ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 11, 2015

This week’s question, two days late.

Joelle, how do scandals in places like Penn State and the Catholic Church start? I mean, these aren’t bad people in these institutions, right? Will new policies by these organizations and others make sure that men and women who abuse children are reported and stopped, instead of protected?

This is a complicated question that I will try to answer as simply as possible. We love our institutions. We love them so much that, sometimes, very good people do bad things in order to protect the reputation of the institution. It’s easy to think, “Gosh, the church/scouts/school promised to take care of us. They would never do something to intentionally hurt a child.”

But unfortunately, they do. Institutions are only as good as the people in them. Good people should stand up for principles, morality, and child safety, even if it means that they risk their job, the reputation of the institution, or community opinion. But as we’ve seen, it’s not always the case.

In places like Penn State and the Catholic Church, people who saw, suspected or learned about abuse didn’t do the one important thing that could have stopped the cycle: Call the police. Yes, there are cases where the police were notified, but in many of these, investigations were stonewalled by employees and polices that kept very important evidence out of the hands of cops and prosecutors.

I don’t have a lot of faith that new policies in these institutions will make real change. Policies don’t change how institutions operate. People do. It’s the culture of the institution that ensures openness, safety, transparency and accountability. Culture is created by people from the top down and the bottom up. The importance of culture goes beyond child sexual abuse—large corporations deal with the problems of culture all of the time. When the culture begins to go sour (Enron, anyone?), all of the policies of the world won’t change it. Only real culture change within the organizations will do that. Only PEOPLE can do that.

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.

CHILE
Bio Bio

[The new bishop of the Osomo diocese – Juan de la Cruz Barros – is a former associate of priest Fernando Karadima. The decision of the church was rejected by Juan Carlos Cruz, one of the complainants of abuse by Karadima. Cruz said the church has learned nothing and charged that Barros was present when the abuses were committed.].

La Iglesia designó al obispo castrense Juan de la Cruz Barros para ocupar el cargo de obispo de Osorno. Se trata de uno de los discípulos del cura Fernando Karadima, por lo que uno de sus denunciantes declaró que la Iglesia no ha aprendido nada.

“Quiero integrarme con todo el corazón junto a ustedes al caminar de la Iglesia inspirada hoy tan luminosamente por el Papa Francisco, valorando y animando la vocación de las familias, invitando a los niños y jóvenes a dejar entrar a Jesucristo en sus vidas”, fue el mensaje que emitió el sacerdote Juan Barros tras ser designado como obispo de Osorno por el Vaticano.

El cura que ocupaba el cargo de obispo castrense es uno de los cuatro integrantes del episcopado que fueron formados por el sacerdote Fernando Karadima, quien está implicado en una serie de casos de abusos sexuales.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By John-John Williams IV
The Baltimore Sun

The executive council of the Episcopal Church met in Linthicum Heights this weekend to discuss topics that included its presence in Cuba, initiatives to address racism and an upcoming national conference in Salt Lake City.

However, the council didn’t discuss a high-ranking Maryland bishop who was recently charged with manslaughter in the death of a bicyclist last month.

The three-day meeting of 70 of the church’s bishops, priests, deacons, laypersons and staff coincides with the latest developments involving the death of bicyclist Thomas Palermo, 41, a married father of two, who was killed Dec. 27 in a crash on Roland Avenue in Baltimore. Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook was identified as the driver. Cook, 58, left the scene of the crash in the 5700 block of Roland Ave. but returned shortly after, police said.

Cook surrendered to police on Friday and was being held at central booking. A District Court commissioner set her bail at $2.5 million. She also faces other charges, including leaving the scene of the fatal accident and driving under the influence. Both the manslaughter and leaving-the-scene charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. Cook’s blood alcohol level was 0.22 percent, nearly triple the legal limit in Maryland, according to Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby, who said that Cook was text-messaging at the time of the collision.

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

MINNESOTA
Washington Post

He was abused by a female teacher, but he was treated like the perpetrator

By Simone Sebastian January 9
Simone Sebastian is an assistant editor of Outlook.

Cameron Clarkson was a 16-year-old football player when he suddenly landed in the middle of a sex crime investigation at his St. Paul, Minn., high school. Lawyers grilled him on the details of his sexual history. School officials, in a statement to the press, cited him for not invoking the school’s sexual harassment policy and said he “bragged to fellow students about what had happened.” His car was vandalized with red-dyed tampons and smeared with peanut butter, to which he is fatally allergic, by an unknown assailant. The shape of a penis was burned into his front lawn with bleach.

“People kept reminding me that I ruined that poor girl’s life,” Clarkson says.

The “poor girl” was a teacher at his school. Gail Gagne, a 25-year-old basketball and lacrosse coach, was a full-time substitute teacher at Cretin-Derham Hall High School and a couple of months away from becoming a regular physical education instructor. One day, she offered to give Clarkson a ride home after he left the school gym, leading to what he describes as the first of a series of sexual encounters between them in 2008 — in Gagne’s car, in their homes, in hotels. He says their relationship ended two months later; another student told school officials about it the next spring.

Gagne was fired and charged with two felony counts of criminal sexual conduct with a student. But in the investigations that followed, Clarkson was treated more like the perpetrator than the victim. Gagne, meanwhile, faced an easier path in some ways. She denied any sexual contact with Clarkson but entered an Alford plea, in which a defendant does not admit guilt but recognizes that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict her. The deal reduced her charges to a fifth-degree gross misdemeanor with a one-year sentence, which was suspended — a far lighter punishment than the possible four-year prison sentence for the felony charges she faced. (Gagne’s lawyer still says there was no sexual contact.)

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

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY NICOLE HENSLEY

After months of building speculation, Catholic leaders with the New York Archdiocese would be stunned if Pope Francis chose not to visit the Big Apple this year.

While no official word has come down from the Vatican, internal chatter at the archdiocese expects a visit during September’s trip to Philly’s World Meeting on Families.

“We can’t really go beyond our strong sense that he will come to New York,” diocese spokesman Joe Zwilling told the Daily News, but adding it would be a “much bigger shock if he was not coming at this point.”

The signs that suggest Pope Francis’ visit — that could also include Washington D.C. — are there.

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.

ILLINOIS
NBC Chicago

A Roman Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for exposing himself in a gas station near Rockford and in a car in the store’s parking lot.

The Rev. Aaron Brodeski was arrested last spring in the March 27 incident.

He was pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in suburban Batavia at the time, and he was placed on leave while the diocese investigated. According to Rockford NBC affiliate WREX-TV, Brodeski was a monsignor in the church and had served as a priest in the diocese since1998.

Brodeski was sentenced Friday to two years of court supervision, a $500 fine and 30 hours of community service.

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.

IRLAND
kath.net

Vatikan (kath.net) Der Antrag eines laisierten irischen Priesters, seine Entlassung aus dem Priesterstand zu revidieren, wurde vom Vatikan abgelehnt. Der 76-jährige Dan Duane (Foto) aus der Diözese Cloyne hatte offenbar in den 70er und 80er Jahren in fünf Fällen weibliche Jugendliche sexuell missbraucht. Darüber berichtete die „Irish Times“. Die Apostolische Signatur (die oberste Gerichtsbarkeit der katholischen Kirche) bestätigte die Entscheidung des Kirchengerichtes in Cork, die auf der Aussage der fünf Frauen beruht.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
Dierk Schaefer’s Blog

[“Never be Catholic,” … is the last word of those abused in the Regensburg Cathedral Choir.]

… ist das Schlußwort eines der missbrauchten Regensburger Domspatzen.

DAS ERSTE brachte gestern die Filmdokumentation dazu.

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Regensburger Diözese sagt, „Es ist ja nicht nur das Opfer, oder der, diese Tat schildert, sondern es ist ja auch der, der als Täter genannt wird, hat ja auch Interessen, die vertreten werden müssen“[1].

Sicher, hat er. Aber doch bitte in einem transparenten ordentlichen Verfahren vor unbefangenen Experten und nicht von kirchlichen Beauftragten, die im Interview konkreten Fragen ausweichen, deren Körpersprache aber Bände spricht. Man sieht selten Interessenvertreter, die sich offensichtlich dermaßen unwohl in ihrer Haut fühlen, wie diese. Eine Vertuschungsgemeinschaft hat ihre Lakaien vorgeschoben. Sie hätte besser Schauspieler beauftragen sollen. Diese hatten offenbar nicht den Mut ihrem Bischof zu sagen: Da müssen Sie schon selber ran! Ob sie wohl für ihre Rolle eine Schmutzzulage bekommen haben?

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

Der Sprecher des Bistums erklärt sexuellen Missbrauch mit dem „Zeitgeist“, der eigens engagierte Rechtsanwalt will/ kann/ darf nichts sagen. Das hat Gründe. Die ARD-Doku zu den Regensburger Domspatzen offenbart: Aufklärung ist weiter nicht erwünscht.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

[The trial of a 56-year-old pastor, accused of drugging and abusing his godson, has begun.]

Er soll seinen Patensohn unter Drogen gesetzt und über Jahre hinweg missbraucht haben: In Krefeld hat der Prozess gegen einen 56-jährigen Pfarrer begonnen. Zwischenzeitlich wirkte der Kirchenmann in Südafrika – und soll auch dort Kinder belästigt haben.

Ein Pfarrer aus dem Rheinland steht wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs seines Patenkindes von Freitag an vor Gericht. Der 56-Jährige aus Willich soll sich mehrere Dutzend Mal an dem heute Elfjährigen vergangen haben. In zwei Fällen soll der Angeklagte mit dem Jungen vor den Übergriffen Marihuana geraucht, einmal soll er ihm Alkohol gegeben haben. Außerdem soll er den achtjährigen Bruder seines Patenkindes in einer Sauna belästigt haben.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Saturday, January 10, 2015

by Susan Lohan

Children’s Minister James Reilly yesterday published the terms of reference for an inquiry called on for many years to no avail.

Matters began to come to a head initially as a result of the Oscar-nominated film Philomena, which chronicled the experiences of a young Philomena Lee and her son Anthony at the Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home in Tipperary.

The film showed how Philomena and her son were effectively imprisoned for three-and-a-half years before Anthony was trafficked to the US for adoption to a well-off family.

Forty years later, the Sacred Heart Adoption Society, which brokered his “adoption”, deliberately prevented the now high-profile but dying legal expert from reuniting with his mother.

Philomena finally discovered his memorial plaque at the Sean Ross site after a chance viewing of photos of the few private graves allowed there (a privilege paid for in hard cash by Anthony and his surviving partner).

The Government seemed determined to brazen out the relentless storm of similar witness testimony from other mother and baby homes, State maternity hospitals, and private nursing homes.

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.

CANADA
Toronto Sun

BY NICOLE IRELAND, QMI AGENCY
FIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2015

Aboriginal people in Canada say the 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth is anything but a cause for celebration.

“If people really knew the history of Sir John A. Macdonald, I’m not sure if they would celebrate his legacy,” Alvin Fiddler, Deputy Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, told QMI Agency. Nishnawbe Aski Nation represents 49 First Nation communities in Ontario.

First Nations and Metis people continue to live with the consequences of Macdonald’s policies — both as minister of Indian Affairs and as prime minister — to this day, Fiddler said.

In particular, Macdonald was “instrumental” in establishing the Indian Residential School system in the late 1800s. Back then, Macdonald insisted aboriginal children must be taken from their families and assimilated into the rest of society, rather than receiving education in their own communities.

“When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with his parents who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian,” Macdonald said, according to archived documents. “He is simply a savage who can read and write.”

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.

VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

Days after rebuffing traditionalists as having ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s,’ Pope Francis chose a group of cardinals from the peripheries of the church. Why that move could haunt him.

VATICAN CITY—When Pope Francis travels to Sri Lanka and the Philippines next week, he will do so with even greater support than usual from Asian and other marginalized Catholics thanks his announcement on Sunday of an eclectic mix of new cardinals to be installed on February 14. But does catering to Catholics in the margins put his support at home in Vatican City at risk?

The College of Cardinals, established in its current form in 1150, is one of the most exclusive good old boys’ clubs left in the world. Not only are the 120 or so clerical members hand-picked by popes, they alone form the exclusive voting body to elect the next pope from among their clan. So when Francis announced the second batch of new cardinals of his 20-month-old pontificate, including three from Asia, three from Latin America, two from Africa, and two from Oceania, many saw him stacking the deck to ensure that his successor is, as he describes himself, from the ends of the earth.

But some Vatican experts warn that by expanding the club’s membership to the peripheries, Francis’s plan for an all-inclusive church might just backfire. American Vatican expert John Allen warns that filling the hallowed halls with relative strangers to Vatican business and protocol may ensure that the old status quo might just prevail. “Prelates who have no Vatican experience, who don’t speak Italian, and who don’t themselves have the experience of running a large and complex ecclesiastical operation may feel a natural tendency to defer to the old hands,” he writes. “Vatican insiders will tell you that when the cardinal of, say, Chicago, or Cologne, or Milan, shows up in their offices, he’s taken seriously indeed… It’s not clear that the cardinal of Tonga or Cape Verde will have quite the same muscle, at least right out of the gate.”

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

The Baltimore Brew has been at the forefront of reporting the unfolding case of Episcopal Bishop Heather E. Cook, who was charged yesterday with DUI, manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident by Baltimore authorities.

Given the worldwide interest in the case and the major issues it raises – about cyclists’ safety, diocesan conduct, equitable justice in Baltimore, the hazards of texting while driving, drunk driving and approaches to substance abuse treatment – we thought to collect our reporting so far in one place.

Here are 11 Brew stories that uncovered or analyzed key facts about the fatal crash on December 27 that claimed the life of a 41-year-old bicyclist and father of two.

Grief and anger at scene of fatal bike crash (12/28/14) – Baltimore bike community reacts to the crash, pays respects to late bicyclist Thomas Palermo. At this point, the identity of the driver – and circumstances of the crash – were publicly unknown and minimal information was disclosed by Baltimore police.

Episcopal Bishop identified as driver in fatal bike crash (12/28/14) – The first media disclosure that Suffragan Bishop Heather Cook was the driver in the crash, that she left the scene, and that she was arrested in 2010 for drunk driving and marijuana possession in Caroline County, Md.

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

UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

Mystery solved. Raymond Cardinal Burke will star in the “Our Gang” sequel, “Spanky Gets Older But Never Grows Up.” He does somewhat resemble Spanky McFarland, does he not?

The plotline would center completely on Spanky (a.k.a. Cardinal Burke) trying to resurrect his “He-man Woman Haters Club” through hosting Catholic Men’s Conferences around the world. I can see no other explanation for Burke spouting such unsubstantiated sexist psychobabble about raising “manly men” in his interview on the Misogynists-R-Us website, “The New E-man-gelization.” (By the way, if you’d like a veritable “Who’s Who” list of Catholic sexist and misogynist speakers, direct your eyes to the right nav list entitled, “Men’s Conference Speakers” on this site. I attended the Michigan Statewide Catholic Men’s Conference a few years ago and heard several of these guys speak and it was hour upon hour of non-stop Burke-esque sexisms, misogyny, and poor theology.)

As you may recall, Cardinal Burke was recently reassigned from being Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura…somewhat the chief justice of the Vatican’s highest court…to being the Patron of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta. After reading Burke’s full interview transcript, it should crystallize in your mind why Pope Francis re-assigned Burke to be the spiritual guide of a Middle Ages religious order. It would seem that is his preferred time period in which to operate.

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

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

In a new posting at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry Slevin cites a recent observation by Robert Mickens:

Importantly, informed Vatican journalist, Robert Mickens, recently reported on a “rumor” that some experts at pontifical universities in Rome have been “asked to quietly prepare preliminary documents for an ecumenical council to be called during or after the 2015 Synod.”

Jerry notes that Mickens is understandably skeptical about the rumors, but argues (as he has done so for quite some time now) that the Catholic church desperately needs an ecumenical council to clean up its present mess and right its ship. As with everything Jerry writes, the essay is rich, dense, and lengthy. I’m presenting an excerpt here in the hope that it will point readers to the essay in its entirety.

Here’s the section of Jerry’s statement that leaps off the page for me, as the heart of the matter:

• Pope Francis has already bought the Vatican needed time strategically by shrewdly prioritizing the Vatican’s problems, but he has run out of time with that strategy. He put financial scandals first. He moved sexual morality issues to a drawn out two step, nearly three year Synod process. He placed the priest child abuse scandal on a slow track with an advisory commission with no clear mandate.

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.

PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

Lito B. Zulueta-Lifestyle Arts and Books Editor
@inquirerdotnet

VATICAN CITY—The “Vatican official” who is helping Pope Francis practice and polish his English for his apostolic visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines next week is American Greg Burke, a former Time magazine and Fox News journalist who has been working with the Vatican State Secretariat as communications adviser since 2012 during the papacy of Benedict XVI.

Perhaps a surprising choice for a Pope who happens to be a Jesuit religious, Burke is a member of Opus Dei, a Catholic group of mostly laymen who take religious vows, including celibacy.

Opus Dei has always taken orthodox positions that have been called “ultraconservative,” positions that often clash with those of the more liberal Jesuits. The group has likewise been smeared by the liberal secular media for its alleged secretiveness and elitism.

The Vatican spokesperson, Rev. Federico Lombardi, had said that the Pope’s second Asian trip, like the first to South Korea, would be an “all-English affair” and that Francis would deliver all his “discourses” in English. (Sri Lanka is a former British colony and the Philippines, a former American colony.)

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

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/10/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

I was surprised, and honored, to receive an email yesterday morning from a former professor of mine who says that she reads this blog and hopes that I will address the question of donations to parishes in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Specifically, she wrote:

‘I am troubled regarding contributions to my local parish. Because of the percentage that is automatically taken by the archdiocese, I don’t feel comfortable contributing, though I am sad not to be able to support my local parish.

Reputable nonprofits with which I am familiar will allow you to stipulate restrictions on your donations. For example, the ALS ice-bucket challenge allowed you to stipulate that your donation was not to be used to support the embryonic stem cell research that the ALS Association funds. Why are we not allowed to restrict our contributions to our local parishes?’

The short answer is, you are. Canon law is very clear that donations given for a specific purpose may only be used for that purpose:

Canon 1267, 3- Offerings given by the faithful for a specified purpose may be used only for that purpose.

However, if you make this offering by means of the weekly collection plate or collection envelopes, the parish will have to count that donation when figuring the amount it must pay to the Archdiocese, per the assessment formula (see the Clergy Bulletin posted below). Your dollars may not be used to pay the assessment per se, but since your contribution will be tabulated along with other monies received, the effect will be the same.

But, there is nothing that says that you must contribute in this way. Instead, it is possible to send cash or a check to the parish office with a letter noting that your contribution is to be used exclusively for a particular ministry or purpose, and not towards the parish assessment or any other tax levied by the Archdiocese. Or, you can contribute to specific fundraising efforts, noting that a lesser tax (2%) is applied to contributions to building projects or debt reduction funds.

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

NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Staten Island Advance Editorial
on January 10, 2015

The Archdiocese of New York isn’t exactly known for transparency in the way it runs Catholic schools on Staten Island and elsewhere. Going into 2015, the outlook is typically murky.

It’s uncertain at this point whether the archdiocese is prepared to close up to 20 schools in its system over the next two years based on the outcome of contract negotiations with lay teachers, but the archdiocese is putting that possibility out there.

Say what?

Yes, this could be a sorry prospect less than two years after the Catholic schools on Staten Island were officially declared to be operating on a sound financial footing.

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

UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Betty Clermont

Pope Frances refused the Dalai Lama’s request for a meeting on December 11, 2014, because “the Holy See’s relationship with the Chinese government is currently going through a very delicate – a crucial in fact – phase. In recent weeks China appeared to be reaching out to the Vatican, signaling a willingness for dialogue.”

“I am deeply saddened and distressed that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, should give in to these pressures and decline to meet the Dalai Lama,’” South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a statement.

China has been waging a “calculated and systematic strategy aimed at the destruction of Tibet‘s national and cultural identities,” often personified by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The pope’s choice was a victory for China. “[T]he attention of public opinion in the West to the Dalai Lama is going down by the day,” a Chinese official said on December 19, 2014. “The Dalai Lama also has no good ideas. All he can do is use his religious title to write about the continuation or not of the Dalai Lama to get eyeballs overseas,” he added.

The pope is trying to increase his influence in Asia and China is key to his success.

Five months after his trip to South Korea, the pope will visit first Sri Lanka January 12-15 and then the Philippines January 15-19. “For us Filipinos, (the pope) is really the representative of Jesus on earth, so it’s like Jesus coming to the Philippines,” said one priest. So this journey is sure to end in the pope’s most triumphal foreign trip to date.

On January 4, the pope announced the creation of 15 new cardinals; five are from Asia or the Pacific Rim: Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok, Thailand, trained in Rome. Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi, Vietnam, where the Vatican has “flourishing bilateral diplomatic relations.” Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, Myanmar is president of that country’s Bishops Conference. Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of the Island of Tonga is president of the Bishops’ Conference of the Pacific. Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington, New Zealand (Pacific Rim), was recommended by Australian Cardinal George Pell, head of all Vatican finance and administration.

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.

PHILIPPINES
Rappler

Aries Rufo

Published 1:39 PM, Jan 10, 2015

AT A GLANCE

* The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) is one of the richest Catholic dioceses in the entire world
* Dioceses, as corporation soles, are supposed to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to acquire a juridical personality. They are supposed to be filing financial statements yearly, but the RCAM has been delinquent, submitting its last statement in 1985.
* Church higher-ups have a tendency to resist financial scrutiny, traced to a mindset that they are not accountable to anyone, except the Pope.
* There had been incidents in the past where Church funds were abused and misused by the very financial experts trusted by bishops.

MANILA, Philippines – On January 16, Pope Francis will say Mass before some 2,000 bishops, priests and select people at the newly renovated Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica. It will be the third time that a Pope will make an apostolic visit to the church property that has been the resting place of former archbishops of Manila.

The papal Mass is a fitting highlight to the freshly earthquake-retrofitted cathedral. In February 2012, then newly-appointed Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle ordered its closure and renovation after issues were raised about its structural integrity.

At the time, in a press conference announcing the closure of the structure in Intramuros, the charismatic church leader appealed for donations for the cathedral’s repair. Repair and construction cost was initially pegged at P40 million-P50 million.

By the time it reopened in April 2014 attended by who’s who in politics and Church circles, the running cost had reached P136 million, former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who is also president of the Manila Cathedral Foundation, said in a news report.

Before the year ended, the total cost had ballooned to around P200 million to include additional improvements like central air-conditioning and installation of new carillon bells from The Netherlands, Panganiban said in a separate interview.

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.

PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[Accusations against Catholic priests for allegedly committing sexual assault against minors marked public discussion over the past year when for the first time a priest was indicted for these crimes. Israel Berrios Berrios, a priest of the Caguas diocese, was charged last May. Six priests were expelled from the Arecibo diocese since 2011 amid investigations but only one was criminally charged. And yesterday priest Jose Colon Otera was reinstated to the priesthood by the Vatican.]

Las acusaciones contra sacerdotes de la Iglesia Católica por cometer agresiones sexuales contra menores de edad marcaron la discusión pública durante el año pasado, año en que por primera vez se encausó criminalmente en la Isla a un sacerdote por estos crímenes.

Israel Berríos Berríos, quien fuera sacerdote en la Diócesis de Caguas, se convirtió en mayo pasado en el primer religioso acusado y arrestado en Puerto Rico por cargos relaciones con abuso sexual de menores.

Aunque seis sacerdotes han sido expulsados de la Diócesis de Arecibo desde el 2011 en medio de pesquisas en su contra, solo uno de estos fue acusado criminalmente. Y ayer, el sacerdote José Colón Otero fue reinstalado al ministerio sacerdotal por el Vaticano “al no haberse alcanzado la certeza moral de lo que se le acusaba”, informó el obispo de Arecibo, Daniel Fernández.

De los restantes cinco curas expulsados, Edwin Mercado Viera se declaró culpable de agresión, mientras las pesquisas contra Tomás Pagán Ramos, Andrés Dávila, Efraín Montesino y Pedro Hernández no han redundado en cargos criminales.

Estos son los casos que se han visto en los tribunales:

Israel Berríos Berríos

El exsacerdote se declaró culpable en el Tribunal Federal el pasado 21 de agosto por transportar a un menor de edad para cometer actos de índole sexual ilícitos. La lectura de sentencia está pautada para el mes de marzo. El 8 de mayo del año pasado, Berríos fue acusado por un gran jurado federal de cuatro cargos por tráfico sexual de menores e inducir a un menor a un acto sexual ilícito. El exsacerdote, quien fuera suspendido del ejercicio ministerial en el 2011, también fue acusado a nivel estatal por dos cargos de actos lascivos.

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis likely knows well by now that his current Vatican reform strategy needs some major redirection. The pope’s (1) well publicized Curia shaming and reshuffling, (2) limited financial management makeover, (3) clerically dominated Family Synods, and (4) slow moving abuse commission, as presently structured, cannot likely stop the Catholic Church from sinking further and faster in the escalating tsunami of scandals. That seems clear enough.

* Moreover, the pope has yet even to address publicly the most needed structural “fix” — establishing transparent procedures for the selection and oversight of the 0.01% Church leadership by the worldwide Catholic 99.9% faithful. As presently planned, the Final Synod will not even discuss this key reform, which is absolutely required to avoid more scandals under future popes.

* Importantly, informed Vatican reporter, Robert Mickens, recently reported on a “rumor” that some experts at pontifical universities in Rome have been “asked to quietly prepare preliminary documents for an ecumenical council to be called during or after the 2015 Synod.”

* While Mickens understandably appears skeptical, this rumor makes a lot of sense. Pope Francis may have no strategic choice at his Final Synod in nine months but to call then for a full council, as Pope John XXIII did over half a century ago, to keep Francis’ reform effort alive as he begins his eightieth year. After the flawed Synods, a council with a broad and representative participation of lay Catholics, female and male, will likely be Pope Francis final chance to save the Catholic Church and to compel his successor to follow Francis’ lead. It is also how the Catholic Church resolved many earlier crises.

* The Catholic Church’s biggest problem, popes’ self serving illusion of personal papal infallibility, was created at the First Vatican Council almost 150 years ago. This illusion still prevents Pope Francis and his likely successors from addressing and fixing honestly and effectively problems exacerbated by the last two popes, since each new pope, including Francis so far, now tries to cover up his predecessors’ mistakes instead of fixing them. This is vividly shown in the continuing papal refusal to remove the ban on contraception, as Pope Francis prepares to tell the “overchildrened” Catholics of the Philippines they should avoid contraception and just have more Catholic babies. A new council is likely the only way to correct this major and fatal error.

* Some will say that another council, with mainly appointees of the last two popes, will never change this historically unsupportable “infallibility dogma”. If so, and they may be right, the Vatican will then be forced to change by outside governmental and legal pressures soon enough. Pope Francis has a choice. He can call a council to really make the needed changes or he can wait to be forced to do so.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

[with video]

Patsy McGarry

Mon, Dec 29, 2014

Christine Buckley, who died on March 11th last, came from obscure origins.

She was, in the harsh language of the day, illegitimate, half caste and abandoned.

It was Ireland 1946, that same year Irish-born Fr Edward Flanagan of Boys’ Town in the US was appalled by the condition of children in such places as she grew up in. They were “a disgrace to the nation”, he said, before achieving the seemingly impossible and uniting all shades of Irish political opinion in untrammelled apoplexy.

She was a number, not a name, in a childhood full of terror, of endless beatings, casual cruelties, verbal lacerations, scaldings, and infants strapped to potties. She got 100 stitches in her leg after a beating. She made rosary beads, to a quota of 60 sets a day, and no one saw the irony.
Such was the childhood of a 21st century Irish hero.

It wouldn’t have happened in 20th century Ireland – a pious land where no bastard child of an Irish mother and a Nigerian father could hope to become a hero.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY BRIAN HUTTON – 10 JANUARY 2015

Pressure is mounting on Northern Ireland to launch a public inquiry into decades of alleged abuse at so-called mother and baby homes after the Republic announced a three-year probe into more than 14 institutions.

The State inquiry is being set up after fresh revelations last year about a mass grave at a Catholic-run home for unmarried mothers in Tuam, Co Galway, where 796 infants died between 1925 and 1961. A team of three commissioners will investigate what happened to more than 35,000 women and children – mostly placed in homes after being ostracised by their families – between 1922 to 1998.

The causes of deaths at the homes, burials, vaccine trials carried out on children, how residents ended up there, how they were treated and where they went afterwards will all form part of the mammoth inquiry.

Former residents will be able to give evidence in private. Others compelled to give evidence face imprisonment or hefty fines if they fail to bear witness or produce requested documents.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan

Philomena Lee, whose heartbreaking search for her adopted son became a major movie, has appealed to other women and children who spent time in mother and baby homes to give testimony to the Commission of Investigation.

Ms Lee was unmarried when she gave birth to her son Anthony in the early 1950s. He was given up for adoption to a couple in the United States when he was just three years old.

The mother and baby home in Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, where she gave birth, is now one of 14 institutions which will be part of a promised far-reaching probe by the Commission, which will be chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

The Commission, which will conduct most of its work in private, will have a confidential forum to hear the accounts of past residents.

Ms Lee told the Irish Independent last night: “I encourage those women and children to come forward – even anonymously – to give their testimony as I have done myself, so that every corner is properly investigated and all those affected receive justice.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Irish Examiner Reporter

By Noel Baker
Senior Reporter

Tens of thousands of people affected by the mother and baby homes scandal risk being excluded from a State investigation into the decades-long hidden crisis.

Campaign groups for children and women involved in the linked mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundry, and illegal adoption controversies revealed the concern after the high-profile inquiry was launched yesterday.

Under terms of reference published by Children’s Minister Dr James Reilly, the Government will finally investigate how unmarried mothers and their babies were treated between 1922 and 1998 at 14 State-linked religious institutions.

The three-year inquiry — which has a €23.5m budget and could result in a multi- million euro redress scheme — will examine mother and baby homes, county homes, vaccine trials on children, and illegal adoptions where babies were trafficked abroad.

The investigation will also be allowed to compel anyone, including pharmaceutical firms, to give evidence and all available files, and take criminal action against anyone who refuses. In addition, it can exhume land if it believes babies’ bodies were dumped, similar to the recent Tuam scandal.

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.

MARYLAND
ABC 2

Charging documents say Heather Cook, the Episcopal bishop charged with hitting and killing a cyclist in Roland Park two weeks ago, blew a 0.22 BAC level. So how many drinks did she have to drink to get there?

Watch the video for more details.

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.

MARYLAND
BBC News

Maryland’s first female Episcopalian bishop will face charges over a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist in Baltimore, prosecutors say.

Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook will be arrested for vehicular manslaughter over the death of Tom Palermo, 41.

Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby said Ms Cook’s blood-alcohol level was at .22 after the crash, almost triple the state’s legal limit for driving.

Ms Cook, who was elected bishop in September, has been put on leave.

The Maryland diocese previously said Ms Cook initially left the scene but returned 20 minutes later “to take responsibility for her actions”.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Mark Reutter January 9, 2015

A $2.5 million bail was set for Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook after a hearing this evening before a commissioner at the Baltimore City District Court.

The 58-year-old Episcopal cleric is currently being held at the downtown Detention Center until bail can be posted. Typically it would cost about $250,000, or 10%, to post bail, although the percentage sometimes is much lower.

Sources told The Brew that Bishop Cook appeared at the hearing after being transported from Father Martin’s Ashley, an alcoholism and drug addiction treatment center near Havre de Grace, where she had been staying.

A trial date was set for February 6, although that date could change if the cleric is indicted by a city grand jury, as State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said could happen.

Cook was at the wheel of a car that hit and killed 41-year-old Thomas Palermo on December 27. Her alcohol blood level was .22 – or nearly three times the legal limit – an hour after the crash, the state’s attorney’s office said today.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Irish Examiner Reporter

By Noel Baker
Senior Reporter

The terms of reference for the new investigation into mother and baby homes received a broad welcome — but also criticism over its exclusion of Magdalene Laundries and adoptions involving state hospitals.

Among the groups welcoming the announcement on the shape of the three- year investigation were the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission; One Family; the Coalition of Mother And Baby Home Survivors; and the Children’s Rights Alliance.

Geoffrey Shannon, chair of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, particularly “a thorough examination of all adoption practices from 1922 to 1998”.

Susan Lohan of the Adoption Rights Alliance said she was “broadly happy” but had “some concerns”, specifically regarding adoptions involving the “huge number of children in state hospitals”, claiming “the terms of reference has specifically sought to exclude them”.

“We want all of it to be investigated,” she said. “The number of women and babies involved could be as high as the tens of thousands.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Sat, Jan 10, 2015

Three years may sound like a long time. But the 36-month deadline for a statutory inquiry into the operation of mother- and-baby homes is likely to be highly ambitious, given the scale of work involved.

The new commission of inquiry isn’t just examining mother-and-baby homes. It will also seek to investigate the complex strands of this dark chapter of Irish life, such as the pathways into these homes from other institutions, living conditions, care arrangements, infant mortality, burial arrangements, vaccine trials, illegal adoptions and social attitudes.

Take adoption. The inquiry will need to establish the extent to which children’s welfare and best interests were considered in making arrangements for thousands of adoptions in Ireland and abroad; the extent of mothers’ participation in these decisions; and whether children’s parentage was concealed illegally.

Huge numbers

The numbers involved are considerable. It’s estimated that at least 35,000 unmarried mothers spent time in the 14 homes run by religious orders in Ireland during the period.

As for burials, we know that at least 800 infants died at Tuam, Co Galway. But other homes, such as Castlepollard in Co Westmeath, are estimated to hold the remains of up to 3,200 babies.

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.

CANADA
Brantford Expositor

By Michael-Allan Marion, Brantford Expositor
Friday, January 9, 2015

It took Larry Loyie 21 years to research completely the ordeal he went through as a native student in a residential school — and the return to class in middle age for the education he never got there — to be able to write the book he long had in mind.

Loyie’s determination and talent inspired Constance Brissenden and Wayne K. Spear to join him in turning out Residential Schools, With the Words and Images of Survivors, a national history that is going out to schools and bookshelves across Canada.

Their project so impressed multimedia producer Jeff Burnham that he made the book the first publication launched by Indigenous Education Press and GoodMinds.com.

“The residential schools are still a hidden history,” Loyie said with Brissenden and Burham beside him during a launch for the book at the offices of Indigenous Press Education at 188 Mohawk Street.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
International Business Times

By Howard Koplowitz

An effort by the Catholic Church in St. Louis to quash a sexual abuse lawsuit against a priest was unsuccessful after a judge ruled that the civil case can go to trial, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday. The Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang is accused of molesting a 15-year-old girl he met while she and her family attended the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

“After construing all allegations favorably to plaintiffs, this court determines there exist genuine issues of material face to be decided by the trier of fact,” Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer wrote in a Dec. 28 decision, according to court papers obtained by the Post-Dispatch. Lawyers for the defendant said they were first made aware of the ruling on Thursday. Mennemeyer made his ruling in part because the alleged abuse did not happen on church property.

“Despite the fact that one of its priests, Father Joseph Jiang, used his power and authority as a priest to manipulate and abuse a child, the archdiocese tried to have the case thrown out on a technicality,” Nicole Gorovsky, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff’s family, told the paper. “They did not succeed.”

The criminal case against Jiang was dismissed in 2013 because prosecutors failed to prove the priest was with the girl alone in her home as they claimed. The Archdiocese of St. Louis, which is named as a defendant in the civil case, said it would continue to defend Jiang and said he currently serves in a capacity where he is not interacting with children. Jiang is also facing criminal charges alleging that he sexually abused a young boy in the bathroom of St. Louis the King school, located at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica.

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.

MARYLAND
The New York Times

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
JAN. 9, 2015

BALTIMORE — Two days after Christmas, Thomas Palermo took advantage of a rare moment of free time to do what he loved most: ride his bike up a busy road popular with cyclists for its challenging hill and wide bike lanes, the afternoon sun warming his face. About the same time, the police say, an Episcopal bishop got into her car, her blood-alcohol level far above the legal limit, and drove toward him.

Not long after, Mr. Palermo, 41, lay dying the street, killed, the police say, by the drunken, texting bishop with a history of driving while intoxicated who left the scene for nearly half an hour. On Friday, the state’s attorney for Baltimore City announced charges against Suffragan Bishop Heather Cook, one of the highest ranking officials in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, including criminal negligent manslaughter, driving while impaired and texting, and leaving the scene of an accident.

“This is an extremely tragic incident,” said Marilyn J. Mosby, the state’s attorney, in one of her first official acts since winning election last fall. Ms. Mosby said she had met with Mr. Palermo’s family and had “assured them that no one is above the law.”

Ms. Mosby said Bishop Cook, 58, elected last year to the No. 2 position in the diocese despite having pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2010, was found to have a 0.22 blood-alcohol level when brought to the police station after she returned to the crash site. The legal limit in Maryland is 0.08.

The handling of the case has become a flash point for several issues — including the fairness of the criminal justice system, which some critics said failed to move as quickly as it should have to charge Bishop Cook; the due diligence in vetting a high-ranking woman in the church; and bike safety.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Kent Online

by Jamie Bullenjbullen@thekmgroup.co.uk

The Church of England has ordered an inquiry into a former Gravesend children’s home after claims youngsters were forcibly drugged.

The Bishop of Rochester, James Langstaff, announced today he has initiated an independent review after concerns by former residents of Kendall House at how they were treated.

He said: “It is my hope that this review will be of help in pastoral and other ways to all those who have concerns about Kendall House, and will also make clear any outstanding lessons which the Church of England and others need to learn.”

A panel is being put in place to start work as soon as possible with details set to be released on the Rochester Diocesan website when agreed.

In 2010, mum-of-three Teresa Cooper won substantial out of court damages after she suffered three years of alleged abuse at Kendall House.

Teresa said physical, sexual and enforced drug abuse was carried out at the home, adding she had spoken to as many as 18 traumatised women there.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Kent

Church of England investigates abuse claims at former Gravesend home Kendall House for ’emotionally disturbed’ girls

by Heloise Wood, reporter

An investigation into abuse claims at a Gravesend children’s home has been launched today (Jan 9) by the Church of England.

The Bishop of Rochester James Langstaff will head the review into Kendall House in Pelham Road and is appealing for former residents to share their stories.

News Shopper spoke to a former abuse victim Teresa Cooper in 2010 who said she still “wakes up screaming” as a result of the abuse she described at the home.

A spokeswoman for the Bishop of Rochester said: “Over a several years, a number of former residents have raised concerns about how they were treated during the time they were living at Kendall House.

“There has at different times been coverage of these concerns in the national media.

“On behalf of the two dioceses concerned, the Bishop of Rochester has decided to initiate an independent review in connection with the management and systems which operated at Kendall House, in particular during the period from 1950 to 1986.”

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.

MARYLAND
ABC News

BALTIMORE — Jan 9, 2015, 7:23 PM ET

By JULIET LINDERMAN Associated Press

In a spectacular fall from grace, Maryland’s second-highest ranking Episcopal leader and the first female bishop in her diocese was charged with drunken driving and manslaughter after fatally striking a cyclist in late December.

Heather Cook, 58, turned herself in Friday to authorities, according to her attorney, David Irwin.

The charges came less than a week after the national Episcopal Church announced it had opened an investigation into Cook, whose ties to the church span generations.

On Dec. 27, Cook struck and killed Tom Palermo, 41, while he was riding his bicycle. According to prosecutors, Cook left the scene for 30 minutes before returning, and registered a blood-alcohol content of .22 percent after the wreck. Palermo died of a head injury at a nearby hospital later that day.

Less than four months earlier, Cook was ordained as the diocese of Maryland’s first female bishop. She attended an Episcopal girls school and had served as a boarding school chaplain, an assistant at a parish in New York and a member of two diocesan staffs. Her father, also a priest, raised his family in the historic Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church rectory in downtown Baltimore. According to Cook’s autobiographical statement, when Cook herself was ordained as a deacon, her father removed “the stole from around his own neck and placed it over mine.”

But Cook’s father, like her, had a history of alcohol abuse. In 1977, the Rev. Halsey Cook told the Old St. Paul’s congregation in a sermon that he was an alcoholic suffering a relapse and seeking treatment, calling alcoholism “a rampant epidemic in our society” and a “fatal disease, not only of the body but of the mind and spirit,” according to an article that year in The Baltimore Sun.

Heather Cook, too, has had repeated problems with alcohol. In 2010, Cook was charged with drunken driving on Maryland’s Eastern Shore after registering a blood alcohol content of .27 percent. Police found wine, liquor and marijuana in her car. The drug charges were dropped after Cook pleaded guilty to the drunken driving offense, and she received probation.

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.

LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Rebecca Catalanello, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on January 09, 2015

A change of guard in the Bienville Parish district attorney’s office is fueling new hope of reviving the investigation into sexual assault allegations at a north Louisiana boarding school. A grand jury this week declined to indict Mack W. Ford, 82, founder of the now-shuttered New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, where at least four former residents have told police they were molested in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

After a year-long investigation, District Attorney Jonathan Stewart said the grand jury found the statute of limitations to be problematic to securing an indictment. But Danny Newell, who replaces Stewart on Monday, said he plans to review the file once he takes office.

Newell, formerly an assistant district attorney under Stewart, said Thursday he knows little about the New Bethany case and wasn’t aware until recently that a grand jury had convened in the matter. “Once I get in office and have had a chance to review the file, I will be happy to talk to you about it,” he said.

Stewart forced Newell to resign from his prosecutor position in Claiborne Parish in April 2013 after he indicated his intent to run for Stewart’s office, according to the Haynesville News. In 2014, both registered to run for district attorney, but Stewart soon withdrew from the race and Newell won, defeating another candidate.

The grand jury’s decision marked a clear blow to some former residents of New Bethany. In recent years, they reconnected with one another through the Internet and, in emotion-filled message boards and blogs, began reliving what many describe as painful memories of harsh punishment, brutal isolation and relentless warnings regarding God’s wrath.

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.

CHILE
DFW Catholic

Santiago, Chile, Jan 9, 2015 / 03:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The House of Representatives in Chile has passed a resolution stripping Father John O’Reilly, of the Legion of Christ of his honorary Chilean nationality by a vote of 96-5 after he was sentenced to four years of house arrest for sexual abuse.

The measure will now go before the Chilean Senate for final approval.

The Chilean congress grants honorary nationality to individuals through a legislative action, and can use the same mechanism to rescind it.

The proposal to rescind the Irish-born priest’s honorary nationality was brought before the floor of the Congress Nov. 12, after he was sentenced to four years of house arrest for sexually abusing a minor.

The case against Fr. O’Reilly, who has maintained his innocence from the beginning, began July 24, 2012, when a lawyer representing the Cumbres School filed a complaint with the Legionaries of Christ. Fr. O’Reilly turned himself in to authorities, and the school also filed charges with civil authorities.

The following day, the Legionaries opened a canonical investigation into the case.

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

UNITED STATES
Road to Recovery

New York City: We will leaflet outside Holy Cross Church on 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues tomorrow from 4:00 PM until 5:45 PM where Fr. Robert Harrison served as a weekend assistant for a few years.

(Fr. Robert Harrison has allegedly admitted to sexually abusing several children)

AN APPEAL TO POSSIBLE VICTIMS OF FR. ROBERT HARRISON

From 1979-1981, I was stationed as an Irish Christian Brother at Rice High School in Central Harlem, New York City. In my second year there, I was the junior varsity basketball coach. It was during this time that I came in contact with Rev. Robert Harrison, a Capuchin Franciscan friar from Milwaukee who was a civil attorney employed by the City of New York. Fr. Robert Harrison allegedly has admitted to sexually abusing several children.

Fr. Robert Harrison was living around 1980 at the Pierre Toussaint Residence, a facility located on the border of Harlem and Washington Heights. The Pierre Toussaint Residence housed young African-American men who were considering the priesthood. It was sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York.

Fr. Robert Harrison offered to help coach the junior varsity team at Rice High School and began his own basketball program in Harlem for area teenagers. Fr. Robert Harrison’s interest in basketball was interesting because his demeanor and personality were not particularly “athletic.”

When I was transferred to Boston in 1981, I lost touch with Fr. Robert Harrison, but we reconnected in 1985 when I returned to New York City to complete my doctoral studies at Fordham University at Lincoln Center and was living at the Christian Brothers residence in Hell’s Kitchen. Fr. Robert Harrison had become either pastor or administrator of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Harlem but was not well received by the parishioners.

In or around 1989, Fr. Robert Harrison was removed from St. Charles Borromeo Parish and was hired at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx where he taught and worked his way into the basketball program, eventually becoming coach of the junior varsity team. I ran into him at various athletic and religious events in New York City during this time.

In 1989, I became Principal of Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers, NY, and our athletic teams participated in the CHSAA (Catholic High School Athletic Association) of the Archdiocese of New York. In addition, I was a basketball referee in the CHSAA and officiated many contests involving Cardinal Hayes High School. I often ran into Fr. Robert Harrison at basketball games throughout the Archdiocese.

I am concerned that one or more of the Rice High School basketball players whom I coached and taught could have been harmed by Fr. Robert Harrison. Fr. Harrison was friendly with some of those players, and he recruited some of them to play on his private traveling team.

Since 1989 and until recently when he was removed, Fr. Robert Harrison was stationed at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx where he came across thousands of teenage boys, primarily African-American and Hispanic. In addition, Fr. Robert Harrison lived in the Cardinal Hayes building, enabling him to give access to students to his private quarters in the building.

Road to Recovery, Inc. is a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families. We welcome any and all sexual abuse victims of Fr. Robert Harrison to contact us and begin to heal from the effects of sexual abuse. All information will be held confidentially.

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. – Co-founder and President
Road to Recovery, Inc.- P.O. Box 279 – Livingston, NJ 07039
862-368-2800

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Gravesend Reporter

September 2013

Joshua Fowler

MP Eric Pickles was caught on tape telling a survivor of alleged child abuse at a Gravesend care home to “adjust your medication” last month.

His comments can be heard in a recorded confrontation with constituent Teresa Cooper, who is one of at least six women who say they were drugged at Kendall House, in Pelham Road, during the late 1970s and whose children now have genetic defects.

Upon meeting the communities and local government minister at a wildlife event in Ongar, Essex, Ms Cooper says: “Nothing has changed on the Kendall House abuse. Only you have ignored it. You have ignored it.”

Mr Pickles then retorts: “just, just, adjust your medication.”

Kendal House, now flats, caused a storm when a 1980 documentary showed the level of drugs being prescribed by Dr Marenthiran Perinpanayagam.

Girls in his care were given pills designed for schizophrenics, psychotics and Parkinson’s sufferers without being diagnosed with any of those conditions.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

9 January 2015

The Church of England is to carry out a review of one of its former homes in Gravesend, where it is claimed children were forcibly drugged.

It follows a 2009 BBC investigation which found a former resident had been given drugs more than 1,200 times, at Kendall House, in the 1980s.

In 2009, Teresa Cooper told Radio 4 the feeling of being injected as a teenager was “like [your body] is just dying”.

The Bishop of Rochester has set up an independent review into the home.

In a statement, the Right Reverend James Langstaff, said: “Over a number of years, a number of former residents have raised concerns about how they were treated during the time they were living at Kendall House.”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

09 JANUARY 2015

An independent review is to be carried out into a former Church of England-run children’s home following claims that girls were given massive doses of drugs.

The Bishop of Rochester has set up the review into Kendall House in Gravesend, Kent, between 1950 and 1986 – the year it shut.

Established in the 1920s, Kendall House was a home for emotionally-disturbed girls who were mainly placed there by their local authority.

A BBC investigation in 2009 revealed that some girls who were heavily sedated while living at Kendall House in the 1970s and 1980s went on to have children with a range of birth defects.

One former resident, Teresa Cooper, accepted substantial damages from the Church of England in 2010 after alleging she was abused with doses of tranquillisers and other drugs.

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.

WISCONSIN
LaCrosse Tribune

Cardinal, former La Crosse bishop contends feminism marginalizes men, fosters abuse

MIKE TIGHE La Crosse Tribune mtighe@lacrossetribune.com

Cardinal Raymond Burke blames radical feminism for many problems perceived in the Catholic Church, including clergy sexual abuse of boys and the decline in vocations to the priesthood.

Confusion about men’s identity and roles has festered for 50 years, the former bishop of the La Crosse Diocese is quoted as saying in an interview with Matthew James Christoff, founder of the New Emangelization Project, a men’s ministry initiative.

“It’s due to a number of factors, but the radical feminism which has assaulted the church and society since the 1960s has left men very marginalized,” Burke said.

“Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the church, leading the church to constantly address women’s issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men,” Burke told Christoff during the interview, conducted when Burke was in La Crosse last month to celebrate the feast day of the Shrine of Guadalupe he founded when he was bishop.

Burke declined an interview with the Tribune during that visit, saying he couldn’t fit it into his schedule.

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory

January 9, 2015

Keating’s once-secret priest file to be publicly released for the first time

WHAT: At a news conference Monday January 12, 2015 a sexual abuse survivor of Father Michael Keating, Doe 20, along with her attorney Jeff Anderson will:

· Speak publicly about the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of Father Keating and her experience in reporting the abuse to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Doe 20 wants the truth to be known and will share her full story.

· Discuss how Father Kevin McDonough chose to protect Father Keating and lie about his history of sexual abuse allegations.

· Provide and review key documents from Keating’s priest file.

· This public disclosure was made possible by virtue of an agreement reached with the Archdiocese in the Doe 1 case.

WHEN: Monday January 12, 2015 at 1:00PM CST

WHERE: Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson St. Suite 100
St. Paul, MN 55101

NOTES: Doe 20 will be available for interviews.

The amended complaint filed by Doe 20 on September 22, 2014 and Keating’s priest file and key documents are available on our website. We will live stream the press event online from our website www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

“If truth doesn’t set you free, generosity of spirit will.”

― Katerina Stoykova Klemer

Trish McLelland has been set free. For decades, she exposed truth. And for her entire life, she personified generosity of spirit.

Already, this hero to our movement is deeply missed.

( Learn more about her here: http://www.dallasnews.com/obituary-headlines/20150107-trish-mclelland-68-who-built-database-of-abusive-clergy-dies.ece#commentsDiv )

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.

ILLINOIS
Kane County Chronicle

By JEFF ENGELHARDT – jengelhardt@shawmedia.com

Former Holy Cross Catholic Church Pastor Aaron Brodeski pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct Friday after facing initial charges of public indecency.

Brodeski, who started at Holy Cross in Batavia on Feb. 25, 2013, has been on leave from the church. He was sentenced to two years of court supervision, a $500 fine and 30 hours of community service for a March 2014 incident.

He has been a priest in the Rockford Diocese since 1998.

“Msgr. Brodeski cooperated fully with law enforcement and has been on administrative leave from any and all priestly assignments and participated in evaluation for any difficulties affecting his conduct and ministry,” read a statement from the Diocese of Rockford. “[He] will remain unassigned from all priestly duties at this time and will work with diocesan officials to determine the next course for him.”

On March 27, 2014, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police were sent to the Road Ranger Gas Station at 4980 South Main St., just south of Rockford, for a report of a man who had exposed himself to an employee, according to a release from the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Jessica Anderson
The Baltimore Sun

Episcopal Church leaders meeting in Linthicum on Friday said they are awaiting details of a police investigation into the fatal accident involving Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook, in which a prominent Baltimore cyclist was killed.

Thomas Palermo, who was cycling in North Roland Park on the afternoon of Dec. 27, died after being struck by a vehicle. The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland identified Cook as the driver. The Baltimore state’s attorney’s office announced Friday to charge Cook with manslaughter.

Cook was elected last year Bishop Suffragan, the No. 2 position in the Maryland diocese.

Neva Rae Fox, a spokeswoman for the national leadership, said church officials will look at the process used for vetting candidates for bishop positions, but that the church is still waiting to learn information about the incident involving Cook.

“There is a process that guided the search committee. Everything is being looked at right now. We have no answers yet,” she said.

Fox said that church is continuing its own investigation of which the details will remain confidential until it is complete. She said it is unclear when the investigation will conclude.

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.

MARYLAND
Reuters

BY LAILA KEARNEY
Fri Jan 9, 2015

(Reuters) – Vehicular manslaughter charges are being filed against a Maryland Episcopal bishop, accused of texting and drunken driving in a hit-and-run accident that killed a cyclist, a Maryland prosecutor said on Friday.

Police said Heather Cook, the first female bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, veered into a bike lane in suburban Baltimore and crashed her sports utility vehicle into Tom Palermo, 41, on Dec. 27, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said.

“The State’s Attorney’s Office is committed to applying justice fairly and equally – no one is above the law,” Mosby said in a statement.

In addition to negligent manslaughter by vehicle, Cook, 58, faces charges including negligently driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in a homicide and failing to remain at the scene of an accident resulting in death.

Cook is suspected of striking Palermo, who slammed into the windshield her 2001 Subaru, and fleeing the collision scene to return to her apartment, prosecutors said. She returned to the crash site about 30 minutes later.

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.

MARYLAND
Wall Street Journal

By SCOTT CALVERT
Updated Jan. 9, 2015

BALTIMORE—The No. 2 leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland was charged Friday with vehicular manslaughter and several other charges in the death of a bicyclist in Baltimore two days after Christmas, the city’s chief prosecutor announced.

State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby alleged Bishop Heather Cook, 58 years old, was texting when her Subaru rear-ended Thomas Palermo, a 41-year-old father of two, as he rode in a bike lane in North Baltimore. Ms. Cook’s blood-alcohol level tested at 0.22 after the afternoon accident, Ms. Mosby said at a news conference Friday.

Ms. Cook left the scene and drove past it again about 30 minutes later, but continued to her nearby residence, Ms. Mosby said. Shortly after arriving home, Ms. Cook went back to the accident scene and was taken to a police station. Among the other charges she faces is driving under the influence resulting in a homicide.

Ms. Mosby was asked by reporters why it took nearly two weeks to make a decision on charging Ms. Cook, given the breath test results. “We had to conduct a thorough investigation and that was done rather expeditiously,” she said. Ms. Mosby was sworn in as prosecutor on Thursday after being elected in November.

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

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

01/09/2015

Can. 502, of the Code of Canon Law

§1. From among the members of the presbyteral council and in a number not less than six nor more than twelve, the diocesan bishop freely appoints some priests who are to constitute for five years a college of consultors, to which belongs the functions determined by law. When the five years elapse, however, it continues to exercise its proper functions until a new college is established.

In many ways, the authority of the diocesan bishop is absolute. He has all the ‘ordinary, proper, and immediate’ power necessary to fulfill his pastoral office, except when the law establishes otherwise (c. 381). It is this exception that came to my mind yesterday when I saw the announcement that attempts to settle the case of John Doe 104 had failed.

One of the innovations introduced with the 1983 Code of Canon Law was the creation of the College of Consultors. The overall task of the College is to assist the diocesan bishop in governing the diocese. However, a distinction is made regarding the responsibilities of the College. In some cases the diocesan bishop is obliged to receive the consent of the college, whilst in others he must merely consult with them (audire- to hear). The specific obligation is established in the canons related to the proposed acts.

For instance, the Archbishop must consult with the College of Consultors prior to appointing or removing the diocesan finance officer (a consultation Archbishop Nienstedt overlooked prior to the forced resignation of CFO John Bierbaum in the wake of the ‘discovery’ of the theft by the Archdiocesan comptroller, and sought too late to be meaningful in regard to the hiring of his replacement, Tom Mertens). He must also consult them on matters of ‘major importance’ in light of the financial situation of the diocese (also ignored when it came to providing Archdiocesan funding to outside organizations seeking to secure a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage). A diocesan bishop is not bound to follow the advice offered by the College in these circumstances, but the law requires that such consultation occur.

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

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

Judge rules sexual abuse lawsuit involving St. Louis priest will proceed to trial

By Lilly Fowler

A Lincoln County judge has ruled that a sexual-abuse lawsuit involving a local priest can proceed to trial.

Attorneys for the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Robert Carlson had tried in September to have a civil lawsuit against the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang dismissed, in part because the alleged abuse occurred away from church property.

“Despite the fact that one of its priests, Father Joseph Jiang, used his power and authority as a priest to manipulate and abuse a child, the archdiocese tried to have the case thrown out on a technicality,” said Nicole Gorovsky, one of the attorneys representing the family of the teenage girl at the center of the case. “They did not succeed.”

The judge issued the ruling on Dec. 28, though plaintiff attorneys said they only become aware of the court’s decision on Thursday.

Jiang was first arrested on allegations of molesting the teenage girl in 2012. The two are said to have met when she was 15 and attending the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica with her family, where Jiang was associate pastor.

Lincoln County Judge Chris Kunza Mennemeyer dismissed the criminal case against Jiang in 2013 because prosecutors could not show that Jiang was ever the only one with the girl at her home, where the alleged abuse is said to have taken place.

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.

MARYLAND
Baltimore City Paper

By Edward Ericson Jr.
January 9, 2015

Bishop Suffergen [Suffragan] Heather Cook of the Episcopal Diocese was drunk and texting when her car collided with Thomas Palermo’s bicycle on the afternoon of Dec. 27, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby told a packed press conference shortly after 11 a.m. today.

The press conference, Mosby’s first, was to “promote transparency and confidence in the justice system.” She said she had spoken to Palermo’s family beforehand and explained the process. She said Cook would be charged today in District Court with felony vehicular manslaughter and an array of other crimes involving the alleged drunk driving, texting, and leaving the scene of an accident in which a person was seriously injured or killed.

The case will now go before a grand jury, Mosby said: “I ask for your patience and understanding while we allow justice to run its course.”

Mosby said the police investigation shows that Cook was texting when she swerved and hit Palermo, who had been riding southbound in a marked bike lane on North Roland Road. Palermo’s body hit Cook’s windshield and landed on the road; Cook drove on, Mosby said, past the dying man and to her home, after which she went back to the scene a half-hour later, where a test showed a blood alcohol level of .22, Mosby said.

A warrant will be issued for Cook’s arrest, though Antonio Gioia, chief of the Conviction Integrity Unit, told reporters that Cook will be allowed to surrender. Mosby would not say what her bail recommendation would be, and Gioia said he did not know what Cook’s legal driving status is, although he asserted that she has not been driving since the crash two weeks ago.

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.

MARYLAND
Baltimore Magazine

By Ron Cassie. Posted on January 09, 2015

New Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday that the Episcopal bishop who, according to prosecutors and church officials, struck and killed a bicyclist over the holidays on Roland Avenue, will be charged with manslaughter.

A Johns Hopkins Hospital software engineer and part-time bike builder well known in the bicycling community, Thomas Palermo, 41, was a married father of two children.

A warrant will be issued for Bishop Heather Cook’s arrest, prosecutors said.

Criminal charges filed in District Court today:

—Negligent Manslaughter by vehicle (Max 10 years and/or $5,000 fine)
—Criminal Negligent Manslaughter by vehicle (Max 3 years and/or $5,000 fine)
—Negligently Driving Under the Influence resulting in a Homicide (Max 5 years and/or $5,000 fine)
—Negligent Homicide involving an Auto or Boat while Impaired (Max 3 years and/or $5,000 fine)

Traffic charges also filed:

—Duty of Driver to remain at the scene of an accident resulting in Bodily Injury
—Duty of Driver to remain at an Accident resulting in Death
—Use of a Text Messaging Device while Driving causing an Accident with Death or Serious Bodily Injury
—Driving under the Influence of Alcohol

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.

MARYLAND
WJZ

Mike Hellgren

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Newly appointed Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said Bishop Heather Cook will be charged in the death of cyclist Tom Palermo at a press conference Friday.

Cook was charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence, texting and leaving the scene of the Dec. 27 accident, which took the life of the 41-year-old father of two was hit and killed while riding his bike on Roland Avenue.

Mosby said Cook was drunk at the time of the accident at almost three times the legal limit.

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.

MARYLAND
Washington Post

By Annys Shin January 9

A Maryland Episcopal bishop has been charged with manslaughter, driving under the influence, and texting while driving in connection with a Dec. 27 crash that killed a cyclist.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby Friday announced the charges against Heather Elizabeth Cook, the No. 2 and first female bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

Cook initially left the scene of the 2:30 pm accident, despite having a heavily damaged windshield, but returned later. The victim, Thomas Palermo, was a Johns Hopkins Hospital software engineer, with a wife and two small children.

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.

CANADA
The Daily Courier

TORONTO – Toronto police have charged an 81-year old pastor with sexually assaulting two members of his congregation.

Paul David Melnichuk made his first court appearance yesterday charged with five counts of sexual assault.

Police allege Melnichuk assaulted two female members of his congregation — one in her 40s, the other under 20 — on several occasions between May and September of last year.

They allege that all of the assaults occurred at the Prayer Palace Church (1111 Arrow Road), and also say they believe there could be other victims.

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.

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Jan. 9

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

New developments in two civil lawsuits may shed more light on how St. Louis’ top Catholic official deals with clergy sexual abuse. In both cases, an actual trial – as opposed to a settlement or a loss by the victims on a technicality – seems more likely.

–Today, a young St. Louis woman is disclosing that she has overcome Carlson’s bid to have her suit tossed out of court. The case involves the controversial Fr. Joseph Jiang, a close friend of Carlson’s. Fr. Jiang also faces pending criminal charges of molesting a boy in the city.

–Yesterday, Minnesota media reported that a lengthy deposition of Carlson’s will be evidence in a pedophile priest trial in the Twin Cities set for Jan. 26.

( See http://noakerlaw.com/ and http://noakerlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/01-07-2015-Witness-List.pdf )

Attorneys for that victim insist that the case will not settle. (Carlson is from that archdiocese and worked as a top official there for years dealing with child molesting clerics.)

We are glad that Catholics and citizens will learn more about how Carlson and other Catholic officials who recklessly and callously put kids in harm’s way. We hope that anyone with information or suspicions about the alleged pedophile priests in these cases will speak up now so that justice may be done.

The Minnesota trial involves Fr. Thomas Stitts of the St. Paul/Minneapolis archdiocese, where Carlson grew up and worked before coming to St. Louis is a defendant. The victim’s attorneys insist that the case will NOT settle.

Fewer than 40 of these cases have ever gone to trial. So only a few dozen Catholic officials have ever been forced to answer tough questions under oath in an open court room about their role in hiding clergy sex crimes and quietly moving proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests.

Those questions are key to showing parishioners and the public just how irresponsible Catholic officials are when it comes to children’s safety. We applaud the courageous victim in this case who clearly wants the truth to be known, even though the trial will no doubt be brutal for him.

We beg Archbishop Carlson and St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt to forbid their lawyers from mean-spirited and unnecessary attacks on these victims. (Catholic officials essentially admitted Fr. Stitts faced several credible accusers when they permanently ousted him from ministry.)

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

UNITED STATES
Our Stories Untold

by SHARON DETWEILER on Jan 9, 2015

To Rachel Waltner Goosen, whose historical overview in The Mennonite meticulously recounts John Howard Yoder’s true legacy, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your literary piece is masterful.

But as I read your article on this quiet Sunday morning, I find my hands shaking, my heart beating faster, and I’m unable to read clearly…36 years later.

My story began in Pennsylvania. I was born into a long line of pious, hard-working and church-going Detweilers, Old Order Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites. I went to the local Mennonite Church 2 to 3 times a week for all of my childhood and young adult life. I was baptized in the church.

So why did reading this particular article about a Mennonite church theologian affect me so profoundly? After all, I have now been a practicing attorney in the State of California for 28 years. I graduated from one of the top law schools in the country. I have a B.A., a J.D. and an L.L.M. I have been the lone prosecuting attorney in 52 jury trials. I have prosecuted murderers, rapists, molesters, kidnappers, elder abusers, and many, many criminal offenders over the years. Why was I shaking and feeling sick to my stomach after reading the article?

Perhaps because 36 years ago I was one of Yoder’s victims.

It was 1979, and I was 22-years-old and employed by the Mennonite Church in a leadership position. When Yoder was in his late 50’s he began a campaign of actively pursuing me as one of his proteges. I was initially flattered, until it turned ugly. Ultimately, after 2 short years of employment, I suddenly resigned from my church position and moved from Pennsylvania to California, largely as a result of Yoder’s outrageous actions directed at me. I have never looked back.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
WJLA

BALTIMORE (AP) – Baltimore’s top prosecutor says an Episcopal church bishop will be charged with vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and other counts in a hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says the charges will be filed Friday and an arrest warrant will be issued for Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook, the second-highest leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

Mosby says Cook’s blood-alcohol level was at .22 after the crash, nearly triple Maryland’s legal limit for driving.

Cook’s vehicle hit 41-year-old bicyclist Tom Palermo on a sunny Saturday afternoon two weeks ago. Palermo, a father of two, died of head injuries.

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.

MARYLAND
WBAL

The second-highest leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland will be charged with vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and other counts stemming from a hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Baltimore’s top prosecutor said Friday.

An arrest warrant also will be issued for Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook, 58, whose blood-alcohol level tested at .22 after the wreck, nearly triple Maryland’s legal limit for driving, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said at a news conference.

Cook’s attorney, David Irwin, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.

Cook was driving a car that hit Tom Palermo, a 41-year-old father of two, on Dec. 27. Palermo died from head injuries the same day at a hospital, according to Bruce Goldfarb, spokesman for the Maryland medical examiner’s office.

The diocese and police confirmed the driver initially left the scene of the crash, then returned. The diocese and a witness reported that Cook left the scene for about 20 minutes before returning.

In a statement, Palermo’s sister-in-law thanked Mosby, who took office Monday.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the events leading up to the senseless hit-and-run accident that claimed Tom’s life, and support the prosecutor’s efforts to hold Bishop Heather Cook accountable for her actions to the fullest extent of the law,” said Alisa Rock, Palermo’s sister-in-law and the family’s spokeswoman.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Ian Duncan
The Baltimore Sun

Episcopal Bishop Heather Cook will be charged with manslaughter in the fatal crash that killed cyclist Thomas Palermo, new state’s attorney Marilyn J. Mosby announced Friday morning.

Cook will face charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident; driving under the influence and causing an accident due to texting while driving. Both the manslaughter and leaving the scene charge carry a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

A warrant will be issued for Cook’s arrest, prosecutors said.

The collision happened Dec. 27 as Palermo was cycling through Roland Park. Church officials identified Cook as the driver of the car that struck Palermo. Cook left the scene in shock, but returned later, according to the church.

At a press conference, Mosby said Cook registered a .22 blood alcohol level after the crash. The legal limit in Maryland is .08.

Mosby alleged that Cook was texting, and that Palermo was in the bike lane when Cook’s vehicle veered into his lane and struck him.

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.

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Fern Shen and Mark Reutter January 9, 2015

Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook will be charged with multiple felony counts stemming from her fatal crash 13 days ago with bicyclist Tom Palermo.

Charges will include driving while under the influence of alcohol, causing an accident due to texting while driving, and leaving the scene of an accident.

Her alcohol blood count was .22, or nearly three times the legal limit of .08, according to State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby.

Both the manslaughter and leaving the scene charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

Mosby announced the charges at a news conference today and said a warrant will be issued for Cook’s arrest.

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

IRELAND
BBC News

The Irish government has said a public inquiry into mother and baby homes will investigate how society “failed” the women and children placed in the homes.

The inquiry was announced last year, following revelations about a mass grave at a Catholic Church-run mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway.

The minister for children has set out the terms for a three-year inquiry.

James Reilly said the state “failed to come to terms with a harrowing reality in our past”.

The homes were mainly church-run institutions to which unmarried women and teenage girls were sent to give birth, as many were ostracised by their families and communities for becoming pregnant outside marriage.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan Health Correspondent
PUBLISHED 09/01/2015

The Commission of investigation into Mother and Baby homes will extend its probe from the 1920s to as late as 1998, it emerged today.

The probe, chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, will mostly hear evidence in private although individuals can also request to have a hearing in public.

The investigation will not only look at the care of unmarried mothers and their children in the homes but also high mortality rates and vaccine trials which were carried out in some instances.

The Minister who expects the inquiry to take three years said today:”As a State we have failed to come to terms with a harrowing reality of our pa, the manner in which single women and their children were treated in mother and baby homes and how they came to be there in the first place.”

The Church-run homes that catered for unmarried mothers and their children have been at the centre of allegations of mistreatment, neglect and questionable adoption practice.

Several groups, particularly those in Protestant-run homes, are expected to be disappointed at the extent of the investigation which will be headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

09 JANUARY 2015

Pressure is mounting on Northern Ireland to launch a public inquiry into decades of alleged abuse at so-called mother and baby homes after the Irish Republic announced a three-year probe into more than 14 institutions.

The State inquiry is being set up after fresh revelations last year about a mass grave at a Catholic run home for unmarried mothers in Tuam, Co Galway, where 796 infants died between 1925 and 1961.

Judge Yvonne Murphy leads a team of three commissioners who will investigate what happened to more than 35,000 women and children – mostly placed in homes after being ostracised by their families – between 1922 to 1998.

The causes of deaths at the homes, burials, vaccine trials carried out on children, how residents ended up there, how they were treated and where they went afterwards will all form part of the mammoth inquiry.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

January 9th.

Pamela Duncan, Aine McMahon

A commission of investigation into mother and baby homes will have the power to compel drug companies which conducted vaccine trials on children resident in the homes to come before it, the Minister for Children has said.

James Reilly said the newly published terms of reference for the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes would examine 14 named institutions and a “representative sample of county homes” between 1922 and 1998.

This will include an investigation into high mortality rates recorded in certain homes, the living conditions experienced by residents and the exit arrangements for single women and children on leaving the homes.

The three-person inquiry will also have the power to investigate alleged forced and illegal adoptions and the relationship between the homes and other key institutions including children’s homes, orphanages and adoption societies.

Social historian Prof Mary Daly and Dr William Duncan, an expert in international public and private family law have been appointed to the committee which is chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Amnesty International call for inquiry into allegations of abuse in Mother and Baby homes in Northern Ireland

09 JANUARY 2015

Amnesty International has called for an inquiry into allegations of decades of abuse suffered in Mother and Baby homes in Northern Ireland.

It comes after the Irish government published the terms of reference for a Commission of Investigation into such homes in the Republic of Ireland.

The Human Rights organisation accused Ministers in Northern Ireland of failing to respond to victims’ calls for a probe into abuse which they allege occurred in Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundry-type institutions in Northern Ireland over a period of decades.

Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director, Patrick Corrigan said: “Women in Northern Ireland have told Amnesty they suffered arbitrary detention, forced labour, ill-treatment, and the removal and forced adoption of their babies – criminal acts in both domestic and international law.

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.

ILLINOIS
Illinois News Network

To honor families everywhere, we are pleased to announce that Stephen R. Bastien, successful entrepreneur, businessman, and writer will be performing his one person play, “A Championship Life,” as part of the 18th Annual Fillet of Solo Festival presented by Lifeline Theatre beginning this Saturday at 4pm at the Heartland Studio venue, 7016 N. Glenwood Avenue in the Roger’s Park neighborhood.

Mr. Bastien’s performances will be on Saturday from 10 through 24 January at 4pm.

A Championship Life is directed by acclaimed director, Mary Beth Reynard Liss.

In this engaging work, Mr. Bastien, who was the last child committed to a tuberculosis sanitarium at the age of 11, expelled from Catholic High School and kicked out of his home at age 16 after rejecting the sexual advances of a priest, and who lost family members to tragedy and addiction, shares his life experiences in an engaging presentation of wit, humor, and original song.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Pamela Duncan

Fri, Jan 9, 2015

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby homes will cover the living conditions of the women and children who resided in the homes, high mortality rates and vaccine trials conducted on children.

The terms of reference for the investigation, published by the Government this morning, will cover the period between 1922 and 1998 in 14 specified mother and baby homes.

It will also look at the experience in a “representative sample of county homes” and will investigate the nature of the relationship between mother and baby homes and other key institutions including children’s homes, orphanages and adoption societies.

It will also look at the extent to which children’s welfareand best interests were considered in making arrangments for their placement, including the “boarding out” of children, fostering and adoption,both inIreland and abroad and the mothers’ consent in such decisions.
Among the issues the commission will investigate are:

– mortality among mothers and children including the cause and circumstances of the deaths as well as the death rates in the various institutions.
– the entry and exit arrangements for single women into and out of the homes and for the children on leaving the institutions.
– living and social care arrangements in the homes.
– the extent to which residents may have been discriminated against on grounds including race, disability and religion.

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

IRELAND
The Journal

Updated 12.42 pm

AN INQUIRY INTO mother-and-baby homes will examine how women were admitted, how they were treated there, the mortality rate among children and their burial arrangements.

The investigation will also look at the cases of children whose care was removed from their parents and the circumstances in which consent was given.

The terms of reference for the investigation were announced this morning by Children’s Minister James Reilly following Cabinet approval.

It will cover the period from 1922 to 1998 but the committee will be reduce the “relevant period” of a particular institution if its deems it necessary.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

A three-year investigation into Mother and Baby Homes will be conducted following the revelations last year about the deaths of almost 800 children at the Tuam home, the Government confirmed today.

The inquiry will look at 14 homes and a representative sample of County Homes and report on various aspects within 18 months. …

List of Mother and Baby Homes to be examined:

1) Ard Mhuire, Dunboyne, Co Meath;
2) Belmont (Flatlets), Belmont Ave, Dublin 4;
3) Bessboro House, Blackrock, Cork;
4) Bethany Home, originally Blackhall Place, Dublin 7 and from 1934 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6;
5) Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, Tuam, Co. Galway;
6) Denny House, Eglington Rd, Dublin 4, originally Magdalen Home, 8 Lower Leeson St, Dublin 2;
7) Kilrush, Cooraclare Rd, Co. Clare;
8) Manor House, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath;
9) Ms. Carr’s (Flatlets), 16 Northbrook Rd, Dublin 6;
10) Regina Coeli Hostel, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7, and
11) Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary;
12) St. Gerard’s, originally 39, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1.
13) St. Patrick’s, Navan Road, Dublin 7, originally known as Pelletstown; and subsequent transfer to Eglington House, Eglington Rd, Dublin 4, and
14) The Castle, Newtowncunningham, Co. Donegal.

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

IRELAND
Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matter via RTE

Establishment of Commission, etc

(1) The Commission is directed to investigate and to make a report to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in accordance with the provisions of Section 32 of theCommissions of Investigation Act 2004 (No. 23 of 2004) on the following matters in relation to the Mother and Baby Homes listed in Appendix 1:

I. To establish the circumstances and arrangements for the entry of single women into these institutions and the exit pathways on their leaving these institutions; this to include consideration of the extent of their participation in relevant decisions;

II. To establish the living conditions and care arrangements experienced by residents during their period of accommodation in these institutions, including by reference to the literature on the living conditions and care experienced by mothers and children applying more generally during the period;

III. To examine mortality amongst mothers and children residing in these institutions (to determine the general causes, circumstances, and rates of mortality) and to compare it to the literature on mortality amongst such other groups of women and children as might be relevant;

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

IRELAND
RTE News

The Government has published its terms of reference for a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matter.

The three-person commission chaired by judge Yvonne Murphy will be given three years to complete its work.

The commission will examine the period between 1922 and 1998 at 14 named institutions and a number of county homes.

A confidential committee will talk to those who lived and worked in there.

The circumstances in which women entered and left these homes, the living conditions and care arrangements in the institutions, the mortality rate of the women and children who lived there and the post mortem practices will all be examined.

It will also look at how children whose mothers were not in these homes ended up being there.

It will investigate the welfare considerations and input of the mothers in placing children from these homes elsewhere in Ireland and abroad.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan

MINISTER for Children James Reilly is to bring the terms of reference for the commission of investigation into mother-and-baby homes before the Cabinet today.

The extent of the inquiry – which was set up following revelations about the deaths of almost 800 children at a Tuam mother-and-baby home from the 1920s to the early 1960s – is expected to disappoint many groups which were hoping to be included in the investigation.

Survivors of Protestant mother-and-baby homes are among those who have been lobbying the minister to include specific institutions in the terms of reference.

Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy is to chair the inquiry. More than 160 submissions were received during the consultation process

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.

INDIA
Daily Mail

Guru who ordered 400 followers to be castrated ‘so they could be closer to God’ is investigated for grievous bodily harm in India

By AFP and DAMIEN GAYLE FOR MAILONLINE

A guru who ordered 400 of his followers to undergo castrations he said would bring them closer to God is under investigation by police in India.

The country’s top crime fighting agency registered a case against Gurmeet Ram Rahim – known as the ‘guru in bling’ for his penchant for garish clothes and jewellery – over the operations at his ashram.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Rahim is being investigated for criminal intimidation and causing grievous bodily hurt after an alleged 400 castrations were carried out.

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.

GUAM
Jungle Watch

[with photos]

A group of laity met today at St. Anthony Church to pray during the clergy meeting with the apostolic visitors in the Spiritual Center. Here’s what happened at the end.

Received this from an attendee:

UNBELIEVABLE! To avoid the group gathered outside the St. Anthony Spiritual Center, they had the delegates leave by an alternate route. We’ve been prayerful and respectful. Btw – if you go to Dwayne Santos’s FB page, you’ll see AAA running out the back door. In a previous comment, we were so scary with our umbrellas and rosaries. WHY are they going to such lengths to avoid us?

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.

GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

Joe R. San Agustin

To my colleagues in the CCOG.

I am writing to the officers, board directors, and members of CCOG to offer a few words of encouragement in what we are all doing for our Church. May God bless us in our endeavors to try to bring peace, harmony and unity within our Catholic Church.

It saddens me no end to read that Archbishop Anthony Apuron has labeled our organization as one that is “plotting against the Church”. My goodness! How can he say this when EVERYTHING that we are doing is in search of the truth regarding his leadership as the Head of the Catholic Church in Guam, which is so sadly divided. If trying to discover and uncover the results of his leadership of our Church, making known our spiritual needs and desires , and making known our opinions – for the good of the Church – is in fact “a plot against the Church” – we would like to know what part of what we say or do is “a plot against the Church”.

I personally challenge the Archbishop to cite one example of what we say or do which directly or indirectly constitutes “a plot against the Church”. Please, Archbishop, cite us ONE EXAMPLE!

Searching for the truth, and exposing any error where we find them, is not a plot. It is a right – and indeed a duty – of every Catholic to try to uncover what ails our Church, and to seek solutions. The Code of Canon Law is very clear on this:

§2. “The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors of the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires.

§3. “ … They have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors…” (Code of Canon Law, Canon #212).

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.

GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – Peaceful protests through prayer have been held throughout the week as parishioners gather in hopes their concerns will be heard.

As the delegation from the Vatican in Rome is wrapping up their one week stay here on Guam Catholic faithful from parishes around the island gathered outside the St. Anthony Spiritual Center in peaceful protest reciting the rosary this afternoon. Santa Barbara parishioner Dr. Larry Kasperbauer said, “It’s not a happy time to have to do this kind of thing and to be here and I think I have said I am just amazed at the number that are growing each day coming public who were probably afraid to step out and be seen.”

Throughout the week prayers have been organized by parishioners and the number of those faithful joining in on prayer has grown steadily sharing their concerns surrounding the controversies in the Catholic Church. Santa Barbara parishioner Becky Toves told KUAM News, “Its heart breaking it really is heartbreaking because we are faithful we are all Catholics and yet there are certain factions certain sects that have a mentality I think that has caused division in the church and part of the problem is the fact that our leaders in the church I think have not been forthright with some of the things that have been happening.”

Over the course of a year the Catholic community has witnessed the removal of Father Paul Gofigan as pastor of Santa Barbara, the removal of Monsignor James Benevente as rector of the Archdiocese of Agana, the threat of censure of Deacon Steve Martinez and most recently the controversy regarding the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

“We see thing in the newspaper we hear things from other people and I think it’s a lot of misrepresentation going on and part of the reason why we wanted to organize this at least for myself was to give the people who were not able to talk with the delegates a chance to come together to unite and we are hoping that they will see that there are so many faithful out there,” said Toves.

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.

CANADA
VOCM

A former book keeper at St. Patrick’s Parish in St. John’s will be sentenced in February for defrauding the church of over $300,000.

Dianne Coady was exposed when Parish Priest Father Wayne Dohey decided to follow up on a cheque he had signed, intended for payment of a phone bill. He discovered that the cheque had been paid to the 69-year-old Parish employee, instead of the phone company.

A formal audit later revealed that Coady had defrauded the Parish of over $300,000 between 2007 and 2012.

The Crown has requested that Coady serve 14-16 months in jail, noting her lack of remorse as an aggravating factor. The defense wants a term of “house arrest” as it says Coady poses a low risk to re-offend.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Irish Examiner Reporter

The Government’s high-profile investigation into the mother-and-baby homes scandal will have an “extremely broad scope” and may involve “interim reports during its lifetime”.

Senior coalition officials hinted at the depth of the inquiry last night before the terms of reference of the major investigation are revealed this morning.

Speaking after the first cabinet briefing of the new year, officials said the mother-and-baby homes inquiry will be “extremely broad in scope” and have a “deeply historical” and “broad ranging” element to it. However, they would not be drawn on whether the examination will look at related scandals such as illegal adoptions, Protestant-run facilities, secret vaccine trials on vulnerable children and “county homes” which housed women who had a number of births outside marriage — issues campaign groups insist must be included.

The inquiry — the terms of reference of which will be launched by Children’s Minister Dr James Reilly at Government Buildings at 11am before being brought to the Oireachtas for debate — was established in the wake of revelations last summer about dead babies being left in a septic tank in Tuam.

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Madeleine Baran Jan 8, 2015

Three clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the Twin Cities archdiocese are headed for trial later this month amid uncertainty about whether the archdiocese will file for bankruptcy.

All three trials are scheduled to begin Jan. 26 in Ramsey County District Court. However, a bankruptcy filing would likely halt the trials, and many victims would likely instead file claims as creditors.

One of the men suing the archdiocese said he’s not persuaded by claims that church leaders have put measures in place to prevent other kids from being abused. The man, who asked to be identified only by his first name John, said the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis needs to be held accountable by a jury.

“They can run but they can’t hide,” said John, who sued the archdiocese for allegedly failing to protect him from abuse by the Rev. Thomas Stitts. “Some point, some time, some day, some way, they’re going to have to face this. Whether it’s through a trial, or it’s through a bankruptcy proceeding.”

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.

OREGON
Christian Post

Evangelical Pastor Facing 37 Charges of Alleged Rape and Abuse Involving 2 Children, One Boy, One Girl

BY VINCENT FUNARO , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
January 8, 2015

An Oregon evangelical pastor is facing 37 charges of alleged rape and abuse that involves two children — one boy and one girl.

James Daniel Worley, 37, served as the senior pastor at Powell Valley Church in Gresham and was arrested on Dec. 30 in Multnomah County following a Dec. 16 grand jury indictment. The sex crimes are said to have taken place 10 to 12 years ago.

Worley, who also worked as a Tillamook police officer, is now being held on $500,000 bail. The charges against him include 20 counts of sexual abuse, 11 counts of sodomy and three counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

Documents reveal that the alleged abuse took place between Sept. 1, 2002, and June 30, 2004, while the children were under the ages of 14 and 12. They also state Worley “did unlawfully and knowingly induce (the victims) … to engage in sexually explicit conduct for a person to observe” in the latter of the three charges.

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

IRELAND
Irish Central

Cathy Hayes @irishcentral January 09,2015

A Dublin priest received a standing ovation from his congregation this week as he called for same sex marriage equality in Ireland and came out to his parishioners.

Father Martin Dolan, who has been a priest at Church of St Nicholas of Myra in Francis Street in Dublin’s city center for 15 years, opened up to his congregation at the Saturday night Mass. He also confided in his Sunday morning congregation. Dolan is the only priest in the parish.

Calling on his Dublin city congregation to support same sex marriage in the upcoming Irish referendum, set for the end May, Dolan said “I’m gay myself.”

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Danny Wicentowski Thu., Jan. 8 2015

A beacon of old-timey religion, Cardinal Raymond Burke still enjoys the admiration of those traditionalist churchgoers who like their liturgy intoned in Latin and their prelates dressed like a satiny Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float.

One of those admirers is a group called the New Emangelization Project (yes, that’s their real name), which recently let Burke weigh in on Christianity’s so-called “man-crisis” by way of a lengthy interview posted to the organization’s website. Burke’s closed-mindedness particularly shines through when he casually states that “disordered” (read: gay) priests are ultimately to blame for the molestation and child-abuse cases that continue to rock the Catholic church.

Although Burke was recently demoted from leading the Church’s highest court, the former St. Louis archbishop has has become a frequent, critical voice speaking against Pope Francis’ seemingly inclusive stance on gay and divorced church members.

As for his view of gay clergy’s responsibility for child abuse, Burke’s statements came in the midst of an already befuddling rant against the “feminization” of church services, in which he criticizes women and altar girls for driving men away from traditional Mass.

“We can also see that our seminaries are beginning to attract many strong young men who desire to serve God as priests. The new crop of young men are manly and confident about their identity,” Burke tells New Emangelization Project founder Matthew James Christoff. “This is a welcome development, for there was a period of time when men who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity had entered the priesthood; sadly some of these disordered men sexually abused minors, a terrible tragedy for which the Church mourns.”

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.

MISSOURI
Kansas City Business Journal

Brianne Pfannenstiel
Reporter-
Kansas City Business Journal

An insurance company has reached a settlement with the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph after refusing to cover its settlements resulting from a sexual abuse lawsuit.

The disagreement arose following a 2011 lawsuit in which a family claimed their son committed suicide after being abused by a monsignor within the diocese.

The parties reached a $2.25 million settlement. The diocese then sought insurance coverage through Chicago Insurance Co. for the costs of the settlement and for the $1.4 million cost of defending the case.
CIC refused to cover the claims, arguing that they did not warrant coverage under the diocese’s insurance policy.

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.

ITALIA
l’Espresso

Sandro Magister

La sera di giovedì 8 gennaio il settimanale inglese “Catholic Herald” ha anticipato sul suo sito web la cover story del suo prossimo numero: l’articolo con cui Ettore Gotti Tedeschi rompe per la prima volta il silenzio sui retroscena della sua cacciata dalla presidenza dell’Istituto per le Opere di Religione, il 24 maggio 2012.

L’articolo compare sia in lingua italiana:

> “Ecco cosa avrebbe bisogno di sapere il cardinale Pell”

Sia in inglese:

> “What Cardinal Pell needs to know”

Come si intuisce dal titolo, l’articolo di Gotti Tedeschi prende spunto da un altro articolo sulle finanze vaticane che ha fatto molto rumore, scritto dal nuovo segretario vaticano per l’economia, il cardinale George Pell, pubblicato anch’esso sul “Catholic Herald”, ai primi di dicembre:

> We’ve discovered hundreds of millions of euros off the Vatican’s balance sheet, says cardinal

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis must be looking forward to escaping the local Rome “heat” being generated by the remarkably revealing expose today (1/8/15) of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the Vatican Bank’s ex-head. His frank expose raises serious questions about the ex-Pope, the ex-Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, ex- Bank director, Carl Anderson, and even Pope Francis himself, among others. Please see Tedeschi’s surprising revelations here:

* [Catholic Herald]

* By contrast, dealing next week in the impoverished Philippines with the “safer subjects” of global warming and overpopulation may seem appealing to the pope now. Francis, who has key “Big Oil” associated advisers and donors, will likely attempt to tell millions of desperate Filipinos that the preferred solution to climatic catastrophes, plutocratic enslavement, diminishing access to food, water and arable land is to ban contraception and have larger families ! Hello?

* Francis easily “spun away” recently from the Vatican Bank mess in his innocuous interview with his gullible Argentinian biographer. She reported naively and without question that Francis assured her that he had reformed the Vatican Bank, which “is working very well”.

* How could Francis really know that if he has never even spoken with the last two heads of the Bank, as appears to be the case? How long will the media be so gullible about Pope Francis and when will they begin questioning more professionally the “Happy Talk” that the Vatican media machine manufactures 24/7?

* Tedeschi, a well regarded and experienced banker who has cleared an Italian governmental investigation, had been chairman of the Vatican Bank from 2009 to 2012. He had been terminated by Vatican Bank directors reportedly lead by former staffer for US President Reagan, Carl Anderson.

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.

INDIA
Deccan Herald

Thiruvananthapuram: Fr. Jose Palimattom, 48, a visiting priest from Kerala, was arrested in the US state of Florida, on Monday on charges of possession of pornography and distributing it to a minor.

Born on October 27, 1968, Fr Palimottom was given priestly in 1999. Sources said that he had been asked not to use Facebook and restricted from having access to minors without an adult presence.

Fr Palimottom is a priest of the Franciscan Province of St Thomas the Apostle in India and began serving a two-year residency in December 2014 at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in West Palm Beach. He previously worked with the Benghazi Vicariate in Libya.

The allegation was that Fr Palimattom reportedly asked the victim, a 14 year old boy, to help him delete about 40 pornographic images of young boys from his phone.

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

MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 6

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

A church insider-turned-whistleblower says that an Iowa bishop may temporarily replace St. Paul’s embattled Catholic archbishop. We hope she’s wrong. We hope Pope Francis will pick someone else.

In a 12/30 blog post, Jennifer Haselberger writes that “Persistent rumors suggest that Nienstedt will either resign or be removed shortly after a bankruptcy filing, and it has been suggested that former auxiliary and now-Bishop of Des Moines, Richard Pates, will be appointed to serve as apostolic administrator until a successor can be found.” Again, we hope this does not happen.

[Canonical Consultation]

— In June of last year, Minnesota Public Radio reported on the “investigation into the Rev. Francisco ‘Fredy’ Montero, a priest from Ecuador who returned to his native country amid a criminal investigation into whether he sexually abused a four-year-old girl.” Pates could and should have done more to warn the public about him, help police investigate him and prevent his fleeing overseas during a criminal investigation.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

–Also in June of last year, we criticized Pates for “being far too secretive and lax about the credibly accused child molesting cleric that he has suspended.”

[Des Moines Register]

We said: “For the safety of kids, Pates should disclose where Fr. Howard Fitzgerald, is now. He should disclose when Catholic officials first received allegations of child sexual abuse against Fr. Fitzgerald. He should put Fr. Fitzgerald into a remote, secure treatment center so he’ll be kept away from kids. And he should personally visit every parish where Fr. Fitzgerald worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police, so that Fr. Fitzgerald might be criminally charged, convicted and be kept away from kids even longer. In short, Pates is not saying or doing enough about Fr. Fitzgerald. Pates has pledged to be “open” about clergy sex abuse cases. He should honor that pledge right now.”

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.

LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Rebecca Catalanello, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on January 06, 2015

A grand jury has declined to indict a man accused of raping girls who were under his care at a notorious religious boarding school in north Louisiana decades earlier.

Mack W. Ford, 82, of Arcadia, was the target of what law enforcement officials describe as a year-long investigation into reports he molested young residents at his now-shuttered New Bethany Home for Girls.

A written statement released Tuesday (Jan. 6) by Bienville Parish District Attorney Jonathan Stewart, said “the grand jury was given research and information regarding the statute of limitations with regard to each alleged act and, after deliberation, returned a no true bill.” A no true bill represents a grand jury’s decision not to indict.

Three women who lived at the home in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s traveled from three states to testify before a grand jury Dec. 18 about their experiences with Ford. Other witnesses testified Oct. 15 and Dec. 29, according to state officials.

The women said their grand jury testimony was the closest they felt they had come to achieving justice for the crimes they said were committed against them as young girls in the place Ford once described as “a mission project to the incorrigible, unwanted rejects.” But after a Louisiana State Police investigator notified them by phone Monday evening that Ford would not face charges, the former residents sounded variously dazed, outraged and despondent. …

New Bethany was affiliated with the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church. Residents were subject to strict rules, harsh punishment and maintained restricted access to the outside world, according to interviews, news reports and legal documents.

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.

LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Jan. 8

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

Now that child sex crimes at the New Bethany Home for Girls in Louisiana won’t be pursued, legislators, prosecutors and others must step up to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.

[The Times-Picayune]

Specifically, we beg Bienville Parish District Attorney Jonathan Stewart (and prosecutors in nearby parishes) to use his bully pulpit and his resources to launch an aggressive outreach effort to find anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Mack W. Ford of Arcadia

We also beg Louisiana lawmakers to 1) pass legislation that would compensate these brave, wounded women and 2) make it harder for child molesters to exploit legal technicalities in the future. There should be no statute of limitations on child sex crimes, civil or criminal.

Finally, we beg New Bethany victims to keep fighting. Some of the crimes happened outside of Louisiana. So we hope victims who were abused elsewhere contact law enforcement in those jurisdictions about possible criminal charges there under different state laws. And we urge them to also prod legislators to pass bills that help victims and punish wrongdoers.

Our hearts ache for Simone Jones, Jennifer Halter, Tara Cummings, Teresa Frye and all those who were assaulted by Ford. These are incredibly brave and resilient and caring women who deserve respect, gratitude, compensation and healing. They have done more than 99% of child sex abuse victims, most of whom remain trapped in shame and secrecy for decades, and sometimes for their entire lives.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

January 8, 2015 11:18 am | Author: berger

Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal is urging NYC Cardinal (and St. Louis native) Timothy Dolan to sell his “splendid 15,000-foot mansion on Madison Avenue” and give the proceeds to parochial schools. “This would more closely (align) the church of New York with the modest style of Pope Francis.”

A recent CNN report called “The lavish homes of American archbishops” revealed that ten of the country’s top Catholic officials defy the pontiff’s example and live in homes worth more than $1 million. The value of Dolan’s crib is estimated to be at least $30 million. (Are clergy abuse pay-offs behind Dolan’s money troubles? It’s hard to know, Noonan writes, because “the last time the New York Archdiocese released numbers on those costs were 11 years ago.”

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.

INDIANA
The Pilot

ON: 1/8/2015, BY NATALIE HOEFER

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — Norbert Krapf, 71, still loves the wooded hills of his southern Indiana boyhood home near Jasper and the Catholic faith that formed his beliefs from infancy.

Such feelings are remarkable not for their longevity, but that they exist despite Krapf being the victim of clergy sexual abuse six decades ago at his small hometown parish tucked away in the Jasper hills.

In recent years, Krapf — a poet, author and one-time Indiana Poet Laureate now living in Indianapolis — identified his abuser to the bishop of the Diocese of Evansville in which Jasper is located, leading to the removal of the deceased priest’s many accolades and honors.

But Krapf then took a much bigger, public step. Using his gift for poetic expression, he published “Catholic Boy Blues,” a book of poems dealing with the abuse through the voices of the suffering boy, the coping adult, the wise Mr. Blues and the abusive priest.

The book, along with Krapf’s other works, helped earn him the 2014 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Regional Author Award.

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Trials Involving Notorious Priest Perpetrators
Jerome Kern and Robert Thurner Set for January 26

First clergy abuse cases to be tried under Child Victims Act

(St. Paul, MN) – Two cases involving priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will start trial on January 26, 2015. These will be the first cases to go to trial under the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

Doe 23 was sexually abused as a child by Robert Thurner. Thurner abused a number of children in the Archdiocese and is listed on the Archdiocese’s website as having substantiated abuse allegations.

Doe 26 was sexually abused as a child by Jerome Kern. Jerome Kern sexually abused dozens of children in the Archdiocese and is listed on the Archdiocese’s site as being credibly accused of child sex abuse.
Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan represent both of the survivors. A third case involving Thomas Stitts is also scheduled for trial the same day.

Jeff Anderson and Associates obtained the files on Kern, Thurner and Stitts in the Doe 1 case, among dozens of other files. These are three of over 50 names listed on the Archdiocese’s website as a result of Jeff Anderson’s work in the Doe 1 case. The documents and files are available at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.237.5143 Cell/612.205.5531
Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.237.5143 Cell/612.817.8665

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.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

Archbishop Anthony Apuron remains in full control of a major asset of the local Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Agana stated yesterday.

At issue is the former Accion Hotel, which was once worth $57 million.

The property, which is being used as a seminary and an academic institution for seminarians, has become a focal point of recent criticisms against Apuron’s leadership.

Some of the archdiocese’s former finance council members and the Concerned Catholics of Guam raised the issue as two representatives of the Vatican are visiting this week.

Department of Land Management documents show that Apuron had signed a deed of restriction giving the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and an academic institution for seminarians “perpetual use” of the oceanfront property, a former 100-room hotel in Yona.

The seminary’s Articles of Incorporation also state that the nonprofit falls under a four-member “board of governors,” a majority of whom aren’t Guam residents. One of them is Apuron, but the majority on the board consists of three New Jersey residents affiliated with the Neocatechumenal Way movement’s leadership, Land Management records show.

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

MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/08/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Earlier today, the Noaker law firm of Minneapolis announced that no settlement had been reached in the case of John Doe 104, meaning that the matter is headed to trial on January 26, 2015, before Judge Van de North. Clients of the Noaker firm were not included in the much-publicized settlement between the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and Jeff Anderson and Associates.

The case of Doe 104 involves allegations of abuse against the now-deceased Reverend Thomas Stitts dating back to the 1970s. In 2013, the Archdiocese identified Stitts as having credible accusations against him, although such a declaration was little more than a formality. The first lawsuits involving Stitts were filed in 1993. At that time, the Archdiocese denied knowledge of any previous accusations against Father Stitts, although documents in his personnel file, which I personally reviewed, indicated that they were aware of acts of abuse by at least 1973. I included my concerns about this in my resignation letter to Archbishop Nienstedt in April of 2013.

This case will be interesting for several reasons, one of which is the involvement of Dick Rice, a former Jesuit priest who served in the Twin Cities. Rice is listed among the deponents on the Witness List filed in court this morning. Several other priests will likely be called upon to testify to knowledge that might reflect poorly on their own behavior and/or observance of clerical celibacy, but the situation of Dick Rice has an additional degree of frisson given how actively and aggressively Archbishop Nienstedt and former Vicar General Peter Laird attempted to limit Rice’s activities in the Archdiocese in the years following his laicization.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Jan. 8, 2015

A Philadelphia priest convicted of child sexual abuse claimed his innocence up to his death, according to reports from his prison cellmate.

Fr. Charles Engelhardt, 67, died Nov. 15 at Coal Township Prison in central Pennsylvania two years into a six-to-12-year sentence. In January 2013, a jury convicted the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales priest of corruption of minors, indecent assault of a person under age 13, and endangering the welfare of children.

The charges related to the case of former altar boy “Billy Doe” that over the course of two trials in two years imprisoned Engelhardt, a former priest and a schoolteacher, for abusing the former altar boy in the late 1990s. In addition, Msgr. William Lynn, secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, was found guilty of child endangerment for his handling of the related abuse claims. He was the first U.S. church official convicted on such grounds.

In a February 2011 grand jury report, which brought charges against Lynn, Engelhardt and three others, Engelhardt was accused of showing Doe pornographic magazines and engaging in mutual masturbation and oral sex; at trial, Doe reiterated those allegations.

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.