges were filed in superior court.

The priest is held on two counts grand theft. The counts span a period from June 1, 2005 to June 30, 2009, and July 1, 2009 to Jan. 21, 2012.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

December 31, 2014 Happy New Year to all our friends and readers !

Jason Berry statement in his recent article, ‘How Pope Francis Became the World’s BFF’ — “the church’s reversal under Francis is a striking media narrative. [He] has a mild demeanor and soft speaking style; but his rhetoric is electrifying” — is misleading idiots Catholics. It is sugar coating Pope Francis the papal schizophrenic – because the fact is — there is no church’s reversal for the countless millions of Catholics worldwide who have abandoned the Roman Catholic Church — not even those Catholics in Rome – a few feet away from the Vatican Palace. According to a Pew Research Center poll earlier this year — despite the pope’s popularity, it has not drawn more people, or those who have left the church, back to Mass or the sacraments in measurable numbers. Alas, there is no church’s reversal under Francis for the hundreds of churches shutting down and being sold as prime real estate in Europe and in the USA, especially in New York.

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